"If I keel over in Walmart...

...drag my body to Neimans". Yes, we shop at Walmart but no, we don't really savor the experience. That's why this credit card case caught our eye in the wonderful Victorian Trading Company catalog. We ordered it for a gift and were delighted to discover that it came so nicely presented. It was in a zebra-striped box with a red ribbon and the image of the stylish lady on the front of the box. Be sure to visit the Victorian Trading Company's website because they have some really unique items. We get their catalogs and really enjoy taking our time to flip through and do a little time traveling.

El Rincon Jarocho restaurant- Indianapolis, IN

You can't go wrong with the chicken enchilada:
Chicken sopes:


Lengua taco:

This great little place, tucked in on Franklin at Pendleton Pike, is a bare bones, Spanish TV playing/Spanish music jukebox playing little taste of Mexico. Little English is spoken here, but do not fear, English speakers are made to feel welcome.

Jen Fu had given us a tip about the chicken enchilada, which was incredible. The chicken had an intense grilled flavor which resonated throughout the dish. We also ordered the sopes, also with chicken. Sopes are little tostada like discs with beans and meat as toppings. Again, we chose the chicken because it was just so delicious. We do also like to step out of the box so we got a Lengua Taco. Lengua, as you might have guessed, is Spanish for tongue. Usually, we would not choose to taste something that has the capability to taste us back but, what the heck. It tasted like beef so when you go here, give it a try. It's only $1.75 so, even if you don't like it, you can still impress people and appear worldly by saying you've had it.

Our to-go order contained a little container of grated cheese, sour cream, a red salsa that contained a surprising amount of heat and a beautiful little salsa verde that had a wonderful sweet quality. We chose not to put these on the food because we wanted to enjoy the flavors without the salsas. We did enjoy them on the side, with some tortilla chips we had in reserve.

We couldn't find a carry-out menu to post here for you but the prices were good and there was a large variety of food.

El Rincon turned out to be one of those great hidden treasures that we might not have discovered if someone hadn't told us that it was good. That's our favorite kind of place and we're grateful to Jen Fu for the tip.

7985 Plummer St. (near the Pendleton Pike/Franklin Rd. intersection)

Indianapolis, IN 46226

317.545.5300

DHC

Get on this catalog's mailing list. We don't order from them very frequently but they always send at least a couple of samples in their catalogs. We've liked several items that we've purchased such as the lavender and rosemary scented After Bath Hair Treatment Emulsion and the White Sunscreen but the one we always make sure we have is the Deep Cleansing Oil. It's a really luxurious cleanser/makeup remover. We think olive oil is just one of those amazing things like vinegar that is pretty much good for everything.

An easy and hearty bread

We love a quick, easy to make bread. If you do too, check out the recipe from Woman's Day. We made it in no time and really enjoyed it. We could even see where there could be a lot of options that could go into it such as seeds, nuts, fruits, etc. We highly recommend this recipe.

(and, no, we don't normally read Woman's Day but an issue was given to us and you never know what kind of treasures you will find inside a magazine)

We love jazz and realize that our collection is woefully incomplete. We were glad to run across this list of "The 100 Greatest Jazz Albums of All Time" to give us an idea of what we still need to buy. It looks like there were a lot of criticisms of the list by the comments but that is probably the nature of any such subjective list. We started listening to some of the artists and ended up buying the iTunes Essentials mix Jazz Chillouts "Basic Cuts" with artists like Charles Mingus and the Oscar Peterson Trio. It's not that we don't like hot jazz, we are just in a chill mood this week. Let us know what jazz you think is "essential".

The Emerson Theatre- Indianapolis

We don't know what the inside is like at The Emerson since we don't think we've ever seen a show there, we're just glad that it is still there and still looks good on the outside. According to a comment on CinemaTreasures.org, it was built in 1928 as The Eastland Theatre and renamed The Emerson in 1931.

Thai Orchid- Indianapolis, IN

Rama Delight:

Seafood Madness:

You might have seen the ads in the paper (usually with a coupon) for Thai Orchid in Castleton. It is in a new strip center on Bash Street and we loved it. It is beautifully decorated and has a huge menu that thankfully you can peruse on their website before you go. We ordered the Rama Delight and Seafood Madness. We chose mild for the spiciness of the Rama Delight. There is a choice of chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or vegetarian for the Rama Delight (and many of their entrees) and we chose vegetarian. A thick peanut sauce covered tofu, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots and came with a bowl of white rice to pour it over. It was wonderful as was the hot ginger tea we had with it. We also ordered the Seafood Madness. This dish contained huge shrimp, scallops, squid and mussels with asparagus and Thai basil. The seafood was tossed in a hot chili paste so the medium heat was definitely hot enough for us. It also was served with a bowl of sticky rice on the side.

Indianapolis has quite a few Thai restaurants (10 according to the Indy Ethnic Food website), but Thai Orchid has added something really special to the scene with their beautiful space, thoughtful presentation, and unique dishes.