Shopping at Global Gifts

We continue to stretch out the fun of spending our holiday gift cards. We went to the Global Gifts in the shopping center at 86th & Ditch and took our time browsing through all of the exotic goodies to spend our $25 gift card. Pictured here are some of their lovely scarves and bags. We finally decided on a gorgeous beaded incense burner (which is so pretty we almost don't want to get ashes on it), some nag champa incense, and a Putumayo CD- The Caribbean. Readers of our blog know we love the Putumayo CDs and, even though we hadn't listened to any clips of the songs on this particular CD, we figured we would like it (and, after listening to it, we really do). What a great store for unique browsing and feel-good shopping.

Check out their My Space page for locations, phone numbers, and hours.

Moorman's Perfumes in Nora Plaza

Last week, Jen Fu left a comment telling us that we need to check out Moorman's Perfumes so, this past weekend, we did just that. What a cute shop this is in Nora Plaza. It's narrow and there is a lot to see. We weren't in the market for perfume so we mostly browsed the wall with lovely soaps. We picked up a couple of bars of Panier Des Sens soap which have a pure vegetable base and shea butter. We'll keep the patchouli one and probably put the lavender one in someone's Easter basket. They were $6.50 each. We also couldn't resist the Crabtree & Evelyn penguin shaped soap to give as a gift. This shop is not only a good source for Crabtree & Evelyn but also Ahava products. We even unexpectedly got some free sample packets of Crabtree & Evelyn's LaSource Hand Therapy when we checked out.

We couldn't find a website for them but we did get a tidbit of information when we checked out. We left our email address to get on their mailing list and were told that they will be moving in the next 30 days and they'll put an email out to let their customers know where they will be. We'll let you know when we get that email.

1300 E. 86th Street (in Nora Plaza by Bagel Fair)

Indianapolis, IN 46240

317.844.4334

If you're feeling nostalgic, WFYI is showing the special Indy in the 50s tonight at 7:30P.

Delicious Dim Sum at Great Garden

Deep Fried Taro
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf

BBQ Pork Turnovers and Sesame Balls

Interior

Guide to dim sum offerings

Well, in short, our experience here was just fabulous. This is now our number one choice for dim sum in Indianapolis. It's been open for years but, somehow, we just discovered it and had our first meal there this past weekend. It's on the west side in the same strip mall as Saraga grocery. It appears that they offer dim sum everyday. The place was bustling when we got there but they found us a table and gave us the sheet pictured above with the dim sum offerings and prices (click photo to enlarge). There was another sheet of paper divided into sections for small, medium, and large. They gave us a pen with these and the server asked if we needed the regular menu. We declined since we were all about the dim sum that day. We noticed servers going around with carts but weren't sure if we were supposed to mark the illustrations that we wanted or if it was the typical dim sum where you ask for what you want off of the cart. We sipped the tea they had on the table, which we think was chrysanthemum, and waited to see how the system worked. Before long, a server came around with the first cart and then the carts came around rapidly. The server writes how many small, medium, and large orders you take for the cashier to add up when you go up to the register after your meal and the sheet with pictures is evidently just so the diner has a guide to the dishes and the prices. We cannot emphasize enough how delicious everything we had was. We tried some things we'd never had before such as Deep Fried Taro (you must get this) and Baby Octopus and loved them. We tried some familiar dishes such as Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf, Stuffed Bean Curd Skin, Stuffed Eggplant, BBQ Pork Turnover, and Sesame Balls and they were all exceptional. We ate way too much and still only spent about $30. The service was gracious and efficient.

Obviously, considering how crowded it was, we are behind the curve to discover this great restaurant. However, if you haven't tried it yet (or if you haven't been there in awhile), we couldn't recommend it more.

For selfish reasons, we like it when parents take their children to ethnic restaurants because, hopefully, the young diners will like the food and patronize the places when they older thus keeping the restaurants in business for us to enjoy. So, we were dismayed when esteemed blog reader Tom B. emailed us yesterday and said that his family was turned away from Cairo Cafe because of the new smoking ban that just went into affect. Evidently, since Cairo Cafe allows hookah smoking, no one under 18 is allowed there anymore. That is such a pity.

We thought that maybe Steak n Shake was founded here but we see from their website that it was founded in Illinois. Its corporate headquarters is here though so we were glad to hear them get a shout out from the man who literally wrote the book on hamburgers. Josh Ozersky is the author of The Hamburger: A History and, on WOR's Food Talk show, he said that Steak n Shake makes his favorite hamburger of the fast food restaurant ilk. You can listen to the discussion in hour 2 of the March 1st show that streams on their website.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Walker Theatre, Indianapolis

Detail of exterior
One of the sphinx statues that flanks the stage

Elephant detail from inside the theatre

The stage

If you like jazz at all, we certainly hope that you were at Walker Theatre last night to hear the Jazz at Lincoln Center musicians. We felt really lucky that these musicians played a show in Indy and particularly at the historic Walker Theatre. Wynton Marsalis was just as charismatic as ever while he acted as host for the evening by introducing us to the band members and telling us the pieces that they were going to play. The show started off whimsically with arrangements such as Itsy Bitsy Spider, La Cucaracha, I Like to Take My Time (a song written by Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood), and It Ain't Easy Being Green made famous by Kermit the Frog. Then they started covering the masters like Ellington and Monk. It was a wonderful evening. We aren't even especially knowledgeable about jazz, we just enjoy it. Mrs. WYA! doesn't really have much of a musical education, she just knows what she likes and something about jazz is in her soul.

Walker Theatre continues to tempt us; on March 20th they are presenting In The Mood: A 1940's Musical Revue with big band music and dancing. It looks like we might be back "on the Avenue" soon.