in paradise/at madiba

Wow... so much to update on. Where to even begin? I guess I'll start with my incredible adventure to the dirty Jerz yesterday. I'm visiting schools for the Robbie program up here, so each Friday I trek out to a few high schools to meet with some overachieving rockstars. But yesterday's trip was special because a) I don't have my car down here any more, so I took NJ Transit (a real live train that runs for the most part ABOVE ground) and b) New Jersey was totally nice! I mean, yes, I did know that the state is not all one huge sewage treatment facility, however, I wasn't expecting it to be SO picturesque and lovely. Maplewood, NJ was a lovely place to be on a fall day. :)

Some restaurant updates, because I ate out not once but TWICE yesterday (that's unheard of, in my book)-- before making my next high school stop at the NYC Lab School, I was in Chelsea and had lunch at this lovely little spot called Paradise Cafe. Sandwiches were great (read: when I bit into mine, a large chunk of avacado fell out, which for me means I automatically love it), the staff was friendly and it just had a really nice, relaxed vibe. The prices were slightly expensive-- what else is new-- but it had garage-door type opening in the front that was rolled up to allow the tables to spill out into the sunlight and the lunch-goers to do some serious people watching. I saw a tiny dog wearing four sneakers, for example. Typical.

But as special as the cafe was, my second eating out experience was extra-super special. Eric and I checked out Madiba, the only (as far as I know) South African restaurant in NYC, conveniently located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Oh. My. God. It was so incredibly delicious.

Madiba was the first South African restaurant in the US and it's got a distinctly ZA vibe as soon as you walk in the door. The interior is decorated to resemble a shebeen, or township bar, and there are South African flags and photos everywhere. We sat outside on their sidewalk seating, which was great because the weather was so warm yesterday. The menu had tons of delicious options that brought back a flood of memories, from baby back ribs with monkey gland sauce (Eric's choice) to a delicious mince meat pie called bobotie (my favorite). Several members of the serving staff were South African Xhosa speakers, so I got to ask our waitress if I was pronouncing the word "umngqushu" on the menu correctly (and I did! it's "umn-gu(click)-shu"). Plus, the true test of a good ethnic restaurant is if people of that ethnicity actually eat there-- and we were surrounded by people clicking away in Xhosa all night. And, the icing on the cake is that part of their proceeds is sent back to South Africa into the Ubuntu Education Fund and the Ethembeni School of the Bli

My absentee ballot came from NC yesterday... so I'm gonna go vote. Woot!