January 20, 2007
Gerri made a delicious blueberry smoothie this morning. She has a blender with 3 horsepower. You could probably turn it upside down and use it to mow the lawn.
After breakfast, we hit the town. She took me to a couple cool coffee shops and showed me a really nice section of Houston. We went to one place that was part local farmer’s market, part art gallery, and part coffee shop to sit around and talk. As lunch time rolled around we decided to get pizza for lunch. I told Gerri to order for us, so she got a salad with roasted walnut, sun-dried tomatoes, and gorgonzola cheese to start. We finished with a garlic, tomato, and spinach pizza. It was my favorite meal of the entire trip so far.
At 2 pm we went back to her place. She took a nap while I cleaned my bike and installed a few new parts — it was filthy from the previous two days’ riding in bad weather. When I finished, it sparkled.
For dinner we had planned to go to her favorite Indian restaurant, only to find that it was (permanently) closed. So she suggested that we go to an Ethiopian place instead. On the way to the restaurant she played a Talk Talk album from 1991 that was nothing like their 80’s synthpop. Incredible. Her boyfriend showed up a few minutes later… she jokes that he’s on Indian Standard Time, which means he’s always running late.
Dharm suggested that we order everything group-style so the food comes on one big platter. So we did. I forget what we ordered, but it was similar to Indian food only not as spicy. On the side was a bread-like substance called Injer, which is made from the Keff grain. You break off little pieces and use it to scoop up the food. Incredibly, I got full and couldn’t eat anymore, so we made Dharm finish the plate.
I was too tired (and full) after dinner to go out and do anything, so we decided to rent a movie. Gerri wanted us to see “Whale Rider”. And I’m glad we did. It was fantastic! Definitely recommended for anyone… just make sure you have a box of kleenex handy.
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