Stacy Does India

Last night a group of us went out for dinner. We ate at this restaurant called Exotica. The food was excellent; a blend of Indian and Chinese. I had my first experience with SPICY food, sort of by accident. Let me explain…

This restaurant was on the rooftop of a 5 story office building. It was very nicely decorated, with fish ponds, and water features. It was also very dimly lit. We ordered some appetizers and a bunch of entrees with the intention of sharing it all. We passed dishes and bowls around until our plates were full. While eating a chicken dish, I bit into what I thought was a red pepper (like a bell pepper, not hot, right?). Well, it wasn’t a red pepper, it was some sort of chili that should only be used for flavoring, and never actually consumed. My mouth was on fire, and no amount of water or margarita could cool it! At the same moment I realized that my lips were burning, I looked across the table and Thomas was having a similar experience. We got a good laugh out of it and I learned a lesson: Don’t eat anything you don’t completely recognize in a dimly lit restaurant.

After dinner, we were convinced to head to the lounge at the Taj Krishna (my second home!) for one drink. There, we hung out, had a beer, and placed requests with the piano duo. This duo was from the Philippines and sung a few of our favorites including “Leaving on a Jet Plate,” “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx, and “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams. It was a fun night!

This morning I slept in until nearly 11am! I awoke to find 2 new expats had moved into the house next door: Rob and Paul. They are both from our Dublin office and arrived late last night. We had breakfast together this morning. It is going to be nice to have more people around.

I just finished a quick workout next door, and am going to do a little shopping later with some friends. They’ve promised to take me to the place everyone goes to have custom clothes made – I am very excited!