My AMAZING Day!

Seeing friends of like faith that one hasn't seen in a while is like water in a dry and thirsty land.

I spent most of the day with Becca today. We had planned on going out for lunch for Indian cuisine. Before I left to go to her house, I researched some Indian restaurants online nearby her place. The one that stood out the most was about 30 minutes away. Since it's been awhile since I've had any long-distance drive, I figured I'd go for it.

Becca and I took that journey mainly down Fond du Lac Ave. to downtown Milwaukee. Though it was mainly through the dirty parts of the city - the ghetto, if you will - it was a trip down memory lane for me. We passed the elementary school I attended from preschool to the middle of fourth grade. The playground looked so tiny, but back in the day, I remember thinking it was so huge! There were so many other places we passed that brought me back to childhood, including my former daycare center, my dad's former bar, the farmer's market, certain restaurants and stores my dad used to take me to, etc. Much of that route was my bus route back in the day too when the school bus picked me up from the daycare and brought me to school.

After a little confusion regarding the whereabouts of our destination, we finally found the Maharaja Restaurant planted along a one-way street. There was no parking space in its direct vicinity, so we had to find a place. After a little difficulty searching for one, we finally found one a block away in a residential area. Good thing I know how to parallel park. WOO!!! LoL.

We arrived in the door around two o'clock. It was CRAZY busy! Though we got seated right away, there was quite a line at the buffet line, which was what we came for. It's cheaper than a single entrée, there's more variety, it's all-you-can-eat, and it was served until 3 o'clock.

I loved the variety of heritages in the restaurant. The majority of the customers were Indian, but there were also many Asians, and a few Caucasians. We immediately intermingled in the diverse line, eager to feed our bellies, which were deep voids at the time, lol. The view of the delightful smorgasbords from a slight distance were teasing our palates. (ROFL, that was just fun to say.) After quickly tolerating the hot temperature of the dinner plates, coming right out of the dishwasher, we immediately loaded our plates up with sweet foreign victuals, hesitatingly adding small amounts of the unrecognizable delicacies.

One of the new things I tried that I liked the most was the coconut soup. One could consider it a dessert because it was fairly sweet. Now that I think about it, I should find a recipe for it. It had the consistency of skim milk. It also had cashew pieces in it, which were slightly soggy but good to taste. On my dinner plate, I had a very wide assortment of pretty much everything that didn't scare me, lol. There was this chicken in the buffet that I didn't dare to touch because it was obviously basted with red dye. EWW!!! That ain't natural. I was a bit too weirded out to try the goat. I stuck to the chicken and vegetables. Not too many Indian restaurants serve beef due to their religious beliefs of the cow being a sacred animal. I assume it's mainly the Americanized ones that serve it. The first time I went to an Indian restaurant was with my parents, Becca, and with my mom's coworker and his family. They were an Indian family from Sri Lanka. My mom saw beef on the menu and thought to inquire of their beliefs on it. Her coworker responded saying that he and his family didn't eat beef because of the sanctity of the cow, but he also said he wouldn't be offended if any of us order it.

Anyway, I would highly recommend the Maharaja Restaurant. Again, it's in downtown East Milwaukee on Farewell Ave. Just google it if you want to go there.

OH!!! I forgot to mention the "cheese ball in sweet syrup." That was very interesting. It wasn't disgusting, but it wouldn't exactly be something I'd ever order off the menu, lol. It tasted like macaroni and cheese, soul food style, soaked in watered-down maple syrup. It looked like a little ball of bread, sort of like a donut hole. Rice pudding is pretty good - a weird consistency though. Imagine eating bits of soggy rice swimming in milk. The consistency of that resembles very watery cottage cheese with small curds. Can't really complain about the bread pudding though. It's like coffee cake.

After a while, we ventured to Robert's Custard on Mequon Rd. in Germantown, WI. Becca and I went there a while back and I insisted that we share the turtle sundae. This time, I let her pick the flavor that we'd share since I avoided doing it the previous time, lol. Caramel Apple Sundae. It was good, but I'm not really a big fan of fleshy fruit in my ice cream or custard. The occasional fresh berry is okay, but I like chocolate or cacao, lol. I got to eat the cherry though!!! Yay!! That's the extent of my intake of Red #40.

We met up with our friend Jessie at Goodwill (thrift store). We had epic times trying on clothes and what not for about a good hour or so. We went to Culver's (burger joint) for some food. I was still rather full from lunch, but Jessie hadn't eaten much this day so this trip was mainly for her. Becca got a salad. As we were leaving I started craving a kid's meal, but I was too lazy to get it, lol.

Then we went to the infamous WAL-MART and spent about two hours there wandering around. As we were in the checkout line, I noticed in my peripheral vision a girl behind me who looked vaguely familiar. Several seconds later, I heard the girl behind me exclaim, "Aaron!?!?" It turned out to be my niece, Kiana. We hadn't seen each other in years. She had her beautiful daughter with her in the cart whom I hadn't got to meet. She seemed about two years old, I think. I really need to get in touch with my family a lot better. It was so good to see her again. I guess one could say she's a "half-niece" since she's the daughter of my half-sister, Lonnie.

Well after saying goodbye to my beloved friends, who were off to jazz concert - Jessie's dad was playing in it -, we went our separate ways. Only minutes after I pulled out of my parking spot, something unexpected happened. Driving down Appleton Ave., as I approached the intersection of County Line Rd., the light turned yellow. I was only a few feet away from the crosswalk when the light turned yellow, so I had no time to stop before. As I continued, I noticed a car coming from oncoming traffic attempting to make a left turn in front of me. Apparently, it was a misjudgment of timing on their part. Out of instinct I slammed on the brakes, as did they. One of us had to go faster to get out of the other's way, but we both tried to do that at the same time. This individual beat me, but Rhonda the Honda (my car) was still going a bit fast as my anti-lock brakes were kicking in. I ended up hitting the back of this person's car with the right side of Rhonda's bumper. It wasn't anything too damaging, but enough to cause us both to feel the impact. Since the light had turned red at this point, we couldn't just sit there in the middle of the intersection, so we both continued on in different directions. I turned into the nearest parking lot, hoping they would come find me, but I think they just drove off. Perhaps they thought I did too. It was a difficult call to make.

Rhonda is fine. No damage or anything - not even a single scratch. I'm perfectly fine. I was just shaking a little bit afterward due to surprise effect. I just parked in a random parking lot, got out to check out my car, and left the scene. There was nothing else I could do. I'm pretty sure the other person was fine. The impact seemed nothing greater than one would experience in a bumper car at the amusement park.

Again, this makes me want to say that we are never promised tomorrow. Who knows when our lives, or the life of someone else we know, can be taken in an instant?

I am so grateful for God's favor upon me.