Let’s Do Lunch–Bali Style!

This is the post that waited.

The post that was planned, but I woke up too late to finish it because at 2am I was still staring at the ceiling.

I knew that nap yesterday afternoon with the power out was going to be a no-no. But the power was out, the house was dark and quiet, it was too dark to even want to clean house – so what’s a girl to do?

And that bed with its freshly washed sheets and delightful fresh-from-the-laundry fragrance just beckoned to me in a siren’s call. COME! SLEEP! Just a little bit….

And I was out. For about 3 hours.

Today there has been no nap. No time for one! I woke up about 8:45 and hit the ground running for all that had to be done today.

I have a foodie post to share with you from Bali!

First of all – see this sign above? Kentucky Fried Chicken! Open 24 hours! And they had free wifi! LOL!

We cracked up at various “Stateside” fast food chains that were showing up everywhere. Burger King. Who wants Burger King in BALI!? Mc Donalds was another one….24 hour Mc D’s…with Mc DELIVERY!? Which set us into gales of laughter imagining the Balinese delivery guy on a scooter with a bunch of happy meals riding behind him. EVERYONE was on a motor bike in Bali. They swarm like flies around all the cars, up the center line between the two lanes, cutting off traffic, dodging here and there..it was really scary watching them!

So where did we eat our lunch? At a really cool place down the plaza from Mawa’s office! We told him we wanted Balinese food, and he said he knew of JUST THE PLACE. He called ahead, had them set a table for all of us!

How jetlagged do we look?! This was also on our “Factory” day!

The menus really did have every kind of food on them --- ITALIAN seems to be a big hit there as well, so if you didn’t like Balinese cuisine, you could get spaghetti and meatballs. Or fish & chips. Or always a cheeseburger --- or chicken cordon bleu. That seemed to be on every menu I came across as well.

As for Balinese fare:

This was a Balinese fish dish, the bean and noodle salad was quite spicy! And Rice. Always Rice. Bali leads Indonesia in rice production followed by the Phillipines and of course rice is a mainstay of every family – for every meal.

*Note* When you order food you've never had before --you don't know if they served you what you ordered or not! It turns out this was KAREN's lunch, and I had already taken a picture of it! LOL! I think I ate some of her bean salad too ---oops!

One thing you will notice too is that the portions are NOT huge. Just right. I never noticed a SINGLE grossly overweight person in Bali at all. I’m sure it has to do with the simple diet, which is mostly fruit, veggies, rice or noodles. Sometimes fish. Sometimes chicken. Sometimes eggs --- but meat is not an every-meal-occurrence. Dairy is almost non-existent. I think there is a lot to be learned here.

Dishes are often wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. A very healthy and delicious way to cook things. Of course, where do we get fresh banana leaves here in the US?

Desserts mainly consist of a variety of fruits. And even the “sweets” that we would call cookies are NOT THAT SWEET. One favorite is rice that is formed into patties and then deep fried to be like a crunchy rice cake…and it has a bit of a sweet glaze on it, but it is not cookie-sweet like we would have here in the US by any means.

What is the first two ingredients in most cookie recipes in Western culture? BUTTER & SUGAR!

I “KNOW” they eat more balanced than we do.

Look at this stair case!

This was in the restaurant going up to where the restrooms were ---how cool is that!!

Can I have this stair case, please?!

And this was the view from the top looking down at our happy little group as they chattered away about all we had seen and done so far this day:

Fond memories, each and every one of them!

Update on my doc’s appt today:

The bulging disk is a bit of an issue, but it isn’t causing the leg problems I’m experiencing.

For the leg problems He’s thinking I’ve got a bad bursitis ((inflammation of the hip bursa)) and it’s just being chronic. Babying that has had a shortening effect on hamstring and glute muscles. And those deep hip rotators such as piriformis are ALWAYS key in the kind of pain I have.

Mix that with the sciatica and I’ve got a perfect recipe for shooting pain and persistent burning and pain in the hip/leg when I walk/sit/lie down. I’ve got another prescription for anti inflammatory, and he wants me to get some physical therapy going. It’s going to be interesting trying to fit that in with my schedule but I’ll do it. I’m hoping between everything that we can get things to ease up a bit and heal.

He said shots are still an option, but wants to do that as a last case scenario and I’m glad for that.

Oh, btw – all this from a doc who looked young enough to be Doogie Houser, only cuter. Dang! I’M OLD!!