Devon Avenue.. Chicago's Little India !

Today, we had to send our rental car back due to some circumstances (details can ask later..) I drove to the rental office closeby the O'Hare International Airport, it was raining quite heavily, and lucky we didn't get lost, arrived at the rental office just about 45mins or so.

From there, Tasneem went back with SATO taxi, while Sumeet and myself took the car-rental shuttle to the airport, and took a taxi straight to Devon Ave. Sumeet has been longing for his vegetarian indian food too much.. and today's mission is to get his indian groceries. A friend told him that we can find those stuff in Devon Ave. To our surprise, Devon Ave. is like 22 blocks long, from East to West of Chicago. The taxi fella ask, where in Devon? none of us know.. told the driver to just go to Devon Ave, and we'll tell where to stop.

After about half an hour, we reached Devon Ave... and it doesn't look like what we've expected in the beginning.. getting worried.. we let the driver just drive through the street... until.. we saw many shops signages saying indian this.. indian that.. pakistani..this.. that.. halal meat.. halal chicken.. halal lamb.. INTERESTING!!

Quickly asked the driver to stop there, and it costed us US40 !!! fug. Sumeet tried to nego, but the black driver was saying that's the rate.. we paid immediately, and get the hell out (yup, we took the receipt of course!).


On the street, well.. it's like Serangoon Road back in Singapore. As you can imagine, Sumeet was extremely excited.. he was looking left..right..left.. right.. don't know where to go.. actually it's more like.. not sure which one to go first!
While walking down the street, he said.. 'Sher.. here you can really smells indians man!, smells the food man!' with such a big smile in his face - never seen him so happy since. I guess, he does feels at home that time. Well, as long as he's happy.. I'm happy.

We can't resist to stop for a snack, had Samosa and Gulab Jamun.. and I wanted some Ras Malai too.. but.. saving that for later ;)

This is me, didn't know I own a restaurant here?.. err.. commission?

We went to shop at the place in the 1st picture - called Patel Brothers - quite popular, a lot of people coming in and out. Raw stuff - spices, canned, bottle, frozen, name it.. you'll get it there (indian stuff that is..). Sumeet took more than an hour there.. a trolley full of food. BTW, stuff from Malaysia is also there.. the 'Kawan' Brand frozen Paratha.. Roti Canai is there too! hhmm Malaysian indian also know how to market things here... not bad.. I wish there's nasi lemak :(

I'll continue our Devon's adventure.. sleepy now. Been a long day, tomorrow gotta work. In the meantime.. our fridge now is full of frozen parathas!

Eat at Joe's

Joe's Crab Shack

Another eatery that we've been passing by too often, but didn't get the chance to stop-by just because the rest of the people in the car doesn't feel like going, and grass-eater like Sumeet objected it big-time!

Anyway, I finally managed to force him to go there, with Cecilia and Elizabeth. And to make sure Sumeet is happy, we had a lovely lady sit next to him!!
As you can see, that makes his day! While me, at another corner... having a hearty meal of SNOW CRAB!! :)


here is all of us, that's Cecilia and Elizabeth

Nicely decorated seafood restaurant. Meals a bit pricey though. Typical meal is around US10-14, but it's HUGE.. 3 of us shared a meal (a platter of shrimp, crab, calamari, with rice, potato for US18), and Sumeet, with his garlic bread and alfredo pasta.

The restaurant is in Bolingbrook, about 5-10 mins drive, near the Best Buy, Lowe, Target shopping place.

I would come back with other seafood lovers!

moved to the apartment

Last nite, all 6 off us (Jauhari, Sumeet, Elizabeth, Cecilia, Tasneem, and myself) moved from the CountryInn hotel to the apartment. It's about 10mins away from the CountryInn, and about 15-20mins away to the client office. SATO has rented 3 apartments with 2 bedrooms each.
Hmm.. apartment, so.. no more exclusive hotel housekeeping service... and no more free breakfast every morning!.. I'm missing my favorite waffle already.. :(

Anyway, we had to do grocery shopping then, we had to shop for most things we normally do at home.. stuff from soap, tissues, garbage bag, sponge for washing dishes, washing liquid etc etc.. the list goes on.. oh oh... not to mention.. Jauhari even get onions, salt, sugar, pepper, cooking oil, eggs, etc.. the whole works!

Romeoville... smallville?

hiya..

Since the blog was up, I've been getting lotsa queries from colleagues or family members on the exact location of Romeoville.

Romeoville is a town south west of Chicago. About 35 miles away, and if you take the I55 highway, will take you about 30min to 45min depending on traffic - can be quite heavy during peak times.

The Red Star in the picture is our little town.

The bigger town is Joliet to the south, and Naperville to the north. All about 10-15 min drive only. Many shopping places around there. The ladies seems to be doing lotsa that, oh.. not to mention our only hero.. sumeet.

Click here for straight link to yahoo for Romeoville map zoom in/out.

Padma was here

Back in Romeoville, I had quite a hectic week with the real CRP2.0 for SATO Labelling Solutions America and SATO America Inc. organisations, to define their business processes. Although I've only 2 users, but as Padma put it.. these people are good, better than her earlier trip to Europe. The session was pack with Padma leading the entire show. I had to jump in once in a while to cover the easy ones.. right padma? Took this with Padma's brand new Canon IXUS 60.


Anyway, we had yet another our favorite neighbourhood diner.. a real american diner at the Applebee's.

here's all of us.

Padma and Sumeet shared their Brocolli Pasta Alfredo, and me.. as you can see.. having a garden of salads! Always envy Robert's meal..

Oh.. Amanda.. serve us well that nite.. the best service we've all had since... gave big tips!

Maid in the Mist

btw, if you think the view from the above of the falls is spectacular.. wait till you get into the Maid in the Mist.

The view and experience is just... magnificient.

Tasneem... Sumeet.. Robert.. all of us.. was wet!

Maid in the Mist.. is a must ride if you're in Niagara Falls.

Falls Illumination

More pictures in Niagara.

You can just feels the thunder of the tons of water from the lake Ontario into the lake Erie.


We all stayed in a lodge, 10 minutes walk to the American Falls.. I shared a room with Sumeet, and Robert with his wife lah! The room so so.. just enough for bed and breakfast.

The main reason we stayed nearby the Falls was because we want to make sure we won't missed the night illumination of the Falls.

See.. how beautiful!

Worth the freezing temperature.. was at about 40 degress fahrenheit that nite. Superb!

I had MEAT!

I just got to tell you this. I had my first meat on my first weekend here in the US. A really nice juicy beef kebab! Look at this picture, the moment I saw this mobile cart, I was literally dreaming of having it. Ask Sumeet.

I even thought of ordering more for dinner later... but Sumeet talked me out of it... to take yet again another veggie Indian food.... not complaining.. but I need meat!

The Falls...

Apologise for lagging too long in updating this blog. My laptop crashed last week, and not able to spend some extra time to blog. Typically I'm spending few minutes at nite before going to bed.
Infact, now I'm using a colleague's personal laptop, and my company is shipping me loaner laptop to me that should be here by tomorrow. My laptop had to go into operating theater big time - problem with the memory module and the system board, Toshiba said will replace them soon.
Anyway, my first weekend here (it was a long weekend, friday was a Good Friday holiday). That friday morning, just after the breakfast, Robert asked me.. Sher, let's go to Niagara Falls?!.. ..... ..... ..... ...... ...... (exacty..that was my response.. speechless).
We decided, packed all of our stuff.. check-out from our hotel room, and zoom we go! Here we come...Niagara Falls... !

This is one of the shot of the huge trailers on the highway.. reminds me of BJ McKay and his bessssttt frienddddd..

After long hours of driving.. we left about 12:30 noon, and reached Buffalo.. at just past midnight. We got lost, detour at least for 3 hours. We've a novice navigator... lah!

This is us, in Niagara Falls the next morning.

The weather was cold, but sunny... nice... the sight.. to behold... no words can describe this spectacular natural phenomenon.

Will write more..

Our Cute Car!

You're probably wondering, who the hell is this fella. That's our hero! Sumeet.. he's looking after the manufacturing track, Mohit's padawan.
Posing with our rented car.. it's a Chrysler..PT Cruiser, at the parking lot infront of SLA office. The car is too small for all of us (you can just imagine with me in the car, and Padma.. Robert, Tasneem, Sumeet... it's really.. really tight... but we just love the old-fashioned look!

oh btw.. Sumeet is single and looking!

the car or sumeet cuter? ;)

Here's the link for more detail of the car http://www.chrysler.com/pt_cruiser/index.html

Spring is here!

When I arrived last sunday at the O'hare Airport, Chicago - I was very worried because I saw people are wearing thick clothing, or at least carrying a sweater, and I'm worried because I don't bring a single jacket! (I can hear my wife's voice whispering in my head.. "I told you so!!!")
The moment I stepped out the departure door to breath the air.. it was cold, and that's about 3pm in the afternoon. I think the temperate was about max 10 degree celcius! I knew at that time, I needed to get a jacket really soon..

Later that nite, I walked around the hotel looking for dinner (hotel picture below), and my goodness... it was really cold. I had to walk with my hands in the pocket to an eating place just about 3-mins away from the hotel.

Few days went by, and I'm on the 4th day here.. and the weather has significantly changing.. I'm so glad that I didn't spend anything on getting the jacket (so that I've more room in the bag for other stuff ;)...hehehe.
The weather is getting really warm, and tonite, for the first time, I'm switching the air-cond from lo-heater to lo-cool. It's really warm. Well, I thought it was me, but the Weather Channel confirms today they recorded the highest temperature all over United States since the winter.. I guess the Spring is here!

So Cecilia.. leave your wool jacket behind, come over here with your blouses and short skirts! ...to welcome a nice spring!

Details on the hotel, go here http://www.countryinns.com/romeovilleil

:)

Little China off Weber Road

Tonite, after work, instead of normally go back to hotel, we all decided to go straight to get our food! Padma, Sumeet are already famished..!

I had the chance to drive the car today, and we decided to have some RICE today, and thinking of checking out the China House that Robert/Tasneem/Sumeet/Mohit had visited before. While driving down the ever famous Weber Road, we saw there's another Chinese food joint, immediately went in, and order.

Robert and Tasneem said the food is so much better than the China House (the previous one), and this Little China even provides delivery services.
We all had it take-away, and eat it back in hotel's cafe. As usual, we shares among ourselves. Sumeet and Padma just bought the plain rice, and Padma brought out her Palak Paneer pre-cooked dish.
One thing we've learnt again and again here, always ask how big is the serving. Small, Regular, and Large is not the same back home. Typically a Small size serving is enough for 1 person, Regular is bit too much.
Oh, it's just in between Applebee's and Walgreens, across the street of Dominick's.

My bill was at US9 for a Shrimp and Vegetable in Hot Garlic Sause, ordered Large serving. Shared with Robert and Tasneem.. too much.
Go to www.LittleChinaRestaurant.com for more info

Rating
Food: 4/5 - my shrimp veggie dish is GOOD
Ambience: N/A - it's a take-away joint
Price: 4/5 - serving size is good to share

at the Cheddars - typical American diner..

We thought of sharing with you all our FOOD HUNTING adventure while we're here! so at least whoever needs to travel here knows where's what and what's worth!


The picture wasn't too good, it came from my phone cam - i know, we'll try to get a better picture next time. Robert, please don't forget your digicam!

After roaming around for few minutes, and rejected few other eateries, we collectively decided to check-out this place - the Cheddar's just beside the I-55 in Bolingbrook (i think), near Holiday Inn. Hmm next time, we'll try to take notes of the address, and full driving direction, as well as ratings on the food!


At Cheddar, it a typical American eatery, something like the TGIF - the food is actually very nice and reasonably priced. Sumeet has some of his vegetarian dish, while Robert and Tasneem shared a meal, and I had a nice Talapia Fish with some rice, and onion peel (in the picture).

We would definitely come back.

Facts
Total bill: US36 for 4 of us.
Operating hours: till 10pm mon-fri, 1am on weekends.
Site: 105 Remington Blvd, Bolingbrook, IL 60440

Rating
Food: 5/5 - nice, though limited vegetarian
Ambience: 5/5 - many LCD TVs showing ESPN, nice music & crowd, great service
Price: 3/5 - reasonable for the place