Last Lunch.. Real Pizza

Today is my last day here, going back tomorrow on United Airlines flight 895, and for lunch, thought to taste the real american pizza!

Went to the neigbourhood pizza place.. The Giovanni's Pizza, next to the Little China place, near Amanda's Applebee. We left and eat it in the office. (we initially wanted to order the Veggie pizza, but the boy said it will take about 25mins!.. so change to cheese pizza.. about 10.. but at the end.. I think we've waited about more than 20min for it.) hiissh!

Good? Sumeet said, the best pizza he ever tasted!Not bad, I've tasted better. We left 3 pieces only for Balaji.

That will last for few hours in our tummy.

Flowers.. Balaji.. America.. Flowers..

This 2nd trip here, the weather has been drastically change. Previously (3-4 weeks back), it was so cold, you need jackets on stand-by, the weather can be really unforgiving. Now, it has been very warm... too warm, some of the days, it just feels like back home. Luckily I didn't bring a single sweather or jacket (so, more space for shopping! ;).

Anyways... during the weekend, a new member joined us.. Introducing...Balaji, Cecilia's padawan. Looking after the Financial tracks. This picture shows Balaji infront of the SLA office, notice the flowers are just blooming so nice.. you can actually smells flowers while passing in/out of the door!
A little bit about Balaji, he's from Chennai, India. Eats chicken, mutton, eggs, but no meat or pork. Can't drive. Stays in #308. (OK people, now stop asking anymore). oh..btw, he's single.. and looking! interested? email me pls (balaji, i charge you a fee later..)

Here's Balaji again!
Taking a break with the French Vanilla coffee. The 1st day he was here, he asked me.. with a genuine innocent look.. "Sher, what's so great about America?..."
I was stunned with the question, and I've given him the mission to look for this answer himself!

So Balaji.. the search is on...

Bismillah Market... Asia Mart..

This weekend, we've found these 2 stores - Bismillah Market (an Indian.. Muslim) and Asia Mart (Thai.. Chinese.. Filipino). Forget about Trader's Joe. These 2 stores has those stuff that we need to spice up our taste.... and then some.

In Bismillah Market, you can find all sorts of Indian raw food. All kinds of beans.. spices.. rice.. flour.. parathas.. nan.., maggi mee, even HALAL meat.. chickens.. etc. etc. etc.. this is the place. No need to go Devon Street anymore. You can even rent Shahrukh Khan movies!

While in Asia Mart, all sorts of Thai's.. Chinese.. all is there.. even that special sauce we've been looking.. it's all there.. and more! ... and Johnny.. yes.. all sorts of chinese tea is also there!

Look at all these pictures I took with my mediocre phone-cam.

So..where the hell is this place? I tell you. It's just near our neighbourhood.. we've been to Cheddar's right? Portillo's? We've been shopping at Marshals, Target, and Kohl's right?

Well, it's right there in Boughton Road in Bolingbrook!!! and the stores are 2 doors away of each other!

You can take via Weber Road (take right) at Boughton Rd, or via the Illinois 53 route (take left). While on Boughton Rd., look out for the Water Tower like in this picture.. that's the place.
So now you know. I was alone today driving around looking for these places... and I've bought some veggie samosa, chapatis, and soan papdi for my roomie.

wish i've found this place sooner... now.. bit too late for me.. going back home next weekend.

have fun!

Trader Joe's

Here in the Romeoville, to some of us.. the food are quite 'tasteless' - we missed our sambal belacan, or many other hot sauces that we found back home... oh.. like my favorite Lingam's sauses. The closest we've found is the Thai's brand sauce that we've found in some Japanese/Chinese food places.
They told us.. you can find these 'imported' stuff at Trader Joe's.

Quick look at Google Maps, the nearest Trader Joe's is at Naperville - well that's about 15mins drive. So after work, Johnny and myself drove to look for it.
Quite an interesting grocery store - about as big as a typical Walgreen's - it's basically a specialised grocery store. Specialised? I said specialised because it has stuff that you can't find anywhere else.. at least not at the normal groceries stores like Dominick's or Jewel Oslo that we have around Romeoville.
Stuff like what you ask.. stuff like indian delicacies.. briyanis, thai sauces, japanese sauces, many others. What's interesting about Trader Joe's is.. almost like 80% stuff in the stores has their own label - Trader's Joe. They imported stuff and market it here.. I think.

Check out their website for stories about them.

How to get there?
Take Weber Road to North.. turn right at Washington Street (this is the main junction to Naperville town). Then after you've passed the 87th St, and 75th St, slow down and look for Gartner Street, turn left. TJ is at that junction on the left. Search the site for the exact address.

Unfortunately, we can't find the sauce we're looking for. However, Johnny had some exotic oolong chinese tea, while i'm having a nice real tomyam's flavored peanuts! also, I bought a pre-cooked indian dish for my roomate!