Sunday, August 12
On Saturday we picked up some Vietnamese takeout for dinner. Even though the place is just across the street from our apartment this is the first time that we noticed it. Everything looked great and the smell was wonderful. We couldn’t resist. We’re not 100% sure of what we ordered but we got three spring rolls (we asked for four but after some back and forth we came to realize that only three come in an order), some rice with chicken and vermicelli noodles with beef. It was all really quite good. It was a bit of a challenge to order because the staff in the restaurant spoke hardly any English and you know we don’t speak Vietnamese or Romanian!
(Vietnamese Food for Dinner)
We also picked up something for dessert. Just a block away is a small Turkish cafe serving all sorts of goodies that we were introduced to in Bulgaria. We bought some rose flavored Turkish Delight, vanilla flavored halavah and something called Kadaif Nuca, which we had never seen before. The pastry was similar to a bird’s nest and the filling was similar to baklava but it had a crunchy top layer that was covered with nuts. Of course the whole thing was drenched in honey syrup. It didn’t stink!
(Turkish Desserts)
Continuing on our quest for interesting food we decided to go to the Mega Mall on Sunday. It’s a rather large shopping mall that was built in 2015. Deborah had been going through shopping withdrawal so this seemed like a kind thing to do. The mall is about three miles from our apartment so it made for a nice stretch of the legs. After yesterday’s feast we needed the exercise.
We scoped out the mall before heading to the food court. What should we see there – Nadelya, our favorite pastry shop from our time in Bulgaria. We were DEFINITELY going there for dessert.
(We ate at Dinner for Lunch!)
The food court had a huge selection. Like so many places we’ve been one of the most popular places was KFC. They also had a McDonalds, Taco Bell and Sbarros but of course we opted for something local. We wound up getting our food from a place called, “Dinner (food)”. Think My Cousin Vinny. How could we resist? We shared an order of fried cod and fried chicken. They came with a cabbage and dill pickle salad and a rice pilaf with peppers. Yeah, these people really love their carbs.
(Lunch at Dinner!)
Afterwards we headed over to Nadelya. We were shocked to see the prices. In Bulgaria we paid around $20.00 for two cappuccinos and two pieces of cake. In Bulgaria that was a lot of money. This time we ordered two fancy coffee drinks (cold lattes with caramel sauce) and two pieces of cake and the cost was only about $11.00. It was the same cake we had eaten before and it was so very good. We had one piece of the meringue cake (they called it “French Kiss” in Bulgaria) and one piece of their signature “Nedelya” cake. It’s a good thing that the mall is about three miles away or we’d be in real trouble.
(Dessert at Nedelya)
While we were at the mall Deborah desperately tried to buy a pair of shoes. Her Tom’s died back in Dresden and she’s been on a hunt ever since. It was only a matter of time before she reverted to her old habits. One of the stores had a great sale on Tom’s but it turned out that the only sizes they had left were unsuitable. She did manage to buy some socks and a watch band. Some habits are hard to break.
Distance walked: 8.9 miles