Laissez les bons temps rouler!
(If you're not from south Louisiana, that's Cajun French for, let the good times roll! Be warned: this post might not make a whole lot of sense to you...)
When I made my top 10 of favorite things here, one the things I was most excited about was being able to cook new foods. While I have learned to make roti and chaptis, 2 kinds of bread here, my favorite things are actually all the American foods I've finally had to just learn to make since my mom's not here to cook all that good stuff for me :) Anyway, yesterday's meal was by far my proudest cooking moment:

Yes, folks, that is real Cajun gumbo! (or as close as you can get here!). We made a roux (base for this soup-like dish), with a little trial and error, and then made a pretty decent chicken gumbo (terribly sad that there is no sausage here...). We also made potato salad (in the side of my bowl of gumbo, the best way to have it!) and my roomie even made homemade french bread. It was quite an awesome meal, even if it's warm here now (definitely not "gumbo weather"). I think the next thing we'll take on is King Cake...mmm...

Other additions to things that I LOVE here (thanks to K and others for suggestions):

-being able to have pretty much anything you could want delivered to your door with no delivery charge

-naan, roti, chapatis and all the other good food here

-crazy signs (in English or Hindi): ie, after all the bird flu scare, there are now signs up with pics of chicken that say "East or West, Chicken is Best!)

-riding on scooters

-Bollywood Movies...enough said

-crazy, noisy, wild, festivals, all the time

More to come as I think of them...:)