Kansas Food

This is from our first night in our brand new apartment. We were pooped from unloading both Corollas. We had to carry everything up two flights of stairs. That was my workout for the day.

Pizza and beer – the perfect meal after a day of moving. My bears felt entitled to some booze as well.

Topeka is one big strip mall. It has a Walmart Superstore (aka a chaotic shopping experience. it tends to bring out the bitterness in all shoppers. too much stuff and not enough space to navigate), Best Buy, Target, Applebees, Red Lobster….anything to satisfy your corporate Americana needs. Before we moved into the apartment – we were stuck eating out every night….I reached my limit of meat and potato dishes.

So, I ordered up a fast-food Chinese meal at the mall’s food court. This is their sesame chicken dish with fried rice. It tasted more like BBQ sauce with sesame seeds. Still, it’s tough to screw up fried rice – so it was a nice break from American food.

We went out to the Fritz Co. Grill to celebrate signing the lease on our new apartment. It’s a classy joint with some neat seafood and meat dishes. Mark had this tasty pecan-crusted fish entree. I took a picture of our appetizer, deep fried frog legs. It tasted like chicken….but it was a pain to pick through the bones to get to the meat.

I’ve been commuting to the company’s headquarters in Lawrence for more training. I had dinner at Zen Zero. This place features Asian fusion food….I had a yummy Vietnamese coffee – sweet condensed milk coating the bottom and the coffee brewing in a small tin pot on top of the glass. Sweet! It’s just like when I used to satisfy my craving for Vietnamese coffee at Le Cheval in Berkeley. I took a picture of their green curry chicken dish. Super-spicy stuff – I kept chugging water to cool off my tongue. I enjoyed the savory blend of spices and coconut milk. Not quite Thai food – but a great escape from Americana cuisine.