Being surrounded by people of many ethnicities was part of my experience in growing up in metro Detroit.  I never realized how ethnically diverse my hometown was until we began this adventure.  Not only did I look past the many shades of skin that I encountered daily, but I took for granted the variety of food options that this provided. 

Restaurants offering many unique cultural experiences were within a few miles’ drive of our home. Discussions to decide where we would go out for dinner began with what ethnicity food we would eat.  We could narrow things down from there.  In addition to having all these restaurants available to us, we also had an amazing selection of grocery stores in which to shop for unique ingredients.  Any day of the week allowed me to grocery shop at specialty markets like Honeybee Market in Mexicantown, 168 Asian Mart, a massive Asian food emporium in Madison Heights, or Patel Brothers Indian market in Farmington Hills. 

Living on the road and often spending time in more remote areas, restaurant selections are much more limited.  In most places, if you ask a local about ethnic restaurants, they are likely to point out a pizza place that also serves pasta or the Mexican-ish taco joint.  Not that there’s anything wrong with these types of restaurants.  We may even have gone to them and enjoyed it.  More likely though that if we’re going out to eat in one of these areas, our discussion about where to go revolves around the quality of the beer list (also known as whether they have beer other than Bud and Miller Lite ) and how late they stay open (past 7 is good for us). 

When we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota, after three-ish months of more rural living, my mouth began watering as soon as I saw the sign advertising an Indian Buffet.  This town was shaping up to be something special!  Google showed us that there were multiple options in town for ethnic cuisine that went well beyond Mexican and Italian.  Imagine that!  So many options, including Indian, Chinese, and Thai.  In that week that we “camped” in the parking lot of Dakota RV, we found time to try a few of these places.

Since we’re not always in places where we have so many choices, I’ve adopted a couple “go-to” Asian-flavored dishes (one Chinese and one Indian) that I make for us when we are missing the variety that we had before.  You can prepare and enjoy these dishes, no matter how small (or big) your kitchen is.  And since my kitchen and pantry are small, I’m going for maximum flavor with minimal space.  They are weeknight, easy meals that take less than an hour to prepare, including all the chopping.

I’ve yet to figure out a Thai dish to satisfy my craving. If you have a recipe that you suggest or a favorite Asian-influenced dish you make at home, please comment on this blog or email me your suggestion.  I’m always looking to try something new.