Gunmen kill at least 78 in 7 attacks in Mumbai (AP/Yahoo! News)

Gunmen kill at least 78 in 7 attacks in Mumbai (AP/Yahoo! News)

• "The gunmen were specifically targeting Britons and Americans..."
• "Gunmen opened fire on two of the city's best known luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi. They also attacked the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station in southern Mumbai and Leopold's restaurant, a Mumbai landmark."

scary...I was just in Mumbai a month ago...staying at a "luxury" hotel and I was actually looking for Leopold's (but never made it there).

Mi Cocina, Mi Pais

Last Friday, we went to one of my favorite restaurants in the area, Mi, Cocina, Mi Pais (I've been there many times but haven't written about it before). It's a small family-owned Ecuadorian restaurant.

Here a pic of the complimentary chips and salsa they serve:

The salsa was packing some heat!

I had the 'Pescado a la Huancavilca' (fried boneless trout filet - $10.50). I love the pickled onion that is served on the side - it's a very nice complement to the fish. Here's a pic (w/ the pickled onions on top):

Patty had the 'Sango de Camarones' (~$11). It's basically a shrimp stew (containing eight large shrimp). The stew was excellent. Here's a pic:
I also ordered a side of maduros (fried plantains) for us to share ($1.50). I love these...

For dessert, we had the coconut flan ($3.50). This is seriously one of the best desserts EVER. It's more like a layer cake - with a layer of coconut cake on the bottom and a layer of ultra-rich flan on top. Here's a pic:

If you haven't tried Mi Cocina, Mi Pais, I definitely recommend going there!

The food is always excellent and very reasonably priced. Our meal came out to around $28! (not including tip).


Places mentioned:

Mi Cocina, Mi Pais
4221 West Bell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85053

Off to San Diego for the week!

My family is meeting up there to celebrate my parent's 40th anniversary!

True Food Kitchen

My wife and I tried True Food Kitchen last Saturday. True Food Kitchen is the newest restaurant by restauranteur Sam Fox, developed in partnership w/ Dr. Andrew Weil.

We arrived at around 6:30 and waited for around 15 minutes for a table. The lighting on the patio seemed extremely dark so we opted to sit inside. The lighting inside was somewhat inconsistent - we were initially seated in a "dark zone" and ended up moving to an adjacent table partway through our meal.

We shared a hamachi appetizer ("Today's Raw Fish" - MP --> $11) to start. This was a "miss" for me. The slices of fish were drowning in a pool of sauce which completely covered the taste of the fish. A nice controlled drizzle of sauce would have been good. Here's an extremely dark picture, but you can at least see the pool of sauce...

I had the "natural half chicken" w / farro, walnuts, dried fig, brussel sprouts and squash ($18). This dish was excellent - definitely one of the best dishes I've eaten this year! The chicken was extremely juicy. The best part was the skin - nicely seasoned and crispy. All of the sides were nicely prepared. BTW, I am now a fan of farro! Where can I find this stuff?!?

Patty had the "turkey bolognese" ($14). Initially, we both thought this dish was a bit bland. The sauce seemed kind of flat - it was missing something. In the end, she ended liking the dish (it got better as she continued to eat it).

For dessert, we had the "flourless chocolate cake". The cake was served w/ a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. We both thought it was good, although nothing out of the ordinary. I did think it was priced a bit high at $7.

We did notice that the food seemed pretty light and not too oily - consistent with the theme of the restaurant.

Overall, we enjoyed the dining experience and will be back to try some more items.

Sidenote - on a recent trip to Costco, we noticed that they are selling two $50 Fox Restaurant Concepts gift cards for $80.

Places mentioned:

True Food Kitchen
2502 E Camelback Rd #135 (at Biltmore Fashion Park)
Phoenix, AZ 85073

China forcing 6-months' pregnant woman to abort (from AP/AZCentral.com)

Very interesting...

China forcing 6-months' pregnant woman to abort (from AP/AZCentral.com)

Amazing

Here are some of the speakers we will have on the Thunderbird campus over the next week:

• Commander, U.S. Southern Command, Admiral James Stavridis, Topic: "Security and Stability in the Western Hemisphere"
• Co-Founder of Envirofit International, Mr. Paul Hudnut, Topic: "Sustainable Solutions: Pollution, Poverty and Innovation"
• CEO of IFESH (International Foundation for Education and Self-Help), Dr. Julie Sullivan, Topic: "Empowering the Poor in sub-Saharan Africa"
• CEO, Card Services JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Gordon Smith '96, Topic: "Leadership in a Changing World"
• CEO of OPIC (Overseas Private Investment Corporation), Mr. Robert Mosbacher, Topic: "Entrepreneurial Capitalism as a Soft-Power Tool"

Last week, we had the CEO and Chairman of US Airways, Doug Parker, on campus presenting about the airline industry.

The commencement speaker for our fall term will be Luis Alberto Moreno '77, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

What an amazing lineup!

Headed to Salt Lake City

I'm at the airport, en route to Salt Lake City, for what should be my last work-related trip of the year. I've been to a total of thirteen cities in seven weeks (my schedule). Not bad!

Slumdog Millionaire

We went to a screening of the movie Slumdog Millionaire tonight. This movie has it all: action, suspense, humor, love, etc. It's a fantastic film!

The film was especially cool since I was just in India last month.

Here's the trailer:

CHANGE has arrived!

Finally, we have some brains in the White House.

I have exercised my right to vote - have you?

Just back from voting!

I woke up at 5:20am this morning and arrived at my voting location at 5:30am. There were already 43 people in line ahead of me. The location opened at 6am and I submitted my ballot by 6:20am.

Now I've got to deal w/ a little mishap involving my car...