Tandoor Pizza - Desi Pizza in So Flo

Mithai assortment

We Desis really enjoy our food. When a Desi Girl tries to lose weight, the biggest problem she may face is her undying love for food. We come from a part of the world where everything revolves around food! When a baby a born, instead of mailing out announcements, boxes of laddus (round ball shaped sweets make from flour and sugar) or mithai (traditional desi sweets made using sugar, milk, flour, sometimes coconut and various other ingredients) are distributed. A party is thrown and undoubtedly, yummy food is involved. Similarly, unfortunately when someone dies (yes, we are human, we die too you know) there are several events held in remembrance of the deceased, more times than not, food will be served. 

Since the beginning of this year, 2014, I have been trying really hard to lose weight. I have been eating clean, or at least have been trying. I've been avoiding fats, carbs, sugars, and starches. This past weekend, after 46 days of clean eating and being 15 pounds lighter, the husband and I decided I deserved a cheat meal and we should carryout food from somewhere. With the kids, going out to eat is a little difficult. Like most desis, we don’t use babysitters, we've heard so many stories that we’d rather not risk it. We have three girls and they are very close in age so leaving them with family to get some alone time is a preposterous thought. We wouldn't impose on anyone like that, at least not right now, maybe once the girls are a little older.

Sorry, this pic was taken from the car.

There’s a little restaurant, well it’s not so little anymore. They've recently remodeled and expanded, so they now have a nice seating area which is decent in size. Anyways, down in Sunrise, on Oakland Park, between University and Pine Island, there is a restaurant called Tandoor Pizza. We've eaten there a number of times. They have really good Philly Cheese-steaks and wings. They also sell fresh mithai, and other desi desserts.

I’ve become a pro at making Philly cheese-steaks and chicken wings. Making desi pizza though is a whole different story. Even if you buy the pre-made dough or the ready made crust, there’s something about eating fresh pizza from a restaurant that homemade pizza just can't be compare with. So we called and placed our order, and made the trip down south.

If you’re a desi and can handle spicy food, I definitely recommend eating at Tandoor Pizza. If you simply like to eat delicious food, I recommend the restaurant to you too. You can order a wide variety of pizza’s and your typical desi foods. What has me impressed is the fact that they have this chutney (sauce) that’s made using peppers, and I can only guess it might be jalapenos or green chilies, but they use it in their pizza sauce, and it gives their desi pizzas that kick of extra flaming spiciness which we desis love so much. If you can’t handle spicy food, you can ask them to make your food mild. I wouldn't recommend ordering extra hot, because chances are the food will be inedible (we've made that mistake once).

Halal Meat Lover's Pizza

This time we ordered a Meat Lover’s Pizza. The toppings include beef pepperoni, chicken tikka, and a variety of other meats. All the meat is HALAL, and they have a mammoth of a sign on the window stating that as well. The chef in the past was Muslim, I am not sure if that’s still the case. The 16-inch pie was definitely worth the $18! It had their spicy chili sauce and the meats were cooked just right, all in all it was delicious! There was cilantro and chopped onions on the pizza as well. It was unquestionably one of the better pizzas we've had!

Chapli Kebabs

We also ordered 1 order of Chapli Kebab. 1 order comes with 2 beef patties that have chopped onions, tomatoes, green chilies, coriander seeds all mixed in. It’s a rather flat kebab, hence the name Chapli, which literally means flat in Pashto (Pashto is spoken in Afghanistan and in Northern Pakistan). Not to be narcissistic, but I don’t come across Chapli Kebabs as good as the ones I make at home; by the way, I think I make great Chapli Kebabs because I’m half Pathan. Going back to the kebabs, the Chapli Kebabs at Tandoor Pizza were actually scrumptious! I was totally impressed. 

Another thing I absolutely loved about Tandoor Pizza was their naan. We desis are big bread fans, and finding good naan has become a task. Either the naan will be too flat, or it’s too dry; at some places the naan has been overcooked. I felt as though I was Goldilocks when I took a tiny bite of their naan – it was just right! In fact, I am pretty sure the next time we need to place an order for naan it will probably be from Tandoor Pizza.

Jalebis

Since Tandoor Pizza sells the traditional Desi desserts, when my husband went inside to pick up our order, he bought jalebi. Again, this is a very popular dessert with desis. It is basically a batter made of flour that is deep fried and then soaked in in a sugary syrup. Sometimes they are shaped like pretzels, or they are made in a circular pattern. Personally, I think they taste best when they are warm. My husband on the other hand likes his soaked in hot milk. Since I am trying to lose weight, I stayed away from the jalebis. My husband, well, he can eat whatever and never gain an ounce, so naturally, he ate this delectable all by himself, saving me from the extra calories that I didn't really need anyways.

So for now, my next cheat day, well it’s actually going to be a cheat week that I will be getting, won’t be until the end of this month. I will post about other restaurants in the South Florida area, so keep coming back for more. Until then, this Desi Girl will enjoy her lean proteins and yummy greens! 

Desi Girl and Hair Problems

Grass is always greener on the other side, whoever came up with this notion must've known a lot about how many people think. From as far back as I can remember, I've always thought the grass on the other side is much more greener. As a kid I always had long, thick, jet black hair. It was straight and all I wanted was to have brown (actually more like light brown) curly hair. As I was growing up I remember getting my hair chopped off and getting it layered. I even got highlights put in and my hair has never been the same since. 

Layers brought waves in my hair. I would grow it out and then chop it off color it lighter and lighter until I had blonde highlights. Then the trend of having silky straight hair came in. I've always liked being up with the latest trends, but on my terms. I would fly to New York and it would end up costing me a fraction of what it would cost to get my hair done in Boca. I would have the girl up there color and chemically straighten my hair. The processing only made the hair weaker and curlier. 

Finally I invested in a good straightener and vowed to never get my hair bleached or chemically straightened. Somehow though, every year maybe year and a half I would go get it colored, then let it grow out, and repeat this trend. Watching Bollywood movies and Pakistani and Indian drama serials I want to color my hair browns and ash blonde. After watching American movies and TV I want my hair to be dark again. 

Not to long ago, I posted about being classy the desi way. Similarly, about a year and a half ago, I discovered a a little place that has turned out to be the best salon in South Florida!! My stylist is Karen. She only works 2 days, Thursday's and Sunday's but if you're desi and want to get a cut, blow-dry, color, or highlights, I can't think of any place better than this salon! 

I had a few desi parties to go, in case you've forgotten we pretty much need an excuse to get together and eat. My hair was actually 3 different colors, and so as always Karen came to the rescue. I texted her and asked when would be good for her. I explained what had happened to my hair... I attempted to color it at home to make the ends darker, and the roots lighter. Let's just leave it at, if you're desi and cursed with dark hair that's been been double processed, unless you're a pro DON'T TRY TO DO ANYTHING AT HOME! 

Luckily for me, Karen was able to fix my hair, and unlike the various other salons I've been to in the past, let's just say a full head of highlights, double processed coloring, cut, blow dry, and a deep conditioning treatment cost less than what a full head of highlights would've cost. 

The Salon is located on Hillsboro and Powerline, in the Deerfield Mall. It's in the strip-mall that is located facing Hillsboro, slightly west of Powerline, on the south side. 

For now, the grass on my side is as green as it gets!!

Stealing his last name

It took me seven years and three kids to finally decide that my husband would be a keeper. Well, okay no, not really, desi marriages normally are till death do us part, for the most part at least. Unless god forbid there are some major problems such as abuse, and sometimes infidelity in which case divorce is permissible and understandable. Even then, some desis will try to make things work, especially if kids are involved.  I really liked my maiden name. My husband on the other hand, well, he's been on my case to change my name, but being as stubborn as I am, I kept procrastinating. Until now, when graduation is near. I want my Degree to show my husband's last name because without his support, I probably wouldn't have gotten here. 

Being a girl makes things a little easy if you want to change your name. Although I hear its really difficult to change your name back. The things you need (at least in the state of Florida) are your marriage certificate, social security number, driver's license, proof of your legal status (so if your a citizen your passport or birth certificate, and if you're a legal resident your green card) and lot's of patience. 

Since my marriage took place in Pakistan, my marriage certificate is a translation of the traditional Muslim marriage certificate. Muslim's typically have what is called a Nikah and it's an actual contract. It states some interesting information on it, which I could probably write its own post about. Anyways, it is about the size of 2 legal pages combined, next to each other. 

After dropping my kids off at preschool this past Wednesday, I took the baby with me to the Social Security Administration office. There's one office in Delray Beach, off of Atlantic and Military, and there is one office in Margate off of Banks and Coconut Creek Parkway. These 2 happen to be the closest to where I live. I decided to go to the Delray office since it normally isn't busy. But just as my luck would have it, I pull up to the office, and saw a huge line outside; I proceed to strap the baby in the stroller. It was really cold and I figured maybe the long line is for something else. Once I got closer to the office I realized the long line was just to get inside of the office. It took 40 minutes just to get inside the doors. Also, if you've got a baby with you and you have a baby bag, be prepared to have the on duty patrol skim through your bag. 

Once inside, there is a computer, its more like a touch screen boxy thing where you have to punch in why you are visiting and what you need help with. Since I was changing my name and that was one of the options it was pretty simple. A receipt gets printed out which has a letter and number on it. That number is used to call you to a window. There are applications that need to be filled out if you are changing your name or requesting a replacement card, so the next thing I did was fill out the form and then sat down. 

The office was filled with people. There were a few people with little kids like myself, and obviously the kids were getting fussy. Once inside, it took another hour. There is a big screen TV on the wall that displays the number(s) that is (are) being called. Some people were being called by their name and taken to the back of the office, while others were called in no particular numerical order to the windows. The lady behind the glass window that called my number wasn't friendly at all. I proceeded to be as polite as possible and gave her my license, the form I had filled out, and my marriage certificate. She asked if I was a citizen, so I handed her my passport. She asked if I had just gotten married recently, I told her it happened 7 years ago.  I found it kind of pointless that the office takes your information, scans it and enters it into their system and then you have to wait 2 days before they can give you a print out that shows your new name associated with the social. Without the print out, you can't change your name on your ID or Driver's License, and without it being on the ID, you can't really prove you've changed your name. 

After the 2 days went by, on Friday, I decided to go to the SSA office in Broward County. After my older 2 were at Preschool, I dropped the baby off at my mom's and made the drive down south. The office on Banks and Coconut Creek is a nicer and bigger building. There are two separate waiting areas. I was told to go towards the room on the left, sign in to the computer, fill out another form, and wait there. The much more friendlier patrol told me to sign in for a replacement card. This side of the office had 3 windows. I got to the office around 10:40 and was highly disappointed to see there was only 1 person behind the window. The other 2 places were empty.

Once again I sat down patiently and waited. Some people were getting angry and started complaining at how long they had been there. A few people started to leave. It had been 30 minutes since I had signed in and I was certain I'd be there forever. Finally one more SSA employee started to call numbers out too, and then the third window also had an employee at it. The line seemed to go much quicker now, plus a lot of the customers had already left. When I was called, I handed the lady all my stuff really quickly and told her I applied for a name change 2 days ago and wanted the print out so I could change my name on the license. It literally took maybe 3 minutes from that point. This lady was much more friendly and even smiled a few times. She gave me the print out and I was on my way.  

Once in my car, I Google-ed Florida DMV locations, and I got a location that was literally across the street, right on Banks. This saved me time, because I was going to drive to the one that is slightly south of Hillsboro on Military. I found parking right up front. I walked in and was called up right away. There was NO WAIT! I loved it! I told the lady I changed my name and handed her the print out from the SSA and my then license. She asked for my marriage certificate and that was scanned into the system once again. The lady asked if I wanted the name changed on my voter's registration card and made the change from her computer right then and there. Lastly, I was asked to get my picture taken. This was the one thing I was not prepared for; that's right, I had no make-up on, and my hair was up in a messy bun! After my picture was taken I walked up to the cashier, paid and waited maybe another 2-3 minutes until I was given my new license; my DL number now begins with a Z instead of a K, but that's okay.

Once I got home, I faxed all the papers over to my University's registrar's office, so hopefully the University will have my new last name up soon. I just wished the SSA would have made better use of today's technology. It's clear there are new offices and maybe even new ways of doing things, but the office can further improve its process. It is disappointing to know that if you schedule an appointment online for the SSA the wait is 3 months long! Maybe instead of making people wait 2 days to get the information uploaded into their server, perhaps the SSA should let customers upload documents over the internet. This would save so much time. Customers can upload their documents, and then get an email letting them know the information has been accepted by the system, and the customer can drive to any SSA office to request a new SS card after providing originals to be verified. 

Some states require you to post your name change in the paper. Luckily that isn't the case in Florida. Don't forget to inform companies of your name change. I called Geico and gave them my new DL number. I also stopped by the bank to document the change there. I will also need to report the change to my neighborhood for it to be in the system so I can get in and out of my community easier, in case there is a new employee working at the gate. 

It probably will take some time getting used to being called Mrs. Z---- and using my new last name. It's a good thing College Graduations aren't in alphabetical order like High School Graduations are. In any event, I will now know to look for my name towards the end instead of looking for it in the middle. I also like the idea of having a hyphenated last name, but for now, this Desi Girl has stolen his last name.