eating out in Lansdale--- The Oasis

Settling down in Lansdale, PA... who would have thought! After living in college towns in MA, OR, and IL... I end up in a small working class town. But I think things have turned out well and so here is another promo for my new home town (of 12 years). This blog post may just be about the restaurant I have eaten at the most during my whole life. and why not... tasty. inexpensive. healthy. exotic.

First off it took us over a year to find this place, which we likely drove by as we went to eat falafel in a restaurant that did not last long in Harleysville. It is on the first floor of a four square house at 821 West main street between Charles Cleaners and Lansdale Pizza. I went with camera in hand last week and splurged a bit so I could have lots of photos.

Mosaic Woman and I are water drinkers 90% of the time we eat out, but his ice tea is amazing. Fresh fruit and mint! When I say he, I mean the owner, who greets you, waits on you, cooks for you, and cleans up for you after you pay him. Go on a weeknight and he may be the only worker. Go for 8 years and he becomes part of your life.

Soup... Mosaic Woman starts the majority of her meals with this one. Fasoulada is heavy on garlic and one of the few soups I have come across with pinto beans. Two types of lentil soups are frequently ordered by myself.

Sandwiches... I have worked my way through the entire list but here is my highly favored one. Chicken Shawarma! He also makes versions with eggplant and one with london broil.

Now do yourself a favor, when he asks if you want sweets, say, "Yes" at least once. The man will bring a tray of middle eastern pastries and plop it down on your table and walk away. He knows what is missing when he comes back for it later. I ordered some Turkish coffee and walked over to the home of the deserts and chose a piece of nammoura (cake like pastry dipped in honey syrrup).

And finally let me add... this is a great place for vegetarians like Mosaic Woman.

back to Umai with lavender brownies

I have two days left of my 13 day break from teaching, and I could list some things I had hoped to do...

But I want to talk about doing something. Friday morning as I wrote my post Obama speech post, I was baking lavender brownies to follow up on what I wrote of two weeks ago.

I hit Umai Japanese restaurant in Lansdale with a small Tupperware of brownies and sat down at the sushi bar, another exposure for the introvert.... I could have left them on the doorstep with a note ;') But then I would have missed out on getting to know those two guys who shout out the greetings as folk walk in the door.

I was remembered, which helped, as I handed over the brownies. They smiled. I was handed a menu and saw they had lunch boxes. I smiled. I ordered the shrimp teriyaki box. They ate the brownies. The waitress ate a brownie. The waitress forced my waiter to try a bite of the brownies. My Tupperware was handed back to me. Cleaned and filled with Japanese Fish Balls. I ate one, then another, before I put the lid back on.

I chatted and watched as they made sushi. Turns out his cucumber plants also performed terribly this year. common ground. I asked where he had learned his skill. Wondering about such a thing as sushi school, but was pleased to hear his answer. "That guy (pointing to his right) and that is why he is there (in front of the seafood) and I am here."

Yes, that old fashioned way of learning a trade, apprenticeship is alive and well. I have thought about how much better teacher education would be if we were assigned to master teachers for a few years instead of sitting in classrooms more than practicing teaching. I consumed the miso soup.

The box came with the teriyaki, a green salad, some California roll, two dumplings, and a salad which I would have had to asked, "what am I consuming?" to tell you now. When the meal was over I was given an unasked for piece of deep fried banana. Have I ever told you I love bananas...

I had one last question and as a shy introvert it was eventually asked. What does Umai mean? I was told, "great." Good answer.

a web translator tells me..." delicious, appetizing, skillful, clever, expert"

an hour later rain stopped my harvest of green beans at the school, so I did another thing on my list of things needed to be done. I went through some piles of papers in my classroom, as I snacked on fish balls.