As someone who has either always lived in or in close proximity to a major city, I am one of those “big city” people who has oftentimes stereotyped smaller cities and towns for not always having great multiethnic cuisine. Is it a negative stereotype? Yes. Is it always true? Of course not. But the reason it’s a stereotype is because it’s true in a lot of cases. I don’t think anyone in Springfield, Massachusetts, thinks that Springfield is the Indian food mecca of the United States. But what might be surprising is that one of the very best Indian meals we’ve had at a restaurant recently has been in Springfield, or specifically at the restaurant Panjabi Tadka.

I was perusing different food blogs and looking at Google Reviews and Yelp when compiling our list of potential places to eat at while in Springfield, and Panjabi Tadka seemed to get very positive reviews. Apparently, a lot of business travel takes people to Springfield, and a number of those visitors who self identified as Indian said they were traveling from other large metropolitan areas, and the food they ate at Panjabi Tadka was, they declared, the best Indian food they’d had in the entire United States. Well, that’s a pretty big compliment.

Panjabi Tadka says on their menus that everything they make is “handmade/house made.” And after eating the food, I really believe it. We ordered gobi manchurian, aloo paratha, lamb curry, saag paneer, two pooris, one sweet lassi, and one mango lassi. The curries came with rice as well as freshly made pappadams, which already hinted at how good the food would be to come. The pappadams were lightly spiced with whole cumin seeds. The pooris were clearly freshly fried and drained, with this beautiful golden hue that I don’t recall ever seeing on a poori before. The saag paneer was rich, but not too buttery: it was clear they used a mixture of greens and not just spinach to create a complex greens flavor. I also loved that the pieces of paneer were a bit irregular, which meant that they definitely made the paneer (cheese) in house. Chris raved about how fluffy the basmati rice was, as well as the taste and texture of the lamb in the curry: “This lamb is like the lamb you get in Australia.” That is a huge compliment coming from him, my Aussie baby.

After tasting how good all the food was, especially the paneer, we decided to get ras malai for dessert since it would also be cheese based. And it was definitely NOT a mistake: this was some of the creamiest, most delicious ras malai I’d had. I couldn’t believe how light and creamy the texture was on these little cheese paddies. It was a couple bites of total heaven!

While we obsessed about how good the main dishes were, Pookster just continued to fixate on the pappadam (“Cracker! Cracker!”) and barely ate much of anything else. But well, at least we enjoyed our very delicious North Indian meal at a little unassuming restaurant in Springfield, MA.

Growing up, I didn’t own a lot of books. My parents heavily relied on the local public library for reading, and then, I didn’t know the difference between owning or borrowing a book. All I knew was that I loved reading, loved books in all forms, and loved stories. Given that I didn’t own many children’s books, I never had a deep attachment to any one book or story. When I hear about people in my age range still having fond memories of reading Goodnight, Moon, Dr. Seuss books, or The Very Hungry Caterpillar over and over, I can’t really relate to it.

There are some children’s books, though, that have been around for what feels like forever that people as adults are still attached to and obsessed with. Dr. Seuss’s books are some of them. Dr. Seuss’s real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel, and he was responsible for writing and illustrating endless children’s books, including the classic The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Green Eggs and Ham. During World War II, Dr. Seuss also took a break from children’s books to focus on political cartoons for a number of publications. Since Theodor Seuss Geisel was born and raised in Springfield, this is also where the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss the museum is, so we thought it would be fun to take Kaia here. The ironic part about taking her to the Dr. Seuss museum is that to my knowledge, she has never read any Dr. Seuss book (unless the ex-nanny read one to her at the library and didn’t tell me).

When at museums like this one or the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, the parts of the exhibits that I find the most interesting are the ones that talk about the personal lives of the artist. I loved the part of the exhibit where Geisel’s nephew (also named Theodor without an “e” at the end”) donated to the museum the endless cards and letters that Geisel had sent him over the years, each with a cute little message, (it’s hinted there was also cash/check included in many as a gift), and a fun illustration in the same style as his famous children’s books. What a treat it would be to receive something handmade and illustrated like that for every birthday or Christmas!

The Dr. Seuss museum isn’t a traditional “exhibits” type museum, though, as it was made and designed for kids to interact. Kaia especially loved the turtle shell area and (predictably) the bakery where she could “cook.” I was really impressed with how colorful and elaborate the entire place was. If Kaia were just a little older, she could have enjoyed more of it, as there were some interactive parts that had arts and crafts and other fun activities.

It was a fun visit both indoors with the museum and outdoors with the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. Though it definitely came at a steep price: $25 per adult! At least Kaia was free!