chef Tanya’s Kitchen at Indian Wells – Palm Springs
Yesterday, I was at Indian Wells to watch some great tennis! Holil mentioned that this tournament was coming up and that we should join him to buy a pass! While I wanted to and wasn’t sure if I was able to find the time to visit. During the week I had been so busy that I totally forgot about tennis altogether. Arnoud reminded me and we could both use some fun after an eventful week.
While I grew up, I often watched tennis as in the grand slam tournaments but especially Roland Garros. I am a big Nadal fan and I will stay one despite his retirement! I never went to a life match before expect for the ABN AMRO Open but, sorry to Richard (Krajicek) that I am about to say this, but it doesn’t compare to tennis paradise located in the desert in Palm Springs. Once you arrive, one feels the scorching heat of the sun of ones skin. The parking lots are next to a vary large dried up river bedding that reminded me of the river Nile in Egypt. The entire picture looked like an oasis. Unfortunately, I had no time to take any photos or stare into the oasis abyss since I needed to pee so bad! The parking lot is huge and after asking where the nearest restrooms were, they indicated I needed to walk all the way up to the entrance. Which was a ten minutes walk or so. Halfway the walk when I almost couldn’t hold it any longer a line of Dixies showed up! I quickly ran towards the toilets, asked the girl in front of the Dixies if she was waiting in line in which she replied that she wasn’t! She indicated to one that I could use, I opened the door and of course there was a man peeing without having locked the door! I was too much in a rush to mind so I went to the next green lock and finally I was able to pee! After I had released my bladder, I could enjoy the surroundings again while we walked up towards the entrance to make my entry to my first ever big tennis tournament: Indian Wells!
We had tickets for stadium one at International Womens day and we were there to see the match between Coco Gauff (4) and Alexandra Eala (32). We checked out our seats before the match started and decided to look for chef Tanya’s Kitchen which was recommend by Terry who gave us our wristbands to re-enter and ate a lovely curry the evening before from their restaurant! She told me it was a vegan restaurant and that they probably would have some gluten-free options for me too! The restaurant was around the corner of our seating which was very convenient. Inside the restaurant I asked about cross-contamination and allium-free dishes. By surprise I found out that the salad they offered, including the sauce, was entirely allium-free! There was nothing I needed to substitute nor leave out of my dinner! To drink, following the recommendation of the lovely mister, that worked at chef Tanya’s Kitchen, I took the fresh lime and mint agua fresca. We returned to our seats and the match had started! I opened the lid of my salad and after checking if the creamy mango lime dressing sauce was safe to eat, I emptied it all over my Coachella Forever salad! I enjoyed every minute of my salad and I almost shed a tear in disbelief that I found something tasty gluten and allium-free to eat while watching the sunset and some awesome tennis!
Coachella Forever, price: 17.95 Description: a festival in your mouth of crunchy romaine & cabbage, quinoa, avocado, cucumber, black beans, jicama, cilantro, toasted pepitas, currants, cool and creamy mango lime dressing, chili con limon dust.
To grab a dessert, I went back to the restaurant and found this gluten-free flavoured popcorn! Churros, Cinnamon & Chocolate what is not too like!
To snack on these while the second match is playing: Tommy Paul vs Joao Fonseca.