PlanJam!From your screen to the scene

Sometimes it’s relaxing just to wander about all by yourself. One Friday night I was wandering around lovely Forest Park, the city that boasts small town charm amidst a big city atmosphere. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I stumbled across a few little treasures that revived my once-dead belief that the suburbs can be home to interesting places, too.

Not sure of what I’d find inside, I walked into Madison Street’s Priya Grocery. From the outside, it just looks like an old Mom and Pop corner store. But when you walk in, you see it’s much more than that. Priya Grocery stocks their shelves with Indian groceries, specialties and treats, as well as common staples to help you get through the week. In the cooler, you’ll find freshly made foods from local Indian restaurants. As you head farther back down the long, narrow aisles, the food becomes more and more authentic, and if you were going to prepare a delicious Indian meal, you’d probably want to stop here first.

As I approached the counter, I chatted with a young girl who was helping tend the cash register. She mentioned that she did Henna designs for $5.00. Thinking back to high school when my best friend and I would get elaborate Henna tattoos on our hands, I couldn’t resist the urge to take a few minutes and let her try her artistic skills out on me. She opened a tube of the dye and went right to work. The smell is so relaxing and it gives of such a soothing aroma. Having it done sort of has the same feel as getting your nails done, so I felt very pampered.

When she was done, I held my hand out and admired her artwork. It was the kind of spur-of-the-moment thing that you never could have planned. As my hand dried, I strolled through the store checking out the unique inventory.

The great thing about Priya is that it carries items you’d never find in say, Jewel or Dominick’s. I spotted a huge bag of loose tea and picked it up, holding it to my nose. The smell was terrific! Way in the back, in the freezer, there was all kinds of prepared foods that just needed heating up. I grabbed a few things from the freezer and from the cooler in the front. There was no way I was going to settle for McDonald’s tonight—I wanted to cook myself a real meal.

And as I stood in line to pay, my eyes wandered over the titles of hundreds of Indian movies, which the owners rent out as well. A grocery store and a video store all in one! Talk about dinner and a movie.

Chicagoland has tons of hidden treasures and I think I found one of my favorites. Keep your mind open and you might come across some rare gems yourself.