Going out to eat

Last night I went out to dinner with some friends. We went to a ruma makan, which literally means "eating house." They don't call it a restaurant because a restaurant is a fancy place for rich people. My friends knew the owner (she's the one in the middle of the picture.) This ruma makan had half walls made of woven palm leaves, with a four foot space between the top of the wall and the roof. It made for a nice, cool, open air but out of the rain dinner. (I would have taken a picture of the outside if it hadn't been raining.) I should have taken a picture of the fish that we ate. They usually serve fish whole, and this one was big enough for all four of us to share. It was really good, and I'm going to try to get the recipe for the sauce we dipped it in. I surprised my friends by eating the spicy noodles and the sweet & spicy sauce for the fish. One of my friends asked if I was sure I was a foreigner since I was wearing the clothes, eating the food, and (making and attempt at) speaking the language. To drink I had some amazing juice made from a fruit called Dutch eggplant. Trust me, it tastes nothing like an eggplant. It's actually very close to a strawberries and cream smoothie- absolutely delicious! I was almost hoping I wouldn't like the food here so it would be easy to lose weight- no such luck though- I love it!
In the States, if you know the owner of a restaurant, he might come by your table and say hello and maybe give you a free appetizer. This sweet lady wanted to give us the whole meal for free, she checked several times to see if we needed anything, and she sat down and visited with us after we ate, then invited her workers to come and meet us. We were there for at least two hours, most of which was sitting around talking. If there was ever a friendly culture, this is it.