No Reservations #1: Grasshoppers

You may have heard that I fancy myself an Anthony Bourdain wannabe... a novice "Tony" Bourdain in training, if you will. It all started when Tivo suggested I watch "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel. My Tivo is so smart, I swear. Anyway, 1/3 of the way through the episode ("Ghana," I believe), I was smitten.

He's way more hardcore than I'll ever be, but a girl can try, can't she? I love to try new things, but rarely do I have the chance to feast on bull testicles, stomach sacks, and various insects. But, as part of my new year's resolution to "Emulate Anthony Bourdain whenever possible," I knew that last Saturday's trip to Oyamel would prove to let me test the waters.

.Grasshoppers.

Oh yes, they were that big (No, they weren't).

LM, RZ, DW, CC and I went to dinner at Oyamel - my first time, decently yummy, fish wasn't all that - and I ordered the Tacos de Chapulines: The legendary Oaxacan speciality of sautéed grasshoppers, served with shallots, garlic and tequila.

Let's enjoy the eating process:

Doesn't look so bad, does it?

Yep... the closeup doesn't do it any favors.

Oh boy. This looks more fun than it was. CC, in the background, looks so happy because SHE wasn't eating grasshoppers.

And yet, they were delicious. Again, please note CC's "face of compassion" for her friend. Bah!

All in all, I'd say they were pretty delicious. Crunchy, salty, and masked with guacamole to take the edge off. I imagined they'd be bigger, so it was mildly freaky to watch the smaller 'hoppers fly out of the other end of the taco whenever I'd take a bite. But I definitely think I'd order them again. Maybe.

Sheesh - emulating Anthony Bourdain is tres difficult.

Thanks, RZ, for the pictures.

"Always, ALWAYS, get chili on your nachos bell grande"

(I hate that commercial)

Turns out, I hate a lot of things. Last night I realized that I keep saying that a lot. "I hate that commercial," "I hate stupid people," "I hate Pepsi," "I hate FOX," and "I hate Tim McCarver" are the first 5 things that come to mind, and that's really only the first hour. Terribly unattractive, no? I even brought me down. So I'm going to have to go ahead and try and fix that.

I was thinking about it today on a car drive home, and decided that I should come up with a list of at least ten things that I love... ten things that I love, but perhaps never realized or never vocalized. So, here you go:

1. I love October - the leaves, the weather, the treetops, the smell, and Halloween. I love it all.
2. I love iced tea - OL pointed it out to me last weekend, and I was a smidge confused, but it's true. I love it. Unsweetened, with lemon, without, Pom, Green, Oolong, Black. Whatevs. Bring. It. On.
3. I love the scenery of western Maryland - Turns out, it's a beautiful drive.
   
4. Okay, I may even love the scenery of that bit of Pennsylvania between western Maryland and Breezewood. Might.
5. I love Sheetz - and this is a love that cannot be properly conveyed. I don't love it more than Sonic, but their pretzel bread is fabulous. And their motto is "Live fast, eat well." Not exactly fast-food appropriate, but certainly words to live by. I approve.
6. I love living in DC - and nothing makes that more clear than when I'm driving back home after being away.
   
7. I love wedding dress shopping for other people - and that one is self-explanatory.
   
8. I love the Red Sox - not exactly an Earth-shattering revelation, but watching them these past few weeks with friends has really been fun.
   
9. I love J.D. Drew - even though he's not the one we thought looks like Teddy.
   
10. Finally, I love me some Americana - diners, filling (better known as "stuffing" or "dressing"), and (duh) baseball.
    

After performing this karmariffic duty, I felt my chi change and I sang all the way home - happy as a clam.

Now I'm waiting on the Sox to take it to the World Series. Sheesh.

"My God, My Country, My Republican Party"

They have the internet in the south?

Yeah! Turns out they do! Awesome, right? You know what else Durham, North Carolina has? BISCUITVILLE!

Wasting away in Biscuitville...

This is a real place in North Carolina. I don't jest.

So I'm currently in Durham right now, visiting the one and only LM (formerly of DC status), and I'm having a North-Carolina-riffic time. Want a highlight? You got it.

My State Fair is a great state fair

Today at the North Carolina State Fair (yes, I went to the fair), we obviously saw a ton of stickers which read, "My God, My Country, My Republican Party." Not to be outdone by the simpleminded sloganry of the NC GOP, LM turned to me and said, "My Abortion, My Same-Sex Marriage, My Democratic Party."

Word.

(Go Sox.)

Quick & Delish

It's a comfort to know, When you're singing the hit-the-road blues, That anywhere else you could possibly go after New York would be... a pleasure cruise
I went to NY this weekend, and it was so dead. I'm not even kidding. Star, star, star, love, love, love... The trusty DC2NY bus delivered us (RL, DW and me) safely and soundly in Popsicle-like formation. It was chilly, but this non-profit girl likes her non-profit ride. Giddy-up.

To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
After checkin' in with the dream team (AG3 and DF), we knew what we had to do... a little comfort food and it was off to the 'berry. So dead. So, so dead. Words cannot express the excitement, but the pinkberry theme song accurately captures my sentiments.

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes, How Do You Measure The Life Of A Woman Or A Man?
525,600 minutes later... I was ready for dinner and RENT. AG3 lived up to his word and ordered the house drink... twice. DF befriended the six-year-old annoyance at the table next to us, and DW described Who Decides? (naturally, I mean - what else would one discuss over dinner, other than abortion?)... two ginger mojitos and one in-depth M&M conversation later, and I was ready for Anthony and Adam.

In The Evening I've Got To Roam, Can't Sleep In The City Of Neon And Chrome, Feels Too Damn Much Like Home When The Spanish Babies Cryyyyyyyy
What can I even say about the RENT experience that could possibly do it justice? My guess is nothing. So I won't even try. Adam was amazing, Anthony and I (I'm convinced) shared a v. meaningful four-second eye lock in which I seized the opportunity to convey my deepest and darkest devotion. I think he got the message, but there's a small chance my tear-streaked face came across as a bit... needy. Whoops.

Let's go. This lot is full of mother-f*cking artists.
So... the autograph collection operation wasn't as seamless as previously planned, but DW is nothing if not determined, and I make an eager sidekick. After high-fiving ED and RL, we bid our slightly-less deranged and decidedly more sensible friends adieu and weaseled our way into the thick of things. Hours later, we emerged VICTORIOUS... with signatures, pictures, and goofy smiles. Whatever, I had fun.

We raise our glass, you bet your ass to... La Vie Boheme
After a quick phone call to the Durham-bound LM, we went to meet-up with the boys. DF and AG3 agreed that DW's grade was a decidedly promising B+. She was stoked. I was ready for some RENT-rehashing and wine drinking and DF and AG3 easily obliged. Many glasses of wine later, I met wii.

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii: I only get two turns? That's bulls*it.
AG3 and I went home while DF and DW had a mean girls pow-wow (I know it may look like I was being like a bitch, but that's only because I was acting like a bitch) over pizza. In that time, I had two (three? ten?) more glasses of wine and learned two things: bowling is much more fun with a wii (but apparently, you're turn doesn't end when all the pins are down like I originally thought, but rather after two-turns), and I love my best. Such a good friend, DF.

And evil takes a human form in Regina George.
I woke up having slept a measly 3.5 hours. I needed coffee, a nap, a newspaper, and a new attitude. After taking off some pre-bloody mary aggression on DW, I rebounded quickly for my breakfast sliders. Delish.

"I'm Forbidden To Produce Milk. In Cyberland, We Only Drink Diet Coke."
Here's what happened next... shopping, walking, subway-riding, and covert-purse buying. Ask DW all about it. I obviously stocked up on unnecessary Pearl River products to pile up in my empty kitchen (who cooks in a kitchen? not I!) cabinets. RL waited in a three-hour line for the facilities and I introduced AG3 to the orange blossom iced tea. I'm a good friend. Sadly for DF, there was no new Starbucks literature to take home and read. Sad.

Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care?
So yeah, I had more pinkberry... green tea this time. And it was major. And I don't care if you think that's lame... take the dang picture and make sure you get 'pinkberry' in it, ok? While kicking-back in the park across the street from the 'berry, we saw a parade (I hate parades) and our first celebrity sighting: Perry! Britney's ex-manny. Super fun. He must love mean girls, because LM and RZ saw him in New Orleans and broke the cover story. True fact. RL had no idea who we were talking about...

A Dismal D-
Then we had to go home. And that sucked because our bus driver was mean, she made me watch a Beyonce movie (vom), we weren't allowed to eat in the bus (whatevs, I broke that rule), and I was nauseous the entire ride home... so I give this portion of the trip a Dismal D- (just like our nation's grade).

THE END
(Thanks, boys, for being super-fun-party-people. It was major.)

New York : DEAD

Don't act like you know what "DEAD" means, because you don't. I don't even know what it means. All I know is, I'll be saying it for the next couple of months.

As you may have gathered from the pinkberry post, I was in NY this weekend. Tragically, I hadn't been since April of last year. Don't worry though, DF and I worked on a plan and the situation has been rectified.

I'm going to try and cover all the gloriousness in one post, and I'm going to try and bogart someone else's recapping technique... so do let me know what you think. Hopefully it'll be up by the end of today.

Oh yes, Pinkberry was had

Ordering @ Pinkberry

And it's totally worth it to click on the link b/c the pinkberry theme song, a groove that is a little bit Disney and a little bit sassy, rocks.

More details to come (for those of you that care... all 3).