Random Bits
After all, what is your hosts' purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.
--P. J. O'Rourke

Last night, E and I had a great, but oddly international, evening. First, we went to play it again sports because the gods and I successfully conspired to convince E into buying a set of golf clubs [rubs hands, EX--cellent]. Then, we headed to the Japanese grocery store near the play-it-again because we're rarely in this area of town and how can you not go to the Japanese market? After we drooled over the sushi-grade fish selection, we picked up all sorts of good stuff that we don't normally get to have at home like chili rice crackers, fresh frozen mochi, roasted barley tea, fresh frozen soba, and noodle dipping sauce. Shopping when you can't read is always a fun experience--it's sort of like traveling very quickly. We finally left the market when it became apparent that we were picking up stuff because we were hungry, not because we knew what it was or whether we'd enjoy eating it.

From there, we headed to a favorite Mexican food joint that is renown for their tequila selection which includes upwards of 300 blue agave options. We savored simple enchiladas de pollo, chile colorado, y margaritas. The one drawback was the accoustics--there was no avoiding the loud voice of the salesman in the corner (bouncing off both walls). E and I were treated to a jargon-filled explanation of his start-up to an older, more experienced-sounding gentleman (aka a grey-hair). The economy must be on the upswing if this guy's getting funding, either that or he just popped out of a time machine from 1999 and no-one's bothered to explain the new rules to him. Dude, you need to understand the words you use. At least some of them.

We arrived home too full to move, swearing we'd never eat again (we regularly make this oath, it's sort of a religion for us). So, we sat on the couch and finished off our multi-cultural evening with L'auberge Espagnole. Nothing like hearing Japanese, Mexican Spanish, Catalan, Castillion Spanish, French, and a few phrases of Italian and Danish to give you f*cked up dreams.