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March 19, 2006
Lost Weekend
Doing my taxes and procrastinating because taxes are no fun, especially when you owe the government lots of money. In the meantime, here is an entry I forgot to post last weekend:
One of my favorite activities is trying new cuisines and new foods. I love discovering greasy little spots for a quick cheap bite, don't get me wrong. But I've never been one for greasy Chinese. Just not my thing. There's this place in the neighborhood called "Me and My Eggroll" and while the name intrigues me, the food does not. I'm not going to generalize and say all Chinese food is gross, just generally takeout spots in the US. I know the variety of cuisine one can find in China is vast and I'm sure usually delicious. And I don't want to perpetuate stereotypes here, really!, but take a look at this article about China's first specialty penis restaurant:
On the menu today: horse penis and testicles with a chilli dip
The reporter did a little testical taste-testing (trying saying that three times fast! whoa!) and the best part is this part:
The deer and the Mongolian goat were surprisingly similar: a little stringy, they had the appearance and feel of overcooked squid tentacles. The Xinjiang horse and the donkey, on the other hand, were quite different. Though both came sliced lengthwise, and looked like bacon, the horse was light and fatty, while the donkey had a firm colour and taste. The testicles were slightly crumbly, and tasted better with lashings of the sesame, soy and chilli dips thoughtfully provided.
One speciality, Canadian seal penis, costs a hefty £220, and requires ordering in advance.
At least the donkey penis looked like bacon - points for that one.
Also, totally unrelated, but did you know Dave Coulier runs his own webiste and it's at www.cutitout.net? Which is sadder: that I know this, or that it's called www.cutitout.net?
So the weekend was pretty busy. Checked out a new place for our party. The lounge we originally had planned on is now really super gay, as in on Saturday nights they have wet tshirt contest. so we ust didn't feel like it would be the best place for a party. So we're doing it in Dumbo and this fantastic little lounge. Also saw Duck Season at the Angelika on Saturday night , a funny if a bit subtle and slow slice-of-life film about two 14 year old boys living in Mexico City. I'm trying to watch more Spanish-language films and television programs to acclimate myself to the langauge again. Yesterday, I talked to my aunt in Honduras for the first time and although I'd like to say the conneciton was bad (it was!) my Spanish was worse. Part of the problem is that I don't have an authentic accent. I have a non-accent, like the textbooks from which I studied in school. It's hard to really be able to speak a language when you don't actually speak it all that often. It's like knowing the lyrics to a song: it doesn't mean you know how to sing the tune (my several attempts at Karaoke have proven the truth of this anology) Last night we saw Trick & The Heartstrings at the Mercury Lounge. My old friend Leif is their bassist and they really rocked out hard. It was a great show and they're impossible to classify- sort of a more dance-punky version of Prince? Their sound is totally fresh though and their instrumentals really complex and interesting. They even had their moves coordinated while they were playing their instruments and singing. It was quite a performance, though he was so much in his zone we didn't get the chance to talk. Leif and I were friends in London back when we were both studying abroad there, and we've been in touch again lately because he's giving me some tips about Honduras. Like me, his mom is Honduran, and his dad was Jewish, and he grew up in Northern California. And, incredibly we discovered, our moms are from the same tiny Honduran town of San Lorenzo. Before we met, neither of us know any other Hondurans, and so the fact that our families are from the same town is just remarkable.
Posted by debbie at March 19, 2006 1:52 PM