Holy Mother of BSE!

Here it is almost Labor Day and not one single Best Summer Ever post?!?!?!?!?! First off I highly recommend four wheeling in the country. I spent a week in central Illinois and had a blast: cousin's wedding, side trip to Memphis (and Graceland!), a family reunion, and a great drive through the countryside on ATVs. The coolest part was when, after driving through countless fields of corn and soybeans, we came across a shack that was built on stilts because it was next to the Sangamon River (in case of flooding, right?). So this shack is total redneck fishing cabin - no running water, an outhouse, random bones everywhere, no real road to get there, etc. But once we took the ATVs to a sandbar on the river it was amazing. You couldn't see a single hint of civilization, not counting sandy beer cans (even oldies with pull tabs). But this was great because of the sense of history: you see, Abraham Lincoln was the Postmaster General of New Salem, Illinois, not 10 miles up the river. He lived in those parts before becoming a lawyer in Illinois (and getting into that whole politics thing). His first love, Ann Rutledge, is buried in the same cemetery as my grandparents (and great grandparents, and relatives that came from Denmark to the new world). So yeah, that was pretty great.

Also I've been to Vegas a couple times for bachelor parties, been to some weddings (and took the train to one), had a couple of work trips in Salt Lake City, went to the Strawberry Festival in Oxnard (good corndogs and strawberry shortcake bar but big crowds), did a baseball trip to Southern Florida in May (the real start of BSE round these parts), played hooky to see an Angel game on a Wednesday (Ferris Bueller style), and am wrapping up a beach volleyball league.

Makes me tired just thinking about it!

Loteria and Stick and Stein

The past week was dominated by anonymous nacho loving. On Friday, All Kinds of Yum and I went to Loteria Grill at the Farmer’s market. AKOY sent me a chat earlier in the day expressing how cold our Los Angeles was and only nachos could save her. She was right, it was cold and rainy and windy and not at all like we remember from the Best Summer Ever of years past. The only way to break the doldrums was by totally stuffing ourselves with vegetarian nachos, a carnitas taco for me, and followed by a delicious banana-strawberry-nutella crepe from the stand next door. I tried to take a picture except the camera immediately disintegrated, leaving only the pale imprint on these poor eyes. The nachos were everything I love – lots of jack cheese, melted in the oven, covered with black beans and green salsa. The full-size order comes on a huge plate. We did not measure the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the oval and cannot give you an exact area but it was about the size of a football field. The only gripe was that they could have left the plate in for just a smidge longer to melt all the cheese.

Upping the ante, on Tuesday I ventured to the Stick and Stein in El Segundo accompanied by my faithful sister and two college seniors (one being my cousin). I played coy with my sister, contemplating a salad, but when the server came I threw down the chicken-nacho gauntlet. Fortunately my cousin’s friend doesn’t like all the stuff so the triumvirate went to town on a plate full of chips, cheese, beans, chicken, guacamole, jalapenos, sour cream, tomatoes, olives, and salsa. It was a full frontal assault that left my mouth on fire, fingers sticky, and belly full (and the schooners of Bud Light helped put out any remaining fires). To put it another way, Success!

If the nachos from Loteria evoke thoughts of a simple yet beautiful day spent drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, then the Stick was like going to see a demolition derby at the Menard County Fair. Each has its place, and that place is my stomach.