Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Rice and Beans........and chicken fried

Wendell Idaho... dirty yellow building in the blazing sun, wind blowing, and 3 miles out of town a prairie fire. So... the haze of smoke in the air, the smell gagging at times. But I was hungry, and decided to pull over for a late lunch.
I walk in the door of La Tapatia, and immediately notice the lunch specials only last till 4pm and it's 4:07. Okay, I make the best of a bad deal and scan the menu, cute little latina asks if I want hot or mild, I say HOT automatically, then look around and see all the latinos sitting at tables sweating, and the air conditioning is cool. I call after her, make it mild.... She comes back with a basket of chips and a crock of salsa, I taste cautiously, okay, tomato rush, I grab a bigger bite, yuck, might as well be ketchup. A few more bites confirm the theory. Okay I can fix this, there is three bottles on the table, one familiar red sauce, bout the same name as the restaurant. One bottle labeled HOT habanero, red sauce, and the other labeled XXXTRA HOT Habanero that's actually grey sauce. I grab the red HOT sauce, shake some in the salsa and take a bite. "Shit" the room starts spinning I grab the table and try to breath. Images of Gago going to the hospital flash through my head (another story,) I finally breath and realize that's not good either, my eyes then start watering and I wonder what it's like to be sprayed with pepper spray full on in the eyes. A few gasps later and some water is all to be found, I clear my eyes and look around, everybody is now grinning, a real gringo in their midst.
Hoping to make the best of it, I check out the menu again, hmmmm, Milanaza, under it in english says "Fried Steak." Okay, I'll bite, I thought carne asada was fried steak. Aha, another item below that one, Milanaza De Pollo, english translation below "Chicken Fried Steak."

Now I'm not on a Quest for nothing, here's my chance to experience some real southern, like south of the border chicken fried steak. I smile at the waitress, gasp for some Dew and a chicken fried steak pointing at the menu. She nods her head writes something down and takes off. About 5 minutes later a hot plate is delivered to my table, Rice and beans, okay no surprise there, this is Mexican food, and a wafer thin dark brown piece of meat. I inspect it, it's been coated and deep fried, kinda thin, I try a couple bites....... This meat is white, a couple more bites tells the story. This is chicken fried chicken, thin, coated with flour and corn meal, not too bad, overcooked though. I'd rate it a 4, not something I'd order again, the fresh tortillas were good. I figure the english translator was latino and switched the order of the words around. Milanaza would be chicken fried beef, with the de pollo making it chicken fried chicken. Oh well, live and learn, I can always go down the road to the Flying J and get a golden corn meal wrapped tube steak called a "corn dog".... or would that be a hotdog tamale?

Laters all and stay safe!!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Just wandering through the news and came across these stories, they reminded me of Park City.

Below are external links to News Stories. (push the back one page icon to return here)

Remember the puppy!!!
Puppy Assault

This is close to the cocaine bindles in beer I've seen too many times to mention.
Cocaine

This story is certainly in the eastern US, Park City would be Orions Music store and Wasatch bagel's.
Doughnuts


You can tell these people never used meth, despite being up 28 hours writing the story.
Meth in US


See what fun you can have in a days events and how it applies to your town?

Friday, June 16, 2006

In Zion








After many years of living in Utah, (now that I no longer live there,) I finally saw some of the wonderful scenery, I took my time to stop and check it out. Here is a shot of my 5th wheel, we just stopped to use the potty, makes it very convenient.




The size and grandeur of Zions Nat'l Park make it really hard to show it in a few photos, I recommend everyone take some time to see the world in their backyard and smell the flowers. It's hard to do when someone is checking your every step.





P.S. Only chicken fried steak I had was in LaVerkin, rate it a 4, gristle and cold gravy, although the scone was fair.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Surrounded....

Yesterday I left my house of 5+ years, the city bought it, and the money is in the bank already. Park City Title was quick about it, didn't know there was going to be a eight dollar wire transfer fee though, part of the quick service I guess. The agony of getting rid of all my junk to go on the road was so time consuming, I could not believe it. And it was great for Park City to have it's clean-up month at the same time. Whoot, free dumpsters, I estimate I took over 60 large bags and boxes to the dumpsters, I figure it was 16 years of junk that I saved and now is gone. A little went to storage, a little went to Idaho. I had two neighbors stop by besides LW, they both made comments on the increasing presence of cars parked on the street and the high number of people occupying the units, one guy said he counted 20 people in the one unit and 6 cars. Just a small violation of the CCR's on the cars, but after all it's a public street. I never did figure that one out, homeowners/renters HAD to park in their driveways and garages, but anyone including hordes of high school kids can park on the street. (just not homeowners)