Dances With Weasles (original) (raw)

Okay, so it's like this.

Some time ago, me and lil_1337 sent out a box to Kevin And Ursula Eat Cheap, which is a weekly podcast produced by two fantastic and creative people, naturally named Kevin and Ursula (imagine that.) Said box contained a miscellaneous assortment of southwestern foodstuffs, chosen for its amusement value, peculiarity, interesting labels, authenticity and possible tastiness, combined with just a tinge of sadism here and there. See, the thing is, the podcasts concern food that is a) cheap, b) quick to make, and c) relatively inexpensive; and so I thought, Hey, they need some Authentic Sonoran Desert Crap! And so me and my friend went grocery-shopping.

(By the way, I *totally* believe that lil_1337 should have shared in the following, but she utterly refused. I shall get her for that, and I'll get my sister nightengale for ratting me out to K&U too.)

Several things've been sampled on a couple of the podcasts, but the real cream (ahem) of the crop was tasted just recently. Just before this happened K&U received a rather injudicious email of mine in which I Double-Dog-Dared Them to try the menudo. For those of you who are unaware of this very Mexican dish, it is... let's see, how can I describe it, it's... well, let's just quote directly from www.epicurious.com, shall we?

menudo [meh-NOO-doh, meh-NOO-thoh] Long touted as a hangover cure, menudo is particularly popular in Mexico on New Year's morning. It's a hearty, spicy soup made with TRIPE, CALF'S FEET, green CHILES, HOMINY and seasonings. It's usually garnished with lime wedges, bowls of chopped chiles and onion and served with hot TORTILLAS.

Sounds yummy, doesn't it? Oh gods, tripe. TRIPE. Please understand, I'm not denigrating anybody's cultural heritage here, I just have this (shudder) thing about tripe. It does not, not, NOT smell like anything I should be eating. However...

...a dare is a dare, and a promise is a promise. As I have been reminded of by Kevin. Dear gods and goddesses, diet or not, I get a beer after this. Here we go.

One word: EUURRRGH. Note the horrified little beaded octopus fridge-magnet looking at the pot of menudo from above.

This... is suspiciously red. And the tripe itself, oh gods the tripe itself looks like... remember, NOT DENIGRATING ANYONE'S CULTURAL HERITAGE WHATSOEVER IN ANY WAY when I say that it looks like the things you really, really hope aren't chopped up in your hotdogs despite all those rumors. Oh man. I mean, I come from the Deep South, the land of Chitlins and Fatback and sucking out boiled crawdad heads (which I've done, twice, on a dare) so there's not a lot I can say. But OMG I'm about to eat entrails. **hides face**

The bite:

ME SHORTLY AFTERWARDS:

What I Did After I Tried The Menudo:

Thank you, beer, for being there in my time of need. Amen.

And so there you have it, folks. Kept my promise, see? I did. And it was everything I ever expected it to be.....