Palate Pleasing Peppita Madness

First off, apologies in the lack of updates.  I have been taken to task on this, and even wrote then mothballed afew premature ideas and now am coming forth to seek forgiveness,  I’m hoping to make this much more regular, allowing myself some time (which I think I have found recently tucked away in the folds of my day to day existence) to just foment and conjour up wonderfully fragmented and flawed bits of literary offal for you to gaze upon and laugh in amusement.  Now that that’s out of the way on to the main event.

As most of you know I am the proud winner of a year of free mex, from none other than Mad Mex.  Having a line itemin  my monthly budget for my expenditures there, I felt that maybe this was destiny but also a great reward for years of loyal service.  I get, once a month, to dine with a companion and sample whatever delectable delights we so choose that night.  Basically, it’s the Valentine’s Day special once a month, which is quite fine with me.  Only thing not included : beverages.   Do they still manage to make money off of us? Yes.  I have decided to give brief write-ups of each months experience for you to enjoy, with my usual candor, wit and all around deliberately abhorrent disregard for proper grammatical style.

So we begin our journey through a year of free Mex in July, on a nice warm Wednesday night towards the end of the month.  A partner was picked, albeit an obvious one, and plans were made to dine at my now primary location in Cranberry.  However, as fate would have it, in the iterim some events transpired that made that location less than optimal that evening due to some unfortunate luck which I’m sure will be delved into later but for now will be left as a great stroke of luck.  I say that since, upon realizing a change of venue was in order, I checked the online draft lists and realized that I had made it twice over through Cranberry’s and yet the North Hills held heretofor unexplored territory, as well as an old favorite or two, and with that the new venue was chosen.

I met my accomplice at the mall, where, impeccably dressed as usual and, as usual outshining me not only in the overall appearance but class area of the fashion judging, she was pleasantly occupying herself while waiting for my slightly tardy arrival.  Upon exchanging pleasantries and marveling at my good fortune we browsed some fragrances for a few minutes, I miraculously avoided buying anything, and we were on our way to a wonderful evening.

Upon arrival we rushed to a cozy little booth and sunk in for what was to be, as expected a pleasurable experience.  First up, I was parched, having come from a little bit of a workout so as to elicit a heartier appetite.  It worked.  I settled in with a Stone 13^th anniversary, (for the ??? time in the past few months) due to the fact that, well, like everything else, I’m a sucker for a limited release.  I believe the lady may have had a duck rabbit? I can’t quite recall, as I may have been slightly more enamored with the outfit and general presentation, as well as the conversation, than her choice of beverage, so I apologize for lack of information on the fairer halfs food and beverage choices. [ed note: Is that enough fawning yet? I mean I simply can’t inject enough pleasantries to elicit an adequate description of not only my companion but my apparent fondness of her but I’m also not that guy (except at weddings and the occiasional social) so you , as desired, can inject your own pleasantries about my companion, and I will try not to exhaust your patience] Having begun our refreshment we locked in our choices and began our little repast.

First up: peppita hummus .  Usually I enjoy this as part of the picka-dippa (or you-pick-3 in outsider parlance) but, due to a contest/wager we were both involved in (separate wagers acutally) we chose to forgo the usual (and the chips, which is a shame because the reason I am so addicted to Mad Mex is their salsa) [ed note: NOT the chips as some before have mistaken, it’s the salsa. Their salsa is by far my favorite of all time, hands down, although I’ve had a few other good ones, they are tops.  Their chips : average, although I make it a point to eat the blue ones first so they have that going for them.] and just engage the hummus one on one.  The whole pumpkin seed angle makes it a little meatier but just as delicious (if not more) and pleasantly (though unexpectedly to me) it comes with grilled pita which far surpass the chip in greatness.  In fact if I could get them instead of chips…  So we devour the hummus, or more accurately, she dines appropriately, spooning small portions onto her side plate, lightly basting the pita with a small even, possibly ¼ ounce serving of the green goodness.  I on the other hand, as in general, forgo a few of the basics (as I often due in places where I feel dining is a more casual experience) digging into the bowl like Anthony Bourdain at a beef cheek and pork belly buffet  after a forced 3 week hunger strike.  I don’t believe I scared any small children but to be honest I didn’t see much other than the grandiose mounds piled on top of a previously innocent wedge of flatbread. I’m sure from the outside it looked as bad as I’m describing it.  When renovating the kitchen on my new house, I used less drywall paste to patch the seams than I had on some of those “chips”.  Luckily the time one had to endure this sight was  brief, although we did receive a pretty sizeable portion of the fine concoction.

She chose to stay for the next course. Her decision not mine.  As for her decision making capabilities? I’ll leave that up to the reader, though I will point out she does decide to venture out  in public with me without line-item veto power on my wardrobe.

At this point, obviously, our beverages had run dry.  I refueled with a favorite of mine, the Founders Cerise (Sour Cherry) Ale.  I have a weakness for cherry ales (actually a lot of the fruit ones) as its hard to find one that does it right, but when you do its wonderful.  And the pungent, mouth sucking, sour cherry you get in some of them is wonderfully trying and a beautiful experience.  The Cerise is more understated I found.  You get the cherry coming through decently strong but not overpowering, and the same with the sour.  It won’t make you pucker but you’ll notice the pull in the back of your mouth.  Think a slightly sour, slightly less overpoweringly cherry Sam Adam’s Cherry Wheat.  The lady have something wet.

Then it was on to the main course (after the usually delicious and delightful house salads).  I had chosen to dine on the fajitas, not only because of the wager but also because they are delicious and steak and shrimp it was.  As usual, well prepared and seasoned, the shrimp were still plump and the steak moist and juicy.  The usual accompanyments riding shotgun along with a little guac and that most treasured of mexican restaurant staples, the plastic warmer full of soft tortillas.  I artfully pieced together all arrangements and pairings, devouring them all with slightly more class, yet equal aplomb. Speaking of slightly more, as usual, at the end there was slightly more on my shirt than I began with.  Yeah for stain resistant synthetic fabrics! The lady had something with sour cream.  Lots of sour cream.  More sour cream than a small nation should be allowed to import in a year. For the record I think that amount should be 2.75 ounces.  [ed. Note:  the lady probably had 3.25, or a full two dallops]   The lady loves sour cream, and of all the food things I love and endure and strive to attain, there are two I just can’t stand and sour cream is one of them.  Don’t know why, just can’t and won’t (and I’ve tried).  I mean, I will eat cheese that could be used to strip paint off of doors.  I will make sauces that can be used to remove rust and lime deposits, but sour cream? Really? I mean, to each there own and I understand that once again I am yet again the one in the “you have weird taste” camp on this one, only this time without Uncle Crappy to back me up on my stance.  [speaking of which I write this on the way to Red Rocks, to see Phish, listening to the Star Lake show we shared] I let the lady enjoy her sour cream, and we continue our diverse banter.

As for that, as you could probably gather, to dine, or just be around me, can be a bit of an exhausting challenge.  I talk, a lot, about a lot of things, and I love others to do the same.  The only problem is that with most people this conversation follows a normal linear path with common transtitions and normal detours and exits.  With me its, well like a 40 minute Mike’s -> simple -> wolfmans -> Weekapaug with a ‘97 funk jam in the middle, and billie jean and crossroads teases.  If you got that, than you are probably more like me than you should be comfrotable with.  As I’ve been accused of many things, I was delighted this week to read a thrilling write-up on NADD .  Look it up,  Thrilling and entertaining read, as well as the  Geek Owners Manual one.  As usual, it pretty much fits me, and a lot of tech inclined people  way too well for comfort.  So throughout dinner we have a lot of great banter.  Need it be said my dining companion and I talk on a better than fairly regular basis so  we have a little bit of a rapport, and this evenings conversation ranged on a variety of topics and was quite enchanting, though sometimes, and I don’t know whether this is 100% normal or not, but occaisionally I’ll take a step back and try and envision what it must be like to talk to me, and some days it has to be a challenge.  Your may be talking bout current events, lets say the Gate matter or Nationalized Health Care, and in my 16 core mind (I think that is about where its at these days) I have complete attention to the conversation at hand,  as I would like to consider myself a good listener but also happen to have an interest in the other party so. However there are 15 other cores going at the same time, taking in the décor and figuring out how to recreate it for the tasting room at home, figuring out the exact spice mix used on the steak, calculating the gaussian strength needed to hold the plexiglass panels at home to the wall without them sliding down, calculating the inevitable resolution of our mutual friends dilemma from a few days before and the variables to the outcome.  Which can lead to totally random juxtapositions, such as, “That is just plain fiscally irresponsible.  You can’t expect the gains to keep up with costs and with such brilliant men holding forth it seems that they should be able to the the math and the facts through all the virtue and good inentions. *breath* I think he should really just go for tapas. *blink, and then a look of ‘AHA’ and understandin from the other party* 3. I think threewill do it. *at this point slight confused look from companion as they have neither seen the house or know that I had attained possesion of over a gross of deliciously beautiful and strong magnets the week prior, nor would they care other than to probably roll their eyes and laugh in amusement* Besides, in the end its not really going to matter as the inherent flaw in their logic lies not even in the math but the flawed nature of man and their capacity to…  At which point the companion, who is sharp as a tack and although not necessarily outright acknowledges all the 1274 points to the argument, slyly somehow takes them all in and  will proceed to very deftly poke holes and attempt to rout the theorem at hand, often way too close to successfully, the whole time enjoying the journey and the time flies by,  And three days later, when looking at the wall with the magnets bedded in will just utter something like “6. Stacked two deep, triangle formation.”  Long story short, it may be a fun ride but it has to be exhausting.  I have a healthy caffeine habit to help me along, I have no idea about anyone else.  NADD look it up. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

We finished our entrees, engaged in another beverage, then it was time for our forced dessert.  I would love to tell you exactly what it was I had, but I can’t recall, other than that it was an IPA and one that I had never had before.  I’m not a huge IPA fan.   I have nothing against them just havent had my face melted off by any, however this one obviously didn’t stand out either.  And I’m also a sucker for any beer I haven’t had yet.

I checked antoher of the very few untested menu items off my list tonight.  Generally I’m too stuffed for dessert but, if you have to you have to and we dodged the usual I Scream Burrito  and the *appropriately funny titled* Brownie Sundae and went for the Sopapillas.   Delicious.  Honey, cinnamon sugar, a nice little dough.  Delightful, tasty, and I am kind of an ice cream man myself but I wouldn’t kick them out of bed for eating crackers so…besides the likelihood is that if anything is being eaten in bed, I’m a party to the aforementioned action.  Steak, pho, chicken on a stick, primanti’s : all just as delcious while partially reclined basking in the glow of the slumber rooms visual entertainment provider.  Why else would the food network still be running programs after midnight.

[ed note: 30-Love]

All in all the experience was more than enjoyable.  The food and the company were great and I look forward to regaling with next months tale once it has concluded.  In the meantime it will likely be back to a bunch of tedious and drab music posts…I know, shame shame.

As for that, one will find that right now they are featuring their corn dishes, especially the wonder crabby chicken and corn quesadilla (and burrito) some delicious roasted corn on the cob as well as a smattering of other dishes.  They also have a new rib appetizer as well as making the breakfast burrito I so love from the one day a year (cinco de mayo) they do breakfast, a regular in the lineup, albeit as the appropriately title huevos  *something or other humerous* burrito.  Its delicious, try it.  And chock full of protein (ed note: YES, sentence fragment as well as begun with a preposition, did you not see the part at the beginning where we said that was intentional).

Assuming all goes to plan you will soon be regaled with tales of the Hatch Chili Festival dishes. I beilieve they begin August 13^th? The have some great ones too, and I’m not sure whether they intend to bring the hatch chili margarita back or not.  Lets hope it doesn’t get pushed back (due to late harvest which is obviously just a LITTLE out of their control) again this year but even so, when it happens we are there.  Ewhen it doesn’t happen : we’re there too.

Good tidings to all and to all a good night.

Especially to my computer which is literally dying as I type.

Who knew 2700 words could drain the battery