WITH MY FRIEND JEFFtm!!
It's apparently been awhile, because he had two magazines and I had a stack three inches high. Not that I'm complaining.
Off to Casawood for some fine conversation and a fine meal at Los Compadres over in the Palisades. Pretty good, and nothing if not fast. It is a bit different from most Mexican places in that there is no separate chip and salsa boy, but that's okay because the waitress brought it out and she was pretty.
I had the La Favorita, a combination of a chile relleno, a beef fajita, and a flauta, all served on a blazing hot Fiestaware plate that had apparently just been removed from the kiln. It was good, after it cooled off, although I'm still wondering how they're going to ever clean the scorched cheese off the plate. Service was good, if a bit hard to understand sometimes, and the price was around 9 bucks with tip.
AS FOR THE CONVERSATION, the usual topics of children, cars, work, our rapidly degenerating physical condition, auto body repair, kidney stones, childbirth, and The Way of All Flesh.
Jeff's grandmother passed away earlier this week, so he and his family have been down in Louisiana, and so the topic got onto longevity. His father's family seemed to have had quite long-lived--Jeff's great grandmother not passing until she was 103, and his grandfather still hale and hearty at 90. Their secret? I figured they must be descended from some of those Ukrainian yogurt-eaters, but according to Jeff, they keep their edge through the consumption of one fluid ounce of clear grain alcohol per day, as well as drinking hot water. Not coffee or tea, just plain hot water.
Hard to argue with success, I suppose. Although I do wish they'd go find some folks who lived to 125 through a steady diet of cheap Mexican food and Diet Coke.
ANYway, it was a fun afternoon, even with all the talk of la muerte.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 18, 2007 01:13 PM