On Unexpected Surprises and Stupid People

Restaurant Review:

We went to check out this El Salvadoran restaurant in Mission the other day. It's called El Pulgarcito, and it's just this little place off Mission Drive, almost right under I-35. It sure doesn't look like much... the booth seats are ripped, and the front door doesn't close quite right. But we were the only gringos in there...and to judge from the stares we got, we were probably about the only gringos who'd been in there in a really long time. Good service, though I did have to switch languages a few times due to some misunderstandings. No big deal. After all, that's why you learn a second language, right? To eat a wider variety of foods at local digs? And yes, the food. Wow! We tried pupusas, which I understand from Karen, a salvadoreña friend of mine, are THE thing to eat. They're like... meat pancakes. Like you might eat a banana pancake? This was a bean pancake. They started the meal with this salad in a jar. Basically shredded cabbage, some tomato, cucumber, and jalapeños, all of which has been pickled in vinegar in this jar. So they just bring the jar and some tongs to the table and you go to. Anyway, it was great. I'd recommend it for sure - if you don't speak Spanish, you might have to resort to a little bit of grunting and pointing for special questions, but they were pretty good about order taking and check bringing in English. :) It was quite an experience... like stepping into this wholly other subculture just a half block off of Standard Suburbia.


Unrelated to any of that... I've been browsing Craigslist a lot lately, mostly looking for furniture. I must say, I am completely appalled by the utter illiteracy of a LOT of people. The most egregious I've seen so far is the person who was selling an "Intertainment Armuar" I imagine that even if their computer had a spell checker, it probably just gave up and committed suicide. I mean, all over the place - just shockingly bad spelling, bad grammar...not even Internet lingo kind of bad grammar, either... misused homophones (their and they're and there being the very worst). I mean seriously, people? Do you not even have a middle school education?

Oh, and the slobs are my favorite. They take these pictures of their furniture, and it's like they didn't even try. The bed they're selling will have sheets tossed all over it, the table they're selling is still covered in mountains of crap to the point you can't even see the table. I know I'm sounding kind of anal here, but I've seen enough HGTV to guess that that ain't good salesmanship there, no sir.

And now for a couple of book reviews: (I think I might start doing more reviews on this page... god knows I consume enough various media to share a little...)

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - I'd probably refer you to the extensive reviews on Amazon for this one. From that, you'll probably notice that people either LOVE or HATE this book. I had to come down on the negative side, though I wanted so badly to like it. I gave up after nearly 200 pages of torture. People compare the writing style to Dickens or Austen... but while its written to appear contemporary with these (which I found charming, and not obnoxious), it does a huge disservice to Dickens and Austen, who were actually charming, witty, and descriptive with their prose, instead of just...long. And dry. And meandering. And pointless.

The Return of the Black Widowers, by Isaac Asimov - A real winner. If you like Agatha Christie style mysteries that are centered more around logic and cunning than around crime scene procedure, then you should love these. It's a collection of short stories that center around these curmudgeonly old farts who attempt to solve puzzles over dinner, though its always their clever waiter, Henry, who solves everything. The stories are formulaic, but very well written, and you usually have a chance to solve them ahead of Henry if you really try. A pleasant little read. Goes quite fast.

Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare, by Isaac Asimov - If you're not a complete Asimov nut (as I am), you may not realize how amazingly prolific he was, and what a broad range of topics he wrote on. Over 800 published works ranging over everything from history, to natural sciences to sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, children's books, and literature. His guide to Shakespeare is not concerned so much with lit interpretation as providing a historical and cultural background to the plays, both of the writing and the setting of the play. After only having read a couple plays (Asimov's Guide open to one side of me, Shakespeare's complete works open on the other side), I consider this a nearly indispensable guide for reading Shakespeare, and I plan to buy it as soon as I can find it.

Madeleine Albright, The Mighty and the Almighty and Memo to the President-Elect - I've recently read both of these, and I really enjoy her insight, though I don't always agree. The first deals with the role of religion in politics, and in particular in foreign affairs through history, which she certainly has an informed perspective on. Memo is more about the current state of the US and, again, mostly foreign affairs, and is sort of a handbook for an incoming president (you know, the kind Obama will have to read on Day One, says Hillary). I, for one, wish the incoming president, whoever he or she be, would read it. Either of these I'd recommend, depending on your particular interests.