wet cat and mixiote

Monday, my coworker Alessia suggested some soup from the Sanborns down the street. I've been fooled by Sanborns crappy food before, but she insisted that this soup was really good. I usually give everything two chances, so I came along. It was an overcast day as we walked over, looked a bit ugly to the west. Didn´t think much about it.

We ordered our soup, and hung around waiting for them to bring it out. Took them about fifteen minutes to prepare our to-go order. When we returned to the door, we found a crowd of people watching it pour rain like an upended bucket. In Arizona, when it rains, it rains like this. But Arizona rain is a ten minute downpour and then the bucket empties. This downpour was continuous. I started to see animals running by two by two.

Neither one of us had an umbrella, so I eschewed the 400 peso umbrellas they sold at Sanborns and spent 100 pesos ($8) on a golf umbrella at a stand right outside the door. I ran back inside. When the rain didn´t even begin to lighten, Alessia and I agreed to make a run for it with the umbrella. I ducked out the door first and opened the umbrella, and immediately flipped it inside out. Alessia and I started laughing and she ducked back inside while I spent a few frantic moments trying to unfuck it. I gave up and went back in the store. A few people who had been watching the scene helped Alessia and me to unfuck the umbrella, and after thanking them, I ducked out again, this time angling the umbrella against the wind. It took us less than ten minutes to get back to the office.

We arrived soaked from about mid-thigh down. It didn't help that we had to walk through several inches of water. I really hate wet clothes. I mean, nobody likes wet clothes, but it's really just awful.

The soup was actually really good. I took off my socks and shoes and left them on someone's portable heater. I made sandals from blocks of pink insulation foam, packing tape, and chipboard. My jeans basically stayed wet until I got my turn with the heater and just set it between my legs under my desk.

Today I finally made it to Tacomix, a sidewalk taco stall which is actually a chain- there are two other locations. They specialize in mixiotes-  mutton (sometimes with rabbit or chicken) slow roasted in a pit with chiles, peppers, onions, and wrapped in maguey leaves. The meat is served up into small corn tortillas, and garnished with super thin french fries. Splash on a little salsa. It's wonderful. I'm not sure its a 10 taco, but its at least a 9. The meat is perfectly seasoned, the french fries add a nice crunch and flavor against the savory meat. I ate four of them since three was not enough.