The Taste of Sarcasm

Posted by Tabitha 

Last Saturday night I was invited to the Taste of Mexico by my cousin, Carlos. The Taste of Mexico was to be a spectacular event with four of the top Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles serving dinner to their guests at a Downtown Los Angeles venue. Oh, and free Tequila tasting. Sign me up…

The venue was beautiful. It was a renovated cathedral, so how could it not? As a recovering Catholic,  I still have immense appreciation for beautiful churches and cathedrals, so I was in awe. The place was crammed with people, a live mariachi band filled the air, food aroma’s permeated my nostrils with each inhale and there were plenty of opportunities to indulge. 

We indulged straight to the tequila. 

After tasting a responsible amount of tequila, Dawna arrived. I was glad. Carlos is a social butterfly and can chat it up with a mannequin if need be. He’s actually the perfect person to take anywhere if you’re looking to indirectly connect with everybody at a party, but not talk to them for too long. His social graces are much more admirable than mine when it comes to meeting new people. We are related, so luckily I still have some wit that make my social ineptness almost unnoticeable to most people. Oh well…back to the story. I was glad Dawna arrived. I would be able to hang out with her while Carlos did his social thing, but most importantly it was time to eat!

We chose what seemed to be the most popular restaurant to eat at since the line was horrendously long. The line looped right past a well-known bakery where I devoured a Mexican wedding cookie. Oh, no, that was earlier. I think I stayed clear this time around. It took us nearly 20 minutes before we arrived to the actual food. I decided to eat a little bit of everything they had. The portions were appetizer sized and it all looked delicious. 

I walked down the line of food and finally arrived to the last person serving food. He had mini tostadas with chicken and beef. Perfect! I took the chicken tostada one first, but hesitated for a moment on the beef. My plate was already overflowing with food, but I was hungry. I went for it. As the chef served it onto my plate he casually said, “that’s grasshopper.” My quick sarcastic infused response was, “oh…ok.”

Carlos, Dawna and I found a table to enjoy our Mexican feasts. I took a bite of the mini chicken tostada, yum. Next was the mini beef tostada.

I took a bite. Instantly I was appalled by the taste of the seasoning on my tongue, but bit down anyways. What is that? It’s crunchy. I continued to chew. What IS that? It’s too crunchy…

“EW! I’m eating grasshopper.”

In the same second that I so cleverly and instinctually ensured that grasshopper would not enter my body, Carlos managed to take a picture of me, take the grasshopper from me for a picture AND ate it. You see, he really is the life of the party. 

Please enjoy some before and after pictures: 

Before-I was so happy and unaware of what my palette was about to experience

After the insult...

 Here's the little guy captured by Carlos's camera-you can see it's leg

 

Side note-I am more than willing to try new food. I went to the Philippines in 2004 and virtually ate everything put in front of me, so it’s not for lack of trying on my end. I just wasn’t expecting grasshopper. 

I thought the chef was being sarcastic and maybe even witty when he said “that’s grasshopper” because that is something I would say.

Let’s see how long the taste of sarcasm lesson sticks.

“oh…ok!” 

Sweetfully yours, 

Tabitha