Friday, September 14, 2012

This is Why I'm Fat

Wow.

It's been almost a year to the day since I last blogged here. I certainly didn't mean to be gone for so long, but life sure has a way of happening despite one's best intentions.

Since the last blog, I've certainly been eating, but life also decided to throw in marriage, among a plethora of other events... I apologize for the unintentional hiatus; I will certainly be making up for it.

So yesterday, we arrived in Miami. As we made our way to the hotel, we passed a restaurant that offered Venezuelan cuisine. It looked interesting enough. We had to drive to the job site to find where hubby would be working, so we made that trip and came back for dinner. After navigating the insane parking situation, we made it into the restaurant.



We walked in to El Arapazo 2. I heard the hostess say "Hola! Something, something, something else..." Oh crap. Mi habla un pequito Espanol. I had no idea what was going on. I just said "Si!" and hoped for the best. We were seated and given our menus. They were written in Spanish. Oh well. And then a glimmer of hope...our waiter was fluent in English! And also, our menus had translations. *whew* My apprehension caused me to overlook that little caveat.

So I asked our waiter David what he recommended. He went through every course and we attempted to make a decision. I pretty much went with what he suggested. I supposed I could have saved him the trouble and time.

For the appetizer, we ordered Tostones Loaded. This consisted of green plantains covered with coleslaw (dry shredded cabbage,) shredded white cheese, pink sauce, garlic, mayo-deli and we added shredded chicken to the mix. Meh. I don't like cabbage or mayo. I still don't know exactly what the pink sauce is.

Mystery sauce makes it better

So I tried it. It's a new experience, right? OMGoodness... I didn't expect it to be that good!  I was excited that there was more of it! The hubby liked it too. He just happens to be more efficient. I savored every bite with my knife and fork. He picked them up and ate them off the plate with his fingers. I thought there were four and I was happy to share. I was wrong.

Must. Eat. Faster.

For the main dish, David recommended the Cachapas. He had to explain it again because, of course, I was screwing up the order. This one was made of shredded beef, sweet plantains, avocado, yellow cheese, wrapped in a "pita" made of sweet corn.

Good. Grub. Almighty.

The picture does the dish no justice...at. all. When I say that this dish brought me out of hiatus, I am not exaggerating. It was so freaking good! There was the perfect mixture of appropriately seasoned beef and sweet ingredients wrapped in sweet corn. And then I got some plantain in the bite. My dear Father in Heaven... David brought out some guacamole sauce and butter sauce for me to sample with the cachapa. My brain commenced to have a flavor shut down. I was so full and couldn't stop eating. I had to take small breaks to let the food digest a bit, and I did share some with my better half. I can't promise that it wouldn't have gotten messy if he put his fork in my plate. I'm just saying.

Warning: Selfishness ahead!

I wish I could go back. I physically can, but after the wedding, we lost some weight. We worked really hard on that and I have to recognize my limitations. Halfway through my meal, I looked over to him and said, "This is why I'm fat." I think I meant it too. I love food. I hate exercise. But adulthood is about accepting responsibility and making good choices. I choose to eat, so I'll have to exercise.

I guess I'll get a nice walk in to try out this marinated pork sandwich for which I just saw a commercial...