A Whole Fun Day in Monterrey

Finally, after a whole day lost due to airline shenanigans, we arrived in Monterrey, Mexico.

Our hotel just so happened to be right next to the Metropolitan Museum of Monterrey, which we promptly happened upon and explored.

The Plaza Mexico mall had really nice stained glass.

We love foreign McDonald's don't we folks.

Monterrey has this giant campus type area with a high concentration of government buildings, museums, sculptures and such.

Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León

Mexican History Museum

Lydia and I have a running tradition where I treat her like a damn princess. This time that entailed taking her to fancy restaurant Sibau. I've been on a kick lately where I find the Eater essential restaurant list for a place then I destroy said list.

"Sibau is Spanish chef Bruno Oteiza’s novel and personal take on Northern Mexican cuisine. His more daring dishes include oysters with ponzu-marinated toro tuna, tangerine and serrano chili, and pulpo tacos with bone marrow and roasted salsa verde. The sophisticated dining area features zigzag graphic flooring, gray marble walls, and velvet indigo chairs. Outdoors, the verdant terrace offers a completely different mood, ideal for evening cocktails. Don’t miss the homey habanero cream soup, served in a sourdough bread bowl." Not only does Eater bring the hits but it also offers some helpful hints on what to order. 

The amuse-bouche came and it was like a damn art exhibit, with little morsels suspended with gold wire in a... snack tree. 

The cocktails were very fun and delicious. This was a dirty devil. I like to go to fancy expensive restaurants in other countries because few of them are as expensive as they are in Seattle. That ladies and gentlemen is what you call a clearance sale on dirty devils. This frou-frou lil guy cost about $12 in freedom bucks.

The habanero cream soup was good times.

volcano

octopus tacos

lobster ravioli

We met up with Viry and Lolo finally and hung out for a bit. I went to all this trouble to pick up a bottle of my favorite Reserva de la Familia tequila and then hardly anyone drank it. Rude. Well I learned some weeks later that Viry was secretly pregnant so I suppose I forgive her.

They had some fun snacks.

The Long Dry Drive to Texas

Lydia and Zoe have a great aunt Paula that lives near Fayetteville, Texas. At this stage in the end of the world COVID-19 pandemic we don't really enter any building other than our apartment. So hotels, public restrooms, grocery stores, etc. are all lava as far as I'm concerned. We came up with a pretty sweet plan, then, to visit Aunt Paula and be able to avoid cooties. They have a guest house that fit the bill perfectly. Zoe entered our bubble of trust by not doing any of her usual Zoe activities and by taking a covid test before the trip.

Some of the usual abuse that I endure at a rest stop in Arkansas. As hotels were out of the question we did the 13ish hour drive in one day.

To avoid public restrooms the girls tried their pee cones with mixed success. I, the hero of the story, simply did not go to the bathroom the entire trip there. I'm like a pee camel. Like a heroic camel of pee.

All of that time afforded us the opportunity to do some audio book listening. We finished Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain in no time. Bourdain read the book aloud, which was nice. I think that he was a special person and his go everywhere and eat everything style really spoke to me, and I was saddened to hear of his death.

Driving through the countryside always serves as a good reminder that the countryside is full of human excrement.

The setting sun was really painting the sky today so it was nice that I had nothing but time to watch it sink below the horizon.

Aunt Paula's guest house was on the second floor above a garage. One of the tips they gave us that I distinctly recall was to keep a look-out for scorpions. Joke was on them because I've been on scorpion watch every day of my life.

Nice place ya got here. Be a shame if... scorpions.

"Hey people from other countries: F you! Also cereal!"

As this was the first time we had been indoors with another human in like half a year I figured I would buy some fancy booze to celebrate. I grabbed a bottle of Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Tequila 2018 Edition. We tried a bit of it in a cave on the Jose Cuervo tour in Tequila, Mexico and it was pretty darn good.

They have a different artist do the box art every year, and this the artwork they were promoting during our trip so that made it even more fun.