i went to the animal fair

actually, it was the flea market. the flea is technically an animal, but not the kind you see at the fair. two sentences and i'm lost, look at me.

so what i started to say before random synapse firings, was:

it was dusty and hot and everyone was lethargic and Mexican and smiled tiredly or sometimes not at all, and we walked around and drank bottled water and bought gum and a pocket knife for David and looked at stuff for sale, everything, turtles and washing machines and DVDs and dresses and wallets and garden gnomes and tools and boots and tires and toys and vegetables and pictures of Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie.

they should have had a picture of Ernest Hemingway, which is who that last paragraph sounds like it's trying to sound like (we were young, and our happiness dazzled us with its strength...), but if it does it was an accident.

we had Tecate and gorditas de chicharron, which is like a taco with a thick soft tortilla, filled with beans and cueritos (squares of porkskin) and listened to a live band playing Tejano and Banda.

listened to a guy selling a kitchen slicer-dicer-thingamajig, and he was quite good. he was muscled and tattooed and i suppose ruggedly good-looking, with jeans and boots and a broken nose and a cowboy hat and a tank top and he looked like he should be getting in a bar fight in a movie about motorcycles in the desert. he laid out a continuous stream of patter, plus little potato slices and tomato slices and guacamole and salsa that he made right in front of us.

told us how it was 39.95 on TV, but he was cutting the price in half for us, and throwing in unbelieveable numbers of extra bonuses and if we were among the first 5 to purchase right now he'd also give us the eggbeater attachment and the cookbook, and "you want one too, sir? excellent!" and "you too? good..." as he nodded to imaginary customers behind us who were apparently placing orders, putting boxes in plastic bags and holding them out to people in the crowd, most of whom looked surprised and backed away slightly...

but anyway, i bought one. 19.95, tax included. took it home and tried it out. makes pico de gallo and ceviche and salsa in about a tenth of the time it takes to slice everything by hand. i wish i'd bought two more.

here is how you can make ceviche if you want:

marinate 3/4 lb of shrimp in lime juice and a couple capfuls of tequila
slice up:
2 large tomatoes
6 romas
1 onion (red, yellow, white, doesn't matter)
1 bunch of cilantro
4 jalapenos
1 small garlic clove
the shrimp you were marinating
mix it all together, add salt to taste
slice a couple of avocados, mix in
serve over tostadas or with corn chips