For the first week of being employed full-time, I have been living with the awesome Pastor Hogwarts and his wonderful wife, Funny Girl. One of my biggest fears about living with them for a week was if I was going to eat them out of house and home with my Neanderthal appetite. Honestly. I inhale food. I was worried for their safety.
Thankfully, every night so far I have been able to curb my hunger by drinking a lot of water while still getting enough food for a normal person with a normal appetite.
---
Last night, however, was one of the most magical of my life. Pastor had scored three tickets to an event called "The Taste of Longview". Naively, I asked what this was. Pastor, Funny Girl, and their dog all gave me a look that said: "We are about to blow your mind-hole."
Apparently, Longview has an annual gathering of area restaurants. I mean, local joints along with national chains. Nearly 40 different food establishments come together every year for one night...to feed the waiting, carnivorous masses.
If I could compare what I was feeling that night to something you all could understand, I would say it was only the ever-so-slightest smidgen of a point below what I was feeling when I was holding the last Harry Potter book in my hands for the first time.
Yeah. It was that fantastic.
---
The moment we entered the gym-sized room, the catchy anthem "Party in the USA," by that lovable songstress Miley Cyrus came on. It had never been more appropriate.
My mouth was full the whole time we were there. Which worked out quite nicely for me whenever we ran into someone from the congregation. I managed to embarrass myself a grand total of six times that night. But I could hardly care...I was in The Land of Endless Food and I was never leaving.
There were:
- sandwich places,
- Mexican places,
- pizza places (but no Pizza King. Shocker, right?),
- wine and beer stations,
- ethnic places,
- veggie places,
- cake booths,
- burger joints,
- and even a booth for the culinary arts class of the local high school.
It was literally finger-lickin' good. And that verb got tossed around quite a few times. Literally. By the end of the event, I'm pretty sure I had devoured an entire rack of ribs, because I had been going back for more so many times. It helped that the owners were practically throwing the ribs into the crowd.
---
As we were walking out of the Convention Center where people were tasting all that Longview had to offer, we passed a ticket-taker who was wearing stirrup pants, a solemn reminder of why 80's fashion was so totally tubular. I pointed this out to Funny Girl and we both had a good giggle about it. Only afterwards did I find out that she was laughing because she thought I had said, "Hey, look! That lady is doing a stripper dance!"
Walking to the car under yet another cool, wispy-pink sunset, I rubbed my itchy nose. "Oh, gross," I said. "I smell like a million restaurants."
On the car ride back, I reflected on the night. I was amazed at how well this community could come together for an annual event like this. I had never been to anything like it and was amazed that more towns didn't do it.
It was quite the event. Live DJ, door prizes, and a pretty awesome raffle (I won candy). Seriously, there were couples there on date night.
This is just another reason I'm adding to my list of why I'm so happy to be in Longview, starting this new chapter of my life. I've said already that I love the people. I've told a few that the shopping is top-notch (or at least a notch toppier than Kerrville). Now, I can say that I have tasted Longview. And Longview tastes goood.
---
We arrived back at their house after a dark lesson of "Learning the Streets of Longview," and we fell into watching some cop drama on CBS (seriously, beside its Monday night line-up, why does CBS even bother?).
And wouldn't you know, an hour later, I was hungry again.
-Danul
No comments:
Post a Comment