I’m not a fan of most street food, but I can’t resist raspados de tamarindo. I love tamarindo whether it’s raw, in gooey candy or in a liquid form over shaved ice.
Raspados de tamarindo are the perfect treat after marching around downtown LA or after driving around the LA area trying to get your car fixed. Sigh.
La pregunta: What’s your favorite raspado flavor?
Photo of raw tamarindo on the left by Nathan Gibbs. Used under Creative Commons license
Earlier this evening, I listened to an NPR story about a recently-released book, Perfect Pitch: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory, following the a cappella competition circuit.
I figured the book would be a great gift for my older brother, Danny. He’s been part of Fermata Nowhere a group at Mt. San Antonio College for a few years. I’ve seen him perform a couple of times and heard him practice many times. Unfortunately, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella quarterfinals on March 1st conflicted with my cousin’s wedding. Danny went to the competition with the rest of the group while his family — or his number one cheerleaders — went to the wedding.
In the middle of the reception, Danny text messaged us to let us know that Fermata Nowhere placed first and would advance to the next round of competition. You can view videos of their performances at the competition here, here, here, and here.
Danny doesn’t perform any solos in those videos, which is a shame because he’s got a great voice. Luckily, I found an older Fermata Nowhere video featuring Danny singing one of the solos for Ricky Martin’s “María.” Enjoy! Maybe one day there’ll be a video of me singing something on here. Hah.
Video after the jump.
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Uh oh. Fire at Universal Studios.
For those of you familiar with the back lot tour at Universal Studios, the following attractions and parts of the back lot were destroyed:
destroying a soundstage, the theme park’s King Kong attraction, a video vault and sets such as the Courthouse Square seen in “Back to the Future” and the New York streetscape from “Bruce Almighty.”
The smoke from all those burning plastic videos (forty to fifty thousand) is causing health concerns for neighbors in Toluca Lake.
Sigh. Fire season in LA sucks. Hope all the firefighters battling the blaze are safe. According to LA Observed (linked above) four were being treated for heat exhaustion or burns.
The new Simpsons ride was not affected.
Remember when you gave me the Mayan jade earrings?
It was the Friday before Christmas ’05. We agreed to meet at your place before you left to the Bay later that evening. Since we wouldn’t see each other on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, we’d be exchanging gifts that evening. In your brightly lit bedroom full of books and replicas of Mesoamerican artifacts, we nervously argued over who should go first. You went first and handed me a box small enough to fit in my open palm.
When I opened the box, I didn’t seem too jazzed. My face — always my enemy in these situations — gave me away. Perhaps any girl who opens a small box containing anything aside from a diamond ring would’ve reacted the same. Of course, I wasn’t expecting a diamond ring. After all, we’d only been dating for six months. I wasn’t quite wifey material.
I told you that evening and several times later that I did like the earrings. I meant it, I’ve never been a good liar. The dark green jade felt nice in my fingers, incredibly smooth. They looked nice hanging from my ears too. Still, I rarely wore them. You never failed to point that out.
I had excuses. Good ones too. I didn’t have much in my closet that went well with Mayan jade. And they were heavy. I could only wear them for a few hours before my lobes started to hurt.
I wore the earrings yesterday. For the first time ever, I didn’t have to take them off half way through the day.
I know I’m beautiful.
I know this because of my parents*.
My mom is beautiful. My dad is handsome. Since I have their genes, and many of their other not-so-visible but more wonderful qualities, I think that makes me good looking.
This logic works for my siblings too. Lori, Adrian and Danny are all beautiful/handsome.
*Going back to my grandparents and looking at my extended family, I’d have more evidence to support my conclusion.
Lotería Chicana 