between excursions

[opabinia]

Last night:

Dinner at an authentic Mexican place ("The rice is the right color!"). Bohemia beer is very sweet for a dark beer. Went great with flautas.

Jimmy's in Hyde Park for a pitcher. They give you tiny glasses, as though they fear you might have trouble gripping a pint after a few. You can still smoke in bars here. :P

Today:

Fancy-ass Chiapas coffee and steak tacos for breakfast, followed by a long-anticipated visit to fluffy_lungfish. She came out to say hello, and I didn't even have to poke her with a stick. Came up for air, poked around, posed for a few poorly-lit shots. She looks fantastic, and she's clearly well-fed, as evidenced by the presence of numerous tasty trumpet snails and optionally edible housemates. She must be quite the terror in there after dark. *crunch crunch crunch*

Beluga whales really are awesome. The biggest one kept amusing itself by towing a buoy around the tank, and also by playing dexterously with air bubbles.

We watched feeding time at the river otter tank. The otters are trained to tap a

gotta go have dinner

Comments

[alonewiththemoon]

but what are the otters trained to tap!?!?!?!?

Several Mexican beers are actually very traditional German beers--I believe it's Negro Modello that is an example of a beer style that isn't actually brewedin Germany any more.

[bottleimp.livejournal.com]

"Hey Otta! You tappin' that?"

(Otter rolls eyes, flings fish head)

[ayun.livejournal.com]

DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW WHY THE NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM IS LAME?

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

I was very impressed with many of the displays, but it's a mixed bag in general. The setups are wonderfully elaborate, but they have awful freshwater algae problems. I was surprised to see how many of the Shedd's fishes, especially the North American species, are in middling-to-poor health. (All the lungfishes, including Fluffy, look great -- I would have pitched a fit otherwise.)

[hysterikal.livejournal.com]

You're in my city!!!!?!?!?

Where did you go for Mexican? :)

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Howdy! We went to a Hyde Park hole-in-the-wall called Maravillas.

[bottleimp.livejournal.com]

"optionally edible housemates."

I have this image of all the other fish nudging the snails around with their snouts until they spell "HELP US" on the glass.

Of course, unless they were really smart it might say "SU PLEH" or something.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Hah. Those would be short-lived signs.

[bottleimp.livejournal.com]

It's like a fish horror movie: as Fluffy moves in, between her eating the snails and them trying to get away, the "HELP US" sign briefly morphs into

"HELL"

[bottleimp.livejournal.com]

Inquiring minds (BI and Chisel) want to know what color the rice is. We assume you mean yellow from annatto (achiote), but Chisel says that's more like a PR/Cuba thing and that she grew up eating more red rice (tomato).

'Course, it's not like Mexico is a homogeneous country, and I guess they have their own flat Jonnycakes/thick Jonnycakes/ Eastern NC barbecue/ Western NC barbeque controversies.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

It is annatto-colored rice. There must be regional variations.