worst. falafel. ever.

i was introduced to falafel in the fall of 1993. it was a blockbuster year for my taste buds, and saw my initiation into of all manners of exotic cuisine, ranging from baklava to bagels.

(yes, i was that sheltered)

in fact - in spite of my frequent outbursts of culinary disgust - i am willing to try virtually anything a minimum of one time. sometimes, however, an experience scars you...

last night my yin and i drove to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland at the IMAX theater forty-five minutes from our home.

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen

we left early to avoid the rush hour traffic and arrived early enough to pick up our tickets and stroll along the Fort Lauderdale river front. along the way, we encountered a giant whisper contraption and innumerable grizzled men in various states of homelessness. both the novelty and the men occupied the same real estate, vying for primacy in a small park that teeters on the brink of degeneracy.

we took pictures of the contraption but not the men:

my yin, listening for a secret

the relationship between the above image and the things not seen is best described by:


which we encountered not long after the park.

in theory, these rails travel all the way to Key West where one might revel in tales of Ernest Heminwgway's drunken genius or stand in reverent awe of Harry Truman's Little White House. in reality, the bridge only lowers for the passage of trains and leaves the anonymous bearded drunkards huddled under the north side of south bound bridges.

this is beside the point?

the point is that we got falafel,

the worst falafel i have ever eaten in my life,

and i'm sure not how to describe it.