Instead of ordering entrees, we ordered four appetizers to share (bad idea?) and a dessert. We had empanadas de pollo, carne y queso:
Camarones con ajo y platano frito:
Platano dulce con queso fresco:
Yuca con mojo:
y Pastel de tres leches.
Que rico!
The problem with ordering all appetizers is that you can't just eat half and then go home, so I was so full by the time we were done, I had a headache. Ick. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I had to get moving so I could make it to the show!
So I jumped in my car and headed to the Fringe Festival. And what a blessing that I got there when I did--a woman who was walking in at the same time as me had an extra ticket that she didn't need, so I got to see the show for (almost) free!
It turned out to be a one-woman show (mostly) called "Change Your Underwear, Change Your Life". She did a stand-up about self-help books and ridiculous relationship advice. There was a guy on the side who played the guitar and sang ridiculous songs, like "Let's Get Naked and Criticize Each Other", "It's Hard to Be Humble" and "You Ain't Right." She started out the show by throwing underwear all over the stage and at the audience (I'm assuming it was clean...). She talked about how the world is full of ridiculous self-help books. In fact, the title of her show is actually the title of a book that actually exists: Change your underwear, change your life (I got tired of capitalizing, sorry).
Anyway, the commentary on this book, among other publications (including old-school Seventeen, old-school Cosmopolitan, Oprah's magazine, and Men's Health) was quite amusing. However, it was actually (believe it or not!!) the sign language interpreter that really stole the show. She was standing off to the side of the stage, right in front of where I was sitting, interpreting everything the performer said in ASL. Thing was, it's a bit difficult to interpret jokes in ASL, just like it would be if you wanted to interpret them in another spoken language. But when you have to interpret stand-up comedy in ASL, you have to include a lot of body movements and facial expressions to get the point across. So at one point, the guitar-playing singer was reading some horrible "relationship" advice for men that was written several decades ago. It was about how playing CDs with subliminal messages on them would make the unsuspecting woman in your house or car "so aroused that she has to have you urgently and wants to make mad, crazy, passionate love to you immediately". Well...how would YOU interpret that in ASL? Throw in some crazy lines about climaxes and genitals and the ASL interpret was the center of attention. Even the performer was watching her and cracking up. Poor woman and her awkward situation. She did great, though.
Turns out the performer herself, Mary Hirsch (who was quite funny in her own right) is also an author. Here's her book:
