Oh, ok, it wasn’t called “Eat a Book” but it was the Friends of the Library’s fundraising event where restaurants prepared dishes based on a book. I was there but have no clue what it was called. Restaurants were giving out free samples of foods inspired by a particular book so my friends and I hopped from booth to booth to sample wings and chile and burgers and chicken and other treats. I don’t know who came up with the idea or recipes but what I can tell you is that the booth and taste winners were… drumroll please….
El Meson de San Agustin for its delicious soups based on the book Stone Soup. I so wanted to take their leftovers. El Meson kicks butt – I think I might just go on Saturday morning for their great plato de lengua (yummy tongue!) but after the Laredo’s Biggest Loser final weigh-in… uh, no comment. For best booth presentation, La Posada’s Green Eggs and Ham exhibit had it all including the fancy schmancy green eggs and ham. Check it out – if my huevos endiablados would only come out half as pretty, I would be happy.There were plenty of restaurants to choose from but I really wish the organizers would have focused more on the books chosen. After all, this was supposed to be a fundraiser for additional books for the new libraries and… well… literacy, you know. It is a first year event but maybe next year they can take just snippets of the chosen books to read aloud. Scratch that – don’t read, have it pre-recorded with all the emotion of an actor and blast it through the civic center. Throw rocks at me later but I can’t stand when someone, especially kids, get up to read in a monotone voice. You aren’t going to encourage anyone to read like that. I would rather see someone really read the hell out of a book and watching payasadas based on the storyline.
Maybe we should have asked Wendy here to act our her book or at least tell us up on stage why they were serving healthy salads instead of anything hecho con manteca (deep fried in lard) Laredo-style.
Or better yet, this almost mascot (the scourge of OTHER Laredo bloggers – personally, I don’t think we have as many mascots as other places do but whatever):

Sorry McD's but this is more like a cheap Halloween costume - thanks for the free coffee coupons, though!
Despite running on fumes because I did not sleep yesterday, despite feeling crappy, despite knowing that I am not ready for my early morning teleconference, I really enjoyed myself (not only because of the $2 beers) and hope to go next year. And maybe, just maybe, they will change the title to EAT A BOOK so I can remember what the name of this event is!
Damn, another quasi-mascot
I loved this post! The Green Eggs and Ham are beautiful and so creative! We had a long-standing dinner date that conflicted and I’m bummed we missed it now!
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