What am I missing?  I am 74 years old, almost retired and I havent figured out the key to life yet.  I have never had nor do I have now,  the time to go down to the park, participate in any kind of demonstration about anything.  I did do that when I first started at UT, but that was because I was not studying.  Since that time I have spent most of my time trying to take care of myself and my family.  Oh, I thought about the higher, more moral issues, its just that I didnt have the time to do anything about those questions that have plagued mens souls.  I can see where hanging out with a bunch of folks that have no jobs and have possibly given up on having one of those things might be fun for a while and I can see where throwing rocks at another bunch of folks would be somewhat fun, but, the time comes where you have to stop looting liquor stores and become a functioning human being,  You have to get a job.  You have to pay taxes. You have to be fruitful and multiply.  I can work most of the crossword puzzles up until about midweek and consider myself fairly intelligent so I am not quite sure why I cant get a handle on this non-active life style that some folks seem to have.

Hell, maybe I can start over when I reach a certain age.

Chuy

One of the things we like to do when going to different areas is to try out new food.  On our trip this last weekend to Dallas we decided to try African cuisine.  Kyle found a restaurant that specialized in African fusion.

At the door was a gentleman who I asked if the food was good.  He took a long look at Dorothy and said ” if the Lady is looking for a pasta salad, this aint the spot”.  We knew we were on to something.

We entered and the entire room went as silent as a tomb.  We looked around and we were the absolute whitest people in a restaurant that appeared to be straight out of the wilds of Africa.  Every person in the building was looking at us as if we were the first white people that they had ever seen.  It was a bit spooky.  However, we looked for a table and sat down.  Our waitress came ambling over and I want you to know that the lady weighed at least 350 lbs with an afro hairdo that would have filled a washtub.  She was wearing a tank top that was, I estimate a petite.  Her pants were of a stretchy material that had stretched to the absolute maximum allowed by the laws of physics.  She asked if we wanted a menu.  Had we eaten African food before?  NO.  They did not serve tea of any kind so I ordered an Orange Crush.  After looking at the menu I decided to have goat stew, coconut rice, plantains, and pounded yams.  Dorothy ended up eating steak chunks with rice and plantains and Kyle had goat with rice and greens and plantains.

Let me tell you about the pounded yams. (fufu).  It arrived at the table with a bowl of soup/gravy/dipping liquid.  The fufu was shaped like a large loaf of uncooked bread dough.  You were to gouge out a big wad of the dough and dip it and eat it.  The dipping liquid was to give it taste, otherwise you would have not tasted a thing.  I only ate a bit of it because I started visualizing what was going to happen in my colon when this stuff decided that my stomach was going to be unable to process it and it wanted out.

The rest of the meal was good.

The man from outside came in and stopped at our table and began to expound on why he considered the USA the greatest country in the universe, except for Idaho.  Kyle, naturally had to know what he had against the state of Idaho.  Well, he advised that he married a woman from Idaho and people from Idaho did not cater to black men marrying white women from Idaho.  He stated that he left Idaho shortly after the wedding and planned never to return.  Then, get this, he looked at Kyle, pointed to me and said, ” Your Dad?, Kyle answered in the affirmative and the man said ” Looks like an Idaho situation to me.” At that we paid, took our package of African donuts and left the building.  Possibly never to return.

Marco Chuy Cowan