gato espantado

I'm not so brave. I thought I was, but clearly my self image and my real self had a little come to Jesus talk today. It seemed like a great idea - do something different! Go get some tortilla soup down in the Fruitvale district, a primarily working class Hispanic neighborhood. Tortilla soup should have been easy to come by, like a churro at a street fair. I hopped on 880 and whizzed down to the Fruitvale exit, turned left, went up a few quick blocks and turned right onto International Boulevard, home of the sideshows (though not necessarily in this neighborhood). I quickly found street parking, but this is where things went astray. In a world of "haves" and "have nots", it's best for the "haves" to not strut their stuff in front of the "have nots". So this is where I erred (at least in my own mind). My transportation options were as follows: Bus, Bart, Car. Having not eating yet that day, my stomach took over where my brain should have. I drove my '97 BMW Z3. I'm not so egotistical to think that my car is "all that" but it's a little more than the beat up trucks that were in the gated yards on 36th Ave. My car on international boulevard said two things, "take me" or "break me". So after wandering around the block, twice in search of a place-right there-I hopped in my car and abandoned the idea of eating there. I pulled out the yellow sticky with the address of the place I had read about and discovered it was another 5 or 6 blocks further down (driving distance it felt, at that time). I drove down the (ok) 4 blocks until I found Mariscos La Costa, a place I was familiar with from a previous visit. Less important than the familiarity factor was the parking lot factor...right there. I went in and ordered a taco pollo and a tostada ceviche mariscos. I paid an entire $3.25! It took me back to my college days. As I sat eating my most delicious, mouth burning taco pollo, I realized that I had completely psyched myself out. The crowd was mixed with folks from the hood and Oaklanders quite apparently from other 'hoods. I felt at ease, though I was the only gringa eating solo. But I enjoyed my meal and my experience and realized that I have a ways to go on the bravery scale.

• Life Changing: 3 (made me introspective)
• Fun: 2 (fun-ish)
• Easy to implement: 2 (fairly easy)
• Worthy of repetition: 2 (maybe/maybe not - probably not by myself)
• Try This: 4 (try this)
• Cost: 1 (dirt cheap)