No Mas Tequila!

"No mas, no mas!" is how Sammy Hagar ends his song called Mas Tequila.  But he begins it with, "I'm goin' way down south where the big blue Agave grow, Takin' a weekend trip down to Baja Mexico, Where you can drink the water, but don't ya eat the ice, Take your vitamin T with salt and a lemon slice."  Well, we aren't in Mexico and we aren't drinking our Tequila with salt and a lemon slice, but yet a worm? Holy Hell! Yep, here we stand with a worm filled shot of Tequila in our hands ready to toss it down the hatch. Now this worm in the Tequila thing is nothing new, but it's something we have never done before. Guess you could call us a couple of dumbass gringa girls because this is not one of our smartest moves, but it does make for a good story. Have you ever heard of drinking the worm in Tequila? Well, actually there is no worm in Tequila. Officially, it comes in a drink call Mezcal which is "Tequila's big brother." Tequila is made in Mexico and can only be called Tequila if it's 51% Agave - Mezcal on the other hand, must be 100% Agave in order to earn it's name. But it is said that some really smart business men came up with a gimmick or great marketing ploy (back in the 1950's) by putting a worm into their Tequila and claiming if you drank it, it would result in having an aphrodisiac or hallucinogen type effect. Some also believe that it's like taking a shot (eating the Tequila soaked worm) resulting in getting them drunk faster. Well it obviously worked because dumbass gringos are drinking this shit and eating worms all over the world. Case in point, The Black Box Wine Mavens. Now this was not something we set out to do and cross off our bucket list, yet rather, it was a challenge presented to us.  It just so happens that we were at a fine Mexican Establishment called Benji's Cantina located @ 716 W. Sixth Street, Austin, TX which has the BEST fajitas in Austin. It's a beautiful place with the coolest, upstairs and outdoor patio overlooking Sixth Street (look for our blog about this restaurant soon).

Our friend Nick (isn't he handsome?) manages the place and thought it would be funny to see us squirm a little (or a lot ) by making us these Tequila worm concoctions.

Some people say that drinking it this way is "cheating" because the worm is not actually in the bottle. We, however, see it as a brilliant business move by the guys at Benji's because there is literally more worm to go around.  In other words, they can make some serious buck by offering ten worm shots at once as opposed to waiting for that last pour of the bottle to get "the one lone worm." It's genius.... Anyone so completely insane (or drunk enough) can have their worm and eat it too. Sure you can suck on it (but why would you?) or chew it if you really wanted to (ewwwwwe - again, why would you?), but the best way to eat it is to quickly swallow it whole and hope it doesn't tickle your throat or get stuck on the way down. Now again, we did not set out to do this but the dare presented itself to us or shall we say was shoved down our throats (by our dear friend, no less).

No, we didn't get all excited and jump up on the bar and yell, "Hell yes, let's eat this bitch!" Jenn was more like, "Really? Ewwwwe! Let's think about this." While Richelle said, " We can't think about it, we just have to go for it." As we are contemplating this idea, we start talking about the show The Amazing Race and how we should be on it because we feel we'd be a great team and could provide some good entertainment. As a matter of fact, if we were on that show right now and this was the challenge presented to us, then this would be a no brainer because Richelle would eat the worm and Jenn would offer support and cheer her on. You see, we have already discussed this and both of us agreed that Richelle would do all the eating weird things challenges (creepy crawlers or strange meat like innards or tongues or brains) and Jenn would lie in the glass case with snakes crawling all over her. Seems like a fair trade off, no?

It's funny because Jenn has a really weak stomach when it comes to eating bugs and horrible stinky smells and once her gag reflex kicks in, it's hard to stop it. She has always said that throwing up is the one thing she hates doing most in the world, so we're not sure how this is going to go down (or come up). Yet she can handle snakes crawling all over her? Go figure! We continue giving ourselves a pep talk because one minute Richelle is ready to go for it and Jenn is not and then Jenn is ready and Richelle is not. Actually if it's taking us this long already, maybe we shouldn't do it - or it could be that we haven't had enough to drink because our inhibitions are still in tact.

Then the countdown begins: One Tequila, two Tequila, three Tequila ... Wait, don't rush us.

And down the hatch it finally goes:

Well, almost ... Once Jenn starts thinking about that worm she can't quite seem to finish the shot and begins to gag and gag and gag. Oh noooooo!!!

Luckily, she was able to contain herself but was still feeling a bit ill at the thought. Richelle, however, swallowed hers like a champ and felt a sense of pride - like, Hell yeah, I did it!!  And it shows don't ya think?

It was a challenge that was hard to swallow, but Richelle was able to rise up and grab that worm by it's cojoñes and ... what was that? Worms don't have balls you say? Well, as a matter of fact, they do. Here's a little tid bit of information for ya, they actually have both male and female sex organs but their balls are hidden in the clitellum close to their head. So in reality they could actually get away with the term "thinking with the little head?" Hmmmmm, very interesting wouldn't you say so, fellas? Anyway, we are way off course - back to the challenge. Jenn was a bit disappointed with herself that she couldn't go through with it, but at least she gave it a good try. It's probably better in the long run, because those gag reflexes could have turned out to be a complete disaster. Our friend Kenneth ended up finishing Jenn's worm - he said it was protein and that it shouldn't go to waste. 

And that is why, if we are ever contestants on The Amazing Race, Richelle will be eating all things disgusting - because she can do it.  Thank goodness we had some yummy Sangria swirl Margaritas to wash it all down with.

But at the end of the night we had to wonder, if it was in fact a myth, about the worm making you much more drunk. For example, Jenn did not eat the worm and was able to sit upright all night while Richelle um, not so much. She ate the worm and her head ended up on the bar as she mumbled the words, "Dude, I think I'm drunk" over and over again. And Jenn was sitting right next to her partner in crime, stroking her hair, giving her food and water and even finnishing her untouched drink. It takes a real friend to step up to the plate and drink your unwanted margarita, so that it doesn't go to waste. Yep folks, we make an amazing team don't we? But in the end ... No mas. No mas Tequila for The Mavens. We'll stick to wine.

Birthday Hen(na) Party

For this blog, a Beatles song comes to mind: Duh, nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh, They say it's your birthday - Well, it's my birthday too yeah - They say it's your birthday - We're gonna have a good time - I'm glad it's your birthday - Happy birthday to you! So a Big, Happy Birthday shout out to our very own Wine Maven Richelle! A few days before her birthday, her co-worker and friend Becky asked if she would be interested in getting a Henna Tattoo? She has gotten them in the past and thought it might be a cool thing to do for Richelle's birthday. Richelle loved the idea and rounded up her sista wife Jenn, and friends Elaine and Dara to come join in the fun.  We were all excited and looking forward to the Henna experience. We guess you could call it a Hen(na) Party - Ha Ha! Get it? Hen Party? Which is the definition of a social gathering of women - so it's perfect. Nisha Agrawal is the tattoo artist and has her own business here in Austin called Nisha Henna Arts. You can find her on Face Book under the same name. Since Richelle, Becky and Dara have to work we plan to gather at their office, after they have closed, and Nisha will come to us.  Jenn is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to get things ready for the party. She buys champagne, and cute things to make gift bags for all the ladies attending the party and picks up the ingredients to make Richelle a rum cake strong enough for a wine maven. Also, no Wine Maven gift bag would be complete without a baby black box.

Come to find out the rum cake ended up being Richelle's third birthday cake! What? Who gets three cakes on their birthday? Well, apparently Richelle does and who are we to complain because the more cake the better, right? Her first cake was a delcious Red Velvet made by Ann's Kitchen Cakes located at 8650 Spicewood Springs Rd. #112 (www.annskitchen.com) and given to her by her fabulous co-workers at Bouquets of Austin located at 8863 Anderson Mill Rd. Austin, TX 78729 (512) 257-2395. They make the most beautiful wedding flowers in Austin (www.bouquetsofaustin.com). Their work is exquisite.

The second was to be picked up by Jenn on her way to the office and it was a gift from and made by Simon Lee Bakery who makes the most delicious wedding cakes (www.simonleebakery.com) located at 2700 Pecan Street in Pflugerville, TX 78660. This cake was half orange and half piña colada with vanilla icing and white chocolate shavings, topped with chocolate covered strawberries - oh damn!

As soon as we arrived we got the party started by immediately popping, pouring and drinking some champagne.

We toasted Richelle and prepared ourselves for the henna tattoo experience by washing the body part to be decorated (it's best to wash off any lotions you may have on). Then we were introduced to Nisha. She is this beautiful, little, teeny tiny, lady with kind eyes and the biggest smile you have ever seen. It's obvious she has a beautiful soul because she immediately had a calming effect over us.

She brought a book of her work - thousands of designs we could choose from - or we could just let her do whatever she wanted free style. Richelle kept changing her mind as to what design she wanted and we knew she'd continue to do so right up until the very last second. Becky, our lovable Chatty-Cathy friend, went first since she has done this before and let Nisha just do her thing. Once she started, we all fell in love with the concept she was doing which was a cuff on the wrist flowing up the arm and down to the finger... beautiful.

Jenn went second and also let Nisha do whatever design she wanted. In fact, she was so fast and good, that we all trusted her enough to let her free style. But Richelle still hadn't made up her mind. She kept going back and forth.

While she was getting her tattoo, Jenn asked Nisha many questions about the meaning of henna and how it is made. Nisha explained that it is used to celebrate many special occasions such as weddings, pregnancies, birthdays etc... bringing good luck to all those adorned by it. She told us that is was used as a game and icebreaker for her own arranged marriage. She hid her fiance's initials amongst her elaborate henna tattoo and while they sat and talked and got to know one another, he searched for them. Here's a little crash course on Henna: It is the English name of the plant that provides the ink for making the color. Lawsonia inermis is the botanical name of the bush that the leaf comes from. Mehndi is the term used for the application of the henna (or ink) as a temporary skin decoration (or tattoo). Henna is also used to color many other things such as hair, nails, and even leather. Nisha said she lets the leaves dry and then she mushes them up into a very fine powder before adding different ingredients such as eucalyptus oil, lemon juice, sugar and black tea. Then she puts the concoction into her homemade "icing bags" and puts them in the freezer where they keep for quite a while.

The fresher the powder the longer it lasts and the more intense and prettier the color. Once each of our tattoos was finished, we had to wait approxiamately thirty minutes for it to dry and then applied a spray of sugar and lemon oil to help set it. While they were drying we were sniffing and breathing in the calming aroma. The smell is fantastic. It's best not to wash the tattooed area for twenty-four hours (if you can help it) to help prolong the color. The finished tattoo is a dark black color, but that top coat will eventually crack off and underneath will be a stain that is orangish in color. The stain is temporary and can last up to two weeks.  Up next was our cool, laid-back, artist friend Elaine. She was like, "I'm obsessed with this henna tattoo. I want it all the time!" Richelle says, "I know. Totally. I love it too. I think I also want something around my neck or up my arm." She obviously still hasn't made up her mind.

Next is our fiery red-headed friend Dara (pronounced Dare-ah - like Farrah). She's from Jersey. You don't mess with Jersey. She asks, "Can I get this done? I think my arms are too hairy." We tell her that she is being silly because they aren't and to sit down and relax. Meanwhile, Richelle is still on the fence as to what design she wants.

As Dara is getting her tattoo she proceeds to tell us that Lady Gaga is the shit and THE BEST concert she has ever been to. After her tattoo is done, she strikes a little Monster pose.

And now ladies and gentleman, here is the moment we have all been waiting for... the Birthday girl's turn. Dude, it's Richelle!! What can we say about her? She is our crazy, hypochondriac, fun-loving, cool as shit, "whatever" friend. We love her so much and it shows because we are all here to celebrate her. We are talking and drinking and laughing our asses off. Never a dull moment. She has finally figured out what she wants. Can you believe it? We can't. She sits down in the chair and as soon as she gives Nisha her hand, she changes her mind one last time (uh huh, we knew it). For the final product she ends up referring to Nisha's judgement on the design, but knows she wants a cuff on the wrist and hand (as we all have) and also a decoration along her chest and up the side of her neck. Yea! A decision has been made and that's cause enough for celebration!!!

Isn't Nisha's work absolutely beautiful? And she did all of it off-the-cuff. It took about and hour and twenty minutes for five people (with a lot of talking in between from us). 

Nisha informed us that she also sells jewelry, clothing and has belly dancing and cooking classes. Is there anything this woman can't do?  Check out her website to see all the fun things she offers (www.hennaarts.com). Now let us eat that second cake from Simon Lee Bakery and open our goodie bags!! 

Elaine was funny because she kept scraping up the white chocolate shavings off of the table and eating them. She said, "oh my gosh, this shit is too good to let it go to waste."

Before Nisha left we asked her, "where is the best place to get Indian food?" We thought it would be fun to stick with the theme of the evening - and her response was, "My home."  We have no doubt that that is true, but we were not going to put her out like that. We thanked Nisha and gave her hugs and just like that she was gone. 

We decide to google some places nearby and found one that was open for a couple of more hours called Bombay Express. Sounds like it might be more of a fast food-type place rather than a real sit down restaurant experience like we were hoping for; but it will be hard to find a restaurant still open at 9:00pm or 10:00pm on a Wednesday night. So we were racing the clock to get there in time because it's rude to show up at a place ten minutes before it closes. Becky decided to pass and went home and Dara drove her own car so she could leave directly from the restaurant.  Dara drove off first as we yelled, "Go girl! You'll be there first, so get us a table." Then Jenn, Richelle and Elaine piled into one car and raced down the street on a food mission. Eighties tunes were playing on the radio and we were all feeling a bit nostalgic while singing at the top of our lungs to songs by A-ha, The Scorpions, Bon Jovi and AC/DC. We were totally rockin' out and having a good time. Then the song Turning Japanese by the Vapors came on:

Richelle and Jenn are bopping their heads and singing along when all of a sudden Elaine says, "I don't know this song. I have never heard it before." We stop everything and turn down the radio. Can you hear the record scratch?  Jenn had to pull over onto the side of the road because she almost wrecked the car. HUH??????? We turn around and look at Elaine and ask, "Really? You have NEVER heard this song before? That can't be? Here listen some more - it will come back to you." Elaine listens as Jenn and Richelle continue to sing along and ask, "Anything? Is it coming back to you now?" "Nope, nothing," says Elaine. We are in total shock because everyone knows this song - the video was on MTV for god's sake. We really thought she was kidding, but she wasn't and we didn't have time to 1.) convince her that she has in fact heard it before and just forgot or 2.) break into some kind of hypnotist act making her all of a sudden burst into song - because the restaurant is closing. So we continue on our way in total disbelief and then spot the resaurant. Jenn screeches into the parking lot and we all jump out of the car and run inside. It is just as we thought, a fast food-type place. We walk up to the counter and are unsure of what to order because nothing sounds familiar. Then Richelle shouts out, "Dosa!" like she has just solved the puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. She continues with, "they are good let's get some dosas." So we just go for it and order some dosas and a few other things to try.

As we sat there eating (our noses running and faces sweating from the spices - except for chilihead, Richelle of course) we were discussing how we were a bit disappointed because we've had some of the best Indian food in the world (in New York City and London) and this just didn't compare; but we wanted to give it a try in order to keep with the birthday/henna tattoo/Indian theme - so it was a good, quick, last minute fix. Before we left the restaurant, we were admiring each others tattoos and decided to take one last photo in honor of the beautiful artwork that Nisha had so effortlessly painted on us. We had a blast celebrating our friend Richelle's birthday and it just so happens that this hen(na) party turned out to be a pretty amazing experience for ALL of us. It's true that a fine wine gets better with age and we are slowly figuring out that we do t(att)oo.  So embrace the beauty that surrounds your life! Namaste ...

RUN or DYE One Maven Shy

The Mavens signed up to do the Run or Dye 5K Race (3.2 miles) which is a colorful, fun, celebration of life, friendship and fitness for a great cause. These races are held all over the United States on many different dates and each city gets to choose the charity it wants to represent. Austin chose the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which is the largest voluntary health agency dedicated to funding lifesaving blood cancer research around the world.

We are excited to be a part of something fun for such a great cause and to be running/walking with some very good friends will make it that much more special. Our friend Lorry was kind enough to drive us to the Exposition Center the day before the race so we could register and pick up our numbers, backpacks, color dye and free t-shirts. They tell you to wear white because it shows up much better when you are blasted with all the colorful powder, but NOT to wear your favorite clothes just in case it doesn't wash out. Lorry expresses that she is a bit freaked out of not being able to breathe if they throw powder directly in her face and Jenn says, "we could get some of those medical mouth masks to wear, but I don't think it's necessary." Turns out that Richelle ended up having to work so Jenn went for both of them, but made sure Richelle was there in spirit (in the form of a picture fan she made) on this colorful adventure.  She also made different colored sequin headbands for each person in their group to wear - you know Jenn and her props. Jenn woke up at 7:00am and was out the door by 8:15am to pick up Brooke and Brittney for the 9:00am start of the race. It ended up being a beautiful morning and not as hot as we were afraid it was going to be in Texas in August.  We met up with Sarah and the rest of our group in the packed parking lot so we could all walk over to the starting line together. As Jenn greets her teammates, she steps in an ant pile and gets bitten right off the bat.  After flicking the ants off of her and spewing a few cuss words, she hands out all the headbands she made - she even gets her girlfriend Ray's husband, John (the only guy in our group) to rock a black sequin headband. He was a great sport. Jenn looked a little like Elton John in her big sunglasses, sequins and feathers - HaHa!

We head over to the starting line and are happy to see the remarkable showing of people. There are so many people that they separate us into large groups, releasing us one group at a time, to keep the whole thing from being too congested. As we stand there waiting for our turn, there are lots of people wearing funny socks, tutus, wigs, hats and fun other things and showering each other in colorful powder. We are representin' in our sequin headbands.

As we get closer to the starting line, music is blaring and the dj's are doing a good job of getting everyone excited and pumped up. Then the dj's ask if the next group (which happens to be ours) is ready to go and we all reply by throwing our hands and powder in the air and erupting into loud screams.

And there it is... the loud signal we were waiting for to tell us it's time to GO - OK Austin, TX let's Run or Dye!!! And we are off!! We ran at first and then slowed down into a brisk walk.

There are four different color stations that you pass through as you run/walk. The first of which is YELLOW (Brooke's favorite color):  As you run through each station, there are people standing on the sidelines to shower you with color.

The second is GREEN (Jenn's favorite color):

After being showered with the the first two colors we spot a water station where we can stop and fill up our bottle or grab a cup. We took full advantage of this.  Jenn even let Richelle rest a moment while everyone drank - Gulp, Gulp, Gulp... OK let's keep going...

Then there is BLUE: Brittney did a sort of rain dance through the blue section (her favorite color) and the powder throwers were hi-fiving her as she did. We think they need to add a few more colors like orange and purple but that's just our opinion. The clouds provided shade for a good bit of the race, which we were very grateful for, because when the sun was out it was pretty hot. The only good thing about it being so hot was the sweat kept the colors on our skin and clothes.

Be sure not to talk when entering the color section or else you might end up with a mouth full of powder - yuck!

Hanna and Jenn took turns carrying the Richelle fan and Hanna was really good at making sure Richelle got immersed in color because it wasn't sticking to her very well.

Along the way, we stopped off to do a jump shot photo. They turned out pretty good, huh? Ray and John went first (look how good Ray's is... she was a cheerleader and it shows:) and who says white men can't jump? Then John took a photo of all the girls. Heck were all of the girls cheerleaders? Those are some pretty high jumps - except for Jenn's what the hell kind of jump was that?

The last section on the race was PINK: Richelle and Hanna's favorite color, so Jenn made sure Richelle was surrounded by a sea of pink.

After we passed through the finish line we stopped to take a group photo - Ta-Dah!! Hooray, we did it!! It took us aproximately 1 hour and 28 minutes. Don't we look like Easter eggs?

Then we headed to join the crowd for the color dance-party extravaganza. Let your colors fly people!!

Everyone had fun getting bombarded with colorful powder and we all looked pretty funny afterwards.

It was a great day and by the end of it we were starving. So we drove off to Vivo's hoping and praying they would let us in. As we opened the door, Jenn stuck her head inside and said, "are we allowed to eat here looking like this?" To our surprise the hostess welcomed us with open arms and even told us that she was bummed because she really wanted to do the race but had to work. Some of the employees stopped by our table to check us out and ask questions; but surprisingly none of the patrons eating there even gave us a second look. We guess we're just part of what keeps Austin Weird:)

On our way home from lunch, Brittney took a little siesta before stopping off at our local Walmart to pick up a prescription for Richelle.

While we were in the store we took full advantage of crazy photo opportunities (of course) and goofed off. We were like celebrities in there as people approached us left and right asking us questions, like what the hell is wrong with you? - Ha Ha.

As we were standing in line waiting for the prescription, the lady in front of us turned around and asked why we were painted up so colorfully. Jenn explained to her that we just came from the Run or Dye race benefiting Leukemia and Lymphoma.  She proceeded to tell us the very sad story of how her three year old granddaughter recently passed away from Leukemia. We offered our condolences and expressed how very sorry we were and Jenn said, "we ran that race today for your granddaughter," and then the woman teared up and so did we. As she walked away, the three of us stood there in silence for a moment just looking at each other and then we smiled feeling extra proud to have been part of such an important event.