Chicago

Last night I embarked on a holy quest...the pursuit of the ultimate burrito. Warm flour tortilla, lime-cilantro infused rice, sweetly sauteed red onions and green peppers softened just so, tender marinated pork salty and bursting with packets of flavor, mild tomato-onion pico de gallo, spicy green tomato salsa slightly smoky yet not overpowering, and creamy Montgomery jack cheese melting gently over the warm pork and peppers all wrapped up. Yes. I'm back. Chipotle's most loyal customer has returned.

We arrived on schedule as expected on Tuesday. The flight seemed to go incredibly fast, which was shocking since the best movie they had in the queue was The Bad News Bears (i.e. total craptacular filth). But, unlike my voyage to the UK in August 2004, this time I had someone next to me that I could talk to, share with, and enjoy. American Airlines is not my preferred choice, but it's not too bad and at least we had one of the extra big rows in the back of the plane. I can't express how fantastic it was to come here with Ms. Colombia at my side. I mean, wow.

Immigration, however, was not so smooth. We got through the first round with no problems. I went to the US side, she went to the foreigner side, but we both got processed quickly. Getting through customs, however, posed greater difficulty. We were not too clever, so Ms. Colombia was holding both our passports. When I got to the customs lady, she wanted to see my passport, and...tada...that implicated Ms. Colombia. She was sent away, back to immigration, I was sent through. Even though I tried to wait for her, that was not possible. The customs people are fairly rude and even when I explained the situation, they still wouldn't let me wait. Instead, I was sent through and had to wait for people to go through so that I could peer through the doors and try to glimpse her. Finally, after about 40 minutes, I saw her. I found out later that she was "profiled" and almost didn't get through. Colombian, traveling with her boyfriend, with two giant suitcases, and with a mother who lives in the US. Add it up and it spells trouble. But, she was honest, they trusted her, and she had her return ticket to Colombia, so she managed to get through. Still, a very stressful and annoying time.

We've been visiting with her mother since we got here and just enjoying our time. Obviously, a burrito was had. And, I'm happy to say that not only was every detail of the moment recorded by camera, Ms. Colombia thoroughly enjoyed her pork tacos (crispy) and is happy to go back. I'm just superbly pleased by this development for many reasons, but primarily for those that are entirely selfish. My biggest fear about being away for so long was that they would change the recipes or somehow diminish in excellence. Not only that, the moment had been so built up over time as I had numerous dreams about the burrito eating process that it seemed almost impossible to top. Thankfully, even my wildest expectations were surpassed. That was without a doubt the best burrito of my life. My sister, who I talked to after the fact, said I sounded "drunk". Perhaps that's the best way to describe the process. I got drunk on burrito...and didn't have a hangover.

Today, we cleaned the house. Ms. Colombia likes things neat and clean and I particularly despise dust (especially out of HVAC vents). Working together, it didn't take too terribly long and we feel good as it was a big help to her Mother. We've also been doing a bit of cooking. Ms. Colombia is a great cooking partner because she's excellent at doing things I'm not fond of like salads and rice. Plus, she made guiso which is a Colombian sauce of tomato and onion that goes on top of rice and is especially tasty and delicious. Tomorrow I'm making quesidillas which I'm quite excited about as I've really improved my recipe and have reached some level of personal satisfaction.

It's quite odd being back in the US, but also totally awesome. Of course, I have to wonder, was it entirely necessary to give Tony Danza his own show while I was away? There's nothing particularly noticeable that's standing out to me right now (aside from the Danza travesty), but I'm also new to this area, so maybe I'll see some things in DC that shock me. Of course, we went grocery shopping yesterday and I was UTTERLY shocked at how low the prices were compared to what I had been paying for vastly inferior quality in the UK. Cilantro, for example, was $0.33 for a huge bunch yesterday while I've been paying close to $3 for a much smaller amount in the UK. Plus, I'm totally looking forward to my first bacon cheeseburger. The US meat is just so much better than UK beef with the added value of possible mad cow infection.

I'll get to see some friends over the weekend that I'm looking toward quite favorably, plus we're going to the Bears game on Sunday, so that will be awesome. Soon, we'll be in DC. After that, we'll have a fairly difficult 3 months apart that I am definitely not looking forward to.

So, in sum, I'm back in the US, with my fiancee, and I've feasted on the best burrito of my life. Yeah, I'd say I feel like a million dollars right now.