Raw for Lent: Day 27-28 (Oklahoma and Lincoln)

Day 27:

I AM IN LOVE WITH MATTHEW KENNEY.

Can we talk about how in love I am? So I went to the Route 66 laundromat to get some clothes going, then went to the fancy shopping center where Matthew Kenney OKC is. And holy shit. I was not expecting the food to be as good as it was. Which is silly, but true. It was SO GOOD. I ordered first the black and white dumplings which are filled with some sort of kimchee creamy paste and served in coconut dehydrated wrappers and over a creamy miso sauce. Then I got the "lasagna" which was so filling I had to take a little home.

I killed some time by doing a little laundry and going for a jog, as well as wandering around the Penn mall. I drove around the rich area on a golf course, then found myself back at Claussen Curve for more Matthew Kenney! For dinner, I went ahead and ordered a dragon roll, which was fake sushi, the "tortellini" with creamed spinach and tira misu for dessert. I should've ordered dessert sooner. It was so good. My favorite thing from dinner was the tortellini...it was wrapped in the same coconut thingy with creamed spinach and a tomato-y sauce. Dessert was tira misu and it was divine. Lastly, everyone says that the restaurant is "expensive" but the appetizers are 6-9 dollars and entrees are 9-13 dollars. I think, especially given that it is all raw, this place is a STEAL.

Show was meh, and I don't want to talk about it. I basically packed up and left right after I played which is mad rude but there were only about 7 people there and they were obviously not vibing me and I was obviously not going to get any dollars.

Day 28:

Went to Matthew Kenney once more for lunch...got dumplings again and a salad this time...caesar, although in hindsight I should've chosen a salad that had actual veggies in it, instead of a salad made of romaine hearts and a false cheese and fake croutons. Directly from there I got on the road to Lincoln, NE. First off, while driving through Oklahoma, I saw a ton of what I perceived to be tornado-ettes, and by that I mean like, this close to turning into twisters. I could be wrong, though. Maybe it's just the wind whipping and the rain, but the clouds were like 30 feet off the ground and turning into little points and it was trippy.

So, I-35 doesn't go to Lincoln...and neither does any other respectable highway, so I got on Scenic 177. Let me tell you about scenic 177-- scenic is the right word. There is pretty much nothing there. I would drive like, 70 or 80 miles in cattle grazing pastures and corn fields, then through a town that resembled, more than anything, Mayberry USA, and I know that's funny coming from a North Carolinian who has actually been to Mt. Airy (the town on which Mayberry is based), but it's like...the real world versions of that...the towns have pretty much one or two streets and one of the five or six I passed through had a Dairy Queen, but that was pretty much the only chain I saw anywhere (and I am including gas stations). I was sort of uneased in the one town I did stop in (someplace in Kansas) and was glad I got gas just outside of OKC.

So I rolled up into Lincoln and after a minor hitch, found myself rolling in places to stay. I pulled out my copy of Eating the Dinosaur and waited on my friend Nate (Polaver, Fuchsia Minutia) porch for him for all of about...5 minutes. We went inside, hung out, met his unfriendly but ridiculously ugly-cute dog, then walked up to 12th street for Taco tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised to see that these tacos offer a vegan option for sauces like sour cream. In the middle of the heart land!

Following tacos, I went over to Duffy's to holler at my friend Ian (Machete Archive, Low Horse) who is a bartender there. Duffy's was kind of a shit show because of the super cheap PBR and the fact that it was UNL's spring break. I'm sure the NCAA Women's tourney wasn't the draw. So I had a water there and Ian suggested I try out O'Rourke's. Yes, it's that O'Rourke's, Kasher fans. So I went in, sidled up to the bar and got myself some agua...

The bar that O'Rourke's most resembles is The Green Room in Durham, NC. Now a lot of people think they know what it's like because of Bull Durham, but that's a different bar altogether. It's not terribly rough anymore, just a place that doesn't have any frills or patience for pretension. No dim lighting. The bar is kind of shitty and tore up, but they're not trying to hide that. The bathrooms are always clean and stocked, so it's clean enough for this guy. O'Rourke's had the same feel...no pretense, just alcohol and TVs and a little semi-enclosed smoking patio in case you don't want to go all the way outside. Very nice, O'Rourkes! While there, I ran into Saber (Machete Archive) and we shot the shit about movies and TV shows to watch (I have a whole list for when I get home!), then I walked home to Nate's and crashed out super hard, even though I was supposed to wait up for Ian. Oh well!

My computer is being a jerk, so pictures will have to come later.