churros!

the first time i remember savoring the sweet, chewy, cinnamon-doughy mexican treat they call a churro was at disneyland as a kid. i squirmed my way through the crowd from which the center emanated wafts of warm, sweet-scented bread. with mom in tow by the tug of her shirt, the crowd dispersed and behold a cart stand with piles and piles of long, brown and ridged sticks towered above my tiny head.

my eyes were glued to silver tongs tossing a stick from the pile into a giant tub of what looked like white and brown sand. a hand then reached in and grabbed the sparkly stick with a sheet of large waxed paper and in two quick motions of the hand, neatly wrapped the bottom half of the stick and all of a sudden the entire thing appeared right in front of my face!

quickly, i grabbed it by the wrapper in a tight fist and chomped a big chunk off the end...

crunch. chew. warmth. dough. grainy. sweet. spice. lick. lick. crunch. chew. warmth. dough...

heaven.

so imagine my excitement as i'm walking up new montgomery today to catch the train home and behold, what do i see? a latino man with a wire basket cart surrounded by four people, two trays mounded with something covered by aluminum foil. it peeked at me.

oh no way! it's a churro guy!! without hestitation i scrambled up to the cart, wallet in hand and said, "one please." he said, "two dollah," and in popped a long, fat, sugar dusted churro into a small brown paper bag. i immediately chomped down on one end.

ouch. it wasn't warm and fuzzy. more like a rock. but, it looked fresh and promising so i hurried down the stairs -- taking a couple more modest chomps -- and stuffed the rest of it in my bag.

now i'm here, sitting at home, after nuking the churro for 45 seconds and... well, see for yourself:

yeeeeah. that puppy ain't on my desk no more i can tell you that much.

warming it up helped a lot. it was crispy outside and chewy-doughy inside. i would've preferred more cinnamon-sugar dust but let's just say i had to wipe down my desk anyway. if you see the churro guy roaming around market st, get to him fast. only two dollah and you'll be happy happy.