Last night we had several of Emily's co-workers and their spouses over for pizza and games. We planned for Trivial Pursuit and Party Scrabble, but ended up playing only the former, plus a game one of the couples brought: Catch Phrase. It was a lot of fun, but I'm obviously out of practice on how to give tips. I guess it's been too long since I've played Charades or anything of that genre.

Today we started out slow, munching on leftovers from last night for breakfast/brunch/lunch, watching another catch-up episode of Stargate Atlantis in the process. In the afternoon we drove into Monterrey, found a parking spot, and hit the sidewalks in search of a "street painting" festival we'd heard of via the Consulate. Near the end of our expedition, which yielded the location of Das Bier Haus and a couple of intriguing bar/club blocks, we stumbled across the festival right next door to a restaurant we visited a while back: Neuquen (Argentinian indian word, as I recall).

The festival consisted of artists "painting" in chalk on a street that was closed to traffic. It was very nice, though obviously the artists will need another day to complete their work. Across the street were chalk masterpieces done by schoolchildren, some of those surprisingly good. Emily took some pictures and I'll try and get them posted tomorrow.

For dinner we walked to a seafood restaurant and sports bar a few blocks away, Ocean Drive Cantina de Mariscos. Unfortunately we picked a night when there was a big soccer game, so it was even noisier and smokier than we expected. We got a bad table near the kitchen. Having already been warned that there were no good margaritas in Monterrey, I bravely made the attempt. I can confirm: there isn't a good one there. The drink was tart, salty, weak on the tequila, and no hint of sweet. Emily ordered a Manhattan (she was thinking Cosmopolitan, oops). I think it was just bourbon and a cherry, maybe a little water or quickly-melted ice. Lesson learned: stick to the cerveza!

I ordered fillete de "fish" (honest, that's how the menu had it), al chile y limon (with chile and lime). Hot, tart, a bit too fishy for my taste, but it was okay. Emily had camarones ala diabla (devil shrimp): spicy, tasty, an overall winner.

Conclusion: we might go back on a weeknight, or just for beer and chips, but we'll avoid game nights for sure.