Pasties & Pasties

     Two favorite heteronyms (look it up or puzzle it out yourself) that I've experienced so far this trip are pasties (pah-sties) and pasties (pay-sties). One is delicious, and has meat folded up inside of it, and the other is a food item. Rimshot! In all seriousness, I'm talking about the regional food favorite, pasty (rhymes with nasty), and the pasties which were found covering up the ladies at a burlesque show I took in while in Seattle.

It's delicious, it's good for me...

     First, since I like dinner before my show, let's talk about the meatalicious treat. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is famed the world over (well, at least a small surrounding area) for their pasties. Cross the Mackinac Bridge from mainland Michigan, and you'll immediately start seeing signs for this delicacy. Also popular is smoked fish, something I passed up this go around. Thankfully, we happened to have a book handy that informed us of the proper pronunciation, or I would have been quite embarrassed to be corrected by a local. We stopped at a roadside place (see below) and waited patiently after placing our orders.

Looks enticing, no?

     Our steaming plates were delivered to us shortly, and I devoured the crust-wrapped beef, pork, onions, carrots, and rutabagas. Also included was some of the best coleslaw I've ever eaten, and a small bowl of brown gravy for dipping. I highly recommend to all of my brethren who enjoy gorging themselves to the point of exhaustion.

     Now let's get to the really good kind of pasty. While looking for some nightlife in Seattle, JZ and I noticed an advertisement for a burlesque show at a local bar. It just happened to be every Thursday, we just happened to be visiting on a Thursday, and we also just happened to really enjoy mostly naked ladies. So we paid our $12 and waited eagerly for the show to start.

Now those are the pasties I'm used to eating!

     I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it wasn't going to be like the trashy strip clubs I've visited sporadically. How sexual would it be, though? Was it more comical than sensual? My brain was filled with wonder and excitement. Throughout the course of the show, I came to find out it really wasn't that sexual after all. Sure, the audience howled and hooted when one of the girls lifted a hem or lowered a strap, but it seemed to be done more in jest. I wouldn't have felt at all uncomfortable if I had taken a date there.

The only photo I was allowed to take that evening.

     It may sound like a pervert justifying, but I really have to say, these girls were talented! Not only excellent dancers, but creative choreographers as well. Their acts were quite entertaining, and we saw ones that followed the history of dance, imitated Tokyo Rose from the 1800s, and a finale that included an Egyptian goddess eating a raw heart and blood squirting everywhere. You know, good old-fashioned family fun.

     So there you go: a tasty meal from the upper Midwest, and a live show from the largest city in the world named after a Native American chief. If you get the opportunity, I recommend treating yourself to either. Or both at the same time if you manage to find a burlesque show in the U.P.