Pimp my Flashback weekend

OK you'd think that by now, I would know my good friend/smoothie-archrival Allie's Blog site address by heart, but apparently not. Yesterday I erroneously typed "pimpmyproteinshake.com" into my browser. Look at what popped up:

SPONSORED RESULTS Purchase Boogie Pimp and Ho Costumes
Boogie Pimp suits, satin shirts, velvet hats, lady of the night dresses, Sequin disco dot shirts, feather coats and hats, and pimp jewelry.
www.nbizz.com

Whoops. Not the site I was looking for, but provided the morning guffaw nonetheless. What I SHOULD have typed in was "pimpmyproteinshake.blogspot.com". Dur.

(Incidentally, please don't click on the link above- I don't want to be blamed for corrupting innocent readers)

So today, I decided to multi-task and make this a Flashback Friday post. Now that I'm getting older (then again, so are you), time is just whizzing past, and two weeks feels like two years. So I'm flashing alllll the way back to early January 2010 when I was lucky enough to finally meet my favorite Protein Shake Pimp: Allie, and her sister on their way to a Mexican Cruise.

This was a whirlwind tour that ended all too quickly. Here is a recap:

I picked up the girls at LAX and provided their requisite afternoon PB&J smoothies. You do realize that traveling works up a big appetite!

Armed and dangerous with their PB&J shakes

First we hit up a huge Japanese market called Mitsuwa and spent hours ogling (well, OK: ogling and buying) the amazing food.

Allie in the Shirataki section.

Tofu & Shirataki heaven.

Picking out some sushi for a late snack

These were little carb-y, Chip-like snacks.

Funny that they called it "salad"...it probably had some spinach dust in it or something. And it was ridiculously overpriced. Buh-bye=Sayanara, salad chips.

Dude on the right is wondering why I would take a photo of someone in the Nori/Agar/Tamari aisle. And why she's drinking a PB&J smoothie in a Japanese market.

Have you ever tried a DRAGONFRUIT!? They look a bit scary, right?

But they are puurrty when you cut them open. Dragonfruit is mildly sweet and crunchy- Grab a spoon and eat. I've also seen some varieties that are white on the inside, with the black 'seeds'.

Next stop: The Iranian market for the world's best roasted hazelnuts and dehydrated chickpeas (unphotographed).

We did lust over these chickpea-rice cookies. Also ridiculously priced...what is it with the $5.99 price-tag today? Buh-bye=Khoda hafaz ( وداع ), little cookies. (Impressed with my Farsi? Not necessary- be impressed with my Google-skills)

(Edited to add: I changed the Farsi term for Buh-Bye, above. Darned Google)


Paying for my Persian Cukes and Hazelnuts. The cashier informed me that they were "ordinary"...then Allie realized that he actually said "organic". Woot!

Then it was home for a good old-fashioned PANTRY RAID:

Protein Sisters bonding where the magic begins

Who needs fine wine when you can just smell the magical bouquet of Torani Sugar Free Frankensyrup in Peanut Butter Flavor. That bottle was a good vintage, and quite a bit more pricey than many wines that some Klassy broads like to buy.

Sistahs

Dinner with my Dad and Derek was at our local Indian joint. The restaurant is very accommodating and the food is delish. Poor Dad and Derek. I DRAG them along to these blogger meetups. Sigh, they suffer for my cause.

The motley crew takes over the local Indian Joint

Photo op

Forget the photos...the food's here!

Me, admiring my 5'11" BFF Frenemy Arch Rival Supemodel Twin

The next morning was all about the smoothies...

Protein Girls in action

Blurry photo...but how excited were we??!

Honest, I'm not short. They are just TALLLLLLLLL!

Smoothie Sisters

Bellies filled with more PB&J smoothies, we headed to the Mecca of body building, Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, California. This is where Arnold trained when he was young, as well as loads of other pro and amateur bodybuilders. One of my favorite step classes is taught there by the fabulous Heidi, who did a guest post for me back in October.

Folding our mats per Heidi's instruction

Protein Sis, Protein Goddess, Deb and Heidi

Since 1965, yup

Allie & Sis outside of Gold's

This is one of my favorite photos of Allie

Another random dude wondering what's the deal with the photos already?

PANTY RAID!

Did I get your attention? Remember in this post when I alluded to a panty raid during Allie's visit? Well, here's how it went down. SOMEONE (perhaps a 5'11" supermodel protein goddess) discovered after her shower that there was a hole in the bag containing her clothes. Guess what, undies=awol. Luckily I have several clean spares in my gym bag (no, really, I do), so problem solved. Another commando near-miss. THAT is the story of the panty raid. Not that exciting is it? Bet it upped my male readership a notch. :-)

We drove straight to an amazing lunch at a very low-brow seafood joint near the port of San Pedro. Alaska Seafood is an order-at-the-counter, then go-pick-it-up-yourself type of establishment. And it serves some of the best seafood in the area.

Do you think we ordered enough food?

HUGE Seafood soup

We had just enough time to wander the Ports O' Call and spotted this:

Smoothie girls in front of the " Smoothie-by-the-Yard" stand. I usually measure my smoothies in gallons, not yards.

Then our lovely visit had to come to an end. I took them to their ship for their fabo cruise to a land where palm trees have special crossing zones and Jesus graciously accepts tips.

So now you might want to go over and visit Allie at Pimp My Protein Shake for her recap of our slumber party extravaganza. In it, she accuses me of channeling my inner Doctor Evil and providing a defective straw that made her drink her smoothies slower than Hot Liquid Magma. Oh wait, that did happen.

Also I hear that she might be tapping into the new niche market of all things Pimp and Ho as she's getting a lot of extra Google traffic. For the record, I would like to pre-order my Zebra-Striped Fur-Lined VitaMix cover, with extra bling of course.

Q: Do you heart foreign markets like we do? Which types are your favorites? What do you buy there?