Cigars and mojitos

While Latifah and I sipped our margaritas, Sass hungrily eyed the Cuban restaurant across the parking lot, La Guagua. She drooled at the thought of Cuban cigars. After we polished off our second margarita, we headed across the street.

At the bar, we met Dennis. He had a twinkle in his eye and a mojito in his hand. We ordered a round and joined him. He spoke about as much English as we spoke Spanish so we got along well.
If you've ever had mojitos made with mint from those Harris Teeter packages, you're wasting your time. Carlos, the bartender, pulled out a shoebox-size container of fresh mint leaves. I started grinning. When he mixed the mojitos, he ground the leaves in the glass. Oh my goodness. We sucked the first one down like it was water. He had our next round prepped and ready.

We peppered Dennis, who seemed to be a regular, Carlos and the other staffers with questions about where to hang. We cracked opened their humidor and bought cigars. It was a Tuesday night and we had the place to ourselves. A waiter asked me if I liked rap music. He said he liked .50 Cent and Tupac. I pulled out my iPod and let him listen to "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc and "Poppin' My Collar" by Three 6 Mafia. I didn't bring cables to run my iPod through their stereo, but the waiter turned off the Cuban music and put on some .50 and Bob Marley.

I sipped my mojito, smoked my cigar and knew it was going to be a good week.