Good Asian Drivers Tour

Here’s the latest video of our adventures in Chicago and Wisconsin. Please continue reading below to get all the detailed notes and commentary on this video!

So I thought Rihanna’s “Shut Up and Drive” would be appropriate, but once I started editing I realized the song is kind of raunchy, no?

The opening scene is the Chicago skyline while driving to our hotel at the University of Chicago. Our host, Yennie Lee and Sarah Bouchat, were kind enough to adjust our accommodations after they found out that we had been placed in extraordinarily small dorm rooms with communal showers. We had more video on us being upset, but it didn’t make it to the video. 

Yennie also shared with us this incredibly amusing story about beating someone up in her dream and feeling bad about it. That also never made it into the video, but perhaps we’ll add it to the DVD specials at some point. Making room for Yennie in the front seat was also why Kit had to be squeezed in the back with all of our stuff.

The homoerotic portrait was located at ZigZag, an Italian restaurant we went to after Savor the Flavor. See this other blog for more details on that night. 

The lady who took us through Beat Street is Pat, who hosted us in her coachhouse. She led us through the novelty toy/candy store and gave us lots of goodies. Again, see other blog. 

Cooking in the hotel room. We broke in our brand new electric stove and thought we would make mock duck covered in black bean sauce. I busted open my can of fried dace in preserved vegetables, and a tub of pork sung to go with our freshly made white rice. Kit started cooking when all of a sudden, we blew the fuse. Oops. (We couldn’t film because my battery died and we had no power.) We were afraid the hotel maintenance would yell at us for cooking so we tried to hide all the food as fast as we could under the bed, and beneath a stack of towels. Turns out, no one even came upstairs to check. The lights came back on in half an hour and Kit resumed cooking again. I have to say, that was the best meal we have had on the road so far. Nothing like home cooking.

In the Wisconsin Welcome Center, Kit went to use the restroom and saw some racist scribbling on the stall. He took the video camera into the bathroom and taped it. Apparently, it was a message with the word “Obama” and something crossed out, then the words “nigger” and “aids”. This clip never made it into the video because I didn’t want to give the audience the wrong impression about our time in Wisconsin. 

The “fat girl” bumper sticker really was a bumper sticker on the car in front of us. 

Lesbian Karaoke. If you can’t tell already, Kit was extremely drunk. I was also extremely drunk. The lesbian bar was filled with about 5 lesbians total, which was pretty hilarious, so there was no way I wasn’t going to make my Appleton karaoke debut. Kit did not sing. We only realized much later, when we were sober, that we should have looked for some Taylor Swift for him to sing.

In case you were wondering, I was pumping the air mattress we were sleeping on.

The Pasty Coop. On our way driving back to Shannon’s house, we passed the Pasty Coop, and Kit nearly scared me to death when he screamed “Turn around! Let’s get some pasties for lunch!!!!” As neither of us knew what the hell pasties were, we went inside. We totally made fools of ourselves, because the entire time we were there talking to the nice old man and hounding him with questions about the pasty, we were pronouncing it “Pay-stee”, as in “My, Mrs. Smith, your skin is looking quite pasty this morning!”

Apparently, pasty is pronounced “Past-ee” and it comes from Cornwall, England. Basically it’s a gigantic Hot Pocket filled with minced beef and chopped potatoes. I only ate a quarter of one because it sat in my stomach like a brick. Apparently, the Pasty Coop makes 5-pound pasties for special occasions. 

Milwaukee. After performing for the youth at Project Q, I decided to watch a bunch of them play DDR. At one point, Kit asked me, “Do you play?” and I said, “Yes, I know how to play.” Kit pointed to the best player in the room and said “Are you as good as him?” I said, “Sure.” Kit said, “No way. Prove it.” So I went up and played. Kit was genuinely surprised. He really didn’t think I could do it.

Chocolate Cake. One quick note about that giant german chocolate cake. Kit couldn’t finish it that night. So he ate it for breakfast the next morning. 

Thanks for watching our whole video. Keep on the lookout for the next one!!!