If you've been following my story, you'll know that I was asked to leave the UK by the Queen, so I had to return to the good old US of A while my paperwork got, as they say across the pond, "sorted." I picked a place to live solely because of the proximity to work and settled in. It was a bit of a shock being back at first, but eventually things worked themselves out.

I'm out in the suburbs of Raleigh in a town called Morrisville (Civil War battle? Check!) . Our office, which is just down the street, is in Cary. Did I mention that I don't have a car?

What's it like? Hmmm....well, do you remember when you were 15....and the only place you could go was school? On the bus? That about hits the nail on the head. I was going to write more on that bit, but I think this experience deserves its own post.

THIS POST is about nachos. North Carolina nachos in particular.

Luckily, I happen to live across the street from just about everything I need, including Mexican food, in the form of Los Tres Maguyeyes. Before sojourning back to Tejas for Christmas break, I decided to stop by Los Tres to see what they could rustle up for me in the way of nachos. If you take a look at the picture in the header, you can see what I got.

If you take a look at their menu, it clearly states "nachos with cheese" and, if you'll scan the picture above, you'll see that's exactly what I got. Now wait! Before you judge, I'm not the best food photographer in the world and I'm not doing the 'chos justice, but they were actually pretty damn good. That's not just any cheese (it's not even "not yo' cheese") on those chips - that's Queso Blanco!

I ordered a bit of pico de gallo to bring the nachos up to snuff, along with some guacamole, and, of course, free salsa. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't any lettuce. Although the nachos started out at $4.50, by the time I added the guac and pico, we were looking at about the same price for an entree.

But it was worth it. If you ever come down to see the sights of the Battle of Morrisville, be sure to stop by.

This nacho report comes to you from the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium! I'm not much of a rugby fan, but there wasn't any way I could pass up sampling nachos at the famed stadium!

In all fairness, however, I have to report that I wasn't there just for the nachos. No, I was there for a work related event. Which was pretty sweet. I mean, have you seen the rooms at the Marriott? They're LITERALLY inside the rugby stadium.

Before we began the conference proper, we were treated to a nice meal in the Marriott restaurant. We had the menus sent around a couple of weeks before we went down there and were asked to select what we wanted for dinner. I took a gander and guess what leaped out at my eye that was on the Twickenham menu?

Yep. Nachos.

Here, however, is where I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to nacho dining in the UK - I'm loathe to order nachos as my entree because.....well.....(no offense, UK)......they might suck.

And then I'm stuck with a plate full of soggy chips, clumpy "soured" cream and tomato-ey ketchup that's supposed to be salsa. Sigh.

What's a boy to do?

Sponge off everyone else's nachos, naturally!

My co-workers knew about my nacho review pastime and graciously offered me a bit of their nachos for analysis. I grabbed a few representative samples and settled down for the taste test.

Tastewise, I was underwhelmed with the nachos. As a matter of fact, Twickenham nachos exhibited almost exactly the same characteristics as Chiquitos Edinburgh nachos from north of the border. The chips were too thick, the guacamole too pasty, the sour(ed) cream too chunky and the salsa too ketchup-y.

There was one thing about Twickenham nachos, however, that DID impress me... THEY CAME IN A BUCKET!

Did you see it?

Look at the picture below where I have highlighted the aforementioned implement!

Yes - that's the same container you use to hold soapy dish water for mopping up your floor, only this time instead of holding nasty, dirty dish water, this bucket is holding delightful nachos!!!

MMMMMMMMMmmmmm!!!

That's a bucketful of nachos!

As much as the nacho taste didn't blow me away, I have to give them points for presentation.

Look, I'm from Texas. I was born in California. I've had a lot of US-Mexican food (which is not the same thing as interior Mexican food and I realize that) but I have NEVER, EVER seen nachos that came in a bucket.

And for that, Twickenham Marriott, I salute you.