The Hazards of Tacos

I hope everyone had a festive Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is such a funny holiday. To me, it’s on par with St. Patties Day – just another ‘holiday’ for kids to go out and get schwasted. Most people even think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s independence day. Wrong! The holiday is actually only celebrated in a small Mexican community in remembrance of………..

I had originally planed to do nothing for this not-holiday, but once I got home and was looking for recipes for dinner I stumbled across this beauty : http://www.imadedinner.net/2010/04/15/tax-day-tacos/ I saw the thick avocado slices and I was sold. So with a pannier in tow, I biked in the evening sun to the store to get my loot.

A few substitutions were in order, though. While at the store in the Mexican food aisle, the shiny bags full of eccentric spices hanging on the shelf was quite overwhelming. After a good minute searching for bag or can or something labeled ‘smoked serranos’, I gave up (I’m impatient, ok? Deal.) and went for the fresh ones. I knew it wouldn’t be quite the same and my tacos would be now be referred to as Smokey Spicy Steak Tacos. Of course, later I found out that smoked serrano peppers = chipotle peppers, and there were ALL sorts of those in the little shiny baggies. OH well.

Also while at the store, I picked up a sixer of Coronas, how could I not?

Other substitutions included my lack of garlic powder, subbed for by fresh garlic. I also used 1 ½ limes, because the other ones were commandeered by the Corona.

Quick HORROR story: so there I was, minding my own business and choppin away at some fresh serrano, dicing em up real good. I stubbornly ignored the internet when it told me to always wear gloves when chopping these dudes because they are, like, 10x hotter than jalapenos. Really, I don’t have open wounds on my hands, I’ll be fine. About a pepper and a half in, a spot just below my eye starts feeling hot. Hmmm… I don’t remember touching my eye, maybe it will go away. 1 ¾ peppers in, my eye is still hot. Maybe if I wipe it down with a wet paper towel (don’t worry, I made someone else get it for me so I didn’t get pepper juice all over a nice clean paper towel that’s going into my eye). THAT only made it worse! It’s now burning my eye! So I put my whole freaking face under the sink and run cold water on it, seems like a good idea, yeah? NO! I don’t even know how, but it spread to my entire eye, which is now on FIRE. And I’m cursing and hollering at people to google ways to make it stop, and by now that eye is watering enough to make my nose runny, which somehow carried the spiciness INTO my nose so now my nose is burning. Great. How bout makeup remover? Nope! That only made my eyebrow start burning. The only solution I found was to stop trying and just put a cold beer on my eye. I’m pretty sure (at least, I hope) I learned my lesson.

Horrors out of the way (well, besides stabbing my finger in the blender… don’t ask.), the tacos turned out flipping AWESOME. I invited a neighbor up, plus my normal roommates, and the tacos were gone in a flash. I also served them with black beans and normal fixins for the kids who like the such. I fancy mine with just steak, beans, cheese, avocado, sour cream and a quick squeeze of lime. And maybe a shake or three of good ‘ole Tapatio. And when all the steak was gone, veggie tacos ftw!

Make again? You betchya. What would I change? I’d wear goggles while chopping, and also like to try the smoked serrano peppers a.k.a. chipotle peppers.

Happy holidays y’all.

Dara

Best meal ever. EVAR.

Do you ever think of what meal you would have served the night before you would be sent to the electric chair? A little morbid, I know, but I think about this often. Since I know have expendable money for food (ahem. food stamps. booya.). I've been being quite adventurous in the kitchen. I love to cook for people, and make people happy through food. I strive to make people happy, because that's what makes me truly happy. That and, of course, seismology, sun dresses, bicycles and pictures of cute animals on the internet.

Anyways, back to my kitchen adventures -- since I haven't been good about blogging, I'll give you the low down of my great kitchen feats and disasters in bullets points and internet links. Ready?

• Creamy Potato Kale Soup -- http://cookeatthink.blogspot.com/2008/08/creamy-potato-kale-soup.html It was sooooo good that I made it again! The next time with lots of substitutions because I was too lazy to go to the store and just used what was on hand. Subs were - garlic, onion, green curry paste + soyrizo (chorizo, but it's soy!) for a nice kick and then random spices and such. Also, I don't have a food processor, so a blender works just fine in this case (note to self: blenders don't always work so lovely in place of a food processor...).
• Eggplant Parmesan -- after being defeated by the frying oil and my cooking euphoria brutaly shot down by roommates complaining of smoke, I ended up bake-frying the eggplant. Covered with marinera sauce, thick delicious slices of mozzerella and a heavy sprinkling of grated parmesan, baked to perfection, this meal has definitely been put on the "oh geeze, I need to make this again" list.
• Reuben Loaf -- I knew this one was a winner before I even started. Of course, it had been made for me before and I remembered there was never much leftovers. I mean come on, it's a reuben sandwich, but BAKED INTO A LOAF OF BREAD. It can't get much better than that, can it? OH YES IT CAN! The second time I made it, I actually cooked (for 6 hours, mind you) a log of corned beef. As delicious as this one turned out, the work that was put into it was a bit much. I think next time I'll stick with my deli sliced corned beef.
• Veggie Pot Pie -- I don't remember much what was in this one. Lots of veggies. It got ok reviews, but I'm skeptical that they were just being nice because I made it from scratch. Not unlike how your older sister says your fridge hodge-podge concoction when you were 5 was the best thing she's ever tasted. Sweet - yes. Helpful to my goal of becoming Julia Childs - no. Overall, I thought this pot pie was crap. Oh, I ate it alright. I do not accept defeat that easily (or give the impression that I do). I think the general idea of a veggie pot pie deserves another shot, next time with steak.
• Irish Soda Bread -- http://happinessinapot.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/rustic-irish-soda-bread/ Oh, day-um. Warm bread right out of the oven is almost as good as a bicycle ride on a sunny day in a sundress to see a cute baby animal and something to do with seismology. Almost. With a bit of butter melted on top, and some of Nana's freezer jam, this takes place on my "I love to eat this after school or doing something else mind exerting" list.

Sounds exciting, no? Well the real reason(s) for writing this post was a) to try and make myself blog more. I need to practice writing non-scientifically/facebook-y. b) maybe if I start writing about food, one of my many loves, I'll be inclined to write more. And c) my roommates and close friends are probably tired about me verbally salivating about the meal I made last week. Please, let me tell you all about it.

Freshly (frozen, but caught in the actual ocean, not on a farm) caught chinook salmon. Butter. Lemon juice. Dill. S&P. Cooked to perfection.

Red potatoes steamed then coated with olive oil, rosemary, garlic and a dash of basil then roasted to perfection.

Steamed asparagus with just a bit of olive oil and s&p.

Oh. Em. Gee. This is the meal I want the night before I visit the chair-of-death. But only if I get to cook it.