Homemade Tacos. No better comfort food that I can think of.
Forget about those pre-made, brittle, hard-shell tortillas they sell in the store. Don't use flour tortillas either; those are for burritos. Homemade tacos should use lightly fried corn tortillas only. Forget also those spice packets that make 'taco meat'. You don't need the sodium or MSG.
I knew before I left America that Mexican-style food would be one of the things I would miss most about my home country. In my four and a half months here, I've tried not think about it.
Well, the other day, the dam broke. I went to the local 'western' grocery store and bought the necessary things to make tacos at home. 300 Baht for a cheese grater! 280 Baht for a little tiny bottle of Old El Paso taco sauce that is made in Australia, of all places. As for the other ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese (imported from California), those were reasonable. The tortillas were actually made in Thailand, and well... meh.
Despite the mediocre quality of the ingredients individually, when assembled, the tacos were freeking amazing. Definitely an instance of the whole exceeding the sum of its parts.
Here's the parts:
Forget about those pre-made, brittle, hard-shell tortillas they sell in the store. Don't use flour tortillas either; those are for burritos. Homemade tacos should use lightly fried corn tortillas only. Forget also those spice packets that make 'taco meat'. You don't need the sodium or MSG.
I knew before I left America that Mexican-style food would be one of the things I would miss most about my home country. In my four and a half months here, I've tried not think about it.
Well, the other day, the dam broke. I went to the local 'western' grocery store and bought the necessary things to make tacos at home. 300 Baht for a cheese grater! 280 Baht for a little tiny bottle of Old El Paso taco sauce that is made in Australia, of all places. As for the other ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, onions and cheese (imported from California), those were reasonable. The tortillas were actually made in Thailand, and well... meh.
Despite the mediocre quality of the ingredients individually, when assembled, the tacos were freeking amazing. Definitely an instance of the whole exceeding the sum of its parts.
Here's the parts:
That's ground pork instead of beef, which is really hard to find here. Yes, this would have looked better if I hadn't paper plates, but it didn't effect the taste, and since as I talk about later, I may not be living here that long, I'm not interested in buying a bunch of kitchen ware.
Ohhh... here's tacos put together.
As I said, these were great. Reminded me so much of home that I almost went out and drove on the right side of the road.
More tacos.
Perhaps the best thing about taco night at the condo d'Joko came well after I had consumed four of those bad boys. I went downstairs to buy something at the store and when I walked back into my place, I noticed something I couldn't before. My apartment smelled deliciously of tacos.
That was Thursday. Today is Saturday. It's September. My local power outage gave me opportunity to talk about an important decision I soon have to make. Pardon the shirtlessness.
When I was much younger, I was a restless soul (guess I still am but deal with it much better). I hated being in one place for a long time. I think two years was about my limit. But making the decision to move on always made me nuts worrying about how and where and survival. Guess what I'm trying to say is, I know what you're going through and I also know that your decision will be the right one even if it turns out to be wrong. Now I think I want to have tacos for dinner. And I just had breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jim (I'm assuming that's Jim and not Sandie just cuz it sounds like a male thing). That two year limit thing sounds like a good guideline, but I can't help but think about these things at times like know because as an English teacher, my windows for opportunity for change come along at 6 month intervals.
DeleteActually it is Sandie. Jim goes along with my restless nature but I'm the one who is the gypsy at heart. And I want you to know we did have tacos for dinner last night. It's all your fault.
DeleteNo matter where you run to, there you are.
ReplyDelete