Tacotopia, Episode #1: Chile Verde

22 Jan 2016 7 Comments

by scolgin in Humor, Pork, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , ,

*Tacotopia: a blissful place or state, where peace and love reign, tequila flows like rivers and tacos are plentiful, varied and delicious.

“You made a taco in Tahoe,” my pal Bob rolled poetically off his tongue, “Insane — what was that!?”

“I don’t remember,” I replied.

Upon further prodding and reflection, I did recall frying cheese and shrimp, recreating one of my most popular tacos thus far.

Bob was expressing his enthusiasm for my Year of the Taco idea — he was all behind it. (What’s not to be behind? Especially if you anticipate being one of the test subjects in this culinary experiment.)

Alex Tehrani digs in

Alex Tehrani digs in

“In Mexico,” I said to my pal Don, with whom I would be traveling to Jalisco in a couple months, “It’s going to be all about the taco. We are going to eat as many tacos as we can get ahold of. And tequila.” More

Year of the Taco

14 Jan 2016 12 Comments

by scolgin in Food, Humor, Pork Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

In the Chinese zodiac, 2016 is the Year of the Monkey.

In our house, I’m pretty sure it’s shaping up to be the Year of the Taco.

Taco al pastor, The Taco Stand, La Jolla

Taco al pastor, The Taco Stand, La Jolla

I made many a taco in 2015. But I believe that was just a lead-up to what will be the taco year to end all taco years.

Because over the past 12 months, I’ve gotten good at tacos — really good. Beyond the standard gringo tacos, Baja fish tacos, carne asada and pork al pastor, I’ve branched out into dried beef machaca tacos,  birria goat tacos, fried cheese and shrimp tacos, chicharrones and tomatillo tacos, crab tacos and dry-aged rib-eye steak tacos. More

Thankful

27 Nov 2015 9 Comments

by scolgin in Humor, Observations Tags: , , , , , ,

I was sitting in the dentist chair a few mornings ago, trying to find my Zen place as the hygienist plunged Medieval devices of torture into my mouth. I was feeling thankful that I only had to do this twice a year. Although these days, all things in the world considered, there are a lot of worse places I could be.

Saltimbocca-style turkey

Saltimbocca-style turkey

“Maybe if you re-branded teeth cleaning as a kind of ‘spa day’ for your mouth,” I said to the dentist, “people would be less apprehensive about it. You could call it a ‘denticure’.”

More

Wild Agave

13 Nov 2015 16 Comments

by scolgin in Beverages, Food, Video Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

“We want to have you guys over when we get the place cleaned up a bit,” my pal Gordon had been telling me for five or six years, over the course of two different “places”.

The time had finally come. Gordon and spouse Lori, who had moved into their “new” house a year or so before, were far enough along in their renovations that they now felt comfortable hosting. But nothing ever being simple, we had been trying to schedule this particular dinner party for a matter of months.

The mezcals of Del Maguey

The mezcals of Del Maguey

The theme would loosely be “Mezcal & Mole” — or, at least, that was the subject line of the group texts bouncing around during the protracted planning phase. More

The Greatest Taco of Them All

15 Oct 2015 4 Comments

by scolgin in On the Road, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , ,

“There’s something wrong with your blog,” a friend said to me one day.

“Oh yeah,” I replied with a raised eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“There are no fish tacos on there.”

Could it possibly be true? That of all the posts on my blog, and more specifically all the times I’d written about tacos, that I had overlooked the Baja fish taco??

Baja fish tacos

Baja fish tacos

“It’s true!” said friend who alerted me to the fact. “I looked through the entire site, no fish tacos.”

No fish tacos! More

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