Taco Night!

I love grocery shopping.

I love pushing the cart up and down the aisles, around the fresh produce piled high on wooden kiosks, and past the counters, inhaling the sweet bakery aromas, the briny fishiness of the seafood counter, and the whiffs of smoky meats at the deli. I love seeing the beautiful colors, hearing the sound of the sprinkler spraying the fresh veggies, and feeling all the different textures of the fruits. I love just standing there, letting my surroundings soak in and saturate my senses.

Most of all, I love getting inspired by all the possibilities, all the different combinations, all the different ways I can make my stomach very, very happy.

Last week, I was at the store with Dr. Miso, and while wandering up and down the aisles, we got inspired. In the authentic cuisines aisle, you know, the aisle with all the Asian sauces and the Goya boxes, we saw...TACO KITS! lol. I hadn't had a taco since over the summer when I worked at a dude ranch in Montana. Taco Mondays were a ranch tradition: ground beef, chicken fajitas, and beans; hard and soft shells; grilled cheese quesadillas; freshly cut lettuce, tomato, and onions; shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. All the fixings. YUM-MY!

So naturally, Dr. Miso and I turned to each other and simultaneously said, "Taco Night!"

Saturday night came and we were ready. Since this was our first attempt at Taco Night, we decided on just buying the Less Sodium Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Packet for our ground turkey (which, incidentally, was also on sale. Score!) and added our own chili powder to increase the heat. Next time, I think I'll try to figure out my own seasoning combination--with a LOT more fire. Sadly, our meat was milder than we had expected. Still delicious, but we had wanted to experience the burn. Unfortunately, the only thing that got burned was my finger when we were making the flan for dessert.

Dr. Miso never had flan before so when we found a box of instant flan, we decided to give it a try. The instructions on the box seemed easy (think JELL-O Instant Pudding easy. Actually come to think of it, the box kinda looked like it too). We first melted the required amount of sugar for the topping and then went on to make the custard part. I had remembered that the sugar topping was liquid-y so when the sugar looked like it hardened, I got worried. So naturally, I check it. By sticking my finger in it. In HOT melted sugar. Yeah. Genius, that I am.

The second my finger touched the sugar, it conformed to the surface of my skin and hardened into a shell. Normally, when you burn a part of your body, your reflexes will jerk it away from the heat source to reduce damage. Unfortunately, when my reflexes reacted, some of the heat source came away with my finger, like a second skin. Surprisingly, when I peeled the sugar coating away, it was already cool to the touch, not that I could feel it with my finger which had already started to blister.

 10 Points if you spot the blister!

Lucky for me, it wasn't too painful. And I got out of washing the dishes. ^_^ hehe. Also, it's callousing very nicely which is actually helping my efforts to learn guitar, as the strings don't bother my finger as much as the others. Maybe I should burn my other fingers too...

[Update 3/14/10: Just finished cooking lunch today when I burned the side of another finger. Aiya! Klutz in the kitchen. Look out.

Dear Lord,
Please don't take my sarcasm seriously anymore. It's not cool.
Thank you.
Amen.] 

Taco Night was surprisingly quick to prepare. The meat took about 10 minutes; we threw the hard shells into the oven for 6 minutes and soft shells into the microwave for two. We quickly shredded the lettuce and diced the tomatoes and onions, opened the bag of cheese, popped the tops of the salsa and sour cream (no guacamole, unfortunately =( oh well...next time...), set the table, and we were ready to dig in!

Yes. All this food for two girls. And we finished it all. 

Well, most of it.

I like my tacos with the crunch of the hard shell, but I hate the mess it makes when the shell cracks, and everything falls out. My solution? Wrap the soft shell around the hard. You still get the crunch and salty taste of the hard shell, but the soft shell contains the mess.

I also made some margaritas for Dr. Miso and I.

And with this statement, I commence the math lesson:

Tequila + margarita mix + an extra splash of triple sec + ice = easy cocktail.

Margaritas + Tacos = Yummy combination

Add in a bit of salsa music (thanks to Pandora) for an extra touch, and we have a festive, delicious dinner.

Dr. Miso and I agree that this will be a night we'll definitely try to repeat. Not only was it easy and fun, it was pretty healthy, even despite the amount we ate.

-Originally Posted: 3/13/2010-