almost tacos de carnitas

Ingrid made pork the other night and tonight I chopped that pork up and turned it into tacos de carnitas. Of course, carnitas are usually made with pork shoulder, but these were still yummy with salsa and corn tortillas.

I made the salsa out of green chilies, tomoatoes, onion, garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, cilantro and lime. The recycled pork tacos were delicious. We had great sweet corn on the cob earlier in the week too. We had to cobs left, but one of them had already dried up so we had to share our split our last one. Still, I’d say it was a successful meal.

papas con chorizo/chouriço

papas con chouriço

I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately. Usually, when this happens, I wind up cooking since so much of my childhood memories are filled with the home-cooked goodness of my mom’s kitchen.

So, last week went to our nearby grocery store to find chorizo to make one of my favorite dishes, papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo). One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that so many immigrants have made their homes in the Boston area so it’s usually very easy to find foods from all over the world. In particular, folks from Portuguese speaking countries (Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde) have immigrated and remained here in large numbers. In fact, the second most commonly spoken language in the entire state of Massachusetts is Portuguese and not Spanish like every other place I’ve lived.

Naturally, I found chorizo, but it wasn’t the Spanish or Mexican variety that I’m used to. Instead, it was the Portuguese version of this delectable  pork sausage–chouriço. I thought I’d give it a go and try to make papas con chorizo chouriço I knew this simple (but delicious) breakfast food wouldn’t be like mom’s, but I had to try it.

The results were surprising. First, the consistency of chouriço is much tougher than the mexican version. Also, Portuguese chouriço is far less oily than it’s fatty Mexican cousin. The Portuguese chouriço has a much stronger smokey flavor, while the Mexican chorizo has a bit more of a chile kick to it. I like the flavor of the Portuguese chouriço with potatoes, but it’s not the same as the drippy, fatty stuff of my childhood. Still, this newfangled culinary mixed breed has done the trick and satiated my taste for home, for now.

I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately. Usually, when this happens I wind up cooking since so much of my childhood memories are filled with the home-cooked goodness of my mom’s kitchen.

So, last week I went to our nearby grocery store to find chorizo to make one of my favorite dishes, papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo). One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that so many immigrants have made their homes in the Boston area so it’s usually very easy to find foods from all over the world. In particular, folks from Portuguese speaking countries (Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde) have immigrated and remained here in large numbers. In fact, the second most commonly spoken language in the entire state of Massachusetts is Portuguese and not Spanish like every other place I’ve lived.

Naturally, I found chorizo, but it wasn’t the Spanish or Mexican variety that I’m used to. Instead, it was the Portuguese version of this delectable  pork sausage–chouriço. I thought I’d give it a go and try to make papas con chorizo chouriço. I knew this simple (but delicious) breakfast food wouldn’t be like mom’s, but I had to try it.

The results were surprising. First, the consistency of chouriço is much tougher than the mexican version. Also, Portuguese chouriço is far less oily than it’s fatty Mexican cousin. The Portuguese chouriço has a much stronger smokey flavor, while the Mexican chorizo has a bit more of a chile kick to it. I like the flavor of the Portuguese chouriço with potatoes, but it’s not the same as the mushy, fatty stuff of my childhood. Still, this newfangled culinary mixed breed has done the trick and satiated my taste for home, for now.

Here’s a photo of the version I’m used to along with a link to a site that has a good recipe for papas con chorizo tacos.

papas con chorizo recipe courtesy of taste of home.com

good eats

pear, gorgonzola, walnut pizza

We ate every well tonight. Ingrid and I made this pizza with bosc pears, gorgonzola, candied walnuts and caramelized onions. Ingrid has become a master at making the dough and I can crumble cheese. We make a good team.

We had several notable meals in Seattle too. They weren’t all deep fried, but it sure felt like that.  Here are a few of the highlights.

deep fried goodness at ivar's

dim sum at jade garden in the international district

fried donughts at tom douglas's dahlia bakery

El Paso

El Paso at Night by Satxvike

This stunning photo of downtown El Paso was taken by a fellow El Pasoan who goes by the name Satxvike on Flickr. He has many other great photos on flickr and his profile pic is Shemp Howard so, in my book, he’s a man of fine taste.

I was born and raised in that city, and although I haven’t lived there for over thirteen years, I still consider it home. Lately, El Paso has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. CNN newsman Anderson Cooper spent a couple days there last week reporting on the drug-related violence along the US-Mexico Border. Most of Cooper’s coverage focused on the drug-trade, kidnappings, and, “how the violence threatens America.” The violence in Mexico is real and important, but there is more to El Paso than drugs and guns.

I’m glad some attention is being paid to these darker issues,  but it’s important to note that El Paso has more to offer than wicked tales of mass graves sites and beheaded police officials. In spite of the mayhem across the Rio Grande, El Paso itself remains one of the safest cities of its size in the US, and El Pasoans are amongst the most hospitable and generous folks I know.

Here are a few stories that don’t involve drug-related violence and will hopefully shed light on some of the brighter aspects of the Sun City.

Jem Ministries is a project started in 1996 by Jesus and Maria Ruiz. They have spent the last 13 years feeding thousands of poor children in Juarez. The Ruiz’s regularly make trips across the border into Juarez to make donations to the many poor children of that city. The Ruiz family was honored by CNN in 2008, and recently the family was the subject of an ABC Home Makeover.

Vanity Fair’s Andi Teran (another former El Pasoan) recently wrote a fascinating article on the budding music scene out in our west Texan town. Andi suggests that musicians have embraced El Paso’s “live and let live” attitude and made the city their home. Or, if not their home, at least a place to make and play their music. Everyone from Ministry’s Al Jourgensen to the Clash’s Paul Simonon, Conor Oberst, Beck, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Tom Waits have played/recorded/lived in El Paso, or in nearby Tornillo where Tony Rancich’s Sonic Ranch has been a comfy home to musicians for years.

Last year, my brothers and I made a trip back home to see Tom Waits. We were surprised and excited that he selected the Plaza Theater for one of the sites of his Glitter and Doom Tour. The show was a blast and local music writer, Doug Pullen had a one of the best post-show reviews. Pullen has a good take on the Vanity Fair Article too. He mentions some of the earlier musical heroes like the Bobby Fuller Four and HR of Bad Brains that Teran missed in her piece. Doug’s blog is a good one that I read often. It’s worth a look, here.

Finally, a post about El Paso, would not be complete without a note about food. Needless to say, I could (and probably will) go on forever about this topic. But, for now, I’ll make a mention of a few of the better places to eat in El Paso. Of course, the first place I go for soulful cooking is my mom’s house. Beyond mom’s cooking, Kiki’s is my favorite place for Tacos and Mexican food in general. The taco place most people mention is Chico’s. I was never a huge fan, but it seems inappropriate to have a post about food and not mention them. They have a facebook profile and even have a wikipedia entry. If I’m going to have fast-food tacos in El Paso, I much prefer El Taco Tote or Tacos de Don Ben (Ben’s Tacos doesn’t have a website, but I think they should). For steak, there is no place better than Cattleman’s at the Indian Cliff’s Ranch in nearby Fabens, Texas.

winter break is over

Our winter break in Texas is over. Ingrid and I both got to spend some quality time with our friends and (most especially) family. It was good to be back where the food is spicy, and the food and people are warm.

breakfast tacos: hecho en cambridge

Breakfast Tacos are a staple in Austin. They didn’t really exist in El Paso. There we ate burritos, which were also tasty, but not nearly the culinary and social phenomenon that they are in the Capital City.

Needless to say, breakfast tacos are a non-entity here in Cambridge. This is a donut town. And, while I don’t mind living in a place that so freely worships sugary fried dough, I occasionally miss those little rolled missiles of Tex-Mexy goodness. I made some breakfast tacos this weekend and have posted them here in all their glory.

I also made some cappuccino.
This week also marked the official mid-term of the fall semester–and what a busy mid-term week it was! Many of us in the Higher Ed program had papers due in more than one class. Hopefully, my professors and teaching assistants are kind in their grading, but if not, I’ll go into business selling breakfast tacos to the Harvard kids.

pico de gallo!

Whenever I have a paper due, everything else seems more important. Next week there are two papers due. Rather than write, I felt the need to chop the fresh jalapeños my mom sent me from home. Hopefully, now that I’m sufficiently spiced, I can get to work.

Ingrid and I had a fun Saturday Afternoon. We tried to find the Alewife Brook Reservation and while we couldn’t find the entry way to the foot path, we did find a few lovely photogenic spots along the way. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and it made for more nice fall photos.