I can’t believe its less than a month away till Vegas. I am very excited. Last weekend Coral, mads and I packed up the Victoria family and journeyed to the wilds of Coquitlam.
My Mom and Dad threw us a most extravagant backyard wedding reception type party. It was great to reconnect with friends, family and the family of friends.
A highlight for me was watching the gaggle of kids running around in the backyard getting up to no goodness, eating apples off the trees, and general tyke horse play.
Some scotch was drank (thanks ted!) and the bonds of friendship were strengthened. I really am having troubles with patience as the final count down to Vegas is upon us.
Next party, there will be even more babies as Ted’s wife and my cousin Mo are expecting. I was thinking that if Tracy had put her newborn son in Vancityrock‘s arms, she’d bee-line home and get baby making herself!
Thank you to my folks and sister and brother CJ for helping to create this wonderful party and to everyone that took a few moments in their life to spend a sunny late summer evening with Coral and I.
***
Today I woke up with a mad lust for tacos. Lately I can’t seem to eat enough cilantro/Mexican or stop dreaming about Mediterranean food. Weird.
The tacos were a force this morning that I had to indulge in. I have a recipe burning a whole through the memory of my Blackberry that I had to cook (the Blackberry Food Network App is mighty).
The main issue I was facing, no cumin, no car, baby. I put Madelyn on my shoulders and grabbed my shopping bag and huffed it overland to Fairways.
The advantage to this peregrination is that it kept Mads excited and engaged. The disadvantage is that cooking with a toddler under foot is both dangerous and trying.
I quickly crafted her a tapas dish of tomatoes and bananas. Weird but I guess the two go together well for Madelyn as she was content to munch on that salad while I prepared my tacos.
Pork Tacos with a Tomato Salsa and Creamed Avocados
You’ll be needing:
a package of ground pork
some shrimp
a bunch of chopped cilantro stems
2 TBSPN cumin
2 tspn paprika
1 chopped hot chili
1 clove garlic chopped
1 shallot chopped
the juice of half a lime
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of salt
tomato salsa
3 tomatoes diced
2 green onions chopped
a bunch of cilantro diced
the juice of half or maybe one lime
some salt
a pinch of sugar
for the creamed avocado
2 avocados roughly chopped
1/4 cup of sour cream
1 green onion chopped
juice of a lime
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt
Here we go:
Brown the pork in a frying pan. When it is golden and cooked, add the shallots, garlic and chopped chili pepper and cook for another minute or two. Then add the cumin and paprika and stir. At this point, your house will smell fantastic.
Add the shrimp and cook till it turns pink.
Let it cook for another minute or two and then add the lime juice, cilantro stems and a pinch of sugar, stir and remove from heat.
While the pork is browning you make the salsa by chopping the tomatoes, green onion and cilantro. Fire that into a bowl and toss it in lime juice. That’s done.
To make the creamed avocado, peel and take the nut out of a couple avocados. Chop them roughly and put into a bowl. Add the chopped green onion, a quatre cup of sour cream and some lime juice and mash. You might want to add a pinch of salt and sugar.
The recipe called for the juice of 2 and half limes… I only had two left and I used two and it was still WAY to tart. I’d almost use no limes or maybe half a lime next time. Or just make guacamole.
Get your hands on your favourite taco shells, or tortillas and pile a scoop of the pork/shrimp mixture on your tortilla with a nice big spoon full of tomato salsa and a dollop of creamed avocado. Garnish with a little cilantro and yum it up.
***
That’s all I got right now. Still dreaming about those tacos. wow. Cumin is not the most authentic Mexican seasoning but I don’t care, its just plain good.
My buddy Alex sent me a link to some rare Canadian history… apperently during World War 2 the German’s set up a weather station in Canada? That’s a CBC movie that needs to be made!
Go with yourself.
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The Morning After 