M's Favorite Food Memories of 2017

Somehow it's already May, and we still haven't posted our favorite food memories from last year. We originally planned to do it by Chinese New Year, and then wanted to finish them before we moved, but things got so busy and so hectic (multiple all-nighters level of busy), much more than we anticipated despite knowing we had 12 years of stuff to move, and we never got to it. A lot of our stuff is still in boxes, and we still don't have a complete living room, but we don't want to neglect this blog forever. So this post is long overdue, but before summer officially kicks off, here are my favorite food memories from 2017. We ate a lot of good food in 2017, both at home in NYC and on our trips to LA, Seattle, and Vancouver. In (sort of) alphabetical order, here are my 10 favorite food memories of 2017.

1. Eatsa (NYC)

I went to Eatsa for the first time early in 2017 (we posted about it) and returned several more times over the course of the year. (It probably would have been many more if I had still worked in a Midtown office.) Eatsa revolutionized the eating scene in two different ways: the ordering process (automat-style from a kiosk/phone app without any human interaction) and making healthy quinoa bowls affordable (pretty much everything was under $10). In the end, the price may be part of what did them in, since quinoa isn't cheap, and they closed all their non-SF stores in October. (The cynical part of me still wonders if all the stores were just a test run for their tech.) I'll always be sad that I can never have another no worry curry (what ended up being my favorite) bowl again, with its tasty quinoa, spaghetti squash, apple-cabbage slaw, pickled onions, red Thai curry sauce, and more, but all the tasty bowls are a happy memory of 2017.

2. Bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights at the Queens International Night Market (NYC)

I love going to the Queens International Night Market (which has already started up for 2018 before I finished this post). In 2017, we made two visits and sampled Burmese, Guyanese, Antiguan, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Persian, Nigerian, and Filipino cuisine. There really isn't anywhere else in the city where you can do all that in a short period of time and at affordable prices. My favorite thing at the night market last year was the bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights, a green plantain tamale with tuna and peanut sauce wrapped up in banana leaves and topped with pickled onions. It was so delicious, and tasted like something that was just made in someone's home kitchen. We got it on both visits because we liked it so much, meaning we were too full to try their hallaca or corviche, and now I have no idea where to go to get any of those.

3. Corn ice cream taco from Empellon (NYC)

We went to the Midtown Empellon to celebrate my birthday, and one of the desserts that we heard a lot about before our visit was the corn ice cream taco. I figured it would be good, but I wasn't prepared for the explosion of corn flavor in every bite. Corn and ice cream are a great combination, one of my favorites, with some sweetness, saltiness, and savory flavor all in one bite. It wasn't a big dessert, so we were also able to get the avocado dessert and a seasonal apple dessert sampler, but it was probably my favorite dessert of the year.

4. Acai and pitaya bowls from Fruit Wonders (Palm Springs, CA)

Our big trip last year was to California, and we spent a few relaxing days in Palm Springs. It was really hot during the day, and the perfect way to cool down was a visit to Fruit Wonders. We got an açaí bowl the first time and a pitaya bowl the second, and both were really good. Sweet smoothies with granola, hemp seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, coconut, and agave. We'd been wanting to try açaí bowls for a while, but this was our first time, and we were hooked thanks to Fruit Wonders.

5. Los Tacos No. 1 (NYC)

Los Tacos No. 1 has been open in Chelsea Market for years, but they finally opened a second location, right near Times Square, last summer. Their tacos are some of the best in the city, and this new location was so much closer to us. We went there a lot since their opening, getting tacos, quesadillas, mulas, and nopal plates topped with (most commonly) pollo asado or adobada. Even with all the new spots in Hell's Kitchen/Midtown West over the past year, its arrival was the most exciting thing that happened for us. One of my few regrets before we moved was that I didn't manage to go there even more.

6. Salmon oshi sushi from Miku (Vancouver, BC)

We had a lot of things on our Vancouver to-try list for our few days there, and one of the must-dos was aburi oshi sushi, a special type of sushi that is not very common around here, pressed and flame-seared. We went to Miku, an expensive restaurant on the downtown waterfront, and sat at the bar for a light meal just so we could try the sushi. The salmon was BC wild sockeye salmon, and it was topped with jalapeño and Miku sauce. This was unlike any other sushi we'd had before. It basically melted in your mouth, and was so full of flavor. Pretty much a perfect bite of sushi, and I still dream about it.

7. The famous chicken for two from The NoMad (NYC)

We went to The Nomad for A's birthday, and we were finally able to try their famous whole-roasted chicken for two. We weren't sure if it would live up to the incredible hype, but it definitely did. They bring the chicken out to you once it's done, but then bring it to the back and plate it. You get a large piece of white meat chicken, so juicy and tender, with foie gras, black truffle, and brioche bread crumbs under the skin, on a plate with potato puree and leeks, and then you get the dark meat in a small bowl like a stew. It was amazing, and its stellar reputation is well-earned.

8. Cheddar garlic roll from Piroshky Piroshky (Seattle, WA)

I'm not big on waiting in line for food, but we waited for Piroshky Piroshky. We had tried their salmon pate piroshky years ago when a relative gave one to us to try, so we got that again along with some other stuff that looked good. While the salmon one was as good as we remembered, what we really loved was the cheddar garlic roll. Layers of perfectly chewy pastry with cheddar cheese, garlic, and scallions, it was a combination of some of my favorite things. We went back again on the day we left to get some more, because it was just that good.

9. Sisig tacos from various spots around NYC

We don't have any Filipino restaurants in our neighborhood (last year or now), so before last year, we only ended up getting Filipino food once in a (very long) while. Last summer, we got some sisig tacos at a street fair, and that ended up kicking off an unplanned summer of Filipino food exploration. We got so much Filipino food last summer, everything from halo halo to sisig bangus to chicken adobo to buko pandan, but of course, more sisig tacos all over the place. They may not be traditional Filipino cuisine, but they're fun to eat and delicious.

10. Sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga (Vancouver, BC)

Last but certainly not least, the sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga in Vancouver. Sushi Itoga was another one of those must-try things I put on our Vancouver list. It was a small spot where you ordered sushi at the counter, and then they brought it to your table. Even better, it was incredibly affordable. We got six rolls, a plate of sashimi, seaweed salad, and the included miso soup and tea for like US $35. Even better than the price was the quality. That sashimi was so fresh, and it was so soft that it really just melted in our mouths. (I realize I said the same thing about Miku, but it's true.) We went there on our last day in Vancouver, and we were talking about the sashimi the entire way back to Seattle on the train.

There you have it, my favorite food memories of 2017. Somehow it took over four months to put it into words, but it's finally done!

Oakland Goodbye

Our last morning in Pittsburgh started out with some free orange juice and mini muffins at the hotel, and then it was time to pack up and hit the road. We had plans to stop for lunch and ice cream before leaving the city, and then to drive the old Lincoln Highway all the way east until we hit Gettysburg. We were deliberately taking the "back roads" instead of the interstate, but we had a whole list of places we wanted to visit on the way, the types of roadside spots you would miss on the toll road. It was our Pennsylvania road trip, so we wanted to see as much of Pennsylvania as possible.

We decided to spend our last moments in Pittsburgh in an area called Oakland, home to a lot of universities in the city. We were mostly heading there because A wanted to take me to an ice cream shop that he liked, and before we left, I looked up places that might be nearby for lunch on Yelp. There was a taco joint with good reviews down the street, so we decided to try that. What we didn't realize was that it was actually a Mexican grocery store with a griddle and taco bar on the street outside, but that was actually better for us since we weren't entirely sure whether we were parked in a legal spot (signs were a bit confusing) and eating outside would mean we could keep watch on our car.

We got three different tacos -- chorizo, chicken, and pork -- which came on doubled corn tortillas with no toppings. The reason for that was because they had an entire bar of toppings and salsas next to it so you could pile on whatever you wanted. For us, that meant some guacamole and salsa verde, and tons of pico de gallo, onions, and cilantro. We love eating tacos with a garden on top of them, and this one had lots of options.

We don't remember a ton of the details about the tacos four years later, stuff like which one we liked best, but we do remember they were really tasty. I wish we had taken notes, because they look really good in the photos and I would love to remember more about the experience.

After the tacos, it was time for ice cream from Dave & Andy's, known as one of the best ice cream shops in Pittsburgh. A had been there once before when he was in college and really enjoyed it. The thing Dave & Andy's is known for, besides good ice cream, is that they put an M&M on the bottom of the cone to prevent the ice cream from dripping out. Smart idea.

We each got a cone. For me, it was a no-brainer to get birthday cake, which made my favorite food memories list back in 2013. They mixed yellow cake and sprinkles into the ice cream and it was delicious. The waffle cone, even though I'm not usually a cone person, was crispy and sturdy, and it was just a great ice cream cone all around. A doesn't remember exactly what he got (maybe something coffee-based), and back then we didn't always take pictures of the menu board, but he does remember he liked it.

Back when A went there the first time with other Pittsburgh folks, they told him that the thing to do there was to try to guess the color of the M&M at the bottom before you got to it. No idea if this is a real tradition or not, but we did it anyway because it was fun. I guessed blue, and it was blue. A guessed orange, and his was orange. We were pretty happy that we both guessed right.

After our tacos and ice cream, we drove over to the Lincoln Highway to start meandering our way across the state. We had a lot of stops planned -- the Flight 93 Memorial first, followed by a really fun and mind-boggling trip to Gravity Hill (completely worth it), and more -- but for now, it was goodbye to Pittsburgh!

A Visit to the Strip District

We had one full day in Pittsburgh on our road trip. We were planning to spend the second half of that day at a Pirates game, but for the first part, we wanted to get in some sightseeing. It wasn't my first time in Pittsburgh since A had lived there for a few summers with his family, but it was my first time doing any real sightseeing there. Since it was lunchtime, we decided to start out over in the Strip District, which had developed over the years into a historic market district. A had been there several times during the time he lived there, mostly with his mom to go food shopping, but hadn't really spent much time wandering around or eating at the various vendors since they went there specifically to shop at a couple of stores.

A suggested we start out with Wholey's, a grocery store that had been in Pittsburgh for over 100 years. We strolled around the aisles, but couldn't really buy anything because of our schedule. After that, we went to some other shops, like Penzeys Spices and also open air markets. Since it was a Saturday afternoon, the narrow streets were packed with people, very slow-moving, and it took forever trying to get anywhere. As a result, we didn't investigate too many places before deciding to get something to eat for lunch.

We started off with tacos at Edgar's Tacos, which had a sign proclaiming themselves the best tacos in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, four years and probably at least a hundred tacos later, I couldn't even tell you which tacos we got here. Even though the details are a bit fuzzy (I really wish we had taken notes on this trip), I do remember that the portions were generous and that the tacos did taste good. That was a nice start to lunch.

Our next stop was at S&D Polish Deli, where we split the Polish platter. The platter had three pierogi,  haluszki, and stuffed cabbage, and also came with a drink. Don't remember which type of pierogi these were, but they were good, as was the stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce. The haluszki, I think, was the "Pittsburgh style" with cabbage, onions, and butter. All of the food was really good, and we were really happy with our platter. After eating, there was some customer service-type drama relating to getting a bathroom key which had me steaming for a bit until I wrote it all out in my journal to get it out of my head forever, and that must have worked since I don't remember the majority of the details anymore. So our takeaway from here was that the food was good, but maybe not worth dealing with the foot traffic and the potential for a bathroom key drama repeat.

Our last stop was at Peace, Love and Little Donuts, which we went to partially because we wanted a snack and partially because we loved the name. We got the cinnamon sugar (in part, because they were giving out samples before we ordered) and the Samoa donuts. Both were fine, although we think the donuts we have at home in NYC (or when we visit Chicago) are better.

Overall, while it was nice to visit the Strip District, what we ate and experienced wasn't so different from anything we could get at home, including all the crowds. We have since accumulated other bookmarks for places to visit in Pittsburgh, so I'm not sure if we'll do this Strip District visit again, but I'm glad we at least did this together once.

9th Ave Food Festival 2017 Part II

The second day of the 9th Avenue International Food Festival was warm and sunny, and the good weather meant even bigger crowds. While we spent our first day mostly visiting places familiar to us, the second day was all about trying small snacks from places in the neighborhood that we've known about but never made it to. It was an easy (and cheaper) way to sample their food and see whether we might want to go for a return visit sometime.

Our first stop was back at the Spam house as we're all about free snacks, especially when they're tasty. This time there was no musubi offered, just sliders and fries, so we both went with the slider. It tasted a little better than the day before, but that could just be because we each got a full slider to ourselves. We were much happier with a full slider as opposed to half and half of a musubi.

As we made our way up the avenue, we stopped first at K Rico, a South American steakhouse that seems to be sticking in a spot that has seen a lot of turnover since we've lived in the area. They had chicken legs, arepas, and empanadas, and after a staff recommendation, we went with one of the beef empanadas.

Unlike some empanadas we've had, these were more deep fried, sort of like a pastelillo. The inside had beef, egg, raisins, and some herbs. The raisins and the sauce made it a little sweeter than most similar beef empanadas we've had, and we think we prefer the more flavorful, more savory ones. A didn't get much meat in his bites, but that could also be because he somehow dropped a piece while eating. He also didn't really like the raisin addition in this case. In the end he thought it just tasted fried. M got more flavor from it, but not as much as she was expecting.

Our next stop was Tacuba which had caught our eye the day before because they had a rotating al pastor spit outside with pineapple on top. Unfortunately, the spit was gone when we got there, but they still had al pastor left. In addition to the pork, each taco had onions, cilantro, pineapple, and a green sauce. They were really good. The pork was flavorful and had just the right amount of "crisp" to the edges that only come from rotating spits. The pineapples were also grilled so they were nice and soft with a bit of smoky sweetness. The only negative here was that the taco filling amounts were pretty uneven from taco to taco.

The other thing that had caught our eye the day before was the clam chowder from Blue Seafood Bar, mostly because it wasn't that expensive and we love chowder. While this was a creamy chowder, it wasn't as heavy on the cream as some others we've had which we liked. Not sure if this is how it usually is or if it's because of how it was cooking on the grill outside, but it was good. In addition to the clams and broth, there was celery, corn, potatoes, and lots of herbs. The flavors here were good, but having just been to the Pacific Northwest, we've been spoiled on amazing chowders. As good as this was, there was almost no way for it to compare.

Our final stop was Ding which was selling an assortment of Chinese dishes for $5. A lot of them looked good, and in the end we went with dan dan noodles, one of our favorites. We watched as they scooped out the noodles and topped it with sauces, seasonings, and garnishes from at least eight different bowls. The noodles had a good amount of late hitting heat from the Chinese peppercorns, but wasn't unbearably spicy at all. Also the meat sauce and additional sauces and flavorings all melded to form a very tasty dish. We got a menu from the vendors there, and from this first taste we both think we'd like to give the restaurant a try.

We had a pretty successful visit to the food festival this year unlike the one year that we only got pierogi, curry puffs, and doughnuts on both days. We do still miss the pierogi though.

Naked Chicken Chalupa

I was reading Grub Street earlier today and they were talking about a new Taco Bell experiment - a taco shell made out of a fried egg debuting this month in Michigan. I can't say that I'm very excited about the idea of holding an oily, squishy egg in taco form, but it reminded me of the last unconventional taco shell that Taco Bell had, the one made out of fried chicken that they sold across the country as the naked chicken chalupa and which was gone within a month.

The naked chicken chalupa came out at the end of January, and within the first week, I picked one up at Taco Bell for lunch and absolutely loved it. I wanted to get more, but there isn't a Taco Bell super close to us at home and our February weekends were pretty packed, making it difficult. Sometime near the end of February, less than a month after releasing it, they announced that the naked chicken chalupa would be gone before March. I had missed the news for a few days (was pretty busy with work and stuff), so by the time I finally learned about it, it was too late. The naked chicken chalupa was gone. I always knew it was going to be a limited edition item, but I didn't think it would be that limited.

There was a lot of buzz around this chalupa when it first came out because it was replacing the regular fried chalupa shell with a shell made of fried chicken. Inside the fried chicken shell were the usual chalupa toppings - lettuce, tomato, cheese, and avocado ranch sauce. Eating it, it was just like eating a regular chalupa. The taste was so similar, except better since the fried chicken shell not only had the flavor of the regular fried chalupa shell but also fried chicken. It was so good. Unfortunately, now it's gone. Was it that expensive to make? Did they run out of fried chicken shells? It got pretty good reviews as far as I could see, and there was a lot of hype about it, so why was it gone so soon? Hopefully this will be like some of the other menu items that Taco Bell brings back from time to time. If so, I will definitely be trying to get as many as I can.

Tacos El Gordo

Three years ago today, we were out in sunny, warm Vegas (at least it was warmer than here). We spent the day at Red Rock Canyon, and then for dinner, headed over to one of our must-stop places in Vegas, Tacos El Gordo, just past the Wynn and Encore on the Strip. We had been there before on our first trip to Vegas together (that's where the daytime photo comes from), but since we never wrote about that visit, we're recapping them both here together.

When we first went to Tacos El Gordo back on our 2012 trip, we didn't know much about them except that they were a branch of a Tijuana taco chain, that the tacos were good, and that we should try the adobada. Adobada is basically pork in a red chile marinade that they cook on a rotating spit. For the tacos, they just shave the meat off the spit and add on some pineapple if you want. In addition to seeing the meat on the spit, much of the other cooking is pretty much out in the open at Tacos El Gordo too, so you can see them cooking all sorts of other meats from their diverse menu, everything ranging from beef brains to pork stomach.

The focus at Tacos El Gordo is obviously tacos, but they also had varieties of fries, as well as quesadillas, sopes, tostadas, and more. They also had a drink machine separate from the regular soda machine that made A very happy because it had horchata along with other aguas frescas.

We were really hungry the first time we went to Tacos El Gordo. We were having a late lunch and we had just walked all the way from the MGM Grand to get tacos, so we ordered a lot. Way more than we should have. We didn't take notes back then so unfortunately I don't remember exactly what tacos we got or every ingredient, but each taco came with a different salsa and toppings (mostly onion and cilantro) based on what type of taco it was. We also remembered to order a plate on the side of the grilled spring onions and peppers which were really tasty.

As for the tacos, I know we got adobada and lengua, and I can see that there was also an azteca (nopal asado) on the tray. I remember there was a taco de sesos (beef brain) because A tried it for the first time on that trip and we have video, but I'm not sure what other tacos made it on the tray. For his first time eating brains, he found them kind of creamy and having an odd mineral-like flavor, but didn't dislike it. It wouldn't have been his first choice for another one, but it wasn't bad.

We liked the adobada taco so much that we got more even though we had just eaten seven tacos between the two of us. The marinated pork was just so good, and the second time, we remembered to get it with the pineapple on top which made it even better. We probably would have gotten another lengua taco also, as we really liked that one too, but we just had so much food at lunch that there wasn't any stomach space. And why did we have no stomach space?

Because, in our hunger and with eyes definitely bigger than our stomachs, we also got an order of adobada fries. To be fair to us, we didn't know that they were going to come in a container that large, but we really should have guessed it since they were $10 (this was 4+ years ago, so no idea what it is now) and at the time, each taco was only around $2. They were basically fries covered in shaved pork, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole in a large styrofoam take-out container. So good, but so much food. We were so stuffed when we left Tacos El Gordo, yet somehow we still rolled ourselves into a Vegas buffet that night since it was our only chance to do so. Maybe not the best planning and maybe not wise, but we did it.

We were a bit more sensible on our second trip to Tacos El Gordo, this time for dinner on this date three years ago. We got seven tacos again - mostly concentrating on adobada, lengua, and chorizo - along with the grilled vegetables, but this time we did not get the fries. It was a much smarter decision. The tacos were just as good as we remembered them, so much flavor, and still so affordable. 

Tacos El Gordo is on our list for any Vegas visit, and we would love to go back again for some more tacos. We're a little upset with ourselves that we forgot that they also have a branch in San Diego and only remembered after we got back home, because we could have gotten some more tasty tacos last fall. There are good taco spots in NY now, more as time goes on, but we still plan to return to Tacos El Gordo on our trips.

Double Stacked Habanero

I went to Taco Bell over Christmas weekend and noticed that they had something new, double stacked tacos. Now that I've tried them, I'm also seeing the commercials all over TV advertising them for $1 each. At the one I went to, they were almost double the price at $1.99, but I guess that's the NY upcharge for you. There are three types - nacho crunch, spicy sweet, and cool habanero - and I went with the cool habanero, since the flavor profile of that one was both most appealing and the easiest to guess from the name since I had never heard of these before.

I thought the reason they were called double stacked tacos was just because they had a crunchy shell inside a soft tortilla, but I guess they're also supposed to bring together contrasting ingredients (they describe it as yin-yang on the website). Anyway, this was one of their standard tacos with beef, lettuce, and cheese, but it also had sour cream and habanero sauce. (I guess they consider those the opposing ingredients - sour cream and habanero - but that seemed pretty standard to me to cool the spice of hot sauce with sour cream.) Usually I find fast food places advertising things to be spicy (coughWendyscough) to not really be that spicy but the habanero sauce here packed some nice heat. Texturally the double shells worked, and the flavor of the taco was good, as it was your standard taco plus a creamy hot sauce. After trying it and reading the descriptions of the other two versions of the double stacked taco, I think I made the right flavor choice for me. Overall, it was a pretty good taco and I'd get it again. I just wish it were really only $1.

National Taco Day

Happy National Taco Day! To celebrate, I went over to Choza Taqueria at Gotham West, since Choza was offering a free taco with every meal for the occasion. An order of tacos there included three tacos, so with the free one, I was able to get about 2/3 of the taco options on the menu. This wasn't my first time at Choza, but it had been a little bit since my last visit so I couldn't remember which of the fillings was my favorite. Luckily they let you mix and match.

For the National Taco Tuesday promotion, you could choose between the chicken and garbanzo tacos. I went with the garbanzo taco (technically garbanzos y hongos - garbanzos and mushrooms) since I had already ordered the chicken as part of the set. The garbanzo and mushroom taco was made with Mexican crema, salsa negra, and avocado. I liked this one, and the best part was the smoky sauce. The mushrooms were very juicy, and the addition of the chickpeas made it even heartier.

The pollo taco at Choza is kind of unique. I liked the way it differed from your standard chicken taco, combining citrus-roasted chicken, charred pineapple, buttermilk-tomatillo salsa, queso fresco, and cilantro. Pineapple is more commonly associated with pork and al pastor, but it complemented the citrus-flavored chicken here pretty well. I also liked the buttermilk-tomatillo salsa, a combination of flavors you don't normally find in a taco.

The third taco I tried was the chorizo, which was spicy Mexican pork sausage, poblano peppers, salsa macha, queso fresco, and cilantro. Of the four, this was definitely the taco with the most powerful flavors with lots of spice from the chorizo and the poblano peppers. It was a little salty because it was chorizo, but not too bad. I really liked having the poblano peppers on top adding a lot of freshness.

The last taco was the carnitas - braised pork shoulder with tamarind, chipotle crema, escabeche, and cilantro. The flavor of the meat here was pretty good, but the cabbage on top dominated the flavor and texture of the taco a little bit. I'm not really one to complain about extra vegetables to balance things out though, so I was okay with that.

Even though the tacos from Choza looked on the small side on the platter, they were pretty filling. Four was more than enough for lunch for me. I think my favorite was probably the chicken, but they all were pretty good. Out of all the options at Gotham West, Choza is one of the most affordable, so I see more tacos in my future.

Week 27 - Tacos

We have plenty of taco nights at our house, so when the Week 27 theme came up with tacos, I was all smiles. I had already picked out a new taco recipe I wanted to try - these chicken fajitas from the Food Network Kitchens - so this was probably one of the easiest recent challenges to figure out.

I used the Food Network's recipe as a starting point and basic guide for cooking the chicken, but adapted it, like we do for most recipes. The ingredients we used were:

- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided ($0.40)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts ($3)
- taco seasoning, about 1-1.5 tbsp ($0.15)
- 2 bell peppers, sliced ($1.22)
- 1 onion, sliced ($0.50)
- salt ($0.03)
- garlic powder ($0.05)
- 4 tortillas ($0.30)
- pico de gallo ($2)
- sour cream ($0.80)
- Mexican shredded cheese ($1.75)

The total for taco night was about $10.20, including all the toppings (which will be covered more in-depth in another post). We each had 2 (very full) tacos, plus another plate of chicken and toppings without tortillas. Although I had hoped that it would be under $10, this wasn't a bad total for dinner.

The steps for making the tacos were:

1. Prep - slice peppers and onions, rub chicken with taco seasoning, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook, turning every couple of minutes, for about 5-7 minutes. (Our pieces of chicken were really thick on one end, so I left them in a little longer. It should look golden and not raw in any part.)

3. Line baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Add chicken and bake for about 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

4. While chicken is baking, in the same skillet, add the rest of the olive oil. Once heated, add onions and bell peppers, and toss with salt and garlic powder. Saute peppers and onions until softened, about 12-15 minutes over medium heat. (Basically cook until they have the consistency of the fajita vegetables you'd get at a restaurant. That was how I measured it.)

5. While chicken is baking and vegetables are cooking, heat tortillas individually in a small skillet (no oil).

6. Once chicken is done, allow it to rest for a few minutes, and then slice chicken.

7. Assemble tacos - tortilla, sliced chicken, peppers and onions, sour cream, pico de gallo, and cheese.

These were some fully loaded tacos, unlike a lot of the tacos we often have, which have no sour cream or cheese or pico de gallo. I really liked this combination, and considering it didn't cook on one of those fajita hot plates, I thought it was a pretty good approximation of the flavors. What I was happiest about was the fact that the chicken wasn't dry at all. I haven't really made chicken like this - cooking in a skillet and then finishing it off in the oven - but I probably should do it more, as the texture was great and it was really juicy. The only thing missing from the "fajita" portion was guacamole, but that would have also increased the cost by quite a bit. This whole meal was a great taco night combination, and I would definitely do this again.

Week 21 - Cheap Meals

When the theme for Week 21 popped up as cheap meals, I figured most of our everyday dinners would probably qualify and I could just make whatever I wanted. I always prefer for our dinners to be under $10 for the two of us (although sometimes if they are meat or seafood-heavy, it makes sense that they don't), and like it even better when they come in under $5. I figured I would aim for close to $5, but if it went a little bit over, that would be okay.

I thought some cheap options could be vegetable omelettes (especially since the price of eggs seems to have gone down recently), but I've made so many omelettes for previous challenges, or maybe something basic like pasta with some olive oil and garlic. Those would both probably come in under $5. But I had some soy chorizo in the fridge, so I decided to go with soy chorizo and mushroom tacos. The tacos would definitely be under $5 without the mushrooms (and we often make it without them), but I wanted to get more vegetables into the meal to make it more balanced. Working out the total costs of a lot of the other challenges really helped with this challenge, as I already had a pretty good idea of how much various ingredients cost and it wasn't a foreign concept to me to be keeping that in the back of my mind while meal planning. (I didn't realize until writing this post that I actually made soy chorizo tacos for the Mexican challenge last year, but that one was really more about the homemade tortillas. We also posted about tacos the first time we used the soy chorizo. It's clearly our favorite use of the soy chorizo.)

The ingredients for the tacos ended up coming out to a total of $5.33. They didn't put a cap on the cost of the challenge since cheap means different things to different people, but as much as I would have preferred to come in under $5, I'm fine with it since it was close. The ingredients were:

- 4 tortillas ($0.30)
- 1 package of soy chorizo ($1.99)
- 1 onion ($0.50)
- about 12 oz of mushrooms ($1.90)
- 1 potato ($0.49)
- olive oil for sauteing ($0.15)

Making the tacos was pretty easy. There was some prep - chop onion, chop mushrooms, boil potato until tender and then chop potato, heat tortillas in a nonstick skillet (without oil) - and then just cooking the onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and soy chorizo together in a large pan until it was all done. It's one of our easier dinners and works out well for Meatless Monday (or Taco Tuesday or any other day). Definitely part of our rotation.

Paloma Bonita

For our final dinner in Cancun (4 years ago today), we were finally able to try Paloma Bonita, the Mexican restaurant associated with our resort. Paloma Bonita was a little different from all the other restaurants included at the all-inclusive Dreams resort since it was open to the public and required advanced reservations the day of your visit. Since it was located right next to the resort, it seemed like they set up a special arrangement to reserve a few spots every night to give resort guests a special prix fixe menu. We definitely wanted to try this out since we were trying to hit up every restaurant venue during our stay, but also, it was the only Mexican restaurant included at the resort. How could we go to Mexico and not go to the one Mexican restaurant that was there?

From the special menu that the restaurant gave to resort guests back when we went, we ordered one shared starter for the table, one salad each, and one entree each. We don't remember if we were limited to that number of dishes (plus drinks) or if we were trying to be good and not eat everything on the menu. For our shared starter/snack, we opted for the tacos al pastor servidos con cilantro, cebolla y piña (marinated pork tacos served with cilantro, onion and pineapple). From what we remember, these were really good tacos. The pork had good flavor, and the onion, cilantro, and pineapple accompaniments were fresh and bright. Two meals in a row with great tacos and we were feeling pretty happy.

One of the salads that we got was the torre de nopal y queso añejo preparada con nopales, tomate, y queso añejo, aderezada con vinagreta de cilantro (cactus and aged cheese tower prepared with cactus, tomato, and aged cheese (which they called old cheese in the English translation on the menu) with a cilantro vinaigrette). 4 years later, we sadly don't remember too much about this other than it being light and clean, but it was probably the best plated dish all night. It was also a preparation of nopales that we had never had before, since we usually get them in tacos, so it was nice to try something different.

The other salad was the cebiche verde - cebiche de filete de mero preparado con pepino, pimiento verde, cilantro, albahaca, y hierbabuena, marinado con jugo de limon y aceite de olivo (green cebiche - grouper fillet prepared with cucumber, green pepper, cilantro, basil and mint, marinated with lemon juice and olive oil). First, this was topped with avocado and avocado wasn't mentioned anywhere in the menu description, so that was a nice surprise. That aside, we don't remember much about the specifics of the flavor of the cebiche (this is why we should write posts before the 4 year mark!) but we do remember that the grouper was significantly better than the grouper we had at the Japanese restaurant a couple of days earlier. What we do remember is that it had a nice, bright acidity, but that is true of any good cebiche.

For my entree, I went with the suprema de pollo Oaxaca, rellena de queso Oaxaca y rajas con salsa poblana (chicken breast Oaxaca style stuffed with Oaxaca cheese and slices of poblano pepper). I imagine that this was probably good, but if you thought we didn't remember much about our appetizers, I remember even less about this entree. I had to look through all the entrees on the menu to even remember what I ordered (since I didn't caption this day in our photo album very well). This is probably less about the quality of the dish, as I'm sure it was fine (or else I would have remembered more), and more about (1) the passage of time and (2) the fact that A's choice outshined mine so much that it is pretty much one of the only things either of us distinctly remembers about the entire meal this many years later.

A got the lasaña de cochinita pibil preparada con tortilla de maiz amarillo y gratinada con queso Oaxaca (cochinita pibil prepared with yellow corn tortilla and topped with Oaxacan cheese). A was really smart with what he ordered. We were in the Yucatan, and he got the one distinctly Yucatecan dish on the menu, so it's no surprise that this was delicious and the most memorable thing we ate. Cochinita pibil is a traditional dish in the Yucatan that consists of slow roasted pork with seasonings of achiote and other local spices. The Paloma Bonita version came with a bunch of layered tortillas topped with the pork and cheese. The flavor of the pork was so rich and so good, and we really wanted more of this.

Between Paloma Bonita and Seaside Grill, the best food we ate at Dreams Cancun (outside of the Mexican buffet at breakfast) definitely came on our last full day in Cancun. Even if we don't remember all the specifics about dinner, we remember our general feeling as we walked out of Paloma Bonita, that we had just had a really good meal, a memory that has lingered to this day. While we were happy to have such tasty food at all on the trip, we were sad that we only discovered the "good stuff" on our last day when we'd have no chances to get them again before we left. At least we would be ending our stay on a very tasty note.