first pass

there are many foods that i love but never try to make- indian, chinese, mexican, and etc. . these are all foods that are best eaten in hole in the wall restaurants or someone's home.

but given that it's so hard to find cheap, delicious mexican food in nyc (c'mon, i was spoiled by southern california!) and the boy's affinity for it, i decided to try my hand at making it from scratch. for the past couple weeks i scoured the internet for authentic recipes. . . thereby happening on a chowhound discussion about the best carnitas recipe which reminded me of the fact that the best home cooked, ethnic foods are often made without recipes. at least not the carefully measured, precisely spelled out, step by step variety. rather, the general description of ingredients and loose guidelines. thereby leaving the success of the meal to the inventiveness and taste of the chef.

after rounding out the menu with guajillo salsa and queso fundido, i was pumped up!! after a full day of lazying, the boy and i took the bus to east harlem (or shall i call it food heaven) to get groceries.

good quality meat and produce for cheap!!! something possessed me as i can barely remember what i bought and vaguely recall just grabbing at things i might need later on. a couple hours later, we headed back home both happy- the boy armed with coconut drinks, the biggest beer EVER, and me with enough food to fill my tiny fridge to capacity. we got home, watched the "secret lives of altar boys", then feasted on chorizo arepas before falling asleep.

dinner came together relatively seemlessly and while my guests did not complain about the food i was not really satisfied. while quite fragrant and hearty, the carnitas was lacking in "bite", the consistency of the queso fundido went from too watery to too sticky, and the salsa while having a fresh and smoky flavor, was not nearly as spicy as proclaimed. . . think i'll have to try, try again.