Days 18, 19, and 20: Taco Taco Taco

Hey, guys!

I should have blogged last night, and I'm very sorry that I didn't but after tacos at La Sirena Gorda at the Midtown Global Market, Sarah came over and we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 1.  If you've read any of my other posts, you've maybe noticed that I have Potter Fever.  Sarah hadn't even seen the movie at all yet, so it was kind of a big deal. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  First, let's talk about Monday.  (It feels so long ago that I sort of forget what happened). 

This is what happened:



These are Portobello and Zucchini Tacos.  As always, thanks, Martha Stewart!  It's a really easy recipe.  Mostly, you just roast a few things for a little bit, and then throw them in a tortilla with cheese and salsa and mow down.  Derek and I both went into this meal assuming we wouldn't be all that into them, but were both pleasantly suprised.  They were filling and flavorful.  On the side is a Southwestern Quinoa Salad.  This recipe is from a blog that I've really been enjoying reading.  The salad is totes great.  It's just quinoa and a bunch of diced veggies.  If you haven't tried quinoa yet, go get on it right now.  It's kinda like rice, but it take half the time to cook and has roughly a bazillion times more nutrition in it than white rice. 

Bazillion.

There's a joke about GW Bush.  The punchline is something like: "Oh my God.  How many is a Brazillian?"

Ok, so then last night, Derek, Damon, Sarah and I went, like I said, to this place at the Midtown Global Market.  I'd never been in there before.  It's cool.  It's a fleamarket kind of a thing, but with lots of eateries.  We got fish tacos (Sarah got shrimp, and liked them I think) and Hibiscus tea.  Usually I enjoy weird-tasting stuff.  The tea, however, was a little too weird.  I don't know what we thought we were getting ourselves into, but it was sort of salty our sour or something, and almost tasted thick to me.  It was one of those things that I could sort of understand that someone else was really into it, I just don't happen to be.  Like with beets.  Or jazz.

The tacos, on the other hand, were good.  The fish was in a pineapple orange sauce.  Zesty!

Tonight, I came home from the gym to an empty house.  Confused, I texted Derek asking, "Where TF are you, bro?"
He was out to dinner.  I completely forgot he had plans.  It made me relieved because I didn't feel like cooking.  Left to my own devices, I will usually choose to make the easiest possible meal, but since I was going to have to take a picture of it for you fine folks,  I went ahead and plated the hell out of it.

So here we have 3 jicama sticks (jicama is one of those foods that Derek and I have always both enjoyed, but the uncut version of it looks so scary that I'd never brought one home to cut up on my own.  Turns out it's really easy.  Acutally, cutting up a jicama is a pretty gratifying experience.  It's just one big solid mass, and the texture is as pleasing to cut through as it is to bite into.)  Below that is some leftover Southwestern Quinoa Salad, then alternating cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, then some Trader Joes Frozen Mini Tacos.  These are beef-filled.  The center of the plate contains Trader Joes Fresh Salsa.  These tacos are pretty good, and very easy to make.  And faster than pizza bites.  Oooh, I should have had the mini tacos with pizza bites, damnit. 

Anyways, I ate dinner with a beer while I watched whatever on tv. 

Dessert was very special.  Last night,  I had a stroke of genius and made a very fancy looking candy dish out of a clear glass teapot.  I filled it with jelly beans.  It worked well for HP night.  We also had caramel toffee scones and Butterbeer.  For this version of Butterbeer (is it weird that I have more than one recipe for Butterbeer?) I dunked spoons into Smuckers butterscotch caramel ice cream topping, then stirred them into glasses filled with diet cream soda.  Add ice and voila!  (I had no idea that I knew how to spell 'voila' until just now... so that's nice.)

So anyways, dessert 2 nights in a row;

Teapot full of jelly beans.  BOOM.

 

So now I have to go and try to not eat the rest of those delicious beans.  Not only do they definitely not help me meet my weight loss goals, they also make me feel like barfing by the third of fourth pound of them.  It's just, they're so good. 

Until next time, remember: I LOVE JELLY BEANS