Let's jump right in, shall we?
On Thursday, I got off work late, and Derek and I knew there were places we wanted to get to by the end of the month, but couldn't think of any. I think the conversation was something like:
"Qdoba? Was that on the list? I don't remember talking about it, but I also don't remember discounting it."
"Ok, well I guess let's go to Qdoba. I've heard it's fast, which is sure nice at 8:30 at night."
Shrug.
I'd never been there. We went to the one in Saint Louis Park. It was ok, I guess. I wouldn't say no to eating there again, but I don't think it'd be my idea.
They do know how to hand out cheese, thought.
Here's my Chicken Tacos before consumption
At least, I'm pretty sure I ordered chicken. It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures. Update: Upon further inspection, I'm fairly confident these are chicken. See?
We were there pretty soon before they closed, and so I think we were the only customers in the joint. It wasn't much of an experience, but I took a lot of pictures on account of all the cheese. Here's my basket, post consumption:
Just as we got home, Damon Foursquare checked-in at Common Roots. SHIT! We had that on our mental lists and forgot about it! That'll teach us to have mental lists instead of physical ones. So we didn't get to have any of their tacos for 30 Day of Tacos, but I can tell you that the Bison Tacos there are quite good. They have Fish or Tofu ones also. Derek's had the fish ones, and really liked them, too. Still, I was hoping to get to show you guys pictures of how good their food looks. Cuz it's good. Go to Common Roots. Get an Almond Earl Gray Latte while you're there. You'll thank me.
Friday, we drove to Des Moines for James and Amanda's wedding. It was a nice wedding. It was in a barn. It was good to see friends I don't normally get to spend time with. Good times.
But the wedding was Saturday night. Before that, we had 2 days of 30 Days of Tacos to get through.
When we got into town on Friday, we had some business to attend to downtown. On the way from I-80 to downtown Des Moines, we drove past several taco joints. One in peticular was called Leo's Tacos. It looked authentic as hell. We decided to hit it up on our way back to the interstate.
When we got to the parking lot, we were disappointed to discover that the Leo's Tacos sign was acutally in front of a Mexican bakery. Damnit.
I feel like it was after 2 by this point, and we had 6pm dinner plans with Dereks family that we kind of needed to be hungry for. Plus we were both, like, totally so super hungry.
"Wasn't there another place down that way on the other side of the street?"
So we ended up at Pueblo Viejo (they don't seem to have a website to link to). Since we were there sort of between meals, we sat straight down and had exceptionally fast service. Like, he wanted to know what we wanted to drink as he handed us menus and showed us our table. I found that suprisingly stressful, even though I was really only going to order diet coke or iced tea. I think we made him come back an extra time, since we hadn't decided what we wanted to eat in the 2 minutes it took him to come back with our drinks.
We both ordered tacos. Mine were some special kind, although I don't remember what they were called. Less than 10 minutes past between us ordering and recieving our food. Crazy fast.
It's a difficult thing to stop eating before you're super full when you're super hungry. It's extra difficult, it turns out, when you're eating cheeseburger flavored tacos.
After lunch we continued on down the road to my parents' new house. They just finished building it (erm, having it built by professionals, obviously). It's beautiful and smells new and is just the right size. I'm excited to go back when the landscaping is done.
After a full tour and spending a little time hanging out with them, we hopped back in the car and went over to see Dereks family.
It also was wonderful. Their shy, one eyed Boston Terrier, Mollie, is getting a little more friendly. She let us touch her this time, at least. And Buddy, the little black OCD dog is getting a little better about letting us touch him, too. It's like the 2 crazy little things are in doggie group-therapy, and it's making a difference.
Saturday, after a lovely breakfast with my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece Ellie (omg, you guys? Ellie is so cute! She's 3 months old, and she's starting to get a fat little baby belly and she's moving around more and staying awake and I got to feed her a bottle and burp her and carry her around as much as I wanted and SQUEE!!!)
Excuse me.
After that, we went to the saddest sidewalk sale I've ever seen at the Shops at West Glen, and then later Derek and I met up with Scott, Jess, and Ellie for lunch at Tasty Tacos.
Seriously, though? We've been excited about finishing 30 Days of Tacos with Tasty Tacos since I realized we'd be in Des Moines on the 30th. If you're ever there, EAT AT TASTY TACOS. Their shells are fried soft flour ones, so they're very soft and all puffy and warm. They also use really finely grated cheese. The tables all have squirt bottles of salsa on them.
There's other stuff on the menu, but when you go there, at least one of the things you order needs to be the original taco. It's a masterpiece of folded food.
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| Do you like how I fit the Tasty Tacos logo in the picture? Yeah, me too. |
Saturday night was the wedding. Hickory Park catered. I'll have to take Derek there some time, because the actual restaurant is kind of an experience, but the food is good no matter where it's served. The ceremony was short, followed by a nice reception. Their first dance was very sweet. I got to see my homeboys.
Sunday, we left Des Moines a little early (after breakfast as the Ankeny IHOP with Derek's mom and dad) so we could get back in time for 30 Days of Tacos Bonus Day! It was over and Josh, Aleisha, and Sam's house. Dan was there, too. Jacqie couldn't come because she was sick. Yucky :(. Damon and Becky were going to come, too, but I think Becky's sister had a baby, so they had to go and smell it, I think. Which I totally get.
So it was a best-of meal, each of us providing one of our favorite taco recipes from the month. Josh and Aleisha were nice enough to make ours for us, since it required a crock pot and we couldn't quite manage that while we traveled.
THE SPREAD
Dan brought Sloppy Joes tacos (the recipe Jacqie gave us a couple of weeks ago), Josh and Aleisha made roasted chicken tacos with an avacado-mayo-cilantro sort of dressing, and we were represented by pulled pork.
It was a fantastic meal and a really, really fun way to spend it. Sam is super friendly and energetic and seems to like everyone right away. It's kind of fun to watch people parent their children. As an adult, I can appreciate the teamwork that goes into parenting in a way I couldn't when I was younger.
Oh, geez. I just looked at the clock. I'd better go get ready for work.
But this isn't goodbye. I know the blog is called "30 Days of Tacos" and that those 30 days are over, but I'll still tell you guys about every little unnecessary detail of my daily life all the time! Maybe I'll work on another 30 days concept. Or start a band and name it "30 Days of Tacos".
Or something.
But I'll for sure see you guys again very soon.
Until next time!...
So what is the next 30 days? And, Ellie has gotten even chubbier and cuter!
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