Cooking Mexican… Well, Trying

LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT

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I’m not going to sit here and say that any Mexican dish I have ever cooked is authentic or proper or even truly “Mexican” — more so Mexican-inspired, that seems safer — but what I will say is this: I’m having quite a good time learning!

Following my previous post about my new-found obsession with Claudia Regalado’s YouTube channel and her mouth-watering Mexican recipes, the inspiration that I have taken from watching her cook has actually translated to real attempts to make my own Mexican food. And not from an Old El Paso packet! My dad always says “anything worth doing isn’t worth doing half-assed” (pardon my French, they’re my dad’s words not mine I swear!) and that is exactly the position I’m taking when it comes to cooking Mexican food.

Here’s my mindset: it’s the end of the world out there, right? I’m trapped inside, my free time has increased exponentially, and I’ve got a decent amount of groceries… Why not improve my cooking skills by making new things a few nights a week? Even if they are total fails, sure it would be a bummer to waste that food, but I’ve got nowhere to be and all the time in the world to try again.

Thus, feast your eyes on some of my first attempts above! (Feast — HA — no pun intended! Oh, I crack myself up. Who doesn’t love a good dad joke?)

All I ask is that you don’t judge my sad cheese quesadilla, okay? I was very hungry and in the midst of working from home, struggling through a terrible manuscript that I rejected after fifty pages, and I was way too lazy to make a lunch that took longer than a few minutes to prepare. She wasn’t a life-changing quesadilla but she did her job.

My steak tacos were an easy, quick yet delicious midweek meal that I’m quite proud of and eager to make again. Don’t sleep on the perfect simplicity of steak, avocado, and hot sauce in a warm flour tortilla! She’s what dreams are made of.

Now, last but not least, the shining star of my attempts thus far is indisputably the breakfast burrito. I personally don’t eat meat on Fridays during Lent and I found myself bored of plain eggs and toast — so I got myself a tortilla, melted some cheese, scrambled some eggs, chopped up some tomato and onion, drizzled a bit of Sriracha and oh baby. One was not enough. I could have had thirty. I didn’t, don’t worry… but I could have…

If there’s anything good at all that comes out of this quarantine, it’s been my motivation to test my abilities and make different meals than my usual menu, different than any of the Italian food I grew up with. I may not be a wifey yet but I’m getting there!

Keep cooking and keep eating, people.