Taco Wagon

Date & Time: October 30, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: Noah had a Halloween party that ended at 6:30pm. So we had tacos after the party. We didn’t have taco seasoning so Carolyn looked up on line and found a tasty recipe to make your own taco seasoning similar to the packages…
Sides: We had a home made salsa with canned tomatoes; plain ol’ sour cream, jalapeño hot sauce; black beans; taco sauce from a jar; and chips.
Beverage / Libation: Large bottle of chardonnay that was half gone before Carolyn came home with the kids…
Desert: they had a enough candy at the Halloween party.
Guests: Tom and Sue.
Misc.: Following dinner we carved a dozen pumpkins. Yes I have a band aid on my left index finger from a pumpkin carving incident. Lot’s of blood. The seeds didn’t get toasted yet…
Cheerio,
NATE

Mile high enchilada pie

Note forgot to post the update last week. It was sent out via email but not updated here..
Date & Time: October 23, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: Carolyn made a crock pot dish called mile high enchilada pie. It involves layers of corn tortilla and sauce and other tasty ingredients. You lift it out of the crock pot and cut it like a pie… hmmm.
Sides: We had a home made salsa with canned tomatoes, home grown tomatillos, onions, lime, garlic…; Also there was Mexican sour creama, jalapeño hot sauce and chip.
Beverage / Libation: Large bottle of Livingston chardonnay and some Lienies Oktoberfest. .
Desert: Let over pumpkin pie that Carolyn made the night before. Hmmm. Needs whipped cream.
Guests: Tom. Sue’s in England….
Misc.: not much to say…
Cheers,
NATE

Spicy Enchilada

Date & Time: October 16, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: Carolyn cooked up some tasty enchilada using the frozen left over chicken from last week andchicken broth from her mother. They came out very good.
Sides: We had a bunch of cilantro in the fridge form the week before so I whipped up a salsa with half an onion, one lime, two can of diced tomatoes drained, a can of black beans drained and a can of Mexican style corn (yellow corm with red sweet peppers???) , and some garlic and salt; Carolyn bought a bag of scoops which needs the ‘fresh’ style salsa; sour cream Mexican kind; and jalapeño hot sauce.
Beverage / Libation: Box/cube of wine from Target it was a chardonnay we use a carafe to make it look elegant...
Desert: Ice cream, Neapolitan. Noah wants only chocolate and vanilla, Wyatt wants all flavors, Tom had strawberry, Carolyn had chocolate and I had strawberry and vanilla.
Guests: Tom. Sue came late but the food was already cleared. She quit her job and went out for drinks with the old coworkers….
Misc.: Sorry for the late update but work got in the way…

Cheers,

NATE

Blown off!!!

Date & Time: October 9, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: We had Grilled chicken marinated in a paste made from onions, garlic, lime juice, salt and cumin. There were also thick onion slices brushed with oil and grilled.
Sides: We had some tasty sides to go with today. We had 4 avocadoes that got turned into a tomatillo guacamole. The tomatillos were roasted and blended with garlic and smashed into the avocadoes (Delia probably ate an entire avocadoes worth with a spoon); black bean with extra chorizo; store bought fresh like salsa; Mexican sour cream; shredded cheese; homemade Jalapeño hot sauce; blue and yellow corn chips; corn tortillas that were still warm when Carolyn bought them from Tony’s.
Beverage / Libation: Jug of Livingston Chardonnay served with ice cubes.
Desert: None.
Guests: Tom and Sue. Lisa and her family were supposed to come over for dinner. They were flying up from Texas and the airline offered them money to take a later flight; they are no longer welcome at burrito night…
Misc.: The boys danced around to fine music including the Chicken Dance, Our House by Madness and others.
hmmm guacamole…
NATE

Carne Asada is Not a Crime

Date & Time: September 25, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: The crime might be we didn’t have Carne Asada only ground beef tacos. What can I say I browned one pound of ground beef in the skillet. Then I added ¾ cup of water and the packet of Taco Seasoning from Aldi and simmered for 5 or ten minutes. This is the kids favorite and is clearly shown with Noah eating two tacos plus extra meat and lettuce with chips.
Sides: Tortilla chips and salsa (we mixed the medium and hot salsa from the week before into one bowl since they were basically the same thing); taco sauce (it’s not a taco without taco sauce although I don’t’ think I had any…); black beans with chorizo; Sour cream; cheese not sure what kind but it was yellow and preshredded; homemade Jalapeño hot sauce (preflood peppers); soft flour tortillas; crispy taco shells; and diced tomatoes from the store, Wyatt shared this week.
Beverage / Libation: Some sort of large bottle of Livingston wine and a couple Sam Adams October Fest beers.
Desert: Market day cookies that Noah wouldn’t eat because they were spicy. As it turns out they did have a mild and unusual black pepper aftertaste/burn in the throat. Nothing that would prevent me form eating them but Noah took only one bite. More for me I guess.
Guests: Tom and the lovely Sue.
Misc.: With a part from Tom I installed a new aquastat on the flooded hot water boiler. Unfortunately this did not solve the problem and I need another part for safe operation. Let’s hope we don’t get an early frost… Carne Asada is Not a Crime is a trade mark of saveourtacotrucks.org

Cheers,
NATE

British Invasion

Date & Time: September 25, 2008 6:30pm
Main Course: Burrito night is back and better then ever. The grill was lit. The chicken breasts were rubbed with seasoning. Tasty grilled chicken with grilled onions were prepared. It was more of a fajita night but I do enjoy the grilled chicken with onions.
Sides: A veritable plethora of sides was offered. We had guacamole, fully processed and squeezed out of a bag but still tasty; black beans with chorizo, could use more chorizo; store bought fresh like salsa in medium and hot, I couldn’t tell the difference between them, they both seemed medium (with the flooding of the garden I’ve mostly abandoned the fresh garden vegetables and salsa); Sour cream; Colby and Monterey Jack cheese; homemade Jalapeño hot sauce (preflood peppers); corn chips; flour tortillas; and Wyatt ate a store bought tomato and didn’t share with anybody.
Beverage / Libation: Some sort of large bottle of Livingston wine which was consumed and we sent Tom home to get another large bottle of wine which was also consumed.
Desert: Italian bakery cookies that Carolyn’s dad dropped off earlier in the day. Wyatt ate the majority of the cookies.
Guests: Tom and Sue and Sue’s dad and his wife (both English) visiting from Florida. We had to get the forks out for them...
Misc.: Delia did not join us for dinner. She did not nap today and demanded to eat at about 5:30. So she was fed and put to bed at approximately 6:15. Hopefully this is not the start of a no nap trend.
It’s good to have burrito night back,

NATE

It's gonna rain; I said it's gonna rain; Yes, It's gonna rain; I'm so happy to say; Oh It's gonna rain on the world today

Date & Time: September 18, 2008 5:30pm
Main Course: Smoked pork tacos left over from Labor Day. Well the tacos weren’t left over but the smoked pork has been in the freezer since Labor day.
Sides: A new batch of black beans with chorizo, I added the chorizo when I cooked the beans I needed more chorizo. We also had sour cream, store bought salsa (no more homemade salsa from homegrown tomatoes, more below) and cheddar cheese.
Beverage / Libation: Some sort of large bottle of Livingston wine and gin and tonic with Key Lime juice and grenadine (kind of gin lime rickey tonic).
Desert: None
Guests: None. Tom did eat some pork before leaving having helped out during the day.
Misc.: Burrito night was a little early today because of curriculum night at Noah’s school was conveniently scheduled at 6:30. Additionally burrito night was kept mainly to a family affair since the area has been declared a disaster area and clean up has been ongoing after the Sunday evacuation of our home when all roads to our house were submerged. Leading shortly after to the submerging of our basement in 4 to 5 feet of water…

Stay dry,
NATE