Mama Mexicana

Carol just left me a message in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying!! ... that's after 4 years of spanish in school. i haven't used it since i left texas. one thing i miss SO bad up here is mexican food.....

anthony was amazed by all the mexican food restaurants in texas -- everywhere we looked there was mexican, mexican, mexican, and more mexican!!! yummmmmmmm ... i ate it for just about every meal while we were down there!

new york may have the best restaurants in the world, but in the entire city there was only one good mexican restaurant -- Mama Mexicana in the Village, where it's seriously gourmet (sort of a laid-back Fonda San Miguel where you pay at least $20/entree) ... yum, they have Pistachio Chicken, excellent mole sauce made with blackberries and chocolate, etc.

There are lots of these "fast food mexican" places that used to tempt me when i first moved up here. i would walk in, salivating over the prospect of a really good burrito for lunch, only to look behind the counter and see all asians working there -- hm, sort of strange, i thought, but i believe in giving everyone a fair chance, so i would order a burrito and wind up with something that tasted like stir-fry vegetables (i could even swear i tasted a hint of -- what was it? soy sauce? ginger, maybe?) with canned beans. Disgusting!

There are even fewer Mexican restaurants in Pennsylvania -- "God's Country," they call it, but I think if I were God I would have a chef that knows how to make salsa fiery enough to impress the devil!! You think the devil eats beef stroganoff for dinner? Nah, he knows Mexican food is the spice of life... I bet he'd have someone like Carol cooking for him every night -- now THAT'S real food!

They do make pretty good cheesesteaks around here, I have to admit. And if you've ever had a New York pizza, well Domino's just doesn't deliver after that! Ummmm, now I'm thinking about New York Italian food -- maaaan, Anthony and his dad make the BEST homemade meatballs -- I'll never be able to eat at the Olive Garden again ...

So, thanks a lot, Carol!! You ruined me for life with your kick ass cooking ... who knows, maybe if I'd been born and raised in New York or Pennsylvania I'd think Mexican food really was supposed to taste like stir-fry after all!

btw, JP, i always figured you'd wind up on the east coast someday. go figure. maybe i got it all wrong somehow. ever hear from radio randy?