big yay!!! I’m so happy for you and hope you can see the friend and other vaccinated friends much more often :-)

I have never heard of chocolate pudding cake. Mega yum.

I hope so too...it is a biggie.
There are lots of boxed cake mixes that have pudding in them. This did not live up to my expectations for a pudding cake (which should be really moist) but the whipped cream and strawberries helped.

Nice! :)

Ground beef taco dinner
guacamole
nopalito tortilla chips
thick tortilla chips

chocolate fondue dessert
dippers: organic bananas, pineapple, and strawberries - ciabatta - toasted marshmallows - blood oranges


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Last night:
18 hour sous vide pork shoulder, shredded, and simmered in a Frontera sauce. Typical pork carnitas toppings on our tacos. Salad. Lots of pork leftover, so maybe some pulled pork nachos (bbq or Tex-Mex) later this week.

Tonight: Grouper and some kind of vegetable, or maybe arugula salad. It's my wife's show tonight so I'll just wait to see.

ooh so awesome!! Sounds so great.
do you guys make your own tortillas? I buy mine at Safeway but several friends have insisted that they’re easy to make and that once I start making my own, I’ll never buy them again. I like making guacamole but I’m not sure if I want to make my own tortillas.

We don't, but I've heard what you have. I guess the two pretty weak reasons for not making our own are 1) I don't want to buy a tortilla press, and 2) we eat a lot of wraps instead of sandwiches. It's nice to have a tortilla ready to go for a lunch wrap.

You don't need a tortillas press to make flour tortillas...a rolling pin is fine. I have made them and for sure not worth the time or mess. Store bought tortillas are absolutely the way to go for convenience and consistency and taste. If you are truly a gourmet, find a tortilla factory or Mexican restaurant that sells fresh. Making them one at a time at home was just not worth it for me--they are not hard but I have a small kitchen and don't like getting flour all over or devoting a lot of counter space to the rollout etc.

Yep, that sounds about right! We do have a rolling pin :). I never thought about buying direct from a tortilla factory...aren't they pretty much the same as we'd get in the store (not like the national brands, but we have a lot of local places here in Chicago that sell in stores)? Maybe fresher when direct? Still, probably not worth the trouble. I love the restaurant idea, may have to try that option some time.

Well a tortilla factory (at least around here) makes them fresh daily. I guess it is the difference between buying bread at a bakery or the grocery store. I mostly use tortillas to put stuff inside and roll up--grocery store ones are fine for that. If I do get some from the tortilla factory I am likely to eat them all with only butter that same day (which is also why I don't buy bakery fresh baked bread). :p
I do not have a rolling pin so had to borrow one from my neighbor. In the past I have just used a wine bottle.

I suspect other cities aren't fortunate enough to have local producers like El Milagro. They are the gold standard in my mind and I think they turn over really quickly in supermarkets, so I don't ever worry about them not being fresh enough. But I'm always bummed when I go to the store and they only have national brands available that feel like cardboard. No thank you!

BTW, just realized El Milagro had a couple taquerias in Little Village and Pilsen....I may need to check one out.

Yeah, we buy those when we know we're having tacos. But we buy the Mission tortillas just to have around for lunch wraps and stuff like that. They last longer in my experience. When I've had freshly cooked tortillas at one of those restaurants where they make them all day long, they're pretty fantastic. I don't know that we'd ever be able to buy those here other than with a restaurant meal in Pilsen or Little Village. Perhaps one of the Mexican grocery stores would make them in house?

Planned Monday supper:
king crab legs with optional toppings
mixed green salad
Raw organic celery & carrots & cucumber
steak fries

I'm not sure where we'd buy them. Have you have been to Birrieria Zaragoza? One day I counted and they have more people in their kitchen than they have seats in the restaurant. But the woman who makes their tortillas rocks! Unfortunately they don't last more than a day or so. Some things are better enjoyed fresh. (For annoying who's not from Chicago, this is a roast goat place that literally has about 7 things on their menu and each one is perfection.)

Fresh flour tortillas are nice, but unless you use them right away, probably not worth the time or trouble. I bought a dozen very large from one of my favorite restaurants for $6-7 recently. They were very good, but started to decline rapidly after a few days. Corn ones are a bit different.

I prefer the brand at Costco. 2-3 dozen medium size for under $4. Don’t need refrigeration, and are good for 2-3 months. Quality is very good. Especially if you pan toast them a bit. I take them to SE Asia when I go for months, and they are far and away better than anything I’ve ever been able buy there. One brand, with almost egg roll thin tortillas, has 10 small tortillas for $2-3. And the brand name is Ratitas, which always gives me a chuckle.

Flour tortillas lasting for 2-3 months?? That is crazy---what is in those things? Are these in the bread aisle?
At the grocery store, I buy Mission flour tortillas & since they come in a pack or 10 or 12, I freeze most of them with no loss of quality that I can tell.

I don't eat flour tortillas, but really don't want to buy anything that should be "perishable" and lasts 2-3 months.

in Sf, they’re in the bread section. I think the brand in Sf is Guerrero but I might be confusing myself as it’s also a street name.

while feeding salad to my baby, we realized that olive oil & red wine vinegar is a fun dressing for them. Very fun.

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Costco Chicken Tortilla soup
doctored up (it doesn't need doctoring)
grated cheese, diced avocado, cilantro and sour cream

Nightcap: chocolate/orange martini :cool:

Chevy's was a restaurant that would make fresh tortillas right before bringing out the fajita dishes. It was a big machine in the middle of the restaurant that would take a small ball of dough, flatten it and then "toast" on both sides efore emitting it out on the other side. They would have someone man the machine and collect the finished tortillas in a paper wrap that the servers would pick up when bringing the fajita mix to the table.

Are they still in business? One in Hollywood, FL closed many years ago and was converted into a Red Lobster which is still open.

I think they are still in business.

What toppings do you serve?

I have not, but would love to try it. I do enjoy goat.

Have you tried letting them go to see how long they last? I've had Mission tortillas that are perfectly fine after a month. I think the pack of burrito-size Mission tortillas we have in the pantry right now have been there at least 3 weeks. The taco-size go much faster here.

I think so too. We don't have them around here, although I believe there used to be one by one of the malls. But I've seen one maybe as recently as a year ago when I was still able to travel for work.

There’s a Chevys by Sfo and it’s still great. Our friends enjoy family meals there for outdoor dining.

King crab leg toppings - melted butter, bays, lemon. I remain happiest with no toppings. They’re still so delicious.
I also think that stone crab claws taste great alone - joes seafood offers some weird mustard to go with them and i eschew it.

Good stuff. I like the mustard sauce with stone crab. With king crab, a nice drawn garlic butter. I think that goes back to the days when it was my go-to meal at Bob Chinn's! I also agree with you that most crab is great without anything.

Yes, Chevy's is still around, although our local Chevy's was razed to make room for the neighboring MBZ dealer's new showroom.

You need to brown your butter... So much better!

Trader Joe’s chicken enchiladas
guacamole
Veggie-loaded nachos
nopalito tortilla chips

blood oranges
Girl Scout cookies - toffee tastic


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thanks - I’ve just microwaved it and will try browning it next time.

I went online and discovered there is still one in South Florida near MIA. Looking through the website menus, I noticed a disclaimer on the bottom.

CHE_BRUNCH_SYS.pdf (chevys.com)

It states: There are no local or state ordinances requiring minimum pay requirements and the federal minimum wage seems to be an annual thing. I won't be eating there anytime soon, and if they are doing this to offset labor costs, they should raise their prices 3.5% instead of adding a surcharge.

Hopefully all your veggie critics heap praise on you for this! :D

Last night, about half of the leftover sous vide pork was used to make an excellent tray of nachos.
Tonight, I think the most likely next victim is a pizza dough we have in the refrigerator - pepperoni and assorted vegetables. We also have a lot of arugula for some reason so either on top or as a side salad.

For the Chicago people here, we checked out the Boston Fish Market in Wheeling last Friday (also in Des Plaines). Another good source for fish. They had a very nice selection of fish and seafood, including whole Spanish octopus which I've decided is going to have to get a close up of my grill grates as the weather warms up. Looking forward to grilling one for the first time.

Which of the enchiladas do you get? I got the chicken and green chili ones in the refrigerated section and frankly I am underwhelmed. First, it said I should have four servings and each servings 1 enchilada, but I only got three enchiladas. Also, I find them really dry and I question whether they're actually wrapped in tortillas or something else that resembles a tortilla. Are you eating the frozen ones?or maybe your refrigerated ones come from a different vendor who does them better. I can't imagine going out of my way to eat these again.

I buy the product that you identify except we do have 4 enchiladas. Maybe it’s regional kitchens making these as they have 3-4 day expirations. They aren’t dry and they are $6.99/pkg so it’s an extremely convenient price and a yummy product. I think there are 10-12 meals in the refrigerated section - italian, indian, and mexican entrees.

"Underwhelmed" is perhaps the best word I could use to describe my feeling toward most of Trader Joe's pre-made dishes. No ill will intended toward TJ's, I just don't get the hype. There are a couple things we like there - an ancient grain mix and some type of almond cookie. Granted, I was a bit of a late-comer to the stores so maybe they used to be special and others have just caught up now. Anyway, any time I get tempted by one of their frozen/refrigerated items, I'm always disappointed.

I have not tried them because when I crave enchiladas every few months, I just order from my local Mexican place & they are freshly made and delicious plus they are pretty close for me to just pick them up. But is one enchilada really a serving or am I just a pig? (or both). I always can eat 2 enchiladas but I also don't have all of those chips & cookies with it.

Two is a very reasonable portion. We just make a small pan at home when we're in the mood, and two each is perfect. Of course we usually make 6-8 so we have leftovers! But if we didn't feel like making them, I'd definitely order out, or just go out, before making the frozen ones.

I happen to be a big fan of TJ's products but I don't usually buy any prepared foods. I love their nuts, olives, veggies, fruit, crackers, cheese etc. And that ancient grain mix is also a fave.
TJ was on my list already today and so I looked at the refrigerated enchiladas. It was hard to tell but I think there was 4 of them. But the reason it was hard to tell and possibly the reason that CE's were dry is because they were a mess....there was little sauce so a lot of tortilla was exposed and they looked like they were one big blob rather than nicely rolled & separated enchiladas. It wasn't a fluke as I checked several packages. If one package was just for me and I was going to add more sauce, they might be fine. But they were only half rolled and I don't know how you could just dish out one enchilada. Anyway I was not tempted. I think the only premade foods I might buy from time to time would be a pizza or salsas, dips or salad dressing---those are all good.

Next time I go to TJs, I’ll try to take a photo of the packaged product. We eat it weekly. High satisfaction. I’m now shopping there weekly after years of limited shopping. I first found Trader Joe’s around 1995 while in preschool and I liked their jam.

Some of us remember not so long ago that you absolutely refused to step foot in a TJ...the same as your Costco ban. :p

I used to regularly buy TJs wraps, salads, and soups for lunch, as we have a store just a short walk from my office.

I can't recall trying anything that I didn't like.

Grilled chicken
coconut Jasmine rice
baby broccoli
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organic carrots & celery
spaghetti with pecorino and olive oil
Tiberoni linguini with pesto (one pot meal) and pecorino - it’s good and I might try their other products.

Girl Scout cookies
blood orange

thankfully the hour-long queue stopped occurring, combined with my going around 9a and not 11. Good lessons :-)



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