All the Taco Trucks

Alternate Title: Defying the law of diminishing returns

I received the most amazing assignment ever--rank all of the taco trucks in Memphis. Since I can only eat so many tacos, I enlisted the help of my firstborn. He had to be bribed with a promise to visit the Apple Store along the way, but then he was totally on board. It was actually quite amazing to pick him up from his dad's house on Saturday and not only have him be dressed and ready to go, but to also seem excited.

I explained the law of diminishing returns to him and we discussed different criteria we might use to rank the trucks and it was all quite civilized.

I don't want to ruin my upcoming Thrillist piece, but I will say a few things about our FIVE HOUR TACO EATING ADVENTURE just to build some anticipation.



I love the El Burrito truck on Jackson. It was our first stop, so you know the whole diminishing returns might come into play, but they had a great selection and the owner was a doll.



He had the best salsa of the day too--it was a creamy avocado based sauce. And I now know that a taco is not complete without a pickled carrot.



Satchel Snapchatted along the way. I have no idea what he said.



Across from El Burrito is Jalapeno's, which may or may not be affiliated with this little place just a few feet away.



I was tempted to try it, but worried about not having enough room for all of the other tacos in my future.

On Summer Avenue, we discovered this RV Pupuseria. Tacos are more of an afterthought here, but still tasty. We need to go back and eat a pupusa.



The Los Jarochos truck was closed due to the owner being on vacation, so we were forced to go into the ice cream side. It's like a little La Michoacana. Great pops and ice cream, and my favorite--chocolate covered bananas. With sprinkles!



Next, we came across this truck on White Station, but it had started raining and no one was inside despite the "Open" sign being lit up.



And then we searched and searched, but the famed Chili Verde with the strawberry salsa was nowhere to be found. (Anyone know where it is now?)

We headed toward Hickory Hill and that's where we found the Los Compadres truck. I don't *think* it's affiliated with the restaurant. (I asked but didn't get a straight answer due to my inability to speak Spanish.) At first I thought it might be filling up it's tank, but it is fully operational right between the BP pumps.



There was a cooler full of jumbo Mexican Cokes and I couldn't resist. I think it was my first Coke in three years, maybe?



Yep frozen treats, a Coke, and more tacos than I could count all in one day! Decadence!

One of the coolest parts of our adventure was collecting all of the different salsas. As far as I could tell they were all homemade.



After eating at seven taco trucks and one ice cream place, we spent a grand total of $25. Satchel insisted on a $5 order of tamales at La Guadalupana, otherwise I never would have broken my second $20 bill.

We were both full, but not dying--though I didn't eat again until Sunday. When I emerged from my room Sunday morning, Satchel said, "I want more tacos."

Of course by then, I'd had numerous people mention trucks we never found, so I seriously considered it...for a minute. They'll have to wait for the update or part 2. I definitely think it was one of my funnest assignments ever. I'm so glad Satchel was with me.

Ravioli Day 2015

Ravioli Day is my favorite. It is also one of the few days of the year when Satchel is excited and motivated to leave the house.

"Do you think the Alleys will ever give us their recipe?" he asked me.

"No," I replied.

"Not even when they get old and die?"

"Nope."



This year marked our tenth year of making ravioli with the Alleys. TEN YEARS! (Unless we did the math wrong.) This year, Aunt Elizabeth was busy packing up her house to move, so I was in charge of making sure everyone washed their hands and didn't fuck up. I was drunk with power! Not really, it was a lot of pressure!



The best part of being in charge, was having Genevieve sit next to me AND talk to me!



As much as Satchel loves to eat ravioli, he is not usually into making it. He stayed outside most of the time riding his Swegway with the other kids. Jiro did come in and help for awhile, which was sweet. Chip took a bunch of pictures, but his computer broke or something, so I am making due with mine!



We were aiming for 50 dozen this year, but I think we capped out around 38? I could seriously make ravioli all day. I love it.



There's always lots of laughter, and not just because we are making jokes about ball size.



We eventually lured Aunt Elizabeth over with disturbing photos of giant balls and triangle raviolis.



We were basically done by the time she got there, so we moved on to the "patiently waiting for the ravioli to cook" phase of the afternoon.



This time is also known as "time to dip bread in the gravy."



Let the record show that despite being in charge and drinking a lot of Ananda, it was not me napping on the couch this year!



In Melissa's defense, she did run 13 miles earlier that morning! (Elizabeth also snuck in a power nap before dinner.)

Soon, everything was ready and the children were summoned.



Ravioli Day is the best.day.ever!



Look for Richard on the cover of the next issue of Ravioli Men Magazine.

Hello Fresh

Everyone on Facebook is always talking about Blue Apron. It's a meal delivery service. Or a grocery delivery. Well, they send you recipes and all of the ingredients in a box and then you cook the meals yourself. My soccer buddy, Lauren, uses it. (I've been invited over for "I need to cook three Blue Apron meals before everything goes bad" dinner parties on a couple of occasions!) Another friend, Paul, told me that his girls have learned to cook using the boxes.

After nearly a year of cooking the same things, I thought maybe Blue Apron, or something like it could help teach me (and the kids) a few things. At the very least it would add some variety to our dinners.

Several friends were giving away free codes and such on Facebook, but when I looked at the meal options for Blue Apron, it didn't really get me excited. Thanks to the magic of the Facebook algorithm, I started getting other ads for similar services. Enter Hello Fresh. Their recipe options all looked yummy, so I decided to sign up for three meals a week designed to feed two people. (I figured the 4 person option was too much, but if the recipes were a hit, I might bump it up later.)

The box was due to arrive Wednesday, but because of the holiday (Memorial Day), it came Thursday. It was heavy as shit! Haha. (There were several bricks of ice in it keeping everything fresh.)

I had invited my mom to dinner, so we decided to go ahead and make two recipes so we'd have enough for four people. Jiro was super excited to help, which was much appreciated.

Our first recipe was flank steak with bean salad. (The directions are on the left in the pic, and the picture is of the shrimp sandwiches that we did not make.)



We followed the directions very closely, and I was so glad that Jiro knew how to mince. (Thanks, cooking camp!)



We didn't care too much about the bean salad. It was all about the flank steak. I haven't attempted to cook meat in years. Maybe decades? So, I was so pleasantly surprised to learn how easy it was to cook the steak!

This is Jiro waiting for it to stop resting so he could eat it.



He agreed to put beans on his plate for a photo, but refused to eat them.



After he and I ate, we worked on the chicken tacos with mango slaw for my mom and Satchel. (I wasn't up for coordinating two meals at once quite yet!)



Jiro was a big help again, and I was once more amazed at how easy it was to cook chicken on the stovetop.



The tacos were a total hit.




I basically had all of the ingredients to make more tacos, so I did a week later. Only I may have been slightly overconfident as I almost set off the smoke detector. Which if you live in a house is no big deal. In an apartment building, everyone gets evacuated! Thankfully the windows open and we avoided any embarrassment!

I never made the shrimp sandwiches--we just ate the shrimp! And when I redid the tacos, I left out a few ingredients the kids weren't crazy about, like onions.

I don't know if we'll do this forever, but we'll definitely do it a little longer. It's been great learning new recipes, cooking together, and gaining some much needed confidence!

If you want to try it, this code (D4XYGC) will get you $40 off your first box. Woot!

42

It's birthday season in our house as three out of the four of us have April birthdays. Mine is first and I turned 42, which apparently is the best number ever, and the meaning of life.

When you get to be my age, you buy your own birthday presents. I went with a new iPhone and a box of Raw Girls food including super yummy salads, quinoa burgers, taco salad and juices!



I started the celebrations a few days early. My weekly Tuesday night with the ladies was dedicated to my birthday. Gifts included bourbon and a soccer gift certificate. They know me well!

Wednesday we had a lovely extended family dinner at Skewer, followed by ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Here is a rare photo of Tracey & I together.



My meal was pretty too.



Here's me and my mom, while I tried to teach her to take a selfie.



Thursday I rested up for the actual day, which was Friday. Naturally, I took the day off to shop and daydrink with my birthday twin, Colleen. This was our third year celebrating this way!




In addition to multiple whiskey smashes at Hog & Hominy, we also had the buffalo pig tails. Yum!



The crispies on top are sliced pig ears. It was weird, but really, really tasty.

After shopping and thoroughly catching up, I left Colleen to meet up with my BFF Marlinee at Second Line.



A few others joined in and this is the only other picture fit for public consumption. (Max and I were recreating a picture of he and Marlinee on their first date.)



Saturday was the season opener of Rock-n-Romp at Mud Island. It wasn't really birthday related, but thanks to the power of Facebook, I received many salutations. And Central BBQ! And Tom's Tiny Kitchen pimento cheese!



Chip snapped this pic of me and my newspaper husband, Richard.]



And my pal Julie got artsy with this one...(I borrowed Jiro's sunglasses.)



Saturday evening, I went to a cookout compliments of Highballers Julie & Lauren. We had a Mexican fiesta theme and it was super fun. Tee not only prepared a feast, he also played bartender.



The more Highballs that get involved, the longer the party lasts. (It was also Weetie's birthday celebration!) We had a great time enjoying a perfect spring night.



The birthday celebrations concluded on Sunday, with Memfeast. It was held on Broad Avenue and guests got to choose the design for the water tower. It was amazing! There was SO much food.



Warren, who spent the day slaving in the yard, was especially happy!





Thank you to everyone who took the time to wish me a happy birthday either in person, on Facebook, by email, text or phone call. I feel very loved!

Ravioli Day

Thankfully the bad weather did not put a stop to Ravioli Day! My favorite day of the year! Typically the Alleys have us over prior to Thanksgiving in order to help them make 50 dozen for family, but this year they weren't traveling, so we came after Thanksgiving and helped make 50 dozen to divide among us! Woot!

I was first to arrive and Richard, Kristy, Andria, Calvin and Calvin's girlfriend (!!) were putting the finishing touches on the dough. Once a few other people arrived we got to work. I am a very serious ravioli student. I never give up my spot. I like to be a part of all 50 dozen. But Elizabeth is the boss. She tells people what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and whether they should go do something else.

Some of the kids like to help.



Some don't.



(The four of them were giggling hysterically. When asked what was so funny, Satchel could hardly get the words out. "We asked Siri how much Obama weighs." More giggling. "She said 175 pounds!!" I can only guess they thought that sounded like A LOT.)

Most of the adults come in and out. This was Warren's first year to actually help, I think. Maybe second?



I mean OUT. There is a little drinking of wine involved with ravioli making.



(This is Shawn saying to himself, hey I could use a nap. He was asleep soon after.)

Anyway, on to the actual ravioli making. Richard and Joshua roll out the dough then pass it around the table.




The filling, which is pre-made, gets put in first.



Don't make the balls too big!



The folding is the tricky part.



Cutting is next.



Then the final touches.



Ravioli perfection.



I only just realized that I should be leaving more room in front, like Elizabeth (pictured) does. I have made a note to self for next year.

Finally, they get boiled and then layered with gravy. OMG I love that gravy. Mmmmmm...



When it's all fixed up, we all gather round the table and eat to our hearts' content, patting ourselves on the back for a job well done!

As a special bonus this year, Elizabeth practiced her sketching while we waited for dinner.



It's amazing what she can do in just a few minutes.



Look at me!



Thanks as always to the Alleys for including us in this special day. I really do look forward to it every year! I think this was my seventh year??

Oh, and of course Chip took these pictures, not me. Thanks, Chip!