tortilla chips - now with improved stereotyping!

[cakeinoz]

I had a hankerin' for a BBQ chopped salad last week. The recipe, as it resides in my head, is a variation on this, minus the jicama and hateful cilantro. It had been a very long time since I'd made it, but it came out reasonably well, and cookieman really enjoyed it, too

Comments

[cakeinoz]

I know, I mourn the lack of Mexican food here. I should say, I am happy with many variations of "Mexican" - I lived in TX for a few years and enjoyed it there, and I'm also quite happy with faux Mex chains as long as they have a tasty hot sauce/ salsa and fresh chips. In the DC area, we have more Salvadorans than anything else, and I sometimes feel as if I could kill someone for a freaking pupusa now. :D

I think the reason we don't have Mexican (or any flavours from that region) here is that what does make it here is just so damned bad. Even taking your tastebuds down to Taco Bell level wouldn't cut it. We've got a place in town here which claims to do Mexican, and they even feature bottles of Cholula on the tables (I was so excited at this), but the food itself is nothing at all like what one would expect. Someone saw a picture of a burrito and did their best to replicate them based on that. heh. Now, that having been said, some of the stuff there is pretty okay. It can be spicy, and the chicken burrito-like things are nice and moist. However, the spices used just are nothing at all like one would expect. It's like... burrito with chicken mixed in with some kind of arrabiata sauce.

There is good ethnic food here, like Indian, or Jamaican, but that's because those are the people that move here and bring their food culture with them. thank bob for them, to be honest. haha.

Beans are a tough score here (beyond British style baked beans, of course. If you want those, you'll find a wall of options.) The black beans are a semi-recent discovery, in the Jamaican section. Tesco has lentils etc but they are all in the "weirdo health nut" section beside the Jamaican stuff. No split peas there either; I've got to go to the more expensive shop for those.

disclaimer: this is life in the East Midlands region of England. Mileage may vary once you're closer to civilization, ie London, or perhaps another large city.

I talk a lot!

[whitemunin]

We were either brave or stupid and tried Mexican food in Stirling while vacationing in Scotland. Ye gods, was it awful! Actually, we expected it to be awful. Scotland isn't famous for its outstanding Mexican food. But we wanted to say we tried Mexican food in Scotland. After all, a few nights before we'd eaten at a pub in Fort William called The Grog and Gruel where the bar area was manned by a 6'5" Viking type with waist length dreads, and lived to tell about it.

Anyway, the fajitas we ordered were definitely not flank steak, and I think they were stewed instead of grilled. I think the thing that puzzles me most was the fact that the fresh jalapenos (and yes, they were recognizable as jalapenos) weren't hot. WTH? All I can guess is someone at the restaurant had an inside connection with a genetics engineering student at Texas A&M and managed to get his/her hands on a bushel of the genetically modified jalapenos that aren't hot.

Now, we did go out for Indian food there and Chinese. Both were good, especially the Indian food. We have a sizeable Indian population here, so good Indian restaurants are a dime a dozen. The Indian food we had in Inverness could easily stand up to the primo Indian restaurants here.

Now, fish and chips, steak pie and suet pudding over there? Yum! I haven't found anything to even remotely match it over here. Miss it muchly. Wish I could go back for many reasons.

I talk a lot!

Girl, you and me both. ; )