Another book on the shelf

 Apparently Rick Bayless has a new cookbook.

And then this happened!

Some day when things are finished up over at thishouseneedswork.blogspot.ca maybe we'll get a chance to read it!

Friday Night Keys

Thanks to everyone for their support during the life of this blog.  Perhaps some day you'll see some more Mexican cuisine show up here.  But until then, you can be sure I'll be putting all of my energy into my new project: http://thishouseneedswork.blogspot.ca. We get the keys on Friday night and you can be sure that work will start immediately.

See you there!

Tacos ver. 1.4

My friend was asking me the other day about my camera lenses, specifically the one I use to shoot most of the pictures you see.  It's a 50mm f/1.4, but I seldom shoot it at that aperture. I've usually got it parked at f/2.8 to get a little more depth of field in the photos.  But this week I figured hey, let's open it wide up; everything you see is shot at f/1.4.  So dial that aperture ring all the way down, and make the jump for tacos ver. 1.4!

Ersatz Taco Soup

Ever have an idea that was funnier in your head? I thought some black and white dithering would be funny.  Oh well. Too late now! Getting Friday Night Mexican back to its roots as an easy to prepare meal on a Friday is something that we've obviously struggled with.

It can be done however.  You just need to be prepared to sacrifice words like 'authentic', 'fresh', 'honest', and 'Mexican'.  Those words are all overrated anyway.  So if you've got limited time and energy and you want to phone it in like I'm obviously doing, print off the recipe and get to work on Taco Soup!

Tamales 2: Squashment Day

You know what I like about tamales? They come pre-packaged, so you can put them in your pocket or backpack.  And when you're done eating them in as few bites as possible, you can toss the wrapper into the green bin or onto your neighbours lawn in name of composting.

I've put mole attempt number two on the back burner as we're still eating the original batch.  In the mean time, there is more Mexican food to be eaten.  This week's guests drove down from Ottawa to visit so we gave them the full on Toronto experience.  And when people think 'Toronto' they think 'Tamales' so make sure you've tied a square knot, and make the jump for Butternut Tamales with Chipotle Chicken!

You can't spell Mole without...

And that's how it goes sometimes.  You make a plan, and you think you've got it all under control.  You've already gone to get your ingredients first thing in the morning and you're about to tackle the big one.  That ambitious project.  

But something isn't right.  You start down the path and something doesn't feel bang on.  You didn't have your daily cup of coffee. You're wearing mismatched socks.  The ghost of Rick Bayless is trying to pull a fast one on you.  And before long, your Easy Slow Cooker Mole is making you think about hanging up your tortilla press for good.  So make the jump and check out the post-mortem.  

Pollo Pulquero is a dish best served in the dark

Look at those beans!  They're sitting there because Pollo Pulquero is ugliest tasty dish you've ever seen.  Rick doesn't even put a picture of it in the book!  It's sort of symptomatic of being cooked in a slow cooker for six hours, so what can you do.

The prep on this one is silly easy.  You put things in a slow cooker, and then you come back.  So I'll be economical with my words.  Write a to do list, get some groceries and make the jump.