Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Explorar El Mundo (that means exploring the world-I'm so multicultural!)

HELLO EVERYBODY,
Today we discovered and used Scoutmob for the first time. For those of you who don't know what Scoutmob is (we didn't until yesterday), it's basically a mobile discount app that has tons of awesome coupons for great local restaurants and businesses that you can easily access via your phone. It's more prominent in cities, so we're hoping to get lots of use out of it.

When we moved here, I was worried that we wouldn't be able to find authentic Mexican food in the area. I was so concerned that I actually ate at my favorite place in Lubbock, Taqueria Jalisco, two times the week before we left. I was pleasantly surprised however, that the the area where we live is a really cool melting pot of all kinds of cultures called the Buford Highway. It's full of awesome Vietnamese, Cuban, Hispanic, Korean, and Chinese shops and restaurants. Today while looking at Scoutmob for the first time, I discovered that there was a 50% off coupon for an authentic Mexican restaurant called Alvarado's Taqueria that's only 3 miles away from us. It's in an old Taco Bell building and the food comes out really fast, but it's delicious, very inexpensive, and--most importantly--authentic! We got both of our combo meals and two drinks for less than $9. Quite the bargain!

This was my meal, which came with a chicken burrito, a beef enchilada, beans, and rice. It was all great! I'm picky about my rice, and I absolutely loved this. It was way more food than I expected, and about half of it is currently waiting for Thomas in the fridge.

This is what Thomas got, a torta adobada and a carnitas taco. He loved it so much that there isn't any left over!

After lunch, we went to explore the nearby Fiesta Farmer's Market. It's really huge, and it's actually part grocery store part farmer's market. The grocery store side was about as expensive as a regular grocery, but the fruit, vegetables, meats, and fish were amazingly cheap and good looking. Thomas is excited to get some cheap meat there--they had ribeye steak for $4 a pound! Needless to say, he was in heaven. We plan to go back on our next shopping excursion.

My favorite thing there, real Mexican Coke. Way better than regular Coke!

This little treasure was in on the same aisle as the commercial pots and pans. One pot was so big, 3 Jacks could fit inside!

Being that we don't have paying jobs yet, we've been cooking at home for almost every meal. Today was the first time we've gone out to a restaurant just the two of us, and we're pretty proud of our thriftiness. We also wanted to share with you a recipe we discovered a few months ago that I absolutely LOVE. It's an easy Quiche Lorraine that would be perfect for breakfast or lunch, but we typically have it for dinner. It takes a while to bake, but it's sooo worth it!

Ingredients:
1 store bought pie crust
8 slices bacon, crumbled
1 cup (4 oz) shredded swiss cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
4 large eggs
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)

Directions:
Heat oven to 425°F. Roll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate and cover with foil. Bake 10 minutes. Carefully remove foil and bake 2-4 minutes longer until pastry begins to brown and set. 

Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Sprinkle bacon, cheese, and onion into bottom of pie crust. In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly; beat in remaining filling ingredients. Pour into quiche dish. 

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

If you make it, let us know how it turns out! Tomorrow the contractors are coming to appraise the amount of work they have to do on the house (a lot), so hopefully that will start by the end of the week. Then we can actually start using the whole house again!

-T, K, & J

2 comments:

  1. Mexican Coke is my jam. Of course I do live in San Antonio (basically mexico in some places). Helpful Tip: We get 24 of them at costco for like $16. IT'S A STEAL. I don't know if you have a costco nearby, or a membership or if they would even carry mexican coke but I thought you might appreciate the heads up :]

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