culinary wet dreams …
the other night, i was watching teevee, and i saw an ad for taco bell fajitas. and i got to thinking about fajitas. and then i thought, man, i really wish i could have lupe’s fajitas – only the best damn mexican restaurant in the known universe, located in swingin’ houston. and then i thought, dduuuuuuuuuuuuuuudde [yes, that's how i said it]. i’m flying into houston for raychul’s wedding, in january. i can eat at lupe’s … several times! i can gorge myself on their delectable steak fajitas, with paper-thin tortillas and the deliciously tangy marinade that separates lupe’s fajitas from all other fajitas in the world. am i wrong, erin? so here’s the thing – when erin picks me up from the airport, make no mistake: we’re going straight to lupe’s. and then, on the way back from the wedding in austin, to drop me at the airport, guess where we’re stopping, again – you got it. lupe’s. i am intensely mouth-wateringly excited about this. not that raychul’s wedding isn’t exciting enough [sorry raych] but this is the steak-fajita icing on the cake.
but before i start salivating over january – i’m very, very excited also about thanksgiving. my parents and i go all out. for me! [okay, the other three hundred and sixty four days a year, i'm still a spoiled brat whose wonderful parents think i hung the moon.] but thanksgiving means that we get to cook all my favorite dishes – i get to spend wednesday night with mom in the kitchen, smoking cigarettes and making miracles happen: stuffing [bacon celery and raisins of course], my special sweet potato casserole [lots of brown sugar and walnuts], my mother’s creamy potato oven casserole, fresh cornbread, homemade cranberry sauce… the list goes on. no guilt-easing vegetable dishes in my family – we get our starch and our turkey and our honeyed gravy and our several pies.
this all leads me to the wide-spread yet somewhat controversial stance that thanksgiving is loads better than christmas. there’s no trapping of “gifts” and “baby jesus” and “figgy pudding”. it’s just food, people. it’s all about the food. and the family. and this year, the snowy winter wonderland that will be adorning our cozy house in rhode island. i bloody love thanksgiving.
well, now that you’re all drooling on your keyboards from all the foodie talk – get back to work. thanksgiving isn’t until thursday. now go have your pathetic sandwiches for lunch …