Seoul-Searching for Tex-Mex
Mack and I are hosting our first dinner party for some new friends here next week, and of course, the menu has to be Tex-Mex. We are loving the Korean food, but frankly…well, Tex-Mex is the nectar of the gods. (And, I brought my Texas-shaped cookie cutter…).
Finding the ingredients for such a feast might not be as easy as I thought it would be. I was lulled into a false sense of security by the sighting of a block of Velveeta at the Commissary on the base (fortunately, Velveeta has the shelf life of a Twinkie). Well, if nothing else, I can fill ’em up on Linda’s iconic cheese dip!
The party is not until next Wednesday night (“just stop by for snacks after work” – as if I am just throwing something together:), but I’m in a little bit of panic about the groceries! I found some rock-hard avocados (for $2.50 each -yikes) and am in the process of softening them in a brown bag with an apple…we’ll see how that works.
Mack and I took a stroll down through the night market last night, in search of cilantro (I might should have thought through my menu a little more carefully). The Farmer’s Market that I frequent has really good stuff…and something that looks like it MIGHT be cilantro. In this photo, Mack is trying to use his Google Translator to figure it out. No luck.
So, we hopped on the subway and rode two stops down to the grocery store, where I found only this small container of “Coriander.” The Korean word doesn’t look anything like the one on the sign from the market. So……no telling what I’ll be feeding this gang.
I ordered a tortilla press from the Korean equivalent of Walmart – “G-market,” which arrived earlier this week. I have been practicing my tortilla-making skills. Poor Mack will be sick of tortillas by next Wednesday. But, I figured, that by the time a package of tortillas made it all the way over here, they would be frisbee-like.
Full disclosure…I chose Tex-Mex for a few reasons (including those “nectar of the gods” and the cookie cutter things) …the main one being that I found a cute photo of a Frida Kahlo headband, which I am making for the ladies. I can determine whether they will be “real friends,” based on whether or not they put them on. It’s always dicey, vetting new pals.
(Oh yes…also because I have a cute yellow Mexican dress).
Important Decision-making strategies.
