Cookin again

[Dannyalcatraz]

At the bequest of the assembled mothers, we did NOT cook in any meaningful way for Mother’s Day. Instead, we largely did takeout: a peach cobbler from a restaurant with an ace of a baker, red beans, rice, and lemon pepper wings & thighs.

Well…we WANTED lemon pepper thighs. Turns out, Wing Stop doesn’t make them anymore. Instead, they have “Thigh Bites” a boneless nugget like thing. Thing is, these were the exact opposite of why their thighs had been ordered. Where the thighs had been juicy, tender, meaty and perfectly seasoned, the tiny Thigh Bites had a breading to meat ratio that resulted in tiny, dry, over breaded and overseasoned- pretty much crunchy little nuggets of chicken. They were barely edible with the honey mustard or ranch dressing dipping sauces.

How bad are they? I decided to try some in a salad the next day- greens, onions, tomatoes, radish sprouts, celery and the reheated nuggets topped with an Italian dressing. The results were better…but still not good. There was still WAAAY too much breading compared to the meat. The Thigh Bites were doing double duty as protein and croutons.

 

[Zardnaar]

Steak at our favorite place. Wasn't that good as I didn't like the rest of the meal or vegetables. And garlic butter didn't work for me.

Steak was nice though the meal wasn't. Just ordered the wrong thing everything was cooked fine.

Creme Brulee was great though.



And last night's meal.



Some sort of vegan pattie. Tasted like a sweet falafel almost.

 

[Zardnaar]

Pepper steak pie.


Bacon and Egg pie


Chocolate cream bun's.




Pepper steak was delicious other stuff take it or leave it

 

[Zardnaar]

Fundraiser selling Southland Sushi aka cheese rolls.



3 Dozen of Them.

Menu | Amigos

Check out the Amigos menu! From burritos, tacos, nachos, and steak, to margaritas and local beers and wines, we've got it all!

www.amigos.co.nz

Well once in a while we go and try Mexican. Considering this place. Probably lame compared to USA.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Fundraiser selling Southland Sushi aka cheese rolls.

View attachment 157157

3 Dozen of Them.

Menu | Amigos

Check out the Amigos menu! From burritos, tacos, nachos, and steak, to margaritas and local beers and wines, we've got it all!

www.amigos.co.nz

Well once in a while we go and try Mexican. Considering this place. Probably lame compared to USA.

One thing I’ve learned about Mexican food is…it’s diverse. I mean, its a big country with two long coastlines. There WILL be regional takes. I’ve lived in Texas most of my life, and I was in my mid-20s before I found a Mexican restaurant that served seafood of any kind.

Besides that, true Mexican food in America is rare- most restaurants serve fusions of Mexican with the local state cuisine. So Tex-Mex like we get around here is different from the “Mexican” food you’ll find in New Mexico, which differs from Arizona’s version, which isn’t like Nevada’s. California’s version is pretty unique.

And believe me, fans of one will not necessarily like the other variants. (Not really a surprise, if you think about it.)

PLUS, we’re starting to see stuff that was sold as “Mexican” being revealed as having other national origins. A bunch of Central and South American places are starting to spring up, so we’re seeing even more variations. My mom has gotten to the point where she can distinguish at least 6 different countries’ tamales.

Looking at that menu, I’m seeing stuff I don’t see in typical Tex-Mex, but might be more common in California. Some- but not all- of that is probably due to having to adapt the ingredie to what’s available. Plus, some of that looks more South American than actually Mexican to me.

If I were there and looking for something “familiar”, I’d probably look at the carnitas soft tacos or the carne asada. The Cerdo y piña and costillos look good to me too.

 

[Zardnaar]

One thing I’ve learned about Mexican food is…it’s diverse. I mean, its a big country with two long coastlines. There WILL be regional takes. I’ve lived in Texas most of my life, and I was in my mid-20s before I found a Mexican restaurant that served seafood of any kind.

Besides that, true Mexican food in America is rare- most restaurants serve fusions of Mexican with the local state cuisine. So Tex-Mex like we get around here is different from the “Mexican” food you’ll find in New Mexico, which differs from Arizona’s version, which isn’t like Nevada’s. California’s version is pretty unique.

And believe me, fans of one will not necessarily like the other variants. (Not really a surprise, if you think about it.)

PLUS, we’re starting to see stuff that was sold as “Mexican” being revealed as having other national origins. A bunch of Central and South American places are starting to spring up, so we’re seeing even more variations. My mom has gotten to the point where she can distinguish at least 6 different countries’ tamales.

I assume it's Tex Mex not authentic Mexican.

There's at least one authentic place but it's in Auckland other side of the country and ten time (and then some) larger.

Alot of places have a few authentic meals and the others adapted for local tastes eg Chinese and Turkish pizza/kebabs.

Never had tamales seen them on American tv shows. Think I have met 1 Mexican here and that was 2007.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I assume it's Tex Mex not authentic Mexican.

There's at least one authentic place but it's in Auckland other side of the country and ten time (and then some) larger.

Alot of places have a few authentic meals and the others adapted for local tastes eg Chinese and Turkish pizza/kebabs.

Never had tamales seen them on American tv shows. Think I have met 1 Mexican here and that was 2007.

I personally never cared for tamales all that much, but my Mom LOOOOOOVES them. She grew up with Creole/Cuban tamales from Manuel’s in New Orleans, and would have relatives ship them to Texas, or take a cooler full home when she visited. Unfortunately, they went under right after Katrina.

Fortunately, about 5 years ago, she found a place called Tommy’s which makes tamales closer to Manuel’s than anyone else she’s ever found, and they just opened a second location a few miles from the house, (They also do RIDICULOUS burritos and quesadillas.)

Bonus: there’s a vendor at our local farmer’s market who sells tamales that were nearly identical to Tommy’s. We actually did side by side blind taste tests. Mom could tell them apart, but pronounced them to be a decent substitute if she couldn’t have Tommy’s.

 

[Zardnaar]

I personally never cared for tamales all that much, but my Mom LOOOOOOVES them. She grew up with Creole/Cuban tamales from Manuel’s in New Orleans, and would have relatives ship them to Texas, or take a cooler full home when she visited. Unfortunately, they went under right after Katrina.

Fortunately, about 5 years ago, she found a place called Tommy’s which makes tamales closer to Manuel’s than anyone else she’s ever found, and they just opened a second location a few miles from the house, (They also do RIDICULOUS burritos and quesadillas.)

Bonus: there’s a vendor at our local farmer’s market who sells tamales that were nearly identical to Tommy’s. We actually did side by side blind taste tests. Mom could tell them apart, but pronounced them to be a decent substitute if she couldn’t have Tommy’s.

Never had them sigh. My theory is if you like Turkish, Arabic, Indian you'll like Mexican. I liked the US couple here doing it but Covid killed it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Never had them sigh. My theory is if you like Turkish, Arabic, Indian you'll like Mexican. I liked the US couple here doing it but Covid killed it.

That’s not a bad theory. There’s more than a few non-meat ingredients in common, and even where they differ, certain flavors are VERY complementary, especially with Indian.

I got a real concrete example of this at the now-defunct Taco Naan around the corner from us. Mexican street tacos that would normally be served with cilantro and a creamy avocado sauce worked just as well with an Indian mint sauce. Chicken 65 could be served with tortillas just as easily as with naan. A burrito stuffed with beans, rice & chicken then topped with salsa could just as easily be stuffed with a biryani.

Not gonna lie, but with the number of Mexicans and other hispanics working in kitchens of ALL culinary traditions in Texas and California, I’ve been predicting that some kind of Mexican fusion cuisine will become “the next big thing” among American foodies any time now.

 

[Zardnaar]

That’s not a bad theory. There’s more than a few non-meat ingredients in common, and even where they differ, certain flavors are VERY complementary, especially with Indian.

I got a real concrete example of this at the now-defunct Taco Naan around the corner from us. Mexican street tacos that would normally be served with cilantro and a creamy avocado sauce worked just as well with an Indian mint sauce. Chicken 65 could be served with tortillas just as easily as with naan. A burrito stuffed with beans, rice & chicken then topped with salsa could just as easily be stuffed with a biryani.

Not gonna lie, but with the number of Mexicans and other hispanics working in kitchens of ALL culinary traditions in Texas and California, I’ve been predicting that some kind of Mexican fusion cuisine will become “the next big thing” among American foodies any time now.

Well we have 2 or 3 options for Mexican now new place opened. There's at least 8 Turkish places by comparison nearby and more out of the CBD.