The Summer of the Tacos--Part 1--Kim's View
Yesterday, Emily and I spent the afternoon with my mom at her rehab facility in the southwestern part of town. My pressing summer schedule, which included watching the giraffe at the zoo on YouTube to make sure she wasn't having her baby yet and dropping in to see Mom, caused me to need to run by Hy-Vee to grab a premade dessert to take to my monthly bunco group. Procrastination. I'm a professional at it. But an ice cream cake from Hy-Vee can make your friends forget that you were too lazy to cook even though you really didn't have much to do all day.
As we were driving down 29th Street to get to 470, we passed by Barrington Village. Emily said, "You've never taken me there." Well, there's a lot of places I've never taken her...but apparently Barrington Village looked like an appealing little shopping center. I did share a fun fact with Emily about Barrington Village. My cousin, Lisa, used to manage the Taco Casa there. She worked there for a long time. "Lisa, like photographer Lisa?" (Lisa had just taken our family pictures two days ago). "Yes," I told her. "I've never eaten at Taco Casa," she responded. Wait. What? How has my child never eaten at Taco Casa? I've had Taco Casa a number of times at work thanks to my dear friend Sarah. I remember one day, I needed someone to order a school lunch for me because I'd forgotten to bring my lunch. I asked Sarah and she was having Taco Casa delivered by one of her family members, so my lunch that day greatly improved. Anyway, I then quizzed Emily about a few other "taco" places. No. No. I don't remember eating at that one (even though I know she had). So that settled that. We needed to eat some quality tacos this summer.
Zach and Andrew left for Baltimore yesterday for the National FBLA Leadership Conference, so what a perfect time to start a taco quest. Just the two of us, with smaller appetites than the teenage boys. So our plans were made. We would start our taco quest the next day. Although in retrospect, the summer of the tacos had already started many weeks ago. I mean, tacos are a staple in our lives. A week doesn't go by without tacos at home, or eating at El Mezcal (though we rarely order tacos there). But we had a major taco event in May--Zach's graduation party. What is easier to plan and prepare than tacos for dozens and dozens of graduation party guests? So the tacos started in mid-May on a Friday night at our house. And we had been so well prepared for the graduation party, we had 10 pounds of taco meat left to freeze after the party, a few bags of unopened cheese, sour cream, shells, and salsa that carried over to the next Friday night for our school staff party. We then had leftover tacos for days...until I couldn't stand tacos anymore and threw the rest away. Which almost got us to our summer vacation....to California.
We flew to San Diego earlier on a Sunday morning in early June. We spent the morning exploring the beach at Coronado, and had to get back to the Gaslight District for, you guessed it, tacos. Fred has a favorite taco shop across the street from the convention center in San Diego, The Tin Fish. Basically a walk up counter where you order your tacos and tables outside to sit in the glorious California sunshine. I ordered first, though I went away from the point of the visit and didn't get fish tacos. They had a special on street tacos with 3 kinds of meat, so I tried that. While the others placed their orders, I went outside to find a table big enough to hold the 5 of us. I found one....that turned out to be a few feet away from the nearest San Diego public restroom, a popular hangout for the homeless crowd. And of course, as soon as our whole family got seated, a fight broke out over the territory between a couple of the locals that apparently had some issues with each other. Fred and the kids enjoyed their fish tacos, I enjoyed my street tacos, and the fight resolved itself soon enough. We moved along to explore the streets of San Diego until we couldn't walk anymore and decided to locate our hotel. Once we checked in and rested up a bit, it was time for dinner. Fred and I again remembered a restaurant we loved, though we couldn't remember the name of it. We knew it was in Oldtown, so we loaded up in the rental minivan and headed to the area. After some exploration of the shops, we found the place. And what do you know, they had fish tacos! I ordered an amazing combo of clam chowder, salad, and a fish taco. We spent 9 more days in California, so don't think that was the end of the tacos. Sometimes the tough choice had to be made--sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder or fish tacos--but we had our fill of awesome fish tacos throughout the state.
Now it's been 2 weeks since we've been home. I believe we've had at least 3 or 4 visits to El Mezcal in that time between the 5 of us. Zach and Andrew made tacos at home while Fred and I watched Emily at her summer dance performance. There hasn't been a shortage to the number of tacos or the availability of tacos since we left California. And now Emily and I have about 2 1/2 weeks where her brothers are traveling for school and church trips. And we are going to find more tacos to eat!
As we were driving down 29th Street to get to 470, we passed by Barrington Village. Emily said, "You've never taken me there." Well, there's a lot of places I've never taken her...but apparently Barrington Village looked like an appealing little shopping center. I did share a fun fact with Emily about Barrington Village. My cousin, Lisa, used to manage the Taco Casa there. She worked there for a long time. "Lisa, like photographer Lisa?" (Lisa had just taken our family pictures two days ago). "Yes," I told her. "I've never eaten at Taco Casa," she responded. Wait. What? How has my child never eaten at Taco Casa? I've had Taco Casa a number of times at work thanks to my dear friend Sarah. I remember one day, I needed someone to order a school lunch for me because I'd forgotten to bring my lunch. I asked Sarah and she was having Taco Casa delivered by one of her family members, so my lunch that day greatly improved. Anyway, I then quizzed Emily about a few other "taco" places. No. No. I don't remember eating at that one (even though I know she had). So that settled that. We needed to eat some quality tacos this summer.
Zach and Andrew left for Baltimore yesterday for the National FBLA Leadership Conference, so what a perfect time to start a taco quest. Just the two of us, with smaller appetites than the teenage boys. So our plans were made. We would start our taco quest the next day. Although in retrospect, the summer of the tacos had already started many weeks ago. I mean, tacos are a staple in our lives. A week doesn't go by without tacos at home, or eating at El Mezcal (though we rarely order tacos there). But we had a major taco event in May--Zach's graduation party. What is easier to plan and prepare than tacos for dozens and dozens of graduation party guests? So the tacos started in mid-May on a Friday night at our house. And we had been so well prepared for the graduation party, we had 10 pounds of taco meat left to freeze after the party, a few bags of unopened cheese, sour cream, shells, and salsa that carried over to the next Friday night for our school staff party. We then had leftover tacos for days...until I couldn't stand tacos anymore and threw the rest away. Which almost got us to our summer vacation....to California.
We flew to San Diego earlier on a Sunday morning in early June. We spent the morning exploring the beach at Coronado, and had to get back to the Gaslight District for, you guessed it, tacos. Fred has a favorite taco shop across the street from the convention center in San Diego, The Tin Fish. Basically a walk up counter where you order your tacos and tables outside to sit in the glorious California sunshine. I ordered first, though I went away from the point of the visit and didn't get fish tacos. They had a special on street tacos with 3 kinds of meat, so I tried that. While the others placed their orders, I went outside to find a table big enough to hold the 5 of us. I found one....that turned out to be a few feet away from the nearest San Diego public restroom, a popular hangout for the homeless crowd. And of course, as soon as our whole family got seated, a fight broke out over the territory between a couple of the locals that apparently had some issues with each other. Fred and the kids enjoyed their fish tacos, I enjoyed my street tacos, and the fight resolved itself soon enough. We moved along to explore the streets of San Diego until we couldn't walk anymore and decided to locate our hotel. Once we checked in and rested up a bit, it was time for dinner. Fred and I again remembered a restaurant we loved, though we couldn't remember the name of it. We knew it was in Oldtown, so we loaded up in the rental minivan and headed to the area. After some exploration of the shops, we found the place. And what do you know, they had fish tacos! I ordered an amazing combo of clam chowder, salad, and a fish taco. We spent 9 more days in California, so don't think that was the end of the tacos. Sometimes the tough choice had to be made--sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder or fish tacos--but we had our fill of awesome fish tacos throughout the state.
Now it's been 2 weeks since we've been home. I believe we've had at least 3 or 4 visits to El Mezcal in that time between the 5 of us. Zach and Andrew made tacos at home while Fred and I watched Emily at her summer dance performance. There hasn't been a shortage to the number of tacos or the availability of tacos since we left California. And now Emily and I have about 2 1/2 weeks where her brothers are traveling for school and church trips. And we are going to find more tacos to eat!
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