Death of a Showman?

On Sunday night the 53rd Annual Grammys aired on CBS. As a buddy and I texted back and forth about performances and Cee Lo's outfit we both noticed a bandwagon that the Grammys jumped on this year: good music. We were both pleased that a lot of good artists not only were nominated, but actually won i.e. Arcade Fire, Esperanza Spalding etc.

But I don't care about the winners, so much as I care about the performances. And one performance in particular struck me as telling. This performance was the B.o.B, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe collaboration. This collaboration worked for me in theory because I mostly like all three of these artists and they all showed off their musical chops by both singing/rapping and playing instruments. But, it was surprisingly Bruno Mars who I thought had setup an excellent platform for which to wow the audience, and ended up falling short. Here is the link to the performance on youtube.


Bruno Mars, B.o.B, Janelle Monae - Medley Live... by wonderful-life1989

I was pumped for Bruno's rendition of Grenade which was laced with Motown/Stax characteristics like backup singers doing call and response and smooth group choreography. Showmanship, what a novel idea. Unfortunately Bruno Mars didn't have the voice to impress. But I liked the effort.

But Bruno's performance got me thinking, now that Michael is gone are we now headed into a world where the next generation will be looking up to Usher and Lady Gaga as their pillars of performance? Is Showmanship slowly dying? I hope not.

Fatima- Love Lost

This is a blog about food, but since I have few to zero readers, I'm sure I won't disappoint anyone when I stray from my main subject matter. For me, today, I want to talk about Fatima.

Fatima is a song by the Somali artist K'naan off of his album Troubador. This song was named after a young girl K'naan fell in love with when he was 12 years old. I will never again be able to hear the name Fatima without thinking about this song and this young girl's story. I'm also sure that I will never be able to hear this song and not think of the beauty of love lost.

Yes, the beauty of love lost. I believe this song is able to create this contradictory sentiment by being both a picture and a mirror throughout the track.

The picture we first get is of a boy falling in love.

"And after school we studied the lessons
I ask God to slow down the seconds"

(later in the track)

"If beauty was in the eyes of the beholder,
how come everyone hushed when she walked by?
How come girls would look just to scold her?

Through these lyrics, K'naan has not only painted a picture of his young love, but he has also allowed us, the listeners, to see the reflection of our own lives. Through this song, we can see ourselves standing there in school, with butterflies in our stomachs, trying to talk to the girl we liked. We can feel the rush of excitement when we had our first kiss. It all seems so familiar. But, unfortunately the song quickly becomes more difficult to relate to when we learn that as a young girl Fatima was killed by gunmen in Somalia.

"Fatima, what did the young man say, before he took you away, on that fateful day?

At this point I know that I should not be able to see this song as a mirror any further. Nothing about my life can reflect the feeling of losing a love to violence in Somalia. But I couldn't help it. Through this song, I kept seeing the moments in my life when I felt the pain of losing someone. Maybe this reflection was not clear like a mirror, but rather faint like a window. A window that I could look through and see the outside world, yet at the same time, in some lights, see a faint reflection of my life.

I must admit that this made me feel ashamed. It seems so petty to think that I could relate having my heart broken, or having a relative pass away with losing a childhood love to violence. But I did. And I think I did this because when a love goes away, it is gone. It does not matter if that loved one was a grandmother who died of natural causes, a woman who decided she never wanted to talk to you again, or a girl you loved as a child who was killed in a War. In all of these cases, in that moment, when they leave, they are gone. And I believe it is very difficult for the heart to tell the difference.

I'll be the first to admit that I may be wrong. Maybe we all have experiences that are so unique that we can't possibly begin to understand what another person is feeling. But, if within this song I was able to get a glimpse into the love K'naan had for Fatima, while at the same time see the reflection of all the loves I've ever had and lost, then I think the world becomes a little smaller. And for me, a smaller world means that people are closer and can relate to each other more easily. And if it takes the feeling of lost love to help people relate to each other more easily, then I think love lost can be beautiful.

I posted a youtube link to the song. I hope you enjoy.

Fatima with lyrics

I Usually Prefer Brunettes, But Blonde's Are Fun Too

Since moving back to Houston, I have been rediscovering the city I grew up in. You know, looking at Houston through a different lens. Where I once saw Houston as everything that I needed to escape from, I now am able to give it more of a chance. What I have found from this new vantage point, is the ability to see the city with all its hidden treasures and one of these treasures has been Southern Star Brewery.

Southern Star Brewery is a beer producer located in Conroe, Texas (which I pretty much consider Houston). From an earlier point of view I would have shunned the idea of Conroe producing good beer. In my mind, I used to think that Austin was the only city in Texas that would be able to produce a the kind of beer that I would normally drink. That is because Austin represented what I thought was "cool." It made more sense that Austin, not Houston would have the environment to produce "cool," local breweries.

I saw Houston on the other hand as being a city that would only cater to the business, no non-sense crowd that normally drank from the kegs of large mega-breweries and their un-creativeness.* But low and behold Southern Star Brewery is making a case for itself right here in what I mistakenly thought was a flavorless city, Houston, Texas.

I would put Southern Star's Bombshell Blonde against any of the other beers that are being produced in Texas right now.** Austin's Real Ale and Independence haven't produced anything like Bombshell Blonde that is both drinkable and tasty (sorry Fireman's Four).

*To be fair I am always impressed with how the big companies like Miller Light constantly find new way to present themselves: 1) Widemouth 2)Vortex 3) Aluminum Bottles.

**In second place I would put St. Arnold's Lawnmower, but that will have to wait until another post.

Bombshell Blonde is a Blonde beer with a great flavor that makes it both drinkable and pleasing to the palette. There are hints of vanilla, orange, something bitter and most of all it is creamy without being so creamy that it disagrees with it's environment. Moreover, the fact that it comes in a bright blue can makes it both cool and trendy. No longer do you hipsters have to drink Pabst and Lonestar to make a statement while having to sacrifice on taste. Don't get me wrong, I prefer those two beers over any of the "lights" the bigger breweries are doing. But let's be real, the taste is only slightly above passable. Bombshell Blonde on the other hand has it all.

I got to thinking about why Houston was able to get it so right, despite a reputation for being un-creative. Here's a small bit of reasoning as to why I believe Houston produced a good beer. Whereas other places in Texas like Austin and Dallas are obsessed with their image (Keep Austin Weird, Dallas... i don't know, but it's something) Houston doesn't give a shit. It's always been known as this concrete city with no culture, so in a way it doesn't have to care about certain things. like normal rules of making craft beer. Southern Star made a product that fit the city, put it in a can and didn't go out of their way to try and make it elite. The end product is a delicious beer.

I wonder if this theory could expand to other things. In a way I am starting to feel that Houston, with it's "I don't give a shit" attitude might start being the new cool. At least for beer anyway. Let's see what happens. Until then.

The H?

Have you ever ordered a dish with an expectation of how the dish will look and taste, only to find that it is completelydifferent than what you had imagined? Well, that is kind of what has happened in my life. I ordered the "live in Chicago for the upcoming year" special and received a large helping of "Houston, Texas" surprise. No need to go into the reasons why this change occurred which would only be interesting to the author of this blog, myself, when it is enough to say that this year instead of exploring Chicago's midwestern culture, I'll be hittin up the the "the third coast," Houston, Texas.

Now, Houston is not completely new to me. Houston was my home for 10 years during my younger (8-18) years. Consequently, I know the city, but due to my age at the time I lived here, I really don't KNOW the city. So I am excited to explore the place I grew up in with an older more sophisticated (read pretentious) eye.

Moreover, Houston has been given an amazing makeover that has produced new areas to hangout since I lived here such as Midtown, Washington Street and the Heights. I do not know the city well enough to comment on any of these areas yet, but give me time and I will have an opinion. This opinion will include commentary on not just food, but bars, nightlife, sports culture and people. I look forward to writing about it. Until then, take care.

What's Going on North of the Border?

After having traversed Mexico City for a month and a half I’d like to talk about Taco Bell (cue all my Mexican friends saying “te dije.”)

Now the question is: why has a guy, just coming back from the capitol of Mexican culture, Mexico City, want to all of a sudden write about Taco Bell? I'll admit it is peculiar, especially since I just spent a month and a half trying to convince people in Mexico that the U.S. doesn’t even consider Taco Bell Mexican food. You see this is how a lot of my conversations went:

Me: You know, the U.S. has a lot of good Mexican food.

Mexican friend: (No mames guey) No way dude, all you guys have over there is Taco Bell.

Me: Sigh (then I usually had to listen to a long explanation about how real Mexican food is different than Taco Bell)

So by writing about Taco Bell I have now just given all my friends in Mexico reason to say “I told you so” or more likely “te dije.” But hear me out.

You see I’m visiting my mom for a couple of weeks and being at her house means that I’m watching “regular” T.V. for the first time in a long while. Don’t get me wrong. I watch a lot of T.V. in Chicago, my current hometown. However, the T.V. I watch in Chicago is online and consequently has no commercials. So, being at home and watching “regular” T.V. has allowed me to see a lot of new commercials like the one for Taco Bell’s new ”cantina tacos.”

These new “cantina tacos” are very different from anything Taco Bell has done in the past. These tacos are filled with diced meat, topped with chopped onion and cilantro, wrapped around not one, but two corn tortillas then finished with a lime wedge for both presentation and use.

This style of taco may seem new to some, but to anyone that has eaten Mexican food (on either side of the border) from a street, stand or trailer* this is not new but in fact the norm. I know this is the norm for sure in Mexico City because I just came from there, but I’ve also had similar tacos on Southmost in Brownsville, Riverside in Austin and Hilcroft in Houston.** Now, I don’t like using the A word, but I’ll do it in this case because I’m pretty sure it’s what Taco Bell is going for: Taco Bell is trying to be more Authentic.

During this past two decades Mexican restaurant owners have come to know the word authentic very intimately. That is because authenticity became a top priority when judging Mexican food and consequently became synonymous with “good quality.” I have yet to read a review or hear a comment where someone said or wrote that the Mexican food they tasted was extremely authentic but absolutely disgusting. This can happen. I have had experiences that have necessitated this response.*** Nonetheless, it seems that even fast food restaurants like Taco Bell, have begun to buckle under the pressure that is authenticity.

What has surprised me though, is that I didn’t think places like Taco Bell would ever care about such a nuanced quality. I believe in calling things the way they are. As the famed intellectual Dr. Phil says, “Don’t pee on my back and tell me it’s raining.” Or in this case, don’t put your product in a corn tortilla then serve it with a lime and tell me it’s Mexican food. I thought Taco Bell stopped caring about being Mexican a long time ago, why do they all of a sudden care? Their “bread and butter” has always been making crazy menu items like the Enchurrito and the Double Decker Taco. These items attract the people who are not in the mood for authenticity and it works.

Whereas Taco Bell seems to be chasing an impossible standard, KFC has gone in a different direction with their famed Double Down. For a whole two months in 2009 I can remember hearing friends talk about how the Double Down sandwich was “so ridiculous.” This sandwich put cheese and bacon in between two slices of fried chicken. I thought it was genius and although I have not tried one yet, I would sure as heck do that before I ever tried the “cantinas tacos.”

But that’s the thing with the business of food, you never quite no what will work and what won’t. As I’m writing this, lines all over the country may be forming outside of every Taco Bell across the nation with people screaming for “cantina tacos.” Taco Bell may become the single largest employer in all the U.S. from all the people they need to help make these new tacos because they are in such demand. In fact, Taco Bell may bring us out of the economic slump we’re in and then get awarded medals for their contribution to the U.S. market and culture. All this may happen. But if it does, I just hope to hell none of my friends in Mexico see it happen because I know they’ll all happily look at me and say “te dije.”

*Some of the new Mexican restaurants in Austin such as Garrido’s and Condesa feature (very expensive) versions of what I’ve just outlined. There’s probably a lot of restaurants that do this too, however I think it is much more typical in the street, stand, trailer category.

**These are all streets not eating places. The actual names of the places have probably changed because they were stands and trailers. I don’t remember what the place on Southmost was called, but the one on Hilcroft was called Tacos Porky and the one on Riverside I believe was called Al Pastor.

*** Pulque is one of the items that I tried in Mexico that I thought needed tinkering to be good. I had one at a nice restaurant that had been filtered and it was o.k. Then I had one that made it more traditionally, and I thought it was less than o.k. In this case I thought the more authentic pulque got, the less palatable it became. However, this is just an opinion.

Abuela's House

On Sunday August 1st I had the pleasure to attend a family lunch at my buddy Emilio’s grandmother’s house. I had been to her house a couple of times during my stay here in Mexico City and she has always made me feel like part of the family. So I was especially excited to sit down and break bread with her and some of Emilio’s other family members.

The house where abuela (Spanish for grandmother) lives is located in the beautiful San Angel neighborhood. This is an old neighborhood filled with large trees that provide a nice shade over cobblestone streets. Abuela’s house is an impressive open aired piece of architecture that is as elegant as it is stylish. Think of the houses that you might see on telenovelas (Mexican soap operas)minus the gaudiness.

The first time I went to abuela’s, house her and I inevitably began to start talking about food at which point she promised to cook me some pollo en mole. Living up to her promise on Sunday around one o’clock Emilio, his sister Magdelena, Magadelena’s fiancé Jorge, Emilio’s dad and I all headed to the house.

Before we sat down to eat, we first went to the patio for drinks and appetizers. I had a Corona (Mexican beer) while Emilio’s father and uncle were sipping on some Jose Cuervo Tradicional (tequila). To whet our appetites we were served Zacahuil as an appetizer. This dish, Zacahuil, in its complete form looks like a very large tamale (which I guess it is). It comes from the Northern part of Mexico and is common

in abuela’s home state of San Luis Potosi.

Emilio’s uncle explained to me that Zacahuil is made in a big pot where they cover the bottom with masa de maize (corn dough) then fill it with cheese/meat/vegetables followed by covering it again with the masa de maize. The end result is a really big, tasty tamale that is then cut and served like one would a casserole. I had to try and not fill up on this dish because I knew that this was just the beginning.

After drinks and appetizers on the patio we went inside and sat d

own for lunch. A quick word about lunch. Lunch here in Mexico is more like dinner in the states. It is the most important meal of the day where one usually eats the most food in one setting and it can last from one to two hours.

The main dish was pollo en mole, but before we get to that I have to mention one of the side dishes. I do not remember what Emilio’s aunt called this dish but it looked like a hot pocket however tasted nothing like one. Emilio’s aunt explained to me how she made these “pockets.” She used mashed banana mixed with egg as dough. She then used this dough to cover a mixture of cheese and meat. These

pockets were lightly fried then put into the oven to bake. I couldn’t get over how well the fried banana went with the cheese. Moreover, the taste reminded me of a type of omelet my mom used to make for me when I was a kid: banana omelet. I know it sounds weird, but it was really good because she would put a little sugar in the egg batter. Hey, every family has there own special tradition and think about yours before you judge mine.

Back to the meal, the appetizers and side dishes were all just precursors to the main event, which was the pollo en mole. I can’t describe the sensation I felt when I went into the kitchen and looked inside the “olla” (pot). In the olla there was this sauce, dark as oil, with a smell that took hold of my nose and taste buds. The concotion smelled sweet and bitter at the same time, with hints of pumpkin. In this sauce there was a whole chicken bathing in the mixture. It looked amazing and tasted even better. I decided that I had to have a caballito (pony)* of tequila as well as a glass of “agua fresca de guayaba” to go with this truly inspiring home cooked meal. Now, my mother has always taught me to be polite at the dinner table and mind my manners, but I couldn’t help but licking my fingers a couple of times and going back for seconds and thirds. They were all impressed with my ability to eat such a large quantity, but what they didn’t know is that I was actually full, but couldn’t bear to waste this golden opportunity to eat such good food.

After eating, we sat around talking for a couple of hours. Everyone told stories and jokes about such subjects as living in the United States or funny sayings in Spanish. The conversation was a lot of fun and after a while they brought out these little half-cups of blue bell ice cream. I had to go and turn the light switch on and off to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.** In what world was I in that such good food was to be followed by a throwback to the deliciousness that is Blue Bell ice cream from when I was a kid. It was the perfect cap to a very special meal.

And that’s what eating together is all about isn’t it? Creating these special moments around food. I’ve been studying food for a while now, and I always find it remarkable how defensive people sometimes get about their ideas about food. But, going to this dinner reminded me about how intense of a bond can be formed in moments when we eat with other people. Eating together is an intimate experience. It stands to reason then that we should want to defend the sanctity of this event. Therefore, when I discuss food with other people, it may seem like “food” is the subject matter, but in actuality people are usually talking about something so much more than just what we put in our mouths to feed our bodies.

* Pony is a word that I've often used, but not until I came to Mexico did I do some online (wikipedia and such) research on the word due to its relation with the spanish word caballito. Here is what i've found:

-"Pony" can be used to refer to an amount such as "that drink contains a pony of gin" where "pony" is being used to describe a shot/jigger/1 oz of alcohol. This usage is a little "old timey" but relevant nonetheless.

-I've also heard "pony" used to refer to settling debts such as "it's time for you to pony up."

-I have often used the phrase "let's pony up to the bar," in this case meaning to "belly up" or head over to the bar, but have found no evidence that can tell me where this comes from. However, if you do a little google search, you can find many instances when this phrase is used.

From what I've found "pony," literally a small horse, is used to refer to small things, such as a pony keg of beer which is smaller than a regular size keg. Or in the case from above a pony of alcohol meaning a small amount. The thing I discovered here in Mexico is that the word "caballito," (little horse) is used to refer to a shot of alcohol (almost exclusively referring to tequila). It took me a while to connect the dots caballito is a small horse like a pony, oh yeah we use pony to refer to small amount of liquor AHA! Caballito!

**In Richard Linklater's movie Waking Life there is a scene in which the main character is told that to figure out if you're dreaming you should go to a light switch and turn it on and off. Apparently in dreams we are unable to register light changes. Here's a link to the scene which I highly recommend watching all the way through, but if you don't have six minutes and twenty two seconds then just watch the first conversation and then skip to minute 4:30. Waking Life

World Cup/Mexican Snacks

I watched the World Cup final at my friend Alejandro Maroto’s house. We had a great time watching Spain win the honors of “Best in the World.” This event gave me more insight into my new interest, soccer, but the day was not without some culinary observations. Before I talk about soccer, let’s talk about Mexican snacks.

Whoa Rick. What do you mean Mexican snacks? I thought you were all about shared borders and not forcing labels onto bits of culture that can easily be found on both sides of the border.

Well “imaginary voice,” I can’t find these snacks in the U.S. so therefore I refer to them as Mexican. Shall we take a look.

Let’s start with the chips. Ruffles makes these amazing Queso chips through a Mexican company called Sabritas. They have the same rigid texture like regular Ruffles Potato Chips, but these have a strong cheese flavor combined with a hint of lime. Delicious.

On that note, I’m starting to think that Mexico’s chips are far better than the U.S.’s chips. Now I know that the U.S. has the market cornered on fancy chips. All the kettle-cooked stuff we have is great. But, when it comes to just “good ole “ fashion junk food chips, I think Mexico wins hands down.

Next, the beer. We had Indio which is made by the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewing Company. Cuauhtémoc also makes other beers such as Dos Equis, Sol, Tecate and Bohemia. I first had this beer in 2005 in Guanajuato and I have to admit that I didn’t like it. I'm starting to think that this past dislike was probably due to a dirty keg connection because the Indios I hade at Maroto’s hit the spot. Indio is a dark beer, but does not have an overly strong flavor, which makes it go down very easy. I like my beers to go down easy during a sporting event so Indio won me over.

Along with our snacks, Maroto also made some fajitas. Fajitas can of course be found in the U.S., but the corn tortillas that accompanied the fajitas cannot. I cannot get over how much better and more abundant corn tortillas are here in D.F. Honestly, most of the food I’ve tried has a somewhat close equivalent in the U.S., but not the corn tortillas. I guess this perfection is the result of over 10,000 years of practice.

This is Maroto and Mayra.

I had a really good time watching the game and hanging out with my new found friends in Mexico City. After the game, we all were standing in a circle and I watched these guys argue over who is the best soccer player then they all started making fun of each other using various inside jokes (Bariloche?).

I laughed at what I understood, and enjoyed the rest simply by being there. I put the fajitas on my corn tortilla, squirted some lime on the meat, added some salsa and devoured my taco. After my first bite, I took a big pull of Indio. This may not be how everybody in Mexico watches soccer, but it will forever be the way I picture it.

Other thoughts:

We had a fun day watching the game, but my favorite part came after the game when all the guys went outside to play a pick-up game, or as it’s called here a cascara. I believe a cascara can refer to any game that is not a “league game” or does not involve referees.

Here are some pics of the guys playing soccer on the street.