What the f#$*& is Margarita Friday?!? Ok – here’s a very short description (longer one coming soon): My friends and I do this thing called Margarita Friday, MF for short. Now entering its tenth year, it basically is a get together (either physically or virtually) every Friday for happy hour (or sooner) where we all meet at someone’s house, or a bar or restaurant and celebrate the end of the week drinking, yeah you guessed it, margaritas. Even when we all can’t physically be together in attendance, absentee participants usually check in from far, typically using their picture phones to photograph a picture of the margarita they’re enjoying, and sending it to the rest of the crew using MMS (look for article explaining that better in the soon-to-come geek section – for now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service).
All right. Where was I? Oh, MF. So anyway, we’re doing MF this week at Reggie’s Condo where we can discuss plans for our tenth anniversary edition of MF in some distant tropical land (FYI – themed Margarita Fridays are declared editions, e.g., Margarita Friday, Black Tie Edition [yes, we've done that]). I was volunteered to cook for the gathering, which I’m always happy to oblige. So, what are we having and why the hell am I writing about it three days in advance, you ask? Well, my friends typically want to actually eat something on occasion and I’ve been known to get a little carried away in preparing a 13 course meal of haute cuisine when all they wanted was hot dogs and chips . . . so, I figured I would get a head start on this one so we can eat at a normal hour and still have really great food. I will let you know the day-by-day play of what I’m working on. For now I’ll actually get with the program and let you know what I did tonight (Tuesday January 22 though this is late so the date will be off on this article).
My friend and sous-chef de cuisine, Paul, who will also be in attendance, came over tonight to assist with tonights duties. In addition to making two trips to Central Market, we prepared three dishes:
- basic chopped tomato-serrano salsa (salsa mexicana)
- roasted tomato-jalapeno salsa (salsa de jitomate cocida y jalapeno)
- chicken tacos with roasted poblano, mushrooms, cream and queso fresco (pollo a la poblana rajas con hongos)
I’ll dive into these in more detail in a proper cookery page article, but I’ve got to first credit Rick Bayless, Mexican food bad ass extraordinaire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Bayless and yes I’ve eaten at his two restaurants in Chicago) for the inspiration and recipe base and techniques from which I’m creating these dishes. What’s in for tomorrow night? Most likely, a roasted chipotle tomatillo salsa, an ancho seasoning paste, and some other spins on tacos, the perfect fiesta food. <Begin Rant>I know most of you know this by now, but chipotle is pronounced chip-OAT-lay, not chipultee or whatever other god awful pronunciations I’m sure you’ve heard.<End Rant>
Ok – post number 2 and climbing! More to come very soon! Also expect a further dissection of these dishes, recipes and techniques in the soon to come page dedicated to all things culinary. Also more to come about MF and other stuff . . . . stay tuned!
Hasta Luego!
Tags: Central Market, Chicago, chicken, chipotle, cooking, food, happy hour, jalapeno, margarita friday, margaritas, mexican food, MMS, Rick Bayless, serrano, tacos, tomato
JoAnn on January 24th, 2008 at 12:12 am #
