After a long journey across the country with my man crow, my cat, and in a strangers car, I’ve arrived in New England. More importantly, I will soon be reunited with the JP crows!

I immediately started missing Oakland, and Oakland taco trucks, the second we left California. The thought of entering a taco-free world, and worse yet, a hard shell taco world (and what I thought would be a ceviche free world, until the crows retreated!), was eating away at my soul with each passing day. I knew that I had to share the glory of a good taco with my parents, who were so graciously allowing me to stay at their house while I got my proverbial “shit together.”

The results? Joyous, wonderful, & delicious.

for proper assembly smear black bean goo on the bottom of the shell. add meat. add cream, pile on cilantro, cabbage, and salsa. drizzle with hot sauce, squeeze 1/4 lime. enjoy!

Now, of course, my taco was not “authentic” either. I used no lard or deep frying, and chose to fill my taco with more than meat + onions + cilantro. Nonetheless, it filled a void in my tummy. My favorite animal meat is pig. I love me some pig, especially when it is cooked by several men in a taco truck. I, of course, could not replicate this on a New England grill, so I had to think fast! I went with some extremely thin sliced-bone in- somewhat fatty-pork. Marinaded in Lime zest, oil, hot peppers, cilantro, salt and pepper, then grilled to a tender but done perfection, I sliced it as thin as possible to form the base of our tacos.

Soft Shell Taco Essentials (the players)

small taco shells- I prefer a yellow corn tortilla, but white corn or flour will do, I suppose
cilantro
red onion
hot sauce
red cabbage
sour cream
salsa
karen’s magic bean goo creation (recipe below)
limes- juice and zest
meat product of your choosing!

So, one could just use these ingredients as is, and have a delicious taco. I made a few small, simple, and fast additions to really make it delicious.

Sour cream: Zest a lime and add 1/2 the juice to a 1/2 of sour cream
Salsa: A pico de gallo style salsa would work, this time I cheated and bought some. If you feel like being 100% home made you: take 3 large tomatoes & dice them finely. Zest 2 limes, add all juice. Dice 1/2 a red onion. chop a full bunch of cilantro. dice very finely at least 1 jalapeno, more if you like heat. Finely grate 2 garlic cloves. Mix everything together with a heafty dose of S & P.
Karen’s Bean Goo: The first time I made tacos at home was with our Oakland friend Karen. She made a black bean “hummus” earlier in the day that went SO WELL with our dinner tacos. Drain & rinse a can of black beans. In a blender combine, black beans, a tomato, a green pepper, cilantro, S & P, and some onion. Blend until smooth.
Cilantro & onions: In a bowl, mix a bunch of cilantro with 1/2 a diced onion. Juice a lime over it and add a good amount of salt. It should taste salty.

Recipe for delicious cornmeal poundcake to come!

Also- a thought. Let’s combine our ceviche with a tostada shell, these taco toppings, cucumber and have a ball!