Aged gringos

Now I officially have all the possible symptoms of menopause. Insomnia, irritability, hot flashes, extreme night sweats, anxiety, headaches, achy joints, mood swings, trouble concentrating, and now acne! Which makes symptom #2 much more acute.

Anyway.

I wanted to talk about food! My favorite subject! We have discovered THE hot dog guy in town. The very lean, not to say skinny, lady who told me where he is said she usually had 2 hot dogs while she was waiting for him to pack her takeout. Must be her only meal of the week.

The hotdogs are cooked till they're crunchy outside, buns are fresh and steamed, he loads it up with sweet onions, mustard ketchup, piquante salsa, tomatoes, and tops it off with cooked onions. Yum.


I told you about Los Olivas, which is another Mexican sit-down restaurant, very good and great service. They saw I had a book, and played with the lights until I had light to read by.

Tacos Diego has had a refit! It used to look like an unlikely building to eat in, but they rebuilt the front and gave it a coat of paint, now it's lovely! We'll go soon for the best tacos in town. They're difficult because they have no posted hours, just open when they like.

We also have located the papas man. He's just down the street from us, maybe ten blocks. Apparently he has the best loaded baked potatoes anywhere, we'll let you know when we've been.

A week ago we were going to have company for dinner, and I was ready to make a huge clam linguine. The guest had to cancel at the last minute, which was actually fortuitous. I decided to cook the clams and freeze the meat, freeze the lemon juice, the lemon zest and the parsley. I discarded the liquor the clams had cooked in, and discovered that it was the culprit in making my linguine too salty.

This time I started with the olive oil, lots of garlic and diced onion, then a couple of cups of white wine (We had a LOT of clam meat), and the lemon juice cubes. Cooked that down, then threw in the clams, the parsley, the lemon zest and the hot cooked pasta. Stirred it up, let it sit for five minutes, and threw in a little butter. Delicious! I'll always cook the clams separately now, and I have no qualms about freezing the ingredients either.

I've learned a couple of things about tacos. Tacos Birria is a stewed meat, I'll have to try that. Tacos tripitas is the lining of the cow's stomach. It is apparently nice and tender, but you won't be hearing about them from me.

The other day there was a man on a horse outside our house, doing tricks. He made the horse walk backwards and sideways, we watched for quite a while. And realized that if we wanted, we could get a horse or a burro and keep it in the driveway. Hmmmmm.....

Oh! I wanted to say to Cheryl and Dan, that Shrimp festival is January 19. I wondered if you could get here the 18th? I know nothing's written in stone, and you may not arrive till the 25th, but I thought the 18th would give us time to catch up and get you settled in, and then we could attend the shrimp fest the next day. Here are the details again:

The Festival is at the Shrimp plaza from noon to 6pm. • Regional Dance Performances • Culinary Showcase from Various Restaurants and Local Establishments • Showcase & Factory pricing of arts & crafts, furniture, jewelry, clothing, shoes, kitchen accessories, etc .