Turkey Posole!

Being from San Diego, Charlie and I eat A LOT of Mexican Food. At least once a week in fact! And seeing as we have a lot of Mexican relatives we cook a lot of Mexican food as well.

This recipe is a great one for the winter. The hot soup helps keep you warm and it's a great excuse to use up all that left over Turkey from Thanksgiving!

You will need:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 fresh poblano chile peppers, seeded and finely chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
4-5 chopped fresh thyme leaves
Coarse salt and pepper
1 cup beer (Pacifico works)
16 tomatillos, peeled and coarsely chopped or coarsely processed in food processor
1 (15-ounce) can hominy (BIG Mexican corn)
1 quart chicken stock
1 1/2 to 2 pounds light and dark cooked turkey meat, chopped*
1 lime, juiced

For Garnish (optional):
White Onion, finely chopped
Cilantro, chopped
Avocado, sliced
Limes, sliced
Hot Pepper
Tortilla strips & chips


Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add vegetable oil, onions, garlic, peppers, cumin, oregano, thyme, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook 5 minutes to sweat onions then add beer and cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatillos and cook 5 minute more then stir in the hominy, stock, lime, and the turkey. Stir in water if more liquid is needed to just cover everything in the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour to blend flavors.

Old Town Mexican Cafe

Old Town in San Diego is widely known as the "Birth Place of California". It was the site of the first permanent Spanish settlement in California and where Father Junipero Serra established the very first mission in 1769. It was at one time, I believe the Capital, before it moved North to Sacramento. It also has some of the best Mexican food sit down restaurants in San Diego by my standards.

The other night I went there for dinner, to my favorite of the lot, Old Town Mexican Cafe.

OTMC, as it's so affectionately called by the patrons and staff, is one of those gems, nestled in the foothills of the Presidio of Old Town. They have women, in the windows making fresh tortillas out of Masa right there for you to watch.

That's one of my favorite things, fresh handmade tortillas, nothing is quite better. For that reason alone, OTMC has some of the BEST taco shells I've ever had. Crispy, soft, thick, warm, and for lack of a better word at the moment, moist. *shudders*


Inside on their indoor patio, colorful traditional Mexican decorations adorn the walls and ceiling. It makes me feel like I'm actually in Mexico enjoying authentic fare. The mariachi band rounds out the ambiance beautifully.

For dinner I chose the chicken taco, cheese enchilada combination plate. As promised by the sight of the women patting out corn masa nice and flat, the tortillas were amazing.

My friend, Jake, got the fish taco plate. I assume it was delicious because it was eaten, but I did not wish to try it because of my deep seeded hatred for eating my scaly aquatic friends, and also the fact that it makes me sick.


I think you can tell the quality of a Mexican restaurant by the beans, Jake thinks it's rice. I thought both were pretty dang good. Despite the patio chair poking me in the tuchis, the meal was delicious and filling, and the service was great. Our waitress was decently informed and recommended very good choices for us both.

Taqueria La Guerita, Tecate, Mexico

Can't sleep, must blog.

This shall be my FIRST EVER INTERNATIONAL POST! Zomg!



Today I crept below the International border into Tecate, Mexico for a various amount of reasons of which none are really important. (No, I did not go to smuggle drugs.) But one very awesome thing occurred and that was I had some amazing street food. Now I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about eating in Mexico, is one; "Don't drink the water!" which is followed shortly thereafter by; "I hope it was worth the (insert horrible food related illness of your choice here)!"

Well I can tell you that I didn't drink the water, and that 12 hours later I'm still going strong on not having any side effects of the brief love affair I had this afternoon.


My mom took me to this place called, "Taqueria La Guerita", or if you are my mother, "The red place across the street from the chicken place". Both are correct. It's a TINY hole in the wall taco stand in the heart of Tecate and they might just have the best street tacos I've ever had in Mexico or The States.


Aren't those just beautiful? Look at that guacamole! OMG. And for 12 pesos (roughly just under a dollar) , the price isn't too bad either. I also got a flour quesadilla.


The whole meal cost me about 35 pesos, and I was a very happy camper. I love living so close to such amazing Mexican food!

Red Peppers - Cuban in Atlanta

Brian has been begging me to try this place just outside of Atlanta forever. His family goes there all the time and he always mentions it to me, so when our making dinner plans fell through following a long day at the Mall of Georgia with my friend Candace, Red Peppers was the perfect choice.

Red Peppers
4439 S. Main St., Acworth GA

Red Peppers is Mexican and Cuban food. It's got a sweet, small and very friendly atmosphere, and is a refreshing change to many of the big hoity toity places. Red Peppers doesn't try to come off as something it isn't. It's just plain good food.

I ordered the Bistec de Palomilla, black beans, rice and plantains.

Bistec de Palomilla

Brian ordered the Carne Asada. He substituted his "the works" (meaning tortillas rice and beans) with rice and black beans on the side, with an order of fried yucca.

Carne Asada

The service was a bit off the night we went, but to counter act that, they gave us some mango pie on the house.

Free Mango Pie

I don't know if it was house made, or brought in from a local bakery, but it was very good. Cold, creamy and firm with a delicious graham cracker crust.

All in all I really enjoyed Red Peppers and would love to go again the next time I visit. It also makes me want to try and find some local Cuban restaurants here in So Cal. I'll have to ask my sisters boyfriend since he's Cuban what his favorites are.

A Night Out in Pacific Beach

Last night I went out with my friend to PB for dinner, drinks and hookah.

We started off at Fred's Mexican Cafe for dinner and margaritas.

I got the house margarita, frozen with light salt, cuz it was on special.



It was so freaking cold outside that something warmer, like Mexican Coffee would probably have better suited me, but how can you eat carne asada tacos without a margarita?!

Which brings me to my meal...



Carne Asada taco plate with rice and black beans, and a side of guacamole. Yummy! I couldn't finish it all, but it was super tasty nonetheless.

We then ventured over to Sinbad's for some Apple Hookah. We got the Sinbad Apple, which is green apple tobacco inside a red apple bowl. We also added ice to the water to make the smoke nice and cool.



The service at Sinbad's is always really excellent. They come by and check coals and the bowls often and regularly so you can enjoy the hookah for almost 2 hours. I also love their presentation!

We then each got a pint of Guinness, and as our nights end cap, we went over to visit my sister at her bar where we got ANOTHER Guinness.



I used to really HATE beer. I mean I totally despised it. Then I lived with Michelle, and she LITERALLY (:P ) made me like it. In fact, we would drink beer as if it were wine, and taste the different hops and notes and flavors and really just enjoy it together. I fancy her, because she makes me more awesome on a daily basis.