So you’ve heard that I crave Thai food in the warmer months.  Well, I crave Mexican food even more, and here’s the proof…

Yesterday we got out for lunch at Taqueria del Sol with but one goal in mind: Drink margaritas on the patio in the beautiful spring-like weather!

Well, it ended up only getting to around 62 degrees out when we left for lunch, so instead of sitting outside with a pitcher of margaritas for a few hours like we intended, we decided to grab a quick bite and just one drink then walk around Decatur for a while before stopping in somewhere else.

We always start with the chips and guac at Taqueria del Sol, it’s the perfect consistency and always full of ripe chunky avocado and juicy tomatoes. The house margaritas are never too sour and are always deceptively strong!

Jeff got his usual beef enchilada with red sauce, he usually gets two but he got some tacos to share with me instead.

Two fish tacos are my usual. They are lightly fried, never greasy, and come with more super-hot jalapenos than most people can handle and a cooling lime cilantro aioli. My lips are always swollen and burning when I eat these!

Jeff got another fish taco and one of their featured “special” tacos, the Al Pastor. It tasted like vinegary pulled pork barbecue topped with a limey tomatillo salsa.

After that we did some window shopping and walking and inevitably ended up at Leon’s. I love that their bar is open to the sunny patio, it’s flooded with natural light and cool breezes. I got a Mikkeller Limoncello beer which was very herbal and zesty, it had that oily feel in the mouth that a citrusy beer gives but without feeling like you’ve bitten off a mouthful of chapstick. Very refreshing, I would order this again for sure.

And today, we essentially repeated yesterday’s margarita celebration, but with more vigor!

Jeff’s youngest brother Bryan and his girlfriend Caitlin met us for lunch at Raging Burrito. They have the largest outdoor patio in all of Decatur—perfect margarita conditions!

We got a pitcher of texas style margaritas which have a higher grade tequila plus orange juice to split between Jeff and I. Bryan was being a gentleman and not drinking since Caitlin had to drive.

So for the second day in a row we chomped down on delicious Mexican food for lunch. I had two veggie-stuffed tacos with rice and beans and Jeff got a monster quesadilla…really, that’s what it’s called.

So, yeah…I just had heavy Mexican food and margaritas for two days in a row now and I feel great about it! It’s not like I’m gonna eat this way all spring and summer or anything.

I think it’s very healthy to allow myself to indulge in this new pleasure of seasonal food and fresh drinks in the sunshine while it’s still comfortable enough outside to do it. Once true summer rolls around I’ll be too sweaty and sluggish to eat such heavy food in the oppressive direct sunlight and chug a pitcher of alcohol in a daze as the sun further bakes my hot brain.

See? It’s all about balance. I haven’t had a tomato in all of winter because I know that they are just not worth it while they’re out of season, watered-down and expensive in spite of it. And a margarita and quesadilla will be just as unappealing in hot-as-h311 august as it was in the freezing cold of december.

This pleasure has its place, and I’m getting my full joy of it now while it’s still enjoyable.

Are there any favorite foods that you only enjoy at special times?

February 27, 2011 Alayna Discussion 6 comments

Ugh. This year is starting off a little wonky.

We’ve paid nearly $600 towards gas bills in the last two months. That is not ok.

We’ve been being careful with the thermostat, but it doesn’t really matter, this apartment is just really old and poorly insulated.

You can see the giant crack between the door and the frame, our front door has this too. We’ll be making a trip to a hardware store today to get some insulation tape for this but I know that’s not the whole problem.

We moved here because we wanted to pay really low rent for a year thinking that we were saving up to buy a home this summer. Now though, even though we’re saving at a nice rate, we’ve decided to put off buying for a year or two longer for various other reasons. So now, though our rent is low our utilities are making up the difference. It sucks because this apartment is really crappy but we were ok to deal with it with the promise of saving money, but with these high utilities it just feels like we’re living in this crap place for no reason.

I’m definitely feeling the stress, and I can tell Jeff is too. We really hate this place and can’t wait to move in June.

On the flip side, the location is ideal. It has been wonderful to live within walking distance of a cool part of town. I’m going to try to focus on that instead of the bad……and maybe start packing us up in March.

Sorry for the rant, it’s been a trying week with being stuck in the house so much and dealing with several other minor problems at the same time.

Rant back: What is something you love and something you hate about the place you are living now?

January 15, 2011 Alayna Discussion 1 comment

So after checking out the snow yesterday Jeff got a tweet notifying him that The Brick Store was open and packed.

I don’t know what we were thinking, but somehow we got the crazy idea to walk the 1.3 miles in the ice to grab a few beers once Jeff finished work for the day.

It was treacherous the whole way, and quite a workout! We caught sight of a bunch of kids sledding down a street into what would normally have been a very busy intersection, now deserted.

We watched them for a while, then started our trek uphill to The Brick Store.

The Marlay brought out their “white tablecloth” service…

No where to stop for a break…

Onward to our final destination…

The Brick Store is Decatur’s crowning glory. It is consistently rated among not only the best pubs in Georgia or even the States, but among the best in the world.

With their selection of brews numbering in the hundreds, their highly knowledgeable staff, and stellar pub food, it’s truly no wonder it is so highly reviewed.

Jeff and I both ordered the Brasserie Dupont’s Avec les Bons Voeux first.

It was refreshing and citrusy. You’d think I’d want something dark and warming after that long trek to get there, but somehow this was exactly what I needed.

We ordered dinner too. I got a grilled turkey sandwich on rye with spicy mustard and a side salad with basil dressing.

Jeff got a roast beef sandwich with “chips.”

He puts that house-made spicy mustard on everything.

After dinner we had another round. This time Jeff got a scotch, Cragganmore.

And I tried a St. Bernardus variety that I haven’t had before, the Watou Tripel.

It was good, it had that sort of balmy filmy quality you get from oily citrus zest. Jeff’s scotch was good too, pretty smooth and honeyed.

After that it was time to head back. The roads had become even more icy at this point.

I actually slipped once and hit my hip pretty hard, I’ve got a nice bruise to show for it today.

We had a really good time though, typically we are not people that walk a mile+ in the snow and ice to go have a beer when we could just stay at home, but I’m really glad we did it, it was a fun little adventure.

January 11, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments