Chips and Salsa

What is it about chips and salsa that make it one of my favorite things? I have yet to go out to a sit down Mexican restaurant here in Cedar and don't know that there is a good one. La Fiesta I remember from 13 years ago and have to say it did not blow me away back then. It is however still here and perhaps that says something about it. Hmmm, I may need to go on a quest for a great Mexican restaurant - the ultimate test being the quality of the chips and salsa they serve at the get go. Well, maybe not the ultimate test but definitely up there on the charts.

Okay so I have been pondering all time favorite Mexican restaurants and there are a couple of chart toppers. El Charro Avita in Carson City has to be one of my all time favs. Still there and operational from the days when as a 17 year old I would go in during the day with Pete and Shane Suacedo and we would hit up the bar for the free chips and bean dip. Ooohhh, that was good times. There was the time that we got in trouble because Curtis Wheelhouse decided to eat a fish out of the aquarium. Not sure what possessed him to do that. We use to go in there with a huge group of us and order multiple Mexican pizzas. I cannot truly speak for the quality of the food as much as the company that I was in when I would go. Those were certainly good times.

Toto's on Tropicana in Las Vegas. That was perhaps the best right up until the chef must have disappeared. I remember when we attended with Grandma Vi and she got the El Burro. I thought she was going to die right there with that thing. I loved that place and loved the service. There was the one waiter there that knew our family well and he was always so great. Don't know if they are still in business. Don't know if I would be brave enough to venture back. Back there for a while Toto's was one of the best. It was a sad day when they served me Spanish rice with frozen veggies mixed in. Oh, the horror.

As far as a chart topper I am not putting this next one at the top but I have to say it always sat on solid ground for me. In Lakeland there is a place called Tapatios. Food = good. Service = fast and friendly. Chips and Salsa = good (the mild salsa is quite mild but the hot will take the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro so it is usually best to blend the two, unless you prefer an orange afro). The queso dip was also rather delicious and the prices were phenomenal. Always enjoyed a visit to Tapatios.

When we lived in St. George there was a place that our neighbors highly recommended as the best Mexican food in the area. It was perhaps the worst. I got taco's and the lettuce on my tacos had Italian dressing on it. I couldn't get past it and thought that it was the left overs of someones side salad that ended up in my taco. I just remember being sorely disappointed. Great was the day when we discovered Cafe Rio tucked in to a little space over by the outlets. They did not have everything I like in a Mexican restaurant with the sit down chips and salsa action but they did have great food. Still do. They since have moved from that location and also have a restaurant here in Cedar. Ate there last week as a matter of fact. I think size wise the burritos rival the El Burro. Well, can you really rival the El Burro?

I had some rather delicious Salsa that Amy introduced me to. It is expensive stuff but very tasty. My last time at the store I decided against that purchase and went with the large container of Rojos. I usually like this stuff but I made the mistake of polishing off the last couple bites of the expensive stuff and then delved into the Rojos. I could not believe the difference. Seriously. I started looking at the Rojos to see if there was something wrong with it. Wow, I was shocked. So I have decided that an experiment needs to be conducted. I believe that I made mention around Christmas Day of the Root Beer experiment that we participated in and conducted for that matter. The same needs to happen with Salsa. It may have to wait for a few weeks because I am about to embark on a diet that will not allow the consumption of chips so I might be looking towards the middle of February for this little experiment. Anyhow, should be a good test. May have to just throw a Fiesta and include this as part of the festivities. Ooohhh, a valentines fiesta, or not.

Okay on to a couple other items. Stained the table today. Ahhhh, not so thrilled with it yet. Still have another coat and shellacking to do. We'll see how it turns out. Trying to get a match to the entertainment center is not easy when the wood is different and the color of the stain is different as well. If all else fails I will just go black with it and antique it a bit. Also worked on three of the shelves today - Dave and Dani's, the folks and then one for the shop. Need another coat and then have to play with the sander and see if we can't get the right look with them. I have two more shelves completed and also ready for paint. I am going to do another red one like the one I did for hanging stockings and also going to try something with green. I am hoping that the green turns out as sharp as the red. I will post some pics when they are all done.

Ethan Gilmore was baptized today. He is a great kid, second son of Heidi. Ethan and Jack were on the same soccer team this fall and while Jack preferred to be off the field picking flowers Ethan preferred being in the game scoring goals. He is really sharp and quite fun. Jay and I can only laugh about soccer because practice was definitely like herding cats and even more so when Ethan and Saul "the wall" got together. Well, back to the baptism. Jack wanted to come so he and I went and picked up Jay on the way. Jack did pretty well. He picked our seat in the Chapel, front row. Would not have been my choice but that is what happens when Jack is in charge of seating. We talked about baptism and Jack was excited because we were on the front row right by the sacrament table. There were two pictures on display. One was of John the Baptist and Jesus while the other was of a modern day baptismal font with a father and his child. Jack picked up on the difference immediately and excitedly said "John, there are pictures of baptisms, one from then and one from now. The then is on the right and the now is on the left". There are some things Jack does that surprise me and this was one of them. Perhaps it should not but it did.

He was really excited to see the baptism and got a little restless. They had Ethan and two girls that were also getting baptized come up to the podium to be introduced. Jack mentioned seeing Ethan and said "There is proud Ethan up there in the middle of those two proud girls". Sometimes I would like to see into his mind and understand his thoughts. Not sure where proud came from but it was fun for me to watch Jack in all of this.

We were off to the font. Jack excitedly sat on the front row and all was going well until he got up to look at the font a little closer. When he turned around a little girl had slipped into his seat and there were no more chairs. I knew we were going to be in trouble. Fortunately Heidi picked up on it and had Miles slide back a row so Jack could have his seat. Very thankful for Heidi and Miles for that one. The baptism was great and Jack said right after it was done "He dunked him!" It was pretty funny. I just got a note from Heidi who said that her brothers have all been called "dunk" at some point in their lives (their last name is Duncan) and they took it as a play on words. Jay and I had a laugh.

It was good for Jack to be there. He isn't too far away from turning 8 and it will come before we know it. 16 months away. That is hard to believe. We were there for just shy of an hour and that was an hour very well spent. There was an impact on Jack and that is good. He was nearly 4 when Natalie was baptized and also quite sick that day. I don't think he picked up much there so this was neat for him to be a part of. We are happy for Ethan today and grateful for his example.