Refried Beans with Pork Lard

Here’s a confession: I had no idea refried beans contained pork up until I actually tried making them. I’ve bought a few cans of refried beans with “vegetarian” on the label back in the day, but I thought this was bizarre, as of course they’re vegetarian, they’re beans! I figured it was the equivalent of [...]

Black beans and ceviche and other Mexican-like items best eaten in tubes

I recently decided to make the leap. The Bean Leap. I’d long been in the habit of buying pre-canned black beans for all of my black bean related purposes. At some point, however, I realized I could buy them in dry form, and it would have dual benefits. First, less salt. Second, more dollars! The [...]

Charlie’s Pit Bar-B-Que in Manitou Springs, CO

The exciting thing about (or the problem with, depending on your half full/half empty choice of philosophy) moving to a new location is that you have no idea whatsoever if any of the food places near you are delicious or awful. You just don’t know, unless you get a recommendation from someone, take the time [...]

Falafel! (Beany Cookies…or Worst Wallpaper Ever)

To explain the title a bit better, I will simply post the image first: At first glance, they almost appear to be cookies, perhaps peanut butter cookies that have been rubbing elbows with the wrong sorts of citrus fruits. These would be the beaniest cookies one has ever bitten into. Actually, I’m not even sure [...]

Fruity Hummus

I made hummus the other day. I use ‘hummus’ in the loosest sense of the word. See, it all started with such good intentions. I had chickpeas and a vision. A vision that quickly died when (after having already cracked open the can of chickpeas, of course) I realised that I was completely lacking in [...]

Giant Pile of Mexican Food (maybe?)

Honestly, I’m not sure it’s Mexican. Mexico is pretty far away from my current location, and while I am surrounded with a plethora of delightful (and some not so delightful) Mexican restaurants, I am rather clueless as to their authenticity. Rumor has it that many (if not most) of them are Tex-Mex, in fact. One [...]

Lentil Curry

So this was technically supposed to be soup. I, however, am a non-believer. I was baffled that the recipe actually expected me to fit several quarts of water into a large saucepan. Apparently it’s definition of ‘large’ does not mesh well with mine. This baby took 2 hours to cook (compared to the recipe’s paltry [...]

Ah, leftovers (the beans persist!)

So the beauty of the bean concoction that I made yesterday lies strongly in its cheapness. $.60 for a can of beans, $.60 for a can of tomatoes, a scoop out of a large bag of frozen corn that cost $1.50, a chunk of cilantro for a buck, and misc. seasonings already sitting around. And [...]

Tex Mex Concoction

There really are very few things that wouldn’t benefit from having a large quantity of chipotle tabasco sauce dumped on top of them. Well, maybe not ice cream I guess. Or my car. Nonetheless, the point here is that chipotle sauce is the Sauce of the Gods. So I was feeling Tex-Mexey tonight and decided [...]

Asian food festival!

So there are few things I heart more then food festivals. Got the chance to attend Richmond’s Asian American Festival this past weekend, and it was delightful indeed. Most food festivals tend to focus on a particular country (for instance the local Lebanese food festival is absolutely fabulous). However, the Asian festival focuses on an [...]