Christmas, Birthdays and all that new years jazz.

Yea it’s been a while, but that happens when a person goes into a deep winter slumber over the holidays.  I was off for an epic almost two weeks! GRAND INDEED.

I know you guys need my words but sometimes I just have to prime the proverbial pump and take a good few weeks off.  Apologies.

So what happened to Bob on his time off, well I did spend a great deal of it shuteye and comatose.  But another great deal of it was spent preparing for Christmas.  We had planned to spend it with Dar’s family in the country.  Meaning cooking for her mother who is a shift worker.  I have no trouble doing this having worked some mighty mixed up shifts in my day and the fact that I do really like her mom.   I also love to cook, trouble this year was my bad ankles again.  I took the splendid chance opportunity to roll my left ankle over on the ice on our driveway and put myself in a world of hurt .

No worries I limped through Christmas, with Dar’s 5-year-old nephew Eric who was so excited to have a some time with family.  He’s a bit high-strung but we all had a blast playing with him as he ran circles in the family room and talked the ears off of everyone in sight.  He’s a special handful but we love him dearly.

For his birthday on the 27th of Dec, Dar and I gathered for a special Asian treat. Eric is half Chinese and his parents bought an extra special cake.  Durain fruit cake.  The taste is a bit odd for a western palate but not as strong as it smells.  Durian fruit as many people know is a very strong-smelling fruit.  But I found the taste of the cake very mild and pleasing.

Our new year is finding us travailing, to southern exposures finding new cultures and new adventures.  I hope you all find health, wealth and happiness in the new year as well.

Much Love

Bobby

A Night Off.

I am sitting here after eating a great meal, that I prepared and ate all alone.  It’s one of those weird nights since Darlene and I got together that is nice, but lonely all at the same time.

It turns out that she’s out at her mother’s place tonight, partly due to weather and family obligations and I am glad she’s there.  Not for the reasons one would expect, that we don’t get along or we had a fight.  It’s not that at all.

Sometimes we all just need a night off.  Right now I am (half assed expecting) the Winnipeg Police to be knocking on the door because I have AC/DC cranked to 11.  Not really, my ears are too old for that crap but you understand what I am talking about I hope.

Don’t get me wrong I love Darlene with every fiber of my body, but sometimes it’s just good to get some ME time.  I was a confirmed bachelor for many years before I met Dar, and everyone likes certain things.  My particular thing when, she’s out for the evening is putting in a great concert DVD and maxing out the speakers.  Is that a bad thing??? I hardly think so.

I tend to lead a pretty boring life at the best of times, I like my news at 6 and a few shows.  So unwinding with some ear-splitting rock and roll to my mind seems like a good thing.  Fist pumping in the privacy of ones home seems to be almost an unalienable human right.

So why do I feel guilty?  Maybe because I wanted a night off?  That she would be snowed in due to icy roads?  Does that make me a bad person to want a night alone, do my chores and cook a nice meal?  Crank some tunes and hog the bed?

Maybe I just miss her too much, or maybe I am just too Canadian?  I don’t know.

In any case I have a shout out to send.  Happy Birthday Mom.  It was 3 years today that I started this adventure in blogging.  I wished you a Happy Birthday then and I will do it again.  We love you and wish you the best in all things.

Bobby and Darlene

Looking for Yummy Sushi? Try Yuki Sushi!

Yesterday I was flying solo and as you all know Bob cut loose on a Saturday afternoon means trying some place new. My wanderings took me downtown to the seedy part of town in search of high-test sushi. Yuki Sushi (pronounced you-key) located in the front of a skid row hotel, vagrants and addicts literally hanging outside the beer vendor around the corner from Yuki Sushi.

Yuki Sushi in the McLaren Hotel

Dining in the quarter made easy at Le Garage Café

As my long term readers will know we live in the French quarter of St Boniface, it is an area filled with the heady smells of fresh bread being baked in the morning and the sounds of ringing church bells keeping time in the afternoon.  It is also a place where you can expect to be greeted en Français before a word of English is spoken.

So to many an Anglophone, particularly those visiting from out of town, the French Quarter can be a confusing and intimidating place.  But rest assured travellers English is still readily spoken here even in the most hard-core French establishments.

Le Garage Café

Taco, Taco, Taco: El Torrito comida de la calle

As many of you already know I am a big fan of pointing my jeep in a random direction and exploring the street food options in my home city of Winnipeg.   This long weekend the direction was simple to choose, I headed downtown to the afternoon site of the El Torrito taco truck.

The Winnipeg street food scene has long been dominated by scores of smokie carts and burger trucks that have a strangle hold on the Canadian street food market.  But just last month I began hearing rumblings of something exciting and new, at first I thought people were talking about a trip down to Mexico or chatting about a Food Network program they had seen on taco vendors.  But they insisted there was indeed a taco truck in Winnipeg, and they even had a following on Twitter.

Intrigued to the point of obsession I made it my mission to find this elusive taco truck and taste its bill of fare.  Indeed El Torrito (@ElTorrito1) does have a large following on Twitter and a write-up in the local pages of Metro.

El Torrito comida de la calle

When I came upon the truck at its downtown lunchtime location, I could smell and hear the difference from across Portage Avenue.  The aromas of savoury meats being grilled and the pumping music from a boom box had a small crowd wondering what this apparition was, unaccustomed to having a Mexican option the crowd watched as I bravely strode up to the front window.

Immediately a friendly face appeared from inside and offered me the daily El Grandé  special.  Three tacos (beef or chicken) and an authentic chorizo dog with chips and drink for $10.  How could I say no to that?

As I ordered the cook and co-owner Ian Bowman smiled at my enthusiasm and shouted over the music how hot I wanted my tacos.  I replied “hot, but don’t make my face melt off.”  He laughed and said with a sly grin, “but I like to make faces melt!”

Simple and authentic taco goodness

The tacos themselves are based on traditional Mexican street food, if you’re looking for hard-shelled tacos covered in cheese and cliché then you’ve come to the wrong truck my friend.  Simple is the name of the game here, and fresh is how they taste.  Hot grilled meat, some salsa verdé, tomato and a hit of cilantro wrapped up in a warm tortilla is what you get.  A lime on the side and some chili sauce for heat makes for simple street taco perfection.

The chorizo dog was also very good, a mild pork sausage also served with salsa verdé, onions and tomato was a welcome break from the smokie sausages that Winnipeggers are accustomed to.

Overall my first impressions of El Torrito were good although the tacos seem a bit small and not overly laden with meat, by local standards they are still a bargain at 3 for 5 dollars.  The condiments are fresh and the service is enthusiastic, more than once I saw the cook poking his head out to see if I was enjoying my lunch.

So if you’re in need of a change look the taco truck up on twitter (@ElTorrito1) and head down for a bit of spice this summer.