Welcome to 2018.
There will be no fucken wall, my friends. In the future, there will be a restoration of DACA, and it will be expanded to adults as well. We will live in solidarity with our Mexican sisters and brothers. We will earn their respect by apologizing for this abberation. We will improve our friendship with them by being good people, and encouraging our children to learn how to speak Spanish, just as their families encourage their children to learn to speak English. That is my New Year’s resolution. I am going to improve my Spanish, and I am going put my young boys in a position to do the same.
I believe in this idea. I believe that we would all be better off being able to speak more than one language. And in this country, it is Spanish that will improve us, culturally, psychologically, emotionally, all of it.
So to start the New Year, go celebrate Mexican culture at Maize, where Armando and his tireless team of crazies and lovelies are serving up one of the best hangover cures known to mankind: menudo.
Menudo is a yummy soup made from beef tripe in a red chili based broth, served with hominy, seasoned with onions, lime, cilantro, and oregano. It’s served with fresh tortillas for dunking and scooping up that goodness.
Also on the menu is pozole puerco (a pork stew), birria (a goat stew) and chilaquiles (which needs no introduction, I hope). Both of the are amazing, of course, but for today, the dish I am after is menudo.
It is a mildly revolutionary act for gringos like me to not only eat it, but to embrace it, and all that it represents.
And that is good enough for today. ¡Feliz año nuevo!