The Agony and the Ecstasy

I haven't undertaken a project the scope of painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling or anything. Don't worry, I'll be sure to complain about a big project if one comes up. This title just keeps popping into my head because
A) Assorted, illogical things are always sprouting up up there.
B) I keep thinking about how everything has positive and negative points
C) Overdramatization with titles is the way I live my life.

The positive and negative isn't supposed to sound depressing. If you think of it a certain way it can be rather comforting. No matter what you do there will be some bright spots, and no matter how much little things might be bumming you out, there will be little things that bum you out in anything (I'm not sure if that comes of the way I mean it too, but I think it's supposed to be a relief).

I keep thinking about how much I love Mexico (happy), but I'm probably not going to stay forever (sad). But then I also think, when I go back to the U. S., I'll get to see my family much more often (happy, fun), but then there will be winter (sad, gross). I might go back to school (interesting, exciting) and I might go back to school (homework, gross).

This title seems very applicable to most foods as well. It seems that often there is an inverse relationship of agony and ecstasy. Taste goes up , health goes down or health goes up, taste goes down. I know this isn't true of many, many things--I love the s**** out of lots of healthy things, but I also enjoy a giant pile of animal products that have been cooked on diner griddles in the old fat remnants of other animal products and then topped with cheese.

The agony isn't just related to thoughts of "oh, this is so bad for me." Nah. It's generally that it feels bad for me as my system struggles to digest it. For example, I had the unfortunate realization, when I was home over Christmas, that my sturdy Midwestern frame with generations of dairy-farm blood flowing in its veins has come to the inconceivable conclusion that it cannot handle cheese very well. Unfortunately, my whole family smelled this realization as well, because Christmas is not a time when I'm going to sit back and not eat pound upon pound of cheese.

Man, I could go on and on about the pain I've inflicted upon myself in my ecstatic consumptions. However, I'll just leave you with my most recent edible example of food's duality. Some pictures are worth 1000 words--this one is worth approximately 3000 calories. Aaah the glory.

It isn't easy to tell exactly what the slop is so I'll give you the breakdown.

Step 1: Boiled potatoes, cut into wedges are the foundation for this monstrosity

Step 2: Add a heaping mound of guacomole--this batch was simply avocados, tomatoes, garlic, and a green habanero salsa.

Step 3: Fry bacon. Add to life-shortening mound.

Step 4: Fry egg in bacon grease. I wanted the egg to be over-easy, but you would be surprised how difficult that is when you are trying to flip it with a butter knife. Ahh well, toss it on the pile.

Step 5: Finish with Valentina and freshly ground pepper.

Hopefully your ecstasy at this ridiculous dish outweighs the agony. My stomach felt a little over stretched and resentful the next day (it should've been thankful I didn't have cheese), but thus is life--plus, I'm still getting some residual ecstasy from the memories. Also, I have tagged this as "breakfast", because of the egg, potato, and bacon combo, but I don't know if I would try to live through a whole day after eating this. Mmmm. Enjoy.

Mountain Breaktrekking

The past two weeks I have been wallowing in the glories of breakfast for dinner. Eating hotcakes at the cemetery lit my fuse, and I've been churning out breakfast for dinner fairly often since. I get home from work after dark, I'm tired, I'm fairly ravenous, and breakfast at dinner time is the only thing more relaxing than having a masseuse waiting for you (or so I tell myself until I can find a masseuse to live in my apartment and wait for me). If you have eggs, potatoes, and a few staples, a delicious meal is in store for you. A thousand different possibilities await. I usually bounce between a garbagey scramble of eggs, potatoes, and whatever random goodies I have in my fridge, or soft-boiled eggs with fried potatoes on the side. Sometimes when I feel ambitious I may throw in a serving of those cornmeal hotcakes.
So in all my breakfast worship, I decided it would be nice to have a delicious breakfast in the morning (wild, I know). My schedule and propensity to sleep until the last minute make this a rarity, so last Sunday I decided to think of a special place to perpetuate my feverish consumption of breakfasty goodness.
San José del Pacifico is a small town in the mountains about an hour from Miahuatlán. It is a famous backpacker spot, because of its beautiful perch, maybe, because of its reputation as The spot for magic mushrooms, definitely. In my mind, however, it is the spot where a few weeks ago Matthew had an incredible breakfast at Comedor de Yazmin. Unfortunately, I had eaten just before heading up the mountain. I did have a taste of the deliciously simple eggs, rice, beans, and tortillas, and have been planning my ravenous return ever since.
San José del Pacifico

Sunday was the day. Matthew and I hopped on a camioneta, rode up the mountain, and disembarked, empty vessels waiting to be filled. We walked down the main road, took in the view, and walked up to a closed restaurant. YAZMIN!!!!
We found another restaurant and had a good breakfast, but it didn't satisfy me the way I imagined Comedor de Yazmin would have. So after hiking around and returning to Mia, I resorted to yet another dinner of eggs and potatoes. This time with rice and beans. Mmmm. I sort of feel foolish putting up a recipe that involves eggs and potatoes, but I will anway, just in case it gives you some kind of idea. This is my take on huevos a la mexicana, I've never seen them here with potatoes, but potatoes are so good! You will often get a side of rice, but I don't believe you can overstarch a breakfast, so do it all if you like.

Huevos a la Mexicana a la Margee

5 Tbsp olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 jalapeños, sliced
3 medium potatoes, cubed
6 eggs
1 Tbsp milk
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 can black beans
corn tortillas
Salt

Heat olive oil in medium skillet over low heat. Add garlic, onion, and jalapeños (add as many as spiciness dictates and include seeds), sauté for 2 minutes. Add potatoes and raise heat to medium. Cook potatoes until tender and golden or to your desired crispiness. You may need to add more oil as they cook, but don't overdo it, because the eggs will go in the same skillet. Crack eggs in a bowl and use a fork to whisk with the milk. Add tomatoes to eggs. When potatoes are finished, turn burner to low and pour egg mixture over potatoes. Flip mixture as needed to cook evenly. Rinse black beans and warm in separate saucepan. In a separate skillet, warm corn tortillas over medium-high heat. Serve eggs with beans and tortillas on the side. Salt as desired. Serve with salsa and Valentina. Eat. Go hiking.