Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog
Follow the Culinary Ruminations of New Mexico's Sesquipedalian Sybarite. 1,302 Restaurant Reviews, More Than 13,100 Visitor Comments…And Counting!
Molcajetes have become so commonplace on many a Mexican restaurant’s decor that we sometimes forget molcajetes are the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle…that they have both form and function. As we gawk in admiration at the symmetry and fine craftsmanship of a well-made molcajete, we don’t always reflect on the fact that…
A survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by French’s Mustard in celebration of National Sandwich Day (November 3, 2021) revealed that 66-percent of Americans put between three and six condiments on their sandwiches, 44-percent of respondents believe condiments belong on both buns while 57-percent believe the most important part of a sandwich is the meat. French’s…
There’s a scene in the 2006 lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling) comedy film Nacho Libre in which Nacho’s ectomorphic tag team partner Esqueleto (“the skeleton”) orders two grilled, buttered and chile-dusted elotes (corn-on-the-cob) from a street vendor. Esqueleto graciously attempts to hand one to Nacho who rebuffs the offer, knocks the elotes to the ground…
Hypocrisy thy name is Gil. “For someone who whined so much about a one-hour (each way) commute to work, you’re willing to drive a hundred miles for lunch” my Kim lamented. Our lunch destination wasn’t nearly a hundred miles away, but when you’re hungry it probably seems that way. It would have seemed even further…
One syllable, one word, one simple expression…yet there probably is no more expressive interjection, heart-rending cry or honest exclamation in the Spanish language than the simple word “Ay.” This–one of the most diminutive among all words–can say and mean so much. Depending on the context, “Ay” is used to express such emotions as: happiness: think…
“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air” ~Hotel California, The Eagles in 1977, when the Eagles’ immortal rock anthem Hotel California was released as a single, most radio hits clocked in at about three minutes. Three minutes is just about as long as…
Perhaps because I was away from the Land of Enchantment for much of my Air Force career, one of my favorite bloggers has long been Lisa Fain, the James Beard award-winning “Homesick Texan.” Like me, Lisa longed for home during the two decades she lived in New York City. Like me, Lisa returned to…
The cultural and culinary histories of Arizona and Mexico are interlocked, transcending the geographical borders that separate them. In fact, until only 1822, what is now the state of Arizona was still a part of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands to reason, therefore, that Arizona’s cuisine of would be largely (but by no…
Such advanced human traits as complex symbolic expression, art as an aesthetic visual form and elaborate cultural diversity emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years or so. That’s more than four-million years after humans gained the ability to walk on two legs. By comparison, the ubiquitous All-American burger has evolved in the blink of time. Most culinary historians…
Imagine Marty McPlata, a 17 year old Rio Rancho High School student who gets transported back in time seven years to 2015. With the help of his mad scientist friend Bill Resnikoff, he makes his way back to the future to the year from which he left–2022. Significant changes and burgeoning growth have transpired in…
My environmentally-conscious, Prius-driving friend Bruce “Sr. Plata” Silver has a much smaller carbon footprint than that carbon credit-trading hypocrite Al Gore. No environmental activist would ever condemn Sr. Plata for fouling the air and water with a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, he leaves large “al carbon fingerprints,” the finger-licking kind you get…
