cooking attempt #1: failed

not #1 as in the first time ever. #1 as in the first time from this batch of groceries. we spent close to $90 on groceries last night. in our household, that's unheard of. even when we buy alcohol, we rarely spend even 2/3 of last night's tab. i got all crazy before we went, pulled like 5 recipes to cook during the week and over the weekend so we'd have enough food for a week or so, and wrote an ingredient list out. i even wrote separate lists for each grocery store section so the shopping would be faster, no less. crazy, i tell you.

so we made a taco ring. google it, as i'm not linking to no stinkin' recipes. i substituted some al pastor we had in our freezer, courtesy of a local carniceria, for the ground beef + taco seasoning (bleh...we both grew up in southern california and much prefer carne asada + friends). the bear doesn't love olives, so i subbed tomatoes for that.

it looked pretty cool. we sliced up a few pieces. the dough on the bottom was really...doughy. baked on the outside, raw on the inside. only about 1/4 of the pastry of each "slice" was edible. the raw dough also was nearly impossible to separate from the refried beans. we choked it down anyway. as the bear said, "it's edible. it's still food." thanks. (really, he teased but then gave me a sincere A for effort.)

then i realized we probably wouldn't have liked this dish, even it had turned out properly. all the fillings just work better with tortillas than they do with pastry. before this experiment, i thought pastry could make anything better. apparently not. i also somehow forgot that pillsbury's crescent rolls are always too salty/sweet/weird tasting to me, too. [oops, passive voice. not rewriting!] i quickly remembered tonight.

as winnie gchatted me, "maybe you should have fried it." too bad our deep fryer is still sitting brand spankin' new in its box. it's ok. i'd rather reserve its virgin voyage for something yummier like potatoes or mandoo (dumplings/potstickers/gyoza/wonton wrapped suckas that can't be beat when deep fried), anyway. or chocolate. or peppermint jojos (so sad my last box is done). or gravy. mmm...

anyway, back to mr. taco ring. he is not our friend. we scooped his insides out and will be turning his guts into nacho topping for dinner tomorrow night. thank goodness for the big bag of mission tortilla chips we always have on hand. we will also be smothering said guts with lots and lots of cheese. lots.

oh yes, and i had a fabulous weekend (despite my stomach bug) that i should blog about. maybe during this coming weekend. yay for being a procrasti-tater!