Way South of the Border - Part Uno

I am a Mexican food snob. I love Mexican food. My husband loves Mexican food. Let me be more specific. We love Tex-Mex, not to be confused with authentic Mexican food. He is from Texas. I lived in Texas for 10 years. Our long-time home, Colorado even had Tex-Mex. It just kind of gets in your blood. Authentic Mexican food is fine and dandy, but we were never really satisfied with the southern California fare. After more than a few failed attempts, we completely gave up searching. Del Taco became our sole Mexican destination.

It's funny how one's perspective can suddenly change.

Now that we live way south of the border, the cravings for super spicy salsa, copious amounts of grated cheddar cheese and sour cream, jalapenos, tacos and enchiladas (even the bad ones) have come flooding back. This being a Latin American country, you'd think there might be a fair amount of that kind of stuff here. You'd be wrong. Not even a Taco Bell (I salivate at the thought.)

I could prepare Mexican food at home. The nearby Tienda Inglesa has Old El Paso flour tortillas (with a hefty price tag.) They offer fresh and pickled jalapenos, ground beef, taco sauce, cheese, avocados and limes. All of the ingredients are available (short of sour cream, which I now understand you can make from scratch.)

I know how to cook and sometimes enjoy it. I consider myself to be respectable in the culinary arts. But you see, I'm at a slight disadvantage. Our current kitchen (and I use the term loosely) takes up about one square meter of our 60 square meter apartment. It's not someplace I want to spend a great deal of my time. Imagine two tall people with a small dog underfoot, crammed into a closet with a toy stove and no counter space. That gives you an idea of what cooking at home is like.


Thus began our journey. The search for Mexican food in Montevideo. Any Mexican food--good or bad--we really didn't care. We were no longer Tex-Mex elitists. We had become sniveling, whimpering junkies looking for our next fix. Our cravings were driving us to the brink of despair. Luckily we recalled hearing that two Mexican restaurants actually do exist in Montevideo. But alas, in the fog of our first few months in the city, we could not remember the names or the locations.

But at least we knew there was hope. To be continued...