me gusta mi taco

I have a food ritual when I fly north.

No matter whether I arrive in Redmond on an afternoon flight or at midnight, I ask my brother to stop at Taco Bell to buy a hard taco.

I am not particularly fond of Taco Bell's food. But nothing says American food like a hard taco.

On Saturday I will be flying north for family business. After spending a night in Los Angeles, I should be in Oregon around noon on Sunday.

But on this trip north, I may skip the Taco Bell ritual -- because I indulged in a tastier version at noon. When I was at Hawaii this week, I noticed a packet of Taco Bell taco seasoning.

Some of you will remember the taco kits we used to buy when we were kids. I think the brand was Old El Paso -- or maybe Rosarita. It is too long ago for me to be certain. The kits came with taco shells, seasoning to be added to ground beef, and a can of extremely mild "hot" sauce.

Alex at Hawaii has sold hard taco shells for years. I usually just laugh at the package. After all, sending taco ingredients to Mexico is the epitome of shipping coals to Newcastle.

But something urged me to buy the shells and taco seasoning. Maybe it was out of some urge to chase the dragon of nostalgia knowing full well that the dragon always eludes capture in the end.

I cooked up some ground beef with serrano and added the seasoning while I warmed the taco shells, and grated a measure of extra sharp Tillamook cheese and sliced some tomatoes, onion, and lettuce. As a topper, I turned crema fresca into sour cream with fresh lemon juice. Because the meat was a bit bland -- even with the seasoning packet -- I added a few twists of my own making.

You can see the result. What you cannot do is taste them. For one good reason. I wolfed down both of them.

I generally am not humble about the food I cook. And there is no reason to alter that self-assessment today. The tacos were good. Certainly better than Taco Bell's. But I will be the first to admit that standard is not very high.

Maybe I wanted the hard tacos as something of a transition back to The States. It has been four months since I have been in an airplane. That is a record for me. At least, during my dozen years of living in Mexico.

I will keep you posted on how the travel world has changed since then.

At this point, I have no idea how long I will be away from Mexico. What I do know,though, is visiting Taco Bells will remind me that I have not yet returned home.