Latino/Hispanic Ultimate Catch All Thread of Culture, Language, Food, Travel and Identity (gringos welcome)

[South Austin 52443]

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

7 minutes ago, HouTex said:

Sincere question. Is Latino/hispanic a race or a country of origin thing? I had an uncle who was Cuban (pre-Castro) who was pure Spanish. He had the complexion of Sergio Garcia or Desi Arnez. I have several friends who are Mexican who look very white/Spanish. They could pass as Italian as well. Are they Latino/hispanic? And my contribution to the Latino part, I can make pretty mean tamale from scratch. So I have that going for me.

What Patricio just said above.  I guess the issue is some folks prefer to be identified with their country of origin or their ancestors and I understand this.  My Grandfather immigrated to the USA from ore WW I, and I’ve never heard my Greek side refer to themselves as Europeans.  Same with Italian and Spanish  families I know. 

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

4 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Spoiler

 

[tx 3 putt 76868]

I’m more Spanish than Mexican but only claim my Mexican blood !

[Helobious 9456]

15 minutes ago, HouTex said:

Sincere question. Is Latino/hispanic a race or a country of origin thing? I had an uncle who was Cuban (pre-Castro) who was pure Spanish. He had the complexion of Sergio Garcia or Desi Arnez. I have several friends who are Mexican who look very white/Spanish. They could pass as Italian as well. Are they Latino/hispanic? And my contribution to the Latino part, I can make pretty mean tamale from scratch. So I have that going for me.

It’s an ethnicity. You can be green-eyed and blonde and be hispanic or look like David Ortiz and be hispanic. Hispanic/latino are really interchangeable terms, but personal preference may vary. A dark Indio person from Mexico or a black Dominican MLB player would probably more readily identify with Latino, vs someone like me that looks white is probably more likely to prefer hispanic. I personally don’t have a preference but many do. Some country south Texas people may even prefer the term tejano, the homies out in california might like Chicano, etc. It all depends. But they’re all under the hispanic/latino umbrella.
 

But if you call me “latinx” I’ll find the nearest toddler and punch them in the mouth. Hate that term. 

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

10 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Spoiler

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Nueces River Rat

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Speaking on language proficiency, ethnicity and what not.

One summer I stayed up at UT and took a few classes. I forget the title of the class, but it was related to Mexican history. Maybe there was an ethnicity component. Dr. Romo taught it (I think he is the UTSA president now). Anyways, outside of the class one day I was talking to a girl in the class and I must have said something with a not so perfect accent and she made some comment to me that I am not Hispanic or something like that. I felt like shit. This was maybe the first or second time I experience reverse discrimination (albeit it was not something significant). I went home afterwards and that afternoon I get a call from her. I have no idea how she even got my number. She apologized profusely and said she was wrong. Not sure what made her feel bad.

[Helobious 9456]

17 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

This is the most Harlingen thing that’s ever been written on the internet.

Ha, my family’s story is far from unique down there that’s for sure. I also know a lot of people, even in my own family, that the American dream wasn’t so kind to. Still wouldn’t trade that upbringing for anything, lots of good people there & I’d raise my family there in a heartbeat. SA did have it beat in diversity though. HHS was probably 90/10 hispanic & white by the time I got there, it’s probably 95/5 nowadays. Hardly any blacks or Asians. I liked that my school in SA had way more types of kids & people from different backgrounds, and there’s a ton of value in that. You really miss out on that kind of thing living in the RGV.

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

7 minutes ago, Helobious said:

It’s an ethnicity. You can be green-eyed and blonde and be hispanic or look like David Ortiz and be hispanic. Hispanic/latino are really interchangeable terms, but personal preference may vary. A dark Indio person from Mexico or a black Dominican MLB player would probably more readily identify with Latino, vs someone like me that looks white is probably more likely to prefer hispanic. I personally don’t have a preference but many do. Some country south Texas people may even prefer the term tejano, the homies out in california might like Chicano, etc. It all depends. But they’re all under the hispanic/latino umbrella.
 

But if you call me “latinx” I’ll find the nearest toddler and punch them in the mouth. Hate that term. 

Tejano is very much used by those folks who had land grants or can trace their ancestors to when the Spanish ruled most of Texas.  Many of them were not friends of the Mexican Government when they ruled the land, hence joined the resistance.  

[Helobious 9456]

7 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Speaking on language proficiency, ethnicity and what not.

One summer I stayed up at UT and took a few classes. I forget the title of the class, but it was related to Mexican history. Maybe there was an ethnicity component. Dr. Romo taught it (I think he is the UTSA president now). Anyways, outside of the class one day I was talking to a girl in the class and I must have said something with a not so perfect accent and she made some comment to me that I am not Hispanic or something like that. I felt like shit. This was maybe the first or second time I experience reverse discrimination (albeit it was not something significant). I went home afterwards and that afternoon I get a call from her. I have no idea how she even got my number. She apologized profusely and said she was wrong. Not sure what made her feel bad.

That’s amazing you got an apology. The Mexican nationals I knew generally didn’t like us mexican-americans & our inferior Spanish skills haha. Some of them were nice though. But jesus all those fools had money. 

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

6 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Speaking on language proficiency, ethnicity and what not.

One summer I stayed up at UT and took a few classes. I forget the title of the class, but it was related to Mexican history. Maybe there was an ethnicity component. Dr. Romo taught it (I think he is the UTSA president now). Anyways, outside of the class one day I was talking to a girl in the class and I must have said something with a not so perfect accent and she made some comment to me that I am not Hispanic or something like that. I felt like shit. This was maybe the first or second time I experience reverse discrimination (albeit it was not something significant). I went home afterwards and that afternoon I get a call from her. I have no idea how she even got my number. She apologized profusely and said she was wrong. Not sure what made her feel bad.

Yea I don’t get that.  Some of my very Mexican fiends in the RGV back in our high school days could barely pass their Spanish classes where as some of the non Spanish speaking student who were either Anglo or so many generations removed to where English is all they spoke at home did better in Spanish class.   Really trying to learn Spanish in high school was a bitch to begin with for the simple reason the language on this side of the border involves a lot of made up words.  Tex Mex isn’t just food.  Lol

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

9 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Ha, my family’s story is far from unique down there that’s for sure. I also know a lot of people, even in my own family, that the American dream wasn’t so kind to. Still wouldn’t trade that upbringing for anything, lots of good people there & I’d raise my family there in a heartbeat. SA did have it beat in diversity though. HHS was probably 90/10 hispanic & white by the time I got there, it’s probably 95/5 nowadays. Hardly any blacks or Asians. I liked that my school in SA had way more types of kids & people from different backgrounds, and there’s a ton of value in that. You really miss out on that kind of thing living in the RGV.

Back in my day in the RGV, Harlingen High probably had the most diverse student body of any of the high schools down there. If you looked at their football roster, it had a number of blacks and several anglos.  This is was when the only multi high school ISD was McAllen and Brownsville.  I guess McAllen Memorial came in second with the diversity. 

[South Austin 52443]

White dude here, without much to contribute, other than my parents moved to Harlingen when my dad retired from the Marines and lived there from 1993-2010. I had already started college so never was a Harlingen resident, but spent the whole summer there after my sophomore year when I transferred to UT and visited often for holiday breaks and other weekend visits.  

Growing up on Marine Corps bases my whole life, I had a fair amount of diversity with my classmates and fellow brats. But I was never in the minority, until I got to Harlingen. I felt like an outsider, but at the same time I appreciated jumping into the deep end of Hispanic culture in Texas, something I probably wouldn’t have experienced if my parents had moved to a town like Austin.  And my parents – my dad is from Oregon and my mom from Minnesota – really embraced the community during their time down there.

[HenryJames 66035]

I bet you heard ‘tu madre es una puta’ a lot.

[HouTex 1866]

That’s amazing you got an apology. The Mexican nationals I knew generally didn’t like us mexican-americans & our inferior Spanish skills haha. Some of them were nice though. But jesus all those fools had money. 

It’s been said that there’s no one richer than a rich Mexican.

[RDCanecutter 26379]

19 hours ago, kingkoopa6 said:

My stepdad (far right) is Mexican Mexican from Guadalajara.

It amazes me that his entire family is Wedo..

all white with colored eyes. His parents migrated to Los Angeles sometime in the 50s

I went on this jag one day in Guadalajara where seemed like everybody I saw-- bus driver, store clerk, restaurant cook-- had blue or green eyes and red or blond hair. Maybe I was in your stepdad's old neighborhood.

[Mez2 4023]

checking in - 100% mexican-american. my mom's family was raised in Palacios, but she was born in Mission. Both my grandparents were born in Mexican and eventually immigrated to Texas. Didn't know my grandfather left my grandmother in Mexican after they were married until he had enough money to send her and bring her over to Texas, eventually settling in Palacios. Dad was born in Alice with his parents also born in mexico before eventually settling down in mexico.

most posters on here who know me call me the whitest mexican they know - I grew up in Sugar Land, and didn't really speak much spanish growing up, really having no desire to learn it. call it stupid, but growing up where I did, for some reason, I felt ashamed of being a "mexican". I tried to shy away from it, especially when I was younger.  This really bothered me as I grew up in that all my grandparents only really spoke spanish and I had very little, to limited conversations with them and that sucks as I look back. My wife (also 100% mexican) had grandparents who spoke both english and spanish and I had more conversations with them than I did my own and that's one thing I regret. Now, I embrace everything about it and and want both my boys to be proud of their mexican heritage and accept it and not give a fuck what others thing. I don't really know the point of this post but just a little about me.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

checking in - 100% mexican-american. my mom's family was raised in Palacios, but she was born in Mission. Both my grandparents were born in Mexican and eventually immigrated to Texas. Didn't know my grandfather left my grandmother in Mexican after they were married until he had enough money to send her and bring her over to Texas, eventually settling in Palacios. Dad was born in Alice with his parents also born in mexico before eventually settling down in mexico.
most posters on here who know me call me the whitest mexican they know - I grew up in Sugar Land, and didn't really speak much spanish growing up, really having no desire to learn it. call it stupid, but growing up where I did, for some reason, I felt ashamed of being a "mexican". I tried to shy away from it, especially when I was younger.  This really bothered me as I grew up in that all my grandparents only really spoke spanish and I had very little, to limited conversations with them and that sucks as I look back. My wife (also 100% mexican) had grandparents who spoke both english and spanish and I had more conversations with them than I did my own and that's one thing I regret. Now, I embrace everything about it and and want both my boys to be proud of their mexican heritage and accept it and not give a fuck what others thing. I don't really know the point of this post but just a little about me.

I grew up in Cypress. There were a handful of Latinos, obviously mostly Mexican descent at my high school. My father told me he didn’t make a real effort to teach us Spanish so that we would fit in more. But also he admits it was tough to do as my mom wasn’t fluent and stayed home with us. Regardless it sucks, and like I said up thread I gave him so much shut about it. But I understand better now trying to teach my own kids Portuguese.

My mom didn’t take shit though. I recall one incident when my brothers and I were kids and some bitch made bitch called my older brother a wet back. My mom went out into the street and read the riot act to that punk. Didn’t happen (to our faces at least) again.

[RollLeft 5040]

Others have started with origins so I guess I'll start there also.

I'm fortunate that the Catholics were pretty good at documenting baptisms and marriages.  Because of them I know the name of every direct ascendant starting with my great grandfather to the time my family arrived in what we now know as Saltillo, Mexico in the 1580's.  Amazingly all the same surname, all the way up.    

Recently I was in Boston taking in the sites and history.  Its remarkable to read about the thirteen colonies being formed in 1607, Paul Revere riding in 1734 and the United States declaring Independence in 1776.  It reminded me that Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1810 and then Texas from Mexico in 1836.  And as much as I embrace all of that history as part of my heritage, in this land of ours, my personal family history pre-dates it all. So I am unsure what generation Texan some of you would classify me, but history says I was Texas before Texas was cool. And that is just one side of the family.  The other has the Apache side.  If only they didn't drink so damn much and wrote shit down on the Big Apache notebooks they fkn invented.  But i digress...

I don't claim any one of Spanish, Mestizo, Apache, Mexican, American or Texan singularly as my heritage.  I claim them all.  Each of my grandfathers married from all the aforementioned groups.  So, to me, one heritage isn't greater than the other and all have their flaws as well as their positives.  Simply more reasons to throw a fiesta. 

I'm a pragmatist in that I plan for the worst and hope for the best.  So my hope for this and the next generations is that we choose to embrace all cultures, groups and languages that unite and don't divide.  To little time to not try and enjoy them all.  The world is big enough for us all.      

I'm sure some of you have had similar experiences with your family fighting on both sides of a war, like the civil.  I had family, brothers, who fought with Santa Anna until one didn't.  As many of you know Santa Anna was a real dick.  He betrayed one of my uncles and therefore his brother abandoned SA and sought out Fannin then Houston.  Long story short little bro was there the day Santa Anna was captured.   I guess you can say family matters in our clan.   

What flag should my family fly?  What language should my family speak? Whichever they fkn want, they've earned that right. To this day our beloved Texas honors/flies six flags over Texas.  That doesn't diminish loyalty to our state or the U.S. nor does speaking a language other than English.  Pride in monolingualism is an ignorance I've never understood.  Though my experience of others would say otherwise.

So whatever your background, culture or language you speak, I am open to you and welcome you.  Especially my fellow Latinos, including @Ldogg53 and his Argentinian peeps.  However, I do take exception to you Puerto Ricans, I don't understand you mocho/pocho motherfuckers (jk).  Oh yeah and okies, smell like cabbage, small hands, ewww.  

Tl;dr My history is boring bring on the food & music talk.  

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by RollLeft

[RDCanecutter 26379]

Me I grew up in a Deep South town way back when there were only two races in the world, by mutual agreement of everybody: Black, and Not-Black, aka White. Basically it came down to hair type more than skin tone: Afro + tan = Black, wavy hair + tan = White. Anyway, looking back I had some Hispanic classmates, but it was as far outside my consciousness as what their blood-types might be. They were just White. Except for that dude with the Afro.

So I never really heard Spanish spoken in real life. I was really interested in languages, but not in Spanish. Why? Because my friends who took it did so because they said it was easy. They didn't want to speak it, they wanted to sing little kid songs, get an easy A, and then forget it. I was like hell with that. Same friends said French was "too hard," so I took that because wrench wasn't an option. Plus, I was artsy and didn't like to shower.

Side note: French is pretty easy for an English speaker, and Spanish is hard if you do it right, but y'all already know that.

So I get to go to college, and I figure out you can take a course in any of the big-name languages. I start picking them up like Pokemon critters. I eventually try Spanish, and BAM, something clicks. I was like a pet otter hitting a lake. My first teachers were either Spanish or spent lots of time there, so that's what I learned. Worked a lot to raise money to go study in Madrid, then while visiting friends in NYC I spent half my cash going out with a Puerto Rican girl I met there. Arrived in Spain almost broke, but hustled doing caricatures around the dorm as well as in the streets. Fucking sucks as a living but it will cure shyness. I got to where I was hollering in Spanish like a fishmonger so somebody would pay me a few hundred pesetas for a sketch. Then they'd tell me all these secret hole-in-the-wall hangouts where you could get a beer and a sandwich for less than a dollar.

I had that accent down back then, now I can barely understand it.

So I came back home half-starved, able to jabber in madrileño slang, and somehow I'd gotten on the Tec de Monterrey mailing list. They wanted me to finish up there. I should have done it. I had no reason not to other than bitch-assedness. But I didn't.

Life happened, and I almost forgot how to speak Spanish. Then one day in a National Guard school, Lt. Colón from Puerto Rico figures out I knew a little. He sticks an Op Order in front of me and has me translate it for him, I get stuck, he helps me, I get it mostly done. At like, that exact moment, like cranking an abandoned car found in a barn, my Spanish came back to life.

Fast forward years, and those old letters from the Tec de Monterrey still haunt me. Managed to get down to Mexico a few times, different places. Then I worked for Aggroid and the only people I knew who kept me sane were Mexicans and this one cool lesbian from Austin who I guess was as lost as I was. I started hanging out at all the Mexican parties, and they encouraged me to look southward as I tried to make a radio from coconuts so I could escape my shipwreck on College Station Island.

I found a job in Colima teaching French (that hard language) and English, and about 5 days after leaving Aggy, I was teaching there at their Tec de Monterrey campus. Best move ever.

tldr: some dude jabbering.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I reject your inclusion of Argentines. Especially Ldogg.

[Brisketexan 105057]

4 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

Tl;dr History is boring bring on the food & music talk. 

Interestingly enough, I was just having this conversation with some folks in our office about how the cultural anthropology of food -- particularly "barbecue" -- is testimony to the richness of our culture right here in Texas.

Hispanic culture brings the pachanga, barbacoa, and cabrito.

East Texas african-american culture brings pork ribs and sweet sauce.

Centex German culture brings what we know as central Texas style -- offset smoker, using oak, heavy on brisket and central european sausage recipes.

W. Texas and S. Texas bring the cowboy open pit barbecue.

And that's just Texas.  The rest of the US -- you've got Carolina stuff, Memphis stuff.  And they all bring their own thing to the table.

I'm happy to live in a country that can pride itself on brisket AND pulled pork; it doesn't need to focus on "brisket is BETTER than pulled pork," or vice-versa.  Same with all of the cultures we get via our proximity to the border.  Don't tell me that "real mexican tortillas are CORN!"  Because my real-ass mexican family -- northern mexican ranchers -- ate almost exclusively flour.  But if you go to Chiapas, damn right it's corn.  Neither is better or worse -- they are different in context, and tell a story of a particular place and its people.

You want black, white, and brown people to get along?  Shit.  I want the table to have both flour and corn tortillas.  I want it to have barbacoa, brisket, and pulled pork.  Sweet sauce, hot sauce, and no sauce.  

The best dogs are mutts, not purebreds.

[Texas St. Armadillos 1381]

I enjoy making various kinds of salsa.  I recently was looking at a salsa roja recipe that after blending the ingredients, they would fry the salsa in a pot with a couple tbsp of oil, then bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Then chill and serve.

Is this a common practice to fry in oil and simmer?  Just for red sauce?

[RollLeft 5040]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Interestingly enough, I was just having this conversation with some folks in our office about how the cultural anthropology of food -- particularly "barbecue" -- is testimony to the richness of our culture right here in Texas.

Hispanic culture brings the pachanga, barbacoa, and cabrito.

East Texas african-american culture brings pork ribs and sweet sauce.

Centex German culture brings what we know as central Texas style -- offset smoker, using oak, heavy on brisket and central european sausage recipes.

W. Texas and S. Texas bring the cowboy open pit barbecue.

And that's just Texas.  The rest of the US -- you've got Carolina stuff, Memphis stuff.  And they all bring their own thing to the table.

I'm happy to live in a country that can pride itself on brisket AND pulled pork; it doesn't need to focus on "brisket is BETTER than pulled pork," or vice-versa.  Same with all of the cultures we get via our proximity to the border.  Don't tell me that "real mexican tortillas are CORN!"  Because my real-ass mexican family -- northern mexican ranchers -- ate almost exclusively flour.  But if you go to Chiapas, damn right it's corn.  Neither is better or worse -- they are different in context, and tell a story of a particular place and its people.

You want black, white, and brown people to get along?  Shit.  I want the table to have both flour and corn tortillas.  I want it to have barbacoa, brisket, and pulled pork.  Sweet sauce, hot sauce, and no sauce.  

The best dogs are mutts, not purebreds.

#truth

Why not both?  

Mexico is a big place and very, very regional. Not just in culture but food.  I was there a few weeks back and took some of my staff out to eat.  Half of them have never tasted Cabrito.  I get its an acquired taste like lamb but you're MEXICAN!  From the north even.  WTF? 

They've had Chili's though.  Hand to forehead!

 

[Brisketexan 105057]

1 minute ago, RollLeft said:

Mexico is a big place and very, very regional. Not just in culture but food. 

Yep.  Which is why I'm not a superfan of Diana Kennedy* and her acolytes, who often insist that central mexican/Oaxacan mexican food (moles and such) is the only TRUE mexican cooking, and particularly disdain northern mexican cooking, and PARTICULARLY as it morphs into tex-mex.  No, goddamit, ALL of the styles are "real Mexican," including mexicans of the borderlands, which is a country and culture of its own in many ways.

* Yes, I know that she is more open-minded about regional variations within Mexico than this, but her devotees often are not, and she herself is often "purist" to the point of priggishness.  Which fits, as she's a limey.

[RDCanecutter 26379]

1 minute ago, RollLeft said:

Mexico is a big place and very, very regional. Not just in culture but food. 

It's big but feels even bigger. 20 miles in Mexico is like 100 in most of the US. They have mountain ranges like we have county lines.

Down where I lived they had all kinds of cheese and French-style bread. Our French teacher from France thought the French Bread was good.

[Brisketexan 105057]

4 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

It's big but feels even bigger. 20 miles in Mexico is like 100 in most of the US. They have mountain ranges like we have county lines.

Down where I lived they had all kinds of cheese and French-style bread. Our French teacher from France thought the French Bread was good.

Gracias, Maximillian!

[RollLeft 5040]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  Which is why I'm not a superfan of Diana Kennedy* and her acolytes, who often insist that central mexican/Oaxacan mexican food (moles and such) is the only TRUE mexican cooking, and particularly disdain northern mexican cooking, and PARTICULARLY as it morphs into tex-mex.  No, goddamit, ALL of the styles are "real Mexican," including mexicans of the borderlands, which is a country and culture of its own in many ways.

* Yes, I know that she is more open-minded about regional variations within Mexico than this, but her devotees often are not, and she herself is often "purist" to the point of priggishness.  Which fits, as she's a limey.

Unless i've missed something Bayless does a pretty good job of staying away from defining "real Mexican".  He could school me on many things.  Respect to that man.  Hell, fire and brimstone to his brother.   

[RDCanecutter 26379]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

Gracias, Maximillian!

Hey, he only showed up after some Mexicans asked him to.  #ThingsTheyForgetToMention

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

19 hours ago, South Austin said:

White dude here, without much to contribute, other than my parents moved to Harlingen when my dad retired from the Marines and lived there from 1993-2010. I had already started college so never was a Harlingen resident, but spent the whole summer there after my sophomore year when I transferred to UT and visited often for holiday breaks and other weekend visits.  

Growing up on Marine Corps bases my whole life, I had a fair amount of diversity with my classmates and fellow brats. But I was never in the minority, until I got to Harlingen. I felt like an outsider, but at the same time I appreciated jumping into the deep end of Hispanic culture in Texas, something I probably wouldn’t have experienced if my parents had moved to a town like Austin.  And my parents – my dad is from Oregon and my mom from Minnesota – really embraced the community during their time down there.

Did your Dad have anything to do with MMA (Marine Military Academy) in Harlingen?  Just asking because many retired Leathernecks end up down there teaching or being an administrator at that prep school,

[RDCanecutter 26379]

1 minute ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Did your Dad have anything to do with MMA (Marine Military Academy) in Harlingen?  Just asking because many retired Leathernecks end up down there teaching or being an administrator at that prep school,

When my son was slacking in HS, I asked MMA to send him a catalog.

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

1 minute ago, RDCanecutter said:

When my son was slacking in HS, I asked MMA to send him a catalog.

LOL... I had a little talk with my now 23 and 20 year old sons back in their middle school days about the military  boarding school  that wasn't too far from where I grew up...Told them if you give me crap from this point on through high school, this is Option B.  

 

[RollLeft 5040]

24 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

...ALL of the styles are "real Mexican," including mexicans of the borderlands, which is a country and culture of its own in many ways.

The northern border for example.  "Que pajo PIPE!" The first time i heard that phrase i was like wtf ?  What did he just say?  And not just what he said, how he said it.  It was a mix of chicano/texican.  Dudes from "the valley" are another breed of hispanic.  And why is it called the valley when it isn't a fkn VALLEY?    (Still not mad those dudes get all the latino scholarships and not us dudes from central TX, nope not bitter at all.)

Edited June 29, 2021 by RollLeft

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

18 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

It's big but feels even bigger. 20 miles in Mexico is like 100 in most of the US. They have mountain ranges like we have county lines.

Down where I lived they had all kinds of cheese and French-style bread. Our French teacher from France thought the French Bread was good.

Well... the way some of those highways are marked down there.  20 Miles might indeed be 100.

[RollLeft 5040]

My brown peeps from San Antone please explain to me the origin of the puffy taco.  I'll hang up and listen.  

[Brisketexan 105057]

1 minute ago, RollLeft said:

My brown peeps from San Antone please explain to me the origin of the puffy taco.  I'll hang up and listen.  

People in SA wanted a taco that looked like their women.

I keed, I keed.

[hookemATL 11701]

more food pics...plz

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

1 minute ago, RollLeft said:

The northern border for example.  "Que pajo PIPE!" The first time i heard that i was like wtf ?  What did he just say.  And not just what he said, how he said it.  It was a mix of chicano/texican.  Dudes from "the valley" are another breed of hispanic.  And why is it called the valley when it isn't a fkn VALLEY?    (Still not mad those dudes get all the latino scholarships and not us dudes from central TX, nope not bitter at all.)

Yep it's confusing to outsiders as to why "The Valley" is called the a Valley when it's not even close to a technical definition of a valley.  The closest Mountain range is the Sierra Madre (Monterrey)  to the west and southwest which on a crystal clear day, you can Cerro de la Silla from Falcon Lake on the US side.   To the North is Coastal plains and desert and to the the due south it's much the same for a couple of hundred miles and of course to the east is the GOM.    Technically it's a river delta and back before the Rio Grande was controlled with dams and other diversion devices, the Rio Grande changed courses many times and the old River beds are still there other wise known as Rasacas which you start seeing around the Harlingen area as you progress towards Brownsville.    The Valley term was primarily used to lure investors and other money down to the area post Civil War into the 20th Century  and it worked for the most part as it brought agricultural infrastructure in that is still used today.  Many of the towns are named after some of those people or have streets, schools or other things named after them.  

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

8 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

People in SA wanted a taco that looked like their women.

I keed, I keed.

Charles Barkley???  Is that you?

[RollLeft 5040]

48 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Me I grew up in a Deep South town way back when there were only two races in the world, by mutual agreement of everybody: Black, and Not-Black, aka White. Basically it came down to hair type more than skin tone: Afro + tan = Black, wavy hair + tan = White. Anyway, looking back I had some Hispanic classmates, but it was as far outside my consciousness as what their blood-types might be. They were just White. Except for that dude with the Afro....

I found a job in Colima teaching French (that hard language) and English, and about 5 days after leaving Aggy, I was teaching there at their Tec de Monterrey campus. Best move ever.

 

I placed out of all my Spanish classes at UT but I still took some advanced courses including Quixote.  The best prof I had was Japanese.  

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

10 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

My brown peeps from San Antone please explain to me the origin of the puffy taco.  I'll hang up and listen.  

That's one of those Tex Mex Creations... Just like Fajitas.  

[RollLeft 5040]

3 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:

That's one of those Tex Mex Creations... Just like Fajitas.  

I'm sure it predated him but if i have to pick a story of how the Fajita was popularized, i'm team Sonny Falcon.  

[Bolero88 277]

On 6/28/2021 at 12:59 PM, Mo Horn said:

I'm tempted to simply say they aren't, but I have been to some that come petty close... although i really didn't like Fogo de Chao. We have non-chain ones that are much better. Beef is beef, and while there are some differences they are minor.  Most everything unique to Brazil can be found by restaurants here. The biggest difference is what else you get there. I fell in love with chicken hearts and I've never seen those in the U.S.. 

Chicken hearts are pretty popular at izakaya around the US. I've eaten them several times at izakaya in multiple cities. 

[Brisketexan 105057]

Just now, RollLeft said:

I'm sure it predated him but if i have to pick a story of how the Fajita was popularized, i'm team Sonny Falcon.  

I grew up in Houston.  In the late 70s early 80s, after that dumbass "killed Halloween" in Houston, my mother decided our neighborhood kids needed SOMETHING for the holiday, so she organized a little Halloween Carnival.  Wasn't a big deal, haunted house, activity booths, the usual.  BUT, they needed some food options, especially for the adults hanging out while their kids ran around.  My dad said "I'll make tacos de carne asada."  Other people on the committee didn't know what they were.  He said "don't worry, you'll like em."  Simple as shit -- pretty sure he used skirt steak (it was still cheap then), marinated in lime juice and salt.  He borrowed someone's big-ass grill, and used mesquite coals.  Grill the meat, slice and put on a tortilla for a buck or two.  The first year, he sold out in an hour.  And every year after that, everyone in the hood was lined up when the carnival started to get their tacos.

He was kind of amazed.  "They're just damned carne asada.  The kind of shit we had at every backyard party in Eagle Pass my whole life."  But to the mostly gringo hood in Houston in 1978, they were the most amazing, exotic thing they'd ever had.  And then, as my dad puts it, those fuckers at Chili's started selling fajitas, every gringo figured them out, and skirt steak went from $.79 lb to $5 lb.

[Brisketexan 105057]

Just now, Bolero88 said:

Chicken hearts are pretty popular at izakaya around the US. I've eaten them several times at izakaya in multiple cities. 

Good call.  Yeah, there are a couple of izakaya places here in Austin that do it.  And @CHIEF even does them at his house on a little homemade izakaya grill he made.  

[RollLeft 5040]

For those who haven't seen Taco Chronicles on Netflix, do it.  That documentary did a good job highlighting varying regional taco specialties.  Hell its good for anyone not clear on the differences between Birria/Cabrito, Guisada/Asada, Trompo/Al Pastor.   The Taco de Canasta dude went viral.  Good for him.  

[Zepol87 9185]

7 minutes ago, Bolero88 said:

Chicken hearts are pretty popular at izakaya around the US. I've eaten them several times at izakaya in multiple cities. 

Hell yea. Had a work trip to Seattle a few months ago. Got hammered at a izakaya close to my hotel almost every night. Those chicken hearts were badass

[Bolero88 277]

8 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Good call.  Yeah, there are a couple of izakaya places here in Austin that do it.  And @CHIEF even does them at his house on a little homemade izakaya grill he made.  

Fukumoto is really good. I definitley recommend it if you've never been. 

[Brisketexan 105057]

5 minutes ago, Bolero88 said:

Fukumoto is really good. I definitley recommend it if you've never been. 

Went there for my daughter's post-graduation dinner a coupla years ago.  Highly recommend.

[Nueces River Rat 5537]

Every time  I open this page, Salma Hayek looks like she's going to pop out of my screen.