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I truly can’t believe it’s already February?! We’re 1/12 of the way through the year, and I must say it’s been a really fun, adventurous, and exciting year so far. To kick off the new year we celebrated with friends in Patagonia. Specifically, we stayed with family friends who have a fly fishing lodge in Esquel, Argentina. It was one of the most beautiful places I’d been in years.

While we were there I kept thinking I was in the movie The Sound of Music, and found myself waiting for everyone to break out into song and dance: “a doe! a deer! a female deer, rain, a drop of golden sun…” while that never happened, I couldn’t stop playing the movie over and over in my head. Maria, played by Julie Andrews, says in the movie: “the skies were so blue today, and everything was so green, I just had to be a part of it.” This is exactly what it felt like to be there. Kids climbing trees, picking strawberries and raspberries and cherries right off the trees, running outside all day, riding bikes, swimming, I could go on…

We let the kids go kayaking in the river one afternoon, and I couldn’t help but remember that scene in the movie where the children and Maria are in their canoes heading back home and they all fall in the water while their Father watches – although my kids never fell in I think these pictures give a glimpse of what I’m talking about! If you couldn’t already tell The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite films. 😉

After we left our friends’ place, we continued to Villa La Angostura which is closer to Bariloche, also in Patagonia. We stayed in a gorgeous home turned hotel that I didn’t want to leave, and that I now can’t wait to go back to one day! It was a truly incredible trip that I’m grateful we got to do as a family.

During this trip we didn’t have internet connection of any kind whatsoever for 3 or 4 days straight. I can’t explain how incredibly freeing it was to be forced to disconnect in that way. We couldn’t check e-mail, there was no “let me Google that!” during dinner conversations…anything. Not even texting. As a result, since coming home, I spend less time online, less time thinking about e-mail, social media, surfing the web to browse this and that. I find that it allows me to play more, have more fun, and be more present, for lack of a better word. … things to think about, I suppose.

cheers! and happy belated New Year! 😉

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DISCLAIMER: I’m not going to guarantee that these are “no mess” pulled pork tacos. But they are quick, easy to clean up, and a crowd pleaser on a hot Tuesday (or any day of the week) when the last thing you want to do is worry about turning on the stove, let alone the oven!

Mexican food has always been one of those things that I enjoy going out for much more than I enjoy making for myself or my family. There’s something fun, and almost comforting about going to a Mexican restaurant. Perhaps it’s because when I was a kid my brothers and I would always request to go to Chevys for our birthday dinners. Each of us always got a batch of tortilla dough to play with while we waited for our food to arrive, and at the end of the meal the waiters would all stand around your table and sing you the most fun, loud, exuberant, hands-clapping Happy Birthday! And pop a big ol’ sombrero on your head at the end! Sometimes, if we went on a Friday or Saturday night there was a balloon man who would stop at each table offering to make any animal figure/sword/doll/whatever out of his balloons. Our parents always obliged – how could they have said no?! It was incredibly fun; celebratory, really. And made our birthday feel special because these strange waiters would sing happy birthday to us!

These, and many other Chevy dinners were my first experience with Mexican food. I believe that since it was such an enjoyable experience it made me fall in love with Mexican food. Fajitas, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tortilla chips and salsa, guacamole!! You name it…

With these tacos I wanted to recreate, the simple, festive feeling of going to a restaurant right at home. We make this BBQ Pulled Pork every now and then. We should make it more often because it’s so easy! This time we turned it into tacos, and I wish we were having it for dinner again tonight.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb pork shoulder
salt to season
1 can of your favorite BBQ sauce – we used Kinder’s Mild BBQ Sauce
1 medium white onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Guacamole, I prefer to make my own – though store bought would work fine
favorite salsa, we used Casa Sanchez Fire Roasted Medium salsa
1 package of tortillas

INSTRUCTIONS:

I lied, you will have to turn on your stove for 2 minutes. Get out a big pan and put it on medium high, place your pork shoulder on the pan to sear the sides. Season with plenty of salt.
Immediately transfer into a crockpot. Pour a 20oz bottle of BBQ sauce into the crockpot to coat the pork shoulder. Put the lid on and set on high for 6-8 hours.
Meanwhile, chop your onion, cilantro, and salsa. Place in individual ramekins. If you are making your guacamole, prepare no more than 20-30 minutes before serving so that it stays fresh!
When your pork shoulder is done, remove and place on cutting board. Using two forks begin to tear the meat off the bone. It will literally fall off the bone into delicious pieces.
Enjoy!

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