Mr. Husband's One Hot Taco.

We are in month six of baby preparation mode. While there is no baby on the horizon yet, we plan feverishly for the first sign of baby. We plan. Actually, I plan and Mr. Husband watches and plays along like a good teammate. He is forever on the sidelines “just waiting for [his] name to be called.” When called to the plate, Mr. Husband steps up with gusto and believes in his mission. He is a good man, but anyone reading this already knows that and, in fact, probably secretly hates Mr. Husband for his oh-so-ever-goodness-at-all-times-that-she-had-to-write-a-blog-about-it. There are many things that we are doing to prepare for babyville to hit our doorstep. One of those things started a long time ago in the little itty-bitty apartment: Mr. Husband learns to cook.

The tradition continues.

It is important that when we have children, Mr. Husband be able to participate. I remember when I was little and my mother decided to go to nursing school. My father was presented with three kids that he didn’t really know, and he had to cook for them. While my father is a great cook now and in charge of the kitchen, he used to be terrible. I grew up having many meals where all three kids cried through dinner with dad threatening us to eat his mystery concoction or else. It was terrible and probably veered on food abuse. My father was fond of substituting and making it up. Beans and ketchup thrown together to make chili. Using yogurt instead of milk in mashed potatoes. Burning everything and insisting it’s good. Yuck.

My Mr. Husband will not be surprised. He will be ready with spatula in one hand, wooden spoon in the other, and apron tied snugly around his waist.
Fortunately, Mr. Husband and I have the Loaner Son to practice with. Mr. Husband can make a mean milk shake already. But we also need to practice when Loaner Son is not around. Thursday night in our home was Mr. Husband Taco Night. I sent him an email on Thursday, trying to identify everything he needs to know. I even included details on where he would find the materials he needs. (Mr. Husband cannot find anything. Ever. Poor man, may I never die. He’ll never find his underwear again.) He followed instructions and cooked up a super husband storm. Me? I sat and relaxed with a glass of wine, reading the mail.

Email from Thursday afternoon, in preparation of Mr. Husband Cooks Again:
1/8/2009
Go, Jeff! You're making dinner tonight! How exciting is this? I might have to blog about it--that's how exciting it is. In fact, I’m sure I will, so be sure to look your best.

Here's what you will do:

The taco meat is thawing in the fridge. Get that out and place onto the stove as soon as we get home (before you change your pants). Open it up to let air in ... go change pants.

Cut up onion to sauté with the ground beef. You might need to zap the beef in the microwave on the auto-defrost. Put in glass bowl (bottom shelf, on the right) to put in microwave.

Get beer. Frozen glass in fridge for Super Husband Beer.

You can use the new garlic press to press some garlic cloves to add garlic to the ground beef. (Garlic is in plastic bag in top left drawer in fridge. Press is in utensil drawer.)

Add seasonings like pepper and other fun spices. Be creative.


Start your rice before sautéing the ground beef. Saffron rice is in pantry on third shelf. It should bite you, it's so easy to find. Use the green pot to cook the rice. It's the best.

Get your soft taco shells ready. Dampen two paper towels with water and put the shells between the paper towels and then warm in the oven on 250 for a few minutes.


Grate some cheddar into a bowl.

Get some sour cream into a little kitty cat bowl.

Do we want some lettuce cut up?

To sauté your beef, use the All-Clad 10" frying pan. Sauté the beef in butter. Yum. Get the pan warm, add butter until it melts, then add the onion and garlic to season the pan and butter. Then add your beef and stir it around until it is cooked. Hint: cooked beef is not pink!

You can do it! Go Jeff!

Love,
Wife

Were the tacos good that night? That’s debatable. Mr. Husband probably should not have veered from the instructions and gotten creative as my father used to do. His brain explosion during cooking led to his genius idea to add beer to the ground beef while cooking. Good idea, really. But drain it afterwards! The tacos were droopy and soggy. Oops. Looks like taco night deserves a re-run. I loved the tacos. Mr. Husband complained and was disappointed in his work. I ate them all up. Next time, though, I’ll be more specific with spice and not use the phrase “be creative.” He was not creative with spice. Next time: Mr. Husband Brings the Spice.