Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight was a cause for celebration. For one thing, it's cinco de mayo, which can only mean one thing: fiesta! The second thing is that I took my last in-class final of the semester today so I only have 4 more papers due next week before I'm done with my junior year of college. Sounds like good reasons to celebrate, right? Well, I decided I would take advantage of the Mexican holiday and make enchiladas again (I haven't made them since my birthday last year). They're really good and fun to make, but it takes a little extra time and it can be a little messy. Tonight was a perfect night though because I was ready to cook something again and I was burnt out from my week of finals so I needed something appealing and SCANDALOUS (Michelle's favorite word). Even though there are certainly a few steps and ingredients involved, enchiladas are one of the few things I don't have a recipe for. Johnny showed me how to make them once at the workshops, and I actually remembered how to do it without having to be all obsessive about writing down the steps. That is part of what made it appealing tonight. I've done enough following directions for one week and looked at too many pages of notes, I wanted something that I just knew how to do without having to think about it. Tonight ended up being especially good because Dad got all excited that I was making enchiladas and actually came in the kitchen and helped me. I wasn't expecting him to do that at all, but it made the process A LOT easier because we sort of had an assembly line going and I wasn't trying to do everything myself all at once. So, my thanks to Dad for his contribution tonight, it made it even more enjoyable. Anyway, we had chicken, beef, and cheese enchiladas and they were all surprisingly good. I say surprisingly because I thought these were better than the ones I made for my birthday. The birthday enchiladas were reputed to be quite good and everyone remembers them and comments fondly on them. (I think this was just because the people who were eating them had never made enchiladas at home before and were impressed by the novelty, and were also unfairly influenced by the margaritas they had consumed), but whatever, it was nice of them to say they liked them, but I thought they were a little dry. The ones tonight were not dry at all though, they were great. I used a different kind of cheese inside than before and all the proportions seemed to work out right. Dad was the one to put the cheese on the outside before they went into the oven, so if you are horrified by the amount of cheese (the picture makes it look pretty serious, they didn't look quite that covered in person, I swear) we can blame him for that part because he insisted on putting on the cheese himself. They were quite good though, really hit the spot. We also have plenty leftover, and that is good because they are equally good as leftovers, that was one of the selling points from the birthday party last year. Enchiladas are not the most photogenic things ever, so it is what it is. Craig and John will be sorry they missed this though, they have been asking about enchiladas for months now. Here they are:

As if the enchiladas weren't enough already, we had dessert too. It wasn't an elaborate thing though. I found some interesting new dipping chocolate things at the grocery today and was inspired to try one, so I got some fresh strawberries to go with it. This is what resulted:

They were good, simple, juicy, indulgent. Happiness was had all around.
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!