sad face of the week

I've had to study for my Pharmacotherapy exam all this week and weekend. Seriously - from wake till sleep. Nothing but looking at how to treat various diseases, conditions and memorizing the 2011 immunization chart for children (which will btw, be updated by this February). The beauty of that class is that you can study for as long as you want but you'll still probably end up with about a 70% or so, which tends to be the class average.

Yesterday, I went to a local pizza joint to grab dinner because cooking was the last thing on my mind. Hindsight I should've probably cooked a quick stir-fry or grabbed a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from the McDonalds across the street from this place.

The person working up front just stares at me without saying anything (a hi or hello would be a good start). Super awks. I give my order, and wait for my pie. When it finally comes out, that same person places the box near my face without even looking at me and walks off without a word. Serious customer service malfunction. Serious man. I didn't think I was that ugly!

More disheartening was the pizza when I got home. It reminded me of a rebaked frozen pizza priced above $15. I was pretty hungry so I still ate it of course but it was definitely a sad face experience.

Athens peeps, do you know where this is from? And have you had similar experiences there?

making leftovers not suck

Let's face it. No one really likes leftovers.

Some people hate it and some people don't even touch leftovers.

Why?

There's a bunch of reasons people don't like eating last night's meal again. It's the same taste, it doesn't taste as good reheated and there's something psychological about it that doesn't sit right with our palates. 

Cooking for one generally leaves me with a lot of leftover meat be it chicken, pork or steak and eating it straight up day after day can be dreadfully monotonous.

To make my day after meals a little more interesting, I've been following this algorithm at least once a week:

sauté veggies -> add in diced, leftover meat -> add some type of vinegar -> add chopped herbs

Pictured above, I sauteed some asparagus bits in olive oil and about 3/4 of the way through cooking, I threw in the diced, leftover meat (in this case, tritip from Monday night). After heating the small cubes of meat through, I added in a bit of red or white wine vinegar to give it acidity and finished the quick meal with a little chopped parsley.

It's nothing fancy but it does make meals a lot more interesting than just eating plain, reheated roast meat with some type of starch. Don't overcook whichever veggie you use so you can get a bit of crunch!

Oh - and... Eat. Your. Veggies!!!!

sr. sol (athens, ga)

Did you know? Away from the hustle and bustle of UGA...

Next to a gas station is a Mexican restaurant. Sketch? Perhaps. But like that old cliche goes, there's more than meets the eye. There's a lot of Mexican joints around town but when hunger calls for tasty tacos and other delectable Mexican foods, Sr. Sol is the place to go in Athens.

This isn't some watered down Tex-Mex joint you might find around town, they do it big here and include offal stuff like the tripe and tongue. Their prices, although more expensive than the Buford Highway places, is still relatively cheap as the tacos each run about $1.75. No more paying $10 for 3 tasteless tacos in Athens!

The tacos pictured above are memorable and really delicious. From left to right are: barbacoa (BBQ beef), al pastor and carnitas. 2 warm, corn tortillas hold together seasoned and spiced meat topped with diced onions and cilantro. Each tender piece of meat has flavor and I think it's better than some of the tacos you'll find on BuHi. High praise. Especially the carnitas - they are melt-in-your-mouth good. There's both red and green sauce on the table that you can use for an extra kick too. Delicious.

The cheese dip isn't especially worth noting priced at almost $5. It's not bad but it's not stellar either as it could be cheesier. Like my genius dining companion often does though, dip a chip in the cheese first and then the salsa. Yummy. I like the chips here at Sr. Sol too - thick and crispy.

I also enjoyed the chicken sope pictured above. The sope is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The chicken, like the other meats at Sr. Sol is seasoned well and tender - not overcooked. Priced just under $3, I recommend getting one or two of these during your visit.

The burrito, just under $6, is a concoction of veggies, meat and cheese wrapped around a massive flour tortilla. The meat is good and it's cheesy too but I'd rather get like 5 tacos instead of one burrito. That's just me though. If you get a cheese dip for your table, pour some over the burrito!

The menudo pictured above is only available on the weekends. It's a red chili soup consisting of honeycomb tripe and hominy. It's a hearty, rich soup and the tripe just disintegrates in your mouth which is awesome because chewy, tough tripe isn't very fun in this soup. The soup comes with lime, cilantro and onions on the side as garnish. It really isn't as offal as it might sound - give it a go! (that was my last pun, promise)

I actually think the meats here are better than a lot of Mexican places on BuHi or its near vicinity. I wish they had cabeza as a choice of protein but when I asked one of the waitresses about it, it just doesn't sell enough for them to have it on the menu. A shame because cabeza is delicious. Regardless, I'm glad there's awesome Mexican food here in Athens that makes Buford Highway seem so much closer than it really is.