Lunch

[telophase]

I went out for lunch, and had one of those typical Texas encounters that people who do that "Texas" *reflexive shudder* thing don't understand are also part of Texas, and are part of why I don't hate Texas as a whole, just parts of it.

Two good ol' boys were sitting behind me, and as my fajitas* arrived their voices got excited and a bit louder and as I listened, I started to overhear parts of their conversation...

"...overtakes the ice king and saves the world."

"Crazy bastard son."

"She was a badass, every time someone was gonna get her, she got him."

"Khal Drogo. He had a good life ahead of him before he got poisoned."

And once they finished talking about Game of Thrones, they went on to discuss cable and other ways of getting TV. One revealed that he hadn't paid for TV in years because he piggybacked off his dad's subscriptions. Then the conversation moved to some sort of technical problems, and that same guy said his dad was hopping mad because he lost a lot of recordings, including his recording of the Obama inauguration.


So, yeah. I will grant you get more of this in the bigger cities, but Texas is not a monolith.


* Another reason not to completely hate Texas. BTW I have Very Strong Opinions that I am willing to share which involve the word "Yankee" as an epithet and "you are not the people to be deciding what is and is not 'authenticity' when it comes to Tex-Mex" about America's Test Kitchen fajitas.

Comments

[yhlee]

You know my feelings on this matter. :)

*high-fives fellow Texan*

[telophase]

Yee-haw!

(I have no Texas icon, so you get Sora being smug in an Amazon box.)

[yhlee]

XD

[sartorias]

*pause for orgiastic humming* Tex-Mex . . .

[misbegotten]

Hee!

I should make a Texas icon.

[golden_bastet]

I guess I count as Yanqui, but I don't think anyone in my vicinity should have ANY opinion on Mexican, Tex-Mex, or anything in the general genre.

(I lived in SF for a few years, where the Mexican - at least - is miles better; haven't have much Tex-Mex, but I'm thinking the gap between Yanquidom and SF Mexican is likely smaller than the gap between SF and Texas Mexican, so ~.)

Then again, America's Test Kitchen's got other problems, too.

[telophase]

Yeah, Tex-Mex basically arose from norteños--northern Mexican--cuisine and is what you get when Mexican and Mexican-Americans adapt and create recipes for Anglo palates. So yeah, it's not "authentic" Mexican, but it's not supposed to be. It's border cuisine.

When ATK did fajitas, they didn't like the fluffy tortillas that are often used, saying, IIRC, that fajitas shouldn't taste like bread, but like meat. And then decried the use of shredded cheese and sour cream, saying that it overwhelmed the flavors and they instead replaced it with a more "authentic" crema.

And I'm like "Bitch, you assemble fajitas yourself any way you want! You don't have to put the cheese on it if you don't want it! And you two white guys standing there telling me sour cream and cheese aren't authentic enough for your tastes are disrespecting all the Mexican-Americans who developed the recipe and who continue to serve and eat it! And besides, anyone can tell you it's not the meat that's the star of the show, it's the grilled onions."

Okay that last bit might just be me. But if you have underseasoned meat in a fajita you can still deal, while if your onions are flabby and flavorless, you got yourself a problem.

Erm. I might have ranted a bit there.

[adafrog]

Love the conversation.

[viridian5]

I can never forget working in a McDonald's in northeastern Pennsylvania in the early '90s and almost everyone pronouncing a J as they ordered fajitas. "Fajeetas." I died a little inside every time.