Monday Memories: Taco Tuesday

Welcome to the new segment in which Jen delves into her shady past to uncover some of her most interesting experiences. The first installment of this series comes from my sophomore year of college when I lived in the dwelling that we affectionately called "The Abode." The girls that I lived with, despite their antics, remain some of my dearest friends. It involves a scene somewhat similar to this one:

That lovely meal above was made by myself and probably someone else, but I don't remember who. We took turns three times a week cooking dinner with a partner. Most of us could put on a good spread, but it was sometimes bad news when the two ladies in the foreground of the picture were paired together.

One Tuesday, I came home to the lovely aroma of fresh tacos. Shalon and Tasha had lovingly prepared the tacos and arranged them on a cookie sheet for our enjoyment. Jenilyn and I were shocked by the deliciousness of the meal, and were complimenting their emerging culinary skills. Tasha informed us that she was over at her mom's house, and she was making tacos for their family, so she and Shalon made some for us. She also told us that the fresh churros that they had prepared were made with her mom's churro maker. Anybody who knows Mama Turpin wouldn't really have been surprised by the idea of her mom owning a churro maker, so we believed her.

As I was enjoying my taco, a sign that I had seen driving home on the bus flashed into my mind: Del Taco. I remembered thinking, "hey, today is Taco Tuesday" as we drove by. At that moment, everything clicked and I exclaimed, "TACO TUESDAY." Their jig was up. It turns out that they didn't make the tacos (Del Taco) or the churros (Macey's frozen section) at all. They were amazed 1) that we believed them for so long and 2) that I was able to determine the origin of the tacos out-of-the-blue. Needless to say, the next time they were assigned to cook together I wasn't fooled by their crockpot of Wendy's chili for one second.

I can now vouch for both of their cooking skills. I have had occasion to sample some of their masterpieces more recently, and they have been delightful. I don't think either of them were really that bad in the first place, but Tasha earned her reputation through mistaking the word "teaspoon" for "cup" when adding baking soda to some banana bread. Shalon cemented her reputation by buying a cookbook called something like, "Remedies for the 'I Don't Cook' Syndrome." Shalon now lives in North Dakota, where I'm sure there are no restaurants, so I hope she and Chris aren't starving.