at last, tacos!

Perhaps we were a bit spoiled after living in Chicago for seven years, but finding delicious, authentic Mexican food in San Francisco has been quite the challenge. It seems backwards, doesn't it? You'd assume California - even Northern California - would trump the Midwest in terms of rocking Mexican cuisine. But Chicago has Pilsen (a neighborhood with a rich Mexican history and subsequently, great food) and, of course, Rick Bayless. From XOCO to Frontera to Topolo, Rick Bayless is the master of Mexican and we were so lucky to have him right in Chicago.

San Francisco, on the other hand, does great Chinese, Thai, and sushi. And California Cuisine, obviously. But tacos? Meh. So far our quest for awesome tacos has been disappointing.

Until now.

Last week we tried Tacolicious. Game changer. The tacos (and margaritas!) here are out of this world good. I suspect we'll be going back here again and again...

And I urge you to do the same.

{I apologize for the lack of quality photographic evidence. What can I say? I was impatient and hungry :) }

Hey Bay Area readers, know of any other great Mexican spots we should try?

farmers' market

Buying groceries in our old Chicago neighborhood was a challenge. The closest market was over a mile away and when you don't own a car, it may as well be the moon. Especially in January. Brutal.

We eventually resorted to buying groceries online, which has its perks for city-dwellers, but required a lot of planning (not exactly my greatest strength). At any given moment, we would have at least eight cans of tomatoes in the pantry because I was paranoid we would run out. Discovering you are out of an ingredient in the middle of a recipe almost always ends in disaster. Have you ever tried to make chili without tomatoes? It just doesn't work.

And finding decent quality produce in Uptown? Forget it.

In California, however, I am in produce heaven. Heaven.

Not only is there a grocery store on the next block, there is a weekly farmers' market in the plaza of our apartment complex. I don't even have to cross the street. Amazing!

And for the first time in my life, we have had fresh flowers in the house for three weeks straight. It's the little things, guys.

I want to eat it all. And I plan to.