El Tour De South Tucson

Having lived in Tucson for the last 4 years we never had the desire to visit places south of the U of A, mostly because South Tucson conjures up images of cholos and drive by shootings.  That is until the sister-in-law sent us an article featuring eateries on 12th Ave in South Tucson.  When it comes to food, nothing will stand between J and his empanadas, including these guys...

So, today I risked my life for the team and hit a couple of places...

First stop, Oasis Fruit Cones.  Notice the metal screens covering the entire storefront.  Very reassuring...

However, their raspados are better than the ones we get at the mall.

While sitting outside the store enjoying my snow cone and watching all the low riders drive by, I couldn't help but feel like a sitting duck (dressed in bright pink).

Next stop was BK.  This joint is similar to El Guero Canelo, serving up steak tacos and Sonoran hot dogs.  The original El Guero Canelo is actually located diagonally across the street from BK.

Yum!  Carne asada, pastor, and fish tacos...

With the condiments piled high...

However, if you want authentic mexican tacos, you can catch a shuttle to Hermosillo.

Finally for dessert, we quickly stopped in La Estrella.  Again, note the metal bars outside the entrance...

Various baked goods...

How shall I put it?  NYC subway churros taste ten times better.  You can probably skip this place.

We made it out of South Tucson in an hour, and more importantly in one piece no less.  Would I go back?  Probably not since El Guero Canelo has a branch closer to us if we ever want steak tacos.  As for raspados, why would anyone need that when you've got this...

 

We saw this outside of Lee Lee for the first time today.  Unfortunately, they were having power issues so we couldn't try it.  Rest assured we'll be there next week.

Welcoming The New Year Tucson Style

Went to Lee Lee to pick up hot pot （火鍋）stuff for tomorrow's Chinese New Year dinner.  While there, we stuck around to watch the Lion Dance.  Back in NYC we could never be bothered by these things; but after being in Tucson for the last 4 years one starts to miss these little performances.

Lion head

Lion dance Tucson style.

Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

I woke up one morning last week and said to J "I just dreamt about having tea eggs, lets make some tea eggs".  Normally, all we could do is dream about it, but since Lee Lee 'moved in', dreams can now come true.  Since we had already gotten 60 eggs from Costco the other weekend, all we needed was the 'tea bag'.

Twenty eggs...

Condiment bag (丁香，八角，肉桂) and tea bag

Reminds me of 7-11 in Taiwan.  They always had a pot of tea eggs at the cashier counter.

Tada!

J said I could have the eggs as snacks.  I said, "you want me to die of a heart attack?!?"

Asian Food

Ever since Lee Lee opened, we've been eating better and having Asian food almost daily.  May not necessarily be good for my waistline, but it sure beats eating cereal for dinner most nights out of the week.  Today we picked up a 苦瓜 at Lee Lee.

J doesn't like bitter melon, but he made it just for me...

We've also been having a lot of vermicelli.

Here's the resident 'bank robber' wearing the vermicelli pink mesh.  Mocha has always been a good sport when it comes to me 'torturing' her, and always stands obediently for a photo op afterwards.

Chinese Food

Went to Lee Lee again yesterday to pick up fish.  I have a feeling that I will be getting sick of that place very soon.  For now though, we're still exploring all the different aisles to see what they have.  We were looking for noodles and found this...

Yum, Chinese noodles made in the USA, and no melamine!

Am I supposed to feel reassured that there's no melamine in my noodles?  When and why did we feel the need to qualify our food?  Oh right, when China decided that melamine was one of the major food groups in our diet.  According to Wikipedia, my 'go-to Britannica', Melamine is an organic compound and a metabolite of a pesticide.  When combined with different resins (e.g., formaldehyde, cyanuric acid, etc), melamine is used to make plastic, flame retardant, glue, dry erase board, etc.  What does melamine do to the human body?  Worst case scenario, aside from death, is development of bladder cancer.  Apparently the Chinese 'drug of choice' was to mix melamine with cyanuric acid (this combination has great flame retardant properties) to 'increase the protein content'.  So if one consumes enough of this substance, would it be safe to surmise that after one dies from suffering from bladder cancer, one would at least not burn in hell?  I think I'll pass and stick to the fresh fish...

Christmas Came Early...

For J.  The Asian supermarket, Lee Lee, finally opened yesterday.  J's been waiting for this moment for more than a year.  The best part is that it's only 7 miles from our house.

We no longer have to drive 90 miles to Phoenix just to get some fresh fish or some Chinese vegetables.

Both J and I have never seen so many Asians all in one place since moving to AZ; and the freaky part is I've never seen so many Chinese people, known to be a stoic lot, with huge smiles plastered all over their faces.  I guess J's not the only one who's been pining for this place to open.