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Barracuda Tacos (New Orleans, Louisiana)

Why is that place always so busy? Sure, the location is great. The name is fun. But who would wait in such a long line for tacos? In Los Angeles, I get it, but New Orleans? Maybe the lack of great tacos has made this place royalty. We always wanted to try Barracuda Tacos but refused to wait in that line. Fortunately, they opened another location on our side of the river! So, naturally, we ate almost everything there.

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The Secret to Making Tacos at Home

Tacos are one of the greatest foods of all time. Fight me. They can be done in any manner of ways, but if you get the essentials right, they are little pockets of joy. Price ranges for tacos can vary—especially in Los Angeles. You can go to your local taco truck and get three tacos for $4 or you can go to a fancy trendy restaurant and pay $6 for one taco. 

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Fast Food Alert! Yo Quiero Taco Bell

After hearing via commercial or a billboard on the road that Taco Bell had a new Doritos Locos taco, with my favorite flavor (Cooler Ranch), I had to try it out. Even though we eat relatively healthy and stay away from most fast food, we don’t mind cheating, if you want to call it that. So, late night one night last week, we drove to the Taco Bell in town for some treats. It’s challenging for Alana because she has a sensitive stomach for low quality and greasy food… and she’s a vegetarian. But she’s a good trooper and more or less went to make me happy.

So I splurged a little and got a Doritos Locos Taco Cooler Ranch, one normal and one supreme, a half a pound chicken and potato burrito, a bean and cheese burrito, and a churro. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any churros so they gave us a marshmallow cookie sandwich and two apple empanadas. By the way, we asked for some hot sauces and they gave us about 10 of each. Let me say that I have no idea what the macros were on this meal, but the amount of fat must have been through the roof.

Our feast

Our feast

Here is the review. The tacos were a guilty pleasure that I would get again, over and over. I probably prefer the non-supreme version. The chicken burrito was one of the least healthy pieces of food, if you call it that, that I have ever eaten. It was a struggle to finish. Alana ate most of her bean and cheese burrito but I finished it. She enjoyed the cookie sandwich, but I thought that the apple empanadas were absolutely disgusting.

All in all, us being hungry and fit, don’t be afraid to cheat from time to time. If you count cheat meals go for that, but feel free to indulge in a guilty pleasure from time to time. Otherwise you’ll go insane and once you have it, you’ll realize it’s not that great anyways. I don’t want Taco Bell for a while, but I was happy that we went. You can see the receipt below, it was cheap.

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You can eat fast food and still stay hungry and fit!
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Halloween Feast: Open WIDE

We live in an apartment complex where kids wouldn’t exactly walk up to. There’s plenty of college kids living here and some other sketchy folk, so we decided to not give out here. We decided that we (Chris, cousins, & co.) would go to my aunt’s house in a very much-more family-friendly area. It’s also big, spacious and lovely. The perfect spot for some Halloween fun.

As soon as I was out of work, I raced home with a huge list of things to bring on my mind. First, I made some of my guacamole (which I ended up having to make a second batch because people [CHRIS] ate all of it before the main dish was out). Then, I put the pumpkins in the car, the Halloween cookies, the laundry (yes we brought our laundry over), CANDY, red wine, and apple cider. Was that it? Oh yes, and the kittens! It was the first time they’ve been over to my aunt’s house since they’ve finally gotten their Rabies shots (yay!). So I shoved both of them in the cat carrier and headed over to my aunt’s house.

Once there, I found Megan (my cousin) already preparing her wild-caught fish tacos. It was a big project, but she used top-notch ingredients, even made her own aioli chipotle sauce.  She battered them in panko breadcrumbs, turned out absolutely fabulous. Fred, her boyfriend, and his brother made a top notch cole-slaw that would go on top. And then my guacamole on top of that. It was amazing. Seriously. Better than any taco place can give out. Just LOOK at it.

Main show of the feast, everyone put a little something in and it turned out to be excellent

We had a lovely appetizer of bread and baked brie with a chipotle cranberry sauce (might have been pomegranate, never get it right). Again, delicious. 

We put on Monsters Inc. (the most Halloween-y movie we could find) and enjoyed our dinner immensely. As soon as we were done, Chris immediately wanted to put the cookies in the oven. They’re his favorite kind of cookies. Basic sugar cookies with Halloween deco on them.

And they didn’t last too long….

 By the time these were done with, we really couldn’t move. All on the couch, kitties laying peacefully across us (why didn’t I get pics of that?!), blissfully enjoying our full bellies.

And of course, the mess in the kitchen was as usual (and as should be!) after any well-prepared feast. And Ben (my other cousin) cleaned everything up, thanks Ben!

Overall, it was a great Halloween, full of food, friends, and family (what else matters, really?). The only bummer was that we only got three batches of trick or treaters. We would get so excited when the doorbell rings I think we kind of scared them off. Anyways, it was a great time.

Nymeria didn’t like her outfit as much as we did. 

Happy Halloween!

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