Let's Taco 'Bout It

It’s golf season, the best time of year according to The Husband. He and his team of buddies like to go play on Thursday, and he generally returns to the house around 7:30-ish. This is too late for me to start dinner.* So now, we have a tradition of going out for tacos on Thursdays.

* I’m much too disorganized to start dinner once he leaves the golf place. Mostly because I’m in the middle of reading or something, and I miss the text message until he walks in the door. And then we’d still go out for tacos.

This past week, I was writing about the Taco Tuesday trademark challenge filed by Taco Bell, and I got quite hungry for tacos. This was on Monday, mind you. But I’m tired of Taco Bell. That’s because Taco Bell is like the only fast food restaurant around us … so we go a lot. It’s also a bonus that we don’t have to tip because I currently have a thing against tipping large quantities of money. (Tip culture has gotten out of hand!) Most fast food restaurants don’t have tipping, although I fully expect that to change sometime in the near future.

Anyway, I’m sick of Taco Bell. Although, anything I don’t have to cook is delicious.

We tried out this new taco place “House of Tacos," which … wait for it … serves tacos. But you know what else they serve? Empanadas. For anyone who does not know what an empanada is, it’s kind of like a Chinese dumpling except filled with Mexican-like meat and spices.

I think every culture in the world has something similar. Koreans have Mandu (만두) which is probably the most delicious thing in the world. Aside from empanadas. You know those questions “if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?” I’d eat Mandu. Along with a side of dandelions because apparently that weed grows everywhere, even deserted islands off the coast of Australia.

So for this week, The Husband (whom I’ve dubbed “D,” which may or may not be coincidentally be the first letter of his name, idk) and I had the following text message exchange:

Me: If you loved me, you would buy me empanadas from the Cuban place

D: What’s love got to do with it?**

Me: Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? :sad face:

D: M.B. (his buddy at work) says Frisco’s is better

Me: I knew you loved me

This story ends on a happy note. I got my empanadas. :)

The Promos

It's a bit of a giveaway... Thrillers, suspense, dystopian books free books promo ends July 2. As the name implies, they have a wee bit of this and a wee bit of that.

Happenings

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Rest in Power, Tina Turner.

In other news, I’m currently watching Season 1 of Lost. You can watch it free on Prime. They do not have unlimited supplies of Mandu there, but they do have a very cute Korean couple.

I wrote about the Taco Bell Taco Tuesday thing if you’d like to read about it. I also ported over an old post about golf themed cupcakes, which I promise are quite delish too.

I finished The Missing Piece by John Lescroart and now I’m reading Where They Lie by Joe Hart, which was a Kindle First Read a little bit ago. I have a ton of things in my reading queue. I’m trying to catch up on all those reviews that I need to do, so expect a few more legal thriller book reviews.

Taco About a Trend: How Social Media Helped #TacoTuesday Become a Generic Phrase

#TacoTuesday is now a hashtag that has been used millions of times on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This goes beyond the Taco Bell v. Taco John Taco Tuesday fight. Once it goes social ... you can never get it back. Let's taco about it!

The History of #TacoTuesday

The concept of Taco Tuesday is not new. In fact, it's been around for over 30 years. According to Taco John, the first known mention of Taco Tuesday was in 1982 when the Wyoming-based Mexican restaurant trademarked the phrase. The restaurant offered discounted tacos on Tuesdays, and the promotion was a hit. Other restaurants quickly followed suit, and soon Taco Tuesday became a weekly tradition in many places.

However, Taco Tuesday didn't become a cultural phenomenon until the rise of social media. In 2011, the food blog Serious Eats published an article about the best tacos in Los Angeles, and the author mentioned that many restaurants offered taco specials on Tuesdays. The article went viral, and soon people all over the country were searching for Taco Tuesday deals in their area.

How Social Media Helped #TacoTuesday Become a Trend

Social media played a significant role in turning Taco Tuesday into a trend, especially Instagram. And why not? Tacos are delicious ... and photogenic. The hashtag #TacoTuesday made it easy for people to find and share photos of their favorite tacos and taco-related memes.

The popularity of Taco Tuesday has also led to an increase in the number of taco-related events and festivals. Many cities now hold annual taco festivals, where people can sample tacos from different restaurants and food trucks.