Tacos Are for English Class

The remarkable Aurora I mentioned in an earlier post has had a tough life. Her husband is dead, she's raised six children and now has... have I lost count? Eleven grandchildren? She walks her way to work each day. No car, no use for the bus, even showing up drenched one rainy morning because, as she explained, her umbrella is a piece of crap. She has wild tales to tell of coyotes and quicksand in Arizona, which I have to follow intently, sifting through her rapid Spanish for the words I recognize and cognates I can understand, while carefully watching her facial expressions for clues to help me grasp her remarkable past.

Aurora was elated to learn that I might be teaching an ESL class after school, insisting that this would be the year she would learn English. When that did not come to be, I promised her we could have classes anyway, any time she wanted, in my office. This Monday, I made good on that promise for the first time and Aurora brought me, of course, tacos de papa con huevo... a favorite of mine, potato and egg breakfast tacos, in handmade flour tortillas.

It's hard for me to imagine this woman, rising early, knowing she must work late, seeing that her littlest granddaughter gets ready for school, patting out balls of tortilla dough, rolling them flat and toasting them over the stove, finally packing up the finished tacos in paper towels and foil and walking her way to work to see me. It's humbling, frankly.

Aurora sat and ate with me, although only half of a taco since she said she had already eaten a large breakfast. She lamented not bringing any chile, but proudly told me that she had made the tortillas by hand. The tacos were delicious, as my office-mate, Amanda, attested later on when she ate hers. It took an enourmous amount of willpower not to eat the tacos leftover for Amanda, but I persisted and shared. My kindergarten teacher would be so proud.

After tacos, Aurora and I pored over paper, scratching phrases in English and Spanish and practicing pronunciation. Phrases like, "I have six children, three boys and three girls" require drilling. Hardest is the pronunciation of girls, which to Aurora's ear sounds like "gros" which is what she writes on her paper to help her pronunciation. I laugh and tell her that this means something else entirely... It will not be without a lot of hard work that Aurora learns English this year, or that I learn Spanish, but she is already, undoubtedly, one of the best parts of my day.

Toast Your Own Tortilla

Anytime I start discussing what the criteria should be for an excellent breakfast taco experience, one thing always comes up first: tortilla quality. Some people feel passionately about corn tortillas, the original Mexican tortillas, but they've never really done it for me. Corn tortillas tear and break, they have a sort of rubbery texture, and they just don't taste as good as flour tortillas. Now, I know fresh corn tortillas right off your abuelita's stove with a nice patty of butter on them are hard to beat, but most of us don't often get a corn tortilla like that.

The history of the flour tortilla is pretty simple. So, the indigenous people of what is today Mexico and the southwest United States were once upon a time making these toasted circles of flattened cornmeal when the Spaniards showed up and turned them onto wheat. The Spaniards also, unknowingly, turned them onto smallpox and the rest is western civilization history... but I actually think the flour tortilla was a pretty good idea. A great idea, really, and when done right, they're also the perfect vehicle for delivering the contents of your breakfast taco to your satisfied stomach via a pleasant scenic route across your tastebuds.

The taquerias I visit will definitely be evaluated on the quality of their tortillas. They should be light, not chewy, not soggy, and not burnt. They should be fluffy, almost flaky. They should have a pleasant flavor, maybe a slight taste of butter, but no taste of lard at all. I realize this is a lot to ask... especially if you're making your tacos at home, but it is possible to get a great tasting tortilla at home with minimal effort.

At most grocery stores, at least in Texas, you can find Guerrero's Tortillas de Harina - Fresqui-Ricas (which is an awesome made-up word, and trademarked). They're fresh, uncooked flour tortillas that you toast on the stove yourself.


It is a tiny bit more work than just tossing pre-cooked tortillas in the microwave, but the difference in taste and texture is truly worth the extra effort. On a medium heat skillet or griddle at about a minute on each side, your tortilla should start puffing up and turning a tasty golden brown (teapot not required for successful toasting).