I obtained my Ph.D. on the College of Texas at Austin. I gained’t say how way back this occurred; readers would possibly start to doubt my official age of 39. I’ll simply say that it has been various years since I graduated.
I collect that Austin at current shouldn’t be an affordable place during which to reside. The New York Instances ran a bit final November titled, “How Austin Grew to become One of many Least Inexpensive Cities in America.” I used to be saddened to be taught that my former metropolis now suffers from a housing disaster.
Once I lived there, Austin was a paradise for impoverished college students. I made just a few hundred {dollars} a month. Fortunately, I didn’t must pay tuition; I normally had some type of scholarship. My revenue got here both from fellowship cash or educating assistantships.
With this revenue, I managed to pay for primary groceries, textbooks after I completely needed to buy them (I discovered that plenty of the books I needed to learn had been out there within the native library), occasional gasoline and repairs for the Tinkymobile, and lease on the Casa del Rio.
The Casa was a small condo advanced from which I may stroll to the College of Texas campus. Plenty of my associates lived there as effectively so communal meals out on the patio surrounding the pool had been frequent.
Every small condo had a sliding-glass door that led to the patio. When you had been out there to go to with associates, you left the curtain behind the door open. When you needed to work that day or evening, you closed the curtain.
It was an excellent dwelling scenario. One may have firm every time one wished to, however no person was offended when one was unavailable.
I beloved having my very own stretch of patio the place I did container gardening, elevating flowers, herbs, and the occasional vegetable. Nurturing dwelling issues is the right antidote to the dissertation blues.
I not too long ago seemed for the Casa del Rio on the web and was heartened to be taught that it nonetheless exists.
I used to be saddened to find that it boasts of upgrades that embrace state-of-the-art home equipment. I adored my classic turquoise-blue kitchen home equipment. True, the fridge wanted to be defrosted continuously, however one should undergo for magnificence.
Even after paying my lease, my low-cost pupil medical health insurance, and my different bills, I normally had leftover funds for eating out not less than as soon as per week. (I want I may say the identical of my price range at this time!)
Meals, like lease, was cheap in Austin. I by no means warmed as much as Texas barbecue; I a lot most popular the sweeter, extra pork-centric barbecue in Tennessee.
On particular events my associates and I dined at Threadgill’s, a restaurant that began as an art-deco service station and morphed into an Austin establishment mingling country-style cooking and music. It was at Threadgill’s that I first tasted chicken-friend steak. I used to be an instantaneous convert to this Texas favourite.
Threadgill’s managed to outlive for many years solely to be closed down throughout the latest pandemic. Its demise sparked headlines throughout the nation.
On non-special events, my group eschewed Threadgill’s and ate at any one in all various Tex-Mex institutions. It was at one in all these that I discovered to like migas, which I’m making this week in honor of Cinco de Mayo.
The phrase migas means “bread crumbs” in Spanish. This basic poor individuals’s dish originated in Spain as a approach to make use of up stale bread by combining it with eggs and different helpful meals.
In Austin, migas had been made not from leftover bread however from leftover tortillas, reduce into strips and fried to present them new life. The dish is even simpler in the event you do as my good friend Jennifer does and use leftover tortilla chips.
I requested Jennifer for her recipe, and he or she gave it to me — though it’s a kind of recipes that isn’t actually a recipe. She simply gave me an inventory of components she would possibly or won’t put in her migas.
These included three kinds of cheese, jalapeño and bell pepper, onion, and cilantro or parsley.
I couldn’t discover all three kinds of cheese at my common retailer so I used what I at all times name “retailer cheese,” a piece of aged sharp cheddar reduce off of an enormous wheel.
My migas had been thus a New England selection. They didn’t style fairly like those we ate again in Texas. They had been nonetheless completely scrumptious.
Be at liberty to play with the recipe. Jennifer at all times eats her migas with warmed corn tortillas to which she applies butter. You may additionally stuff the eggs inside warmed corn or flour tortillas to make an egg taco. When you love meat, fry up at little chorizo, and add it to the just about cooked eggs.
The garnishes may additionally be augmented. Migas are beautiful with chopped pink onion, refried beans, or black olives.
Components:
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 pink, yellow, or orange bell pepper, reduce into small items
1/2 jalapeño pepper, diced (elective, relying on how spicy your salsa is)
2 giant native eggs
1/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano (elective: Jennifer says that Mediterranean oregano is not going to do. When you don’t have Mexican, simply skip it)
1/4 teaspoon cumin seed (complete or floor, additionally elective)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 splash water, milk, or cream
1/2 cup grated retailer cheese (extra in the event you like)
1/2 cup coarsely crumbled corn tortilla chips (extra in the event you like)
Garnishes:
plenty of salsa
a bit of extra cheese as a result of life is best with cheese
a bit of ripped contemporary cilantro (or parsley in the event you don’t have cilantro)
sliced avocado (elective however good)
Directions:
Soften the butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet. Add the onion and the peppers and sauté over medium-low warmth till the onion begins to show golden.
Whisk collectively the eggs, spices (in the event you’re utilizing them), salt, and liquid. Add them to the pan and fry, gently stirring. When the eggs simply start to set on the underside, stir within the grated cheese after which the tortilla chips.
Serve garnished with further meals of your selection. Serves 1 to 2, relying on urge for food and on how a lot cheese, and so forth., you add to the eggs.
Tinky Weisblat is the award-winning writer of “The Pudding Hole Cookbook,” “Pulling Taffy,” and “Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb.” Go to her web site, TinkyCooks.com.
