pie, pie, er...ah...PIE!

Ok so, first for all of you that I have come out to as an openly discriminating pie eater....ok, I don't like pie! I'd bet you'd never expect a title like that...but all joking aside - that was when my entire pie universe consisted mainly of lemon meringue, mince meat (what is THAT anyway?!?) and a variety of pies with squishy fruit.

Well, like so many other times when one is on trips like this, my horizons have been moved, because now I am a lover of the meat pie. (homer simpson moment: aaaaarrrrrhhhhhh, meeeeeeat piiiiiiiiiiiee, arrrrrrhhhhhhhhh)

Ok, so as many of you may, or may not, know I have for a long time been in search of the perfect shepherd's pie - while working to perfect the one I make at home, I almost always try it if its offered at an irish pub, because to me its a good sign - that and the fish and chips - of the quality of their kitchen...mind you, not that a good irish pub has to even have a kitchen - with the first 2 qualifiers of "good" when it comes to irish pub are beer (preferably guiness flavored) and whiskey...but I digress. I may not be a lover of the pie in the American sense, but I am a long time lover of the shepherd's pie.

So would any of you other shepherd's pie lovers (Kirsten you know who you are!) believe it if I told you I had something even better the other night? They didn't call it "meat pie" that's me, they call it cazuela, Spanish for casserole, but it was beef and onion covered with potato and topped with a thin crust of cheese that I can only guess was something like asiago or romano, making the top of the mashed potato crispy, golden and yummy. Did I mention yummy?

So, besides the wonderful cazuelas and beef in general (more posts on the wonderfulness of their beef to follow), there is another food item here i would also classify under meat + pie: the empanada. They aren't the deep fried diet bombs they are in the states, but instead they are savory meat pockets (DO NOT think of hot pockets!!), much like the calzone only smaller. meat and cheese, meat and onion, just meat, sometimes no meat just cheese or vegetables, but the meat ones are especially good (do we have time for another homer simpson moment here?). I do have to wonder why there aren't empanada joints all over the mission? Are there and I have just been missing them? hmmm will have to look harder when I am home. Here, they are cheap- even cheaper if you buy them to go at the counter - and I mean like less than a dollar (US) each, and 2-3 with a soft drink (can you say orange fanta?) is less than $5 altogether.

Anyway - I continue now on my adventures both gastronomical and others - my apologies to those of you reading that are dieting - most of the most notable and interesting experiences I have had so far have involved eating.