THE LEGACY OF LEFTOVERS: Fried Steak Tacos

Last week, I made some really good Mexican style rib eye steaks on the barbecue. They were delicious but I made more than we can eat. This week, I'm using those leftovers to make a quick dinner here at home instead of going out to spend too much money on fast food.

I have about eight ounces of steak in this container. 

I'll chop it up into thin, small pieces.

That chopped steak will go into a skillet for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Just to warm it up, not so much to cook it anymore. That will be set aside for a minute when done.

I'll take 8 corn tortillas and warm them up in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. I'll put 1/8 of the steak into a tortilla, sprinkle on some shredded cheddar or jack (or better yet, a blend of the two), some hot salsa, and fold over.

In a 12" skillet, I'm putting in 3 tablespoons of olive oil and bringing up the heat to medium for about 4 minutes of preheating.  Two of the filled tortillas will go in. Hold the tortilla down with a wooden spoon to keep from unfolding for about a minute, until the cheese melts enough to glue it together.

About 2-3 minutes on each side, until slightly browned and crispy. Put on a paper towel on a plate and cover until all the tacos are done.

They're now delicious, crunchy, and ready to eat.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

TRAVEL TIPS: Compressing Your Luggage

We've talked about packing light here at The World on Wheels before but what about when you're headed somewhere that just refuses a light, simple bag with just a few clothes in it?

Of course, I'm talking about our recent Canadian trip, which brought the promise of cold weather. No squeaking by for a week wearing nothing but shorts, t-shirt, and flip flops...this was to be jeans, sweaters, thick socks, hats, and sturdy shoes.  Oh my, how to we make that small and easy to carry?

Remembering those infomercials from years ago, I got some vacuum compression bags. They're not too expensive, I think around $10 for three good sized bags at Walmart, and they're reusable.

Also, we got down jackets that would be really cozy in frigid temperature, plus they're mostly air, so the theory is if we can get the air out we can make those jackets really small.

So here's how it works...

My cold weather gear will consist of my down jacket and a waterproof windbreaker. I can be ready for simply cool weather, wet weather, and really darn cold weather with just these two items.

I put the windbreaker inside the down jacket. 

I fold the whole package so that it will fit into one of the bags and seal it up. I get the shop vac out of the garage, hold it to the valve, and suck out all the air.

The result is a very thin bag that hardly takes up any room in the suitcase. 

We did this for each of us and packing was really a breeze after that.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER TIME! Mexican Style Rib Eye Steak

Sometimes, we'll go to a restaurant and have a great meal...a great meal that I'd like to replicate at home. This week's recipe is one of those.

Rudy's is a Mexican restaurant near our home in Monrovia, California. On the menu, under "Carne Asada," is this one...what comes out is basically a rib eye steak served with rice and beans.

Here is my version...

INGREDIENTS

4 10- oz choice (or better), 1 inch thick rib eye steaks
1 bunch Mexican green onions (can substitute regular green onions if needed)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons melted butter
1-2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Put the steaks in a plastic bowl, platter, large dish, etc.

Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce on both sides .

Brush melted butter onto both sides.

Sprink Kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper on both sides.

On a hot grill, with burning charcoal on one half only,  place the onions over the hot coals for three minutes on each side. Then, put the onions on the other side of the grill (indirect heat). Put the steak over the coals for three minute per side.

Move steaks to indirect heat side of grill. Place one onion on top of each steak. Cook covered (with lid on) 6-7 minutes per side for medium rare.

Place on platter, cover with foil for a 10 minute rest when done.

We like to serve with rice and beans, plus a grille onion you can slice up and eat with the steak, and a little hot salsa sprinkled over the top.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

CHEAP EATS: Restaurant Specials to Save You Some Lettuce

We all love a good deal. We love 'em even better when we're on a limited income and have to watch our cash flow like a hawk. One thing we've noticed is the date and time sensitive specials restaurants will run from time-to-time.

Dining out is an expensive proposition, so these deals really come in handy sometimes...here's a few that we've notice.

The 5th Day at Philly's Best. Philly's Best is a local Southern California chain that specialized in cheesesteak sandwiches. Yeah, they're not Geno's or Pat's, but they're still pretty good.

On any date that ends in a "5," you can get any sandwich on their menu for $5.55. That means Tim and I can get their cheesesteak sandwich, which is easily enough for both of us, for almost two dollars off. Other sandwiches that are normally $8.49 (such as the Buffalo chicken sandwich) are also only $5.55.

At Popeye's Louisiana Chicken, you can pick up two pieces of chicken for around two bucks on Tuesddays (two on Tuesday). Delicious, too.

Church's Chicken, not to be outdone, will give you a thigh, two drumsticks, and a biscuit for $2.99 but this is available pretty much all the time.

Carl's Jr. has a sliders happy hour from 2-5pm each day where the little burgers are available for a buck each.

If you're a fan of the drive-in at Sonic, Tuesday nights after 5pm are Family Night with half-price cheeseburgers.

You can also get half-price drinks and slushes plus 99 cent corn dogs every day from 2-4pm during their happy hour.

Of course, there's always the buck fifty hot dog and soda at the Costco food court everyday but, if you're trying to go healthy, their $4.99 acai bowl is hard to beat.

Finally, we need some desert, so show up any 31st day of the month at Baskin Robbins to get their delicious ice cream for only $1.50 a scoop.

Happy (and cheap) eating!

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

TRAVEL TIPS: Paying for Your Trip

While there are a select few people who get their travel paid for them, I'm not one of them (but I'm willing to change that - Ed) and chances are neither are you. So where do we come up with the money to travel with?

First, you need to know how much your trip will cost. There are two approaches you can take with this. We use both, depending on how much we want to go to a particular location or how much we want to spend on a trip.

If you know where you want to go, you need to know how much it will cost to go there. You can research how much your destination will cost using travel sites like Hotels.com, Kayak, and Expedia where you can get a pretty good ballpark estimation of how much it will cost for your airfare and lodging. You can also look up rental car rates there too, if needed.

Be sure to include an estimate of how much food will cost and how much your hotel will feed you, if at all. If you're driving, figure out your gas mileage and calculate that too.

Once you have that amount, add at least 10% to that to cover any incidentals along the way, total it all up and that's how much you'll need to save.

Figure out when you want to go, how many weeks away from now it is, and divide that number by the cost of the trip. That's how much you'll need to sock away each week. Do that, and you'll have enough to go when the time comes.

The other way to figure out how much it will cost is to set aside a certain amount each week, say $50 and then decide when you want to go, let's say 6 months from now. 26 weeks of $50 will get you $1,300. 

When the time gets near, find out where you can go for that amount and plan your trip to somewhere you can afford (don't think that amount is too little either...we did a week in the Dominican, all-inclusive including air, for less than $1,200 per person).

Some people will say they don't have the discipline to put aside that set amount of money each week. That's sad...you need some discipline to travel successfully anyway so why not start with the money? If you don't think there's any money to save, try skipping one Starbucks latte and an extra value meal each week...there's $10 right there and it's going to be healthier too.

OK, let's think of some other strategies...

Does your employer use Direct Deposit? Many employers that use Direct Deposit allow you to not only automatically deposit the money to your bank account, but also a few other accounts as well. For example, if you work for the U.S. Government, you can set up your deposit to be split up to as many as three accounts so let's say 80% can go into your main checking account, 10% into a household expense account, and another 10% into a vacation account.

Now you're saving up your vacation money without even thinking about it.

If you can't take advantage of this, talk to your bank or credit union. Many will allow automatic transfers into separate savings accounts that can be used the same way.

However you pay for your vacation, I strongly urge you not to charge it.  Save up for it, don't end up paying for it long after it's over.

Other ways to help pay for travel, or at least soak up some of the costs is to use reward credit/debit cards and to join loyalty programs. 

Travel rewards cards earn points for each dollar spent that can be cashed in for things like airfare and hotels. Be sure to read the fine print, however, because many of these cards charge a lot of fees for it. Here are some recommended cards:  http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/the-best-travel-rewards-credit-cards/

We don't travel by air a whole lot, so we prefer a cash back card that pays you a certain percentage rebate for each use. Our favorite is the Costco Citi Visa card that racks up several hundred dollars a year for use in everyday use including 4% for gas, 3% for travel and restaurants, 2% for purchases at Costco, and 1% for everything else (our cash back paid for our Bahamas cruise this year).  Some other recommended rewards cards are listed here: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-5-best-rewards-credit-cards-2011-2


Hotel loyalty programs are also good to earn free room stays. Find a chain you like, join the club, and start racking up the points. We use Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, and...to a lesser extent...Choice Hotels.  By joining the loyalty program, which is completely free, we not only get points for free stays (and get at least a free night in a hotel each year), we also get some added perks at the hotel just by being a member such as upgraded rooms or late check-outs.

These are all tips to help you accumulate the money you need to afford a vacation.  It's actually not too hard to do. Figure a price, save an amount each week till you reach it, use rewards and loyalty programs to help you accumulate free travel and lodging, and off you go.

-Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick (updated 2017)
All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer

DINNER TIME! Baked Pork Chops

This week, I'm pulling out some pork chops from our freezer. Hmm..fry them? Barbecue? I think I'll bake them, sort of like a home made 'shake 'n bake.'

They're frozen and I want to make them for dinner so I have a quick way to prepare them and defrost the the same time. I'm making some brine, which I'll put in the ziploc bag the chops are in to make them tasty, tendy, juicy, and thawed at the same time.

For the brine, I put half a liter of water into a sauce pan. Two heaping tablespoons of Kosher salt, a teaspoon each of marjoram, terragon, and sage go into the water, which I bring to a boil. When it does boil, I stir it vigorously, let boil for another minute and then remove from heat.

Let that sit for 10 minutes before adding into the bag with the chops. Let that marinate for 4-6 hours.

I have some leftover roasted potatoes from last week's chicken dinner. There's also a zucchini in the fridge that I can use for the side.

I coat a baking pan with olive oil.  The chops go into a plastic bowl where I pour some half and half on them. I sprinkle with black pepper and then bread crumbs. Turn them over and do the same thing.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes. Then remove from oven.

Remove the pork chops and put the potatoes on the bottom of the pan (if you're using uncooked potatoes, put them in at the beginning - see last week's recipe on how to prepare them). Put the chops back in on top of the potatoes with the cooked side down.

Dice up the zucchini.

Fill in the spaces in between the chops with the zucchini. Sprinkle some Kosher salt on them. 

Drizzle a little quality olive oil on the zucchini.

Put back in the oven for 25 minutes.

At the end of 25 minutes, increase temperature to 475 and cook for 15 more minutes for browning. After this, you're ready to serve.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Road Food - Tacos of Southern California

The Heavenly Taco Goodness of Los Tacos de Huicho

Today, we put the spotlight on one of the greatest fast foods in existence...

One real benefit to living in Southern California is all the really good, authentic ethnic food we have here.  From Chinese to Kosher delis, Japanese, Thai, and more.  One thing no one can miss is the saturating abundance of Mexican food we have around here.  For those of you who have seen our Napa Valley Part 1 video, you'll notice Tim called Los Tacos de Huicho the best tacos we've ever had...including Mexico (which is very true).  Here is my real-life scale of taco goodness, with 10 being best and 1 being worst.  Let's start at 1...

1 Tacos Puebla.  Pasadena, CA.  Bland meat.  Overcooked when it shouldn't be...undercooked when it should.  Awful tortillas that have an undercooked, doughy texture.

2 Tacos Don Chente.  El Monte, CA.  I'm gonna piss someone off with this one.  Pretty restaurant.  Clean, happy feeling place.  Good looking desserts.  I want it to be good...why can't I stand their tacos?

3 Tonny's.  Pasadena, CA.  Many people love this place.  It's just average to me.

4 Jack in the Box.  Nationwide.  They must put crack in those two-for-99cent tacos.  I don't know why we like them...but we do.

5 Taco King (not to be confused with #6).  Azusa, CA.  Another decent taco stand in the city.  Good, but just above average.

6 King Taco (not to be confused with #5).  Locations across the Los Angeles region.  The best taco chain.  Great carne asada, good al pastor, decent carnitas, and lame roasted chicken.  Their red sauce will make your lips feel like they're falling off.

7 Rudy's. Monrovia, CA. A sit down, full service restaurant. Most food it better than average but Rudy now has a large taco de tripas on the menu that's out of this world good.

8 Pepe's.  Alhambra, CA.  Nobody makes a hard-shell taco like Pepe's.  Just dripping with juicy goodness and layered with cheese, throw a dollop of their great sauce on and enjoy.

9 El Picoso.  Azusa, CA. (Similarly, almost related, is El Picosito in Duarte, CA) Tacos de papa.  I've tried many places and pretty much choke on these potato tacos.  Not here.  Delicious, fried pockets of tortilla filled with just the right amount of potato.  Also, pretty much the best tripas south of Bakersfield plus good enchiladas and rellenos make this place stand out.  Note:  Many of their best dishes...such as the tacos de papa...are not on the menu.  You just have to know they make them.

10 Los Tacos de Huicho.  Bakersfield, CA.  How to they do it?  I've been here dozens of times and it's always delicious.  Have worked my way about half-way through their menu and have yet to find anything that is not absolutely delicious.  Although everything is top-notch here, their specialty is al pastor.  One of the few places left that do it right, roasted on a vertical spit just oozing with juice.  Tripas...I realize some of you are put off of this offal meat...are crispy, tasty little critters in their delicious fried tortillas.  The creamy, bean and meat goodness of their sopes rest on a just crispy enough shell.  The fish tacos are fresh and will blow those of you who like Rubio's away.  They even make some of the best french fries we've ever had.  The salsa bar holds their perfect red and green salsas, plus the holy grail of salsadom...their spicy, creamy, guacamoloe salsa (see picture above).  The price of a taco here is only 99cents...everyday!  The only down side is their bar, which makes some pretty lackluster margaritas.

Darryl

BETTER BREAKFAST: Scrambling for Even More Leftovers

Hmm...still trying to make a decent meal out of our refrigerator leftovers.

Last night, my wife made sopes with some chile pork that she cooks up now and again (it's her secret recipe but basically, cook up some stew pork with hot chiles). They were delicious but we had a little more pork than we had sopes for.

This morning, I'm scrambling that up into some eggs and cheese. For the two of us, I start with 4 eggs, a splash of half and half, and a sprinkle of salt.

I warm up the left over pork in a skillet.

Add the eggs and sprinkle on some shredded cheese.

Heat up some flour tortillas on a griddle, wrap it up and serve as breakfast burritos (top).  Very delicious.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

CEREBRAL PALSY STORIES: Tim's Mental Health Mayhem of 2015 to 2018 Part 3: The Long and Winding Road to Recovery-Taking Control of My Anxiety and Depression

In the first part part of this story I went on the record and finally opened up about my three year battle with anxiety and depression that started in 2015. In part two I discussed what led up to my three years of experiences with anxiety and depression. In this third and final part of this story, I will take you inside my journey during which I had various instances of anxiety and depression the issues that I have had to deal with mentally and how I have successfully managed to deal with and overcome them to be what is hopefully a better version of the person that I was some three years ago.

The main physical component causing my sickness was lack of sleep. I went to see a sleep specialist for help. The visits with this doctor consisted of an introductory one where I was with my mom and we described to the doctor what had been going on and what my symptoms were. During this visit, they also took my vital signs such as my blood pressure to see how I was doing physically. Other than the fact that my blood pressure was a little high and the troubles I was having with getting enough sleep, I think everything else was considered to be normal and good.

After the conclusion of that first visit with the sleep doctor I came back for what would be my second and most interesting visit to see the sleep doctor a few weeks later. That's because I had to actually spend the night at the office and sleep there so I could undergo a series of tests to see if I possibly had a sleeping disorder known as sleep apnea. For those that may not know what sleep apnea is, it is a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.

In order to figure out whether or not I did have sleep apnea, I had to wear a sleeping mask that was connected to a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine. To make a long story short, it was found out that I did indeed have sleep apnea and I have now been using a CPAP machine to help me sleep better for almost the last three years or so.

As for getting the mental health issues that I had with anxiety and depression that caused me to have various incidents of panic attacks and hallucinations, I ended up having to go see a psychologist/therapist to help me feel better and deal with the various issues that I started having. 

The first time that I went to see a therapist, I ended up going there for about a period of about only one month after which the doctor said that I had been suffering from insomnia but that I was slowly but surely getting better.

Dad: After the nights of crisis, emergency room visits, and the visit from the county mental health team, we took Tim to his primary care doctor. Because of how our insurance is structured, he basically told us he could do nothing for mental health issues and we’d have to take it up with our insurance carrier to find help.

We had to call our insurance carrier to get approval for mental health treatment for Tim. They referred us to a contractor who provided us a list of approved psychologists and psychiatrists. It was up to us to contact someone on that list a make an appointment with them.

The first psychologist saw Tim for a couple of months of weekly visits then said he didn’t need him anymore.

After seeing the first psychologist however, there were times when I was still experiencing periods of both anxiety and depression. For me, it took a little over a year to realize that I needed to go see another psychologist since I was still struggling mentally with some unresolved issues. 

The good thing for me though was that compared to the first time I went to see a psychologist when my anxiety and depression first started, I felt that I was better prepared to see a psychologist the second time around since I had a better idea of what the whole experience was going to be like. During this time before I went back to see a therapist, I also had a better idea of what the issues were that I was having which had an effect on the mental health aspect of my life.

Dad: The second psychologist saw Tim for almost two years on a biweekly basis. She recently retired and Tim is no longer seeing a psychologist at this time.

In addition to those visits with the psychologist my dad and I also started implementing some meditation and pow wow sessions into my daily and or weekly routine. The meditation sessions consisted of focusing on my breathing and trying my best to not do the snorting tick habit that I had started to do. These sessions would last for about five minutes on most days and they were very helpful for me the more times that I did them.

The pow wow sessions were done on a weekly basis most of the time and my dad and I would usually talk about what issues I may have had or did have throughout a given week. These were also very helpful for me.

Dad – The pow wow sessions are also helpful to me to help me understand what’s going on with Tim and to try to avoid getting angry when I don’t know why he sometimes behaves the way he does.

Fast forwarding to some three years later to now, the good news is that for now I am no longer seeing a psychologist after spending the last two years or so doing just that. As a result, my overall anxiety and depression levels are a lot lower than what they were when this whole journey started. I feel like I have definitely learned some very valuable life lessons for myself along the way and hopefully anyone out there dealing with similar issues like I did can see that they are not alone and that there is hope. Lastly, I would like to say thank you all of my family, friends and doctors who provided help and guidance to me along and supported me throughout the tough times during the last few years. I could not have done without all of you. I am truly appreciative and very grateful for it.

Tim Musick-with contributions from Darryl Musick.

Copyright 2018.

All Rights Reserved.

BETTER BREAKFASTS: A Scramble for Leftovers

We all tend to ignore our refrigerators and their crispers until the produce inside goes bad. Then, we're in the unenviable state of throwing out what was once perfectly good food, simply because we forgot it was there.

That's why from time to time, I like to look inside, see what we have, and then see if I can make a dish out of it.

This morning, I'm looking for something I can mash together for breakfast...let's see what's inside.  Here's some mild Italian sausage from Trader Joe's that I used for a pizza once. It was too mild for the pizza but I think it's make a good breakfast sausage.  Here's half a zucchini, some asparagus, and some corn tortillas.

I think I can work with this.

I chop up the zucchini, three spears of asparagus, and one link of the sausage. In a pan with one tablespoon of olive oil on high heat.

I put all that in and cook it up for 5-6 minutes and set aside in a bowl.

Next, I cut up three tortillas into eighths. I fry them till they're starting to get crispy. Then I add the sausage and veggie mixture back in.

Four eggs, a half a teaspoon of cream, a pinch of salt and pepper all go into a bowl.

I scramble this all up with a fork.

Pour the mixture in the pan with the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top and scramble until the eggs are set and serve.

I like to add some hot sauce and a little heavy cream on top. Now, I've got breakfast for two.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved