mmm tacos and exams

It there was one spice combination I love, it would be mexican. That elusive blend of onion, garlic, cumin, paprika and chilli that makes my taste buds sing.

I discovered the spice mix by reading the back of a packet. Yet getting the quantities right still eludes me. At the moment I deal with it by using a packet of taco seasoning and then adding extra cumin, paprika and chilli powder. The onion and garlic just get added anyway.

So the latest creation has no photos as I left the camera at uni. It's a take on beef and bean taco fillings. I'm not the biggest fan of tortilla bread or taco shells. I'll eat them but I do prefer to mix all the fillings together on my plate and eat it that way :D

500g minced beef
onion
garlic
taco seasoning
cumin
paprika
ground chilli
1 can refried beans
2 cans crushed tomato.


chop onion and garlic. Fry until golden. Add the mince and brown.
Stir in spices, seasoning, beans and tomatos. Add a few cans of water and stir to combine.
Simmer for 30ish minutes until think and tasty. Make sure you stir frequently as the beans have a tendency to stick to the pan!

I've been eating this straight the last few days. Tonight however, I jazzed it up with some mashed potato, cheese and sour cream. I found extra light sour cream at the shops which is devine. Most dairy products (cheese, icecream, milk, yogurt, etc) I prefer the full fat stuff. Sour cream however, I prefer the light. Full cream sour cream makes me ill if I have more then a tablespoon. It's also too think to properly melt over everything.


My other news is that I have my first exam in 3 weeks. In the second last week of semester. A 2 hour exam at 8am Monday morning. The good part about this is that it gets it out of the way so I can concentrate on my other two exams which will be nastier then this one. I have the advantage with this subject that its on synchrotron optics and xray diffraction which is what I work with. So I can make a connection between the theory I'm being taught and the reality of what's actually being used.

Hopefully things will turn out well.

The tally so far is 4 assignments, 1 lab and 1 exam in 4 weeks. Then 2 exams afterwards. By the end of June I will be less stressed.

Ideally I will get a chunk done this week as I'm taking 3 days off work to spend on study.