As If You Needed An Excuse

Yes indeed, it is Friday, but it is not just any Friday.  It is National Taco Day and in 2012, Americans ate 4.5 billion tacos.  The word taco is the Mexican equivalent of the English word sandwich. The tortilla, which is made of corn or wheat, is wrapped or folded around a filling that is generally made of spiced proteins such as beef, pork or fish. 

Taco Bell is believed to have pushed the widespread popularity of Mexican food in the U.S. Founded in California in 1962, the chain of fast-food restaurants serves up a variety of Tex-Mex foods to more than two billion customers in 5,800 restaurants in the U.S. alone.

The hard-shell taco was invented long before Taco Bell, a discovery that would aid their expansion across North America. The U-shaped version is first noted in 1949 in a cookbook by Fabiola Cabeza de Vaca Gilbert. A device that would hold the taco in its U-shape as it deep fried helped in the mass production of this product.

But, before we go on too long about tacos, it is also important to note that today is also National Vodka Day!  Now that is my kind of holiday.  Will have to toast the day with a vodka tonic when I get home this evening.  Hmmm, so does that mean I am suppose to have tacos for dinner.  Well, it is not on the menu.  

Hard to believe that vodka was often called flavorless and that the biggest debate was "Shaken vs. Stirred".   Vodka fusion, the art of fusing your own flavors into regular vodka, used to be the best way (and a fun way) to get flavored vodka.

It's still a fun way, but you would be hard pressed to come up with an original flavor to top these:  Smoked Salmon; Marshmallow; Cucumber; Bacon; Rose; Cookie Dough; Peanut Butter & Jelly.  Not a complete list - In just five years 115 new flavored vodkas have been introduced according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS).  

The versatile, once virtually tasteless and odorless tipple accounts for almost 20 to 25 per cent of spirits sold today in North America, making it our most popular libation, a feat that occurred in the 1970s when it outpaced bourbon as America’s favorite spirit.   So raise your glass on October 4 to toast National Vodka Day!