Last night Santa Salsera and I had a fun evening of Mexican food and a bad movie with good music. (More on that later.) The dinner was at El Paraiso, which people in the know have apparently been hip to for awhile now but we just heard about it. It's a tiny place on Alston Ave. There are a handful of tables, a grill right out in front, and no menu, just the day's offerings written on a little white board. And really, really good food. I had tacos el pastor and they were fantastic! Santa Salsera had a sope and an empanada and she gave them both a high review.
There was a 10-year old girl taking orders; she sat down with us for a while and we had a nice conversation. She seemed really drawn to Santa Salsera. She told us that we looked like sisters (which made me feel good even though I don't think it's strictly true), her mother likes Beny Moré and she likes reggaeton. She wrote down for us the name of the Oaxacan town where she was born, and her full name (she has 5 names, of which she seemed very proud) and circled the name she goes by. We asked her how they make the watermelon drink, which was so good and tasted so fresh. She gave us this recipe:
1. Buy a watermelon.
2. Put it in the refrigerator for tomorrow.
3. Remove the beans.
4. Cook it.
5. Then it melts and you have the drink.
The best part was that she kept repeating steps 1 and 2. When she got to step 4 we were like, "wait, you cook it?" and she replied, "No. First, buy a watermelon. Second, put it in the refrigerator for tomorrow." Like it was really important that we remember that part, or else we couldn't make the drink! It was fantastic.
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