Grilled Steak Tacos

Hmm. Drawing a blank on the yakkity yak for this post. Blogger’s block, I guess.

Usually I have something to say. Let’s see. Well, I bought a new mouth rinse today. Although I just brushed my teeth and used the new mouth rinse, I can still taste tonight’s garlicky dinner (Cobb salad, yum!). My patients will hate me tomorrow. Poor things; straight back from surgery greeted by a nurse who smells like minted garlic. Is that considered bad breath or just food breath? There’s a difference, you know. Ask my grandson, Gavin. He’ll give you the 4-1-1 on bad breath. The conversation may even unfold something like this:

“Hey, come here, Gavin. I want to give you a hug and a kiss.”

Hesitation and a side-long glance from Gavin.

Prodding from his parents, “Gavin, come over here and give Mom-mom a kiss.”

More hesitation. With eyes downcast he approaches, like a man to the gallows. He submits to the hugging and a kiss on the cheek and several on his forehead.

Kissing and hugging completed, he squares his shoulders and retreats towards the family room. “I think I smell ants,” he says as he walks away.

The adults in the room give each other puzzled looks. Then, from the safety of the family room comes Gavin’s voice once more, “They don’t brush their teeth.”

I’m not saying that this is exactly how things would unfold if you were to have a conversation with Gavin about halitosis; I’m just saying that it could happen that way.

You know, though, some things are just worth running the risk of getting ant breath. Some foods are so full of flavor and goodness that ant breath is a small, small price to pay. Pretty much any food with garlic in it falls in to that category. The following recipe for Grilled Steak Tacos, for instance, has 6 cloves of garlic in the marinade. It’s a beautiful thing.

A very beautiful thing, indeed. The beef is marinated for 2-8 hours in a lovely marinade of onion, lime juice, cumin, chipotle chile powder, and those six cloves of garlic. After the marinating comes the grilling. And after the grilling comes the thin slicing of the steak. And after that, you start jockeying for position to be the first one to make a taco.