Fajitas!

Years ago, my mother gave me a Christmas present that has paid dividends for more than a decade. A fajita grill, which has become more a therapy tool than a cooking gadget. I am so attached to my fajita maker it was one of the few things I was unbending with TJ when we first moved in together. We often joke how she’d initially sneered at my fajita maker until I made her a batch during our dating years. My son was already accustomed to my fajitas and told her she’d change her mind after tasting the output.

Granted, the grill looks a little silly, if festive, but in the past, I’d made my fajitas for many friends and family after they’d seen my numerous posts on social media cooking them. I may not compete with an authentic Mexican restaurant, but the love I put into my fajitas has translated into happy customers, including TJ, who relented and, moreover, made sure we had special storage spots for the grill in both places we’ve lived together. Even to the point she now wraps my grill up with TLC after it’s been cleaned up.

I’m most likely to make fajitas on a Friday or Saturday night, usually for my little family who look forward to them as much a I love making them. I take great joy in cutting peppers (sometimes onions and jalapenos), chicken and shrimp and with everyone leaving me to my work, it’s about a 2 hour process in which I enjoy a cocktail while prepping, blending my marinades and cooking. It’s an opportunity for me to decompress from a busy week and I get a kick when our cats lurk back and forth in the kitchen, rubbing my legs and sniffing the mixes wafting in the air.

I’m happy to say most time I fire up my fajitas, there are no leftovers, save for maybe a small pinch of grilled peppers, which get repurposed into salads or on top of burgers. Waste not, especially what comes off my grill! The most satisfying part to making fajitas, aside from the looks of content from my family, is that blazing hissssssssss by the time I get the marinated chicken on there. 

Thank you, Ma, for years of fajita bliss! 

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.