Especially not today, either. It’s Cinco de Mayo! I usually prefer my tequila on the rocks with a splash of fresh lime juice and agave… but if you want to spruce it up a bit or are looking for a last minute concoction for a fiesta tonight, you should try my Spicy Mamita or Sweet Mexican Sangria.

You’ll need some food, too.

Start with guacamole or perhaps some scorching scallop ceviche, which takes about 3 minutes of prep and is always sure to please.

Follow that up with my favorite Mexican corn salad (add shrimp and avocado if you like) or go the fish taco route: with simple slaw avocado cream, ceviche, or roasted shrimp. The possibilities are endless… and hopefully (at least for tonight) the tequila is too.

Two things caught my eye about this recipe. First, the shrimp were roasted. I have always sauteed or grilled shrimp, never roasted them, so that was exciting. (Hey, we all get our rocks off in different ways.) Second, they didn’t have too much stuff on ’em, which is perfect for B, who likes his tacos — and really most food if we’re being honest — plain. His regular order from our neighborhood Mexican joint is “shrimp tacos, nothing on it but shrimp and cheese. No lettuce, no tomato, no salsa, no pico de gallo, nothing. Just shrimp and cheese.” I know, bor-ing. (Like I was saying about the rocks…) But that’s what was great here: the avocado mango salsa (which takes about 3 minutes to make) can be served on the side. Then each person can assemble their taco as he or she likes.

I tried these sprouted tortillas so I’d feel even healthier about the whole meal, and they wound up being fantastic. Highly recommend those, and serving them with my Mexican corn salad, and some lime and hot sauce on the side. Enjoy! I’ll see you on the beach.

After sauteing the corn, I sliced up a jalapeno pepper, a bunch of scallions and mixed it up with a few dabs of vegenaise, then topped it all with sriracha. The veggies and sauces are the perfect spicy balance to the sweetness of the corn. Sprinkle a little smoked paprika on it too and you’ll be zing-zang’ing all over the kitchen. But the best part? It takes less than 10 minutes to whip this bad boy up.  I made it alongside some delicious shrimp tacos with avocado mango salsa — recipe coming later this week — but it would also make a great side dish at any summer barbecue.

After B took his first bite he proclaimed: “I could eat this corn all day, everyday.” Not a bad endorsement.

So after we danced off some calories at the foursquare party, we strolled over to the Chilantro BBQ truck and dove into two orders of Korean BBQ tofu tacos (for me), one order of beef tacos (for him), and super special spicy fries (to share).

Unfortunately B lost his phone Friday night — that’s a story for another time — so I don’t have photos from our first dinner at Torchy’s Tacos, which is a MUST if you ever get to Austin — but here are some other food highlights from the weekend.

I am going to try and recreate this shrimp salad with avocado cream dressing from Manuel’s for my girlfriends when I’m away with them this weekend. Simple, healthy, delicious. Also need to investigate what kind of salsa they brought to the table when we sat down, cause it was phenomenal.

When I asked our waiter at Iron Cactus about making our guacamole by mashing all the ingredients with two forks — no spoon, no mortar, no pestle — his response was: “Why? Why not?” B says this place is an institution — I say go for the fork-made guac and shrimp tacos.

The best party (and food) of the weekend was at David Carr and his wife Jill’s hotel room. She waited in line for three hours at Franklin, a world famous spot, to create this smorgasbord for us. When I told Jill Abramson that, her response was: “We should all be married to a woman like that.” (I couldn’t agree more.) Anyway I plan on finding out what kind of mustard they put in their potato salad, because it melted in my mouth. I had two, maybe three plates of that and the coleslaw, since I don’t eat meat — but man, did that brisket look delicious.

It even impressed my friends from Immaculate Infatuation, who stopped by for some good eats. And these guys know good food!

And look who else showed up — none other than the hilarious, delightful Jeffrey Tambor! B recently wrote a fascinating Page One story about TV being made for the Internet (as opposed to traditional TV networks) and he talked to him about shooting the Onion News pilot for Amazon. [Fun fact: they shot it at my office, inside NY1!]

* Promised book diet update: I’m down 4 pounds, with 4 more to go. B’s down 15 pounds, with 20 more to go. And we actually got some news last week: his book is now being published 2 weeks earlier than planned! Mark your calendars: Top of the Morning comes out Tuesday, April 23rd. *