Recipe can be found here

Have you seen The Unbreakable Kelly Schmidt yet? If the answer is no, and you have Netflix, and you like Tina Fey, and you have any common decency then you need to start watching as soon as possible. For you, not for me. But if you’re already a pretty decent person and therefore have been watching The Unbreakable Kelly Schmidt then you will know why Mole sauce is so special.
Did you know Mole sauce is made out of Chocolate? I’m not even kidding, it’s like a sauce of melted chocolate.

My pictures look kind of blurry. Not sure what’s up with that, they usually look kind of amazing, not kind of blurry. Anyway, yes, it’s a sauce made of out melted chocolate and it’s pretty delicious. But let’s back up here…. what am I even doing? Have I forgotten how to think in chronological order? Am I just going to break all the rules? Probably.

You begin this recipe by boiling chicken breasts.

Let me just say, that if you are not so great at making chicken…. whether you’re grilling it, frying it, baking it, or whatever, you can rest assured that your Chicken will come out nearly perfect when boiling. The chicken cooks evenly, it cooks thoroughly, and it especially cooks tenderly. Boiling chicken is a foolproof way to make sure your chicken is soft, safe, and delicious.

After you’ve boiled you chicken, you’re going to strain out the water and let it sit. Meat continues to cook for a bit even after you’ve removed it from heat so make sure to let it finish cooking before you dice it or shred it or even just slice it. Someone in my house is not a fan of the texture shredded chicken has, so I diced mine. Honestly it’s not going to matter much as long as you get it into the sauce and onto the Quesadilla.
When cooking chicken in general, if you’re ever a little worried your outside is getting dry and crispy and your inside may not be cooked through, wrap it in aluminum foil as soon as you’ve removed it from heat and that added deflection of the heat back into the chicken will extend the cooking process hopefully just that extra amount for you to get your chicken to where it needs to be.

So now that you know your chicken is safe to eat and therefore however grand or terrible your meal might turn out it isn’t going to kill anyone, it’s time to make a drink. And what better drink to make for Cinco De Mayo then Margaritas. A word (okay, many words) on Margaritas.

Margarita purists will tell you that you need but three ingredients for an excellent Margarita. A decent tequila (I used Patron, but there are some higher tier Jose Cuervos that will do just fine), Contreau (You can use Triple Sec if you are more considerate of your budget than I am), and fresh limes. This recipe, from Chow, works great. I can admit that I am a fan of this style of Margarita, but also that there are many ways to make a delicious Margarita. If you feel as I do, open minded about the variety of acceptable margaritas, then don’t make the mistake my normally boughie friend Danielle made and ask for a frozen Margarita at the otherwise infallible Taco place Uno Mas. For the record, Uno Mas is delicious and we all still love it, but you should have seen the look the server gave us when he had to inform us that they don’t make “frozen” drinks and only real Margaritas. It will be similar to the face I will make at you if you ever make Margaritas with a mix. DO NOT MAKE YOUR MARGARITA FROM A MIX. Unless you have lost all respect for yourself. In which case you’re probably already eating Hot Pockets and who knows what else and what are you even doing on my blog except probably thinking of ways for me to die a slow and terrible death. By force feeding me Margarita Mix like something out of Se7en.

Once you’ve made the required blood pledge to your chosen Margarita God, you can proceed to make your Mole sauce.

You’ll add your chopped onions, the seasoning, and then the boiled chicken and chocolate.

This mixture will turn into the beautiful filling you see below, and you’re just going to spoon it onto your tortillas with some cheese.

Fry them, bake them, grill them, do whatever you would like until the tortilla is crisp, the cheese is melted, and your mouth is watering.

And that’s it! If you drank your Margarita too fast maybe skip the Mole Sauce and just grill the chicken and cheese quesadillas. Or just skip the cooking altogether and have Taco Bell. I don’t judge you, God does.

Love always,
Chris

Okay, I know. It’s not Cinco De Mayo. It’s not even anywhere near Cinco De Mayo anymore. And where is my post on Chicken Quesadillas? Where is it Chris? Not here, that’s where. I mean, it’s here, like I have the photos on my computer, but, it’s not here here. Like I haven’t written it yet, unfortunately. So why am I even posting at all? What right have I to promise a post and then not follow up with one?

I am posting because we have just left Denver on our way to Houston, (remember my last post was Houston, We Have Bookmarks? Just happenstance.) which we will then use to connect to London Heathrow airport. We’ll be spending about three days in London, and then will fly into Dublin and spend about three days in Ireland. And since my blog isn’t just about food, and it’s also about travel, I figured now would be as good a time as any to let you all know I’m planning on a good many posts in the coming week so I can pretend you have all come with me and we’re having just a merry time together. That’s right, I am posting to let you know that I will be posting more even though I didn’t get around to posting last time I said I would post.

More to come!

Chris

 

In leu of sitting down for an hour and writing a post yesterday, I sat down for three times as many hours and refined my Bookmark collection. It’s this kind of riveting work that brings me readers from all over my immediate circle of friends, I know. But really! It’s almost not as boring as it sounds.
You’ll now find a page on my website titled “Bookmarks”.

A quick question to my readers, is “Bookmarks” still a part of the zeitgeist? (A follow up question – is zeitgeist too pretentious? Even for me?) Or am I acting completely oblivious to the progress in web surfing throughout the past ten years?

Regardless, these links have been obsessively collected, sorted, and refined over a number of years, and include things a lot of my friends and family ask me about. So, if you want to learn some of the more valuable things I’ve discovered regarding Cooking, Computing, Mental Health, Photography, Travel, or many others, give the page a visit and see if you find anything that interests you. It’s really great information and comes from all over the internet.
Speaking of my many hobbies, I’ve been thinking of a title for my blog. You’ll notice right now in the banner, it just says “Christopher Eckman” as the title. The motto below it I’m in love with, in fact my “still-in-the-running for America’s next top best friend” Danielle, had it inscribed on a custom decanter for me for Christmas last year. She’s one of those people that make gift giving miserable for everyone else. Either way, “Passion, Fearlessness, and Butter” stays. But what I really want to know is,

What do you all think about “Chris of All Trades” as my new blog title?

It would get across the point that this blog is supposed to encompasses all of my creative endeavors, and I’m okay with the connotation of master of none, which my lifehacker bookmark about being a Jack of All Trades has revised to master of at least one. Something to think about. I’m open to any suggestions!
You’ll notice that I’ve started doing another new thing, which is that when I ask you guys a question I will put it in the

Quote Style

I know this style is more commonly used to emphasize important parts that are already in the text, but the shocking lack of comments on my last few posts has motivated me to motivate my readers to reach out. So, whenever you see one of those neat quotie thingies, it means I want to hear from you guys… please remind me I’m not just putting stuff out into an endless void… unless I am. Then that’s okay too I guess.
Lastly, Blue Apron is celebrating Cinco De Mayo this week and tonight I get my box so I’m going to document my adventure into Pulled Chicken Mole Quesadillas and Hand-crafted Margaritas. I should have a delicious post for you before the end of the week so even if Blue Apron doesn’t deliver in your area, you can try out the recipe with me. And if Blue Apron DOES deliver in your area, I have a bunch of free trials they gave me for my readers coming in the next post. If you guys come across anything new you want to try – recipes, DIY projects, activities – whatever, let me know either in the comments section or e-mail and we can make it part of the blog. I want this experience to be about exploration as much as anything else, and although going it alone is fine with me the whole point of the blog is to share the experience.
I hope everyone is battling this rainy week with some cozy reading and comfort food – as soon as it’s gone we’ll be out in the full swing of summer again. Just pretend you’re living in Seattle or something! As always,

Chris