Cuatro de Mayo

As a little housewarming party, we had Mike's new co-workers over for a Cuatro de Mayo party. I said we were just doing appetizers and drinks, but it kept growing and growing and growing. Here is the what was on the menu:

Homemade Margaritas (Mike's specialty - recipe below)
Chips, salsa, guacamole (store bought)
Acorn Squash and Black Bean Empanadas (from Vegamonicon)
Vegan Tamales (store bought - we have the most amazing frozen tamales from Ricos. I was going to make them till I tasted these).
Black Beans and Brown Rice (Black Bean recipe from Vegan Lunchbox)
Jicama salad
Margarita Cupcakes (From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. And yes, they have tequila in them. Sorry, the pics for these just didn't turn out.)

The empanadas were a huge hit and the black beans were too. We had empanada filling leftover so the next night we turned that into soft tacos and I think it was the best soft taco filling ever! The cupcakes were also loved and everyone wanted to see the recipe. When I pulled out the Vegan Cupcakes book, they promptly picked out their request for the next batch of cupcakes.

I can't figure out if people here are more tolerant/knowledgable about veganism or whether they know nothing about it. It is just not a big deal at all to Mike's co-workers (so far). We've gotten very few questions and no one looks at our food like it might have vegan cooties. The local crowd here in Park City seems to be made up of Bostonians, New Yorkers, and Californians. So maybe it is the former and it's just not a big deal to them. In Boston, I would sometimes bring lovely pretty food to parties to have it be shunned because it was the vegan food. I can happily see that is not going to happen here.

This is the recipe for Margarita's (from Cooks Illustrated) - we tripled it for the party and mixed it all in a pitcher just before the party started.

4 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 cup lime juice from 2 to 3 medium limes
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice from 2 to 3 medium lemons
1/4 cup superfine sugar
pinch table salt
crushed ice
1 cup 100 percent agave tequila preferably Reposado
1 cup Triple Sec or Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Combine zests, juices, sugar, and salt in large glass bowl or measuring cup; cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, 24 is best.

Strain the juice mixture. Combine juice with equal parts tequila and triple sec (so 1 part juice to 1 part tequila to 1 part triple sec), shake with crushed ice and pour over more crushed ice to serve.