I’m going out of town this weekend, so I celebrated Cinco de Mayo last night.  Better early than never, right?

I was outside the city last night, so went to dinner at a cute Mexican place with an outdoor patio.

It wasn’t a traditional (greasy?!) Mexican restaurant, but focused more on organic foods and fresh ingredients (aka sweet potatoes in the enchiladas, more veggies, organic meats, etc).  My kind of place!  Plus, it’s really nice to stay out of the City sometimes….I think I’m a subburb girl at heart despite how long I’ve lived in the City.

I ordered the Mahi Mahi Taco…..grilled fish on a corn tortilla with mango salsa.  I asked for no aoili, but they “forgot” so I ate it anyways.  I really dislake aoili so the taco was good, but def not great.

My date got pork enchiladas.  He didn’t like his one bit!

Despite that it was a holiday and all…..and that there was plenty of rum and tequilla there…

I stuck with water

I’m sure I’ll re-celebrate again this weekend (there’s bound to be a Corona somewhere!) and in case you’re wondering, I’m not Mexican, I just like to celebrate as many holidays as possible.  You too?

Ok, so now for some fun facts about Cinco de Mayo that I bet you didn’t know!
I found all the facts on this website and I didn’t really change too much of the wording so the following is pretty much a quote from them….

FUN FACTS ABOUT CINCO DE MAYO

Here, I’ll put it in quotes, so they have official credit….

“1. Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day. It’s really the anniversary of an 1862 battle between Mexico and France.  Clearly, the Mexican army won, hence the celebration every 5th of May.

2. So What Is Mexico’s Independence Day? Mexico celebrates the day it declared its independence from Spanish Rule on September 16th every year.

3. The Battle of Puebla was short. The entire battle lasted just about two hours and changed the course of history in North America.  France had over twice the amount of soldiers than Mexico did.

4. So wait, what were the French doing in Mexico in 1862? While Spain and England left after Mexico declared their independence in 1810, France tried to stay and take over the country. Obviously, it didn’t work out for the French!

5. Cinco de Mayo must be HUGE in Mexico! Not really. The major celebrations of Cinco de Mayo has largely been contained to the village of Puebla, about 100 miles east of Mexico City, where the original battle took place. In reality, Cinco de Mayo is much more popular in America.

6. My grandparents say they don’t remember celebrating Cinco de Mayo when they were kids. What gives? Cinco de Mayo, as we know it today in America, didn’t begin until 1967. Some students from California State University noticed that there weren’t any Mexican holidays celebrated in America like there were for citizens of other descent, like St. Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest, or Chinese New Year. So they chose Cinco de Mayo as the day to celebrate and gathered Chicano students in unity and celebration. It has gotten a little bigger since then.

8. So they don’t party so much in Mexico, huh? Whoa, hardly. In fact, Cinco de Mayo is just one of more than 365 festivals that are celebrated by Mexicans and people of Mexican descent.

10. Have margaritas always been the unofficial drink of Cinco de Mayo? Hardly. While Tequila holds a long and storied place in Mexican and Mexican-American celebratory traditions, the margarita didn’t even exist in 1862! While tequila, ice, lime, and sugar all existed in 1862, they weren’t brought together in the form of a margarita until about 1930. Maybe that’s another day that deserves celebration. Just sayin’.”

Okay, Your Turn!

–Are you doing anything for Cinco de Mayo?
–If you live in the City, how often do you venture out for food/drinks?
–Are you more of a subburb or city person?