Fancy date night

We like to mix it up a little bit on Saturday nights. Sometimes we do take-out, sometimes we eat our favorite fast food, sometimes we cook an old favorite, and sometimes, I like to try something new. So, last week, when I was browsing the grocery store, these baby octupus jumped out at me as something new to try. No, really, they did look really fresh and good, and the price was right for something new ($2.99/lb).

If I'm making something new, I usually wait until after bedtime to start cooking, and Mike will come into the kitchen with me and share drinks while I'm cooking. It's not quite him cooking with me, but it's as close as we are likely to get (lol), and it's fun.

I searched the internets, and it seems that they are best either slowly braised or cooked quickly with a sear or grilling. I went for the quick cooking. And, because we love everything better as tacos, I went with a Mexican spin on the flavors.

Since we were going Mexican style, we started the night with virgin margaritas, which is a fancy way to say limeade with a salted rim, but, hey, whatever works, right? One glass is a little darker than the other, because I tend to make flavored simple syrups to mix with seltzer, and I like my drink sweeter than Mike's. The simple syrup (rather than making a pitcher) allows you to customize like that. Fancy.

This is a great picture of the octupus, but alas, after this, my camera battery died, and I have no more. At least I got this one.

These were quick sauteed in a skillet, then mixed with garlic, lime juice, and cilantro. We ate them on corn tortillas, topped with chopped white onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime, and this killer homemade jalapeno hot sauce from Rick Bayless. So good (really! I'm not just saying that).

Have you cooked something new lately?? What's holding you back? The grocery store is full of great ideas, and if you've got a willing person to share it with, something new can be a lot of fun.

Thanks for peeking into our at-home date night another week!