My daughter, Paige, and her boyfriend, Carlos, are flying in from San Francisco today to visit me for a few days. Paige is a total foodie so naturally when the two of us are together, we spend a lot of time talking about what to eat and where to eat it. I told her about a taco cart near the plaza in Bucerias called Tacos de Cabeza that serves only meats from the head of the cow—tongue, lip, cheek, eye, and brain. Their specialty is supposed to be lengua, or tongue, tacos. Last Saturday I happened to be near the plaza so I searched out the tongue taco maker but it was New Years Day and the little stand under the purple umbrella was closed. But I think Paige and I will search him out again this weekend.

Having worked for the Slow Food Movement in San Francisco pretty much straight out of college, it’s not surprising that what Paige is most interested in is locally produced ingredients. She’s the only person I know who would actually walk into my kitchen and ask me where the chorizo came from. As if there might be a label on it stating the name of the pig and the farm he once lived on. And she hates prepared foods. You cannot buy packaged tortillas when you are with Paige; either you make them yourselves (we’re both pretty good at it although, truth be known, she’s better) or you go to some little tortilleria in town and buy a dozen or two fresh off the griddle.

It also drives her crazy that people buy canned beans. In this I am in complete agreement. You may say, Oh, come on now, beans are beans. But it’s not true. Canned beans are to homemade beans what canned corn is to fresh corn on the cob. There’s just no comparison. And the thing is it’s so incredibly easy to make a pot of beans. As I am writing this, in preparation for their arrival, I have a pot of frijoles bubbling on the stove in an olla or earthenware pot. They’ve been slowly cooking for about three hours, getting all nice and tender, and pretty soon I will take them off the heat and fry up a little chorizo and add it to them and then just let them sit on top of the stove until we are ready to eat them with our tacos de camarones al mojo de ajo, a favorite recipe of mine from the wonderful Bay Area restaurant Doña Tomás. It is such a simple but elegant dinner. Add some fresh-made pico de gallo and a margarita or two and you will have one of the finest Mexican meals you’ve ever had. Here are the recipes:

Frijoles Con Todo

–2 cups pinto beans, rinsed and drained

–About 3 tablespoons kosher salt

–1 or 2 links of fresh chorizo

–2 avocados, cut into small cubes

–2 tomatoes diced

–1/2 red oncion, diced

–shredded queso Oaxaca or other Mexican cheese

–2 serrano chiles, minced

–1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped

Place the beans in a heavy-duty saucepan and cover with 3 inches of cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, add the salt, and decrease heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 3 hours, stirring once in awhile to keep beans from sticking to the bottom, until beans are tender. Add more hot water from time to time to keep beans fully submerged. Stop adding water after 2 hours or so and let water reduce until it’s just covering the beans when they’re perfectly tender. Adjust the seasoning with salt. Remove the skins from the chorizo sausages and break them up as they are frying in a sauté pan. Drain the fat and add the chorizo to the beans. Ladle the beans and broth into bowls and top with healthy portions of avocado, tomatoes, onion, cheese, chiles, and cilantro. Bueno!

Tacos de Camarones al Mojo de Ajo

–1/4 cup canola oil

–1 white onion, sliced

–1 1/2 lbs. large shrimp, peeled and split lengthwise

–kosher salt

–3 tablespoons unsalted butter

–1 jalapeno chile, thinly sliced

–2 tablespoons chopped garlic

–1/2 bunch Italian parsley, stemmed and chopped

–best corn tortillas you can get (or make your own)

Heat a large skillet over high heat, add the oil and onion and quickly stir 2 or 3 times. Immediately add the shrimp and a few pinches of salt and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, just until the shrimp begin to turn red. Add the butter, jalapeno, and garlic and sauté for 1 minute as the butter begins to melt and the garlic releases its aroma. Continue to stir for about 30 seconds; the whole cooking process for the shrimp should be no longer than 3 minutes. Stir in parsley and remove the pan from the heat.  Warm both sides of your tortillas on a skillet or comal, spoon in the shrimp mixture, and serve immediately.