Time for me to vent. But what else do I do on this blog? It’s my diary. With other people reading it. Ya creeps.
I’m kidding. Don’t go getting all emotional on me, I’m already a sh*t show.
It’s be a tough couple past days. On Saturday morning, we began landscaping on our property. We had a giant tree in the front yard that needed to come down before something like lightning struck and it came through our house. And we needed to have our entire back yard property line of bushes come out as well. All so we can put a fence up and begin to make our house look like we give a damn. I left for the gym as they began cutting down the tree in our front yard so when I came home to a flooded laundry room in our basement, I began the juggling game: dealing with the landscaping while trying to solve the plumbing issue myself. After nothing worked, since well I know absolutely nothing about plumbing, I called up a plumber and he came to roto rooter or whatever the hell it’s called.
He instantly knew something wasn’t right and called for a sewer scope. Boom, our sewer line had collapsed. Luckily it hadn’t collapsed completely that we had feces in our basement or some horror like that, but enough that the only way to solve the issue was to dig 8 feet deep and repair where the damage was done. You see, old Denver home sewer lines were built out of clay. Genius. And luckily the line went through a really convenient place: below our cement patio. So they began cutting and digging and after they fixed the small issue near the house, they scoped the rest of the line which went through the entire back yard and found what? More collapsed lines. Because, well, THEY’RE MADE OF F*CKING CLAY. So since they were already there, digging away, they asked us if we wanted them to do it all because this would all just happen again later on if it wasn’t replaced. We agreed and I went and sat on the toilet that I could not flush, to cry and cry.
We have our wedding coming up in less than a month, which we are paying for. And it’s tax season and since I own my own business, well you know how that goes. Perfect timing. We had been saving for the past year for the fence and some landscaping but no where in there were we prepared for a new sewer line. You know why? Because our contractor lied to us and even though he knew there were issues, he ignored them and told us nothing of the fact. What a terrible human being.
When sh*t like this happens, I have a real hard time turning on the positivity. Especially since I haven’t heard back from insurance yet and I am pmsing like a mother f*cker. Will insurance pay for it? I have absolutely no clue right now. I just know that we are freaking the f*ck out and I’m trying to not go off the deep end. Even though I remind myself how lucky we are to even own a home and have our health and get to marry each other in less than a month, IN JAMAICA, the money just has a much stronger voice and opinion in this situation. Especially since this could have been completely avoided before we moved in. Sorry for all the downer talk guys, it just sometimes hard to see the light when so many human beings are creating clouds.
But you know what doesn’t create clouds? TACOS! There is an amazing taco place in Denver that seriously has the best tacos I’ve ever had. And when we recently went there for date night a few weeks back, I decided to man up and try their lengua taco. I was scared and creeped out but it was totally amazing. This is where that taco was inspired from! Because when Yellowstone Beef sent me some slabs of meat, including a giant tongue, I was very intimidated…mostly creeped out. The taco place made me step up and own that beef tongue. Ew. Just try it, ok?
Lengua Loaded Tacos
- Yield: 3-4 1x
Ingredients
For the tomatillo salsa
- 1–2 tablespoons ghee
- 10 tomatillos
- 3 jalapeños
- 2 garlic cloves
- juice of 2 limes
- 1/3 cup packed cilantro
- salt, to taste
For the shredded beef
- 1 beef tongue
- 3 garlic cloves
- enough beef broth to cover
- 1/2 white onion, sliced
- salt, to taste
For the pineapple mayo*
- 1 cup mayo (homemade or store bought)
- 1/2 cup diced pineapple
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
For the tacos
- Siete Foods Tortillas or homemade tortillas from Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook
- avocado, sliced
- radishes, thinly sliced
- pineapple, cubed small
- cilantro, roughly chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
- To help with time management on these, make your tomatillo salsa a day ahead so you don’t have to mess with it the day of. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos and jalapeños on the baking sheet. Use a brush to brush each pepper with a bit of ghee or coconut oil and then sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven to cook for 20-30 minutes, until charred on the outside. Let cool then run under cold water to help peel off and discard the skin and seeds of the jalapeños. Place all ingredients for the salsa in the food processor and blend until smooth. Place in the fridge to cool.
- Cut three deep holes in the beef tongue and press the garlic cloves in the holes. Place the tongue in the crockpot then cover with beef broth, onion and a healthy amount of salt. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Once cooked, remove from broth to let cool for a couple minutes then peel back the skin of the tongue with the tastebuds. Shred or chop (I did both) then set back in the broth to soak up more flavor while you finish other ingredients.
- Place all ingredients for the pineapple mayo into a blender and blend until completely smooth.
- Lastly, place a medium pan over medium heat. Once hot, add 1-2 tablespoons of ghee or coconut oil. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chopped and shredded tongue from the liquid and let it drain a bit (this will make sure that the tongue gets crispy in the pan) then place it in the pan in one single layer. Let cook for 2-3 minutes until browned and crispy on one side, then use a spatula to flip the meat to the other side and let cook for 1-2 more minutes, until crispy.
- Then build the tacos: tortilla, crispy tongue, tomatillo salsa, avocado slices, radishes, diced pineapple, pineapple mayo, and cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice on top! Serve immediately!
Notes
*Pineapple mayo does not keep for very long. Use this in 2-3 days before discarding.
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You Need To Make These Too:
Street Fish Tacos on page 148 in Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook
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you have a very good perspective on everything – being positive is one thing, prepared another, realistic another altogether. Let the contractors fix things, and don’t let this take away from the excitement of your wedding.
I came to comment on the awesome tacos – but couldn’t resist giving a stranger some e-support.
But the tacos…seriously….awesome!! SOLID
thanks for the support, erin!
I have to try these. I think I have 3 tongues sitting in my freezer and I’ve been putting off making them into… something. I’ve actually had tongue before – it’s like very tender beef. Delicious! This is happening over the weekend. Sending positive vibes to you – I know your wedding will turn out great!!
three?!? hahaha that must be taking up so much space! that’s why i made the tacos in the first place, i need more freezer room lol!
The same exact thing happened to our sewer line three weeks after we bought our house last year. Clay pipes are the worst and so are inspectors who don’t catch these things! Check with your local county government. Since this is such an issue where I live there was an executive order put into place where the bill for the repairs was added to our tax bill over 40 years and we didn’t have to pay out of pocket. We were lucky and one of the only people who was able to get this done before they got rid of the program, but it’s worth a shot to look into where you live. Good luck!
that’s awesome, i’ll look into that!
First, let me say I’m sorry for the crap you’re going through with your poop lines. I’m not a rah rah, it’ll get better type of person, so I’ll just say I’m sorry and soon you’ll dive into the next crisis. Congrats on the upcoming wedding.
I love your blog and your recipes, but this one, just yuck. I’m sitting at my desk eating mashed sweet potatoes with a hamburger/mushroom gravy and trying to read the recipe. I can’t. I could barely make it past the “lengua” then to read “…skin…with the taste buds…” I think I lost my appetite! Maybe I’ll try it with a crock potted roast or something.
Oh, glad you didn’t have to scoop poop from your laundry room…that woulda been a real shitty job!
i’m with you lol! i made these tacos when i had a really bad cold and had to deal with the tongue while feeling miserable and totally grossed out by it! if you ever want to try tongue for the first time, have someone else do the prepping for you lol!
Daw, as a fellow home owner I can sympathize! It just sucks sometimes. Just focus on fixing the immediate problem, and move to the next. I know this will sound like total crap, but things will work out in the end (life loves to throw a shit storm at you sometimes) . As for the beef tongue….nope! I love your food, but NOPE NOPE NOPE!
they always do, and my fiance is really good about remembering and reminding me of that. and i totally get it about the beef tongue, it was a big step for me to finally try it.
When we bought our house our home inspector missed soooooo many things. One of the major things we found out about 4 months after we moved in was our sewer line was FILLED with roots from a huge tree the previous home owners planted 4 feet from the sewer line. Being brand new homeowners we never even thought to have that checked because we just trusted that the home inspector would tell us things that might be a concern. Also, who the eff plants an effing tree 4 feet from a sewer line!?!? We found out about the sewer line when I was 3 months pregnant so my hormones were crazy and I spent a good week crying about how we were going to afford to pay for all this stuff and save for the new baby. Adulting sucks so hard sometimes. I hope your insurance will pay for the repairs!
i truly can’t imagine dealing with it while pregnant and worrying about the costs with a baby. so overwhelming!
I’m so sorry this is happening right now! And don’t feel the need to be like “I know I’m lucky, we have a house, we’re getting married” yada yada, you don’t have to minimize it or try to look on the bright side. You have a really terrible situation on your hands.
So you don’t feel so lonely- I always freak out over house stuff, because it ALWAYS takes longer than planned and ends up costing more money. I have a 1930s Denver house in a NE neighbor hood and every.single.project ends up being a way bigger deal than we ever expected. I had a meltdown in the middle of the carpet removal/old wood floors being refinished just six months ago, but now it seems like forever ago and we somehow paid the 40% cost increase and now we’re loving our floors.
One thing I’ve learned is to prepare myself for things to go wrong, because they ALWAYS do. Plan for it to cost more. Plan for it to take way longer.
We are having our entire backyard redone (patio, pergola, garden beds) next month and I feel like for everyone’s sanity I should just go live with a friend for that week b/c otherwise I’ll be hyperventilating and crying about the entire process, when they inevitably find/cause problems that cost more and have to be dealt with. I was just at a baby shower last weekend and we’re all 30ish with houses built in the 1930s and we ALL had stories. My friend who is having a baby next month had to replace her roof AND all the electrical stuff two months before giving birth. Fun times. At least we could all commiserate.
I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with this. You guys will be on the other side eventually, and then you’ll have a beautiful backyard. And you’ll at least be confident THIS particular problem can’t happen again.
i have absolutely no idea how people pay for crazy sh*t like this when they have children. that’s SO many expenses! how do you save for the next home disaster when you gotta pay for diapers?! ahhhhhh, so scary.
I swear our wedding year was the most stressful year of our lives. My husband had gone back to school and we were juggling one income and wedding bills. Now, if something comes up, it’s not like we have a deadline to meet with this huge be-all-end-all bill waiting for us.Of course, our wedding was completely WORTH IT, but not having the threat of “omgificantpaytheDJwhatwillwedo” hanging over our head has alleviated a lot of stress.
Jamaica will be awesome and you will be sooo happy once it’s all over. And you’re almost there!
TOTALLY! we know we have that final bill coming in and that’s totally looming over our heads now with everything else! the more i talk to people, the more i hear how people have crazy stressful stuff happen close to their wedding day. it must be the stress amplifying more stress!
Ugh! I’m so sorry to hear, good luck dealing with everything 🙁
I completely understand how you feel! When my fiance and I first moved into my house a little over a year ago, we had the same kind of “waterfall” of issues happen to our home. About a week after moving in, our cesspool filled up and we had to get it drained. After having it drained, it decided that because it was empty, it would collapse… literally collapse into the ground and create a crater where there WAS a walkway to our home. I found this out after stepping down the walkway to go to work one day and having my entire foot sink into the ground. Basically, I almost died by falling into a crater of shit. About a week later, I was getting ready for work and stepped down into the basement, into about a foot of water. It was then that I heard a waterfall in the laundry room. Apparently our holding tank had rusted out from the bottom causing the entire basement to flood. We had to rip up the rug… the couches got ruined, the pool table got ruined, and the walls were ruined. We were FREAKING out and I definitely cried, and probably on the toilet as well. At this point, I stopped keeping track of what was going on, but all I know is that a week after that I had to go to Home Depot to buy a mop and a pale because there was more poop water on the floor in the basement. I am not sure what the moral of me telling this story is….. but hopefully you know that …crying on a toilet I guess is totally normal!?
OH MY GOD, that is absolutely horrible. i think i should be counting my blessings that something like that didn’t happen. how awful! it makes you never want to buy an old home! so annoying!