Carne Asada

Last week I had to stay in Bradenton, FL while one of our crews did some repair work on a site we produced in 2008. Unfortunately, the problems with the job were keeping us from getting more projects, so I had to stay until everything was completed and acceptable. Since I was staying so long, I looked into vacation rentals in the area. I was lucky to find a condo for rent at Bradenton Beach. It was right across the street from the Gulf of Mexico. The condo complex contained 5 other condos, but mine was the only one occupied for the week I was there. I had the place along with the beach view, a grill and a pool to myself.
I worked with the crew on Wednesday and Thursday. I promised the crew that if we could finish the job by the end of the day on Thursday, we would have carne asasda at the condo I was renting.

We did finish on Thursday, and later that evening, the crew drove to the condo with all of the ingredients for an authentic carne asada. They picked up "fajita" beef, salsa verde, napol (cactus), jalapenos, cebollitos (medium sized green onions), chorizo sausage and lots of fresh white corn tortillas. Cirilo worked his magic on the beef. He soaked it in lots of lime juice and beer for about an hour before it got cooked. It was actually very tender and you could really taste the marinade.
I had picked up some Modelo Especial on my way from the jobsite earlier. They brought the cooler and ice.



We spent most of the evening trying to help each other get through rough translations of Spanish to English and English to Spanish, listening to Spanish music on my laptop and stuffing our faces with all of the goodness Max was serving from the grill.

And I think we went through approximately 42 cold cervezas. We got to watch the sunset over the Gulf, and overall we had a great time.
Getting up the next morning and driving 2 hours to Orlando was not the funnest thing I have ever done, but the late night was worth it. I love getting to spend quality time with our paint crews. They are amazing people with equally amazing stories. They inspire me to learn more about them and their culture.