Fajitas Don’t Just Grow On Trees, Ya Know.
Gilberto Escaramilla works for the Juvenile Justice Department in San Benito, Texas, which is about ten miles from the border.
He took a day off to go to the doctor and, just by luck of the appointment date, it was discovered that Gilberto has moonlighted with a taxpayer-funded fajita business for the past nine years. He would order loads of fajitas priced anywhere between $2,500 and $30,000 for the Juvenile Justice Department and sell those fajitas on the open market, pocketing the money.
In case you are considering a money-making side business, please allow me to inform you that stealing fajitas is far more lucrative than you suspected.
After Labatt Food Service and the County Auditor’s Office provided more shipping documents in the form of invoices, vouchers and purchase orders, the unit concluded that Escaramilla had stolen $1,251,578 worth of fajitas, the Brownsville Herald reported.“
[Escaramilla] would literally, on the day he ordered them, deliver them to customers he had already lined up,” Saenz told the publication. ‘We’ve been able to uncover two of his purchasers, and they are in cooperation with the investigation.”
The Juvenile Justice Department announced that they would review and establish “procedures, controls and safeguards to avoid a recurrence of this type of situation.”
Awwww … a day late and $1.2 million short.
Thanks to Pia for the heads up.
For nine years, Gil was jacking groceries out the back door to the tune of $1.2 million and no one suspected a thing? The entire lot of them needs enhanced polygraphing, starting with the sticky fingered accounting department, Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, and Texas General Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
1Undoubtedly someone in the Trump administration is wondering how to get away with the same trick using, say, reservations at the Trump Hotel.
2I’d be OK with it if Trump paid for the border wall with fajitas, as long as he got caught in the end too.
3I’ve gotta say that is the most cock-eyed fraud story I have ever heard! What? Did you say it could only happen in Texas?
4And the kids in jail are wondering why they never get fajitas.
Texans, please enlighten me. At the Tex-Mex restaurants around here, I’ve seen fajitas delivered to other tables hot and sizzling. How do you put them in cartons by the truckload? (We do have a Little Mexico a few miles down the road, but I don’t think I’ve seen fajitas there yet.)
5Rhea,
Since I lived much of my life a few miles around San Benito, TX, and worked there often, I’ll explain a bit below. The dining room in the old downtown San Benito Stonewall Jackson Hotel had some damned good fajitas (and breakfasts, etc).
PS, such examples of financial and political corruption are very much just ‘biz as usual’ in the Valley.
Another notable incident that happened in San Benito was an irate wife who ‘Bobbitized’ her drunken cheatin’ husband around 0’dark thirty one morning. I also have many other mostly non-pub tales of the area too, heheh… San Benito used to have a small community hospital right on 77, I guess it closed under the weight of it’s losses.
Fajitas:
Fajitas are called a “skirt steak” cut to most ‘Murikans, a previously very lowly regarded beef product. Often not even available in most places as it was considered to be mostly commercially usable (nobody would buy it retail) as one of the sources of hamburger, not as a suitable table steak.
How little did they know that with proper preparation, a fajita/skirt steak can be used to make some of the tastiest meat you’ve ever eaten. The fajita can be BBQ’ed, pan seared or broiled. Preparation begins with trimming the cut (bought in large strips– 3-10 lbs each), removing the tough outer membrane, then marinating the cut(s), usually overnight. The marinades are usually a very individual closely-guarded recipe to many, but our grocery store shelves stock many brands (yum).
Cooking fajitas can be a long ‘low and slow’ BBQ process, or a quick sear/broil with a slow cooking period.
I’m sure there are lots of recipes out there, but beware of those Yankee ones, they don’t always get it right (see my note about the fajita Wiki page below).
Today other meats besides beef fajitas/skirt steaks are labeled “fajitas”, such as “chicken fajita tacos”, etc.; referring more to the “strip-like” cut of the meat, and it’s marinaded prep.
Our HEB chain groceries sell tons of fajitas (other stores too), both plain cuts, and pre-marinaded ones. Also fully cooked BBQ ones, looking like a half log plank, and pre-sliced, about $22-60 each depending on size (recently ~$11/lb, used to be ~$6-7/lb not long ago); some of which which I’m having for supper, mmm-mmmm.
Mebbe I’ll explain cooking and enjoying “molletas” sometime, another heavily marinaded, slow-cooked, delicious meat, even tastier than fajitas. ;]
A “Fajita Strip” can also refer to our Austin Rethug imposed, gerrymandered, long, thin US House Districts, which start at the Rio Grande and run North in fairly narrow strips for close to 200 miles.
Y’all really ought to take a vacation down here to South Texas, there’s a lot to see and EAT– the real Tex-Mex stuff–, seafood, TX BBQ, Czech, etcetc. Lots of other stuff too, history and whatall. Between San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Harlingen/Brownsville/McAllen/Laredo, one can find so much to do. /tourismbureaubull :] You even see a giant wildfire or an Eagle Ford Shale installation blow up (both happen with some regularity).
Skirt steak (good info):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skirt_steak
** Caution, the “Fajita” link below is riddled with misinformation. I wish I had time and motivation to correct much of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fajita
Mollejas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Mollejas&title=Special%3ASearch
A very unique place in the US, much in the news nowadays:
6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande_Valley
Sandridge, thanks for the explanation, though as I am vegetarian it was a bit more info than I needed. I accept that “fajita” can refer to the cut of meat and not just to the sizzling entree.
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