Taco Tuesday: How LiquidSpace Does Team Building

For the ultimate team get together we went to Jason’s, our Head of Marketing, for Taco Tuesday. He graciously offered us his kitchen and dining room, and utensils to boot. As a distributed team we opted for some hands-on cooking rather than the typical jaunt to a bar. Cooking brings people together and cultivates a culture of teamwork and cross-departmental cohesion. Everyday we build our product, customer experience and company together. Cooking together allowed us to be creative and productive, but in a new way.

It turned out that with a little organization, and a lot of faith we had some fine cooks among us. Ricki, our Growth Manager, set the mood with some Post Modern Jukebox, and we got to work, chopping, chatting, and passing the one sharp knife around, until a colorful spread was set on the table. Andy, the Product Marketing Director blended Margaritas, and we were accommodating taste testers until the proportions were just right.

One thing we were extra excited by but mostly skeptical about were the churros. See Sasha, our design lead, added this as a request to our planning spreadsheet (of course there was a planning spreadsheet, what kind of team taco Tuesday do you think we’re running here?) and Andy didn’t back down from the challenge. Since it took us a while to identify what a pastry bag was, this pastry challenge seemed insurmountable. But no, Ivy, our design intern, Sasha and Andy delivered and we had the most amazing churros to dip into spicy Mexican chocolate. Best I’ve ever tasted. Mmmmmm…

That evening, bellies stuffed and smiles on our faces we shared many a hug.

Intrigued? Here’s how to get your Taco Tuesday on:

1. Find a gracious host with some amount of kitchen space, or rent a commercial kitchen
2. Put together a theme, and get your team to select what they’ll be making
3. Buy the ingredients
4. Get to work
5. Enjoy!

Here are Taco recipes from the LiquidSpace team to get you started…

Shishito Peppers by Jason

1. Coat the bottom of a pan with vegetable oil
2. Add Shishito peppers + a pinch of salt
3. Fry on high heat until the peppers are soft and have some golden grill marks
4. Toss in sea salt

Sasha’s Fish Tacos

1. Take 8 filets of white fish (tilapia, cod, halibut would do — they’re all light fishes and soak up the flavors very well)
2. Make the marinade — combine some salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper powder, celery seeds, and whatever else you fancy with ¼ cup water — stir well
3. In a large ziplock bag, combine the fish with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, marinade, and juice of 1 medium lime
4. Zip the bag, shake it up to coat all of the filets, let sit for 15–20min
5. Coat a large pan with olive oil and fry the filets on medium high. They’ll cook super fast, only about 3 minutes per side, or until the fish gets nice and golden
6. Transfer on a plate, squeeze more lime juice on top. To fancy it up with more color and flavor, sprinkle some chopped cilantro on top and add lime slices to your dish — Yum!

Sasha’s Purple Coleslaw

Again, super simple but adds a nice pop of color (ahem, crunch!) to the table.

1. Slice half of a purple cabbage into a large bowl
2. Add shredded carrots
3. Add salt, pepper, a bit of olive oil, and, of course, plenty of lime juice
4. Stir it using 2 forks and use as a topping for your tacos

Elena’s Guacamole

For those who love Avocado (umm…like everyone!)

Ingredients:

• 4 Avocados
• ½ white onion
• ¼ bunch of cilantro
• 1 lime
• 1 jalapeño
• Sea salt to taste
• Tomatoes (optional)

Instructions:

1. Grab a medium bowl. Cut the Avocados in half, use a knife to score the flesh, and a spoon to scoop it out into the bowl.
2. Cut the onion and cilantro into tiny pieces and add to the avocado.
3. Juice the lime and add to the bowl.
4. Cut of the jalapeño stem, scoop out the seeds, and cut the flesh into tiny pieces to add to the bowl.
5. Add sea salt and more lime juice to taste.
6. Combine and mash to your chunkiness levels.
7. (optional) At this point you can choose to add some diced tomatoes, just remove any excess juice.

Ricki’s Ground Beef Tacos

Keep it simple with the taco filling.

Ingredients:

• Ground beef and
• Your favorite taco seasonings (¼ teaspoon each: cumin, chile powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper) mixed together.

Instructions:

1. Brown the meat
2. Add seasoning and ¼ cup of water
3. Let cook uncovered on simmer for 5 min…and voila!
4. Add into your favorite taco shell or on top of a salad

Eric also made some shrimp tacos, the recipe for which he found online.

Originally published at blog.liquidspace.com.