Until  my family moved to Texas in 1998, I had never heard of a celebration called “Cinco de Mayo.” I didn’t know about the Mexican victory over the French in 1862, or even what dulce de leche is!  When we drove to Texas from Florida, I noticed that in Texas there were many lovely people from Mexico, whereas in northwest Florida in the late ’90s, we didn’t have any Mexican neighbors.  It seemed rather exotic to me!  And the vast number of Mexican restaurants here made me get really happy; in Florida, the specialty, obviously, is heavenly fresh seafood, but the Mexican eateries were just awful.  Awful.  Really.  (I hope that’s changed by now, for my Florida friends’ benefit.)  So I was just thrilled to see the many options here, and I had fun trying out different ones all over East Texas, and I’m not tired of it, yet.

I’ve…