Awesome Cooking Playlist: Quartetto Cetra spiced with Rodrigo y Gabriela

I love to cook to music.  Usually I just listen to whatever music is on my current playlist.  Occasionally though, I take a little more time and put some thought into my cooking music.  This weekend I cooked up the fajitas Anne Marie posted last week and found myself completely engulfed in a 1940’s Italian jazz band called Quartetto Cetra.


For anyone who is a fan of the show Breaking Bad, the song “Crapa Pelada” by Quartetto Cetra was used in what is quite possibly one of my favorite scenes from a television show.  In the season finale of Season 3 (“Full Measure”) the quirky lab assistant, Gale, enthusiastically sings along to this song as he putters around his apartment watering his plants and making the perfect cup of tea with his laser temperature gauge.  It’s an absolutely endearing scene as it’s the first the audience sees of Gale outside the “lab”.  (Sidenote: If you don’t watch Breaking Bad, you really should start immediately.)  He also appeared to just truly be enjoying himself.  So, of course, I became very interested in finding the song.  After spending too many hours searching through Breaking Bad forums, I found the answer and became completely intrigued  by Quartetto Cetra.  

Sunday evening, after I set out all my fajita-making ingredients, I scrolled through my catalog of music trying to decide what would pair well with my meal preparation.  Quartetto Cetra immediately came to mind, but I also wanted to infuse my playlist with some more current music.  The Mexican rhythmic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela was the perfect solution.  

It was a beautiful summer evening.  Michigan summers can often drip with humidity; on Sunday though, the temperature had dropped just slightly and it was cool enough that I could open the windows and let fresh air inside.  My cat, Ms Jackson, perched herself on one of our kitchen bar stools and soaked up the sun while she watched me cook (she’s adorable and I guarantee this is far from the last mention of her I’ll make).  The Quartetto Cetra/Rodrigo y Gabriela playlist I created brought all those elements together and made for a relaxing cooking experience.  

And the fajitas?  I cannot emphasize enough how amazingly they turned out.  Seriously.  Go open your windows, turn up the volume on this playlist, and make some fajitas.  Garnish with Corona and lime.