I still have a blog

Well, gee, it seems to have been about 4 months since I last posted. That is a third of a year. Where has it gone? How has nothing happened that seemed worth posting about?

I will swiftly move on from that question in order to avoid slipping into existential-crisis mode, which is becoming a default state these days. Instead, I'll just try to think of some things to tell you about. I'm hoping that there will be more post-worthy things in the near future--on Sunday we're going on one of Paul's "Pocket Guide to Hell" tours about the Columbian Exposition so I'm anticipating some fun Chicago facts!

Now, here's something important:


Hello, Emilia! She was just born on the 5th, which makes her a Taurus. Tauruses are good people, in my experience (hi Mom! Laurel! Kendra! Patrick!)--you know, dependable. Emilia is also Jeff's niece, another category of good people, in my experience (hi Eliza!).

Jeff gets to go meet Emilia next weekend, because Katherine (mom/sister) conveniently has a graduation from her MSW program (cough*overachiever*cough). So you may be seeing some more photos soon (if Jeff remembers to take any this time).

Though not on the same scale as a new niece, Jeff also thinks you should watch this video.




It's like dancing, but on a bike. I'm personally kind of hard to please/easy to bore with tricks-on-bikes stuff, but this one is mesmerizing. (Except, don't watch it if you're feeling kind of woozy. There's a lot of fish-eye. Speaking as someone who knows.)

The other thing I thought I'd tell you about is our AMAZING SALSA recipe. We started making our own salsa last summer, and it's hard to imagine we ever bought it from the store. Homemade salsa is easy! Delicious! Cheap! (I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm trying to make up for lack of content in this post by using exclamation points. And capital letters, now that I think of it. Well, I'm just going to go with it, if you don't mind.) And it turns a steady diet of quesadillas into something special. We will never go back.

We make two kinds of salsa: green and red. This is what the red looks like.



The green looks pretty much the same, just green.

Here is how you make them. I'm not so good with recipes, but it's a forgiving process.

Red Salsa

1 big can tomatoes*
1/2 onion
big handful cilantro
jarred hot peppers, to taste**
1-3 T orange juice concentrate, to taste***
cumin, to taste
salt, to taste

Process tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and peppers in food processor until desired texture. Stir in other ingredients, tasting appropriately. I usually use large quantities of cumin and salt, in the end. Also sometimes I add more onion or cilantro, or peppers. Really the can of tomatoes is the only definite.

*Jeff's partial to the Muir Glen Fire Roasted, but sometimes the smokiness is a little much for me. If you're using whole tomatoes you may want to leave most of the juice in the can so the salsa doesn't get runny.

**I've been roasting my own peppers and storing them in vinegar (vinegar makes hot peppers less hot! Who knew?), but just recently learned that they SELL hot pepper in vinegar at the store. However, the ones we got (the kind of cheap Serranos that are packed with carrots) were not that flavorful, just very spicy. We're not spice fiends, so we might need to find another alternative--suggestions? The homemade ones are really delicious, but somewhat labor-intensive. And PAINFUL, if you don't wear gloves. I recommend wearing gloves.

***Seriously. OJ is the magic ingredient. We learned this from a jar of Frontera salsa. Take it from Bayless. You could also use lime juice or vinegar plus sugar, which is what we used to do in our benighted pre-OJ period.


Green Salsa

1-2 pounds tomatillos
big handful of cilantro
1/2 onion
jarred peppers (raw jalapeno, serranos, etc are also fine in this recipe)
salt

Peel husks off tomatillos, and boil them until they turn dull-colored (10 min.) Drain, then put them in the food processor with everything else, and adjust flavorings as above.

The Green is my favorite; I think Jeff likes the Red. But it's nice to go back and forth, so you can appreciate each one even more.

Anyway, do it. It will change your life. Or at least your Mexican dinners. For us, that's pretty much the same thing.

Back soon, I hope!