thinking caps

I hope you have good thinking caps because you are going to need them otherwise enjoy some archives. Imagine chorizo raviolis because thats what I would be showing you - yup a home made chorizo and a little bufala mozzarella wrapped up in wonton skins and boiled until glorious. My local cheese shop has 7 ounce bufala on sale for 2 bucks. Can you believe it 2 dollars for 7 ounces of perfectly ripe soaking in its own brine delicate cheese hence I bought 4. We have had caprese salad up the wazoo so I thought I would use a little to cook with. These were not only good looking but good tasting too.

Update: banana has caved and is willing to let me use her camera but only if she supervises....problem here is I cook when no one is home.

Cheese report:



we went to a party that had kids. (kid)



the kids tolerated each other on a social level. (they actually had fun they are just 'concentrating' while watching spiderman on the ipod)



Lucky as we are we found our way home.

(these are not my photos these are bananas)

warranty

Lets see what happens with my camera. Granted I do use it a lot but it should be made for that. Less than a year later I am sending my, I thought it was nice, casio x75, sure its worth $149 now but I got it on sale a year ago for a sale price of $169 I rock I know...camera - yup my camera- gonna send it back to the 'fix it place' while I ponder just buying a new one (for a buck fifty) and making this one my 'camping' camera as I wade through the muck of 2 hundred dolla'cameras.

Oh....yeah...

I cant post with photos for a while unless I borrow the pups camera or bananas and I dont see any of that likely - since they 'tolerate'me and my blog and would never give me disc space on their units.

Ran another camera to the ground. This one looks so clean and perfect still.

Reminds me of this rental car my brother and I had back in 88' traveling from Paris to Spain and he wasnt drinking and I was as he drove way too fast trying to keep up freaking me out the entire time. The car didnt make it. We drove through one night and the first morning we had to exchange the car since we fried it. Just like my camera. The difference here is my brother probably 'overdrove' the car. We admitted that when we made the exchange and garnered a 'faster' unit - so the guy said, half suspicious in his caring way. We were moderately pleased with our replacement 'ride' as low horse power as it was...... a lot like my camera! Wait not this camera, this one is a good one it was the previous one that this one replaced that is at the crux of the matter. It - that one - the other - or whatever. I refuse to spend too much on things that break too easy, like sunglasses and portable cameras. I went from 99 to 149 and this is what I got. BTW the kid is still using the 99 one. Well those two cars and these two cameras have given me plenty - 0- memories thats all I am trying to say.


So see ya when I see ya.

one twenty

One hundred and twenty, thats the amount of posts until I have exactly a years worth of 'daily' posts. Seems like a lot and a little all at once. January first was a while ago. I am all discombobulated when it comes to the exact count since I have some months with more than 30 and some with less. I guess this means I have earned some 'vacation time' since I am ahead of the 'curve' a little. I am certainly not more than 5 days ahead, and once you fall behind there is no catching up, Five days away here we come.

sexy taco

Food porn. People like to say that as much as 'much' like 'food porn much' for example. Taste Prints and Flavor Steps all get jelly'd up in some gelatinous mess. Its cool that people care about their food but you cant care that much if a 'product' is part of your ingredients! Can of this or packet of that...geez way to put small farmers out of business. Food Porn is a result of the natural combination of two compatible 'natural' ingredients, it can be three or four or an entire orgy of flavors but it originates in the coupling of two like minded flavors hit by some salt and pepper.


One Hot Taco



Its a lot like 'kiss my taco' isnt it?

breakfast of champions

Michael Phelps has redefined what a breakfast of champions is with his enormous caloric intake but in my world it is only a couple of things that constitute this said breakfast. Wheaties, of course being the most normal first choice since they coined the phrase, Posole with menudo is one of my main choices for a championship breakfast followed very quickly by easy eggs, buttery grits and fried catfish. The first time I had this delightful breakfast was about 20 years ago at Wilsons. It was a new idea that I was reluctant to try but I am glad I did - I loved it.



Upon revision, I come back here and see a blushing monkey.
This breakfast joins the 'revered' world of exotic breakfasts as - the blushing monkey - It looks just like that - go on - squint....look out 'toad in a hole' were comin' at ya'.


This version is a tad different as I didnt have catfish but I did pick-up some plump and juicy cod that I used instead - apparently I like a lot of fresh ground pepper. Try it, you'll like it.

over it

I think I am over being over myself. I was talking to a good friend the other day and she said she was thinking of something on the same line. Its not like it sounds. I am still very much caught up in my general 'goings on' its that I 'want' to be 'over it' if that can ring a bell. These last few days of me just putting 'gripe'on my posts was enough for any-one - if not someone then me. School starts in a week. Summer is almost over. Hunting season starts. I like me some Game.







Street meat

stat counters

I cant even figure out who I am let alone decipher a 'stat counter'. There have been times when I have been told that I have upward of 4000 'hits' per week, and that becomes my goal. Then I skid all over the place wondering how. Then I skid even more wondering how to do it again. Then I skid some more and my 'hits' are down to 788. Who is the wiser? I loathe stat counters. I dont care how or why I just want to know when and even that is elementary.

long cool

I am rocking out to FCF - fully clothed fridays - brought to you by this brainchild.

hard to believe

Its hard to believe I could ever get tired of 'me, me, me' but is true, and then you realize its like a wedding. 'How is it like a wedding' you ask? Well the wedding is not so much for the bride and groom as it is for everyone else. The bride and groom go home and say 'wow what happened' and they they recount stories of what they remember, usually its the antics of someone else that stood out. These are the antics of me and you all get to see them. 'What antics?' You ask since I hide behind whatever curtain I can find. 'These antics', I say convinced I am showing antics. I have mentioned in the past that if I ever told you the tangled web I live in you would never believe me so I do not even go there, I have untangled a lot of it since I have a kid now but some of it remains permanently knotted. We do have fun most of the time that is for sure. I probably have the most fun and then the kid comes in second with banana complaining that she gets the short stick every time (no not that stick she gets that one more than most), which is not true she just likes to complain.



Here you can listen to my awkward giggle as we pretend to live on a block where they are shooting a TV pilot. (it was only partial pretend since banana has an apartment on this block) The kid and I walked right through the middle of it. What am I teaching him?



Going back the other way. We arent the only ones. This is our neighborhood I see other neighbors that dont live on this block either, doing the same thing.




Compare and contrast. This is the grafitti on the adjacent roofs, ours was this bad until a 'clean' spray painter wanted to do his thing. Which is better? I vote for organized graffiti everytime.

what ever

How often I have thought of giving up the blog. Its the same as me giving up my journals. I just dont do it. The blog takes more energy. Why? I will tell you why. This is a journal that 'competes' with the other journals out there. Your journal, my journal, any journal is placed side by side with many other journals. Its the 'what if my journal sucks' deal. Many out there are very good at therapy talk and they spit it out like used gum. Many more are adept at the remedies and they spit those out like warm tea. Me, I like to live every moment like it was my last and then when that wasnt the case I wake up and do it again and again and again. I can hardly schedule anything let alone blog themes like Manic Mondays and whats on your agenda Wednesdays. Its too cute that people do this. I Like that they do. It isnt really a journal as much as it is a participation thing but thats good too. I think the only one I can swing is FCF...fully clothed fridays.....lets see if I can 'open up' enough.

"yup just enough"

Mint chocolate chip float with cream soda in a flower vase.


This should be spams slogan but it isnt it is mine....

registered trade mark - 'yup just enough'

Imagine the little circle with the R in the middle, thats mine.

I own 'yup just enough' as a registered trademark.

As I use "yup just enough" I hope you will help me 'police' others and not allow any other use of "yup just enough" so that legal matters can remain minimal.

more rellenos

I didnt talk enough about my tasty chiles rellenos, and while I have made them before and I make them often nothing beats the ones I have now.



These were some plump italian peppers that I had roasted, peeled and stuffed with a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, cheddar and crispy cooked bacon. I flour, egg, flour breaded them and fried them fast to keep a light golden color. These pictured are actually cold from the fridge waiting to be heated up for my lunch.



The chile sauce is the kicker in this case. I browned up some ground lamb, added 5 cloves of crushed garlic and several roasted, peeled and chopped New Mexico green chiles some chicken broth and let it simmer.



Well simmered chile poured over the rellenos with a handful of grape tomatoes makes this one handy lunch.

kick back and relax

For those of you out there concerned, be concerned no more. If you often dreaded the fact that you would not be able to finish all of it and then it would just go to waste a solution is now here.....



Spam singles. Yup just enough. I know there are some mighty happy people out there and that makes me happy. Spam away now without a care in the world. "just rip and tear your way to crazy tasty town" (keep in mind that Hormel foods is trying to corner the 'crazy tasty' market...)




Sometimes all the food we eat is a bland color and this iceberg wedge and chiles rellenos satisfied that need.

Let me add some clarity here...I dont like spam, I have tried to eat it at various times in my life and each and every time I just dont like it...I know some people swear by it but if I had to eat it I would just swear at it.

jicama

Not too many people know what is jicama. I googled jicama and the results were just way too much.



My kid, in all is regular-ness, suggested we google, google- just to see. Well we googled google and we didnt get jicama.




Some guy from Canada graffiti'd my roof.



I like what he did.


the hands of banana

I like this rooster beak too, I mean really who doesnt like 'pico de gallo'




Then we had way too much corn.

sneak peak

Is peek-a- boo, the right spelling? Then its sneak a peek. Here are some zucchini rolls that I tried for the first time. This was last year..click if you dare (should I spell some other word wrong to entice debby and tanya?)



ready for grilling



on the grill pan



lightly grilled

The rolls were stuffed with fresh ricotta and a tangy sheeps milk romano then a swift grate of nutmeg and salt and pepper...oh and the zuchini bits that were too awkward to roll were chopped up with some garlic and mixed with the cheeses.

UPDATE:



This is the salad I made out of the rolls topped with a salsa of grape tomatoes and fresh corn in a quick shower of homemade vinegar and sea salt.

kid dog

Some of my greatest inspirations come from trying to entertain a kid with food and then my kid kicks in with his own. Remember the strawberry peanut butter sandwich? Well this is its cousin the 'banana dog'. Peanut butter, whole banana, honey and cinnamon on a hot dog bun.



He made the first one with sliced banana but decided whole was better.

not average

This is most certainly not your average chile. I have had all kinds of chiles, white chiles, poblano chiles, mexican chiles, chiles from other places, olympic chiles - your neighbors chiles pretty chiles pretty much ALL kinds of chiles and the one 'unifying' factor here is YOU all make your own - chili- good ol'fashioned home cooked chili - it has beans or it doesnt it goes on fries or its with a hot dog or fritos - it doesnt matter its chili. I eat chili with hot dogs all the time. Chile is the fruit itself. I eat this fruit almost every day in some form or another, ususally as chile. Today its Pueblo Style. I learned this one when I was probably 19 or so when I went to the home of one of my classmates from UNM and her husband was from my local pueblo. Turns out I knew him, not really, our grandmothers knew each other (I am only 9 or ten at this point) and his grandmother knew my grandmother. Well my grandmother knew his grandmother and they sent my dad to her pueblo stand when I was around 10 to buy blue corn meal, blue corn meal that we would take home and make delicious atole - thats how I remembered him the blue corn meal stand guy. Anyway this woman in my poetry class in college seemed to stand out and since we stood out together we became friends. She invited me to her home. Her husband was my grandmothers friends grandson. She married the blue corn meal stands grandson, I couldnt believe it. Yup me and this guy were grandsons in law or something like that. We went to his house a few times for dinner and I learned how to make chile his way, as a balance he also knows my way, just in case it seemed like you were wondering. Small World it is in New Mexico.

Pueblo Chile

dried chile that has been soaked in hot water.
rehydrated mushrooms that you found last winter
fresh corn from the cob from this year
meat (pork neckbone in this case)
fresh local tomatoes
garlic
onions
salt
pepper

Cook the meat till crispy then add the garlic and rehydrated chile well chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and the ingredients and sediment from the liquid used to rehydrate the dried things then cover in water or broth if you have it and simmer for one hour.



huala its chile! (thats voila for you Deb)

Serve Your Favorite Way.

Oh, I forgot, that chile, that red chile way up there is so busting hot that it is.......well too hot and we didnt use it.

"scallop" gnocchi

I made these little pillowy treats in the shape of scallops for no reason what-so-ever and served them in a pesto broth.

my gnocchi:

2 large russet potatoes peeled and boiled.
1/2 a cup of sifted flour
1 large egg
salt
pepper
1/2 a cup of Gruyère cheese, grated.

Put the potatoes through a ricer



Gently, ever so gently mix the egg, flour, cheese, salt & pepper with the riced potatoes till a soft dough forms, quickly and without handling too much shape into little gnocchis, I made a scallop shape. Drop into boiling vegetable broth and cook until they float - about 1 or two minutes and serve. I ladled a little of the broth into a bowl and then I spooned on some fresh pesto and a drizzle of olive oil, for no reason what-so-ever.

NYC

its a luau

Well not really a luau its just pork ribs wrapped in banana leaves and cooked ever so slowly on a barbeque grill.



The ribs sat in a bath of fresh garlic, chile, sugar, salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic from a jar (thus including vinegar) garlic powder, onion powder and olive oil for 10 hours,



before they were wrapped in the banana leaves and then aluminum foil whereby they then rested in the fridge another 24 hours. Fold over and then over and then wrap tightly in foil.



These are the rib tips and the trimmings that received the same pampering



Two hours on medium to low heat on a covered grill produce the juiciest, most tasty ribs you will ever eat.




I like to unwrap them at the end and then crispy them up a little straight on the grill. You can shake the bone right out of them...trust me (if not I will post a video of the 'shake')

sweet corn

You know its summer when everywhere you turn people are talking about corn, $3 for 14 ears is amazing when I paid $2 for 5 not so great ears, but no matter we enjoyed it none-the less. When it is this fresh at this time of year it really doesnt need anything so I dont even bother husking them.



I put them on a hot griddle inside, or a hot grill outside and let the husk toast while it steams the sweet juicy corn on the inside.



Different cultures put different things, some people like mayonaise and parmesean cheese, some like butter and chile, some like butter chile and parmesean, some just like salt, however you eat it just be sure to make extra for me.

point is

I wish I had some witty blog where every sentence was a catchy phrase where every photo was a lusty one, a blog where I scratched through words like fuck you and replaced them with pardon my french, but I dont. I have this blog. My blog, a blog with my name in it. Sure I can call it anything I want but the URL remains the same and thats exactly what it is - a little bit of me. I have thought long and hard about 're-emerging' as a different me but it just wont work. What would I call 'me'? Everyone I know and more I dont know are 'privy' to this blog. The idea that bloggers go 'private' is kind of QUEER to me. I guess there are a lot of liars out there.