!Fiesta~

In the spirit of Cinco de Maya, I decided it would be nice to whip up a fiesta for my parents and nephew. Found a nice knock off of a green Fiestaware dish at a local
antique store which put me right in the mood. That settles it. Shopped for my ingredients and prepared it all at my place and loaded up the car for the trip over to their house. No taco, No burrito. Fajitas Y Enchiladas. I went the extra half mile and mashed up a batch of guacamole, however realized too late that I was short on Jalapenos and couldn't do the Excita Frighta salsa without them. that's OK. You have to have had my delightful EF salsa to know what you are missing, and I don't think I ever made it for them. It would have been nice to have the Mexicali music but 'the game' was playing in the background which was festive enough for Dad. Mom was busy writing a letter to the lady who lives behind them. She's trying to get a tree cut down in our yard which is up behind the pool and is hoping that the woman will permit her to access the tree from their yard. no mention of the truck which will have to drive in their backyard.

" Are you going to offer her some kind of monetary compensation for letting you use her yard?"

" Well...I would let them use my yard for free."

" Yeah but does she know there's truck involved, and would you let anyone drive a truck into your yard to get to a tree on their property?"

" I didn't mention it in my letter... She knows there's trucks involved. She's been taking down trees for years. I did let them into my yard with a truck once.

" For what?"

"They were giving me the mulch from a tree they took down."

" Well...that's sort of different. That for your benefit. So maybe you could offer the mulch."

" I don't think she's gonna want the mulch. She probably won't be home when I'm having it done. She knows about the trucks..."

" I would remind her, Ma. She's going to come home to truck prints in her yard. Can you imagine..."

" Yeah. I don't want her suing me for damages. Ruining her septic."

" Exactly. Now are you ready for this fiesta?"

"I have to drop this letter off at the neighbors house."

So anyway, Mom walked around the block to drop off her letter. I hope it all works out for them. They are about to open the pool again. Same pool has been there for 40 years. Well different liners. Different water. I think they are using the same water now for 2 years...same water. I think every year ought to start out with fresh water.
Out with the old.

So anyway, the fiesta went over nicely. Ant is recovering from a stomach virus and his GF is trying to hook me up with a guy who does pyrotechnics. I am leery.

Excita Frighta Salsa ( Frighteningly Exciting Salsa)

6-8 of whatever kind of tomatoes you like. Chop 'em up. I usually use about 4-6 medium ones or more for a good batch.
One yellow onion chopped.
One Jalepeno (or small can) chopped. Either way you have to go easy with them, and don't rub your eyes at any time during, or after touching them. ( reference poem- Flaming eye of the Chili Man'- my friend burned his eyes while putting in his contact lenses, after washing his hands. You have to use a 5 part water to one part bleach solution on your hands to get the residual oils off
Cilantro chop the leaves.
Sea Salt/Fresh ground Pepper ( no pepper corns. We hate pepper corns)
Loin of Lime. Lime juice and lemon juice is absolutely vital to this recipe. You leave out these items and it's just not as frighteningly exciting.

ANOTHER OPTION IS TO DUMP ALL OF THESE INGREDIENTS INTO A FOOD PROCESSOR. That's fine. Better even. The less touching of the ingredients, the better. Go easy with the Jalepeno. you can ruin this if it's too hot. you have to add the salt/pepper and lime and try it...add a little of this, a little of that...keep trying it until you are frighteningly excited. Enjoy!

Flan is always nice for dessert, but I transferred it from one dish to another and wrecked it. You have to leave it set for an hour at least, and even then, you just have to turn it over. No transferring from one container to another. Ramikens are perfect for this sort of thing. I happened to have a few Creme Broulee ala Jello sitting around which went over well. French...Mexican... who cares? Fiesta!