Los Angeles In Early September

gravlox on potato pancakes

fancy bodega

regional chips

beautiful but incomplete and therefore unacceptable mojito (no lime juice)

drive-thru

Green Chiles

Santa Fe, NM- We bought two bags (the size of garbage bags) of New Mexican green chiles grown in Hatch, New Mexico. Purchased in burlap sacks, they are then dumped into appropriately sized turning roasters stationed in the parking lot or wherever one buys the chile. The skin of the chiles becomes black and blistered, and the smell is smoky, powerful, a sign of fall in New Mexico. It gets in the blood. The steaming chiles are then corralled into plastic bags to be taken home for further preparation. The chiles are roasted and left to steam some so that the skin can be removed (it is not easily digestible) and so the flavor of the chile is enhanced and the texture useful. Once in the kitchen, (wearing gloves) the skins are peeled off and all the seeds and some veins removed. We then bagged and froze all thirty pounds. (about seven hours). The chile can then be easily transported, defrosted and used in sauces, stews, quiches, breads, on cheeseburgers, sandwiches, eggs, fries, tamales, enchiladas, and honestly anything and everything else.

Fried Rice Soothe Us

Fall Start

After a hectic morning arriving at the airport to be told I was there a day early, and a false start in a cab ride home with a furious and scary driver, actually getting in a cab that took me somewhere near my house left me needing some comfort. Tucked in at my local corner store awaiting a reliably wonderful egg sandwich, I drank some coffee and watched the neighborhood characters. The cat that lives at the corner store approached me directly and hopped up on my lap and started kneading like it was his job. Though I'm allergic to cats I could hardly protest as "Oreo" leaned against me, collapsed and went to sleep. A neighbor came over to greet the cat and express his jealousy since Oreo had betrayed him this morning. It was one of those times, though the weather was good and I was all ready to go that in fact I was right where I needed to be.