Rolling Through Spring

I received many meals for a month following Lizard's passing. The best one, of course, was the gift basket with soup, rolls and cookies.

But there were other memorable offerings, too. I received a loaf of homemade cherry bread, similiar to raisin bread, but with cherries. I'm sorry for not photographing it. (Above is the last loaf of homemade bread I made for Lizard.)

One of my cycling friends brought me a tray of spring rolls from a nearby restaurant to which I'd never been. I'm not even sure I'd ever had a spring roll before. The peanut sauce that came with the meal was addictive.

I wished I had discovered this restaurant while Lizard could enjoy it, too. I'm not sure he would have liked it as much as I did, but I do wish we'd been able to try the menu together.

As a result of this new sensation, I decided I need to learn to make spring rolls. I could not find most of the ingredients at my local little grocery store. I found rice paper, ginger and sprouts in a neighboring town. (I grow my own sprouts, but I don't have quite enough yet.)

My first attempt was a total bust. I followed the directions on the back of the package of rice paper, which said to use hot water to soften the wrappers. My first spring rolls were more like spring salad or spring mess. The wrappers did not wrap; they just tore and left little goodies all over the counter and kitchen floor. I should have taken a photo.

I looked up "how to make spring rolls easier". I found a suggestion to use cold water and begin before the paper fully softens. My second batch worked much better. I think it's going to take some practice, but I was able to enjoy my second set of spring rolls at the table without making such a mess. Next, I'm going to try making my own homemade peanut sauce, but with almond butter instead of peanut butter.

UPDATE: I tried again over the weekend, and one of my spring rolls actually looks like a spring roll!!! I'm getting the hang of this!

Tweet

Friday Fantastic

Tweet

Chilly Chile on my Chili

Hatch chiles taste good on just about anything. I even love chiles in some deserts. Oooooooh, and in hot chocolate!!! With cinnamon... YUM!

We just spent a week with Lizard's mom, who isn't a big fan of spicy hot. All that was available to dress up my meals was mild salsa. First chance I got, I bought a jar of more suitable black bean and corn spicy salsa from the nearby grocery store. (And which Lizard and I used completely up by the end of the week!)

I learned salsa is pretty darned good on scrambled eggs! I guess I should have known this all along because I LOVE spicy breakfast burritos (with no meat).

I used to roll my eyes at my kids when they smothered their eggs with ketchup. Who's the crazy one??? I drench mine, in essence, with spicy ketchup!!!

Tweet

Tex-Mex Roots

I grew up frequently enjoying enchiladas, sopapillas, burritos and tacos. With lots of Hatch chile, of course!

Now Lizard and I have our own at-home Mexican salad bar, burrito bar, taco bar (and not just on Tuesdays) or torilla soup bar at least four times a week, usually more like five or six days a week. Italian typically fills the rest of the monthly menu.

I also put great effort into growing my own spices, peppers and onions all year long, and I do my best to grow my own tomatoes during the summer.

Chili has been a mainstay at our house. We (obviously) haven't had the annual Super Bowl chili cook-off at work for two years now. I realized the other day it's been too long since I made my own chili. So I pulled out six varieties of beans and fired up the crock pot. It's huge, so we had plenty to share, and the neighbors said it was awesome.

It had been at least three years since I made my own homemade chili mac. Oh, boy, was this latest batch a hit!

My mom got me hooked on chili and eggs when I was very young. I hadn't made that in probably more than a decade. Lizard doesn't eat eggs, so I rarely make them. He was game to try his favorite breakfast of biscuits and gavy with chili while I scrambled up one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long time.

The pièce de résistance, though, was something new to my kitchen. I'd thoroughly enjoyed Navajo fry bread at a Truth or Consequences restaurant decades ago and at the end of our 2015 Ride the Rockies. But I've never had or made homemade Indian fry bread, even though the first 28 years of my existence was a hop, skip and a jump away from the Mescalero Indian reservation.

I don't know why I was so afraid to try making this on my own until now. Scores of fry bread recipes may be found on the internet. I read a few, then did my own thing, with each fry bread turning out a little better than the previous attempt. The fifth specimen was perfect!!! Lizard said our fry bread with my homemade six-bean chili was the best meal I've ever made. Rolling the dough is such good arm exercise, too. You can darn sure bet these babies will be on our menu often now!

Tweet

Friday Funny

Tweet

White Friday

On the day after Thanksgiving last year, the mountains were getting a whopping 18 inches of snow! I couldn't make it up the hill, though, until most of that storm melted. However, we had white skies, and I got some dramatic photos in Roxborough State Park, a gem of the county we've lived in for more than a decade but didn't discover until 2018.






Here are a few of my favorite seasonal white shots from my little corner of the world.










Because I couldn't go up in the mountains on actual White Friday and because I had only a couple hours of free time before family obligations, I wound a few hanks of white thread for dyeing, and I parked two of the three long-sleeved white T-shirts I'd bought earlier in the summer in dye. The dyeing took a week, so I didn't have results until almost as long as it took for snow to fall again.








During the White Friday family dinner, we enjoyed, among other Thanksgiving tasties, leftover mashed potatoes, riced cauliflower, and even a few taterless cauliflower tots, which are white on the inside. I'd discovered exciting cauliflower recipes earlier in the year, and Lizard likes a few but not all of them. It was the first time our extended family members had even heard of making creative things with cauliflower.


Back at home later that night, I made the rounds, pinching all the white flies attempting to take over my indoor garden.


Once again, my white picotee amaryllis wasn't ready to bloom, but it was putting up the first signs of white to come.










The twin white Christmas cactus blossoms opened on the right day!!!






The pepper plants I brought indoors prior to our first freeze took a few weeks to adapt to the change in their surrounding climate, just like they do every year. The ghost pepper plant still wasn't quite sure what was happening, but the Serrano and Ancho chili plants were at full bore! There must have been at least 15 blossoms, plus another 15 or so emerging blossoms. I must pinch the blossoms after I bring the plants indoors in order for the peppers to pollinate. That gives me the chance to smoosh the little aphids I can't usually see with the naked eye.










Now we're getting into Green Friday, right??? Ha ha!


The blossoms were so plentiful, I would be able to make plenty of white chili (turkey or chicken instead of red meat) for the next six months! I even made some with "white" beans, just for this blog post!


I made (and stiffened) three white snowflakes (plus one really pale blue one... does that count???).


I finished off the long weekend with tiny white snowpeople. (I'm making a snow village, not trying to be politically correct!)

Tweet