Lucito
Before lunch today we enjoyed a nice relaxing drink. It was a takeoff on a regular screwdriver, normally simply vodka and orange juice. The temperature was very hot in the house and I did not feel like having something too sweet like a huge glass of fresh fruit juice. I decided to first prepare “agua de frutas” a typical Mexican drink that literally translates to “fruit water”. It is normally made with many different types of fruits namely pineapple or guayaba or orange or lime or even hibiscus flowers (jamaica). The fruits are normally juices or “blenderized”, and a large jar is filled about one third full with the juice. A bit of sugar is added for flavor and to cut the acidity or tartness depending on the fruit and water is added to fill the jar. This makes a light refreshing water that is drunk with the meal.
The fruits before making the water
The fruits after making the water
I did press some of the citrus fruits I collected this morning from our trees and then added a bit of fructose and filled the jar with water. To make the drink I put ice cubes in a tall glass, a healthy shot of vodka, and filled the glass with the citrus fruit water. It make a nice tart refreshing drink that helped us cool down. I am glad that the fruit bowl is still mostly full and that the trees outside are loaded with a lot more fruits. I think that since the hot season is starting we will enjoy this nice refreshing drink regularly.
Lucito
When I went spelunking in the freezer this morning I came across the last container of my Bolognese sauce that I made last month. I have been making my adaptation of this sauce for more than 30 years and it is very versatile. I make large patches and freeze it in individual portions. This was the last container so I should be making more in a few week. We normally do not eat pasta twice in the same week, but I was looking for something that would be tasty without any preparation. I will just have to boil some water for the pasta of unknown type I will make, and heat up the sauce. It will make a nice filling meal with no real intervention on my part, which is exactly what we need after a long day of work around the house.
I will see if I can convince Normita to make some nice fruit juice for the tropical punch while I go take a long-deserved shower…
Lucito
We spent the morning outside today as we normally do. Every morning starts with me sweeping the front of the house to remove the accumulated dirt and leaves, and Normita waters all the plants and trees around the house.
When we moved here about 3 years ago the place had not been maintained in ages and the trees were not producing any fruits. We planted a lot of flowers in large pots in front of the house and created a flower garden the first year we lived here, but it took some time for the trees to start producing as the area is very dry and the trees were planted here with no regard to if they can thrive or not. Last year we had a great crop and we were mostly self-sufficient in fruits from June to December. This year the trees are loaded and we are already eating fresh fruits and we should be good until the end of the year if things goes well. It is a lot of hard work as the area is mostly desert and we only have water from the street for a few hours each morning. We need to do all the garden work early when there is still water. We have big water tanks for the house, but we do not want to use that for garden work. Whenever we have our own place I want to plant a big vegetable and herb garden for the kitchen, lots of fruit trees, and also some vines so that I can start making my own wines again with my own grapes… one day…
While we were working around the house I collected a bunch of citrus fruits and some of the first peaches of the season. Here they are in the sink waiting to be washed:
Here are the fruit in the sink waiting to be washed
We had the peaches for breakfast with the last of the grapefruits we have bought last week, but they were still a bit acid so we will wait a few more days or weeks for them to mature. The trees are loaded with them and it will be a great crop this year. The boyz will be happy as they normally eat everything that falls off the trees. I saw Bacchus looking up at the peach tree near the kitchen door this morning as it he was trying to hypnotize the tree to drop a few peaches for him. I think it worked as later I heard him munching on some stones from the peaches. The peaches only last a quick bite with him as he just crushes everything including the stone in one fell swoop.
With the citrus that includes some mandarins, some sour oranges, some limes, and some “limas” (a round sweet yellow citrus from Yucatan that seems to be a cross between a lime and some sweet citrus). With them we will shortly make a nice tropical fruit punch to relax after a long day of work. I will let you know later how it turns up.
Lucito
I ended up finding a lot of things to put in the omelette and it turned out great. Since the mishap with the suadero earlier this week, thinks have improved dramatically and every meal was simple and just perfect. I hope that the trends continue…
I started by dicing the bacon and salami like yesterday and shredded a bit of Oaxaca cheese.
The diced salami and bacon and a bit of shredded Oaxaca cheese
I then diced a small zucchini, some mushrooms and a sweet red pepper.
The diced zucchini, mushrooms and sweet red pepper
Then it was time for 4 eggs some dried onions and oregano, a splash of sesame oil, a tablespoon of heavy cream, and some salt and pepper. I whipped them until light and fluffy.
The whipped eggs
The cooking then started buy sauteing bacon and salami until crisp.
The bacon and salami cooking
I then added the veggies and sauteed them until lightly cooked.
The veggies cooking with the bacon and salami
Then it was time for the eggs and then the Oaxaca cheese. I cooked the eggs until they were set and had a nice brown crust on the underside. As the pan was smaller and the omelette was thick, at that time the top was still not totally set. Like I normally do in those occasions, I used my trusty kitchen torch and set the top of the omelette with it and gave it a nice gratiné look.
The cooked omelette prior to plating
I split the omelette in half and plated it and we enjoyed a nice simple meal yet again…
The plated omelette ready to be eaten by us
Lucito
I was planning to cook some nice fish filets we have in the freezer, but then we started doing housework first passing the broom outside in front of the house while Normita was watering the garden and the trees around the house so the fruits they are loaded with do not die from the hot dry weather. After that was done we had a quick breakfast and I spent a few hours cleaning up my clothes closet and throwing away the old stuff or the stuff that I will never wear again. It was something I wanted to do for months, but never had the time to do or I was just plain too lazy to do it. Now there is a huge pile of old clothes and shoes on the floor of my office, and it will be sad to lose my best Scooby Doo tennis shirt, but I feel much better and there is an aura of cleanliness and good riddance in throwing away all of that stuff.
Before I attacked the closet I knew that probably I would not be in the mood to spend a lot of time in the kitchen after I did that, so I decided that instead of thawing the fish, I should find something else to prepare. I looked around the refrigerator and did not find much as we did not go food shopping yet this week. I decided that I should use whatever leftovers I have in there and do something with it. I still had a piece of that nice thick bacon I used with the pasta yesterday as well as some salami, there’s a bit of cheese left, some mushrooms, a small red sweet pepper and whenever I get to the kitchen I will use that and whatever else happens to fall into the wrath of my trusty knife and I will make a nice thick fluffy omelette. It should take a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes to prepare and cook and we will have a nice nutritive meal with the least amount of fuss. I will be back later with the details and some photos.
Lucito
As mentioned earlier this afternoon I was planning to make some form of carbonara, but I was not sure exactly what and how I would make it. Finally it turned out more traditional than I thought, but with a twist. I did find a bit of Parmesan in the back of the refrigerator and with that and most leftover ingredients I also found I made a nice pasta that turned out stunning. We like it so much that we had some seconds, and the boyz will enjoy the leftovers tonight with their meals.
The process, like most of what I cook during the week, was simple and fast. While the pasta was cooking, some miniature tortiglionis, I simply sauteed some diced thick bacon and salami until golden. I added some finely diced garlic and onions with some fresh asparagus and mushrooms with a splash of olive oil.
Here is the bacon, salami, garlic, onions and asparagus cooking
The sauteed ingredients with the mushrooms added
I drained the pasta once it was cooked and then added it to the rest of the ingredients. I tossed it around still on high heat then took it of the burner.
The dish almost ready prior to the addition of the eggs and cheeses
I then mixed 2 eggs with the leftover Parmesan and mozzarella I found and poured the mixture in the pasta and rapidly blended it well so it did not turn into an omelet. I served it topped with a bit more Parmesan and a generous grating of fresh black pepper.
The plated Pasta alla Carbonara with a generous grating of black pepper
We were very happy with the results which turned out great and light enough to be enjoyed on a hot day like today. Now I have to plan something to do tomorrow with that other leftover piece of bacon and the little bit of salami left…
Lucito
Early this morning I was going through the freezer to see what I could cook later today. I came across a piece of thick bacon and had a sudden craving for some carbonara. I looked around the refrigerator and could not find any Pecorino Romano or Parmesan to make it so I started looking some more and found some fresh asparagus, mushrooms, and grated mozzarella so I thought that I could prepare some pasta dish inspired by a proper “Pasta alla Carbonara”. When I go prepare our meal around 3pm I will see how I get inspired in preparing it. I have been oscillating all day between a lighter style dish with just a bit of olive oil to make the sauce in the more traditional way to something heavier with lots of cheese and cream in a more Americanized version. Since it is around 30C (86F) in my office right now I will probably go with something lighter with the veggies added. I will report on it later with what I actually will prepare and some pictures.
Lucito
Like I mentioned earlier today, we have had those yummy meatballs that Normita made yesterday, again today. They were even better today as the sauce was much thicker and tasty. Like many types of dishes, this gets better with a day or two of age. Here is a quick picture I took…
The nice meatballs and Mexican rice we had today
The only problem I have is now I have to start thinking about what we will eat tomorrow. It never stops and I am sure I will think of something in time especially when the hunger starts in the evening.
Lucito
We have had a very busy last few days and I did not get a chance to post anything anywhere yesterday. The Daily Express for both yesterday and today is “Albondigas”, Mexican Style Meatballs. Every few weeks Normita prepares them as it is a very quick and easy meal to prepare and it last 2 days, which is great when we are very busy and do not have much time to spend in the kitchen. The meatballs can be prepared fresh with the ground meat of your choice. When Normita prepares them from scratch she does it the traditional way with some cooked rice and eggs in the meatballs. The next time she does some I will document the recipe.
When we find them at the supermarket, we buy some inert gas packed meatballs that tend to be very nice and tasty and we freeze them. This way, on days we do not really have much time to cook, we can have a nice meal with little effort. Normita cooks the meatballs in a thick sauce of fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions, celery, carrots and chipotle. We normally eat them with a side dish of Mexican style rice, like we did yesterday and we will do again today with the leftovers.
It makes for a nice and quick meal that is both tasty and easy to prepare.
Lucito
I finally managed to cook those pieces of suadero on the barbecue earlier today. My aim was to have something nice and very tender to eat, but it did not turn out as planned. The meat became very though and chewy from the dry cooking, even though it had marinated for 2 days. The main reason is that the meat has a membrane that just tenses up and that was too thick to crisp well. Also the texture of the meat once cooked was not as expected. It looked like something like arrachera, bavette, or flank which has long fibers, but it really does not. I should have inspected it better before marinating it, but since I was too tired at the time it is my lost.
The taste was fantastic as the cut of meat is very tasty and with the added flavoring of the marinate it tasted very good. The meal looked great, and the side dishes were perfect for it. If it was not for the chewiness of the meat it would have been a great meal. Here is a look at the plated dish.
The plated poor man arrachera
Looking back at it I should have slow cooked it over moist eat or cooked it until it was very crisp. The stringy texture would probably go either way. I will see what I can do if I buy some again. I was tempted by the cheap price, and I got what I paid for. A big contrast with the nice pork we bought cheaply at the same place as it turned out great.
Since my motto is to learn something new each day, then I will not go to bed stupid tonight as I learned how not too cook suadero! Like in science there are no bad experiments in cooking, just some that yield unexpected results. No I have to go take something for the heartburn…
Lucito