The Prettiest Little Focaccia.

On a more appetizing note than yesterdays' blog on "chewy rings," ---- I just made the prettiest rosemary focaccia and it was easy, peasy, so if you are hankering for some nice flavours to accompany your next Vino Tinto session, this is the way it happened: First of all, I found the instant fast rising yeast at Sam's and it will last a long time if you keep it tightly wrapped in a cool place. You will also need some fresh rosemary, extra vrgin olive oil and maybe some black olives or Reggiano cheese depending on the variation you prefer.
So, you put 4 1/2 cups of flour in a large bowl, add 2 1/2 teaspoons of the yeast, a couple of teaspoons of salt and just mix it all through with a fork. Then add 2 cups of warm water. This is when the fun begins! After mixing it with your hands until it holds together, turn the whole mess out onto a floured surface (I use my wooden dining table) and knead it for about 10 minutes. I love kneading since it's such a pratical arm work-out and there's something comforting about the feel of the dough. Anyway, get it into a big ball, grease a large ceramic bowl with olive oil and put the dough ball in the bowl and cover with plastic. Leave it to rise for a couple of hours in a warm place. Go take a siesta!
After the dough has risen, punch it down, knead it into a ball again and put it back into the greased bowl for another 45 mins. Get a metal tray out, grease it with Olive oil, chop up some fresh rosemary, slice some olives or chop some garlic. Take the newly risen dough and plop it onto the tray (like 13" by 9" ) and poke it with your finger-tips into place until it covers the sheet. Let it rest another 10 minutes, then drizzle the dough with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle the chopped rosemary all over and maybe shred some Reggiano cheese on top. Then it's into the oven for about 20 mins. Your kitchen will smell like Mama Leona's!! Provecho!

Chewy Rings of Mystery Meat.

First of all, thanks to a good friend who managed to cure my case of "blogstipation," I've passed a few "stones" and am ready to do "business" again. I can't believe it's been this long! The burning burrito was totally "crispified" in every sense so I'm attempting a new batch of epistles and if you've been checking in, I'm really grateful for your loyalty. xxo

It's 10:30 on a Friday night and there's thunder outside but I am totally unconcerned because I have "Black-Eyed Peas" on the sound system and a few "Cubas" under my belt. The tunes are quite appropriate in terms of the theme: "Mexican girls, girls, girls, Latin girls, what's happenin' girls? Yo quiero...."

A group of us hit "El Grito" after school for a few "cool ones" and plenty of interesting discussions. This spot is a "centro Botanero" which mean as long as the beverages are flowing, the snacks are free. Who can argue with that? The thing is, we enjoyed the first few "items" but then they brought us these tostadas with suspect chewy rings of mystery meat buried in spicy salsa and there were a few comments regarding the origin of the meat. I had the idea that the "meat" came from the hind end of a burro and after hitting on a knarly piece of "ring" shaped meat, my friend David agreed. Ha! We still had a great time and the price of $18 pesitos a brew is all that matters. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the actual reprecussions are but I'm OK with the fact that we might have to "pay" for all the fun we had. Hey, what else is new?
More to come. I promise!