Jaymes

Commerically prepared "dulce de leche" in Mexico is called "cajeta." You can buy it in jars, and in squeeze bottles. You can buy the plain caramel, or with some sort of booze added. Mexicans love this stuff and pour it over ice cream, stir it into milk, ladle it over cake, smear it on toast, melt it to make a delicious sauce for crepes, use it for a Mexican version of Bananas Foster. You can find it in grocery stores where Mexican products are sold. The only thing, if you want the TRUE Mexican cajeta, is to look to see if it is made from goat's milk. They sell some sort of wimpy US version in some stores, but trust me, it is nowhere nearly so good.

Hey, Joe - look at that! So far so good. Whado I know.

Just a suggestion, but since you are specifically looking for grocery stores in New York, you might get more response if you place your query on those boards.

I just want to reiterate what E said. I've done this for years when I did not live in a place where I could buy the Mexican cajeta, like Alaska. The secret is simply to allow the can to thoroughly cool before opening. If you try to open the can while it's hot, the scalding liquid bursts out, and it is indeed quite dangerous.

Salt & Lime.

I vote for that, too. "I need BBQ" & L'il Varmint's cute mug!

Dammit! I mean, I'm not envious one little bit.

What a beautifully-written post. Just reading it, I could hear the tap, tap, tapping on a tin roof and smell the wetness in the air and see the leaves of the plants dipping and nodding with the weight as they hold and then release the falling raindrops. So where are you, Florida Jim, that your day is so peaceful?

Sounds to me like what you're looking for is what most folks call Green Chile Stew.... You might try calling around and asking the restaurants if they have it by that name. Or you can prepare that at home. It's quite delicious. As for the rest of it: New Mexico, in many people's opinion, grows the best chiles anywhere in the world. Hatch, in the southwestern part of the state is the "Chile Capital of the World." For the most part, whether a chile is red or green is a matter of how long it's left on the plant - ie, how ripe it is. Driving through that portion of New Mexico during chile season is a real culinary experience. There are stands all along the roads selling "ristras" - those long garlands of dried red chiles that folks hang in their kitchen, taking down a few and reconstituting them as needed to use in their cooking. The finest chile powder in the world, in my opinion, is 100% New Mexico Red Chile Powder, which you should be able to find in your stores. It's all I use. There are several main differences among the various kinds of "Mexican" food in the US states along the border. New Mexican food, primarily because of their love affair with their chiles, is generally considered to be hotter. They do have blue corn tortillas, because they grow blue corn, but that doesn't predominate so much. It gets talked about because it's unusual. People say that if you close your eyes, you can't tell the difference in taste between those and the "regular" ones. I don't know one way or another because I've never tried this test. Also, because of their fondness for their ristras - those dried red chile garlands are everywhere - most of their salsas are based on reconstituted red chiles - either from the ristras, or from the powder, which I mentioned above. They are not usually based on fresh peppers, like the salsas of southern California and Texas. Southern New Mexico and Arizona are greatly influenced by the foods of the Sonoran Desert of northern Mexico, so the foods that you find there also are very popular in New Mexico. There's lots of beef, for example. Here's another typically New Mexican enchilada recipe (although this one does use fresh green chiles). Enchiladas Verdes (for 4) 1 doz corn tortillas 2 C grated cheese (when I can get Mexican cheeses, I use it; when I can't I use a mixture of mild cheddar or Colby and Jack) 3 cups green chile sauce, hot, simmering on stove (recipe below) Skillet with hot oil Allow three tortillas per person. One at a time, fry tortillas briefly in hot fat or oil just to heat through and soften. Do not allow to crisp. Dip tortilla directly from oil into hot green sauce, and then place on warmed dinner plate. Cover tortilla with handful of grated cheese (about 1/4 cup). Working quickly, repeat procedure with another tortilla, and place, layer-cake fashion, on top of first tortilla and cheese. Sprinkle 2nd one with cheese. Add third tortilla and pour green chile sauce over enchilada to desired wetness. Serve immediately. If you put a dollop of sour cream on top, that makes it an Enchilada Suiza (for some reason I don't understand). Green Chile Sauce: 12 green chiles 2 med tomatoes or 1 cup canned tomatoes 1 med onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped 1 tsp salt Roast chile peppers over gas fire, or on BBQ, or under broiler until outside skin is blistered. Put them in a plastic bag and wait a few minutes until they are steamed and their skins peel easily. Remove skins, core, seeds, and prominent veins. Chop chiles into half-inch pieces. Place in saucepan and add tomatoes, onion, garlic and salt. Add just enough water to barely cover. Simmer until onions are clear and sauce has reached proper consistancy - about 10 minutes.

Darn. It was supposed to be a surprise!

What a great thread! Haven't laughed this hard in a long time. So, Klink, whacha leaning towards?

I used to live in Tucson - about 40 miles west of The Thing. So it amused me to give people, who were driving from the east to visit me, directions from The Thing. As in "after you reach 'The Thing,' go 38 miles to exit #122, then right...etc." Tickled me no end.

Perfect idea! The "classic" way to serve this, Klink (just in case you don't know), is to buy a coupl'a cans of Wolf brand chili. Heat it up in a pan. Then get some of the small, individually-sized bags of Frito, and some grated cheese to garnish. You turn the bag of Fritos over so that the seam side is up. Then you rip the bag open and pour a ladle of the hot chili in, then garnish with a little grated cheese. The deal is that you eat it with a plastic spoon right out of the bag. Man, you'd dazzle 'em with THAT. GREAT idea, Kel!

Uh, Jaymes? /raises hand Is that what those jello salads are called? Well, yeah. Although, to be fair, anything "congealed" that passes as salad counts in this category. Like tomato aspic - which is considerably classier. Although I do have a darn tasty recipe for tomato aspic that calls for lemon Jello.

John Hiatt's got it down. Good to know that sometimes ol' John leaves them nylons at home.

Wagstaff's sounds great, though I don't think I'll be running a meat deficiency on the way back... I need to get out of here more often. Sounds like y'all are gonna have so much fun I might just fly to Maine so I can drive south with you. Drive South We can go south with a smile on Ain't going to pack my nylons Just leave these legs showing It gets hot down where we're going

I've been kind of hanging back thinking about how far it is from Maine to NC. Yeah like what else you got to do?

Wow. Just top with Miracle Whip and you'd have all the major food groups.

Tomato Sandwiches. Actually, Klink, this is what you should do: Take a bag of delicious just-picked, fresh-from-the-garden, ripe tomatoes, a jar of Miracle Whip and a loaf of Wonder Bread. Make everyone stand by the kitchen sink. Smear the white bread with Miracle Whip, then top with thick slices of the tomatoes, and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. The deal is to eat these while leaning over the sink as the tomato juice runs down your arms to your elbows. Now that's some good white trash eatin'. (I guess it'd be "too much" if you rented a house trailer and hauled it up into the front yard so everyone could have this experience in the most authentic location.)

Yeah. But I'm not sure I can afford to have you shipped in...

Peanut Butter & Banana & Potato Chip Sandwiches Baked beans - the kind you doctor up with bacon and catsup and vinegar and brown sugar and dash of yeller mustard. Fried Rabbit (or 'coon or squirrel or 'gator tail) Sweet Potato Pie Corn Pudding Sweet Potato Pone. Or Corn Pone. Or any other kind of Pone. Or Hush Puppies. Ambrosia (made with canned mandarin oranges, canned pineapple chunks, jar of maraschino cherries, shredded coconut, sliced 'nanners, and them perty little bitty colored marshmallows) Grits Sloppy Joes (see my recipe in the archives) Macaroni salad. Especially with cut up weenies in it. That really trashy salad you make with cottage cheese, and a package of dry jello mix and a can of crushed pineapple. Oh my - So many good choices. The mind boggles. As does the tummy.

Seafoam Salad. Or, for that matter, any congealed salad. And several different kinds of ice box pie. Actually, I can get my White Trash Cooking, and mention several things that would be appropriate. Remember the vodka in the watermelon thing? I'd think that'd count.

Oh dear - so it IS as bad as I've feared. And, Lissome, thanks for the Big Cat info. That place looks very interesting indeed. I am hoping to make it down to Eureka Springs, so that would be a really fun place to spend the night. And RP - I'm going to search out that book. It IS beginning to look as though I might have more options than it appeared at first (cursory) glance. Thanks again all of you! Want to add - RailPaul, I'm now totally psyched about the Dairy Hollow thing. Did a little googling, and it turns out that it's a writers' colony, complete with lodging, seminars, classes, conferences, etc. This is going from terrible to not so terrible to pretty good to great. I am beginning to suspect that perhaps "someone" is working "in mysterious ways."

I think it's damn difficult to imagine anything sounding better than "Bourbon Bread Pudding." Goodness me. A couple of pans for sure. And you might consider bringing some for the rest of the folks as well.