gulfporter

Quick Chicken Vindaloo with raita and (store bought) lime pickle. I made the Vindaloo paste separately the day before. Heated it with a rotis chicken and roasted potatoes. It was as good as what I've slaved over for hours in the past.

Chicken birria. It's not really a thing here where goat or beef is standard depending on village. But I had a wet pack of birria seasoning and a 1/2 a Pollo Feliz al carbón. So, voilla!

Dry size,

Hot, not quite boiling. Things not working out for me today....I dropped a 30+ year old Pyrex measuring cup....a gazillion shards after it hit the tiles.

Yeah, I know, that's why I called it a quickie. Spur of the moment and absurdly stupid rookie error on my part. I'll keep a-simmering, but in 90 minutes mi esposo's hunger pangs kick into high gear 😎

When do I call it quits on this? I found a bag of dry giant Spanish white beans I brought home in 2018. I did a quickie 3 hour soak in water, then rinsed and put in pot with broth. Been simmering for 3 hours now. They are slightly softer than when I began, but still very very toothy. Can you keep dry beans too long? Am I wasting my time??

Individual Chicken Wellingtons. Didn't get the puff I wanted, but knew that was a risk, given my MXN oven has no thermostat nor insulation. I cranked it up to 420F after 45 minutes, watched it another 10, never got beyond the 420F. Oven temp dropped to 340F after I opened the oven door to put the tray inside (at lightning speed, I might add). Flavors were excellent. No seepage. A tad bit of soggy bottom but luckily Paul Hollywood did not grace our table this Christmas. Sides were grilled asparagus with lemon, and a cranberry-chipotle condiment.

We liked this one so much we now have it at each of our homes. I have had multiple hand surgeries and treatments for my Dupuytren's Contracture in both hands and find this one lightweight and quick. From Good Cook at Amazon.

Forgot we had half a container of guacamole from my take-away pollo al carbón last night. There's a schmear of it under the shrimp salad.

Mi esposo finished his Tuxedo Creme Brulees and they are in fridge. We will have a sneak preview of one tonight with Xmas Eve Dinner.

Today I will make the mushroom duxelle, grill the asparagus (I serve it cold), the cranberry-chipotle condiment. Took out the chicken breasts and puff pastry to thaw in fridge overnight. I will assemble the Chicken Wellingtons tomorrow early. I have a bag of shrimp thawing for lunch; plan to stuff in an avocado with Persian cukes, diced red pepper, shallt, cilantro, with a lime-olive oil-chipotle dressing. The other day at lunch at a nearby eatery, we saw and liked their menu offerings for Xmas Eve so we ordered meals to-go for this evening. However the place was slammed with customers and our waiter wrote our order on a paper napkin. We figure at best, there's a 50-50 chance it will be there when I walk over to fetch tonight 😎 Here's the menu (we chose Chamorro and the Chile en Nogada as we've had theirs many times in past and always great.

My gardener José said malvaviscos are 'rosa' because they are made by the De La Rosa company. I looked today at a market and that was only brand I found. I often overlook the obvious.

Went out for lunch here in Ajijic. Meal was fine, nothing special. But this new little eatery brings you these to the table with your check. And fyi, ALL marshmallows in Mexico are pink. No one knows why.

No, the candies are peanut butter and chocolate. Here's recipe given to me in 1973 at Christmas from an older woman who grew up on WVA and OH border. 1 1/2 # powdered sugar 1/2 # butter 16 oz creamy peanut butter 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips little bit of wax Opt: walnut in halves/quarters Mix sugar, butter and peanut butter. Make into balls. Put in fridge at least 2 hours. Melt chocolate and wax gently. Use toothpick to dip balls, leaving 'buckeye' spot bare. Or dip completely and cover toothpick hole with nut meat. After dipping put on waxed or parchment paper.

Buckeyes are the State Tree of Ohio....similar to horse chestnuts, if that helps. When the outer layer is removed it looks like photo #1. The candies look like photo #2, though I smooth over the hole with back of a spoon.

Speaking of chocolate and peanut butter treats, I often make Buckeyes and find them fast and easy to make and always popular. Half the batch I make in traditional manner, for the other half I dip the balls totally in the chocolate and top with 1/2 or quarter of walnut (depending on size of nut). Balls and nuts in the same sentence. Sorry!

Orange and Cardamom rolls. Cheated with frozen bread dough. Used my friend's generous gift of his homemade Orange Marmalade. I don't bake much and haven't in decades, but our new (to us) house in Tucson has a Viking convection oven and wanted to test it out. Came out as expected, though I never made it before and made a lot of changes to recipe (I can't help myself!). The house smells so darn good with that flavor combo.

Moroccan shrimp with Israeli couscous.

Southern for sure but also for many African Americans; I knew Black families in Philly that always made it or brought it to TDay dinner and at Xmas, too. Of course many Black families have roots in the South.

The recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/sweet-and-smoky-mexican-chicken Adding my changes to the recipe. I didn't want the sauce covering everything. I made the "sauce" into a paste and schmeared half of it over the chicken which I marinated overnight. The rest of the paste I thinned with some chicken broth so it could be served at the table. Here's my notes,

Ottolenghi's Sweet and Smoky Chicken. First time using oven in our Tucson home. Skin was super crispy. It's a quasi molé and the sweet potatoes were part of the recipe. Cranberry sauce was courtesy of a can opener 🥫

This is our first TDay in US since 2016. In a new home in a new city, though we visited Tucson on day trips from our Bisbee home from 2003 thru 2013. Neither of us are turkey fans, and mi esposo is very anti-carb and the traditional 🦃 dinner is replete with carbs. So we're making Ottolenghi's recipe for Smoky Chicken. Will give it a good dose of chipotle in homage to our other home town. We'll make with only sweet potatoes, so there's a nod to TDay with it. My husband loves dark chocolate and that's in the mix, too. An ersatz quicky molé of sorts. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/sweet-and-smoky-mexican-chicken

Had the EXACT same meal on American, Guadalajara to Phoenix 2 days ago! Mine went down easy with a huge pour of a decent red wine 🍷 The boneless short rib was very tender and the green hummus had a bit of a kick; the red (I'm guessing beet derived) was bland (but pretty). Prior to the pandemic we flew often on American or United from Guadalajara to either DFW or IAH, respectively. Food was always fairly good. During the pandemic it was either non-existent or some fairly awful boxed "meals." Earlier this year we had some bad to awful meals both directions GDL-PHX. Including a breakfast that included a sealed unmarked cardboard bowl of what turned out to be dried instant oatmeal....but the attendant did not bring or offer hot water!! Got her attention and asked for a cup of hot water. I saw that the rest of the passengers were Mexicans and upon opening the bowl they shrugged and set it aside (there are only 2 rows in Biz class). When the attendant brought my water I suggested she offer hot water to others; she spoke not a word of Spanish! I stood up in the aisle and held my bowl to the small group and said, Es avena, necesita agua caliente. The attendant then brought everyone a mug of hot water. The attendant later told me she had flown down to GDL as a substitute and had no idea what was on the breakfast tray.