A Little Mexican For Robin

No, no no....I didn't go and get rlb a mail-order, horse-hung, south-of-the-border, midget masseur chef to satisfy her every desire. I finally got around to putting together my toritilla soup recipe for her.

Sorry it took so long to get this to you. The ingredients are approximate because I cook this by eye/taste.

3 cloves garlic (add/subtract to taste)
½ an onion, cut into chunks
½ teaspoon of cumin
½ teaspoon of Mexican oregano (regular oregano is fine)
1 can tomato sauce (you can leave this out if you don’t want it tomatoee
1 bunch fresh cilantro
A few chicken breasts
6-10 cups of chicken stock**
Vegetable oil
Small sprig of epazote (no biggie if you can’t find it)
Salt/freshly ground pepper to taste
a couple of avocados
1 chunk of queso fresco
3 limes halved
Corn tortillas

**--Boil the chicken (for stock) and strain
--Roast garlic & onion over a flame until slightly blackened (not cooked), or on a comal/cast iron pan.
--Add the following to the pot of chicken & stock: Onion, Garlic, cumin, oregano, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, epazote, ¼ cup of cilanto leaves (pulled from stems, not chopped).
--Simmer, adjust ingredients to taste.
--Cut about 3 or so corn tortillas into strips about 1” long by ½” wide. Fry them in some oil until golden brown. Drain them on a paper towel.
--Let the whole thing simmer until it’s looking and tasting right to you.
--Add the fried tortilla strips and let them simmer with the soup for 5-10 minutes.
--Cut avocado into ½” squares
--Serve in big bowls.
--Garnish with avocado, fresh cilantro, crumbled queso fresco a squirt of fresh lime juice. Try a little fresh diced onion too...or just a spoon of pico de gallo if you’re feeling frisky!

I think that about covers it. Like I said, I cook mostly by eye/taste so use your judgment and make it how you like it. The ingredients are there for you to have your way with.

Oh, and if you want a nice addition to the garnish, you can slice up some of the corn tortillas into strips about 2” long and about as wide as spaghetti. Fry until crispy, drain, and add the nice little crispy things as garnish with the other stuff. Or you can form and fry them into little bird’s nest looking things and perch them in the middle of the bowl.

I'm a pretty fair typist, but if you see something that doesn't look right, feel free to send me a "hey stupid."

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My trip to the dentist was virtually painless, even the shots of Novocain didn’t hurt. Amazing. They ended up doing my lower face instead of one side of it. I’ve never had my face so numb in all of my life. It was a trip. The face is a little sore this morning, but the pain is perfectly manageable.

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The painter who was spraying texture on the walls in the kitchen (yeah we’re still getting stuff done) left a nice big scratch on the front of our $1,700 stainless steel refrigerator yesterday. I noticed it last night after he left. The thing that kills me about the whole thing is that I left a note on the counter for the contractor on Monday with my rules for this round of construction. I said, exactly (and in bold face): “I want the refrigerator and stove completely covered and protected at the beginning of each workday. They’re brand new and have no damage. I want them uncovered at the end of the work day so we can use them. Needless to say, Mr. Contractor will be buying me a new refrigerator door unless he can repair it to the point that I won’t be able to notice a fucking thing.

While we’re on the note of contractors...When they did the front bathroom, the tile guys cut the holes in the tub tiles (for hot/cold water pipes & knobs) a little too big. So...the escutcheons (plates) don’t completely cover the holes. I brought this up to the contractor who filled the ¼” gaps with some stuff, but it didn’t look right, so I told him so. He replied by, “Well what you need to do is...” I cut him off: “I need to do what?" He got the point. He found a bigger escutcheon to use, but it’s a piece of shit and it’s ugly. It’s a two-piece thing that requires holes to be drilled in the brand new tiles. I told him to hold off....That I’d find a solution. Ya know what my solution’s gonna be? It’ll be a brand new faucet set that Mr. Contractor will be purchasing.

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Quote of the Day:
“Time to kick your ass.” –Me, to a friend when the alarm on my watch went off during a smoke break. –Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, circa 1994. It was so spontaneous, and the timing was so perfect, that we laughed about it for weeks.