Cinco de Mayo

You can't grow up in Southern California and not eat Mexican food--or what we call Mexican food. I imagine it's like everyone thinking teriyaki and tempura are staples of Japanese cuisine. That doesn't really matter-- I grew up eating tacos, salsa and guacamole, and later learned how to make chile verde, carne asada and cocido--deliciousness!

If you're looking for something to make for Cinco de Mayo, you might find a recipe here to use. 

I haven't learned how to make a collage that is clickable and will take you directly to the recipe (not yet!), so the links are provided below--beginning with carne asada in the upper left and going clockwise, finishing with the tostada dip in the center--and a couple of dishes I had forgotten--chile verde and flan.

Carne Asada

Fish Tacos

Taco Salad

 

Coco's Salsa

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

Mexican Cocido

Spanish Rice

Guacamole!

Tostada Dip

And here's a couple more--I can't forget these!

Chile Verde 

The chile verde can make a tasty optional topping for the vegetarian enchilada casserole if you're serving meat eaters too.

And for dessert, Flan.

Bon appetit or, buen provecho!

***

Whenever we have a get-together, it's most likely you'll see any of the above dishes on the menu. The other day we had a family baby shower and part of the menu was chile verde, spanish rice, salsa and guacamole.

 Karen & Mitchell at the dessert table.

Kamryn (of Pear Delight and Santa Rosa Valley Salad fame), made a dessert table for all to enjoy. The chocolate cake is from Porto's, it's the Parisian, and it's so delicious!

The sweetest words to hear when I'm having a get-together are, "Is anyone making decorations? Can we do them?"

That's--seriously--music to my ears.

Kamryn, and my cousins Channie and Reiko made the decorations. 

The centerpieces were adorable. Kamryn loves to decorate like I like to cook. She can cook too, but I cannot decorate.

Kamryn also made a baby bunting, but sadly, I didn't get a photo of it.

Karen got baby tips from the family, here are a few:

"Take lots of pictures--you can never have enough baby pictures."

"Daddy cleans up the barf."

"When the baby cries, she's training the parents. Don't take it personal or get frustrated, just learn."

This tray of mochigashi came from Fugetsu-Do. My favorite manju--"the pink one"--was gone by the time I took this photo. I was too slow! 

Thank you, Tomoko & Brian, for the sweets!

Kamryn made Pear Delight.

She also made these little butterscotch nests made with chow mein noodles and chocolate eggs.

AND she made these cookie flowers--they have a Snicker's bar inside the cookie with marshmallow flowers--on a stick.

Thank you, Kamryn, Chan & Reiko for making the desserts and decorations. As always, you have great ideas that really added a special festiveness to the occasion. I am grateful & appreciate all your hard work! 

Thank you, too, to Rick.

I really appreciate all your hard work, Rick--you always come early to help cook and get ready, and stay late to help with the clean-up--so thoughtful of your momma.

Love you bunches, Rick!

More baby shower pictures in the next post.

***

No printable recipe.

Guacamole!

It's avocado season at our house!

We've got several Haas variety avocado trees, and they're finally in-season. 

Seems like a long wait.

This year, though, there aren't too many, so we'll savor them while they last.

One of our favorite things to make is guacamole.

The weather has warmed up fast, Spring is here, and the avocados are ripe.

Time for guacamole!

The first thing you'll need are perfectly ripe avocados.

Well, maybe they don't need to be perfectly ripe.

What's great about guacamole is that you can use avocados that are a little over ripe, since you're going to mash them up anyways.

Here's what you'll need.

Ingredients:

6 large avocados

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1 lime

1/2 jalapeño, deveined, seeded & minced

1 green onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Optional: 1/2 small clove garlic, minced

I think this one is perfectly ripe, the skin will come away from the avocado in one smooth piece, and there's no purple remnants of the skin on the flesh of the fruit.

This one is still okay, the skin doesn't come away in one piece, but the flesh is still clean.

If the skin doesn't come away from the fruit cleanly, you can scoop the flesh out with a spoon.

This is about 6 large avocados.

Add some lime juice, it will keep the avocados from turning brown.

Add 1/2 the juice of a lime first. Reserve the others for later.

Mash with a potato masher or a large fork.

A rough mash with some chunks still present is perfect.

Dice or mince 1/2 a sweet onion.

I think if there's a secret ingredient to guacamole, it would be the jalapeño.

Best wear gloves when handling hot peppers, it might sting your skin.

I like the heat, but some of my family members don't, so I remove the veins and seeds.

Finely chop, but if you like the heat, leave it chunky.

Add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice.

I ran outside to grab a lemon, and also to check on how my cilantro is growing, since I had saved some cilantro for the guacamole, but forgot, and put it in my breakfast quesadilla.

Oops.

The cilantro is still too small to use.

Chop the tomatoes and add a little salt and pepper.

Add about 1/4 teaspoon of cumin.

I liked this jar because it's got 'cumin' on the lid, but I generally buy cumin at the Mexican market in a bag and refill the jar. That costs a LOT less.

Stir all the ingredients together.

You'll have cilantro in yours, of course, since you won't have eaten the last of it for breakfast.

Then, give it a taste.

I like it with a lot of lime, so I generally add an extra half of a lime.

Guacamole's a great dip for veggies and chips.

You can serve it with your tacos, taquitos, and burritos.

Or put a big scoop of guacamole on the top of your salad.

Yum!

***

Dixie loves avocados.

This is Dixie.

When the avocados start to fall from the trees, she likes to bury them.

She buries them in the soft dirt in the planters next to the house.

I can tell she's buried some avocados when she comes to the door with dirt all over her nose.

In the summer, we'll find several mini avocado trees starting to grow next to the house.

This was taken on the day we brought Dixie home.

These are Dixie's litter mates.

The one with the pink cord around her neck is Dixie.

She's had a pink collar since she was born.

One Christmas, the kids gave us this picture in a little Cottonelle puppy frame.

Rick threw the tennis ball for her a bunch so she would be panting and smiling.

Dixie.

Not Karen.

When we got Dixie, Mrs. Jensen, the breeder, said, "This one has a sense of humor."

She was right.

Dixie jumps up on the bed, steals my neck pillow, and runs under the piano and waits for me to see her.

We've lost touch with the Jensens, they moved shortly after we got Dixie ten years ago.

I wanted to thank her.

Dixie's brought a lot of joy to our lives.

No printable recipe for this one yet.