May 4th - Pepper night!

My head is just not in the game. I looked at who was coming to dinner tonight before I went to the grocery store - 7 guests, counting Sean. So then I only bought 4 poblano peppers. Huh, that didn't make sense. So I sent Mike back to the grocery store to buy 3 more peppers. Then, as I was in the kitchen, I asked Mike to set the table. He came in and said, "You know, I think we can really fit 7 people around the table. We don't need to set up a folding table." I agreed, and kept on chopping one of the millions of peppers I cooked for the meal.

Time flew by - me, furiously chopping, stirring, frying. Guests started to arrive. First, Lesley, then the Dang-Marrs, Meris.... Mike came in and asked if all of the guests were there just as I was finishing up the chiles rellenos. I answered, "Yep!" But I was wrong. A few minutes later, Lindsay and Jeremy walked in, and there I was with 9 people, 7 seats, and only 7 chiles rellenos. Oh yeah - there were seven guests alright, but there was also me and Mike. 7+2=9. Luckily we were able to scramble quickly to set up the folding table. I also fortuitously (for me, maybe not so much for her) forgot that Meris is a vegetarian and can't eat the meat-stuffed chiles, so all the carnivores got at least half a serving of the main dish.

This story leads me to a promise of planning ahead for Friday's Cafe Davis. No snafus - just the well-oiled Cafe Davis machine I know that I'm capable of somewhere deep, deep down inside. There is no Cafe Davis tomorrow night - May 6th. Mike isn't really sad about that because the featured ingredient is supposed to be tofu, but we're all excited about Friday's sweet potato meal!

Now about the pepper cooking - the menu tonight was Cuban black bean dip with habanero peppers (kind of blah, but better with lime juice - thanks to Sean for the suggestion), red pepper soup (I forgot to strain it, so it was a little chunky), chipotle and roasted corn salsa with homemade tortilla chips, chiles rellenos, and sweet pepper rice. The homemade tortilla chips are one of my personal favorites and definitely a staple for most parties at our house. I got the recipe years ago (about 12 years ago, actually), out of a Martha Stewart cookbook. I'll have to dig it out and share the title at some point in this blog - I use the cookbook all the time, and it has rarely disappointed me. Regarding the tortilla chips, though, they are one of the easiest, most delicious, and probably least healthiest, things to make in the world. Here's the (paraphrased) recipe:

Tortilla Chips

Ingredients
Corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
Sea salt

Preparation
Cut the corn tortillas into quarters. Place gently into hot vegetable oil (about 1/2 inch in large skillet). Fry on one side for about 1 minute until light golden brown. Then flip over each tortilla quarter and fry for about another minute. (You may need to play with the frying time a bit). Remove and let drain on paper towels. Salt lightly, and place in a paper bag to store for no more than 1 day.

Tortillas in frying process:

Tortilla chips chilling in the paper bag - a picture of health food!

And now to the guests of pepper night - all seven of them! (not counting your hosts, which makes nine....)

From left to right: Sean Lowry, John Marr, Thanh Dang, Jeremy Aldrich, Lindsay Aldrich, Meris Mandernach, and Lesley Brown.

Finally, I wanted to share Mike's newest garden creation - raised garden bed #3. He's planting sweet potatoes in the picture, which of course will not be ready by Friday's meal. But if the recipes for Friday turn out decently then perhaps we will have home-grown sweet potatoes to make them again some day. We can only hope!