Baked Jalapeno Poppers

So my cousin Ed (who's the General Manager at Sapporo's, in Scottsdale) prepared a quick snack for the family. It involves bacon in some capacity, and so I had to add it to the blog. Here's the recipe.


Baked Jalapeno Poppers

2 lbs. of fresh jalapeno peppers.
2 8-oz packs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/2 lb of green onions, sliced
1 lb bacon

Preheat the oven to 350F.





Remove the stem off the peppers, and slice in half. Then remove the insides of the peppers (you may leave them if you want them to be spicier.)

Fry the bacon well done, and chop into bacon bits.

Cut the cream cheese in 1/4 inch by 1.5 inch strips. The idea is that the cheese will fit on top of the sliced peppers.

In a baking pan/cookie sheet, lay out the halved peppers. Place a piece of cheese, a bit of the green onions, and a few bacon bits on each pepper half.





Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Tomato Pie

So, I'm spending Xmas with my family, and it turns out my cousin Berto's wife, Kristi ("cousin in law") prepared a Tomato Pie for us. I must admit, I've never had Tomato Pie until tonight, and I figured it makes for a good recipe.
















(It was also suggested bacon can somehow be incorporated into this recipe. That remains as an exercise to the reader. Although I might experiment at some point and see how it goes. Stay tuned.)

Tomato Pie

Ingredients:
8 tomatoes
2 pie crusts (with aluminum pan)
8oz packet of cheddar cheese
8oz packet of mozzarella cheese
1 cup of mayonaise
salt, black pepper, dried oregano

In a pre-heated 400F oven, prebake the pie crusts for 5 minutes, or until lightly brown (not too brown!) Remove from the oven and allow to cool somewhat.

Slice all the tomatoes.

In a deep bowl, mix the cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and mayonnaise.

















In each pie shell, add half the sliced tomatoes, and top with half of the cheese and mayo mix. Add a sprinkle of salt (1 teaspoon?), a pinch of black pepper, and about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano.














Lower the oven temperature to 375F, and bake the pies for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Wait for the pies to cool, serve and enjoy.

Recipes: Aran~itas de Platano (Plantain Spiders.)

No, no, we don't eat actual spiders. We do like to eat plantains, though, and one of the ways of preparing them is by making them look like fried spiders. Very tasty.

My cousin Miriam is an expert at making "aran~itas" (spanish for "little spiders",) and so she shared this recipe with me.

Aran~itas de Platano:

Ingredients:

• 6 green plantains (the greener, the better.)
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• salt
• 4 oz water

On a big bowl, grate the plaintains using a cheese grater (similar to grating cheddar cheese, for example.) On a separate, small bowl, mix the pressed garlic, salt (to taste - about a tablespoon), and the water until the salt dissolves. Pour the seasoning mix onto the grated plantains, and mix with your fingers. Try not to compact the plaintain dough; make sure the plaintain flakes stay nice and loose.

On a deep casserole (4-6 qt), bring cooking oil to 350F degrees. Once hot, pick a small handful of plaintain flakes and compact them somewhat (not too much), and place in the hot oil. You should see good bubbling action in the oil. Cook for about five minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oil, and drain in either paper towels or a draining pan.

Serve while hot/warm. This serves about 10 people. You may want to adjust the amount depending on how many folks you have eating these.

Variations:

- some folks like these things to be very garlicky. You may want to add more garlic if you are entrenched in this camp.

- if you compact the aran~itas before frying them, the inside will not cook as much and stay soft. Compacting them less will allow the insides to cook to a crisp (which I tend to prefer.) Try either method until you get the consistency you like.

That's it - fairly simple. And very tasty!

Recipes: Stuffed Yellow Peppers

My cousin OT (pronounced "Oh - tee") cooked some stuffed yellow peppers for us the other day. Here is the recipe, along with a picture of her preparing the peppers. (That's my mom in the background, preparing more food.)

Ingredients:

• A bag of multi-color mini sweet bell peppers.
  
• Manchego Cheese, cut into strips 1 inch wide.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cut a slit lengthwise through each pepper, and remove all the seeds. Stuff a strip of manchego cheese into each pepper. Place the peppers in a roasting pan, and brush them with olive oil. Add salt and ground pepper to taste. Roast in an oven at 375F degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until the peppers start turning brown/dark.

Let cool for a few minutes. Serve. Enjoy. Yum.

Bread

Aside from cars, my other true obsession is bread. Not the mass-produced, plastic bagged, soft, bland, "amogollao" stuff you get at the nearest grocery store (although I'll eat that any time,) but the kind done by hand, with a heavy crust you need to work your teeth into, with simple ingredients, but with complex flavor and aroma; bread worth packing and carrying four thousand miles just to share it with your family.

I find a good baguette, and I must eat it all at once (with oil and cheese, sometimes with just butter.) It truly is an addiction, and for me, that's bad news ("hello, rising sugar level.")

Here in Seattle there are a few bakeries that are as obsessed than I am about bread (probably, more so.) I found this article describing them:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2005-06-29/food/rising-amp-shining.php

Paraphrasing Ben Franklin, I think bread this good is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy...
(even more than beer...) :-)

Wii Reviews by Chris K.

So, I held a Wii night at home last week. I know, it sounds kind-of lame, but it's really not that lame. I cook some food, open a few bottles of beer and wine, invite folks over, and play Wii until it's time to go to work the next morning. I had about 12 people (and a dog) at my place last week, and we all had a good time (or so everyone claims.)

So, fellow autocrosser Chris K. e-mailed a review of a few Wii games for another friend. The reviews were so cool, I figured I'd post them here. I have not played all of these games, but I do agree with Chris' opinions regarding the games I have played so far.

The links take you to the IGN web site, with further reviews of the games themselves.

Don't stay up too late playing Wii!

(Here is Chris' e-mail with the reviews.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, where to begin. I'll just list the games I think rock and the number of players, genre and then a brief description and link to read more about the game. You can take this input or leave it. :)

Games I vouche for:
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Players: 1

Genre: first-person shooter
If you like first-person shooters like Halo, Medal of Honor, etc. then I don't know why you aren't playing this game right now instead of reading this email... enough said.

Super Mario Galaxy

Players: 1-2
Genre: Platformer
This is hands-down the best Mario game I've ever played. Intuitive controls, beautiful graphics, and fun gameplay. Another must-have for this system. They call it a 1 or 2 player game, but really, it's 1 player. The option for the second player is to "assist" player 1 by zapping enemies and collecting star pieces, but player 1 actually controls the game and Mario, so the novelty wears off a little for player 2 in my opinion.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Players: 1-2
Genre: Music? (personally, I'd call it more of a party game)
I think you've probably already heard about this one. It's amazingly addictive. My only two complaints about the game. 1) Currently they only sell the guitars with the game (they aren't available for individual sale yet) so if you want to play 2 player, you either have to buy two games (why the hell would you do that?) or have a friend that owns the game. 2) They haven't announced online support for the Wii version yet (...why? I have no clue) so it's still up in the air as to whether us Wii-folk will have the opportunity to buy additional songs to play online or not.

Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

Players: 1
Genre: Action
This is a Wii version of one of the best iterations of the Resident Evil series. It's an over-the-shoulder action/suspense game with small elements of RPG. You basically walk around trying to find items to solve puzzles while trying to stay alive by shooting zombies, etc. A lot of fun.

Super Paper Mario

Players: 1
Genre: Action/Platformer/RPG
This is basically a side-scrolling action/RPG game. A lot of puzzle solving with a very healthy mix of old-school style Mario action. Plenty of fun here, but only for 1 player. :(

Link's Crossbow Training

Players: 1-4
Genre: Shooter
This didn't get the best reviews, but they can all kiss my butt! We played this on Wii night at Enrique's and nobody wanted to stop playing. Plus it's only $20 for the game and the gun attachment!! Basically you mount the Wii-mote into the gun and have some Duck Hunt-style fun on your Wii. What more can you ask for? The only downside is that multiple players cannot play simultaneously, instead you take turns trying to beat each other's scores. Still very cool and not at all boring since each player's turn only takes a couple of minutes so you don't get bored while you wait for your turn.

Mario Party 8

Players: 1-4
Genre: Party
This game is loads of fun. Like Enrique described, it's basically a video game/board game. You "roll" for a number that your piece moves and various things happen on different spots. You might get money (coins), lose coins or even play a mini-game. Each round (of everyone moving once) ends with a minigame where everyone competes in a short game for bonus coins. A great party game.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Players: 1
Genre: Action Adventure
Are we even discussing this? One of the best 1-player games on the system along with Metroid Prime 3 and Mario Galaxy. If you have these three games, you should be occupied with an amazing number of hours drooling gleefully in front of the boob tube.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Players: 1
Genre: Shooter
A great game to buy if you own the Wii Zapper/Link's Crossbow Training. With the Zapper accessory, this is a great arcade shooter. Same style of game as The House of the Dead from the arcades (do you remember what those are?).

On a final note, I haven't yet played it, but Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure is supposed to be amazingly fun. If I think of any more I'll let you know!

~Chris K.

Recipes: Chili

So, on New Years Day, I made a batch of chili to munch on while we nursed our mild hangovers, at it was pretty good. So I figured I'd post it here.
Maybe I'll add pictures at some point.

I borrowed the recipe from a co-worker. Below is the recipe verbatim. I tend to go heavy on the cumin, and a bit light on the tomato paste. I also top with chopped onions, cheddar cheese, white rice, and/or oyster crackers. You can top with anything you want.

Oh, and if chorizo is not available, any sausage will do (although the spicier the better.) Andouille works well, as well as hot italian sausage, hot links, etc. Experiment and let me know how it goes.

Enjoy!

New Year's Chili

Ingredients:
4 Garlic Cloves - chopped
1 Green Pepper - chopped
1 Red Onion - chopped
1 Large can of diced tomatoes with liquid
1 lb Round Steak - chopped into small pieces
1 lb Pork Roast - chopped into small pieces
1 lb Chorizo (Mexican Sausage) - chopped into small pieces
1 1/2 tbsp Chili Powder
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Cumin
4 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 can Red kidney beans
1 can Black beans

In three tablespoons of oil cook sausage, onion, pepper, and garlic about 5 minutes. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside. Add meats (beef and pork) and cook until well browned. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and set aside. Place in large pot, add all ingredients except beans, cover with lid and cook for approximately 1 1/2 hours stirring occasionally. Add beans and tomato paste. Cook on low for another 15 minutes.

Jaime and Luis get spoiled; A cousin gets married.

It's been a while since the last post, but there is a good reason for this: I've been out of town twice over the past few weeks. This tends to happen around the holidays, as most of my family lives away from here, and someone must go visit them.


So, a few weeks back, I spent time in Indianapolis visiting my brother's family. It was great to see his wife and kids - the nephews are growing up - as well as their energy level. I had a great time playing with them (as well as spoiling them as much as I can.)

That's Luis and Jaime, posing for their uncle.

Rene and I did find time to change the clutch slave cylinder on my brother's Miata.








So you see, there's always a bit of car stuff going on.

By the way, that's Rene, Jaime, Luis and Jane on the picture on the left.









After the Indy trip, I stayed in Seattle for a week, then headed south to Mexico for my cousin's wedding. Who gets married in Mexico? Well, if you want to have a good time, it is definitely a good way to get hitched.

I stayed at one of those all-inclusive resorts in the Riviera Maya (Bahia Principe Hotel Coba.) The whole wedding party totaled about 60 people, friends and family of the groom and bride.

Along the way, we visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. The first picture is the main ball court, where the participants would apparently guide a small rubber ball up that small stone ring, without using their hands. This place was built about a thousand years ago - go figure!


We walked the whole complex for about three hours. This was not nearly time enough - the place is huge, with lots of old temples and buildings to see. One can easily spend a whole day exploring the place.

Or just pointing at things...


And yes, the wedding went well, too (both the groom and bride said "yes"; that's all that's needed for a great wedding ceremony, in my opinion.)




















So, all in all, we had a great week indeed. The weather was perfect, the pool and the beach were relaxing, the food was great, and the company was even better. I can't wait to head back for another wedding...