Cinco de Saturday

When I woke up Saturday morning (just after 6:00 AM) I grabbed my glasses and got a shock. The left lens was missing! Fortunately, it was lying on the night stand. The little screw had come unscrewed, but (again, fortunately) it was still in the glasses' frame. So, my first chore today was to re-assembly it so I could see.

I had remembered (for a change) to fill the coffee pot with coffee grounds and water and set the timer Friday night, so I had a cup. Mmmm. Then I had another. Next I showered and got dressed for a 9:00 AM haircut. Before leaving, I got a call from Carla, saying she had an appointment on my side of town at 12:30 PM, so they'd probably be earlier than the original 2:00 PM arrival time. It was raining when I left, BTW.

After my haircut, I went to Kroger's and then to Westborn. As you might have guessed, Jake and Carla are coming over this afternoon and I said I'd make nachos. On the way home, I stopped at the Coney Island by Home Depot and treated myself to breakfast (eggs over easy, hash browns, link pork sausage and rye toast). I got back home at 10:45 AM, still driving in light rain, but I am happy to report my windshield wipers are working perfectly.

So, I get to work. The task "Deep Clean the Main Bathroom" has been on my ToDo list for two weekends, now. So, I start by getting into the tub and closing the shower doors. I sprayed them with some soap
scum-eating product then got out and sprayed the tile walls and the tub as well. I opened the window, in spite of the rain and the cooler temperature, to try and let out some of the chemical odor. I shut the door on my way out.

I went into the kitchen and diced five vine-ripened tomatoes after seeding them while the soap scum remover did its thing. Then I went back in the bathroom and rubbed down the walls, tub and shower enclosure with a wet sponge. Next, I mixed up a bucket of Pine-Sol and hot water and washed the other tile walls, the sink top and the toilet with it. Last of all, I mopped the floor, shut the door and walked away while it dried.

Back in the kitchen, I worked on the Pico de Gallo Salsa (you top your nachos with it, BTW). To the tomatoes, I added two de-seeded jalapeno peppers, diced fine, a small white onion, chopped, and about 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves. I then added kosher salt to taste and covered the bowl with Saran Wrap, so the flavors could get happy together.

Back to cleaning! I used the electric sweeper to get all of Caley's cat hair up from the wood floors and then vacuumed the rug in the living room. I'll use my dust mop, sprayed with End-Dust,` on the wood floors later.

Back to cooking! I am making a double batch of nachos, BTW. For the nachos meat, I thought I'd mix it up a bit, so instead of, say, two pounds of ground round, I used one pound ground sirloin (very lean) and one pound ground pork (Not so lean, lol!). I put that into my 12-inch skillet after saut�ing four cloves of fresh chopped garlic, a medium white onion, chopped and two de-seeded jalapeno peppers, again diced fine, over medium-high heat.

I took the thawed remaining baby back ribs out, sliced them and put them in a cake pan with a little more bourbon and apple juice (so they won't dry out). I covered the pan with tin foil and put it in the oven on "warm".

I carefully poured the rendered fat out of the skillet. Today, I am being lazy, so instead of the spices called for, I used two taco mix packets instead. However, in case you are interested, for each pound of meat, I was supposed to add one teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons dark chili powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin and two teaspoons to one tablespoon cayenne pepper sauce (depending on heat level desired). I added two cups of water and let it boil and reduce down.

About that time (say, 12:30 PM) Jake and Carla arrived! Seems the place Carla needed to go to was closed today. Okay, so I'm not really ready for guests yet, but they lived here in the past, so it's not as awkward as it could have been. I added two cans of rinsed and drained black beans to the meat mixture and put the skillet in the warm oven as well.

While we visited, I went and cleaned the bathroom mirror and fixtures, then put back the rug, the stuff on the top of the sink and lit the vanilla candle. I lit the candle in the living room as well. Looks like the wood floors aren't going to be dust-mopped today!

Nobody was hungry at the time, so Carla set up the board and game pieces for Trivial Pursuit. Geesh, that's a tough game!!! I probably knew less than 1/4 of the answers (way less).

We played that for several hours (I'm not kidding) until we were getting hungry. So, back to cooking. Carla, who has made this very recipe several times before, volunteered to make the cheese sauce. So, while I hand-grated 1 1/2 pounds (double recipe, remember) of pepper jack cheese, she melted four tablespoons of butter in a large sauce pot. Then she added four tablespoons of flour to it. She cooked the flour and butter 1 to 2 minutes over moderate heat (making a roux), then whisked in four cups of milk. When the milk came to a bubble, she stirred in my grated cheese with a wooden spoon. When it had all melted, she removed the cheese sauce from the heat.

I had bought two kinds of corn tortilla chips: traditional (organic, BTW) blue corn chips and the more modern, Tostitos white corn "scoops" (like little bowls rather than the normal flat, so they "hold" stuff better).

So, we assembled our plates. First a couple handfuls of the two different corn chips, then we poured the cheese sauce evenly over the chips, topped that (again evenly) with the beef/pork and beans and, finally, the Pico de Gallo salsa. I had three additional toppings: a bunch of sliced scallions, sliced black olives and sour cream (BTW, I forgot to get the sour cream out, dammit).

Oh, my! Nice heat, but not too overpowering (unless you bit into a piece of jalapenos that I didn't dice fine enough - but they were few and far between). I ate WAY too much and had no room for the ribs (I think Carla was the only one who had them).

We decided not to clean up, but to get back to the game. So, we did. We played until 7:30 PM with no clear winner in sight (I know its wasn't me, though), so we finally quit. I bagged up the rest of the ribs and sent them home for Carla, and they left.

I put away the leftovers (Sunday's snack food is going to be no problem, lol!) loaded the dishwasher and went in to see what was on TV. I watched a couple of taped shows and then went to sleep at 10:00 PM.