Huaraches

I love the Internet. As I mentioned above, Rob and I bought a bunch of stuff at a local Mexican market. One of the items was a bag of oval, cornmeal, about 1/4 inch things. Huaraches is a name for a kind of sandal and you can kind of see why these were named after the sandal, they kind of look like the sole of a shoe. I had no idea what to do with them so I did a Google search and found out that you just fry them up in some oil and serve them topped with some kind of meat and cactus (nopales) salad.

I've always loved the idea of cactus salad and when I was able to taste some, I found I liked the flavor, kind of like smokey bell peppers. I fried up my huaraches in some canola oil and topped them with fajitas, prepared with steak using a package for seasoning (McCormack -- it wasn't very good BTW). I topped that with cheese that I melted on top. I added the nopales salad, some chopped avocado -- something we all have in abundance around here and sour cream. It was really good. The huarache is a very distinct flavor and it stands up well to all the stuff on top. It has a crunchy outside and a kind of chewy inside. It's actually quite yummy -- like polenta would be if it had a better texture.

Across the border

 

 

True story: Lindsay's fiance's parents like to do house exchanges. Living in Ventura, it's pretty easy to find people in other countries who want to take a vacation in Southern California. This is a cool, relatively inexpensive way for people around here to take vacation and get to explore other countries.

One of the couples hailed from Great Britain. As they were recounting their stay to Ryan's parents, they mentioned how one day they went out driving. They didn't know how far they'd gone, but they managed to stumble across a "quaint little Mexican village." Since Ventura is a good three hours from the Mexico border, and since crossing that border usually entails some kind of checkpoint, the Guziks questioned the couple further about this "Mexican village" and after a short while determined it was Santa Paula, a town just east of Ventura.

People in Ventura County will immediately start laughing. There is a very strong Mexican influence in Santa Paula, with some of the best Mexican food and groceries around, so it is conceivable that someone from England could get confused.

Or at least that's what Rob and I were thinking, and laughing about, when we decided to make a trek to Tresierras, which has some of the best Mexican groceries around. Once of the things I've noticed is that most white people are afraid of the Mexican markets. Down the street from where I live is the main Mexican strip in Ventura. There are three markets, a carciniera, a couple of panaderias, along with restaurants, liquor stores and mini marts. Most people I know have never set foot in any of these markets.

It is a bit intimidating. First, the primary language is Spanish and some employees don't speak English at all. Those who do speak English tend to speak Spanish, especially when white people are around. Then, a lot of the foods are unfamiliar. The first revelation is the meat counters at the Mexican markets. They still employ butchers. You can get them to cut up, chop, grind, saw anything you want. It's amazing.

You know all those cooking shows where someone who hasn't been out shopping for at least a couple of decades -- read Martha and Rachael Ray -- will say something glib like "have your butcher ... blah blah blah?" I don't know about you people, but my local Vons butchers are completely worthless when it comes to preparing the meat. They get theirs from pre-cut chubs, which they break down into company-mandated packages and they rarely cut to order. The Mexican meat markets carry a much wider array of meat products than the severely limited standard grocery stores. You can get the organ meats, which are available in abundance and there are treats like pigs feet (a personal favorite), cows feet and all manner of pig and cow pieces.

The Mexican markets are where you can find all kinds of obscure, gourmet items. As you would expect, there are tons of chiles. There are Mexican squashes, sugar cane, tomatillos, cactus, Mexican-style green onions (which are great grilled on top of your meat) and about a gazillion unfamiliar Mexican and Latin American cheeses and creams. Tresierras also makes tortillas on the spot, along with fresh gorditas and huaraches.

Rob and I had a great time just exploring the store and checking out all the unfamiliar items. I started buying selected treats with no real plan in mind. The first thing I got was chicharones con carne or pig skin with some meat. My family on my dad's side has a real pork affection. My dad used to spend summers at his uncle's pig farm in the Ozarks and I don't know if it was just lard becoming part of the family DNA, but you don't want to be around Gamblins when there are things like crunchy pig's skin to be munching. My dad once had a pig roast and I thought the guy doing the cooking was going to start hitting us with his spatula because were were all sneaking little bits.

I had some real difficulty making myself understood about my order because the counterperson didn't speak English. Fortunately another customer started translating. I also got some menudo, which is a tripe soup Mexicans traditionally serve for hangovers. I'd always been curious about it and wanted to give it a try.

Rob made gagging noises when I told him what I'd bought. There were all these bags of little wheel-looking things called duritos, so I got a bag. I was curious about the huarache, which is an oval-looking thick corn tortilla kind of thing, so I bought them. I also got some nopales salad because I've always wanted to try cactus -- it looks so good. Tresierras has the best pico de gallo in the area and they fry their own chips. I also snagged some weird-looking peruano beans out of curiosity. We added some guacamole and Rob bought a chicken that was being grilled out front. The cool part about it was that we didn't spend very much money at all.

We went home and I started trying to figure out what I'd bought. I found out that the duritos are made from flour-based sheets that are cut out and fried to become puffy. They tasted like shrimp crackers with the same texture, but porkier. They are commonly eaten with a little lime juice and some hot sauce, like Tapatio. I tried them with the hot sauce, but found I really liked them best plain. The huaraches are fried and often served with nopales salad. So it actually looked like I knew what I was doing when I bought both items. I love when that happens. I started munching on my pork skins, much to Rob's great disgust. I tried the menudo, but it didn't have any hominy and was disgusting and greasy with just the tripe. I threw it out.

I'm going to have to change some of my menus to Mexican this week to take advantage of our bounty. It's such a shame we have these wonderful resources and opportunities to explore and discover all kinds of new things, but so many people are afraid to venture to the "Mexican" side of town or they hate "Mexican" food. It's really too bad. They're missing out on a lot.

Whale-less watching

One of the reasons I love living here is that on almost any given day, weather permitting, I can take off for a small ocean voyage. Winter is whale watching season, here on the West Coast. The gray whales migrate south from Alaska to Mexico, starting in December. In Mexico, they take a break, get some sun, fool around and they have little baby whales. By about March or so, they start back up north.

These whales pass right by the Channel Islands, which lie off the coast of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. A local outfit, Island Packers, offers whale watching tours. These generally last about 3 1/2 hours and you get to see some really cool wildlife. I love taking these tours. I just love going out to the islands. I first went out a few months after I moved here -- I'd read about the Channel Islands online and was chomping at the bit to get out to see them.

I took Rob with me the first time I went over. This was back before they had the fancy boats they now use to zip back and forth to the island, so it took a few hours to get out to Santa Cruz Island. It was the coolest trip because Captain Randy was only going over because he was celebrating his daughter's birthday -- there weren't enough passengers to make the trip worthwhile, but he went over anyway because of his daughter. We had almost the whole island to ourselves. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was -- and how quiet.

We saw dolphins for the first time and we saw some sea lions, seals and plenty of sea birds.

This was where we discovered the truth about sea parks. Sea parks are cruel and inhumane places where animals are basically tortured. Wild dolphins live in complex societies called pods. They communicate using echolocation, which works kind of like sonar. Dolphins tend to have unique families, languages and characteristics. They tend to be highly playful and are beautiful to watch.

When sea parks capture dolphins to use, the mortality rate is enormous. Some dolphins, like the common dolphin -- the name of the dolphin, as opposed to bottle-nose dolphins for example -- will all die in captivity. They lose their will to live and won't eat and will starve. The dolphins who do survive usually have a lifespan of about 5 years. In the wild, a dolphin has a lifespan of 35 years.

I know some parks are raising dolphins in captivity, which is perhaps more humane, in the way it would be more humane to have a child born into slavery, rather than a child who has experienced freedom. It's the social nature of dolphins that makes them so suitable for marine shows. They do like to please and the parks take advantage of that by establishing relationships between the dolphins and the trainer.

But once you see dolphins in their natural habitat, playing in the surf, diving for food, just generally being happy dolphins in the enormous pods, which can number in the hundreds, you'll understand why captivity seems so cruel. They have unique languages that actually differentiate by dolphin families. It's such a great experience being able to see them in their natural habitat living the dolphin lives they were meant to live. There's really no reason to go see them do some choreographed man-made tricks.

OK lecture over.

I love going out on the ocean and do it at least once a year. There is something about seeing such natural beauty that can chase away even the most stubborn of depressions. This is seriously a lot better than Paxil. It was a really windy day and the sea was really choppy, which made picture taking difficult. It's hard not to shake the camera.

The only down part was that we never saw any whales, which is actually a first for me. I've always seen whales when we went out whale watching. Rob and I actually saw some mating one time. It was amazing. There were two males and one female. Our guide explained that whales have sex with one female and multiple males. This is so they can hold her down while the one does his dirty deed. Why you may ask? Because if it were just one on one and the male tried to trust at the female, being underwater, she would just float away from him. Hmmm. The things one learns that one never even wondered about.

As a veteran seafarer, I've learned that you always come back famished. I don't know what it is about the sea air but I always have to have something to eat. As a result I wanted something quick. I've been working on budgeting our money better, which is long overdue. As a result, I've been exploring the wonderful world of chicken thighs. I've developed some quick and easy chicken nuggets that are way, way better than fast food.

I'm going to start naming my recipes with much cuter names because with the success of Rachael Ray, I've decided I need to be a whole lot cuter. So here is my recipe for:

Nifty nummy nuggets

4 tablespoons black pepper (to taste, but I really recommend the extra pepper)
3 cup canola oil
Six chicken thighs (I use the bone-in because it's cheaper, but the recipe works with boned, skinned thighs
1 cup milk (you can use buttermilk for an added tang)
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons Lawrey's seasoned salt (or to taste)

Heat oil in an electric skillet (mine cooks best around 375 degrees). Cut the bone out of each thigh and cut the thigh in half. Dip the pieces in the milk. Shake the flour, seasoned salt and pepper in a large plastic bag (you can use a Reynolds oven bag or a large Ziploq bag) Add the milk-coated pieces and shake until the chicken is coated. Place pieces in the skillet and cook for about 15 minutes on a side -- smaller pieces may cook sooner. Serve with cole slaw or some other salad and mashed potatoes.

The dog park

In addition to other official dog parks around town (Arroyo Verde park), Ventura has an unofficial dog park at what is known as Cemetery Park -- officially it's Memorial Park, but it's built over an old cemetery so everyone calls it Cemetery Park. There is a big old sign that says all dogs must be on a leash. The sign prohibits other things too, like skateboards, bicycles and remote control planes. Some days I count how many activities prohibited by the sign are occurring, sometimes it's all of them. It warms my heart to see such civil disobedience. It's all anti-Establishment-y, dude.

We foud the park when we were on our way to KFC last year. We go to KFC for the dogs because, for some reason, dogs love KFC more than just about anything. Personally, I think it is among the most disgusting of the fast foods. Jersey -- our old cocker spaniel just LOVED it -- and our new guys really get a kick out of it. As we passed Cemetery Park going the back way to KFC from our house, we noticed a bunch of people with dogs. I'd seen people with dogs there before and I always thought it was a obedience class or something. This time I noticed that the dogs were all running around, so it didn't seem like a class. We stopped to see what was what.

Our guys just loved it. The park is built so that dogs more or less stay away from the roads. They can just get out and run around and play and socialize (read: sniff butts). Because the park isn't official there's no big dog/small dog division. Our little guys can sometimes be intimidated by the bigger dogs, but by and large, it's been good for them to know how to handle the big guys. Brindle's way of "handling" them is to snap and jump at them when they sniff her. Fuser loves to chase the big guys when they chase their balls and Rascal just looks terrified and waits for them to go away, which is a huge improvement for him.

Each day we take the dogs for a run around their park. It's such a positive energy place for the most part, with happy dogs and happy people all doing happy things. Occasionally some jerk or jerks will try to deflate the happiness quotient -- one couple seemed intent of getting everyone to put their dogs on leashes by screaming at people and calling the police. I haven't seen them back.

Another guy, who is a regular with his dogs Xena and Lola, started screaming at me the other day because he'd seen Brindle poopie and although I said I'd get it, he proceeded to start getting hysterical, yelling across the park about how I needed to jump up and get it right then. I recommended yoga to him. And BTW when I went to find the poopie it wasn't there, but Brindle seems to be pooping when she's peeing, so Mr. Anger Management-challenged could have just been wrong.

But for the most part the park is usually the best place in town to recharge the mental batteries. Not only is the energy positive and joyous, as only happy dogs can make it, but it also has some of the best views of the pier and the Channel Islands. Who can beat it -- frolicking dogs and sunsets?

The Cocksman

Remember the phrase from Wedding Crashers? I've seen this guy around town for years. He lives about three blocks from me and he always is walking his dogs. When I first met him, we had Jersey and he had Jane. I have no idea what his name is and he doesn't know mine. We don't ask each other, nor do we really care. We do ask about the dogs. He is really non-threatening and tends to have a lot of women he chats with on his walks. So Rob dubbed him The Cocksman because Rob's funny that way (in the head).

He rescues retrievers, who tend to be old because people who obviously have no souls give up dogs when they get old. He's had Jane for a while and she's getting old, which is sad to see. He rescued Fred, but Fred died and now he has Linda, who is more demanding than the other two have been because she was mistreated.

I hadn't seen him since Jersey died, so I introduced him to our gang. We told him the story of each dog, one rescue (Fuser), one stray (Rascal) and one adoptee (Brindle). After we lost Jersey we decided it would be best to give homes to dogs who needed them. We said it was in memory of her, but actually Jersey hated other dogs and would see this as defiling her spirit. We did adopt so many to fill the hole Jersey left when she died. I'd hoped that by having more, I wouldn't be so sad when they died, and dogs have such short lifespans. But now I realize I'll be just as sad -- times three. Still, they are the most loving, sweet souls and they bring us such doggie joy.

Colin!!!!!!!!

The best thing about the dog park to our dogs is seeing Colin. Colin lives right next to Cemetery Park, along with his girlfriend Tracey. Colin also loves dogs, so he makes a big deal out of seeing them. This makes them even more crazy about him.

Rascal especially loves Colin. Colin tends to single him out for a little extra attention because Rascal has such a Sad Sack quality to him. Rascal was found wandering around in Oxnard somewhere by one of Lindsay's friends. He was filthy, underweight and had exposed patches of skin because he's allergic to fleas. He's a terrier/poodle mix, we think. When we got him, his eyes were cloudy and we thought he may have a vision problem. But they seem to have cleared up, so maybe it was a vitamin deficiency.

Poor Rascal was obviously severely neglected and he tends to be really skittish when he's in a new situation. When we first got him he had to be kept on leash at the park or he wouldn't get out of the car. He'd actually climb up Rob and me in terror when other dogs approached him. He still thinks dripping hoses and outdoor faucets are the greatest thing known to man because back when he was a stray I'm sure they were the highlight of his pitiful existence. I keep trying to tell him he can have all the spring water he wants, but he still has his little stray habits.

Rascal's life is good now and he shows it every chance he gets. He just loves to run up and give big old hugs, using both of his front legs to hold on tight. And even though he's bigger, he lets Fuser beat him when they wrestle, which makes Fuser feel like the big dog he isn't. Brindle saw Rascal as an interloper at first, but she's decided he's OK, especially because he seems to understand that she is The Queen.

The possibility of seeing Colin makes the park even More Fun for the dogs. Selective reinforcement is always more effective than constant reinforcement, according to the old college texts. The dog park is the highlight of their days and they plan around it, waiting by the front window starting around 2 p.m. It's also the highlight of most of my days. After all, who can resist such happiness?

Midwinter recipes

This time of year, the tail end of winter is the blah-est time IMO. Even here in Southern California where it's still pretty and nice, there's just a sense of ehhhh that's inescapable, except in the kitchen.

When in doubt, I always say, cook. The one thing that always cheers me up is the smell of good food cooking. I take such a deep joy at this and it's so easy and cheap to do. I've developed a bunch of easy recipes that really hit the comfort food spot without being too unhealthy.

The first recipe is a great way to sneak vegetables into non vegetable eaters. It has only a few ingredients and is quick and easy and uses few ingredients.

Vegetable/beef soup
2 plus pounds of beef cut into one-half inch pieces
garlic powder
onion powder
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 quart V-8 vegetable juice (you can use tomato juice, if you prefer, but I really like the flavor of V-8)
1 large package mixed frozen vegetables (the standard peas, carrots, lima beans, corn mix is the best)
1/2 cup red wine (optional)

Brown beef sprinkled with garlic and onion powder in Dutch oven in batches in heated olive oil. Add V-8, vegetables and wine. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour.

One of the first things every male I knew made for himself that actually could count as cooking was the Lipton's soup pot roast. They'd wrap a piece of soup-covered beef in aluminum foil and/or plastic wrap, stick it in the oven at 350 for an hour or so and think themselves the next Bobby Flay or something. The reason they were so proud was because it's actually kind of good, just a piece of piece coated with Lipton Onion soup mix and cooked.

But there is so much more to pot roast and I've been able to take it to a level of culinary transcendence that it's mind-boggling. Or at the very least, it's one of the most popular meals I serve. It really makes the house smell amazing.

World's Best Pot Roast
Reynold's oven bags (not the aluminum kind, turkey size)
3 pounds 7-bone chuck roast (you can use any beef, but chuck is always the best)
2 tablespoons flour
1 envelope Lipton's onion soup mix
5 red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
5 celery stalks cut in 1-inch pieces
5 whole carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 onions cut into 1-inch chunks
4 turnips, peeled and quartered
4 bay leaves
1 cup red wine or beer
1 cup water

Shake flour, soup mix and beef together in oven bag. Add the rest of the ingredients. Slit bag, put in 11X13 inch baking pan and place in 295 degree oven for about three hours or until meat is fall-apart tender. Serve with crusty bread. I have to have sour cream with my pot roast, which I mix in with the juices and mop up with the bread, but Rob likes his without the juices and with A-1 Sauce (ewwwww).