28 Sept 07

28 Sept 07, Well summer has passed and fall is upon us. This, I believe, is my favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong I love spring and all the promise of new life, flowers and vegetable gardens, ECT... However, by this time every year I'm tired of cutting grass, cleaning the pool, weeding the flower beds, blah, blah, blah... I'm also not a big fan of HOT.. I don't mind warm but I hate HOT. The evenings are cooler, the bugs aren't as active and Saturdays are a good day to sit outside with a glass of wine and enjoy the day if you have all your chores done...I’ve got a tip for you that I believe came from this last issue of COOKS' ILLUSTRATED. If you are going to put a tomato based food into one of the disposable plastic containers, put a little vegetable or olive oil on a paper towel and coat the inside. When you go to wash the container all the red residue comes out slick as a whistle. Today I grilled up a batch of Peruvian Grilled chicken from this months Gourmet at Epicurious.com, http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/239923. The recipe says to marinade for 24 hrs, I had mine in for over 48 and it was fantastic. I did “Cuban” black beans and brown rice from All Recipes.com, leaving out the ham and substituting the canned jalapeno for a half a chipotle pepper (a smoked Jalapeno). I believe the two worked well together. Next time I’ll probably oven roast some frozen corn for a side dish.