You're Just What I Needed

Nachos get a bad rap but I've found myself turning to them for a nice light dinner when I want more than a snack but not the whole dinner fiasco.  You control the toppings and amount of, so the sky's the limit.  On this night, protein, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, green onions and not as much cheese was enough to satiate and satisfy.  They get your stomach excited for a fun time but don't screw it up.  Of course you could add corn, roasted peppers, and beans to make them even heartier.  Or, on another type of night you might load them up with cheese, sour cream and extra salsa, refried beans.  But they are great like this, simply dressed. 

No Cover Charge, Come as You Are, I Love This Bar

Pico de Gallo, Green Chile Ranch, Roasted Tomato and Tomatillo Chile Salsa

If you find yourself with sauces and salsas, then it's an obvious pathway to a Nacho Bar dinner.  And one way to find yourself with sauces is to make them all at once.  Its basically the same players with some variation, so roasting the ingredients at the same time, in different pans allows the process to go much quicker.  Chopping the fresh pico can happen whilst the others are roasting.  I took about a cup of the roasted tomatillos, jalapeno, onion, garlic and cilantro blend and mixed it with a couple of teaspoons of ranch and a huge dollop of sour cream, to get a tangy ass dip that could be used as a chicken marinade for sure.  

Cherry Tomatoes can be jam packed with flavor but are a bitch to chop, so this is a labor of love but this pico de gallo is definitely worth it because the vibrancy pops in your mouth.  

For the bar, I usually make two sheet pans of plain chips with cheddar cheese and fresh jalapenos only and then put out the various toppings so everyone can load their own.  

It's hard to invite too many vegetables to the party because not everyone gets along well with a cheesy chip. Ground beef or turkey, corn, lettuce or cabbage, refried beans, avocado, and green onions work very well. 

When You Give Me Those Ocean Eyes

When I wake up in the morning, I generally need quiet for at least 45 minutes to an hour and a half.  My brain doesn't like chatter before the coffee kicks in and there is something to calmly sorting and folding my thoughts from the night before like warm clothes just out of the dryer. P on the other hand likes to lay down solid plans in his first hour of wokedom.  He's asking me how I'd like to spend my birthday, how I should take off vacation days in a month when he goes to Illinois so that I can spend time writing, and would I like a nice steak or should he take me to a restaurant as my gift. There is something about his script and how he needs to understand how to powder his brother's nose for an upcoming film shoot, then more about his next three jobs, what he's mounting to the walls and the tools he used. I'm exhausted already, just hearing the questions let alone consider answering.  We had a dog growing up named Chico, a tiny, long haired Chihuahua mix and anytime you looked at him, he was looking back at you with watery, tired, blinking eyes.  He could barely keep them open and was always slightly shaking.  That's how I feel before I bloom each morning.  I certainly am not capable of making any grand plans as I look back at P with Chico's glassy stare.

Its crazy how we could know each other so well, be together for years, but can be so terribly different in these fundamental ways. He knows I could never form an opinion so early, so he probably is simply planting seeds.

I will perk up for breakfast and often wake up my mind in order to enjoy and prepare a good one.  A Frittata with broccoli and cheddar with a side of fried potatoes and bacon. That, I can understand!

For dinner I did nachos over a bed of cool crisp Romaine lettuce.   Yes, it's similar to a taco salad but there was something special about getting a big bite of the melted cheese laden chips along with the cold salad below when your mind isn't expecting it.  This is the time when I'm more sharp and P winds down a bit and I tend to run circles around him.