Way Down the Street There's a Light in Her Place

Blue Street Corn Chicken Tacos

I took corn off the cob and seasoned it up with Chili powder, Smoked Paprika, Cumin, Salt, pepper, lime juice and olive oil and grilled it on my stove top with some equally spiced chicken.  Then on the same griddle pan I toasted the shells with the chicken and corn mixture and added a layer of cheesy smashed pinto beans inside.  This was an unexpected crunchy delight. 

Due to the pandemic closing of most of the cheap take out food options in the neighborhoods, creating more exciting, fun quick meals at home has filled that void. 

Ice Cream waffle cone from the downstairs shop owned by my landlord.

I beg to differ with this headline

 

I'm So Hot for You and You're So Cold

As advertised, this soup is better the next day after all the flavors blend together and become harmonized.  Cold Cucumber soup is a classic but in making it, I realized how you can Mexican-ize it by just a few additions.  Somehow the tangy cucumbers are so fresh, they beg for a little slap of heat. If you enjoy zesty, creamy, easy, this is for you.

My Cold Cucumber Soup

From reading all the recipes, it sounds like you can add 1 tablespoon of any acid, like lemon, vinegar or lime, the cream can come from Buttermilk, Yogurt, or Sour Cream, Creme Fresh.  Then the herbs for me, must be dill to start but parsley, basil, mint, cilantro could be added.  I went in a Mexican direction and it was so awesome.    

My Ingredients:

(2) English Cucumbers

1/2 a green bell pepper or (2) jalapenos seeded

*optional - 1/2 granny smith apple

1 cup of yogurt

1/4 cup of sour cream

1/2 a sweet onion

Big squeeze of lime (1 whole and the zest)

1 bunch of dill 

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Everything in the blender until desired smoothness, then chilled at least for 2 hours. 

Garnishes:  More dill & cilantro,  Feta Cheese, dollop of sour cream, avocado & green apple chunks. 

 

Where Did All the Blue Skies Go?

Shredded Chickeny-Chicken and Lime Noodle Soup

Home made broth and slow stewed chicken with brown Thai noodles and chili oil changed up this classic soup.  The flavors are super concentrated when you make your own broth.  There is something very comforting about Chicken Soup in the summer. You wouldn't think a hot broth would be helpful but sweating refreshes the body. 

Cold Cucumber Soup

I made two soups, hot and cold like the world.  This incredibly refreshing cold cucumber soup is only for summertime, complete with with fresh herbs and Feta.  The joy you get from eating cold soups I can only imagine is restricted to women, a true girlie pleasure. Light, happy food.  

On the contrary, the horror we're feeling collectively lately in the world is not reserved for females only.  The city has become plagued with violence.  It's so hard to go about your day, to write about a recipe, to act as though all is well when the first 5 articles you read in the mornings are of people slashing faces of strangers on the subway tracks, mother's drowning their children.  Of rapes happening in broad daylight.  Young men attacking 75 year old women for their watch or worse, for no reason at all.  These aren't the kind of crazy freaks we're used to.  These are angry, many times younger people that are not homeless, often without drug addictions or known mental disorders.  They are committing these out-of-the-ordinary crimes for unknown reasons and at a time when it feels like reality is shifting and turning.   Most people I talk to believe the isolation of the Pandemic sparked all of this madness but it doesn't fully make sense.  Whatever started it, it definitely continues each day.  It's difficult to trust your environment, to comprehend what is a real or perceived threat, to understand what risks to take versus stifling your normal life on the outside chance some zombie is going to attack out of the blue.  It's an invisible terrorism.  It's changing my world.  

Soup fights unrest.