Gringos con Chiles Poblanos

Alex returns to school tomorrow, after two weeks of us mostly staying inside computing, reading, eating and resting. In a rushed attempt to break out of this routine before time ran out, we went on a disorganized geocaching foray in search of Lake Murray Loot. It was already late afternoon when we started, and I didn't take time to study the site before going there. So we spent half an hour hoofing around the lake in the chilly gloom, watching the latitude and longitude change ever so slowly in the the desired direction. At last we decided that by the time we'd get there we'd be blistered and frozen (in a SoCal way) and we turned around empty handed. Another time.

June had a recipe picked out involving pork shoulder, garlic, oregano, potatoes, zucchini, corn... and chile poblano. That last thing showed us our limitations in spite of the hundreds of hours of Food Channel viewing we had under our belts. You've seen it there, no doubt... the business of putting the chiles under the broiler and burning the bejesus out of them, and then scraping the blackened skin off. It goes so smoothly on TV. For us, it was like watching the Three Stooges attempt brain surgery. We peeled and squeezed and plucked until a layer only one molecule thick of actual chile flesh was left. That, however, turned out to be enough. Two hours later the spicy dish warmed us as we watched first Lord of the Rings DVD.

And now Winter Break is over.