Saturday in the Desert

Another beautiful Saturday, and again I'm in a cooking mood.  It's all Gaby's fault - What's Gaby Cooking?  She posts some wonderful recipes.  So today it shall be Pumpkin Chocolate Chip brownies and then a meatball recipe.  She cooks her meatballs in a marinara sauce but I'm going to do a red enchilada sauce and serve with Spanish Rice and salad.

Thrashers are the noisy birds today.  There are two males out there trying to out-witty wit each other.  I do hope they nest in my yard again though they make me tired with their constant back and forth.  First they bring in nesting materials and then it's food for the babes.  Thrasher adults are busy birds and prolific.  They average 5 nestings a year in my yard - though not this year. None this year.  It's been a strange year bird wise. The owls are back 3 months early.  It may have something to do with the fires up north destroying habitat and food sources for the time being.  Not sure.  The owls migrate into the high country during the summer and the owls returned about the time the fires were controlled.  Normally they don't return until January.  Like I said, it's been a weird year bird-wise.

My son came home from college for an evening.  We decided to make a pork tenderloin in a rosemary cream sauce for dinner.  He hung over my shoulder for awhile watching, learning.  It still tickles me that this is the kid that is getting into the meal cooking.  He's even interested in getting an immersion blender.  Wow!  How nice though, to spend an evening with your kid and have adult conversations.  How cool to watch him grow and yet bittersweet as I realize he's pulling away into his own life.  It rained that evening and the wind was whooshing through the palm skirts in the back yard.  House wide open to gather in the smells of the wet desert.  Our cat bouncing back and forth between house and porch, just because he could without having to use his forehead to push open the dog door.  Dog is underfoot as any good dog is when there is food cooking.  Besides, he could hear that scary thunder off in the distance and as we all know it's safest in the kitchen!

So now I'm off to the grocery store to buy allspice, chocolate chips (not a staple in our house because they get eaten when the stress levels go up), dog kibbles and cat kibbles.  Kibbles must never get low.  It's the animals' rule.  Otherwise they fix you with cat-glares and dog "I'm so disappointed in you" stares. Can't handle those.

Not a dog stare... just a favorite dog photo.

Beautiful Day

Beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Although Thrashers started out my morning with their "witty wit" call, the kestrels and woodpeckers took the prize for noisiest garden inhabitants today.  They were bickering back and forth, though I'm not sure what the problem was.  Kestrels are roosting in the palm tree skirt and the woodpeckers inhabit the next tree over.  They are not convivial neighbors, always scolding each other.  They out-noised even the Peach-faced Lovebirds which I think are some of the noisiest birds ever created.

My morning was further improved by finding a recipe for Jalapeno Ketchup.  My parents bought a wonderful version in Hatch, New Mexico (Desert Farms Jalapeno Catsup). They travel through there every year on their way to their winter residence in order to replenish their supply.  I found the recipe here: What's Gaby Cooking. So now I can make it myself and keep my parents happy.  I need to work with it a little to get the spicing to the point they like and I'm using fresh jalapenos and dried chipotle instead of red pepper flakes and cayenne. Personal tastes is all.  So as long as I was at the stove I decided to try the reduced basalmic vinegar sauce that I've wanted to experiment with.  A friend brought several types from South Africa but I can't get them here so I've wanted to try and make it myself.  I was trying a jalapeno version since I had the jalapenos out.  I don't know if it was the vinegar or the jalapenos but whichever it was, the fumes made it hard to breathe - in a very delicious way.  Again, I need to tweak it some but it was a good start.  And as long I was still at the stove I decided to do a quinoa salad - triggered by seeing a version on Gaby's blog.  I love quinoa - particularly as a salad with whatever vegetables I happen to have handy.  Next time I have apricots I'll post a recipe for a great quinoa salad with apricots and walnuts. Oh yum!

My day just got better when I turned the TV on and saw that the Rugby World Cup final was being televised.  Although I already know that New Zealand wins... I don't know the score or what kind of game it was.  So I'm happy writing and watching rugby.  And when the game is over I'm going read a few chapters of Vicki Lane's latest novel that just downloaded to my Kindle on Tuesday: Under the Skin.  Vicki is fast becoming one of those authors whose books I devour in a day and then have to wait seemingly forever for the next book.  Put her in the list with Susan Wittig Albert, Nevada Barr and Rick Riordan.  I'll try and get in an hour or two of genealogical research and then I'll start dinner: Chicken Chipotle Tomato Soup.  I even have my daughter interested in this one!  I am SO in a cooking mood today.  Can you tell?