Poutine project behind us, the rest of the week went more or less to plan.
Taco Wednesday was definitely the most involved. For anyone not working from home in the middle of a pandemic, this is probably better left to the weekend. The critical part of taco night around here are the fresh tortillas. Fresh tortilla is like bread fresh from the oven, simple toppings turn into tasty magic. I discovered about a year ago that they are pretty simple to make – time consuming, but in a repetitive meditation sort of way and oh so worth it. Honestly, anything that keeps me away from the pull of the doom-scroll is probably good right now.
Twist for this one was the salsa verde. Our weekly food delivery offered local tomatillos which I’ve never encountered fresh before. Recipe turned out to be dead easy.
SALSA VERDE
- husk and rinse tomatillos. The papery husk comes of easily, but between the husk and fruit is a sticky-greasy layer that smelled vaguely like garbage juice – definitely want to wash that off!
- toss whole tomatillos, an onion (peeled and quartered), 1-2 cloves of garlic in a little oil and roast @450F on a sheetpan for 15min (a couple of the smaller tomatillos exploded – I should probably think about running the oven clean cycle before it gets too cold).
- while they roast throw fresh cilantro, lime juice (I used bottled) and pickled jalapeños in a food processor or blender.
- add the roast things to the food processor and pulse until you reach an appropriate level of chunkiness. Stop to add salt, pepper and lime juice to taste.
So good!
Other taco fixings on the table were:
- ground moose cooked taco meat style
- ‘guacamole’ (mashed avocado mixed with lime and jarred salsa)
- shredded cheese
- fresh cilantro
- refried beans (from a can with cumin and garlic powder added)
- sliced red peppers (for a vegetable)
Greatest excitement around here was the arrival of a new washing machine after 2 months on backorder. We tried repairing the old one, but after replacing the drain pump, it looked like a new motor/circuit board would also be required and the repair person advised us to look for a replacement. The laundromat was costing on the order of $20/week, not including drying since we were able to take the wet clothes home to our still functioning dryer or hung to sun dry on the porch. $20/week x 52 weeks a year = more than the cost of the new washing machine even before taking into account time and effort getting to and from the laundromat – proving yet again the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
With 3 aged dogs, two adults following exercise routines, and kid with a back-to-school hair dye habit we’ll be celebrating the return of convenient laundry access for a long time to come.
