The boss is taking us worker bees to the Dodgers/Giants game tonight at Chavez Ravine. It’ll be fun to be the only Giants fan among the rest of the Dodger fans in our group, not to mention the rest of Dodger Stadium. I’ll be wearing my BEAT LA orange T-Shirt, and we’ll be sitting in the orange-seated loge section along the first-base line, so maybe you can see me on TV!
Duck the Fodgers!
You know it’s going to be one of those days when you turn on the cold water and nothing resembling cold comes. Yes, it’s so hot out that it’s heating the water in the pipes – and this is at 7 AM!
Another ‘you know’: you know how when you talk about dentists everyone within earshot wants to tell their horror story of pain, blood and root canals? It seems the same thing happens when you talk about health insurance. My old pal Ed commented in the last post, I’ve heard from my mother regarding how bad it is for her. Okay, okay, it’s bad all over! And some of my coworkers can’t afford the premium at all, so they go without anything. It could definitely be worse…and considering the alternative, I guess I’m lucky. It’s just that I’m not used to feeling so ‘lucky’ in quite a while.
The gazpacho was so good that I made another batch, this time with the Genius Nicer Dicer (as seen on TV). It makes all the little vegetable bits nice and uniform and cube-like…although it didn’t do so hot on the tomatoes. You want my recipe? Go to the grocer (or better yet, a farmer’s market) and get all the crunchy vegetables you can find. Here’s what’s in mine:
Bell Pepper (green, red, yellow if they’re not
too expensive)
A single little Serrano chile
Radishes
Celery
A whole red onion
A couple of carrots
A whole bulb of garlic (yeah!)
A seeded cucumber (peel, cut lengthwise in half,
scoop out the seeds like a canteloupe)
4-6 large ripe tomatoes
Basil
Cilantro
Italian parsley (sometimes called flat parsley…which
reminds me: what’s green and sings? Elvis Parsley)
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one lime
Two cans of chicken stock or beef stock or one of each
Two forty-two ounce bottles of V8 – I like the Spicy Hot,
your mileage and the amount may vary – add until it’s soupy enough for you
Then season each portion to your own taste – here’s mine:
Salt & freshly ground pepper
Couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar
A couple of shakes of Worchestershire sauce
A couple of shakes of your favorite hot sauce
A couple of shakes of cayenne pepper
Sel Fou (a salt-like spice I brought back from Paris)
And be sure to top it off with a couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil
Let it ‘rest’ in the fridge for a while, maybe overnight to let it get good and cold.
¡Fiesta! Have a great Fourth!
