Corn Tortillas
Teresa called this morning and told me
they were coming to town and asked if we wanted to get together with them.
Of course I do!!! I alway, ALWAYS enjoy a visit from the other offspring, so
we soon made plans for a catfish feast this evening.
A few hours later, they arrived with some of their homegrown squash, some
homegrown onions, a bag of catfish filets and other assorted foodstuffs,
dropped of some off their kids and went to visit some friends a
few 'burbs to the east.
So, I was inspired by the squash. I printed my new recipe and read over the
ingredients. Immediately, there was a problem. Two pounds of squash. How
much is two pounds of squash? I got out my old rusty bathroom scales, set the
bag of squash on them . .needle didn't move. So, I got on the scales holding
the squash, then got on the scales not holding the squash -- the same.
So I put them in my hand and sort of FELT the weight . .feels like ten pounds
at least here. Should I trust that? NO!
So I went to the grocery store to weigh squash. While I was there, I saw
the biggest strawberries I have ever seen! Those were at least golf
ball sized strawberries and I had to have some so also grabbed some
cream and an angelfood cake for shortcake.
Back home, cutting up things for the casserole when the crew returned.
The first thing Gaspar said when they came
in was, "I'm hungry!" Then, he asked me when I was going to make
the tortillas.
I've been meaning to make tortillas. Months and months ago, Gaspar and Teresa
brought me a tortilla press thingie (I forgot what the real name is). It was
a gift from Gaspar's mother in Mexico. They even brought Masa, the corn flour
to make them out of -- but the directions were in Spanish and I had no idea
what it meant other than it needed two somethings and three somethings.
Tonight, a translator is in the house! I was still very much involved in
the cutting up things for the casserole process, so Teresa, with a little
technical help from Gaspar, started making the tortillas. There were problems
at first, the batter wasn't quite the right consistency and the grill was
sticking (even though I Pam'd the snot out of it). Gaspar came over and
with great authority, told us we had to rub tortilla dough all over the grill
first. THAT certainly wasn't in the directions, but very soon after,
they had their first perfect corn tortilla.
They were so good, in fact, that I wish I had played a part in their
making. *sigh*
The kitchen was suddenly becoming very small. Gaspar was
supervising the tortilla making and making pico de gallo (sp?). Daniel was getting the strawberries ready
for the shortcake. Teresa's tortilla making required a helper so
Daniel, Tom, Gaspar, me and Rodney rotated that responsibility.
I had a sudden inspiration so went out to the garage and unearthed my
deep fryer. Teresa and I did assembly line type battering of the
fish and while we started the fish and chips cooking assorted offspring
sneaked in from time to time to snatch a taste of something, get some
chips and dip . .whatever. The place was a zoo!
After much eating, we did a quick cleanup and raced each other to bed.
