Tuesday, August 12, 2003

So you’ve played Sims, right?  Well, you know how it is when you’ve finally gotten kind of successful, you’re a stuntman and you have a cool house with a topiary maze and a pool in back, and a kick-ass sound system and a mummy case and all, and so you decide to throw a party?  And everyone in the neighbhorhood comes over, and you grill some burgers and mix drinks and everyone has a swim and you even manage not to kiss your next-door neighbor with the seventies hair and Lennon specs and piss off your girlfriend, but you stay up too late and you drink too much and no one cleans up and the next morning you just feel like shit and when you have to go to work you wind up stamping on the floor and crying?  Well that was me yesterday morning.  Place on top of my exhaustion a perfect storm of a wardrobe crisis – no dry cleaning done in the last two months, too fat to get into anything (I’m serious, I’m not just whining), lousy summer wardrobe to begin with, no time to shave legs – and you have a really bad morning.  The day was a little better, only because I wasn’t getting dressed and I ate a salad for lunch and at least I was in the air conditioning, but still, by evening I was a dishrag of a thing. So we took what Eric has dubbed “an operational pause.”  Eric spent two hours cleaning the house and washing dishes and throwing away Pabst Blue Ribbon cans (don’t ask.)  He’s a fucking godsend, this man – the house looks distinctly not like a hurricane hit it – a miracle in itself.  I bought some very minor groceries and a bottle of cheap-as-shit Australian shiraz.  We sat around.  We ate like normal people – before nine o’clock, and not French.  It was actually almost healthy.  And then I popped two melatonin and fell into bed before ten.  Where I utterly failed to sleep, but that’s another story.  It was lovely, even if I did fall into a bit of a three-year-old snit when I couldn’t get my computer to play Civilization, and even if I was kind of rude to my mom on the phone because of same three-year-old snittiness because I was fucking exhausted.  Dinner was actually quite great – chili lime shrimp with avocado and cilantro.  Just a marinade of garlic (I used two cloves instead of the requested one, but I promise this won’t be one of the recipes like you read on the comments on Epicurious, “This recipe for arugula in lemon and oil is great, I used baby spinach instead of arugula, and added cherry tomatoes, basil, avocado, smoked mozzarella and a balsamic vinaigrette,” I just love garlic….), a tablespoon of brown sugar, three tablespoons of soy sauce, a teaspoon of chili powder (I used Chimayo…Chimayo, uhuhuhuhuh…) two teaspoons of lime juice, ¼ teaspoon of chili flakes, and two teaspoons of olive oil.  You let the shrimp soak in it for fifteen minutes or so before draining, broiling for two minutes per side, and tossing with diced avocado, a teaspoon of lemon juice, two more teaspoons of oil and a couple of tablespoons of cilantro.  It was spicy and delicious, and simple as shit.  Hell, if I’d left out the avocado and not served it over rice, it would have even been dietetic.  This is how I’m going to be eating in another two weeks time.  Too boring for blogging, I guess, but oh what a joy. But you are not here to hear about chili lime shrimp.  You are here to find out, at long last, about the tex-mex chili-cheese meatloaf.  You are about to be sated.  (The word “sated” always gives me a cheap erotic thrill because when David Strathairn was stalking me, he once signed off on a letter like this: Sated, David ) Now, this recipe came from “The El Paso Chile Company’s Texas Border Cookbook,” which I actually use a hell of a lot – their potato and green chile salad is fucking great.  So I’m trusting you all not to get me sued here. Tex-mex chili-cheese meatloaf: 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup finely chopped onions 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped 2-3 jalapenos, minced 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons mild powder (we actually think it could use more) 2 teaspoons salt 1 ½ teaspoons salt 1 ½ teaspoons oregano 1 ½ teaspoons cumin 1 28-oz can tomatoes, drained and crushed 1 ½ lb. Ground beef ½ lb. Ground pork 1 cup dry bread crumbs 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup canned or defrosted frozen corn, drained 3 green onions, sliced 8 ounces medium-sharp cheddar cheese Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Warm the olive oil in a skillet, and add the onions, red bell pepper, jalapeno, garlic, chili powder, salt, oregano and cumin.  Cook covered over low heat for 10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, re-cover, cook another ten minutes.  Let cool to room temperature. Combine the beef and pork in a large bowl.  Add the tomato mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs and mix together.  Add the corn and green onions.  Transfer to a baking dish and form into a flat loaf.  (It’ll be pretty loose.)  Bake for about an hour and 20 minutes.  Pour off the fat, (if you’re feeling ambitious) sprinkle the cheese on the top, and stick it back in the oven for just along enough for the cheese to melt. And that’s that.  Enjoy. Tonight, more Julie/Julia, then some Tylenol PM.  If that doesn’t work, I guess we’re on to crack.   7:58:16 AM    comment []