May, Here is a recipe for Mexican Rice cooked in the oven. It's pretty good but I imagine that you have great Mexican rice in your area. I use the same method to make Yellow Rice and Chorizos. Mexican Rice 55 min : 20 min prep SERVES 8 -10  12 ounces tomatoes, very ripe and cored (canned with chiles is good)  1 medium white onion  3 medium jalapenos  2 cups long grain white rice  1/3 cup canola oil  4 minced garlic cloves  2 cups chicken broth  1 tablespoon tomato paste (may omit if using canned tomatoes)  1 1/2 teaspoons salt  1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced  1 lime 1. Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350. 2. Process tomato and onion in processor or blender until pureed and thoroughly smooth. Transfer mixture to measuring cup and reserve exactly 2 cups. Discard excess. 3. Remove ribs and seeds from 2 jalapenos and discard. Mince flesh and set aside. Mince remaining jalapeno. Set aside. 4. Place rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear- about 1 1/2 minutes. Shake rice vigorously to remove excess water. This step removes the starch from the rice so it will not stick. DonÂt OMIT THIS STEP!!! 5. Heat oil in heavy bottomed oven safe 12 inch straight sided sauté pan or Dutch oven with tight fitting lid over medium high heat about 2 minutes. (The recipe is very specific about this but I used a 10 inch Dutch oven and it worked out fine.) Drop a few rice grains in and if they sizzle then it is ready. Add rice and fry stirring until rice is light golden and translucent, about 6-8 minutes. 6. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and 2 minced jalapenos and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 1/2 minutes. 7. Stir in broth, pureed mixture, tomato paste, and salt. Increase heat to medium high, and bring to a boil. 8. Cover pan and transfer pan to oven to bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30-35 minutes. Stir well after 15 minutes. 9. Stir in cilantro, minced jalapeno to taste, and pass lime wedges separately. Edited to add 6-15-05: If you can't get good fresh tomatoes you are better off using canned tomatoes. Don't use those and underipe tomatoes that are at most supermarket chains. Just be sure that the processed tomatoes and the one onion equals 2 cups. One the other hand- if you find that after processing your tomatoes and onions that you have less than 2 cups- simply add enough bottled salsa to make up the difference.

Much as I like to cook, I like to go out even more! We go for foods I won't cook at home, which saves money (no buying pkgs of this and bags of that of which I only need a little and rest goes unused), ensures portion control, and I never, ever have to spend time doing prep or washing dishes. Woohoo! Anyway, here are some of the more interesting dishes that have crossed our path in the last couple of months as we journey from restaurant to restaurant. Maybe some of you will find some inspiration for your own kitchens: Inexpensive ethnic: - A small Portuguese grocery store offered five different brands of linguiça (they have many more, but they rotate them according to availability and limited freezer space). We chose three to pan-fry and taste-test, two local Northern CA and one from Boston MA. Spouse is Portuguese-Chinese so linguiça is one of his Favorite Foods. The Boston brand was too smoky and had too much red wine vinegar in it to be eaten alone, but baked with cannellini beans was excellent. Locals win, which made us proud, LOL. - Tea-smoked salmon at a "this is California BBQ" place. Nice-sized filet, with gentle smoke flavors, not overcooked. A bright green cilantro sauce goes well with the fish. It's derived from a Barbara Tropp recipe in her long-ago China Moon restaurant/cookbook (still available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/China-Moon-Cookbook-Barbara-Tropp/). Tea smoking is a classic Chinese cooking technique, usually used on poultry. It's great with the salmon; even pleased my Spouse who is not a salmon lover. - Khashi Ko Masu, goat in a rich gravy which the menu describes as common in Nepalese households. We specified hot for the chile level. This Ko Masu curry showed how what is good home cooking can be as fine as anything at a four-star bistro. It had a complex and well-balanced spice mixture, richly flavored without being oily. We've had a lot of curries in our lives, but this ranked as one of the best gravies ever. A great bistro would drizzle this sauce over a few slices of lamb tenderloin and charge $30 a plate. This small friendly neighborhood Indio-Nepalese restaurant uses throwaway neck bones with almost as much meat on them, along with a full cup of gravy, for a bargain $8.99. - Thai coconut soup: Spouse chose chicken, with a heat level of "hot." Not the usual clear broth, but a creamy bisque-type soup. Flecked with chile flakes, full of juicy thin-sliced chicken breast strips and generous shavings of fresh young coconut, this was a phenomenal bargain at $3. The coconut cream was rich and thick, lightened up with not only lemongrass but kaffir lime leaves. We love Thai soups, and this was one of the tastiest versions ever. - In the SF Bay Area, KFC has a very different meaning for foodies. With our large Asian population, it means Korean Fried Chicken. Batter-fried wings are generously doused with a sweet, mildly hot gojuchang. At a new restaurant we tried, their version was tasty although not great. It's always been a one-dimensional dish, with nothing complex or subtle about it. Everything is in the execution, and this restaurant delivered a slightly better than average version. It wasn't quite our style preference; we prefer a lighter batter, juicier chicken, and less goopy sauce. But we're in the minority here; a great many people like hard-fried battered chicken with lots of goopy sauce. - Stewed tripe, Ethiopian style. Very tender strips in spiced butter and onions, but actually a little bland. We'd like to try it with a souped-up chile level, the way they make zigne, their stewed beef. Spicy stews with great injera, one of our favorite bargain loves. Upscale eateries: - Stopped by a local gourmet marketplace and chose a Prosciutto di Parma to taste-test against a Jambon Serrano. The winner was…both. We liked them equally well, especially in Spouse's beloved Croque Madame. Toasted ciabatta rolls with Swiss Gruyere, with gently fried eggs on top: the best breakfast sandwich ever. We also bought some merguez sausages, which are in the freezer so they'll get super-chile-hot! Perfect with eggs or creamy polenta, I haven't decided which to do yet. - Prickly pear crème brulee. Most fruit custards are unsuccessful creations; either watery and weak-flavored, or too thick and sweet. This was a well-executed balance of fruit and creamy custard, sweet but not overly so. A lovely rosy pink color, too. - Standard fritto misto of shrimp, green beans, artichoke hearts, shishito peppers, and fennel. It was the dip that made it outstanding: an "onion ash mayo". This was one of the few Scandinavian/Modernist touches we've enjoyed, a remarkable creation. It had great depth of flavor without any 'ashy' taste, or even a strong onion taste. It was just simply…yummy. All three diners wiped the dip ramekin clean! - A Southern version of minestrone: white bean soup with tasso ham, full of diced vegetables, sliced shiitake mushrooms and whole small white beans. The tasso ham was generously diced and gave the soup a gently spicy edge. Really lovely, well-balanced but not heavy. - Fried chicken which was fabulous (lightly battered, exquisitely juicy and flavorful) but even better were the Caribbean-style accompaniments: collard greens in spiced coconut cream, black-eyed peas, and spicy Ghanian peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was lightly spiced but not chile-hot, and when the coconut cream from the collard greens was mixed into it, this was a great combination. Many times peanut sauces are cloying in texture and taste; this was not. Some lightly pickled vegetables (cabbage, sweet green pepper slices and raw carrot slices) garnished the dish. Just that little hint of acidity livened up everything. - Duck paté salad, which wasn't a salad in the traditional sense. It was a long straight piped line of slightly foamed duck liver mousse, sectioned with three thin baguette toasts that were full of airy holes, toasted to the golden brown of Melba toast. Colorful segments of barely cooked kumquats were sprinkled over the plate. This was rich yet airy, visually stunning, and Spouse loved it. He said it was a perfect starter for a day that felt like summer. - Poached egg with caviar. The sous vide poached egg was on a bed of melted leeks. The caviar is sprinkled generously on top. On the side, in a napkin to keep them hot, were six fluffy blini, so good that Spouse kept urging me to request more blini so he could eat them himself! When you break the egg yolk, you get a wonderful soup of egg, leeks, butter and caviar to eat with the blini. A luscious, amazing dish. - Asparagus salad. White and green asparagus just-picked from the restaurant's garden, barely cooked. Tiny halves of hard-boiled quail eggs decorated the top, along with a scattering of pink rings of pickled pearl onions. Underneath was a housemade sauce gribiche. The asparagus was cooked but still crunchy, the eggs amazing with the gribiche. Traditionally another hard-boiled egg is sieved on top as a garnish, but the small size and delicate taste of the quail eggs made this unnecessary. Although the pickled onions weren't needed, they were surprisingly good with the asparagus by itself. It was a lovely, fresh, satisfying salad. - Fried calamari with apricots. The baby calamari rings had a light golden batter and were delicately tender. They came with a creamy vadouvan sauce, a judicious amount of finely diced barely-cooked carrots, and a few tart fresh apricot quarters. This was a wonderful combination of flavors and textures. Vadouvan is the French curry spice mix, and I suspect the name is often used on menus to coax reluctant diners into experiencing the flavor of curry mixtures as a seasoning, rather than just cheap Indian buffet food. Regardless of whether the mayonnaise was seasoned with true vadouvan or merely a mild fragrant curry, this dish turned out to be the winner of that evening's dinner. We literally fought over this one. ================ * One notable loser: Truffled chicken nuggets. Spouse was unable to resist seeing what an upscale McNuggets would be like. He received half-a-dozen two-inch neatly-cut cubes, with a crisp golden-brown crumb coating. Alas, they had an odd texture, as if the chicken breast had been cooked, shredded, and then recombined into the cubes. The black truffle flavoring on the chicken shreds was very heavy, almost overpoweringly so. It was an awkward pairing with the whole-grain creamy mustard sauce that underpinned the plate. Spouse ate it, but said he didn't really care for it and wouldn't order it again.

dcarch, Please don't be offended. I enjoy your pictures. I wouldn't eat them - but I do enjoy looking. They are "artsy" to me rather than WFD. :) This one though made me laugh out loud imagining the reactions of my DH, 3 children, and 7 grandkids if I said, "Dinner's ready! Look at the yum screwpine sauce I made for you!" There is a reason that when the United Nations makes food air drops into refugee camps or disaster areas they drop packages designed for specific regions of the world. People do not like to eat what is unfamiliar. Studies have consistently shown people will first starve. So, just saying my family would quietly get up and one by one abandon me at the table if I served them screwpine sauce. rofl I am reminded of an outdoor BBQ 3 years ago when I served a cucumber, watermelon, and mint salad presented in a stemmed martini glass. My 4th youngest GS started to cry visibly shaken. I asked, "Sammy, what's wrong honey?" Said Sam, "Gram, somebody put WEEDS in my watermelon!" So, together we discussed who might have done such a dastardly thing while we picked all those minty WEEDS out of his watermelon. lol (grin) /tricia

"I’m sure I’m not the only one who would love to see that chili recipe, sleevendog. I googled based on your description but no luck. Would you be so kind?" No recipe, ...yet. I cook for family gatherings as a gift to my mother and MIL. For years now. Gives them a break so they can relax and enjoy their children and grands. My nieces and nephews are now nesting, marrying, breeding.... They want certain recipes they remember. Starting this year I've been trying, somewhat successful, to document and write them down. Chili falls in the late Summer/Fall harvest with a few others recipes. My problem with most chili recipes is the similarity with pasta sauce with added 'chili powder' and a can of beans. I make MarchellaHazan's bolognese, a lasagna, chili, and roasted ingredient for garlic/leek soup, tomato soup, etc when the weather is unsavory. Garden harvest is abundant at that time.