I put out two sticks of butter to get to room temp 5 hours ago

[EFerrari]

for some pie crust and I think they're harder now than they were this morning. Sheesh, I'm like a totally spoiled CA girl that expects room temperature to be warmer than the frig. :)

Last night I put together some baked chicken with basil, some mild red beans and this red rice. If you like red rice, you'll like this recipe from Mark Miller aka, the Coyote Cafe guy. It's not squishy and the seasoning is perfect:

1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 c onion, minced
4 T butter
2 C long grain rice
4 1/2 C water
1 t each ground cumin seed and Mexican Oregano
1 T minced fresh marjoram (I usually sub dried and it's fine
1 1/2 t salt
1/3 cup medium to hot chile powder (no, that's not a typo)

1. Saute onion and garlic in butter for 6-8 minutes -- until soft.
2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to lowest setting, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes.
4. The color is great and you can eat it right out of the 'frig with a fork. :)

[Warpy]

1. I remember explaining to people back east

that yes, the NM recipes I was sending them used chile powder by the half cup, that red sauces out here were all chile based and not tomato based, that tomatoes don't grow well out here because of the aridity.

I started to use chile to make red rice back in Boston, got everybody hooked on it, then I left. I'm now sending care packages back there.

Real chile powder isn't the stuff you get in those little bottles in the supermarket that go into recipes that daringly call for a teaspoon of it. Real chile powder is dried and ground red chiles, medium being chile only and hot having the seeds ground with it. Once you've had the real thing, you'll never be able to look at those little bottles in the supermarket with anything but a sneer.

You can order the real thing online if you live outside the southwest.

[EFerrari]

2. Miller put together a resource list for ingredients in one of his books

but I don't have them any more. I used to drive from Berkeley out to Oakland to get chipotles.

Living here in the heart of Hispanic East San Jose, I don't have that problem any more. It's a chile freak's heaven. lol

:)

[Warpy]

4. Culture shock from Boston to NM

Bread was Wonder Bread. Pasta was spaghetti or macaroni. However, there was one aisle devoted to tortillas and another devoted to various dried chiles plus a huge section of the produce counter devoted to fresh chiles.

Then there were the green chile bagels. Oy. Well, they're not bagels, they're soft rolls with a hole in the middle, but the green chile variety is remarkably good with cream cheese.

[EFerrari]

7. Oh, I hear you. There is one supermarket here, Su Vianda

that has no sugarless anything and a huge meat section. But it also has all my beloved chiles and other goodies we haven't even tried yet. It's definitely Mexican, you might as well be in Mexico. My mom went to ask what kind of cheese to use in a Salvadoran sweet bread and nobody knew. All the employees are Chicanos and it's pretty rare to hear English there unless you start the conversation in English.

[Warpy]

9. I'm a five minute walk from a Mexican supermarket

and a 20 minute walk from an international supermarket. There's a reason I live in the "bad" part of town, it's really the most interesting and the most convenient part of town.

[greenbird]

3. I know what you mean about the butter.

I'm a Southern California girl now living in Western New York. My kitchen is like a refrigerator. I can leave anything out and it'll be OK the next morning. Ah, well!

[EFerrari]

8. I think for me it's genetic. My family is from Central America.

I went to Texas horse country in late July and were perfectly comfortable. When we went to NOLA in July, I had this strange feeling of homecoming. I don't think I belong this far north. It's like having an environmental handicap. lol

These storms have been really intense. The hills are greening and the wildflowers will be wonderful in May. I hope we don't freeze to death before then. :silly:

[hippywife]

5. As often as I bake

you would think I would remember to take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time, but noooooooo!

I've just given up and now soften it in my microwave on defrost. :hi:

[EFerrari]

6. Any butter that I put in the microwave only comes out fit for popcorn.

lol

To be fair to the oven, my brother got me a new one for Christmas and we're still dating. :hi:

[grasswire]

10. you're dating your brother?

is that what you meant to say?

[EFerrari]

11. LOL. I'm still dating the microwave. It's funny because

these ovens all seem to come with their own secret code and you need a period of initiation before they give it up. :)

[hippywife]

12. Well, when your honeymoon period is over

you can give it a try. It really does take some watching, even as often as I end up doing it.

I turn my microwave on defrost, set my butter on the turntable with one of the short ends of the stick facing me and let it rotate once until it comes back in the same position. I then turn it over once on the next long side (with the same short end facing me) and let it rotate around on defrost again. I do this until each of the long sides have been flat on the turntable surface for one rotation each. Sometimes, it only takes three rotations. Does that make sense? It's hard to describe.

Like I said, you just have to watch it.