My friend, Claudia, has a wealth of knowledge and years of talent when it comes to cooking Mexican food. It is just one of those things you learn as you grow up and it becomes second nature. She likens it to me and baking--I know yeast; she knows rice. She offered to teach me how to make Chilaquiles and sent me a list of groceries to buy. I have never cooked with tomatillos or jalapeno peppers before, so I was excited to learn some new stuff. I packed up my groceries, a dish and Kristen and we headed over for Mexican Cooking 101. Claudia (who is also 8 1/2 months pregnant) simply had me peel the papery skins off the tomatillos, wash them halve them, and drop them in boiling water to cook for about 20 minutes along with a quarter of a white onion and the peppers. Simple. Once they softened, we added them to the blender along with sea salt and garlic. Presto, a beautiful green sauce--a little spicy though with the three jalapeno peppers we added. I knew my kids would never eat something so spicy and the fumes made me cough when I removed the lid from blender. She graciously let me have her sauce which didn't have any peppers in it. (It was still pretty spicy and my girls wouldn't try more than one bite, but I feel more confident in cooking with tomatillos now.)
Claudia also taught me how to make Spanish rice and introduced me to some delicious cheese:
Ben, Claudia's husband, called me early Thursday morning from the hospital saying Claudia was in the hospital. My initial response to him (because she is 8 1/2 months pregnant and ready to be done) was "Great." Not really, she had been throwing up all night long, losing fluids, and had a fever--plus contractions. "Ahhh, not so great." She was on IV fluids and hopefully would be able to go home later in the day. He was calling me to just to give a warning. Fortunately, we've been healthy still.