I mentioned good news last time. I'm on a grand adventure right now. I'm stopped in Denver escaping the Las Cruces heat. I'll be in New York City for the fourth of July! Then I'm on my way to Madrid. I'm obviously excited for the Spanish team's win against Chile and I'm rooting for them against Portugal tomorrow. If Spain wins the World Cup, I'll be there.

I also have three poems coming out in July. Two in PANK and one in Strange Machine. I'm really happy about both of those. I think PANK always has really hot stuff and Strange Machine, for such a small magazine, puts out amazing poetry (Zachary Schomburg, and This Poem).

On a similar note, my friend Mike Meginnis and Tracy Bowling have started a magazine called Uncanny Valley and said they really liked some of my tweets about fatherhood. He said I should re-write it and submit it. We should all submit some cool stuff. Their taste in literature is amazing so I trust that they'll have a great magazine as long as enough people submit work.

I'm also really happy to say that I just accepted a Graduate Assistantship. I had kind of given up on it after last spring, but I was offered one earlier today. It's a huge raise and looks good on a CV.

So this recipe and this one are amazing. Other than adding a lot of basil to the pesto, follow them exactly and pair them together with a G&T. Best Summer Meal Ever.

Uh, Sorry. Here's A Burrito And Pictures.

So it's summer and it's hot. I haven't posted in over a month. But it's really hot. Like this hot.

I have had a chance to go to the mountains and see some music. That's right ICP, I saw it.

I was doing the roady work for my neighbor and colleague's band, Railroad Gin, at the BAMMF.

I got really homesick and so I made some burritos in the fashion that my Dad makes them. In the spirit of Father's Day I've named them Dad's Burritos. As I've said before, I always have Ranch Style Beans and this recipe is what created my dedication to the particular brand.

Dad's Burritos

What you'll need:

1 can Ranch Style Beans

1 lb ground beef

salt + pepper

Fixings: grated cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, etc. (I used cheese, spinach, 505 Salsa).

This is the simplest recipe ever. Brown the meat, add salt + pepper, add the Ranch Style Beans, simmer 2-5 minutes.

My Dad also fries the tortillas too, which makes them more delicious and more supple when folding the burrito.

It's my brother's first ever Fathers' Day. Here is his baby, my niece, Awbrey:

She had a bit of jaundice but she's better now.

A very summer recipe coming soon, lots of good news, and my summer reading list thus far.

Swiss Chard Quiche

My trip to Central America has been significantly delayed due to the eruption of the volcano Pacaya in Guatemala, as well as tropical storm Agatha, so I've been hanging out in Baltimore for a bit longer than I originally planned. Check out the sinkhole caused by the storm in Guatemala City:



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily, I anticipate spending most of my time in Guatemala in the city of Antigua, which is (so far) sinkhole-free. Since I've had a longer stay in Baltimore, I've had more time to cook, and I have successfully converted my family to liking swiss chard. Last night, I made an onion-chard quiche for dinner; I'm a big fan of quiches because they're easy and easily customizable. Quiche also seems appropriate at any time of day; it's not at all like eating a hamburger at 9 am, which always feels weird to me. If you eat a quiche at 9 am, it feels like breakfast. If you eat it at 7 pm, it feels like dinner.



Swiss Chard Quiche

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 (to 1.5) cups of grated cheese (I used a mix of cheddar and some weird artisanal sundried tomato cheese I found in the fridge)
1 cup milk
3/4 bunch of swiss chard, chopped
3/4 onion, chopped
1 pie crust
couple tablespoons of olive oil
splash of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Finely chop the onion and cut the stems off of the chard. Saute in the oil until soft, 5-7 minutes or so.
2. Roughly chop the chard into bite size pieces, add to the pan.
3. Add a splash of lemon juice, cook until chard is fully wilted; it will become much smaller and a much darker green. I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder here, as well.
4. As the chard wilts, blend the milk, eggs and cheese together in a bowl.
5. When the chard is done, stir it into the eggs mixture.
6. Pour mixture into pie crust.
7. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.



8. Let the quiche sit a few minutes before cutting.

We ate the quiche with a tomato, avocado and parmesan salad. This recipe could easily be modified by using spinach in place of chard, leeks in place of onions, adding green onions on top, adding fresh basil, adding tomato, adding green peppers, adding cooked bacon, adding broccoli, you get the picture. Basically, you can modify this recipe to suit your particular tastebuds, using any vegetables you want; just saute them a little before you add them to the egg mixture. I should add I've made basically the exact same quiche without a crust, so if you don't have a pie crust or just want a lighter version of the recipe, it's just as good without. This quiche tastes even better the next day, especially for breakfast.

Baltimore, Botulism Benefit & Roasted Garlic

photo courtesy of allrecipes.com. I'll remember to take one next time!

I'm in my hometown of Baltimore, enjoying some time before I head off to Central America for a month (!!!). I haven't been cooking much, although I did make some dill dip for the Baby Bregel-Bausum's Botulism Benefit Bash on Saturday. There was a ton of food and terrific live music (by Earthtone!). Better than that, a lot of money was raised for Sinai Hospital's PICU, where my friend Sarah's baby girl Piper recovered from infant botulism in March. Once the music started, I was completely distracted, so I don't think I actually ate the dill dip I made. I followed my mom's classic recipe, though, so I'm sure it was good.

Perhaps the dill dip recipe will be another post, because last night for dinner I had roasted garlic, and that's what I want to write about. Roasted garlic is incredibly simple to make, tastes amazing, and has multiple uses. I usually eat mine smushed over bread, but you can add it to mashed potatoes, dips or pastas. It's also good on top of pizza, mixed into butter or hummus, or with cheese as an appetizer.

Ingredients
head of garlic (as many as you'd like to make)
salt
pepper
olive oil

1. Pull off most of the garlic skin, leaving the individual skins of the individual cloves.
2. Chop off the end of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves; maybe cut off about 1/2 an inch here.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle some salt and pepper.
4. Bake on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. You should be able to smell the garlic. You might need + or - about 5 or 10 minutes, depending on the size of the garlic heads and the strength of your oven.
5. Pull the cloves from the skin with your fingers or a fork.

A quick Google search reveals a bunch of different ways to roast garlic, including in muffin tins or ramekins, covered with aluminum foil, etc. I usually do it bare, but I'm thinking using aluminum foil might be smart.

Some Forgotten Ephemera From Vacay

I forgot that I had more photos of the vacay, particularly some of cooking/food. Some of them are even aesthetically pleasing. I've got pictures of a vegetarian sandwich from Andrea Kristina's Bookstore in Farmington, the camping cooking situation, the bacon green chili burgers, more scenic photos as well. There is also a picture of the fried chicken my mom made, which was really good, especially since I had a biscuit.

I'll Eat Whatever I Want Cause I'm On Vacay

So as soon as school got out me and my neighbors threw a party, titled The Last Supper. It was a blast. You might have seen the promo video.

Since then I've been on the road. I saw my brother's new baby girl, and my new niece, Aubree Hannah. On the way across NM I ate at KFC, Taco Bell, and McDonald's all in one day. Yes I had the Double Down, and yes it destroyed my intestines. While I was visiting my family I managed to eat pizza, fried chicken, green chili bacon cheeseburgers, and Red Lobster in four days.

After visiting my parents I went and hung out with a friend in Colorado Springs for a few days then camped over the weekend in Cotopaxi CO. From Wednesday to Sunday we managed to eat Mexican food four out of five of those days. Wednesday night was Carlos Miguels, Thursday night was Jose Muldoon's, and on Saturday and Sunday afternoon we ate at El Caporal. El Caporal had a great ratio of value to service to taste going on so it was hard to even try a new place the second day (get the Colorado Burrito, it's the one with the red sauce). The food we made while camping contained bacon all three times (breakfast, dinner, breakfast), as we were trying to avoid bringing any food back with us. It's been a great ending to a hectic semester. Enjoy the pictures.

SAABLT Wrap: This Is Not About A Car

So I'm reading Pigafetta Is My Wife, a book of poems by Joe Hall (for a good review of Pigafetta, go here). I'm loving the book on so many levels it's hard to keep this from turning into a glowing review, but as I was reading it I couldn't help thinking of pig's feet. I don't know why? I wanted to try and make a dish with pig's feet, but I also wanted to make something I would really like and something that goes along with the book's theme, a la my neighbor Rachel's blog, which has a concept I wish I could steal, and well, I kind of am for this post.

I'm making an Asia meets Latin meets America meets my fondness for bacon dish I call a SAABLT Wrap (which sounds like a car, but it's not, cause I checked first).

Spicy Asian Avocado Bacon Lettuce Tomato Wrap

1/2 lb Sliced bacon

1 Tomato, diced

1 Avocado, sliced

1/2 Onion, thinly sliced

Several whole leaves of romain lettuce

1/2 Lime, juiced

1 tbs Soy sauce

1 tsp Fish sauce

1-2 tsp Crushed red pepper

Light sour cream, to taste

First start by cleaning up all your veggies and getting them all prepped. In a pan, cook your bacon on low. When the fat starts collecting in the pan, add the onion, soy sauce, fish sauce (if you've never used fish sauce before, be prepared for a smell I can only compare to sex; no joke, it's pungent), and crushed red pepper. Keep the heat on low, stirring occasionally. When the bacon and onions start to brown add the lime juice. I just squeezed the lime right into the pan. Continue on low until the bacon is your desired texture. When it's finished, spread the sour cream on the lettuce leaves, adding the bacon mixture to one side and the tomatoes to the other, topping it off with the avocado. Season with salt and pepper.

Some Important Notes:

1. If you're going to season the bacon and onions while it's cooking like this, cooking on low is very important. The slower it cooks, the more flavor gets absorbed by the meat and the onions.

2. If you drink a beer with this meal, I recommend Carta Blanca (I'll explain why in another post).

3. I listened to angsty late 90's music while I cooked and had a great time doing it.

4. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky today. Not one.

5. I wish I would have put cheese on this but the name was already really long.