Kickball

Our kickball season is coming to an end. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Whatchoo gonna do with all them chiles...

all them chiles inside your freezer?

I'm a gonna make, make, make you brunch,
so much brunch that you can't eat lunch.

Breakfast Lasagna

- roasted chiles, deskinned and deseeded
- chopped onion and garlic, sauted with...
- chorizo (or veggie chorizo alternative)
- corn tortillas
- grated jack and cheddar
- eggs, beaten
- cream

1. Brown your chorizo with onion and garlic. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grate cheese.
3. Put down a layer of chiles

4. Next goes a layer of cut up corn tortillas, cheese and chorizo.

5. Add another layer or two of all that stuff.
6. Beat up eggs. Leave one alone so he can go back and tell his friends what happened here.

7. Add some cream to the eggs.
8. Pour your egg mixture into the pyrex.

9. Bake 45 minutes, to an hour.
10. Eat. Or don't. But you probably should since you did all that work.

Reader Mail

We get bazillions of e-mails each day, and while it's a chore going through them, we do read through each and every one. A lot of you ask questions. "Christy McO", in Boston, asks

so what do you do with all those hatch chiles?

The short, smart alecky answer is "Eat them."

The longer answer is, you can put them in or on just about anything: eggs, enchiladas, queso, mashed potatoes, pastas, grits, cornbread, fajitas, burgers... You can stuff them with cheese, sausage, corn, potatoes... They're the sweet onion of the pepper family.

I'll be sure to put pictures up from whatever we make next with them.

One thing I will add is the difference between Austin and LA when it comes to green chiles. In Austin, it seems like a fad. People go to Central Market to buy three individual chiles and make a pesto out of them. In East LA, where most of the SoCal shipments come in, families buy three sacks (thats over 100 lbs) for the year. It's not just a passing thing, but a way of life.

Hatch Chile Time

It's that time of year, albeit a few weeks later than usual for me. I ordered my 38 pound sack of Hatch green chiles through El Rey farms out here and this past Saturday was my pick up day. Here are some pictures from the pick up at La Puente High School.


I was greeted by a couple hundred chile lovers.

Dare I say there are a bazillion chiles in this picture?

Roasters waiting to be filled.

"That's hot."

The sack called shotgun on the way to the car. I just shrugged and said "rules are rules," and pointed Erinn to the back seat.

Coyotes in da hood

Coyotes? In Los Angeles? There are several of these signs around our neighborhood. I pity the coyote that goes mano-e-mano with Callie. She'll tear that guy apart. We'll be eating coyote for weeks.

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. My class seems wonderful (all 34 of them!) I look forward to this year with them. Can you find Callie in the second picture?