DJones BranchingOut

Peruanos for Refried Beans, Because Eva Said So… Delish!

I’ve tried to make refried beans before, and mine are nowhere near as good as our favorite Mexican restaurant. I’ve followed The Mom-In-Law’s recipe and still, no better. I decided to try a different kind of bean as suggested by a phenomenal woman I met when we moved back to California. Eva suggested trying Peruano beans, she liked their texture.

I’d do just about any suggestion that Eva offers. She is one of the first people we met at our kids new school six years ago, and she treated us like family. What a wonderful gift that is when coming to a new city and school! I will never forget when Southern California had a massive power outage four years ago right when I was to pick up my son for the day. The school principal and I wisely decided to wait out the traffic jam, saving ourselves HOURS of traffic misery (HA! A wise decision, in hindsight, see yesterday’s post!). Eva made a fried chicken dinner for the four of us, and this is typical of her kindness.

So, peruanos it is!

Cooked beans on left, uncooked, right... — Cooked beans on left, uncooked, right…

Once the beans were cooked, I poured them into my cast iron skillet that had about a tablespoon of melted bacon grease and another tablespoon of corn oil. Next step is to mush away with a potato masher- I prefer the masher as pictured…

If you want to make these a more decadent dish, stir in about a half cup (or more!) grated cheddar, or even better/worse, crushed chicharrones. NOT the kind you get in the snack food aisle at the quickymart. Get real, freshly made chicharrones from a Mexican grocer, or don’t try it at all- there is no substitution. Curious? Here’s a link to a home made chicharron recipe: SeriousEats.comTheNastyBits:HowToMakeChicharrones

Avoiding Traffic… For Your Health

Our usual (and usually traffic-jammed) route home from school was crippled by road work. Again. Only one more month of this drive for the sake of school, then I can freely visit this lovely beach town as 75% of the other cars on the road with me every day- as a tourist!

We decided to take a different way home today, climbing up through streets wide enough for only one car. A dozen other drivers and I were mighty glad we didn’t meet anyone traveling the opposite direction. We really enjoyed our drive. One of the breaks between houses hugging the side of the hill opened up to the most SPECTACULAR view of this part of So. Cal. that I have ever been treated to. Even The Boy remarked how glad he was that we discovered this detour, though by the time we hooked back up to a more familiar (traffic free!) artery, he was declaring that only nut-jobs could live in such precariously perched houses. It was a beautiful detour.

This week I overheard a news clip about the effects of traffic on the frail, human carcass. A little on-line research uncovered a couple of the lengthier articles that the talking heads on the news were sound-bite summarizing: one from WomensHealth.com (where I found and borrowed the only photo in the post), and another, more in-depth spread over at The Wall Street Journal.

Some of the effects include, but are not limited to the following:

From Women’s Health Magazine-

Your blood sugar rises
Your cholesterol is higher
Your depression rist rises
Your anxiety increases
Your happiness and life satisfaction decline
Your blood pressure temporarily spikes
Your blood pressure rises over time, as well
Your cardiovascular fitness drops
Your sleep suffers
Your back aches

These info bits come from a slew of studies, not just one, spread out over the course of several years, and for me, are a generous serving of Food for Thought.

Photo from The Women's Health online article "Ten Things Your Commute Does to Your Body" — Photo from The Women’s Health online article “Ten Things Your Commute Does to Your Body”

APRIL Project Part Five- Sidewalk Prettifying and Yard Beautification… because the neighbors deserve it.

Almost finished… I’m just waiting for the Arctotis to be delivered from the nursery. Poop. I wanted this to be a finished project, but we will just have to use our imagination on this.

We have two small spots in our yard that are difficult to keep nice. Here’s the before and after of my Sidewalk Beauty Pagent, Contestant #1:

And Contestant #2, mid weeding, old mulch raked off, waiting to be planted and remulched. Some nice, big rocks would look right at home there, too:

Here is the same type of plant I ordered, a red arctotis. I’ve seen this plant at one house in our neighborhood for about two years now. Arctotis blooms year round with these big red flowers that look like gerbera daisies. Low water needs, long lasting color- I’ll take two, please! I snapped this second pic in Balboa Park showing the rocks that I want to place next to the arctotis plants… got to wait to place the rocks, also. Need my muscle riding shotgun, so the rocks will have to wait until the weekend when I can conscript The Husband!

APRIL Yard Clean-Up Part Four: Orange Blossom Special… and Limes- think of the Gimlets!

Have you ever smelled a fresh orange? I mean really fresh- right off of the tree. It smells like California, the fresh outdoors, even the remnants of the orange blossom. If you want to taste something that comes close to how an orange blossom smells, find a jasmine tea (one of the green teas) and brew a cup. I had a small orange tree in a pot as a houseplant when I lived in Seattle. One whiff of that tree in bloom and in my mind I was back at my parents’ home, which was surrounded by citrus groves back in the day.

Now, with my struggling trees in my own yard, when the onshore breeze blows just right, I recognize not only my parents’ but grandparents’ home, too. For most of my youth they lived in either Ventura or Saticoy, California, with grove after grove of the most fragrant trees.

Today I planted a small lime tree- Costco is selling citrus trees and pots at great prices. After buying citrus/palm/cactus potting soil the grand total was under $45 and with a few holes in the pot, I had a new patio gem to join my potted Meyer Lemon… the only way I am keeping citrus alive, ugh. Usually, The Husband will do my potting and planting for me, especially if digging holes is involved, but I did all of this myself. Not a grand feat, except for lugging the 50b bag of citrus soil.

I’m about ready to rip out the last ornamental vegetation around my home and replant nothing but edibles- with citrus in pots, strictly. Maybe throw in some avocado and banana trees?

APRIL- Project of the Month, Yard Clean-Up Prickly Part 3

Today I planted some starts for Prickly Pear Cactus. If you like any Mexican dishes made with Nopales, this is the cactus that it comes from. Oops… did you not know that you were eating cactus? Well, now you do.

I’ve always wanted to grow one of my own, and The Brother-In-Law had paddles falling off his big ol’ cactus in his back yard that were already starting to set down roots. The last time we came up to visit family he went out and shoved at least ten starts into a paper bag for me to tackle eventually… three weeks later I am finally setting them in the ground. I think I transplanted some of the ants from his back yard, too.

Side yard where the cactus will go... — Side yard where the cactus will go…

Bag o' Cactus Starts — Bag o’ Cactus Starts

All I did to prepare the ground was to dig out a few invasive ice plants and loosen the dirt where the paddles would sit. They break off the main plant, fall to the ground and take root all on their own, so this is a pretty easy project, really. My Fine Cactus Benefactor said to just keep the ground watered until they take root, and I will water them every few days for about a week.

...another patch of starts... — …another patch of starts…

...and the third patch of starts. — …and the third patch of starts.

Half an hour later I had three patches of cactus! I wonder how long it will take before I’m slicing off my own new paddles, cursing the spines I missed, and preparing my own Nopales Con Chile Colorado? Nopales, when simply cooked, taste like a mild green vegetable- I’ve always thought of it as a cross between asparagus and a green bean. They are quite mucilaginous, like okra, and I was taught to parboil them once or twice to get rid of this sliminess. Works like a charm. They can also be frozen after this parboiling. Remember the Mom-In-Law and her recipe for Enchiladas from an earlier post? Well, she also taught me how to make Nopales with Chile Colorado, and I’ll share that recipe… eventually. Maybe when I pick my own!

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