Brrr!

It is cold. Not that this comes as a surprise, seeing how I've lived in the Greater Boston Area almost my entire life. But still. It warrants a mention.

As promised, here is my dear friend Phil's black-eyed pea salsa recipe, which was a HUGE hit at another dear friend, Hooman's, birthday dinner and subsequent party Saturday night:

6 cans of black eyed peas (drained and rinsed)
1 whole red onion diced
1 garlic clove minced
1 bunch cilantro chopped
2 jalapeno peppers diced
1 can Rotel tomatoes & green chilies
The juice of 1.5 to 2 limes
A couple dashes of hot sauce
A couple dashes of red wine vinegar
A bit of olive oil
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

The instructions, per Phil: "Just put everything together in a bowl and keep tasting and adjusting until you think it's right. That's all I did. If it tasted a bit bland, add some more acid (lime juice or red wine vinegar) and salt. If it's too acidic just add some more olive oil." It's best if you can resist and let it sit over night so that the flavors blend together nicely but I swear, I cannot stop eating this stuff once it comes into being!

Dinner last night was a little pathetic but I'd spent about 5 hours in various states of cold that afternoon (outside and in a rink) and was just so sore and tired ... I ended up grabbing a jar of Alfredo sauce at Whole Foods and cooked up a brand of pasta I found at Food Master that I hadn't tried before. A little cracked black pepper, a little garlic powder, a little Adobo seasoning, and whatever. I'm happy enough.

No creative thinking needed for dinner tonight, I'm going to Rattlesnake with a few friends to try out my friend Poe's new nacho dish!