Stumbled on an Old Post

I was just going over our posts from 2007, trying to make the pictures larger for when we print out our yearly books, and I came across a draft post from my trip to New Orleans that never got published. Check it out.











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¡Jalapeños!

This is the third year that I've had a garden, and I don't seem to be getting any better at it. It turns out that you need to actually take care of your garden, whereas I just want fruit and vegetables to spontaneously appear. Way to ruin it for us, Adam and Eve.




Thankfully there is at least one plant hardy enough to endure my hands-off style of gardening in this lone and dreary world -- ¡the jalapeño plant!


I got home from Tanzania last week and was feeling especially jet lagged (note the bags under my eyes), and decided that a perfect way to get myself ready for bed was some quality time in the kitchen, canning our capsaicin crop.

It was really easy. I sterilized the lids and jars in boiling water, and brought some vinegar to boil.

Loaded up the jars with sliced (non-cooked) jalapeños

Covered the jalapeños with the boiling vinegar

Sealed them up...

...and voila -- border burgers, sunday nachos or jalapeno buttons whenever I want them.

P.S. Austinites, if you followed my border burger link, then hopefully you saw that Ski Shores Cafe is back in business under new management. Try to patronize it a bit more and keep it going this time, would you? Next time I come to visit I want to see it open and running still: "When right, the Border Burger is greasy burger perfection. The bun is soft, sweet and lightly griddled. Melted cheese drapes over grilled onions and jalepenos. A healthy serving of guacamole just adds to the sinful goodness. The patty has a nice TexMexish seasoning. For me, if you are going to dress a burger, it doesn't get better than this."

P.P.S. Hmmm, further investigation indicates some controversy surrounding the transfer of ownership of Ski Shores Cafe. Alright Austin readers -- your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go get a border burger from Ski Shores Cafe (here's a map) and report back on your experience in terms of taste, service and ambience. We need to know if we need to file away our memories of this great restaurant, and pine for it no more.