Cinco de Mayo

Battle of Puebla

photo from wikipedia

 Bah humbug, to quote Charles Dickens' grumpy old Ebenezer Scrooge.  Why would I want to celebrate the defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862?  Do Americans really know what they are celebrating?  Does anyone really care?  No, especially when it involves cold Corona beer with lime alongside chips and salsa.  The history of the whole celebration gets lost in the mariachis and quesadillas.  The truth of it is is that Napoléon III sent some Frenchies to Mexico, along with some Brits and Spaniards, to check out what was happening and collect money.

Napoléon III

 The Nevada Observer

I am sure he needed some funds for something.  Building something nice in Paris, peut-être?  Somewhere along the line, though, the Brits and Spaniards decided to cut their losses and go home, leaving the French troops to deal with a misunderstanding between the two governments.  The Mexican villagers saw Frenchies marching in, figured that negotiations had broken down and they were coming to do battle.  That seems rather logical, doesn't it?  Maybe no one thought to ask.  Or maybe the Frenchies couldn't speak Spanish and the Mexicans couldn't speak French.  Who knows?  Maybe they should've sat down to dinner and talked it out, gesturing as best they could.  Anyway, the Mexicans were beaten in a skirmish (score a little one for the French), retreated to Puebla, a well-fortified spot.  The French general mistakenly thought that the folk of Puebla were on his side (bad info) and against the advice of those in-the-know, decided to attack.  They ran out of ammunition pretty quickly, retreated, a big rain storm made a mess of mud everywhere and, at the end of the day, 462 Frenchies and 82 Mexicans had died (in French, you can say ils ont disparu-- they disappeared, they can't be found, they ceased to exist.  Kind of like our passing away, I guess.  See how confusing it can be sometimes?)
Back to our battle at hand.  It was an impressive victory, BUT the Frenchies regrouped, Napoléon III sent in more troops, and won the second battle of Puebla on May 17, 1863, if Wikipedia is to be believed.  May 5th isn't even a holiday in Mexico.  A lot of misguided Americans think it is the Mexican independence day.  Nope.  Non.  Just a good excuse to drink Corona, as I stated earlier.
And to be clear here, Napoléon III should not be confused with his uncle, Napoléon I

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml

or with Napoleon Dynamite.

 http://www.moviefone.com/movie/napoleon-dynamite/18465/main

(The t-shirt is a bit suspect, considering what we are discussing here, don't you think?)

Since it is Friday, May 4, the eve of Cinco de Mayo, I came home from school and decided to make good use of a couple of avocados in my refrigerator and a can of black beans.

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Guacamole
1 1/2 cups

1 large or 2 small ripe avocado, mashed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. lemon juice, or more to taste
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. chili powder
Tabasco or Louisiana hot sauce to taste
1 2-ounce jar diced pimentos, drained, optional
2 slices very crisp bacon, crumbled, optional
1/3 cup mayonnaise

1.  Mash avocados.  Add onion, lemon juice, salt, chili powder, and hot sauce (to taste). If desired, add optional ingredients.  Mix well.
2.   Spread top with the mayonnaise and chill at least one hour before serving.
3.   Stir mayonnaise into mixture before serving.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Black Bean Dip
2 cups

1 15-ounce can black beans or black-eyed peas
1 Tbsp. chopped jalapeño peppers, fresh or canned
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. picante sauce
1 1/4 c. grated cheese (mild Cheddar or combination of Cheddar and Monterey Jack)
Freshly ground pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2.  Drain beans and discard juice.
3.  Mash beans with a fork, leaving some chunks.  (Do not use blender or processor.)
4.  Add remaining ingredients, reserving 1/4 cup of cheese, and mix well.
5.  Pour into a 1-quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  (May be prepared ahead to this point refrigerated.)
6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
7.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Bon appétit!  ¡Buen provecho!  Here's to chips and salsa!

Mother's Day 2011

I am a mother thanks to these two handsome young men.  The one on the left is the one formerly referred to as college-age son.  No more.  He is now, as of yesterday, college-grad son.  Yipee!  He is very happy and his parents are even happier.  And very proud.  He has worked hard this year at his two internships, coaching and final classes.  We celebrated by going out for lunch at Bin 33 in downtown Greensboro.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  We sat outside and I sipped Prosecco and ate a grilled calamari salad.

College-grad son ordered a blueberry mint drink that was fabulous.  I hope he will remember how to make it at the beach in July.  The waiter, a truly great waiter, also told us about a drink called concombre.  Cucumbers and basil are involved.  Sounds very refreshing, doesn't it?  We ate, talked and enjoyed each other's company tremendously.
The son on the left is high school-age son.  But not for long.  In three short weeks, he will graduate from high school and in August head west to Knoxville to the University of Tennessee (note the orange hat).  He will then become college-age son.  He plans to study politics.  His AP Government class has been a turning point in his life.  He just can't get enough of it.  He will do his senior project with a fellow in the North Carolina Attorney General's office in Raleigh.  I have every reason to be a very proud mom.
This morning, I woke up and headed to the kitchen, as usual, to feed the cats and make coffee.  This is what I found on the counter--

a message from high school-age son created from yellow post-it notes.  A very nice surprise.  And very creative.
So, I had no choice but to feed him.  Seemed like the only motherly thing to do.  I made chicken with rosemary and potatoes.  It was quite good.  I think it is better simply because I took my kitchen scissors and cut the rosemary out of my little herb garden!

Then I decided to make my mother-in-law's no-bake oatmeal chocolate cookies.  Quick and easy when you need a chocolate fix.  (see index for recipe, if interested)

Even all that didn't quite satisfy me because I knew that I had a can of black beans in my cupboard calling my name.  We also had a brand new bag of Tostito's since high school-age son forgot to take them to his psychology class party on Friday.  I don't know what kind of dip his teacher made, but there were no chips to dip unfortunately.
This recipe (a favorite of the BFF), comes from Even More Special, a cookbook put together by the Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties. 

When this cookbook came out in 1986, I bought three copies.  One for me, one for my mother-in-law and one for my sister-in-law.  Then, thinking that it would be easy to get another copy, I gave mine to a former student who had graduated from college and who still came to dinner at our house whenever he was back in Durham.  Guess again.  I borrowed the BFF's once in a while and looked for one whenever I was at a used book sale.  But it took me until 2010 to get my very own copy again, thanks to the Bookshop on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.  And I will not give this one away!  There are too many great recipes in it that I still need to make.
What a great Mother's Day weekend I've had.

Black Bean Dip

1 15-oz. can black beans or black-eyed peas
1 Tbsp. chopped jalapeño peppers, fresh or canned
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. picante sauce
1 1/4 c. grated cheese (mild Cheddar or a combination of Cheddar and Monterey Jack)
Freshly ground pepper

** I substituted chunky salsa for the jalapeño, onion and picante sauce.

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚.
2.  Drain bean and discard juice.
3.  Mash beans with a fork, leaving some chunks.  Do not use blender or processor.
4.  Add remaining ingredients, reserving 1/4 c. of cheese and mix well.
5.  Pour into a 1-quart baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  (May be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated.)
6.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
7.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Bon appétit, to all moms!