Birthday & Balloons

Today is Laurie’s birthday and the second day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with a mass ascension.

One of the helium balloons taking off last night.

Sasha, Spunk, Roses, Gwendolyn, Sunset

I brought my guitar stool out into the dance room for Laurie to try it out to see what height stool we needed to order for her to use at school. Sasha was really digging on it so I left it out for her to hangout on. But then Spunk couldn’t resist, and started eating the stool. So now there are several torn places on the seat. Spunk has to be one of the most destructive cats I have ever known.

“Whaddya talking about? Who? Moi? Me! ¿Me? Fi? Mise? Μου? Mij? Mir? मैं? Мне? Resa’s sweet little ‘Spunky Poo💋’? Do I look the the type who would eat a guitar stool?” YES!!!!!

“Oh wow, man! Like there’s some really heavy hallucinogens in that catnip! It’s like I can see strawberry catnip fields forever!”

I thought there would be a really good, colorful sunset out of these clouds last night. It didn’t happen. Everything turned gray. I think Gwendolyn’s catnip hallucinations confiscated all of the strawberry color out of the sky to color her forever strawberry catnip fields.

Reflections On Being Fried

Three eggs reflected
Were feeling completely fried
With sunny sides up

Morning

Evening

Cooking

We put up a fifth sack of green chiles on Friday afternoon. I made burritos with green chiles, pinto beans, rice and potatoes, and a pot of green chile stew with the same ingredients. I put most of the burritos in the freezer. I will take them for lunches during the week. I will also put the green chile stew in serving sized containers in the freezer.

Making green chile burritos and green chile stew is easy, and it’s a feeling, but here’s the approximate proportions of each ingredient:

Green Chile Burritos

  • 2 quarts of chopped green chiles (look for Bueno frozen flame roasted green chiles or 505 Hatch green chiles if you can’t get freshly roasted green chiles. You can substitute poblanos or Anaheim green chiles. You could add roasted jalapeños to spice up the poblanos and Anaheims).
  • 3 cups of pinto beans, whole or smashed. I smashed them. (we use Anasazi pinto beans from Adobe Mills in Colorado).
  • 3 cups of rice (whatever type you like).
  • 3 cups of boiled, chunked potatoes.
  • 2 cups of shredded cheese (optional. I used Mexican four cheese blend).
  • 1 1/2 onions chopped and sautéed.
  • Whatever seasonings you like. I used a handful of Italian seasoning sautéed with the onions, and a handful of garlic powder. I don’t use salt when I cook.
  • Large flour tortillas or wraps (start with 30 tortillas or wraps, you might need more or less depending on how much of the mixture you put on each tortilla).

Mix the cooked pinto beans, rice, chunked potatoes, sautéed onions, spices and green chiles in a large mixing bowl and stir everything together until the ingredients are evenly mixed. I mixed the shredded cheese in with the other ingredients. The cheese is optional or it can be added on top of the mixture before wrapping the tortillas. Spoon the mixture onto a tortilla or wrap. Fold the short ends first and then the long ends.

Green Chile Stew

  • 2 quarts of chopped green chiles
  • 3 cups of pinto beans, whole
  • 3 cups of rice
  • 3 cups of boiled, chunked potatoes.
  • 1 1/2 onions chopped and sautéed.
  • 1 cup chicken soup stock (optional)
  • Whatever seasonings you like. I used a handful of Italian seasoning sautéed with the onions, and a handful of garlic powder.

Wash the potatoes, add just enough water to cover the potatoes. Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. Pull the potatoes out of the water (don’t throw out the water), and cut the potatoes into chucks (they will probably fall apart as you cut them up). Put the chunked potatoes back in the water. Add the pinto beans, chopped green chiles, rice, chicken soup stock (if you choose), and seasonings to the potatoes and stir to mix well. Add more water if needed. Reheat until hot, but not boiling.