things that are good

sleeping in
jasmine tea with sage honey
a flourishing garden
watching sailboats out on the ocean
an almost-perfect stir-fry
two purring cats

the good tired

today i went out to Cost Plus to pick up some more of the jars i bought there the other day that are so perfect for storing dried chilies. at $2.99 each they're an absolute steal. afterward i wanted to pick up some of the varieties of dried chile i'd run out of, but first i decided to grab some lunch and drive down the coast a ways, partly hoping for good fruit stand finds and partly in an attempt to get some sun on my left side for a change; the sunroof offers a great way to even out my driver's tan. (well, ok, i don't really tan so as you'd notice, but i freckle like crazy and i kind of like that.)

since i wasn't in a hurry and had NPR to listen to, the traffic on rte. 1 didn't bother me. i picked up some gorgeous fresh organic strawberries in Half Moon Bay and took 92 back over to 280 to Daly City's Mission district, where i poked around until i found a suitable looking Mexican grocery. there i picked up the chilies i wanted (Guajillo, New Mexico, Ancho, Negro, and De Arbol) and also some Chiltepins, which i've never tried before. they're reportedly very hot, they look a bit like oversized pink peppercorns, and scientists believe they're the variety from which all other chilies descend. i also got some Mexican cooking chocolate and wonderful-smelling fresh local corn tortillas (they're made right down the hill from me!) and assorted other goodies, but most wonderfully of all, they had flypaper.

okay, so it's low tech. but i know flypaper works because when i was a kid we hung it in all four corners of our dining room. and i've been unable to find the damn stuff anywhere -- every store i've been to has a wide array of hideously toxic sprays that i don't want to use around my garden. so i shelled out two bucks for a package of four and ran along home to try them out.

i hung up one strip of flypaper, and within an hour all the flies that were buzzing around my balcony were caught. there are more parking on the walls and ceiling, but i expect they'll get up eventually. ok, so it's not the most attractive solution, but it's cheap and non-toxic and that's just fine by me. (and yes, i've seen the instructions online for making your own flypaper, and no, there is no way in fucking hell i'm going to mix up sticky goo in my kitchen -- i make enough of a mess with food.)

i am well-pleased.

while the flies were dying, i indulged myself for a while in the kitchen, putting the chilies into jars and savoring their various aromas. i'd planned to start the paste for a molé today and mix up the sauce itself tomorrow, but i'm all tired and stuff so instead i'm just going to marinate some meat and make some proper carne asada soft tacos.

i don't know how many varieties of chile i have on hand now. more than 15, fewer than 25, not counting powders and sauces. i'm sure now that the Kashmirs i bought at the farmer's market aren't authentic (but they smell fantastic anyway), so i still want to get my hands on some of the real thing, but that's unlikely since Kashmir doesn't even produce enough of them for the Indian market. i'm wondering, though, what my chance is of finding some real Ethiopian Berbere chilies, the kind they use to make the spice mixture of the same name. i'm told that Guajillos are an acceptable substitute, but, well... you know how it is. i know where to get a berbere plant online, but i've yet to find the dried chilies for sale. naomi_traveller, interested in cruising the Ethiopian groceries in Berkeley sometime?

i've learned another thing about tarragon, as well -- it likes very well-drained soil and not too much water, and it hates having water on its leaves, so best to water around it only every other day or so if it's in full sun.

must cook.