Arepas gone wild

In Wednesday's New York Times, the Minimalist had a Venezuelan recipe for arepas that looked incredibly yummy. I had all the ingredients except scallions and a jalapeno, so after the weekly shopping trip I took out the recipe and got going.

Something not right. In spite of accurate measuring, the batter was still kind of runny. After the required 15 minute wait, I couldn't form into balls. Still runny. Formed into pancake like patties and refrigerated for a couple hours. No way are these things going to come out splittable like English muffins. Cooked like pancakes. Fairly tasty, but I should NOT have removed the seeds and ribs from the jalapeno. And only made 6, not 8-10. I ate 2, S.O. ate the rest.

Served with some on-sale pulled pork that was too, too, sweet. What is it with present-day taste buds and sugar? Naturally we ate everything with enjoyment, because the arepas were fairly tasty.

I came down to the computer, sure that the proportions were wrong, or even the ingredients. All the recipes called for a special "arepas" corn meal. I just had plain old supermarket.

Idea is till intriguing. I think if I put half again as much corn meal and maybe a teaspoon of baking powder, things would be much better. And all the seeds and pith from the hot pepper.

Ye gods! A jalapeno (sorry but I am too lazy to look for the accent mark) only costs 18 cents.

So tonight we're having tacos. My tacos are awesome.

Fed the cows this a.m. and the three newest ones came running. I always think of the movie title, Some Came Running.

We tried to watch Quantum of Solace last night and found it beyond stupid and nothing but chase scenes. After half an hour I pushed the eject button. Hoping "In Bruges" will be better.

Can't win 'em all, recipes and movies. Querying agents like mad, since this is Burning Man week and my book is mostly set there, yada yada.

For the arepas recipe and lots of fun comments, follow this linke
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/dining/02mini.html?_r=1

Grapeshot