Mario and Angie Apreotesi: September 2013

I'm flattered that there were enough positive comments about my salsa at the Relief Society meeting last week that I feel justified putting it here. :) I learned this recipe by watching my mom, who is an incredible, intuitive cook. We used to make this with a big basket of Roma tomatoes warm from the garden. HEAVEN.

Roasted Chile Salsa
3 lbs Roma tomatoes, cored and cut in half
4 poblano peppers
1 anaheim pepper
1/2 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (roughly - these are very spicy - start with one or two and add more to taste according to the directions below)
2-3 large sweet onions (Vidalia for example), peeled and cut into quarters
1 bunch of cilantro
2 small cans tomato paste
1/4 c. white sugar (to taste)
1 T salt (to taste)
juice of 3 large limes (to taste)

Roast the poblano and anaheim peppers under the broiler or over a gas flame or very hot grill until the skins are blackened and blistered all over. (Be sure to use high heat - your intention here is not to cook the peppers, but rather to roast them quickly just on the outside.) Put the still-hot peppers directly into a plastic bag and tie it, or put into a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the blackened skin off and remove the seeds and membranes. (I would recommend gloves for this step.)

Put about a third of the halved Roma tomatoes on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler for about 15 minutes, or until they begin to darken and caramelize. (This step is optional, but adds substance to the texture, and depth to the flavor.)

Put the Romas (roasted and non-roasted) in a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to chop until all of the tomatoes are broken up but you can still see pieces about the size of dime. Put them in a large, non-reactive bowl. You don't want to puree them, and you'll need to do them in batches.

Next toss the onions, peppers (poblanos, anaheims, and chipotles - see note above), and cilantro (rip off the top half and discard the stems - be sure to rinse them well!) into the food processor and puree. Put this mixture into the bowl with the tomatoes and add the tomato paste, sugar, salt, and lime juice.

You should taste it at this point. Adjust salt, sugar, and lime juice if necessary. If you'd like more spice, throw a few more chipotle peppers in the food processor with about half a cup of the finished salsa and puree, then return the mixture to the bowl. You can also add spoonfuls of the adobo sauce from the chipotle can directly to the salsa to add heat, but be sure to puree any whole peppers you want to add.

Helpful hints: If it tastes watery and weak, add more tomato paste.
If it is too acidic, add sugar. If it's too tomato-ey, add lime juice, and more cilantro and onion if you have it.

Fun variations: You can put any pepper in this you want. Try Hatch chiles or serranos.
A couple cloves of fresh garlic give a nice bite, or you can throw in a few roasted garlic cloves for a richer, more meaty garlic flavor. Keep in mind the flavors of both onions and garlic intensify over time. I'd only use fresh garlic if you're eating it all soon!
Substitute part of the tomatoes with sweet baby tomatoes and adjust the sugar accordingly. Roasted sweet baby tomatoes would be even better!
Mix in some corn, black beans, or chopped pineapple.

Note: This makes a BOATLOAD of salsa. Cut the ratios down if necessary. It's best after a few hours, great the second and maybe third day, but loses its turgor after that. I use Romas because they have less liquid, but other tomatoes would work as well - it would just be more watery. You can also substitute white vinegar for the lime juice in a pinch, but it won't be the same.

Scout and I had the chance to go on a few school field trips with Josh.

The Children's Museum, one of our usual haunts. Josh had a great time exploring with his friends, and Scout had a great time finally being able to play with whatever she wanted, for as long as she wanted, instead of having to go where Josh wanted to play.

We went to the Crowe's Nest Farm just outside of Austin with Josh's class (on the same day we moved into our new house, actually), where Josh immediately discovered a new obsession: farm animals. This field trip, and the associated learning at school, had an immense impact on him. He absolutely loves farm animals now. They're right up there with ocean animals and zoo animals. We saw a milking demonstration, which sent him right over the moon. The cow's name was

Hershey, and now most animals that Josh gets to name are named Hershey (including dinosaurs). It was so great we took a few more trips out there with Mario a few weeks later.

We got to go on the hay ride and see lots and lots of fun animals.

A few weeks after we went to the farm, I was making breakfast and Josh said, "Hey Mom, cows make milk. What do chickens make?" I said that chickens make eggs. He thought for a minute and said "Cows make milk. Chickens make eggs. What do roosters make?" I said they didn't really make anything. He thought for another minute and then said "I know! Roosters make pancakes! And donkeys make waffles." He continued to inform me that kittens make apples and T-Rex makes dinosaur cheese.

She's being a chicken. :)

We tried to take family pictures at the park with our good friends, the Ancers, but the kids didn't cooperate so we scrapped it and just took pictures of the kids instead.

Texas has maybe the most intense rain storms I've ever seen, and I lived in the South Pacific for a while so that's saying something. Since thunder storms are going to be a part of our lives as long as we live here, I've tried really hard to make them something fun and

exciting instead of scary. Here are the kids enjoying one particular hail storm from our old house. This storm was so strong that it washed our big city trash cans down the street.

We've been to the Austin Zoo about 4 times. Notice I didn't take any photos of the animals. That's because the Austin Zoo is a really good zoo in some ways and a really terrible zoo in other ways. It's great because it's a non-profit organization that only takes in rescue animals or animals to be rehabilitated, so it's not as sad as going to a "good" zoo and seeing all kinds of wonderful, healthy, endangered animals that should have been left where they were, not stuck in concrete cages their whole lives. The Austin Zoo is awful because there aren't a lot of animals there. It has three lions, four tigers, a blind panther, a leopard that can't walk, a couple sick bears, a pig as big as a tiger, and a whole lot of normal animals, including a

The zoo train!

boatload of goats, deer, and llamas that you can feed, and dozens of chickens and peacocks that will steal your lunch (so I guess you could say that you feed those ones too). Apparently two of the tigers were dropped off by a man who said he "found them in the woods." Right. You found two fully-grown tigers in the woods and decided to invite them into your car to drive them to the zoo? As full of bologna as that story is, at least he gave his two illegal tiger pets to a zoo instead of killing them or just

This is how my city boy feeds animals at the petting zoo.

releasing them so someone else could actually find them in the woods. So the animal selection is less than impressive, but they have a train!

At the Zilker Botanical Gardens.

The Botanical Gardens down at Zilker Park are a lot of fun, or they were until it got so blasted hot outside.

Movie Night at the Apreotesi home. Boy can these three put down the popcorn! Josh can plow through an entire bag all by himself and ask for more.

Fun with Scout while Josh is in school.

In May, we really realized just how awesome our new neighborhood is. They have an annual kick-ball tournament. Fun stuff!

We got to go to one of Josh's best

Josh and Mirabel.

friend's third birthday party in May. He and Mirabel have been playing together basically since she was born. The kids especially enjoyed the cupcakes, both at the party and as a treat at home the next day.

Random adorableness.

We also celebrated my birthday in May with our first trip of the season to Sea World!

Josh went through a phase a while back where he didn't just want me to draw vehicles for him - he wanted me to MAKE vehicles for him. Like ones that really rolled and could hold little people. This particular little beauty took me a while to make, but it took him even longer to color. I think he worked on this for over an hour - you can see that he was only using the fine point tip of his marker.

Josh and Dude at the splash pad.

We also welcomed a new beloved friend into the family in May. I bought a plastic garden owl to scare birds away from making messes in my pool. Josh promptly decided the owl would make an excellent friend, however, so it has only spent a total of about two minutes guarding my pool. This fella's name is Dude and he was our constant companion for about a month. Josh would take Dude with us to the library, the store, even to Primary one Sunday. Josh would play with and talk to Dude most of the day. "Dude, should we do a puzzle now? Oh, okay! That was a great puzzle! Now should we color? Dude, do you see this Iguanodon I colored? Are you having fun? Are you tired? Ok, let's have a nap. Now close your eyes and go to sleep! Oh, you woke up! Did you have nice dreams?" Dude still sleeps right by Josh's bed every night.

This is where Josh puts Dude down for naps. Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Josh finished his gymnastics class in June with a whole little routine. It was really amazing to watch him get so much more confident over the months he was there!

Scout doing forward rolls, just like her idol Josh.

Singing with his class at school.

He also had a couple school presentations. His class performed at the PTA meeting one night, and they performed again at Dawson Elementary's annual Sock Hop. His school experience this year has changed our lives, and we're so sad to be moving to a different school next year! I hope he can connect with his teachers and classmates at his new school like he did at Dawson! (I can't post many of the photos from his school activities on the blog for privacy reasons as they show other kids in his class.)

Josh and his awesome teacher, Ms. Dennis.

We went mini-golfing after Josh got totally engrossed in a golf tournament on TV with Mario a few months ago. When we started golfing, he announced that he was Tiger. I'm sure Mario has nothing to do with that.

And I convinced Mario to go skydiving with me. It was AWESOME. Last time I went I was alone and in a foreign country and it was awesome. But it was so much better going with my best friend.

Can you tell whose idea this was? There were a few minutes there when he wasn't too happy with me.

Seriously, there is nothing like throwing yourself out of a perfectly good airplane from two miles above the earth. Mario was sure this was going to be his one and only skydive. I told him he should wait until after he did it. And now he's sure that was definitely not his last skydive. Although next time I may make him jump out first.