The Good News Is...

It's warmer. Bad news is, winds blowing. Actually, the wind died down for a few hours as we got a cold front in this evening but it is still not as cold as it was. In fact it was downright pleasant dog walking weather tonight so the kids got a good long one. We even gave them quite a bit of leeway since they have been stuck inside for a bit. We have found as time has gone on that all but Tucker are sensitive to the cold. Shiela because she is the embodiment of the canine crone, Emmitt due to his frost bite as a pup, and Sullivan's short coat make them warmer weather dogs. Tucker however with his mixed Akbash heritage loves the cold and could care less as long as you are going to walk.

But, I did not sign on to write a post here about the weather. I realized as I was going to bed the other night that I had stated in the last post I would give the salsa recipe out. And then I promptly forgot. So, here it is.

Vegetable Salsa:

1 small jicama
1 medium onion
1 medium green pepper.
1 medium to large cucumber (I like lot's of cucumber myself)
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 bunch fresh cilantro
Juice of 2 limes
Fresh cracked bleck pepper
Vinegar of your choice to cover ingredients

Drain and rinse black beans and corn in a colander. Peel cucumber and jicama, core/seed pepper and dice all vegetables to about 1/4" cubes or smaller. I cut the vegetable to match the beans and corn kernels in size. Place in a large bowl. When you have the jicama peeled and chopped, douse with lime juice and stir to keep starch from oxidizing and changing color. This is really only needed if you are a slow chopper. Jicama changes color much slower than regular potatoes do. Chop Cilantro finely and add to bowl. Add the corn and beans and stir. Using vinegar of your choice (I use a mixture of white wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar myself) and fill to just come to the top of the ingredients in the bowl. Add cracked pepper to taste.

This salsa is wonderful fresh but I like to make it one day in advance to sit in the refrigerator and let the flavor deepen a bit. You can spice this salsa up by adding fresh hot peppers, a favorite hot sauce or even fresh raw garlic. I often use the left over salsa and put it over a bed of spinach and eat it as a salad.

So, there is that, and since I know some people will want the martini recipe, here it is.

3 cups peeled and chopped fresh ginger.
3 cups water
3 cups sugar
Vodka of your choice

In a large sauce pan, place the water and ginger. Bring to a rolling boil stirring frequently. Turn down to a simmer and let simmer for at least 20 minutes. When you taste the water you will not notice a lot of flavor but will feel the fresh ginger tingle in your throat. Decrease heat until fluid just stops boiling and add the sugar slowly while stirring continuously so that the sugar does not burn. When you taste the resulting syrup you will notice not only the ginger tingle but the flavor of the syrup will have deepened greatly and you will get the full taste of the ginger.

With a colander or sieve over a large bowl or picture, drain the contents of the sauce pan, retaining the fluid and discarding the ginger remnants (or you can save these for later use in other things). Cool the remaining syrup in the fridge. When ready to make martini take equal parts (one shot each) of the ginger syrup and vodka, shake in a mixer and serve over ice.

Okay, now I am going to go love on my dogs before bed. You all have a great night. Nebraska, I hope you enjoy our snow we blew your way.