Another Tough Cooking Lesson!

Everyone here is laughing at me. I am laughing at myself. I bought a Mexican cookbook in Ixtapa. Lupe has told me that I am not allowed to use a Mexican cookbook anymore. She will teach me.

I was making a green sauce for a casserole that uses tomatillos and jalapenos. The recipe said to use 3 canned, chopped, seeded jalapeños. I wondered what size these cans should be. 6 oz.? 10 oz.? Since I aimed to make an extra big batch, I went to the store and bought the larger cans of jalapeños. Since I knew dinner was going to be “spicer” than normal, I secretly told my husband to caution the children about dinner. Please tell them that mama had worked hard in the kitchen all day and complaining wouldn’t be loving. “Eat dinner and be thankful”.

I think you all have figured out that dinner was blazing hot!!! Smothering it in sour cream and tomato slices barely toned it down. We all ate it, and we all paid for it! The kids respected their daddy’s warning. Not one complaint. The next day Molly had a gut ache, turned all clammy and started seeing spots. Yes, it was that bad!

I told Lupe of my great success of making an authentic Mexican dish and went on to confess to her how we are not yet used to the spicyness. I told her I thought 3 cans of jalapenos were more than enough. Lupe started cracking up and told me I was supposed to use “Tres” jalepenos, NOT TRES CANS! The story has traveled to all of her family and to all the kids’ friends at school. I have been told to throw my book away; she will teach me how to cook comida Mexicana.