Toasting Jalapeno Peppers--The way I was taught

First, it really bothers me that I don't know how to put an ~ over the "n" in jalapeno.  I just wanted to let you know that I really do know how to spell it. 

Second, I want to admit that bugs me to no end when people pronounce it wrong. It's not "j"alapeno with a "j" sound, and it's not jalap-ee-no with a long "e" sound. The "ja" says an "h" sound and the "e" says a strong short "e" almost a long "a" sound.  The "n" with the squiggly line says "nyo". 


Now that I've either enlightened or alienated everyone, I'll get on with the toasting of the peppers!

My grandfather was from Mexico. His mother (my great-grandmother) taught my "gringa" grandma how to cook "Mexican", so she knew her son would be fed correctly. (These are the same grandparents I wrote about for Valentine's Day this year.)

Well, my grandma is the one who taught me!

When she taught me, we had a gas stove, and she used her "placa" or plate to lay the peppers on. I still have the placa but it's packed and wouldn't have worked on the electric stove.  I do have to tell you about the placa I have! 

You see that round burner cover on this antique stove? That is what my placa is like! My grandmother saved the burner cover from one of her old stoves because it worked so well to toast peppers and cook tortillas!!

Well, I wanted to toast these peppers to keep in the freezer, so I put them on the electric burner. My cousin (who is more Mexican than I am) let me know I could have put them in a pan since it's an electric stove. I probably will next time, but old habits die hard.

WARNING: Do not touch any orifice on your body while doing this!!! Wash hands very thoroughly after. You may also want to us the exhaust fan.

So, I washed and dried the pepper and then put them on the burner like this.

If you notice, the peppers start to sweat when on the burner...wouldn't you?

In fact, don't be surprised if they do a little dance!!

As areas get toasted, turn them over. I just use the stems to turn them around, but you can use tongs or a spatula.

I wouldn't recommend using a fork to turn them because it let's out all the juices!

You can move them around anyway you need to make sure it get's well toasted. Trust me. These are not burned.

This is what they looked like when they were all done.

Then I let them set awhile to cool down.  Now, I could have frozen them just as they were. I would have then defrosted and peeled them as needed. However, I chose to peal them before freezing. I also removed the seeds. In case you didn't know, the seeds are what makes a pepper really hot, so if you don't want things too hot, leave out the seeds.  Here is what they looked like when peeled.

You can see that regardless of how "burned" they may have looked when I finished toasting them, the pepper were just fine!
WARNING: Most people today suggest wearing gloves or plastic bags over your hands when you are peeling.  
I didn't because, well, I was just taught to do it with my bare hands. My finger tips were a little tingly afterwards for awhile, but not a big deal.

So there you have it! That's how to toast peppers! It works the same for all kinds of peppers regardless of how you pronounce them! ;-)


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Friday Funny--Mars Curiosity

An absolutely breathtaking view of the Milky Way from Mars!

If you want some better pictures from the Mars Curiosity Rover, like it on FB at https://www.facebook.com/MarsCuriosity or follow it on Twitter at 

@MarsCuriosity 

"Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop---Curriculum Week (Part 2)

I couldn't finish everything I wanted to share on Tuesday, so today is part 2 of my "Not" Back-to-School Blog Hop Curriculum Week!  On Tuesday, I covered readin', writin', and 'rithmetic.  Today, I'm covering my electives.

History

Mija really enjoys history. I think it's because we teach it chronologically. That is why we have used The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child. I know that some are concerned because there can be a slight humanistic twinge to it, but I can more than bring God into His-tory on my own. I also am thankful for The Story of the World Activity Book . It helps me not have to re-invent the wheel. It has activities, review items, and even lists of books to go along with each chapter.  That's really important to me because I don't want mija to learn merely from a text book but from real books. Having the list makes my time on the library website much faster. (I reserve all the books I want online, so all I have to do it pick them up!)

Science

 I mentioned on Monday, I didn't have a science curriculum available for this year. Well, I was looking through all my downloads, and I came across something I'm going to use. There is a science program entitled, Supercharged Science. It's actually taught by Aurora Lipper, a real rocket scientist! We had signed up for a trial period of her program and while a member I downloaded a lot of her things! I have enough to definitely cover this year although I won't have access to her cool videos. So, between my downloads and the library, I think we have science covered.
Every so often, Aurora Lipper does FREE teleclass.  She has one coming up on Wednesday, August 15 at noon Pacific time.  We usually try to attend even if it's not a subject we are currently covering because she's great, it counts as hours, and did I mention it was Free? Here's the link to sign up for this upcoming teleclass on chemistry.

Bible

Bible really isn't just an elective. It permeates everything we do. While I have my eye on some "official" curriculum, we can't afford it write now, so these are some things we are using.

First, Awana. In case you don't know what Awana is, it is a Scripture memory program that gives prizes and awards for what the child accomplishes. Our church offers Awana. She attends the meetings and then we work on the verses at home.

Second. We've been using Lorrie Flem's Artists and Authors. I won't tell you  much about it right now because I'm going to be doing a review in a few weeks!

Art and Music and More

I don't have a regular curriculum with the subjects. I often integrate them with history or holidays. For instance, we're going to be learning about what was happening in Holland during the Protestant revolutions. We're going to learn about Rembrandt then! Free concert at the library. Music credit. If I can score a free piano, we'll start that again. Mija also does ballet. I count that as Performance Art although I probably could count as PE if I wanted to do. 

Latin

Yes, we are going to start Latin this year, but I'm planning on taking it slow and easy. Something I had purchased previously to use for this eventual even is Prima Latina. Haven't used it before. Seems simple enough. We'll see how it goes.  Why Latin? Because we follow the Classical Method, of course! There's more to it than that. Latin is the basis of a great deal of our English language thereby helping with spelling and learning the meanings of new words. It's also the basis of all the Latin languages which gives you a head up in learning them. (Although I don't think I'll ever understand French. There are just too many unspoken letters. Why put them there if you're not going to say them? Huh?)

So there you are. That's the basics of what I'm using this year.  Have you used any of them? Would you recommend them or something else?