J'ai un question.

This is what I used to say to Monsieur Wade, who always told me, "If you want to do well, Samantha, then you will." The high school French teacher, one liner dispenser that he was. I think I was like a lot of kids in school - I knew I could turn on the turbo at the last minute and write a paper, or cram for an exam, in the last few hours to which I waited, with success.

Onto the blogging world.

I felt anonymous in high school, but I had a little niche with some good people who understood me well, and we were loyal to each other. I am still friends with some of them today.

I feel non-existent in the blogosphere, but I do have people who log on to read.

To Read.

My question is this - why do people blog?

More importantly - should I continue?

I don't have a white backdrop for the food I cook in my home kitchen. I lack a sponsor. I don't do giveaways, or product reviews (the Ziggy Marley CD and Peter Benchley book aside). The camera I use to take my pictures with was a Christmas present from my husband, not a tax write off because my blog generates so much money.

I started blogging because it was writing.

But now I feel like blogging no more, and perhaps I am letting what others do influence me too much.

I went to high school because I had to. I blog because I wanted to, but there is a life which needs a constant stream of energy and faith and focus poured into it; I'm wondering if blogging is worth it.

I'm inclined to turn inward.

Fleet-ing

"Even in America, the Indian Summer of life should be a little sunny and a little sad, like the season, and infinite in wealth and depth of tone - but never hustled."- Henry Brooks Adams

I have a friend of 15+ years who lives to the North of me in L.A. County. But I don't talk to her everyday. More like, once a month. But when we do talk, she finishes my sentences. When we don't talk, she's reading my mind from 100 miles away (or my Facebook/Twitter updates) and calls me immediately when the ground begins to shake - literally and figuratively.

But she (Michelle) has never seen my kids, I've never met her husband, and although she can tell you the inner workings of me better then people who see me everyday, sometimes we are the two proverbial ships passing in the night - literally and figuratively.

See the picture above? That is Avalon Bay Harbor in Catalina. She was looking at that same view, same day as I was, from a boat as well as from the shore, just like me.

We were vacationing on the same island at the same time, and never knew it. We were busy, we hadn't caught up in a while, or our texts missed each other; at the very least, they didn't contain the right information.

How I hate immediate regret. It's worse than the delayed regret. Even if Michelle had just seen my middle child (eldest daughter), she would have recognized me within my daughter's twin-like face, and said "I know those rosy cheeks, take me to your Mother!" If I had heard her giggle in the tanned, flip-flopped touristy crowd on Catalina Avenue, my ears would have honed in to the sound waves generated during the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz era.

But her ship (a private charter out of Long Beach, California) and my ship (Carnival Elation) passed each other in mid-August, our fleets were fleet-ing, and that was that. The Universe is bizarre and quizzical.

Because everything else this summer worked out to my advantage. I enrolled my son in a baseball camp the same day it began without a problem; he enjoyed every dirt-filled, hanging-out-with-friends, drill-doing moment. I got the girls into two camps, also at the last minute - Vacation Bible School (at the church, of course) and an "Endless Summer" camp at the dance studio.

By luck, I got the last ocean-view stateroom that can sleep five people on a cruise setting sail from our own port, by searching the net and leaving my phone number with the right person. And because the cruise booking employee's name rhymed with and had the same number of syllables as Mike Wazowski, I booked it.

By chance, I got tickets to Wicked and took my daughter, and also a head cold that sidelined me for five days but, with luck, after our vacation, not during.

I have very little to complain about, other than the passing of time and missed opportunities.

And now, I'm sitting in my room watching baseball with my son, on the perch of soccer, travel ball, football, and school ready to take over our lives. Procrastinating those filling-in-our-free time decisions a thing of the lazy days past, the iCal filling up quickly with things I will be skewered should I forget.

Usually summer drags on, but I feel this one went by at light speed. I went into it with no expectations and hopeful mindset. This worked, and it didn't. Summer is that eternal metaphor for the height of experience and fleeting chances.

All I really wanted out of this summer was for my kids to enjoy it, for it to be fun, a memory worth keeping current in their minds.

If I helped to accomplish that, I can watch the summer sail away with no immediate or delayed regrets.

The Universe is bizarre and quizzical, but it's always a place with so much more to sea - literally and figuratively.

Wordless Wednesday

Catalina reminded me of an island in the movie (1982) Tempest.

Her feet are crossed when she sleeps...

Her eyes are as big as her Bubbly Toes...

la da da da da da, la da da da da da da...

SLOW COOKER BLACK BEANS, SWEET POTATO & CHORIZO + STEAMED LEMONY CAULIFLOWER

This is the only way to eat cauliflower.

Wait, no. That's not true.

I like cauliflower gratin with Gruyere cheese, but I shouldn't eat that everyday.

Yet, cauliflower is so good for you - vitamins C, K, folate and fiber - that we do eat it as often as possible. So I make it my mother-in-law's way. She's Greek. I don't need a Mediterranean diet cookbook, and I do know the secret of the people who live on that Greek island (Icaria) and live until they're 90 years old.

They eat healthy foods; fruits and vegetables. And the right portions of them. They grow their fruits and vegetables themselves. They share with their community members. They walk to see them. This culinary philosophy was a wake-up call to a twenty-year-old me who'd eaten mayo, Lawry's seasonings, and tuna casserole made with condensed soup her whole life (but I still love all of those things, just in moderation, especially tuna casserole).

I just got back from a cruise where buffet lines crammed with people served (and wasted) obscene amounts of food.

Part of me liked the variety. Part of me wants to live forever.

Since we have been home, I've been powering down water (to replenish what the Patron and Sambuca depleted) trying to convince my psyche to accept normal portion sizes again, and eating as much fresh food as I can.

Hence my mother-in-law's recipe.

STEAMED LEMONY CAULIFLOWER

1 head of cauliflower, trimmed of stem and quartered

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

optional: lemon zest

Steam cauliflower in boiling water for approximately 4-6 minutes. Remove from water and place cauliflower quarters in a serving dish/bowl. Slice cauliflower to desired size and the salt and pepper it.

Pour over olive oil.

Squeeze over lemon juice.

Toss to coat all cauliflower pieces.

Done.

Next...

The homemade chorizo is my brother-in-law's recipe. 

With the black beans and sweet potato, it looks like Halloween in a earthenware pot.

The chorizo gives this a piquant, hearty flavor. Oh, and talk about fiber and folate...

SLOW COOKER BLACK BEANS, SWEET POTATO & CHORIZO

1 lb. dried black beans, soaked overnight and drained

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 a link of store-bought beef chorizo sausage * (homemade chorizo recipe  follows)

16 oz. chicken broth

(1) 8 oz. can tomato sauce 

1/2 tsp. garlic powder 

1/2 tsp. onion powder 

2 bay leaves 

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced 

Queso Fresco or Cotija cheese to garnish    In a pan or in a slow cooker that can transfer from stovetop to base, add olive  oil over medium-high heat. Squeeze chorizo from casing into olive oil, break  apart with spatula, and saute until chorizo softens and becomes fragrant.  Add drained beans, chicken broth, tomato sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and  bay leaves.  Set slow cooker on low setting for 6 hours. Set a timer for 3 hours.  When 3 hours have passed, add sweet potatoes. Check after 2 hours.  When sweet potato is soft, beans should be done as well.  Serve with cheese.    For homemade Chorizo:  1 lb. ground pork or beef  2 tbsp. minced garllic  2 tbsp. minced onion  1 cup white wine vinegar  ½  cup dark chili powder  salt and pepper to taste    Place vinegar, garlic and onion in sauce pan and bring to a boil for 2-3  minutes. Reduce to a simmer and gradually add chili powder to form a paste, cook  for 2 minutes and cool. Then add mixture to pork or beef and season with salt  and pepper.  Cook over medium-high heat until meat is cooked through. 

Now, go do a shot of ouzo and make an offering to Athena.

Just kidding.

Not really.

Men Are From Achilles, Women Are From Tristan

On the way to my daughter's soccer meeting this morning, I was listening to a radio station (men and women) discussing Brad Pitt's best movies.

I required silence of my daughters until someone mentioned the movie True Romance.

When the Quentin Tarantino film was mentioned, my daughters began discussing team names, soccer drills, and Hannah Montana songs.

I, however, began making my own Brad Pitt favorite movie list in my mind, spurred in no small part by the fighting between the men and women on the radio show about which BP roles merited credit, mention, and props.

Our viewpoints of Brad Pitt the man are soooo vastly different. Brad Pitt has been is so many movies (39, as far as I can tell) that he, like other actors before him (Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins) has acted his way into an identifying persona for each type of movie watcher.

Don't just take my word for it. Here is my husband's TOP 5 BRAD PITT MOVIE LIST.

1) Fight Club. (I guess I am not allowed to discuss Fight Club).

2) Seven. (Hubby loves the way BP's character inserts humor into a dark, non-happy ending film while playing brilliantly off insane Kevin Spacey).

3) A River Runs Through It. (This, I believe, is just a guy's film; fishing, brothers, recklessness, opposites, consequence, retrospection).

4) Twelve Monkeys. (BP's humor once again reveals itself into hopeless situation..."GET OUTTA MY CHAIR!!!").

5) Troy. (Achilles. Best warrior ever? A body every man envies - also to be seen in Thelma & Louise and Fight Club).

Now, here is my TOP 5 BRAD PITT MOVIE LIST.

1) Legends of the Fall. (I wasn't alone when I had heart palpitations seeing BP with long, blonde hair crying over the grave of his fictitious brother whom he could not save from being slaughtered in WWI. Incidentally, Tristan means "sadness." Yep. Latin root, "tristis" or French, "triste." You wanna save Tristan - or at least comfort him - don't you?).

2) True Romance. (This is how BP makes me laugh: he captures the only possible comedic aspects of aimless yet endearing stoner guys, and while you're giggling at how well he acts like the stoner guys you knew in high school, he gives you a gift when you subconsciously say to yourself "Look at that guy, I'm not such a loser after all.")

3) Interview With The Vampire. (Long before Bill Compton, there were other conflicted, melancholy vampires like Anne Rice's Louis).

4) Meet Joe Black. (If I need to cry, I watch this movie. It's almost too much for a girl to take. She knows her dad is leaving forever. She hopes she's getting something in return. She plays it off without question. I'd hope to have such composure in the face of the beauty and symmetry that explains all life on Earth and beyond).

5) Thelma & Louise. (Because of the way he's sitting in his cowboy hat with his feet up when we first see him reminds me of the James Dean movie Giant. And maybe because of the abs.)

In my humble opinion, men like the fighting Brad Pitt - from Achilles. Be victorious and therefore immortal. It's their conqueror trait.

In my personal opinion, women like the lovesick, dispirited, conflicted Brad Pitt - from Tristan. He can easily protect you but also compels you with irresistible vulnerability. It's our nurturing trait.

I don't mean to put people, or Brad Pitt's life's work, into neat, stereotypical little boxes. But it's obvious to me when I hear people devote hours of a Saturday morning radio show, arguing over 39 different films: we have basic instincts that like to be represented by beautiful faces and serious pecs.

Where would we be if we didn't have literary or cinematic characters with which to identify?

We'd have to analyze ourselves the hard way.

Vacation Top Ten + Back to School Lunch Ideas

Just got all of the vacation pictures uploaded. There are so many blogs in me, but I do believe sleep needs to happen first.

A few highlights of our 4 day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada were ...

1) Not puking. I paid $55 for seasickness medication and never used it.

2) Drinking very strong, illegal-in-the-United States-Absinth on the Serenity (adults only) deck and passing out cold while reading about voodoo.

3) Thinking Catalina is a misplaced Mediterranean island.

4) My eyes being bigger than my stomach when I was faced with the delightful opportunity to try as many entrees, starters, and desserts as I wanted. This is dangerous for someone like me.

5) Fresh papaya margaritas and authentic shrimp, fish and carne tacos in Baja.

6) Alex chasing after ping pong balls on the Lido Deck like the dog chases her bone when playing fetch - all clumsy, excited, happy and goofy-ish.

7) FIVE PEOPLE IN ONE SMALL ROOM, but the closeness was epic.

8) Worrying about leaving my parents behind while I left town, for the first time ever, in my life.

9) Melia sleeping on my lap during dinner, and seeing about 50 other kids crashed on their parents lap instead of eating their hot dogs and chicken fingers.

10) Sunsets over the Pacific.

Below, you'll find some very useful back to school info from Kerrygold (who we just call the people who make Dubliner cheese, the best cheese ever). You can see the entire newsletter and the recipes/ideas in their entirety here.

My kids go back to school two weeks from Tuesday. I have no back to school clothes, no backpacks, no lunch sacks, no shoes, very few ideas about when I am going to make all of these things appear in our house before the time is due.

But this newsletter was so useful, I wanted to share it. I love lunch ideas for my kids.

Recipe Color Me a Salad - Colorful Salad Sticks: 3 ounces Kerrygold Blarney Castle Cheese, cut into ½-inch sticks 20 raw vegetable sticks (yellow, green and red peppers; carrots; jicama; unpeeled cucumber, zucchini or yellow summer squash) Divide the cheese and veggie sticks in half. Pack each half in a covered clear plastic container. Peanut Dip: ½ cup vanilla or banana yogurt ¼ cup peanut butter 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce Pinch of cayenne pepper In a small bowl, combine ½ cup vanilla or banana yogurt, ¼ cup peanut butter, 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce, and pinch of cayenne pepper. Blend well. Divide in half and spoon each half into a small covered container; seal well. Makes 2 salads. Per serving, the recipe provides the equivalent of 1 cup vegetables, 1 cup milk, and 2 ounces meat alternate (from peanut butter). Variations: For kids allergic to nuts, combine plain yogurt mixed with a commercial dip or salsa or bottled salad dressing; honey mustard dressing is a great option. Try other Kerrygold cheeses such as Dubliner, Aged Cheddar, Swiss or Reduced-Fat Cheddar Cheese. Colorful Salad Sticks: Here’s a lunchbox salad with crayon-size sticks of cheese and colorful raw veggies that makes a delicious, nutritious, finger-food meal. Included is a super-easy dip using flavored yogurt and peanut butter creating a tasty concoction similar to an Indonesian satay sauce.

One Weeks’ Worth of Enticing Brown Bag Ideas MONDAY Munchie Lunchie Cut up Kerrygold Blarney Castle Cheese in small cubes. Combine in a plastic sandwich bag with pretzel pieces or croutons, and raisins or dried cranberries. Nibble as a snack-lunch, instead of a sandwich. TUESDAY Funny Face Pizza Split and toast English muffin. Spread with jarred pasta sauce, top with turkey pepperoni and sprinkle with shredded Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese. Use sliced olives and a red bell pepper strip to make a funny face. Bake to melt cheese, then chill; wrap in plastic wrap and take it cold. WEDNESDAY Quickie Kabobs Skewer fruit on plastic straws or plastic coffee stirrers, along with cubes of Kerrygold Blarney Castle Cheese. For fruit that turns brown when cut, such as bananas and pears, dip in lemon juice before threading on skewers. THURSDAY Turkey Temptation Spread slices of raisin bread with Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter. Add a filling of thinly sliced apples, turkey slices and Kerrygold Aged Cheddar Cheese. FRIDAY Shake It Up Salad! In a large plastic container, layer torn lettuce, strips of Kerrygold Swiss Cheese and ham, shredded carrots and sliced cucumber. Pack bottled ranch dressing in a small plastic container. At lunch time, pour dressing into salad container and shake to toss. Don’t forget a fork! For more Back To School Lunch Ideas, visit www.kerrygold.com/usa and download our Ideas Leaflet.

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream & Caramel Cake

By the time hubby gets home from his last day of work before vacation, he's spent. He has an inner vacation-timer, and his mental status syncs up..."Four more days, three more days, I can do it, bright sun, margaritas, change outgoing message, two more days, need to do laundry, one more day, dust off suitcase in garage..."

I like to have something sweet waiting for him when he gets home from his last day of work before vacation. I've been doing this for years now.

I love to see the look on his tired face when he walks into the house filled with the aromas of something sweet, savory, or redolent of his childhood. I, sometimes, feel 20-years-old again and jump through hoops to please him. It's a way of distracting myself from how crazy our life has become; kids, school, sports, activities, obligations.

Once, when hubby returned from a visit to Arizona to see my stepson, I had Southern pulled pork, homemade cole slaw, buttermilk corn bread, and pumpkin cheesecake all ready at the same time when he walked through the door.

It was a maze of scents that compelled hubby to say "This is the way a house should smell, baby."

He never should have said that, because I made pulled pork twice a week for the next month, until my son started begging for hamburgers again.

There is a pleasing-gene in me that blossoms in the kitchen. The vacation-cake is one of many culinary rituals I have. Making pancakes on Sunday. Baking bread in winter.

I attempted to find my old bread machine recently, but all I found was my ice cream maker and rotisserie machine. The rotisserie machine has a ton of parts and no manual, the ice cream maker has few parts and complies with logic. It doesn't even require a timer, only gut instinct.

So what did I do, thinking a vacation cake would please hubby but homemade ice cream would make him weak with anticipation and pleasure?

I made homemade ice cream to go with that cake. When I am in the kitchen, I swear, time and obligation don't permeate the walls of scents, music of timers and mixers, and desire to create yummy goodness for my people.

And with that ritual, we're off. But before I leave, without an idea or intention for a blog post for the next five days, I'm posting the recipes here.

Coconut seems appropriate for summe, and since this recipe did not require a custard (what can I say, I was packing and sorta busy), I made toasted coconut ice cream. For the cake, I tried a recipe I've always wanted to try - caramel cake. The frosting was tricky. I ended up doubling it.

I hope to return with way too many photos too fit within my many blogs about vacation.

Ahhhhhhh, vacation.

Yummmmmm, cake and ice cream.

CARAMEL CAKE

adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

Non-stick spray or solid vegetable shortening for greasing pans

Flour for dusting the pans (I buy the spray + flour in one)

1 package (18.25 oz.) plain white cake mix

1 cup buttermilk (the original recipe calls for whole milk)

8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Quick Caramel Frosting (recipe follows)

Place a rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (2) 9-inch round cake pans, shake off excess flour.

Place cake mix, buttermilk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in mixing bowl.

Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, Stop machine, scrape down sides of cake mix with spatula.

Divide batter between 2 pans. Place in oven side by side.

Bake cakes 27-29 minutes, until they're golden brown, and spring back from your touch, and when a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Let cakes cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.

Run a dinner knife or offset spatula around the sides of the pan, and insert the cakes onto a rack, then invert them onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up.

Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.

QUICK CARAMEL FROSTING

adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor

16 tbsp. (2 sticks) butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Place butter and brown sugars in a large-size heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, stir, and bring the mixture back to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Add confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until the frosting is smooth.

Use immediately (while still warm) to frost the caramel cake or the frosting will harden. If it does harden while you are frosting the cake, simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the frosting softens up.

Place one cake layer, right side up, on cake platter. Spread the top with warm frosting. Place the second layer, right side up, on top of the first layer and frost the sides of the cake with clean, smooth strokes. Work quickly, as the frosting will set.

Tips:

Get the off-set spatula with which you are frosting HOT under the hottest faucet setting. Dry first.

To slice the dome off the cake top or not? I never did, because I feared I would lose too much "meat" of the cake this way. But I did this time, the cake was not the leaning tower of pisa nor did it lack "meat". I used a serrated knife, but dental floss works probably better.

TOASTED COCONUT ICE CREAM

1 cup whole milk

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

1/4 cup vanilla sugar (or regular, granulated sugar)

Vanilla beans from 1 vanilla pod

Preheat broiler to highest setting. On a cookie sheet, spread out coconut flakes.

Toast shredded coconut under broiler, keeping a close eye on it, for about 3-5 minutes.

When coconut just begins to get golden and toasty, remove from oven.

With a paring knife, split open the vanilla pod and scrape the vanilla beans out with the knife's edge.

Combine the whole milk, sugar, and coconut milk in the container of a food processor or blender.

Add in cream, toasted coconut, and vanilla beans.

Pour into the container of an ice cream maker, mix and and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Wicked Comes to Town

I can't wait to go see Wicked, I am taking my daughter.

I'm carrying in tradition, I suppose. When I was a kid, my Mom took me to every show that came to town. You name it, I saw it. And I wasn't very happy about it.

It may sound silly, but certain things about me, I think, may have to do with going to the theater when I was at such a malleable age.

I'm dramatic. Sometimes, melodramatic. I love singing LOUDLY, I was in choir all through school (Soprano I!). The faintest beauty isn't lost on me, unless I'm in a terrible mood (in which case I go to sleep and have vivid dreams). I write about unrequited, or star-crossed, love (even though I don't let anyone read it - yet).

And all of those things come together in Wicked, God, I love this play. I love the soundtrack even more.

The play is clever, imaginative, woven perfectly into another person's work. That isn't easy to do.

Idina Menzel has a voice that could move tectonic plates. And Kristin Chenoweth's gene pool makes mine look like a muddy sludge somewhere in rural Essex.

Even though it's not them we'll be seeing, I listen to them sing on the soundtrack, and the same physical, evocative reaction takes me over. But I keep it to myself.

Unless I'm alone listening to For Good, Defying Gravity, or Popular.

When I listen to For Good, all those friendships that I've termed over the years, the people that made an imprint on me (or my pride) for better or worse, all of it makes sense to me. What a liberating feeling.

When I sit and absorb Defying Gravity, I am ready to go after what I only consider doing as I turn the light off and night and drift off into sleep. It gets me into a courage-of-my-convictions type of mood. And, when I hear Elphie sing "I'm sick of playing by the rules of someone else's game", I think of...blogging, writing, publishing (oops! I said it!).

When I listen to KC sing Popular, the mean games girls play with each other (at every age, okay, not just in grade school) become light-hearted, and even plausible.

I'd say I'm an Elphaba kind of girl, but one thing I've learned from the theater is this: you never know what character is luriking inside of you (or who you'll come to identify with) until provoked.

All They Want to Eat is Junk.

Read this blog to the tune of All She Wants to Do is Dance by Don Henley.

I'm roasting tomatillos, turning on the grill

and they want to eat is junk, junk, junk

Mommies been mommies, will be mommies still

and all kids want to eat is junk

Tired parents walking 'round with sleep in their eyes

and all the kids are eating junk, junk, junk

Coffee by the potful is speed in disguise

and all the kids will eat is

all the kids will eat is junk

They can't feel the pinch

Or potential Grinch

They want their swimming (ooh)

They want their tv (ooh)

and all they want to eat is

all they want to eat is junk

We finally do vacation

The last cruise out

As we head onto the gangway

I can hear the vendors shout

They say "Bring your little gringos"

And if and when I do

I'll have my pesos

'Cause all they want to eat is junk

They don't feel the shots

Or the dentist's plot

They want their donuts (ooh)

They want their soda (ooh)

And all they want to eat is

All they want to eat is junk

#####

Oh my, I got carried away there listening to my Don Henley CD while putting away laundry.

I don't know about you other foodies or moms, but have you ever made the most fantabulous, gourmet, five-star meal that it took you all day of ignoring other stuff to pull off? And then your kids ask for hot dogs or Kraft Macaroni & Cheese?

Last night I prepped to make homemade toasted coconut ice cream, home-done rotisseried chicken, and a homemade raspberry vinaigrette with farmers market, organic raspberries but what did my kids ask for? Tacos.

I have nothing against tacos, but come on, just. eat. adventurous. onceineaf'inwhile!

So, here is what I did. I conceded, because I want them to eat. But I let the slow cooker do the work.

Dammit.

SLOW COOKER TACOS

2 lbs. ground beef, or turkey, or chicken

1/3 cup taco seasoning

2 tbsp. canola or extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low setting for 6 hours. When serving, use a slotted spoon to prevent the taco grease from getting everywhere or disintegrating your tortillas. You can also pour meat into a fine mesh strainer - do this over the sink. Let strain for a few minutes.

Serve with the usual - tortillas, taco shells, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsa, sour cream.

Just wait until school starts, when I pack melba toast and poached chicken in their lunches. Revenge is bland.