Gringo Salsa

I gave this salsa its name because I hadn’t yet developed a taste for spicy foods so popular in my then new home state of California. This was a good transition recipe, and the one I use now has a lot more punch to it. But this is an excellent starter.

This was my first attempt at a salsa, and it has no measured ingredients. You can use all fresh, all canned, or a combination of both. If you are making this in the spring or summer, there’s little excuse not to use fresh. So here you go!

• Fresh or canned tomatoes
• Green onions
• Juice from fresh limes
• Garlic (just a couple of cloves, but depends on your taste)
• Diced green chilies to taste OR
• Roasted Anaheim peppers
• Cilantro
• Chili powder (to taste)
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

Coarsely chop everything except limes. Food processor is okay, but I always chop garlic by hand.

Except for the canned tomatoes, I almost always use fresh. Instead of using diced green chilies, go ahead and try using Anaheim peppers. They’re plentiful and cheap in the local area and make a big difference in taste.

The peppers can be put on a grill, on a stove, or use a blowtorch to blacken and crisp the skin. Put in a paper bag for five-ten minutes and then peel off the skin. Chop and add to the other ingredients. Adjust proportions and seasonings and serve with tortilla chips.

You can add red onions for extra color and punch of flavor. Add a few pinches of cumin or some finely chopped tomatillos for extra ethnic flair.

If you add tomato juice, bell peppers, diced avocado and (optionally) tiny baby shrimp (I use small chunks of salmon), you have Gazpacho, a cold Spanish soup.

If you make it into Gazpacho, serve it in a Martini glass, garnish with a sprig of cilantro and top with a dollop of sour cream or (better) crème fräiche, and you’ll have a perfect appetizer for entertaining.

So as you can see, there is a lot of flexibility with this little recipe that I’ve used since my now-adult children were very small.

Bon Appetit!

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Julia Child

We all had to start someplace. My “actual” start was with my grandmother, but I will have an article on her later.

This is about celebrity chefs. And Grandmom wasn’t a celebrity, and because of the times and politics, she wasn’t a chef. But she could cook circles around anybody. But I digress.

And as you read this snippet about my first and favorite celebrity chef, keep going to the end. There’s a great piece of news that is just making my day!

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Parents

Yes, I’m ranting about parents. I can do that because I am one.

Every time I see a commercial promoting neon-colored, multi-flavored, artificial plastic treats that are targeted for kids, I know that there are those parents who will give in to their kids’ begging and waste their money buying this junk.

And then they’ll complain that their kids won’t eat good foods. Won’t eat vegetables. Sneer at salads. Prefers to go to McDonald’s or some other fast food place.

Get a grip parents. Who’s supposed to be in charge? You or the kids?

If you ask any of my three grown children if they ever had a tantrum at the table because they “didn’t like” the food, you’ll get a blank stare. Such idiocy wasn’t allowed. If they said they didn’t like a particular food, there were no extreme emotions. There was no bribing to get them to eat. There were no other meals prepared. In other words, if they didn’t eat what was in front of them, they didn’t eat. Period. You know what? They were plenty hungry for the next meal, and that type of behavior was eliminated early on.

They received good, fresh, home-cooked meals. Yes, I was a working mom. I was even a working *single* Mom! McDonald’s was an occasional special treat, not “dinner.” Big salads were a part of nearly every evening meal from the time they had teeth. (Admittedly, it is pretty gross watching a one-year-old mangle a tomato). As a result of this, they are all good cooks, know how to prepare just about everything, and are only fussy about the quality of their ingredients.

I done good.

And while I’m ranting, what’s up with “baby food”??? “Strained” bananas? Ew. Grab a good organic banana, mash it up, and you have instant baby food.

Sheesh.

That’s the rant this time. What’s yours?

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Why? Because I’m Different

“Why in the world would you have a food site when you already have a wine site up and running? Are you nuts?!?”

My answer to that question? “Probably.”

And I don’t care. This is my other passion (which a quick glimpse at the size of my behind will confirm), and there was too much to share about my love for all things culinary to put on Vegas Wineaux. So MirePoix Vegas was born.

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Pho Saigon 8

This is my go-to Pho place in the city. I’ve tried several others – and will probably continue to do so - but always come back to Pho Saigon 8. I should have realized this the first time that I visited it and immediately realized that it was packed and overflowing with Vietnamese people. There’s your sign. Pho, by the way, is pronounced “fuh” and can be the source of many a double entendre joke. And this was my first time trying Vietnamese food of any kind. Adventurous sort, I am!

I purchased the Pho (to go), and took it home. I had no idea what to expect because I had never eaten it before. Wow. Was I ever in for a treat.

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Salute to Salt

If you think that using plain old table salt is just peachy, you can stop reading now and scurry down to McDonald’s for your dinner. If you think that using any kind of salt is suicidal, then you need to read on. If you’re just plain curious about this mineral that is so much in the forefront of health and culinary news, then you may find this enlightening.

This is about real salt - salt that’s fresh from the ocean or freshly mined from glittering caverns.

Table salt isn’t really meant to be food. At least it shouldn’t be. It is a by-product of chemical processing and is nearly 100% sodium chloride, which, according to some pundits, is toxic to the human system. It goes through about eight different processing steps before it is released for sale for human consumption. Nearly all of the 84 naturally occurring minerals are stripped from it (regarded as “impurities”) and if iodized, it is bleached in order to make it attractive enough to the consumer.

There is always concern that we won’t get enough iodine if we don’t use iodized salt. Symptoms of iodine deficiency include dry hair, slow metabolism, underactive thyroid, and slowed mental acuity. Iodized salt, by the way, is not used in processed foods. Surprised? Do you really think that the same manufacturers who load their “foods” with hydrogenated oils (transfats), artificial colors, high fructose corn syrup, and hazmat level preservatives are concerned about your health? Please.

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Welcome to MirePoix Vegas Restaurants

Thanks for visiting our page on restaurants! Unlike our sister site, Vegas Wineaux, this page will be reviewing locals restaurants. What are “locals restaurants”? These are restaurants that we visit when we want a quick bite, some family time out, grab something to take home, or just want to try because someone’s recommended them as a nice casual place to go for tasty food and a relaxing experience. Maybe we learned about it by word of mouth or by a newspaper article. Vegas Wineaux focuses on the special dining experience with wine and restaurants. MirePoix Vegas focuses on the everyday.

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