Thanksgiving Dinner 2006 / Chi-Chi's Mild Salsa

Seeing Dallas and Vivian S. again at dinner was pretty cool! Eric came over later since he was bored - his friend Alistair went to the Who concert, and his brother Kieran's playing OBLIVION since their parents are in Kelowna. We watched the Colorado-Vancouver hockey game (lost 3-2!), some football, and some baseball playoffs. That reminded me of what my mom had said about how they should get dirty old men to be the catchers, so we had a good time with that one. My siblings explained more about baseball to my mom, using a simple version and telling her to think in colors since she got confused with what I thought was a simple enough explanation of the pitcher and catcher being on the opposite team as the batter. She wanted to think of it romantically, sorta... "what's the relationship between the pitcher and catcher?" Then we got into how at least one umpire (which she pronounced "empire") collapsed every summer on the field, and how pitchers could have their arms snap while playing, as happened with Dave Dravecky TWICE! It was also hilarious when my sister looked up the word "randy" on Dictionary.com just for Mom... let's just say she was horrified at the first definition, and the others didn't improve her opinion! (then we looked up "incorrigible" for Eric...)

Jon and I tried some of Jeremy's homebrew, plus some Black Toque India Dark Ale... my mom thought the ale was too bitter, but that's how the hops make it taste! Speaking of beer, my brother mentioned that Steamworks was serving their Halloween beer which tasted like liquid pumpkin pie: Steph, Vivian, and Mom all had these DISGUSTED looks on their faces! (haha) We all saw the renovations at the townhouse: the acoustics of the new third level are cool and echoey for now, but might not be that way once they put a window in!

Vivian brought some black forest ice cream cake which she couldn't actually have since she's still going through allergy testing, and corn is on her "no" list. (the cake contained three different kinds of corn: cornstarch, corn syrup, and something else) Eric couldn't have it either because of his sugar issues, but they had pineapple instead and liked it. Mom was definitely horrified that Dallas had brought a whole durian for Jon... it spiked Steph later on, and she almost swore, heh. We watched something on the Discovery Channel about a replica of Stonehenge: interesting stuff, heh. Then Jon drove me and Dallas home since we passed on Dragon Ball... very glad to get here! Eric asked me about Steph's blog, so I gave him the link since he forgot to ask earlier. Hopefully, I have a quiet week since I'll need it to edit / tag stuff AND get mentally prepared for the weekend trip! (my old friend Pauline Chan is pregnant with her FIFTH kid now, Phil's mom tells me... I remember her son Abdullah from years ago!)


Chi-Chi's Mild Salsa

Recipe By: Gloria Pitzer
Serving Size: 1 Preparation Time: 0:15
Categories: Salsas, Copycat

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

1 Can Stewed Tomatoes (14 Oz.) -- sliced
2 Large Green onions -- snipped*
1 Large Ripe Tomato -- cored and diced
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Dash Tabasco AE Sauce -- or to taste

Cut up stewed tomatoes and combine in saucepan with onions, fresh tomato, salt and pepper. Bring just to a boil. Boil hard 1 minute and remove at once from heat. Put half of mixture through blender just to mince fine, but not to puree. Return to remaining half of mixture. Cool and refrigerate in tightly covered container to use with a few weeks. Freezes well to use within 6 months.

NOTE - For hot salsa, add 1 teaspoon canned green chopped chilies or to taste, freezing unused chilies to use in other recipes.