music & making do in a land where tex-mex is hard to come by

Wax downloaded some more music that is within six degrees of Pete Wentz's cock. Some of it is called Empires, though I'm not sure if that's the album or the band, which is empirically okay and, though I don't like it, could probably grow on me at least in part. Some of it is called The Cab and is astoundingly generic Boyband Shit, like serious Backstreet Boy wannabe except less catchy and hopefully better dressed although don't bet on it. And some of it is a lot like said cabbies except more peppy and Europoppy and therefore somewhat more appealing, although still kind of whiny. The two packets of generic Boyband Shit are kind of amusing, though, in that "Whose twelve-year-old sister snuck her CD into the stereo when you weren't looking?" way. Personally, I've been listening to The Hush Sound and Ella Fitzgerald's Cole Porter Songbook still, plus the soundtrack to Bend It Like Beckham and a bit of amusing blues like Jimmie Vaughn (the woman in "Kinky Woman" isn't really very kinky). I might finally be starting to get a tiny bit tired of disco-y Korean dance pop music. Maybe. Although it still makes me want to dance.

A while ago I vowed to give up on store bought salsa for the time being, because there's none in Finland that's remotely halfway decent, and have been instead eating one or two diced tomatoes with a good dose of lemon juice, salt, dried oregano, and garlic and chili powder. This is good with a very small quantity of fresh onion as well, but it's optional. And fresh cilantro is highly desirable but can be done without in a pinch, or substituted with the dried version (which is what I keep around for emergencies except they totally don't have it at the corner store and I'm out right now). It's kind of a pain dicing the tomatoes by hand, but the blades of my mini food processor seem to be a little dulled and tend to get caught on the tomato skin; also the result is waterier if you puree than if you dice. I have gotten the time down a bit with practice, now.

Yesterday I made what I call Fake Fajitas, which don't use any spices - just onion and bell pepper strips fried in olive oil with small strips of chicken, then dump in two tomatoes' worth of salsa or half a jar, stir with a tablespoon of cumin, and let simmer for a while. This is tasty, but the result is watery if you don't let it cook down all the way, and I didn't want to waste the fresh lemon and tomato yesterday, so it was extra watery. The dish would really be perfected with the addition of a dollop of rice when you're assembling the tortilla, to absorb some of the excess juice.