Boycott the Gringo

My salsa problem has finally been solved. I should have known to go to my sister Cristy in the first place. Mom has been singing the praise of her salsa for years, but I never managed to get to mom's house fast enough to eat any of it, due mainly to the fact that mom never told me about it until AFTER it was all gone.

I moaned and groaned to Cristy one afternoon last week about my salsa failures, and it was only a day or so later that she showed up at my house with a copy of her recipe and a jar of her salsa. It was perfect, but I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to duplicate the results. I went to the store and picked up the ingredients the next day, but then eyed them warily for the next week, too apprehensive to even try, sure that Cristy's salsa was so good only because she had the magic touch.

I saw her on Thursday and she asked me how I liked the jar of salsa she had brought over. I gushed about it, but admitted I hadn't tried to make it myself yet. And I was distracted at the moment by the black and white shirt Cristy was wearing. I needed to wear black and white to an event on Saturday, and while I owned plenty of black clothing, there wasn't anything white in my wardrobe. I'm too clumsy to wear light colors, and I had thus far been unwilling and unable to part with any money to buy something. I sheepishly asked Cristy if I could borrow her shirt for Saturday and she didn't even blink an eye. She said "Let's trade right now," and pulled the shirt over her head and handed it to me. I was humbled.

The Carnivore requested a Snack Meal for dinner on Sunday, so I rummaged in the pantry and the fridge and decided to make black bean dip and to finally try out Cristy's salsa recipe. The recipe came out beautifully, and The Carnivore agreed it was the best batch I'd made yet. We FINALLY have a dependable salsa recipe. I should have known to trust Cristy from the beginning. This is, after all, the sister who will give me the shirt off her back.

CRISTY'S SALSA (makes 4 cups)

• 10 very ripe Roma tomatoes
• 2 tsp sea salt, divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 3 jalapenos, diced (most recipes tell you to seed the peppers - since this one didn't specify, I decided to leave the seeds in to spice up the salsa even more - a very good decision)
• 1 medium white onion, diced (I left the dice fairly large, and we loved the chunky onion bits in the final result)
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (love it)
• 1 lime

1. Boil the tomatoes and one tsp sea salt for 10 minutes, or until tomatoes start to crack and peel.
2. Under cold running water, peel and discard the skins from the tomatoes.
3. Chop and smash down tomatoes in a bowl.
4. Add cumin, cayenne pepper, and remaining tsp of salt to the tomatoes. Continue to smash down tomatoes until desired consistency is reached.
5. Add jalapenos, onion, cilantro and lime, and stir well.