A Summer Treat Plus A Little Advice

There's nothing like sitting on the deck with a nice Pinot eating Cerviche with Roasted Asparagus And Red Onion Quesadillas.  If a little humor is in order, then reading a chapter from Mellow Out--Lessons Learned from Household Cats would be great fun.

 Mexican Ceviche and  Roasted Asparagus And Red Onion Quesadillas 

This recipe comes from The Winning Certificate. The ceviche is made with scallops but halibut, red snapper, flounder, or swordfish can be substituted. The asparagus and red onion quesadilla is very easy to make and the Pinot Noir complements the spiciness of the lime cumin cream that is served with the quesadillas.

Ceviche

Serves 4 as a Luncheon or Supper Entree

1 pound bay scallops

8 limes, juiced

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2-cup onions, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Rinse scallops and place in a medium sized bowl. Immerse the scallops in lime juice and chill all-day or overnight until scallops are opaque. 

Add tomatoes, onions, olive oil, and cilantro to the scallop mixture. Stir gently. Serve with tortilla chips.

I had to leave my guests alone with a large bowl of the ceviche and when I
returned, this was all that remained.

Asparagus And Red Onion Quesadillas

Serves 4 as a Luncheon or Supper Entree

1-pound asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large red onion, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices and separated into rings

Eight 6- to 7-inch flour tortillas

1/2 pound pepper Jack cheese, coarsely shredded

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 500°F. In a large shallow baking pan, toss onion with 1 1/2 teaspoons oil until coated well. Cook the onions and the chopped asparagus for 10 minutes shaking pans occasionally. Cook until tender and lightly browned,

Preheat broiler. Grease a large baking sheet and arrange 4 tortillas in one layer and divide vegetables, pepper Jack, and coriander among them. Cover quesadillas with remaining 4 tortillas. This can be done using two cookie sheets. Brush top tortillas with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and broil quesadillas about 3 inches from heat until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn quesadillas over and broil until golden brown, about 2 minutes.

Make Cumin Lime Cream while quesadillas broil. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cumin and lime juice. Cut quesadillas into wedges and serve with cumin lime cream.

I tried marijuana once. I did not inhale.

Bill Clinton

Chapter 5
No Guilt—Getting High Is Natural

The “do-gooders” want to restrict all of us from the pleasure gained from using drugs and drinking alcohol. They hover over us like parking officers waiting for the time to expire on the meter so they can issue a citation. In the San Francisco South Bay, there is a huge campaign during the December/January holidays called “Avoid the Thirteen.” Police agencies have teamed up to place roadblocks to ferret out drunken drivers. Along with this cooperation is a media blitz. In our small town, the headline in the local newspaper states, “Expect DUI saturation patrols on Friday.” The fear created is so bad than when someone sees a police car, panic sets in, even if that person hasn’t done anything. It’s a horrible way to live.

When the police catch someone under the influence, the cost is tremendous. Fines are paid to the court, fees are paid for education classes, interlock devices are installed, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has a fee for every step in the process. Plus, we continually see ads on television about the evil effects of drugs. These campaigns are relentless and are made to make people feel guilty. For me, it got so bad that when I had too much to drink in my own house, I felt guilty. Then I took a step back and watched the behavior of my cats. The guilt has gone away.

It’s springtime, and we make our annual pilgrimage to the nursery to buy seeds and seedlings for our garden. We buy tomatoes, lettuce, corn, zucchini, fava beans and eggplant. Of course, we can’t forget the cats, so we buy catnip seedlings.

Next comes the hard work of digging the holes, filling the space with planting mix and finally putting the seedlings in the ground. After we finish this arduous endeavor, we sprinkle the ground with water and then adjourn to the chairs on the deck to rest.

Samantha saunters up to the catnip and then goes about sniffing, licking, head shaking, body rolling and head and cheek rubbing as she partakes of the herb. Goodness, she is really putting one on. The effects usually last from about five to fifteen minutes.

After Samantha leaves, The Mitzer runs over to the catnip. Since the Mitzer is hyper, she can’t saunter up to anything—it’s always full speed ahead. She sniffs and rolls in the catnip. It’s like a marijuana or LSD-type response. Finally, when the Mitzer finishes, Chubby takes over and has the same experience. After getting “stoned,” the cats walk away and act perfectly normal. There is no remorse, no headaches, and no promises not to do this again.

The cats understand life, and they know that an altered state is just part of living. I used to have a difficult time with this concept, especially during the Christmas holidays. We buy and wrap presents, decorate the house and tree, attend lots of parties and spend forever finding the perfect picture for the Christmas card. Finally, Christmas comes, and it has been our tradition to have a themed buffet for family members and friends. We do this in the evening and the buffets have had Italian, Polish, Irish, Mexican, Greek and International themes.

I finish the cooking, put everything out and then pour myself a glass of wine. But not just any wine—my favorites are from the Santa Cruz Mountains. Some eighty small wineries produce wonderful Cabernets, Zinfandels, Pinots and a whole host of other reds and whites. I have talked to many of the winemakers; thus the wine is extra special.

The guests come, they eat and they talk, and I pour myself some more wine. Friends and extended family members open their Christmas presents, and I pour myself some more wine. Finally, the evening ends, and I pour another glass of wine.

The next morning, I wake up with a house in shambles and not feeling very well. In the past, I would have promised myself that I would never drink again. “Why did I get so drunk?” I would ask myself. “Why don’t I have more control?” I would feel guilty as hell. 

Internalizing the lesson I learned from my cats, this becomes the end of the story because I know it will happen again. My guilt is gone because I am modeling my cats’ behavior, and I have learned to enjoy the high, suffer the morning after, and then move on. Life has gotten tremendously better. I think I’ll have another glass of wine.