Catching Up

We went and saw Iron Man last Sunday, and let me go ahead and take a minute and say to those who have not gone to see it: GO SEE IRON MAN. Seriously, it was the most viscerally satisfying comic book movie I have ever seen. I don't want to spoil anything, but the casting choices were AMAZING, and be sure and stay after the credits. That is all.


In other news, we're almost completely moved in to the new place. Maggie has settled in, her and Heed are getting along reasonably well, and the kitchen is still awesome. So awesome, in fact, that both Mr Sweetie and I cooked the other night - he made a lemon-caraway-heffenweisen Beer Bread, and I made Hummus. It actually turned out as good as my dad's, so I was pretty pleased with it. I didn't measure things, but here's my best approximation of the recipe.

Spicy-Tangy Hummus

You need:
2 cans of chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
Tahini (sesame seed paste, HEB has it in the international section, or go to your local Indian grocer and ask)
whole Cumin
whole Black pepper
Salt
Lemon juice
Minced garlic
Red pepper flakes
olive oil

You do:

Open the chickpeas, drain and rinse them. Mash these suckers up GOOD - or, if you want "chunky" hummus, not so much. I recommend a stick blender or a food processor, we don't have those, so I used a (washed) jar of jalapenos and a mixing bowl. Work with what you've got.

Add about a tablespoon each of the minced garlic and salt to taste **NOTE: I EVIDENTLY LIKE THINGS A LOT SALTIER THAN OTHER FOLKS, and did not in fact use a tablespoon of salt**, a half-cup of the Tahini, a quarter-cup of lemon juice, and a teaspoon each of the red pepper flakes, black pepper, and cumin. For better flavor dry-roast the (whole) cumin, and black and red peppers each in a skillet, then grind to a powder (coffee grinder: $10 at target/krogers/HEB). Do it separately, so you can add them each in different amounts, to suit your own tastes.

Mix all this together, and add a few splashes of olive oil if things seem dry. Too much oil isn't a giant problem, since it will separate out of the final product, and you can get at the rest of the hummus just fine.

At this point, your hummus may taste bland and uninviting. What to do? Well, what do you WANT to do? Do you want a humus with more tang? Add more lemon juice. Want nuttier? Add more tahini. Too dry? More olive oil. Want spicier? Try black pepper before red, to minimize the burn, or red first to emphasize it. Just "more flavor"? Add a little more salt or garlic. Eventually, I promise you, you will hit just the right flavor combination for you.

You eat:

It's basically a dip. Eat it on breads, tortillas, pitas, corn chips, whatever makes you happy. You can garnish it with parsley, pine nuts, whatever you like. Dig in!