Month 8 day 12: Arepas and Etouffee... with guest chef G!

Today I made:
Arepas with Poblanos, Bacon and Eggs, Every Day with Rachael Ray September 2011

Today *G* made:
Chicken-and-Andouille normal-sausage-from-the-freezer Etouffee, Food & Wine September 2010

For lunch I made these arepas. I was intrigued because I always see food stands at festivals in Boston (or just in touristy areas like the Commons) selling arepas, and they always look so good but I'm not usually hungry. So great if I could learn to make them! Unfortunately they didn't turn out great-- I ran out of corn meal, but didn't reduce the milk accordingly. Instead of being able to form patties I had to just pour it into the pan like pancake batter. The corn was violently sputtering everywhere and got a lot of oil spots on my shirt, and the arepas kept sticking to the pan instead of letting me turn easily. I think we would have to try it again sometime :-P The eggs were just normal eggs. The chiles were hotter than we were expecting, since we've used this kind before in many dishes (chile rellenos, for example) and not noticed their heat. We'll keep the recipe, and I'll try again sometime with the full amount of corn meal. We found out this morning that Thich Nhat Hanh was in Boston today leading a meditation! But I chose to make lunch instead of going. Where are my priorities...

Tonight G both cooked AND did the dishes! As I went to slice the second half of the onion (this being the first ingredient I started to prepare), I sliced my thumb instead. It was kind of deep (but will be fine), so we decided it was best for me to just sit down with my hand in the air. My hardest job was to decide which カピバラさん band-aid to use. I opted for this one:

And I am glad that my manicure isn't too chipped, so it can wait until the cut heals to be redone. Ceramics tomorrow might suck though :(

G comments that once everything was chopped, it was pretty fast and easy to make this dish. He was impressed by the roux, I think. We just used a random sausage from our freezer, as I am trying to clear out our overflowing meat drawer. It was not the right kind, but it was a little spicy, so I think it did fine. Haha, I just noticed-- I'm pretty sure he did not use whole wheat flour as suggested, nor did he ask me where it was. Normally he likes to follow recipes closely, but he doesn't care for whole wheat usually (at least in pasta). I guess he used his chef's discretion :) I think this was pretty tasty! We'll keep this recipe.