Salsa and Guacamole

We have too many tomatoes. Bunches of cilantro. Onions. And my family likes the spicy, so here we go.

Let's start with the heat. A large jalapeno, a couple red chilis, and a small can of green chilis.

Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds.

Next, grab the tomatoes.

The ones for the guacamole get their innards removed. The salsa ones stay juicy.

Lets make that guac! Grab the avocados.

Slice them, peel them, put 'em in a bowl.

Dice the tomatoes. Grab some of the green chilis, and dice half a red chili. Throw them in, but only half the green chilis.

One clove of garlic and an onion. We'll use about a third of the onion and save the rest for the salsa.

Those things are diced. Put them in the bowl and grab a fork. Add salt. Add lime juice.

Mush it all up with your fork. The guacamole is done.

To the remaining ingredients, add a lime and more garlic. Oh, and another tomato that I found.

Throw most of that in the blender. Leave out a half jalapeno, some tomato, some onion, and the green chili. We will dice this and add it last, so the salsa has some chunk.

Add some salt. Oh, and some cilantro then blend. Pour the result into a bowl, add those set-aside ingredients, and stir.

Salsa.

Gettysburg, Hershey, New York City

Nothing extravagant this year. My wife wanted to visit her mother while her brother was there, so we built a little vacation around it. I had just finished a major project at work, so the timing was good for a week off.

Since I used my phone to take pictures, Google put together a little story of the trip by itself. It's not perfect, but it'll do.

Trip to New York and Gettysburg

I didn't take any photos during our beach day (you're welcome) and the locations are a bit off at times.

I had not been to Gettysburg since I was a child. At the time, I understood next to nothing. Before this trip, I studied the battle and read a book about it, so I could regale my family with stories appropriate to our location. As such, I became expert in topics like the Parrot Rifle, the Minnie Ball, and General Sickles stupidity.

The next day, after visiting the Gettysburg Museum, we went to Hershey on our way to New York. As everyone knows, it's not the same as when we were kids. We didn't have time for the amusement park, but we did visit Chocolate World to learn how chocolate candy is made. Bought some gifts and moved on.

The following day, we went to Jones Beach. it was hot and we made the mistake of not applying our sunscreen spray indoors. We waited until we were at the beach. The wind dispersed the spray, making it ineffective (except for a line right under the nozzle). The result was sunburn, with curious unburnt lines snaking over our bodies.

It was fun, though. My daughter, an excitable type, went absolutely bonkers for the first hour or so. Back and forth between the blanket and the surf. Such a delightful fool. My son, played in the water some, then retired to the blanket for the duration. He was content to bake in the sun.

The next day was our big day in the Big Apple. We each had chosen one thing to visit: Times Square, Staten Island Ferry, Central Park. So we each got to do the thing we wanted. We had time to visit the 9/11 memorial at the Twin Towers site and got back to Times Square to see it lit up at night. Lunch was in an Italian restaurant under the Late Show with David Letterman marquee. Dinner at a dark, loud Irish Pub near the Freedom Tower.

On our last day, we simply visited my mother-in-law and her beau, Sherman, along with my brother-in-law. We did a bit of swimming in the pool and had an early dinner. That evening, we drove across the city to Stroudsburg, PA, to make our trip home relatively short. That way, we could avoid driving across the Bronx on a Friday morning.

Certainly not a very fancy or expensive trip, but we had fun.