Don is back from America, and he brought Posole!!!

e and d came out for a few days. I'm sad because now that they are gone again I realize it will be a long time before I see them again. Tell me again why I can't just bring my friends to Australia with me? e said she would try to come out within a couple of years. It's going to be hard getting used to not being able to meet up with her and Jack after herding practice to go for a hike in New Jersey.

On the bright side, It was great to see them, and I was pleased that e finally got to meet my mum. The first day they were here we went skiing at Brighton. d said that he actually liked skiing so he may be back for more at some point.

That night we had Posole (prepared by myself) and invited Clare and Val over as well so we had an interesting discussion about whether or not Biology could ever be a predictive science or not. We also discussed the stupidity of large organizations, such as IBM and LANL, and how open systems are safer to closed ones.

Everyone had seconds, and some even had thirds. Right before I left New York, e told me that she likes Mexican food... all these years I thought she was just being polite and eating the food that I make for Enchilada Night. Seriously.

The second day we took a drive to Park City to see two photography galleries. We drive through the mountains and took a number of pictures and had lunch at somebodyorother's Grill. That night e and d took us to the Red Iguana, where we had more good Mexican food.

Background: hopefully this won't put you off, but I never made Posole until I moved to New York, and at the time I had this unexplained urge to have some, I was only vaguely aware of what it was. I looked it up on the Internet and found some good directions. I made some, and then I honed the recipe a little to my liking, made it again and served it to my friends. They seem to like it pretty well, and the recipe gets requested every now and then so I've decided to post it here so that I can point people to it.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon Cayenne
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder
• 1½ pounds pork shoulder, or any other cut of pork
• 2 or 3 cups frozen, precooked posole or canned white or yellow hominy (this is what I use), drained and rinsed
• 5-10 pealed tomatoes (you can roast and peal them yourself, or just get them in a can), blended into a nice mush.
• green chilies
• Salt, as needed

Non-Vegetarian version: Start by putting the pork into a pot, and fill with water so that it covers the pork. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove the Pork and put the broth that you made to the side. Cut the pork up into little bits.

Vegetarian Version: skip boiling the pork and use vegetable stock instead.

Put the olive oil in a fresh pot and heat for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and garlic, and let wilt. Add the black pepper, cumin, cloves, red chili powder and cayenne, and stir them up. Give the spices a few minutes to ripen. The mixture will all tend to ball up, but that is ok. Pour the pork broth into the pot, add the pork and add all remaining ingredients. Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about an hour.

If you put it in the fridge it lets all the flavors stew together and it usually tastes better the second day, so if I am having a party on Saturday, I usually make the Posole on Friday. The same general advice in my Green Chili Enchilada Sauce recipe about "amounts" and green chilies applies to this recipe.

Mike

My high school and CORE coding buddy Mike came up yesterday and brought his wife Sarah so they could attend my much anticipated Halloween party. It is hard for me to convey just how nice it was to see Mike. Sarah is also from Los Alamos, so I had the rare opportunity to talk with people who grew up on green chili and who know about Mrs. Moss and have heard about Mr. Farley's Butt-Ear. They stayed at my place last night and this morning we wondered around the city of Beacon. I am equally looking forward to seeing Tyler in February now!

Mike, Mike's manager, and Mike's weed

Anyway, the enchiladas came out like clockwork. I've got a fairly established procedure for it now. I threatened to give people costumes if they didn't bring their own, but alas... they were not worried, because most didn't come dressed up. Enchiladas, Posole and Guacamole were a huge success, and everyone was super impressed with Mike's fire breathing prowess. When I get the slides back (and if they come out) I will scan them and put them on my web site, along with the digital general party milling about pictures.

For some reason, iTunes "randomly" chose to play Born Slippy like three times during the course of the party. Granted, they were different versions of the same song, but still. The third time I swore vociferously and got up to advanced to the next song. My consternation made Steve laugh quite vocally, which is always fun, because he is usually so quiet.

I was so glad that Mike was able to meet all my friends. I love it when friends from different aspects of my life come together and get along well. It sort of affirms what I already know: my friends rock!