also? Jesse should come have lunch with me.

Can you make salsa fresca without cilantro?

There has got to be cilantro to be found! Actually, I've been in a similar situation. Back in Prague, my friend decided to throw a mexican themed party. And I got to do most of the shopping. Great fun, that. Nothing is quite as frustrating as trying to find the czech words for cilantro, triple sec (I know. Really. But everyone seemed very confused. I finally found an expat bartender who donated a bottle to my cause for the price of an invite) and sour cream. Oh and then actually trying to find said products. I think I confused many a shop owner that weekend.

Where do you get the green chile from? No sopapillas? (I can't imagine making them. But mmm.)

Had another frustrating conversation with the maintenance office. Seems they don't actually TALK to the workers and have no fucking clue what's going on beyond submitting a work order. Despite the fact she was standing there, TALKING to some of said staff. I think I might have to kill her.

Where do you get the green chile from?

My sister sent me a case of it as a housewarming present when we got here.

No sopapillas? (I can't imagine making them. But mmm.)

I know. I don't have a deep-fat fryer, though, so it's a messy process and mine never come out quite right. And they have to be hot, so I'd be in the kitchen instead of hostessing. But mmmm.

I am making the tortillas, though - they have them in the stores here (!!!) but they are shelf-stable tortillas that never go stale, and they taste a little like nickels. Of course, this means the tortillas, rather than round, will be shaped something like Alaska, but hey.

Jesse should come have lunch with me.

That I could do.

they have them in the stores here (!!!) but they are shelf-stable tortillas that never go stale, and they taste a little like nickels.

I know your pain. My handmade tortillas always come out more like flatbread than tortillas. I can't get them thin enough. And they always look more like Maine.

You have a very nice sister.

I'm thinking I should ask my parents to schlep out some green chile when they come in two weeks, except they are going to be in Birmingham for a week first and I don't think the frozen stuff would survive that many re-freezings. I can get the canned ortega/el paso stuff, but at ridiculous markup. I need to go down to the Fells Point area and see if the grocerias there have it.

I have a homeowner-type question. If I get a contractor to come out and look at my gutters and front stoop, and he promises to drop off a written estimate "soon" and a week goes by and no estimate, does that mean he doesn't want the job or else he's just forgotten and it's a good idea to give him a call?

I can't believe there's no cilantro in Greece! Though they probably call it coriander.

Theo - I had to follow-up like an insane person to get anything from contractors. I say call them.

The name coriander does not signify one thing -- it represents a seed, a leaf and a powder used in Central America, South America, all of Asia, the Mediterranean basin, the Southwest of the United States, and in any menu that replicates the flavors of one or all of these regions. Coriander-the-leaf is also known as Cilantro and Chinese Parsley. The profusion of names and forms are replicated in the range of flavors created by this coriander: the whole dried seeds are nutty and warm, the powder intense, the leaf vibrant or soapy -- depending on what camp the taster is in. In any form, though, when coriander is present, it is known.

All Raquel probably needs is the Greek name for it.

Theo - I had to follow-up like an insane person to get anything from contractors

This is leading me to believe that any person who does home-like repair or construction work is constitutionally unable to let the resident know what the hell is going on. I swear, maybe I ought to go into the contractor-customer liason business.

(Can you tell I'm irritated this morning? I am. Why the fuck should I have to do so much work for a service you are supposed to be providing?)