Just 5 minutes, I swear... and a recipe

Hot Chai in hand, accompanied by tacos of last night's interesting creation. I will allow myself 5 minutes to process the day, before actually doing any work. So, Santa Barbara really is a "real" place. The rain drumming on the balcony shocked me out of my slumber, reminding me that OH Shit! I have to walk Isabella to school in the rain. How I wouldn't prefer to lay curled up with her all day, ignoring responsibility, staying dry for a little longer. But, in fact, I like the rain, and she has a pink "princess" umbrella (her choice - I have no veto power when she absolutely must have something pink - even if my former self rolls over in the watery grave I created for it). She looked so peaceful, head lolling over the side of the bed, feet perched conveniently in the middle of my rib-cage. How could I roust her out of bed at 7, just so I wouldn't have to walk her in the rain and then ride my wet bicycle, wetly, to school. This is one of those moments where my lack of planning is paramount. I know that there are busses, in fact, I advocate the use of them, just not for myself... Perhaps this is just justification for me not doing what I should... it seems I have a habit of justifying my bad choices to myself.

Returning to last night's dinner. I made myself cook, a fabulous procrastinating technique, though the accusation of me "not lifting a finger" to do anything in the house was not a welcome commentary... So, I did get my hands on cilantro and made the soup that I wanted, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot in a clear chicken stock, (reduced by accident), with sauteed onion garlic, ginger and cilantro (wilted - bright green, not dark), and after pureeing at the end, a half cup of cream (or half and half...). That is the first recipe that I orally ? (sensibly? olfactorily?) plagiarized from a dear friend, Chef Susan... I am sure her soup is different, I just had to go by what it tasted like and how I could repeat it...

So in repentance I will publish the other half of dinner, for the world to plagiarize...
The boiled chicken breast that I always use for stock is often turned into a cold salad with walnuts and grapes, but seeing that I had no grapes, and that I was pissed off at walnuts, I opted to salvage the tomatoes on the brink of destruction.
They were at that watery, non-pleasing texture stage, just before they start having rotten moldy spots... I figured they would be ok for a salsa ranchera, and they were, but this turned out to be a sincretic salsa...

Roasted tomatoes (6) and two serrano chiles also roasted on a flat comal (or dry pan)
In the blender, with a dash of salt, blend three garlic cloves and a cup of chicken stock (or water) and roasted stuff
In a large non-stick pan, heat olive oil (always cold-pressed extra virgin) sautee a handful of chopped onion, and pour uncooked salsa into hot pan. Cook until tomato loses its pinkish-red color and turns a deep orange.
Decide something is missing, and having no cilantro yet, grab the only other fresh herb you ever buy - basil, fresh that day.
Roughly chop basil and throw it in to salsa, meanwhile with other hand, pull the boiled chicken (trust me- sounds bad, but its one of those amazing Mexican culinary tricks) apart and stir it about in pan.

Ta da... now you can serve it on whatever, I chose corn tortillas, and going with the sincretic feel, you can garnish with cheese (in this case asiago, fontina and provolone - already shredded and pre-packaged for me)

So, did I get my work done? Of course not, but it is raining and I am enoying the early morning peacefulness of a house bereft of noise but the droplets and my clicking keys, and the babe who gently snores.