Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce

Our friend Rob (see link below for Around and About San Diego) has created three new hot sauces under the name Scorpion Bay. I whipped up a big batch of black beans to try them out. First we tried the HotAcado sauce. It's a complex sauce in that your taste buds are doing a lot of work recognizing all the flavors like yes, some lime or citrus. If there was a thermometer on the bottle, I would guess it would hover somewhere between mild and medium. This is a great sauce.

Today Larry opened the red sauce, De Arbol, to dress up the black beans. I-chi-hua-hua! Yes, indeed, it is a hot sauce. "Diablo" was probably already taken. While it is a hot fiery sauce, it has a rich tomato and tomatillo base. It's definitely thicker than some salsas as condiments at Mexican restaurants.

I'm saving the best for last. We haven't opened it yet. The Chocopotle hot sauce with a hint of chocolate. This sauce starts with a base of tomatoes and three different types of chilies and peppers. As recommended on the bottle, I may have to pick up a pint of Soy Delicious vanilla to try this flavor out! . . .

This is/will be the secret ingredient in my black beans. Stir in just a teaspoonful for every cup of black beans, perfect. As for ice cream topping, add the Chocopotle to chocolate syrup "just enough to taste the heat" and then top the frozen dessert.

Happy Mothers' Day

Four generations of Brown, Rau and Brigham women were alive in my early days. Sorry, great-gramma Brown, I would need some past life regression or hypnotism to remember times with you. I do have lots of memories of my gramma Rau who passed away when I was eleven years old. And my mom and I will be making memories for years to come.

When I was offered some iced coffee recently, I was reminded of how gramma Rau enjoyed hers with some half-and-half in a tall glass with a sprig of mint on top. And she probably had a Kool cigarette in the other hand, sitting on a chaise lounge in the backyard. Completely unrelated, she made the best stuffed animals. They made some amazing fake fur back in the 70's. She found a brown-grey-black-white checkerboard pattern to make a family of raccoons. They had to be stuffed a certain way, not too firm, not too soft, but just enough to feel like it was giving you a hug back.

I smiled for my mom today. I began walking in the early morning again. I pulled out the talking pedometer that she got me for my birthday. I brought the manual with me in case there was an equipment malfunction. It's a talking and also a music-playing pedometer. It would be fun to walk down the street and have people think that the ice cream truck was coming, but not at 7:00am. But if I do find that ice cream truck tune, music will be set to "on". And what goes better with ice cream than cake!! I was titling family slides that I scanned recently. Of course the camera comes out on occasions such as Christmas and birthdays. I love the look on my mom's face as she presents us with our birthday cake. Our smile is wide and our eyes are bright with anticipation of that sugary treat. Thank you mom, I feel the love.

Happy Mothers' Day!

A great dog party!

Happy Birthday to Annabelle who turned 1 human years old on Sunday. Down the street from us is Original Paw Pleasers in North Park. My neighbor picked up a doggie cake for the dogs in the complex to share. Her mommy said the frosting was very tasty and gauging the tongue action, so does baby Belle.