¡Jalapenos!

Sam & our host Chris brought home a small bag of jalapenos a few days ago from a farm stall down the road. I was thrilled, because they were the first fresh jalapenos I've seen in the four months we've been in this country.

We're going to a New Years Eve barbeque tomorrow, so we decided to pick up a few more jalapenos for "armadillo eggs," the Texan appetizer involving stuffing jalapenos with cream cheese, wrapping them in bacon & grilling them. (I prefer mine sans bacon!) We'll also be bringing my friend Allison's "Rockin' Guacamole," now a favorite recipe.

When we got to the farm stall, there were no jalapenos in sight. Chris suggested going to the door & asking if they had any more in the garden. Unfamiliar with farm stall etiquette as I am, I didn't realize we could do this, but I agreed.

The woman at the door told us to keep going down the driveway to the "packhouse" and ask the guys to help us. We followed, and behind the trees was an enormous commercial greenhouse. One guy took us in, where we were immediately greeted with the invigorating smell of thousands of peppers growing. Mmmm!

Single file, the four of us made our way down an aisle lined with huge jalapeno plants bursting with peppers, filling up a bag with the fattest, most stuff-able jalapenos we could find. We were pleasantly surprised when he charged us $5, as we had been expecting it to cost double.

This made me one happy Texan!

P.S. Wellington the cat sends his love.