MeXscape

I was making piloncillo syrup, which I have adopted as the main sweetener in my house. I use it in my morning tea and in place of honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup. With just the volume of tea I drink in the morning, I can go through a batch of syrup pretty quickly, so I decided to make an extra large batch, throwing an entire pack of four cones in a pot with some water and setting the stove on medium. I didn't have anything else to do in the kitchen, so I went back into the office to get a little work done.

Our getting-ready-for-bed routine was disrupted by an appallingly loud noise in the front of our house. It sounded like someone trying to pound their way through our front gate. Chuck and I looked at each other, and he went to peek out the window to see what was going on. As he was headed through the living room, the noise changed to resemble something more like someone hammering on concrete with a large sledgehammer. I nervously waited for Chuck to come back. When he did, his shoulders were shaking with laughter. Dying to find out why, I rushed to the window to have a look for myself.

The five gallon bucket seems to be the carrying method of choice for all kinds of things around here. If you look around, you will see many people toting what used to be a white plastic bucket, so old and well-carried that all trace of the label marking its original contents are gone. The top is usually covered with a frayed towel that was once a brilliant white, but many washings and constant use has rendered a dull grey. The primary bucket carriers are the car wash guys, and the bucket makes perfect sense and wouldn't make anyone think twice. But there are also many people selling things, usually food things, from scuffed, 5-gallon buckets. I used to ask myself what kind of crazy person would buy something from such a vessel. But now, I'm that kind of crazy.

I know you all are going to think I have completely gone off the deep end this time in my search for new and interesting things to do with piloncillo, but trust me, you have to try this. Candied bacon is great on its own, but try serving it with pancakes, over dulce de leche ice cream, on a fresh green salad, or as a tasty garnish for roasted squab.

Sorry I haven't been posting, but I have been busy coding. Yep, we've just gone through another round of major changes on this site. Major for us, but hopefully not for you. I wish we could leave well enough alone, but the internet is not a static environment. Coding practices change, new technology becomes available, and those darn spammers just keep getting smarter. At least I didn't completely redesign everything this time.