Thursday, October 14, 2010

Simplicity Amongst Chaos

Cooking Adventure: Cinnamon Corn Tortillas
Source: Me
The Bellydance Soundtrack: 
 Fleecing Punters by Pentaphobe 
(Because it's a slow, plodding kind of song. And sometimes we need that.)
Prep Time: 3-5min.
Cook Time: 10 min.

Have you ever had that feeling of complete and total boredom that comes when you get into your car to run the tenth errand of the day? Tomorrow I'm heading to our friendly Midwestern neighbor, Minnesota. And despite the fact that it's a trip to serve as the best matron in my friend's wedding, I can't help but want to claw at the car windows. Sure my Corolla is taking me to new and exciting events. I don't mind those. It's the broken days that come from the drumming beat of in-the-car-out-the-car-in-the-car-out-the-car. Trust me. That's a beat that is not fun to dance to.

In addition, I'm in charge of giving the wedding toast to a reception hall of 200 people. This after I've strutted through giving toast speeches for high school and college projects. With quite the undeserved sense of accomplishment, I'd give excellent toast speeches. Ones worthy of the A's I got. And I'd swagger away with my grade thinking, "Suckers. I'm a girl! I'll never have to do this in my life!" And now the hammer has come down on my head. I'm giving the toast for my best friend that I've known all through high school and college, and I have no idea what to say. I believe that were any of my previous speech teachers dead right now, they'd be having a good chuckle at my expense (in that way that only the recently dead who have attained slight omnipotence can do).

In the midst of tediousness and stress, a simple recipe is a welcome relief. These corn tortillas came from a recipe for sweet potato & apple soup (which turned out a bit complex and tedious itself). I nixed the salt to leave it as just a quick, handmade snack for yet another car trip.

Ingredients:
- Yellow corn tortillas
- 2-3 cups of vegetable oil for frying
- Cinnamon
- Sugar
Directions:
1. Cut the tortillas into 1 inch strips.
2. Mix equal amounts of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Around 2Tbsp. of each does the trick.
3. Pour in the vegetable oil into a large skillet. The trick with frying is to pour in enough oil so whatever you're frying won't hit the bottom. Since we're working with flat tortillas, you don't need too much oil. Heat the oil on medium-high heat.
4. Fry the tortilla strips until golden (Around 2 minutes to start, but the process will go a bit faster with every batch as the oil heats up). Shake off extra oil and remove them onto a paper towel to drain.
5. Immediately sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mix on the tortillas.
6. Let them cool for a minute and enjoy!

P.S. Does anyone else ever feel this need to simplify? I'm curious to know what other people's ways are of slowing things down.

8 comments:

Diandra said...

My favorite way of slowing down is - cooking. Especially making bread, which takes time and is a very "earthly" activity. But I'll take a good book or a letter from a friend anytime. (^v^)

J.Moehring said...

I love making these! I first had them at a local mexican place, but they used flour torillas and on top of the cinnamon and sugar they drissled honey...mmmm. I <3 Sopapillas!
To slow down a hectic day I usually do a bit of sewing or crafting. But to be honest, the kitchen always takes my stress away. I love to bake and make sweets. My no fail stress project is always made from scratch brownies. :D Good luck at the wedding! I know you will do fine! She's your friend after all! The problem will be deciding which crazy story to not not tell everyone. :D

Melz said...

To slow down I turn on some gentle music to calm my daughter down too. Then we read books together.
If I have that rare alone moment, I either cook something easy or crochet something extremely easy, just to relax and keep myself going at the same time.

By the way, I have to make these, I love cinnamon and sugar anything!

Bluezy said...

Wow I am from Mad City! Went to Memorial. Small internet.
How I slow things down is TV and oh of course edibles not cooked just quickly chosen from what is available. Microwaved quesadilla..
I find a series to follow on NetFlix and just click next episode. By the third one maybe I will start to dozing.

Bluezy said...

btw love your tunes. I was going to check out the soundtrack of Prince of Persia. It has some belly dancing sounds to it.

Faerie Sage said...

I am awarding you with three blog awards! The Stylish Blogger Award, The Versatile Blogger Award and One Lovely Blog Award. You can find all the info at faeriesagekitchen.blogspot.com Triple blog award post.

Jen said...

You have a Triple Award waiting for you :) Love your blog!!

Chris in the Emerald City said...

Hi! I will definitely try these out on the family. My way of slowing down in gardening, but sometimes that also morphs into work.

Wishing you wonderful words for your toast!

Peace,
Chris........