This past week was our good friend Jon Freeman's Birthday, which is exciting for me because what better present is there than homemade cupcakes! :) I decided on Pumpkin and Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes, both turned out pretty pretty good.

As you can see from the photo above, the Mexican hot choco cupcakes were topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa.

After a short trip down to Gilroy I arrived home and made this amazing and simple grilled cheese. It tasted more amazing than any other grilled cheese I've made in the past because of the ridiculously delicious fresh tomatoes I brought up from Gilroy. My Aunt Josie grows tomatoes and chili's and onions and zuchini, so she packed a whole basket full and gave it to me before I left. There is nothing more exciting than being given fresh produce :)

And since we had a ton of tomatoes to eat, we decided on making bruschetta. I'm sure there are different variations, but we like to keep it simple by combining chopped tomatoes, basil, and olives.

Arugula seasoned with pepper goes really well with the Bruschetta!

One day I was really ambitious and decided to make a watermelon agua fresca. It's really easy to make. All you need is a watermelon and its also good to have a fine sieve to work with. First I diced the watermelon into cubed and placed them in bowls. Then I added extra water and let it sit for a good 20 minutes.

I placed a sieve above one of the taller pots we have so I could drain the melon water and mash it.

I proceeded to mash the watermelon until I felt I couldn't get anymore water out.

I poured the watermelon agua into a pitcher and sweetened it with a little bit of simple syrup and the juice of one lime. You can add more or less simple syrup depending on how sweet you want it.

Green rice is a great change from the typical mexican rice. Its not spicy or hot but it just tastes damn good. We have this mexican cookbook and I had been wanting to attempt the 'green rice'. So alongside our broiled fish, I made the green rice and tomatillo salsa and the regular fresh salsa (since we still had a ton of tomatoes).

To make the rice green, you first have to broil two poblano peppers in the oven. After they are nice and toasted, cut the stem off and throw it in your blender or food processor. In addition to the peppers, I added half a cup of cilantro and 1/4 cup of water. Blend until smooth.

When you are ready to make the rice, brown a cup of long grain rice in some canola oil on medium heat. While the rice is browning, boil two cups of water. After the rice is browned, add the water and the green poblano sauce to the rice. keep it uncovered and boiling for a couple minutes and then cover the rice and turn the heat on low. And in a quick 20-25 minutes you'll have delicious green rice!

Tomatillo Salsa!
4 tomatillos, 4 serrano chilis, 4 garlic cloves, one medium sized onion diced, a half cup of cilantro and salt to taste.
Broil everything in the broiler set at hi for about 8 minutes. and transfer everything into a blender or food processor. Add the cilantro and salt and blend until smooth. It should look something like this.

-A