I don’t know why but within one day I’ve become surrounded by the soon-to-be-wedded.
I spent part of last week watching a wedding photography seminar as I worked along on my computer. The week before I was at a wedding fashion shoot. And I’ve been working with my bridal editor at my day job on our upcoming editorial calendar. Did this cloak of weddingness suddenly spread to those around me?
I had to wonder because…
This past weekend we had a great friend from our old hood in Venice visiting us. And he brought his girlfriend. To pop the big question.
A semi-confirmed bachelor, our friend finally realized it was okay to let go of the trepidation of vacating his non-committed life. On Sunday, at 11,000 feet on a nearby mountain top he took to bended knee and proposed as I snapped away.
He’s finally getting married? How can this be? He’s spent his life looking out for number one, while always on the lookout for number two, three or four. None of whom could measure up to the perfect partner mystery ideal.
But he changed. Once he opened up enough to let her in she far exceeded his expectations.
On Monday I teleported from an engagement on top of a mountain to one that we’ll be celebrating in the core of the deep south. I learned I have another wedding to plan for: the nuptials of the daughter of another best friend via my life in Los Angeles. This time in blues country of the Mississippi delta.
Her daughter is getting married? How can that be? It was just a month or year or nearly a decade ago when she was getting caught sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, hanging out with the children of LA’s beyond rich and famous whilst being dubbed the girl that kept them grounded.
But she changed. She left the glitter and flash of her native Los Angeles to discover her roots in a small, very southern town that was not her own. She’s simplified and embraced where she is and who she’s with.
Life is about change. Sometimes we can dictate that change, and sometimes it happens for us.
I spend a lot of time thinking about change, sometimes willing it to happen (new opportunities for new creative growth) and sometimes resisting it (at her request, no longer calling my daughter by her nickname “Smudge” in front of people. Oh man, really? We’re already THERE?)
So if we all crave change and new beginnings why is it so darn scary?
I recently took a version of this salsa to Annalise’s baby shower and I was immersed in the reality of how her life is taking on a radical change, the same mine did nearly 8 years ago. It’s a change some have yearned for and others have adjusted to and one I would never trade.
All of this change left me craving something other than the usual red tomato to create a perfectly acceptable salsa. Instead I went for a little something different. Not THAT different, maybe just a little less obvious.
Getting to the fruit of tomatillos takes a little more work, and a little more time. A lot like the things we value most in life.
Roasted Tomatillo and Green Olive Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos husked
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 jalapeno peppers
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup green olives
- 1 cup cilantro
- 1 lime juiced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup water
- * substitute 1 serrano pepper for the jalapeno peppers if you like more heat
Instructions
- Heat oven to 475 degrees. Spread tomatillos, garlic cloves and jalapeno on baking sheet and coat evenly with oil. Roast for 15 minutes or until tomatillos are browned and blistered.
- Remove from oven and place in a food processor or blender with olives, cilantro, lime and sugar. Pulse 5-7 times. Add water and pulse another 4-5 times to mix.
- Place in bowl and serve with chips or as a topping on eggs, chicken or meat.
And now for a few others who went for a little change too.
Chock full of veggies The Tolerant Vegan‘s Salsa Verde Sliders with Avocado Mayo
One of my all-time fave Mexican meals, There’s a Newf In My Soup‘s Maui-Style Snapper Tacos ratch it up a notch with Tomatillo-Arbol Chile Salsa
Brian takes an ethnic turn of events from Mexico to Italy with A Thought for Food‘s simple but spicy Fettucine with Tomatillo and Cilantro Pesto
If you have 5 minutes, you have dinner with Heather Christo Cook‘s Grilled Clams with Tomatillo Bacon Salsa
Finding the missing link in her recipe repretoire, Dara brings it home with Cookin’ Canuck‘s Roasted Tomatillo Shrimp Tacos Recipe with Honey-Lime Slaw
This salad dressing is a local obsession and Kalyn uses it to dress up last night’s leftovers in Kalyn’s Kitchen‘s Chicken Chopped Salad with Cafe Rio Style Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
Now this is the way to drink your greens! Thank you Stefanie for Sarcastic Cooking‘s Maria Verde
Slathered with chipotle and freshened up with avocado, tomatillos and cilantro, Dana Treat’s Mexican Pizza with Corn, Tomatillos and Chipotle Chiles is every pizza lover’s decadent Mexican dreamboat
With a super easy base to build upon and a fridge that needed clearing, Nancy created a tomatillo lover’s brothy delight in A Communal Table‘s Chicken Tomatillo and Chile Soup
