[CH] Squirrels, wabbits & brats, oh my...

Dave Hendricks (bvdrangs@enter.net)
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 06:03:41 -0400

Lots of discussion on lots of topics lately. Maybe we can combine 
some of these threads and make it more interesting. If we combine 
Calvin’s recipe for Wabbit, with the one on varmints, we have a way 
of disposing of the squirrels. Squirrel is tasty and Calvin’s recipe 
should do nicely. Now if we serve a side of tomatillo salsa, we have 
connected another thread. We could also serve some brats and 
sprinkle the whole thing with chipotle powder (ground in our spare 
coffer grinder).

Now on to something new. The wife and I ate at Kiki Rio’s 
restaurant in Bethlehem Pa, Wednesday evening. We have started 
to frequent the place as they have the best margaritas within 50 
miles. The also make some dandy southwest dishes and will heat 
things up if you want. The server was telling us last evening about a 
couple from South America who liked their food hot. They 
complained that the salsa was too mild (it is, but more on that 
later) He offered to make something special. He returned with a 
mix of Cholula Hot Sauce and their regular salsa. Still not good 
enough. He then went back in the kitchen and chopped up a few 
habaneros to add to a bowl of the regular salsa. He even put a 
whole fresh hab on top of the bowl for garnish. They loved the stuff 
and the only thing left of the salsa was the stem of the hab he used 
for garnish. They left him a sizable tip too!

About their salsa, it is very different from the usual Chi Chi’s, et all, 
salsa and is sort of sweet, smoky and delicious. We gobble it up 
and actually got some to take home. They do not sell it as a ready-
made product but only as a pint take out. We hope to try to do a 
little research on it and come up with an acceptable version (that 
means we can’t eat it all the first five minutes). We tried to bribe 
the server for the recipe to no avail. I had dropped off a sample of 
Calvin’s powder for the manager, but he was not there last night or 
we would have asked him. We may need more of Calvin’s powder 
as a bribe. Has anyone else been to a Kiki Rios? I understand that 
it is a chain of restaurants. Have you tried to dupe their salsa? Any 
help would be appreciated. We figure that once we get an 
acceptable version, we can work on the heat level. One other thing, 
if we can’t come up with a version, and we buy a couple of 
containers of theirs, does anyone want to help figure it out.

To finish, it is Tequila Day, according to the Greeting card site at:
http://www.123greetings.com/
They have a great card of dancing chiles that you can send to 
friends!


Dave Hendricks
"BVD'Rangs, anything less is just a stick"
bvdrangs@enter.net
http://www.enter.net/~bvdrangs/index.html