I did a LOT of cooking today. Hummus, salsa, biscuits, corn, and fried chicken. I was kind of tired by the end of it all.

Huzzah for Sigona’s! They had the tahini I was looking for. They also had a block of tamarind paste, for which my parents have been searching in order to make their pad thai perfect. Woo, tahini! I like to say it like a Jawa. (I was going to tell a story about my brother falling off his skateboard when he was 13, but it’s a little gross, so I’m not.)

Hummus Attempt No. 2 is very different than No. 1. It is a looser consistency and much less cumin-y. As I said in the comment, they are both good hummuses (hummi? hummae?), but they have diverse prospects in life. I would enjoy No. 1 on a pita with some red onion. Hummus No. 2 I would use as a dip for popcorn. I do not think my quest is at an end, yet. Tweaking is needed. The lime zest and jalapeno I threw in just because I had them out for the salsa, but I think they worked. The jalapeno, definitely.

I’m close on the salsa. Very close. Jon says it’s still too sweet, but Ryan liked it, and so did I. I was a little surprised when I only needed the juice of half the lime. I also zested it, thinking that perhaps I’d need it, but I didn’t (see above).

The corn was… interesting. Interesting in the fact that I was afraid my house was going to blow up. I cranked my oven up to 550 and put the corn in on the broiler pan (just the lower part). I got thirty minutes into it and all of a sudden my oven shuts OFF. It’s not just off, it’s completely dead. I think I’ve blown a fuse or something. I also imagine a Backdraft-y kind of situation. I decided to leave the corn in the dead oven for the last ten minutes because it’s still pretty damn hot. By the time I pull it, it’s gone down to 350, 300-ish. The finished product was very good. I don’t know if it was “ambrosia,” but I think that may be because my oven wasn’t able to go the distance. Next time, 525.

Cheers again to Keckler, from whose website I got the quote from Murder Is Corny.

Cheers also to my friend Kenny, who linked to me a few days ago. Kenny is the undisputed King of Slow Eating. Seriously. If you have a dispute, ask him out to lunch. He’s a very funny lad.

(Okay, I’ve gotten through half of my to-do list.)