Peg Life Vol. 3

In about five hours I have to wake up and walk down the street to the University of Winnipeg to co-host a radio show. And I had this whole idea for this thing I was going to write about, but then I went and reexamined the subject and realized that my idea no longer made sense so I had to abandon it. That can be kind of frustrating but I guess I shouldn't complain too much since this whole Peg Life concept seems to be coming along smoothly. Although there really isn't much of a concept behind it. In fact this edition may very well be driving it right into the ground. I don't have anything important or even that interesting to say. I don't know why I bothered trying to write a third issue so soon. Perhaps just because I'm bored but that's pretty stupid as I could be using this time to sleep for reasons I outlined in the opening sentence. I don't want this to be a total waste, though, so maybe I'll share with you all my recipe for bean dip. Some of you have already tried it and know it's pretty good. My methods for its preparation are no secret so it seems like a good idea to share them with everybody so they can all enjoy it. You start with a regular size can of brown beans in tomato sauce and one of black beans. Then you open the cans and drain the juices out of the beans (I like to rinse the black beans in a strainer but this isn't necessary). Put the beans into a pot and set it on the stove on low heat (the beans are a bit easier to mash up when they're warm). While the beans are warming up dice up some onion (I recommend red onion but any will do) and a couple cloves of garlic. You'll also want to dice some peppers as well. You could use green pepper but the sweetness of yellow and orange peppers is far superior. For those who aren't pansies and can take a little spiciness, throw a couple jalapenos into the mix (but don't handle its juices and then rub your eye cause fuck can that be painful [yes, I am speaking from experience]). For wussier folk I recommend serrano peppers instead. They're similar to jalapeno but not as hot. This is usually all I put in as far as vegetables but you coud add other stuff. Corn would work well (not creamed or popping) and even celery could be alright. Once you've got all your vegetables chopped up you'll be sauteeing them in some extra virgin olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you have around). You'll also need to get around to mashing up the beans into a paste. Some potato mashers work well for this, others don't. If yours is one of the latter figure something else out to use. As you're sauteeing your vegetables you can stir your spices into the bean paste. I like to mix a couple tablespoons of salsa in as well, though this is not critical. You can pretty much use whatever spices you feel like, just remember this is Mexican food, not Italian. Oregano will not work. Cumin, however, is absolutely necessary. You can never have too much cumin (note: this statement is not to be taken literally). Something I tried recently was to squeeze some lime juice over the sauteeing vegetables and mxing some cumin in there as well to cook the flavor into the vegetables. Once said vegetables are done, mix them into the spiced bean paste. At this point you could also melt some cream cheese into it. Vegans could, of course, skip this step and move on to the next step which is to squeeze about half a small lime into the dip (or more if you feel like it). Give it a final stir to make sure everything's mixed up good and you're done. It's a great dip for taco chips hot or cold, or you could wrap it in a flour tortilla and bake in the oven to have a bean burrito. And there you have it. My food of the summer. It's very simple and less work than it sounds like. If anyone tries making it, let me know how it turns out. Until next time.

Tony Hawkins borrowing fig newtons to sabotage ulcers