With everyone getting kids back to school, summer has been declared over. But I won’t let it be. I'm saying right here, right now, it ain’t over til it’s over. We’re in the best days of late summer – still warm and mostly sunny – and the chiles have arrived. The chiles – you know…
Have you ever stood in the pasta aisle at your grocery store and noticed they carry 4-5 different brands of spaghetti or farfalle? Then they've got capellini, fettuccini, linguine, orecchiette, penne, orzo, and then you get down to the bottom shelf and there are the egg noodles. But where are the large elbow macaroni? Small elbows, check. Large elbows? Nope. When did the large elbow fall out of favor? Did it get pushed out by the whole wheat and rice pasta?
The heat rises off the desert floor in visible waves, a tumbleweed blows across the landscape and a cherry red 1959 Cadillac convertible comes screaming down the highway, its driver's leathery face obscured by sunglasses and a cowboy hat. The perfume of roasting chiles hangs heavily in the air. It's Hatch chile time.