Clean Old-Fashioned Hate (a.k.a. Hell's too good for 'em)

It doesn't have to be pretty to be appreciated, does it? I was unfortunately in some crappy part of the country that refused to televise the game. Which game do I get? The West Virginia game.I mean, come on. That game was over just after the first half. I think that at some point they actually did switch to the UGA game, but by then most of those crazy plays had already happened. Regardless, georgiadogs.com has a great compilation of pictures.
I've been reading some of the message boards, and there seems to be a general consensus that somehow the referees were cheating for UGA. What games have you seen this year? What about all the games where the referees were doing everything in their power to ensure that we don't win? All the tech fans appear to be hung up on this pass interference call. As bitter as we may be about certain games in the past that affected us, the calls that are made are a part of the game. That is not to say that the pass interference call was bogus. It is just to say that even if there are questionable calls, you still have to make enough plays to win the game in spite of the officiating. I would refer you back to the Florida game and to the Auburn game that we played in this year. We really pissed off the officials, and it showed. Yet, we continued to make plays and still won those games.
By the way, if I were a Georgia Tech alumnus I would think it would be pretty embarrassing that over half my stadium was comprised of the opposing team's fans. Although, I bet they're used to it. I don't know why, but it's just further proof that Atlanta is one of the worst sports cities in the country. Do you think we could start a website called keepchangailey.com? Maybe we can also put in a request for Reggie Ball to come back as Tech's quarterbacks coach.
Of course, I'm always a sucker for an anti-motivational poster. I highly recommend following that link if you're into some anti-Georgia Tech humor. Who isn't?

What else is there to say?

I was going to try and come up with something clever for the Tech game. I don't think that there's much more to say, other than what DawgBone.net came up with. Then again, why do we even have to make anything up? They do it to themselves. I wish that they'd steal Matthew Stafford's jersey so that we could not only beat them, but do it with their shirts on our back, kinda like Sean Glennon did.





And then there's this from the Golden Tornado, a couple of years ago...

• Nathan: You asked what Tech students do on Friday nights, but what we all really want to know is if UGA grads actually put “Able to drink an entire fifth in one sitting” and “Sat with hot co-eds in class” on their resumes?
• Doug: Don’t have to. When prospective employers see a Georgia degree on our résumés, they just assume it.

I hate Tech. I guess you already knew that, huh?

The battle of attrition continues...

Now what? CBS currently had us at #6 before this game, I guess according to the AP poll. Think about it.

1. Mizzou (4) and Kansas (2) have to play, so one of them has to lose. We're #5.


2. LSU now has lost it's second game, now we're #4.


3. If Kansas wins that game and loses to OU in the Big 12 Championship, we're #3.


4. If WVU loses to either UConn or Pitt, we're #2.


5. Keep in mind, this is regardless of whether or not we play in the SECCG.

Why not? Crazier things have happened, right? Of course this is clearly all for naught if we lose to Georgia Tech. The question now is where would we go if we don't go to the SECCG, and now LSU is not going to the BCSCG? Fiesta or Rose? As a testament to the crazy season, we're still in this stupid thing with 2 losses, and it may not help us to go to be SEC Champs, although I don't see how it could hurt. Unless we lost. Then it might be Outback Bowl or Chik-fil-A (weren't we just there?), against either Michigan, VT, or BC.

Monday = D-day

Lucy, Jennifer and ?Julia?
As if I had a life...atleast I'm not Jennifer! Thought I'd share a pic of the final days of pregnancy with you guys.

Gobble, Gobble...

Mmmmm....Thanksgiving....Just because no family are willing to visit me and my very pregnant family doesn't mean the Whites aren't going to have a big Thanksgiving meal! As per usual, I decided we'd pretty much have the works. My first experiment began last week. I wondered if smoking a turkey for the big day would be worthwhile, so I ran up to the Bi-Lo and bought a 5-lb turkey breast for a trial run. I rubbed the thing with some cajun spices, lit the BGE and set for 250 degrees, threw on some Jack Daniels smoking chunks, and about 3 1/2 hours later, this emerged...

BGE Turkey Breast

Looks good, tastes great, but for me was a big to BBQ for Turkey Day. Jen thought I was crazy for making this thing the Sunday before, but hey, it was a snap with the BGE and we had BBQ turkey sandwiches and the following day...

Turkey Pot Pie

Turkey pot-pie! This is AB's recipe that uses frozen, roasted veggies and curry powder...very good actually...With that said, I decided to ditch the BGE and do a Cook's Illustrated classic, "High-Roast Turkey". Jen and I have made this for 5 years running and it never fails to be a juicy, perfectly cooked bird. You start by spatchcocking the turkey (hack out the back bone, snip out the rib cage, and pound the sucker flat (barbaric but quite fun)) and brine overnight in the cooler. When you're ready to go, you just take the floppy turkey out of the brine, wipe dry, season, and place on a BROILER pan at 450 degrees (hence the high-roast). After about 80 to 90 minutes the thigh meat will be about 175 degrees and the turkey is done...that's it, an hour and 1/2 for a delicious 12 lb turkey with super crispy skin.

High-Roast Turkey

I decided to make a green onion gravy from this year's Bon Ap and their ham, leek cornbread stuffing muffins. I rounded out the deal with a butternut squash chowder, collards cooked in a ham stock, sweet potatoes, and a cranberry-apple compote.

Cornbread Dressing with Ham and Leeks

Butternut Squash Chowder & Green Onion Gravy
Collards cooked in Ham Hock Stock

Thanksgiving 2007

Dessert: Apple Tart (above) Pecan Praline Tart (below)

This was some good eats, which is a good thing b/c when you cook this much for 2 people, you tend to have some left-overs...Happy Thanksgiving!

Comfort food makes your clothes not so comfortable

Here's a couple of fall recipes that might hit the spot as we're getting close to the holiday.

Roasted acorn squash salad with bacon vinaigrette

One whole acorn squash, peeled, cut into 1 inch slices, seeded

1 cup of bacon cut into "semi-lardons"

sherry vinegar, 2 tbsp

olive oil, 3 tbsp + 1 tbsp

1 whole shallot, minced

mixed greens, arugala, or dandelion greens

Roncal cheese (can sub Parm-Reg or Manchego)

3/4 cup of pecans, roasted or not

Thyme

Salt

1. Roast the acorn squash (or whatever squash you have, you could also use sweet potato) tossed on a baking sheet with olive oil, thyme, and salt
2. Cut your bacon up and cook it over medium-high heat, stop before it gets crispy, and add the shallot.
3. Emulsify the vinegar and oil. When the bacon is "done," add it and keep on warm.
4. Lay down some greens, then put your squash, pecans (crushed), bacon vinaigrette, and sliced cheese (can do this with a vegetable peeler).
5. If there is going to be a delay in serving, keep your squash in foil so they stay warm.

"Mole" vegetarian chili

There's going to be some skepticism about this, but it's actually pretty tasty.

1. 3 15 oz cans of pinto beans
2. 1 large can of whole tomatoes
3. 1 oz bar of semisweet chocolate
4. 1 tbsp of cumin powder
5. 2 ancho chiles, dried
6. 1 tsp of cinnamon
7. 1 chipotle chile, dried
8. 2 small onions, chopped
9. 2 smallish zucchinis, chopped
10. 3 cloves of garlic, minced
11. salt
12. pepper
13. 1.5 cups of water
14. 1 tbsp of orange zest or orange juice
15. olive oil

Seed, stem the chiles and toast them dry on a saute pan.

Add the chiles, cumin powder, cinnamon to a molcajete (mortar/pestle) and grind to a fine powder.

Brown onions in olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven. When they soften, add the garlic for a minute or so.

Add the chile powder. This will stick and burn a little bit, don't worry, you want that. Give it as long as you can stand it, and add the zucchini. Let that soften/sweat a while.

Add the tomatoes, water, orange juice or zest, chocolate, and salt/pepper to taste until the zucchini's done. Then, add the pinto beans.

Simmer. Remember, it's better the next day.

Could you add meat? Sure. I suppose that there are a lot of things that you could do with it such as use that liquid to braise a pork shoulder, shred it, and throw it in. You could add ground beef or pork, or whatever you want. Be creative with it!

Godamighty Willie, Godamighty!

I just can't believe that I'd say something like that after all of the blogs that I wrote with pretty heavy criticism about him. Honestly, though, I think he's learned a lot this season about scheming properly and guessing correctly. I thought the adjustment that we made after the first quarter was amazing. I mean, we gave up 3 points the rest of the game, and kept handing them turnovers.

Offense

QB That sucked. He made some good throws to keep us in it. He also some bad throws to keep it closer than it had to be. Andre' Woodson made a postgame comment about the wind affecting the ball, but the pregame guys said that it was 7 mph. UK did a good job of getting pressure on him early by stacking the middle and the left. They had Staff off-balance a fair amount and forced him into bad throws. Two interceptions, and it could have been 3 or 4, easily.

Receivers They get my vote for most-improved of the season. They still seem to be catching everything that comes their way.

O-line Had a rough start, and got man-handled a little bit. UK finally figured out what we've been doing, and Richt even said it after one of our games, essentially running behind the upper-classmen to the left. Alabama tried to do it to us, also, and Saban said something like that at halftime. What happened, we shut that shit down the second half, but kept them in it 'till overtime. I saw something on DawgSports that said that Scott Haverkamp was off the team. Any clue?

Running backs What can I say? Other than the two brain-dead fumbles... The first one, it looked like Knowsho ran into our own guy and the ball just flew out. I don't really see what any UK defender did to make that happen. The second was a matter of a great defensive play and TB not switching hands to outside once he got past the first line. Trippy! Knowshon, that guy just has a new level of elusiveness that we haven't had in a running back since I can remember. I mean, Huhhshul wasn't elusive; he didn't have to be. If you tried to tackle, he knocked your dick in the dirt, right Bill?

Offensive Coaching OK, fine, I understand the concept of wearing them down with the runs up the middle and trying to establish your presence up front. You can't ever completely give it up. I was watching the game with a guy that has never seen a UGA game this season, and he was asking what UGA's strengths are. I said the finesse running game and the deep ball. That's exactly what UK was expecting, and we didn't disappoint. We played a step behind for a while, and then our depth took over and we just won.

Dline Struggled a little bit getting in there, and then when CWM started mixing it up, we got some sacks. They came mostly on blitz plays. Good depth, and we just keep bringing different dudes every play. UK could not run. At all. 32 yds total.

Linebackers Really got into it with the blitzing. Ellerbee had lucky pass breakup that he had no business knocking away. Didn't do a great job of coverage. Curran is a freaking stud. That guy's everywhere, and he's the big hitter we've been looking for.

Secondary Here we go again with Kelin. That guy, I swear. He makes some brain-dead looking plays, and then shows up and makes a huge play. Int, blocked punt. Otherwise, it was hit or miss. There were some coverage sacks, so hat's off.

Coaching This has really improved through the season. CWM is understanding that pressure is good pass defense. He brings delayed blitzes, and those are effective. We are moving away from vanilla defense. We definitely look a lot smarter now, especially when the other team sees the "look" and audibles. We adjust on the fly, and we weren't doing that. See my post UT rant. It was obvious that if gave one of the best QB's in the SEC any time, he was going to light us up. "Bend-but-don't-break" wasn't going to work. So there, Big Head Joe Kines.

Special Teams I still can't understand how we have one of the best legs in the SEC, and we can't or won't kick deep on kickoffs. The blocked punt was awesome and really was a momentum swinger. Coutu was money, and it's a strange season for us where we're not kicking about 3-4 field goals per game. This has got to be a low for Richt since he's been at UGA. Kickoff return was actually great, considering the opening kickoff. We cooled, but we're still a threat. Mikey Henderson left the game sometime in the 2nd quarter, for what, we don't know.

Final GD UT gettin' by. By the skin of their tooth. That field goal would've done it, UGA in the SECCG. I had some mixed feelings about whether I wanted to go to that game. We have nothing to gain, right? Wrong. We can beat LSU, and they know it. Besides UF, I don't think there are too many teams that have any strong desire to play us.

I'm proud of this team. The coaching staff has undergone an incredible turnaround, and that's the story behind the story that you don't know unless you have been following these guys all year. The light seems to have been turned on, and those guys are on fire right now! I never would've thought that we'd be in contention for the SEC championship before the season, and least of all after that UT game. In the words of Richt about that UT game, "Never again." But the real turnaround is very well descrived by Mark Bradley in the AJC about the fumble that Vandy had on their game-winning drive that led to our field goal at the end of regulation. The celebration wasn't the Dawgs getting excited about beating Vandy as much as it was realizing that winning was as much or more about desire as it was talent and X's and O's.

I know you can't do it every week. Look around this league, no one can. But sometimes, you have to just will yourself to a win.

"This has been the season when Georgia reminded everyone it’s still Georgia."

"Then one of the players said, 'Coach, you are the key. You have got to keep it going.'"

Exactly.

Sugar Bowl Bound?

Tennessee isn't likely to foul up against UK or Vandy. They are a pretty good football team. Don't know what happened to them against BAMA or Cal. They didn't show up for those games...Good news is that most of the BCS predictions will have the Dawgs playing the Rainbows in the Sugar Bowl. How sweet that would be...I suspect we would completely rout Junebug Jones and his band of lunatics. However, Slick Willie has screwed us before by not preparing for an unorthodox offense (WVa, anybody who uses an option, anyone who uses the dreaded "reverse")...would like to hear Larry say one more time, "look at the sugar falling out of the sky..."
JW

Can somebody tell me what's going on here?

Honestly, I couldn't believe it. Auburn took the lead to 20-17, and I started thinking the worst. Next thing you know, Stafford keeps dropping bombs on Auburn's secondary, and we make Brandon Cox look like Reggie Ball. Then, Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson start dancing in the booth to the Soulja Boy. And Verne, God bless 'im, he's been pretty hard on us in times past. For those two to feel the energy and have fun, I think says something pretty profound. The whole crowd looked like they are a notch or two away from insane, and the smackdown continued. 45-20!!!!!!!! There was just something in the air, and it's not just the black jerseys and the fans wearing all black. That, however was incredible! The aerial shots from the blimp showing the entirety of Sanford Stadium looking like a Metallica concert was more than awesome! No, this is an example of Mark Richt being able to see the forest for the trees. He has made a few comments about that, and attributes his newfound vision to Mike Bobo being the offensive coordinator. I think it actually has made a huge difference. There seem to have been some games early in the season where Richt had a little bit of trouble letting go. But once he did, his attitude and the team's attitude have really benefited.

I guess this ain't your daddy's Bulldawg's, huh? But if anybody wants to know why we might ever have been frustrated by how this team is played, the wins against Florida and Auburn are great examples. We won because of attitude, and it'spretty exciting to see Richt get that fired up and be a real leader to his team in a time of "crisis." I know that we can't always come out there on fire every week, but least we know it's there when we need it. The craziest thing about this is that who really cares if we win the SEC East? Honestly, we will do better if we don't win the East. Think about it...

If we win the East, go to the SEC championship game, and beat LSU (which I have every reason to believe we can), then where will we go? The Sugar bowl. If, we go to the SEC championship game and lose, we may wind up in the Capital One bowl or the Outback bowl. Now, if we don’t go to the SEC championship and win out, we would have a good case for an at-large BCS bowl bid. If LSU wins the SEC and don’t lose another game, they’re definitely in the BCS championship game, which would put us in the Sugar Bowl. See my point? The final scenario is UT winning the SEC. If we win out, we’re still in the position of an at-large BCS bid. So, what’s the moral to the story? Don’t worry about anyone else, just keep playing your hearts out and WIN!!! And by the way, I don't think anybody in the entire country wants to play us right now. I can't say that I blame them.

One last thing. What was up with those refs? I think that was the same crew that officiated the Florida game, and they still continued to punish us for that celebration. I mean, some of the calls were just ridiculous. It didn't matter, we still prevailed, in spite of not because of them.

Awwwbernn

Every die-hard UGA fan that I know has their favorite team to hate. We have so many rivals, it's ridiculous. For me, it's Tech. No question. It's a history thing. I went there for a little bit, hated it, but I know what it's like inside and how F'ed up they are. For JW it's UT by proxy. For many, it's definitely Florida, with good reason. And then, there's Auburn. Here's the problem with Auburn. They're bizzarro UGA. Yeah, it's a smaller town without as much nightlife, and whatever. Listen to Mike Bobo talk about it. They're the "mirror image" of UGA. Problem for me is that I had several friends go there, I visited there, had a good time, and it's a little bit harder for me to reach the same level of hatred as I have for the Ramblin' Wreck and checkerboard orange and white bullshit of UT. So I have to direct my hatred to Tuberville, or "Ears" as many people call him because of his anatomic anomalies (please, someone call Guiness).

That said, Auburn is like our brother, always has been, always will be. One of the best friends that I've ever had is Auburn grad. For those of us from the western part of Jawja, we have a lot of friends that are AU people. We're used to losing players to AU because of the proximity. Ask anyone from Columbus or Newnan or Blakely. They're not an east oponnent, so we don't have to worry about head to head. It's the South's oldest rivarly, dominated recently by the visitors. There have been some incredible plays!!!




























There have been some big hits...








Of course, this kind of hit that was declared so "great," has been outlawed, and was that year, as well. Head to head? Come on.



But, we hit back with "decleaters", or at least we used to...








There was the game that was like 8 hours long, 102-100, or something like that in 97 at Auburn. Quincy Cancer (Carter), decided to actually play and throw some passes without interceptions, or cocaine, or acting like a thug (thanks Jim Donnan). At least we won.



And then there's crazy shit like this that gets everyone fired up...



Awesome

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So what are we left with? Mixed feelings, although get it straight: I NEVER NEVER NEVER root for anyone against my beloved Dawgs. This has been a game dominated by the visiting team since 1992, hard to explain. But when your brother kicks your ass, he's still your brother. This is hard to explain to those big-time AU haters out there.

So where do I stand? If someone would let me sit there and bleed with these guys, I would, in an instant. No questions. We're a funny team this year. D shows up every now and again. O shows up, 'cept 'gainst "Cackalacky." Cathch the ball!!! We've got a Knowshown, they don't have a Kenny (oh my God, they killed Kenny, Those Bastards!!!), or a Cadillac, or Ronnie. We get in DVT's head, otherwise known as Brandon Cox, game's over. Auburn fans know it, admit it. It took a long time to get right after that game in the rain last year.

So, GO DAWGS!!!!!!! Beat the War Tiger Plains-Eagles (huh??) and please, oh please, don't forget about poor Bobby Lee and his family.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~pcasteel/aubfamily.html

Whoaaa Eeeaagggglllle, as Bobby Lee says.

SIC 'EM, 'OOF 'OOF 'OOF 'OOF 'OOF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HBTD GATA!!!!!! (get after their asses)

If we win, is there anyone left in Alabammy to beat? Troy, Awbern, etc.

Hard to tell, when you don't get to watch the game on TV or see much in the way of highlights. I guess the important thing is that we won, and we knew it was going to be a struggle. You hate to see how we were shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers, but it had to come at some point. That offense can't always bail the defense out (remember the USC game?). Knowshon Moreno has been a real bright spot this whole season, and it's awesome to finally have a guy that can deliver as a playmaker running back. We haven't had something like that since Robert Edwards in the mid-to-late 90's. Still, you come back to defense, and it's bothering that the defense is soooo leaky. This is totally uncharacteristic for UGA football to have such a weak defense, but I have to think that it all starts with our inability to get tough against the run, and the fact that we don't have a whole lot of defensive players that really scare anyone (Thomas Brown, Greg Blue, Odell, Champ, Boss, etc.).

Fortunately, our opponent this week hasn't exactly been an offensive juggernaut, so that may help. We took 'em to the woodshed last year in their house in the rain, and it took several months for Brandon Cox to get right after that game.

About this whole blackout thing, apparenlty it was asked for by the seniors, but I agree with others out there that is a gimmick thing that Big Ten schools do. We don't do that in the BIG SEC, because we don't have to. Also, the black makes us look more like South Carolina, and that just sucks, because "they've got a Jasper, a Casper, a Succop, and a Smelley." If that's what the players want, then that's what they get.

HBTD GATA

Christmas is coming, time for the BGE!

Got to get the Big Green Egg! Got one for father's day. Damn thing rules! Haven't had a failure yet! The BGE is kind of a hybrid between a charcoal grill, a smoker, and an oven. There is really nothing you can't cook on this thing. Unlike any grill or smoker I have ever attempted to use, this thing uses little charcoal and the temperature control is amazing. For example, I cooked a couple of chickens on Sunday (see below). All I did was light the thing, throw on a cup of soaked mesquite chips and played with the temperature for about 5 minutes and left the chikens to cook. I didn't do a thing to the beer-can chicken, for the other I flipped off the breast side after about an hour and 15 minutes. I used a temperature probe in the thigh set at 175 degrees. Total cooking time was about an 1 hour and 40 minutes. The BGE stayed between 300 and 325 degrees and I didn't have to do a thing!

"Beer-can chicken"

Regular Trussed chicken cooked in BGE

I've eaten 4 bbq chicken sandwiches since then and will likely eat another tomorrow...you got to get one!
JW

More Spicy Treats!

As I was thinking of my pal OG and his recent Salsa posts, I decided to make something spicy. Taking a note from Bobby Flay, I decided on a chili-rubbed pork tenderloin with a Flay-inspired sauce containing chicken broth, apple juice concentrate, chipotle with adobo, mustard, and some homemade chili paste. I served with some creamed hominy and a roasted pepper/chile salad. I don't have a picture, but this was pretty easy and damn good.


Ingredients:
For pork-
2 pork tenderloins
2 T canola oil
Rub-
5 T of mixed chili powders, I used 3 T of Ancho and 2 T regular McCormick's blend
2 T brown sugar
1 T smoked paprika
1 t kosher salt
1 t black pepper
1 t cinnomin
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t garlic powder
Sauce
3 cups chicken broth (per Cook's Illustrated, the absolute authority for home cooks, Swanson's organic)
1 cup apple juice concentrate
2 T chipotle chile in adobo pureed
1/4 cup home made dry chile paste
1 T mustard
2 T mexican crema, creme fraische or sour cream would work as well
salt and pepper to taste

Start by making the sauce, as you are preparing your mise en place, start by soaking 4 to 6 dried chiles such as ancho or pasilla in warm water for 3o minutes and preheat your oven to 375 F. Once the chiles tender, remove stems and seeds, tear into small pieces and blend until smooth adding some of the soaking liquid until the "paste" is between the consistency of mashed potatoes and tomato paste. To same time here, go ahead and add 2 chipotle chiles and a tablespoon of adobo sauce to this puree.

In a medium saucepan, add broth and concentrate, bring to a boil, then add chiles, continue cooking at a brisk simmer to reduce. While reducing, start on the pork.

Pat the tenderloins dry with as many papertowels as you can stand to waste, then completely coat the tenderloins with the rub. Heat stainless skillet over medium-high heat for 3 minutes then add the oil. Shake the excess rub off the tenderloins and drop in the skillet. Brown the tenderloins well on roughly three sides (note this doesn't take too long b/c the rub has brown sugar). While the final side is browning, place pan in preheated oven...by this time the sauce should have reduced significantly.

The pork will roast for about 10 minutes, but if you are afraid of pork, I suggest checking temperature with instant read thermometer. The sauce should reduce until you have about a cup and the sauce is thickened. Once desired consistency is reached, whisk mustard and cream into the sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Let the pork rest about 5 minutes tented with foil before slicing into medallions.

I served this with creamed hominy and a pepper salad. For the hominy, I combined one can of hominy and added about a 1/2 cup of half and half, 2 T honey, some cilantro, some chipotle chile puree, salt, pepper and juice from a lime. Heated over medium heat and blended with a stick blender until all the hominy was broken down somewhat. For the pepper salad, I roasted and seeded a red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, 2 poblano peppers chopped into 3/4 inch dice. I combined the peppers with 2 cloves minced garlic, salt, pepper, a squirt of lime and a drizzle of olive oil. I crumbled in some queso fresco just before serving. The combined flavors were excellent.

After making this I found a Bobby Flay recipe that is probably better on FoodTv.com titled New Mexican Rubbed Pork Tenderloin, has recipe for Sweet potato tamale...Next time, I'll try this one and compare the two.

UGA-UF game, obligatory comments

I know that I didn't immediately put anything about the game. Needless to say, it's pretty great to get a win over UF no matter how it happens. I can understand that they might be pissed off about some parts of the game, though.



Richt made a comment in the post-game interview that hadn't really been reported on. He said something like, "The definition of insanity is when you keep doing the same old thing and you expect a different result than what you've been getting." I also think it's clear that he didn't plan to have the whole team run out there and do what they did.

If I were a Florida fan, I'd be mad, too. But I might be madder about the play of my offensive line, secondary, center, and run-stopping D. UF didn't really look like the team that they are, they were definitely playing poorly, and we were playing as well as we have all season (on offense, D-line, and kick return). UF's a great team and they're not going away anytime soon. Look forward to see how this impacts the series.

Salsa, a reprise

Out of necessity comes invention. When you're out of your key ingredients and you've got a hankering for something specific, you have to make do.

28 oz can diced tomato
1 habanero pepper, seeded minced
1 shallot, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded minced
juice from 1 squeezed lime
1/4 - 1/2 cup minced chopped cilantro
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

Add all of this to a blender and pulse until well mixed. Don't overdo it, or the tomato juice will get frothy.

The story is that I was out of crushed tomato and green onion, and I have noticed that the fresh garlic is a little bit overpowering, especially if you don't eat the salsa the same day. (See Mom, I do listen.) The habanero gives it a nice kick, and you don't have to put 3-4 jalapenos in it. Plus it gives it a little different color, as this one was orange (not that I'm a big fan of orange, see previous posts). Habanero also gives a sweetness that plays well off the bitterness of the jalapeno and lime juice. This has been one of my favorite mixes, yet. Again, I think that experimentation is the key, and find what you like. Everyone makes it differently.