Finally...hummus!

Did I ever tell you that I love the culinary world? There are so many interesting things to make, lots of which I've never made myself. It never ceases to amaze me (call me weird) that I can actually make those things myself. Warm challah bread. Vanilla cheesecake. Tangy pesto. Sweet panna cotta. Crispy pork chops laced with apples. Granted, those things don't always turn out perfectly. But that just makes me want to make it again, this time better.

I'd been wanting to make hummus ever since the pool parties. Thrown by my friends Jake and Julie during those long ago, sun drenched days of summer, these pool parties were casual affairs consisting of lots of meat thrown on the grill, many 6-packs of beer, and of course, Julie's roasted red pepper hummus.

I dug out my food processor today, resolved to finally make that delicious food that had teased me since summer (since I can be a dreadful procrastinator, my mom took the initiative and ordered a blade for me and presented it and her spare food processor to me on Christmas). I'm not a patient person. I eyed at the white Cuisunart contraption, wondering if I could dive into hummus-making without reading the manual (sounds nice, right?). Nada. When playing with sharp objects (I think the blade counts...), it's usually a good idea to read the directions first.

The wonderful scent wafting out my oven door convinced me that this endeavor was going to be a success. Please imagine half a red pepper and three cloves of garlic happily roasting away...forget the egg salad sandwich I was making myself for dinner. Once the red pepper and garlic had made it to the processor, it was a dash of vinegar here, throw two cans of garbanzo beans in there (garbanzo - isn't that a great word? I think my next set of cats will be named Geronimo & Garbanzo) and presto! I had myself a whole container of roasted red pepper hummus (If you honestly think those are the only ingredients I used, please google a hummus recipe, pronto.)!

I follow a cooking blog called Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/) where the author creates the most mouth watering appetizers, decadent desserts, and main courses in a tiny kitchen in NYC. I felt like I was working in her kitchen today (maybe I should zap her an email to find out which of us has the smaller kitchen?!). When I finished with my hummus making, the kitchen looked like a culinary bomb had gone off in it. But I'm finally done cleaning up after myself (whew).

This is not hummus (obviously!), but it was our 3-day-meal special. ;) Drew made us burritos for meal #1 - it involved the usual black beans, rice, and corn. I used the leftover to whip up a...well, I don't have a name for it. But meal #2 is what you see in the picture above. I sauteed onions and green pepper, threw in the leftovers, added tomatoes, and covered the entire smorgasbord with cheddar cheese. Yum. For meal #3, Drew added eggs and whala! breakfast is served.