Everything’s Better With Salsa

The buzz started late last week. Plans were being hatched for an office celebration, in honor of our team members with October birthdays. As the conversation drifted my way from the next office, the words that caught my attention were guacamole and salsa.

I am not much of a dessert person. And so many office parties seem to center around cake. But I have a few coworkers who share my predilection for salty and crunchy. And we are lucky enough to have Susie, who makes the best homemade salsa and guacamole ever to adorn a chip.

Tuesday night, I went home and picked every ripe tomato on the vines, enough to fill a large bowl. Big red ones, a few yellow ones, small romas, and handfuls of bright orange cherry tomatoes.

Just Picked Tomatoes

I delivered this colorful crop to Susie on Wednesday morning. When she left for the day with her bag of tomatoes in hand, she said, “I’m off to chop some tomatoes!” “Make lots!” I urged. “Yes, at least two giant vats,” Jackie requested, “One for me and one for Christina.” As an afterthought, she added, “Well, maybe three vats. Everyone else can split the third.”

Finally, on Thursday afternoon, it was party time. Susie enlisted some of us as sous-chefs, directing the guacamaole making as we chopped and mashed and seasoned. Everyone dove enthusiastically into the bowls of guacamole and salsa. Satisfied crunching was followed by moans of pleasure.

Salsa and Guac

Bright and fresh, the salsa was tangy and bursting with flavor. The individual elements of tomato, onion, and cilantro were distinguishable in each bite, but they blended together to make a whole that was much more than the sum of its parts. The only things missing from this feast were beer and sand.

Susie cooks with very loose measurements, like a kitchen wizard. So her salsa recipe is full of approximations and estimates, which only adds to the magic.

Susie’s Salsa Recipe