Hot Sauce

Crystal Hot Sauce, originally uploaded by bucklava.

My garden produces tons of hot peppers through out the summer. When it comes time to put everything to rest, I'm stuck with loads of hot peppers. This year I've decided to try and make my own hot sauce. I'm pleased with the results. since I've made way too much hot sauce, my friends and family will each get a bottle. The recipe I followed was one that I found out a Martha Stewart magazine. I did revise it some to suit my taste. If you like some of your dishes spiced up with hot sauce, and want to get adventurous, try making your own by following the recipe below.

Ingredients;

40 fresh Cayenne chilies, stemmed and halved

2 Habanero peppers, stemmed and halved

12 cloves of garlic

2 tsp sugar

4 tsp salt

8 cups white vinegar

Put all of the ingredients into a non reactive pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly, then transfer everything to a blender and puree. After you've finished , pour the mixture through a fine sieve, over a small bowl. Discard the solids. When hot sauce is cooled completely, pour into small bottles, or an air tight container, and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

This is a thin sauce with a strong Cayenne taste. It can be used to liven up foods such as pizza, chicken wings, sandwiches, and sauces.

Our South Beach Vacation

Our Miami, South Beach vacation was fabulous. We all had a wonderful time. It rained a lot the first two days we were there, because of tropical storm Noel. We took our kids trick or treating at the shops on Lincoln Avenue. This street is supposed to be the place to be, if your in South Beach during Halloween. Needless to say, the kids received a ton of candy and they had a blast. I was enjoying all of the people and the very creative costumes many of them were wearing. I've never seen so many beautiful men and women walking around one area, in all of my life. Many of them looked as if they walked right out of a fashion magazine.
The food was excellent. We just loved the Cuban cuisine. We chose to eat Cuban food often while we were there, accompanied by the delicious Mojitos, which seemed to go down quite easily.
One day we took a ride down to Key Largo. We snorkeled first, then hiked through the mangrove trails off the beach. It was a picture perfect day. Later that same day, we ate some conch fritters, which I absolutely love, at a cute fish shack not far from the beach.
One night me and my hubby decided to hire a babysitter. What a fun night we had. We started our evening off with a few Mojitos at the Delano, a very high end hotel that many celebrities stay at. I've displayed a photo of the Delano above. We then had a delicious meal at "A Fish Called Avalon" located on Ocean drive. After dinner we finished our evening off with a night cap at this fun club called "Mango's," which is also on Ocean drive. Even though the evening was very expensive, it was well worth it.
Now that I'm back in New york state, My daughter has caught a terrible cold, it's freezing here and very dreary outside. I'm just praying for a ray of sunshine to peak out of the clouds to brighten my mood. Since I've never been a fan of cold weather, days like today make me seriously think about moving down south.