Cinco De Mayo

Dear Mom,

After all those years of high school Spanish and then a tiny bit more in college, I can't remember how to greet you en espanol other than to say Hola. Those classes were a long time ago, but I've recently had a refresher while helping the Young Man review vocabulary words for his freshman Spanish class. I should remember how to do more than ask where a bathroom is (which for some reason, in high school, seemed like something very important that I should know), or what the time is. My Hero, it won't surprise you to know, could order 2 beers. (I could say Coca-Cola in my best Spanish accent, but you can smile and say that anywhere and get what you are asking for.) So between us, should we find ourselves lost in Mexico without a translator, we will know what time it is wherever we are, have a couple of beers (that I don't drink) and find a bathroom.

I can't entirely blame the years for my poor conversational Spanish. Less than a year or two after my Last Spanish Class, I found myself on the Oral Surgery rotation while I was in the Dental Hygiene program. We did rotations to different clinics in the dental school as part of our education. We mostly did more observing than any hands on work, but we weren't there to get in the way and had to help out if called into action. Anyway, there I was in the Oral Surgery Clinic. And let me digress once more to say that "they" spent quite a good bit of time lecturing us on how NOT TO FAINT before they actually let us in, which in my mind does nothing but make me feel like I might faint. Okay, back to oral surgery which at this point you are wondering how this could possibly tie in to Spanish class. It does. I am watching many teeth being extracted. I am trying to not think about fainting, which I totally wouldn't have had to think about AT ALL had I not been given the lecture. And then a woman is seated in the chair. Her turn. NO speak English. Very frightened. Can I think of ONE WORD en espanol to reassure the poor woman? NO. I just tried to communicate with my eyes and facial expressions, which were probably not so reassuring since

1. I really didn't know what was going to happen to her

2. I felt bad for her not being able to understand any English and

3. I was thinking about not fainting.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I offer this recipe for a Mexican Potato Frittata. I admit to being a better knitter than I am a cook. Not that I am a bad cook, I just can't manage too much at once while I cook. With that said, this is a tasty, healthy, simple recipe and a nice change of pace from tacos and enchiladas.

Mexican Potato Frittata

1 t olive oil

12 oz. red skinned potatoes, cut in 1/2 inch cubes

6 large eggs

1 (11 oz.) jar salsa ( you can choose the strength you prefer- I usually get mild or medium because I can't take the heat- My Hero adds Tabasco sauce. Because he can.)

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/4 c sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 medium tomato

Preheat oven to 425.

In a non-stick skillet with an oven safe handle ( I use my cast iron skillet), heat olive oil over med-hi heat. Add potatoes and cook, covered, until potatoes are tender and golden brown, about 10 min, stirring occasionally.

In medium bowl, beat eggs with 1/4 c salsa, salt and pepper. Stir in cheese, set aside.

Dice tomato and stir into remaining salsa.

Stir egg mixture into potatoes in the skillet and cook over med-hi heat, covered, for 3 minutes or until egg mixture begins to set around edges.

Remove cover and place skillet in oven; bake 4-6 minutes, until frittata is set.

To serve, transfer frittata from skillet to serving platter or cutting board (I never do that part- I just serve straight out of the skillet- real fancy that way) and cut into wedges. Top with salsa/tomato mixture.

Makes 4 main dish servings. Each serving has about 235 calories, 14g protein, 20g carbohydrates, 11g fat (4g sat fat) 327mg cholesterol and 795 mg sodium.

Note: I imagine that it is easy to cut the sodium by not adding the salt. And using 2% cheese would cut back on the fat content, but I did make a note to myself on the recipe NOT to use egg-beaters. I must have tried that and it didn't work.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Love,

Kim