Too hot to cook
The salsas at Antojitos are freshly made. The fresh tomatillo flavor comes through wonderfully. My daughter and I caught the last seating, though it’s not called that there, when she came into town at the last minute. The group that came in just at 8 p.m. was turned away looking hungry. Great food. Quirky hours of operation. But be patient. It’s worth the trip to Desert Gardens Drive just off Fourth Street. You can sit in a booth at Antojitos and watch cars drive up to the funky donut store window across the way. Don’t expect scenic here, but good food, certainly.
It surprised a friend that we were booked most evenings last week despite it being the depths of summer. Dante wrote famously about summer in Imperial Valley. No calming summer breezes here. More like, hope the air conditioner holds out for another season. And I have to admit, I’m getting tired of eating out. But even as we go off to another restaurant, I tell my friend, it’s not the food. No. It’s the company, and no one is inviting us over for a backyard barbecue like you see in the Lowe’s TV commercials. Our version of the backyard cookout would have guests passed out from heat exhaustion, the cook slouched over the now-burned carne asada, and the AstroTurf sparkling in the sunshine.
So in an odd way, by default one could say, it’s restaurant month in Imperial Valley. The stove and oven have become appliances to be avoided at all costs. This does not change my dear wife’s kitchen schedule. Though, I have a friend who bakes during the summer evidently as penance for some long ago transgressions. Fortunately, Valley restaurants have multiplied in recent years, and not all are chain restaurants. So off we go to celebrate birthdays, meet with book club buddies, check on beloved restaurant owners, or just to get out of the house.
Costly, you say. Well, not really. Along with “the I don’t feel like cooking in this heat attitude,” comes, “I’m not very hungry.” The heat just kills my appetite which is a plus. Don’t worry. I don’t look like I’ve missed a meal recently. If it were healthy, which it’s not, my three meals would center around ice cream. There are so many flavors that I wouldn’t have to repeat a meal for weeks. Then, too, I’d have to buy a larger freezer. Maybe a bit of salad now and then just so I could claim to be eating balanced meals. Well, sherbet has a hint of fruit.
My good doctor has warned me about my ice cream and cake intake so it has been reduced dramatically. And, yes, it has been difficult especially when the people around me are eating Chunky Monkey desserts or Häagen-Dazs ice cream pops.
But as the protest song says, we shall overcome, or succumb. Which is it here in July?
The Weather Channel and others want me to have sympathy for my Eastern brothers and sisters. I do. They have too much concrete and black top, and a lack of home air conditioners. An “excessive heat warning,” was announced for New York City on the Weather Service connection, but did they break 100? Amateurs. The humidity, though, is horrible east of the Mississippi. Lots of rain in the forecast. So I took a vote last night. Do we want high temps in Imperial Valley or lower temps and much more humidity? The vote was unanimous, high temps, low humidity.
Good luck, New York and Chicago. You can always escape to the “but it’s a dry heat” of Imperial Valley.