Life's Been Good

At work on Friday two huge bags of corn were dropped off from Tony Andrew's Farm. It didn't take long for us to gather at the front, a myriad of bags in hand, to dole it out to those of us dedicated or foolish enough to have stayed until after twelve o'clock on a Friday. I only work in the office one day a week, and lately it's been more like a half a day since my free babysitters have obligations in the summer, so normally I miss all the good stuff, the occasional employee lunches and birthdays, sales reps bribing the production department with bagels, snacks in the newsroom on Thursdays. And now that Lisa's out at the plant I can't even raid her candy dish. So the corn was a huge windfall. A solid five-hours of uninterrupted time to work and mingle with other grown ups - and fresh corn to boot! It can't get much better than that.

Corn Salsa
4 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic - peeled
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 shallots, chopped (red onions work just as well, they just don't sound as exotic)
4 cups fresh corn kernels cut from the cob
1 small hot chili pepper, chopped
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice (no guilt, no pressure, if you don't have fresh, bottled works. I mean you have the fresh corn, that's what's important here)
juice of 1/2 an orange (see above comment)
salt & pepper

In a skillet, heat oil and saute garlic over low heat, stirring often (or as often as you can remember to while you run about the house picking up after the kids, watering the plants, and doing laundry), 10 minutes or until garlic is soft. Mash garlic in pan. Add tomatoes and shallots and cook for 5 minutes, stirring as often as is humanly possible. Transfer this mixture into a large bowl. Sir in the corn, chili pepper, cilantro, lime juice, orange juice, salt and pepper. Set the mixture aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to mellow. Bring to cook out, reap heavy praise. This recipe, minus the running commentary, is originally from the Boston Globe Magazine, back when the Globe had faith that its Sunday Reader's attention span was longer than five minutes and they ran actual stories in the Globe Magazine instead of the fluff that passes for articles today.

song: Life's Been Good • artist: the Eagles