Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather.

A month ago I potted some plants, including cilantro. Normally I don't do well with plants, but I've been making an effort to keep these watered.

Well tonight I made a batch of salsa and thus had occasion to harvest some of my flourishing herb. I'm amazed at how much the cilantro has grown in just a month; here's a shot of the plant after I cut about a half-a-bunch's worth off the bottom. It's already two feet tall, and showing no signs of slowing down.

The cilantro was the perfect touch in a batch of restaurant-style salsa, giving it a fresh snap of flavor. The salsa's easy to make and the secret, taught to me years ago by my buddy, Tony, is to parboil the tomatoes and jalapeños before blending. This keeps them from turning rancid in a couple of days, and keeps the salsa from becoming too watery.

Tonight, for instance, I parboiled two roma tomatoes and three jalapeño peppers. (Use roma tomatoes as they have less pulp, once again helping avoid watery salsa.) Don't let the water come to an actual boil, and stop when the tomato skins peal. For an added depth of flavor, I add a handful of peppercorns to the water.

While the produce was parboiling, I stripped the leaves off the half-bunch of cilantro and put them in the food processor. Then I pulled the tomatoes and jalapeños out of the peppered hot water and put them in the processor. Next I poured in a 15-ounce can of "fire-roasted" crushed tomatoes — yep, that's why there were only two fresh tomatoes. I like to use a mix of fresh and canned, and the roasted ones have a nice smoky note. Finally I added about a quarter-teaspoon of chopped garlic (just used the stuff in a jar if you have it) and some salt and pepper.

Pulse until it looks like what you want: not too chunky and not soup. This particular ratio turned out great, with a bit of heat but not too much. I mushed up an avocado and added three spoonfuls of salsa for a quick-and-dirty guacamole, which made a fine dinner accompanied by blue-corn chips and paired with a 2005 Beaujolais Villages.

Oh, and not that I wanted to turn this blog into some sort of HGTV special, but since I mentioned my recent gardening efforts, I figured an update on the poppies is in order. As shown in the picture, the California poppies I potted a month ago are now in glorious bloom! Each pot is thriving and they seem to take turns bursting forth with flowers. Which reminds me...they're probably due for some water...

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"Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather."	Lyric from the song Scarborough Fair/Canticle by Simon and Garfunkel