Chatty is in the midst of an allergy attack.

    Two days before she goes to Mexico.

    All this swine flu talk is abounding. 

    Everywhere.

    Chatty is wheezing and sneezing and coughing. Chatty herself knows that it is allergies...but - what about the people on the plane with her? 

    Are they going to panic? 

    Should Chatty call out "No worries - it's just allergies!" the first time she coughs or sneezes? 

    Will anyone believe her?

    Will  Chatty be able to control the coughing and sneezing long enough to get through airport security and onto the plane bound for Houston? 

    And, if she coughs on the plane...

    Will they remove Chatty from the plane when she lands in Houston, and not allow her to continue to Cancun?

    Even worse, when trying to be homeward bound, will they hear her coughing and hacking at the airport in Mexico and refuse to let her go home - and then stick her in a hospital - make her pay for her time spent there - and then make her pay for another flight home a week later (because by then they will have realized that Chatty has ALLERGIES, not the FLU) - for which she has no money - having shot her wad to pay for the trip in the first place?

    In addition to her allergy attack, Chatty is now also having a panic attack.

    Which makes her sneeze and cough even more.

    Sheesh.

    Chatty made tacos a few nights ago. Ground beef for The Wiz, and Morninstar crumbles with a ton of taco seasoning thrown in for Chatty.

    The Wiz is picky about his tortillas - and his bread. Both have to be fresh fresh fresh. Chatty thinks tortillas in particular last several days, but she cannot convince The Wiz of this, so she usually buys just a little bag of 12 and ends up throwing a few away.

    However, she was at a store that only had bags of 24. She didn't want to go to another store, and besides - 24 at this store were only 10 cents more than 12 at the other store.

    The tacos were great, but Chatty was left with 16 tortillas.

    What to do? She couldn't bear to waste that many tortillas, but if she made them into chips, which she often does, we wouldn't have time to eat them before leaving for Mexico.

    Then, Chatty remembered the fabulous dish she discovered while in Rocky Point two years ago. It is actually designed to use leftovers - including tortillas - and while it is usually served at breakfast, Chatty thinks it is great any time of day. 

    It is called "chilequiles", and there are as many versions of it as there are recipes for chili. It's the sort of dish where almost any leftover will work - meats and vegetables and beans - all held together with slighlty stale tortillas, enchilada sauce, and cheese. A lot of people add eggs, too.

    Chatty had never made the dish, but she had eaten it for breakfast practically every day while in Rocky Point, so she decided to mix some up.

    One key is having the tortillas slightly "stale" - so that they dry out and are curling up a bit. It is suggested that you leave them out overnight, but Chatty wanted her chilequiles for dinner, so she just let them take the air all afternoon.

    First, however, she cut them into 1-inch pieces, then scattered them on the cutting board to let them dry and curl.

    When it came time to assemble, she diced one half of a large sweet onion and threw it into a mixing bowl.

    She flash-fried the tortilla pieces in three batches, putting each batch to drain on paper towels. The number of batches depends on the size of your pan, obviously. The main thing is that you don't want to crowd them. You don't have to use too much oil - just enough to crisp them up a bit. Each batch took about a minute - you do NOT want these overdone.

    She grated some hard white Mexican cheese - Cotija in this instance - but many cheeses would work - jack, cheddar, or that pre-shredded Mexican blend would all be good.

    Then, she added the (by now) cooled tortilla pieces to the onions in the bowl, poured in half of a LARGE can of green enchilada sauce (you can also use red, but the taste is completely different - both are good) and about half of the grated cheese. She stirred - you want it pretty soupy - so add more enchilada sauce if necessary - and poured it into a casserole. She topped it with the rest of the grated cheese, and put it in the oven, covered, at 350 for 25 minutes. Then, she turned off the oven, uncovered it, and let it sit in the cooling oven for about 5 minutes.

    It tasted EXACTLY like the wonderful stuff she had eaten in Mexico. She ate it with beans and a tomato salad.

    Since a couple of the places where she ate chilequiles were buffets, Chatty is fairly sure that you could make this whole thing on top of the stove and serve it immediately. Chatty just baked it because she wanted to put it in the oven and forget about it. You could also crisp up the tortilla pieces in the oven instead of frying. It wouldn't taste as authentic, but it would be lower in calories.

    If you like Mexican food, you should try this! An internet search turned up tons of variations - feel free to throw in leftover chicken, corn, beans, beef, green beans, zucchini, etc. - and by all means add a few beaten eggs if you want. You could also serve each portion with a poached or fried egg on top.

    Chatty realizes it's a bit silly to be making and eating Mexican food a week before she goes to Mexico and can get the "real thing" - but heck - when you have too many tortillas, you have to get creative.

    Salud!

    Chatty is deep into organizing and planning for her first trip on an airplane in over 4 years.

    Chatty is accustomed to going on her vacations by car - which she loads to the gills for a mere weekend trip to the mountains. Chatty's mother used to refer to this as "traveling Okie-style" - which she was, after all, allowed to do - being from Oklahoma herself.

    So, packing for 7 days and keeping it to 50 pounds per bag is quite a challenge. Happily, it is summertime, so Chatty does not have to worry about packing sweaters, heavy shoes, parkas, etc.

    No, it's just shorts, bathing suits, and sandals.

    And laptops, and cameras, and video cameras, and sewing projects, and books, and batteries, and sunscreen and sun hats and instant tea for The Wiz, and sweetener and lemon packets to go in the tea, and snacks and...

    Chatty is cheered by the fact that in addition to a bag each to be checked (linear measurement not to exceed 62 inches, and weight not to exceed 50 pounds), Chatty and The Wiz are also both allowed a carry-on bag. The Wiz will carry on the computer case - on wheels and capable of carrying (Chatty hopes) not only the laptop but also the DVD player, the video camera and the digital camera. 

    We shall see.

    Chatty's own carry-on (not to exceed 45 linear inches and 40 pounds) will take all the odds and ends.

    Naturally, Chatty can't go anywhere for 7 days without  a couple of her needlework projects:

                
    
    And a book or three:

            

    And a few other things to make a little home away from home for a week:

            

    Oh - in case you were wondering about the hat - it is very light-weight, and crushable. No problem with the hat!

    So, does anyone besides The Wiz foresee any problem with these few items fitting neatly into Chatty's carry-on?

"-       Noun

-       1. The theory or system of government that upholds the autonomous character of the economic order, believing that government should intervene as little as possible in the direction of economic affairs.

-       2. The practice or doctrine of noninterference in the affairs of others, esp. with reference to individual conduct or freedom of action."

We tried Definition # 1 first - letting "the theory or system of government" stand for "Chatty and The Wiz".

But, that didn't work.

So, we proceeded to Definition #2 - and added a spray bottle.

Here is Definition #2 in action...for the moment...

     Chatty has previously whined about mentioned her lackluster locks

    But, Chatty never says die - so she is always on the lookout for ways to improve their appearance.

    Chatty’s mother and grandmother used to “set” Chatty’s hair with flat beer, but the mists of time had obscured that memory - until a visiting friend mentioned that she was using beer as a setting lotion. Bells went off, and Chatty tried it again.

    It works, folks!

    Unable to leave well enough alone, Chatty figured that if setting her hair with beer was good, adding MORE beer to her hair routine might be even better!

    Musing idly (an activity that takes up much of Chatty’s time - usually with few results), she wondered if there were any shampoos with beer in them.

    For Chatty, from an idle musing to an internet search is just a few keystrokes, and – surprise, surprise – there is a shampoo made with stout (which is a rich, heady, dark brew for those of you pale beer fans – think Guinness…)

    The reviews of this product were positive, but Chatty is not going to plug the product, because she hasn’t used it. She hasn’t used it because the medium-sized bottle is $18.75, plus shipping and handling, and Chatty is too cheap cost-conscious to pay that kind of money for an experiment.

    So, more idle musing, another internet search – this time for “beer shampoo recipes”.

    Lo and behold – there it is – thank you, ehow.com

    Chatty has some stout, so she reduces the 12 ounces to 3, and adds it to her regular shampoo.*

    As luck would have it, her hair is just-washed, so she has to compose herself in patience for a couple of days before she can try it (because for Chatty, washing her hair too often is much worse than washing it not enough.)

    Chatty has kept the shampoo in the fridge, although the recipes differ over that suggestion. But it’s hot here, and cold shampoo feels nice!

    Chatty can’t smell any beer, but the shampoo is very very sudsy, where it wasn’t sudsy at all pre-beer.

    Chatty leaves the shampoo in throughout her shower, to give the beer time to work (as advised by the professional shampoo people.)

    It rinses out completely, leaving her hair squeaky-clean. She doesn’t use crème rinse, because she wants the full effect of the beer - so she carefully combs out the tangles, lets her hair dry a bit, spritzes on MORE beer, sets her hair in giant Velcro rollers, and lets it dry.

    Result? Shiny, bouncy hair that actually held its shape (with the help of a bit of back-combing and hairspray) until Chatty went to bed!

    Amazing. Added to this unexpected delight is the fact that beer leaves NO flaky residue, unlike some of the volumizers and setting gels Chatty has tried in the past.

    Chatty’s hair will never be anything but thin and fine - but at least now she has found a way to disguise this sad fact, albeit temporarily.

    Which is something!

    And, for those of you who want extra shiny hair (this is said to work for both thick and thin hair), Chatty has heard that one part vodka to two parts shampoo works a treat. This straight from the fashion runways of New York and Paris.

    Yes.

    However, Chatty has not tried this - because while Chatty is willing to sacrifice a bottle of beer to the cause...she's not as sanguine about the possible waste of perfectly good vodka!

   * If any of you decide to try this, Chatty suggests that you steer clear of "lite" beer (she's talking calories, not color) because you want all the beery goodness possible. And don't BOIL it - just reduce it slowly over medium heat - and you will still have to watch it, because it foams like crazy. If you can find a "natural" stout or ale, it will have fewer chemicals in it - which Chatty has read is better.