Salsa

Even if you're not yet ready to retire, San Miguel de Allende is perfect for a vacation or long weekend getaway. Getting there United and American airlines offer connecting flights (via Texas) to San Miguel's two closest airports, Leon/Guanajuato (BJX), 90 minutes away, and Queretaro (QRO), one hour away. Round-trip airfares start around $600. Multiple airlines offer flights to Mexico City, which is three hours from San Miguel. When to go January may be the sole inclement month to travel, and even then it's nothing compared to a typical Baltimore winter.

Now, after you've finished a margarita and an enchilada at Azul 17 in Columbia, you can strap on your dancing shoes and stay for salsa lessons. On Thursday and Saturday nights, the dining room at this sophisticated restaurant-lounge is transformed into a dance studio. Last year salsa lessons at Azul 17 were offered the first Saturday each month. But this year the frequency has been upped to twice a week. “People love it and enjoy it,” says general manager Carlos Oseguera. Beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons are offered for $5 each on Thursday nights at 8, 9 and 10, respectively; however, complimentary lessons for all levels are offered Saturday nights at 10. “The Saturday class is more casual.

Now, after you've finished a margarita and an enchilada at Azul 17 in Columbia, you can strap on your dancing shoes and stay for salsa lessons. On Thursday and Saturday nights, the dining room at this sophisticated restaurant-lounge is transformed into a dance studio. Last year salsa lessons at Azul 17 were offered the first Saturday each month. But this year the frequency has been upped to twice a week. “People love it and enjoy it,” says general manager Carlos Oseguera. Beginner, intermediate and advanced lessons are offered for $5 each on Thursday nights at 8, 9 and 10, respectively; however, complimentary lessons for all levels are offered Saturday nights at 10. “The Saturday class is more casual.

Tortilleria Sinaloa is a tiny storefront in Fells Point with no tables but eight stools at two counters. That doesn't deter tourists, natives and neighbors from testing their Spanish on the barely bi-lingual but friendly staff while trying to order from the compact menu. And nothing makes me feel more comfortable in a first time visit to a little street joint than having a neat young woman in constant motion wiping counters, stools, equipment and anything else that might need wiping.

The busy Ellicott City intersection of highways 29 and 40 has its fair share of decent restaurants. They are attracted, no doubt, by the daily influx of shoppers and a healthy customer base in the surrounding residential areas. And it's not a bad stop if you need a rest from chain restaurants. Across St. John's Lane from the Mars supermarket, Mi Casa has a tucked-away feel, probably because it doesn't front hyperactive Route 40. It's part of a relatively tiny strip of shops that includes a pizza place and, around the corner, a paint-your-own-pottery/coffee shop.

Salsa has become a big seller; it's growing more popular than America's other favorite condiment, ketchup. A summer staple in our house, homemade salsa is easy to make and very low in fat. We baste salsas on grilled foods, serve them alongside entrees or with dipping vegetables or stir spoonfuls into summer soups. Extras store well in the freezer for a taste of midsummer in January.I make salsa in August when tomatoes are weighing down the vines at their peak of ripeness. Italian (Roma) or plum tomatoes make the best salsa -- they're meatier and less juicy.

A year ago it was juice and bread. This year it's salsa. The rise of each fashionable food spawns a busy cottage industry of appliances, provisions, cookbooks.Often, the books are quickie little notions that try to exploit the current food obsession with shallow research, fetching graphics and simple recipes, many of them minor variations on a basic formula.At first glance, Reed Hearon's "Salsa" (Chronicle Books, $12.95) seems to fall into that class. But while slim, bright and simple, "Salsa" has more going for it than a good many cookbooks 10 times its size.

Every spring it happens. You think you're ready to venture into salad entrees, but Mother Nature decides otherwise. Because salsa and avocado evoke warm, sunshiny days, their presence in this soup makes up for any lack of swimsuit weather. The soup is so easy that even the most reluctant cook should give it a try. Its main ingredient, and the key to its success, is a jar of salsa. And there's the catch: So much depends on the quality of the salsa, you really need to buy the good stuff.

Q. I have rosacea, a skin condition that gives me a red nose and cheeks. My dermatologist says it can only be treated by taking tetracycline, which upsets my stomach. After a few weeks on the antibiotic, the rosacea gets better. But when I stop the drug, the redness comes back. My neighbor told me he had heard that taking two full tablespoons of salsa daily would control rosacea. I started on salsa a month ago, just as the rosacea was returning. The salsa seems to have held the condition off, since my nose is not red or itching as usual.

WASHINGTON -- It was a packed house Friday night at the Verizon Center, but co-headliners Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony were definitely playing to differing sensibilities - with Anthony the more energetic, and energizing, of the two. As if shot from a cannon, the horns and multifaceted percussion lay complex salsa rhythms to introduce Anthony, who charmed the screaming crowd as he arose from underneath center stage, enveloped in smoke....

One good thing about summertime outdoor cooking is that you don't have to do anything elaborate to chicken, pork, fin fish, shrimp, etc. Season them a little and throw them on grill and have that protein source ready for supper in no time. Which leaves you free to fix a few side dishes, including some salsas (sauce) to enhance the protein without "enhancing" the caloric intake, at least not by much. Our exercise du jour, then, is to prepare salsas using the freshest local herbs, vegetables and fruits from our nearby farmers market or a favorite grocery that features (relatively)

The busy Ellicott City intersection of highways 29 and 40 has its fair share of decent restaurants. They are attracted, no doubt, by the daily influx of shoppers and a healthy customer base in the surrounding residential areas. And it's not a bad stop if you need a rest from chain restaurants. Across St. John's Lane from the Mars supermarket, Mi Casa has a tucked-away feel, probably because it doesn't front hyperactive Route 40. It's part of a relatively tiny strip of shops that includes a pizza place and, around the corner, a paint-your-own-pottery/coffee shop.

Father's Day is as good a time as any to go back to our caveperson roots. Hunters and gatherers alike can enjoy an al fresco meal made up of grilled things that pretty much require our eschewing mannerly fine dining habits and eating the way Mother Nature intended. Or, as the adage goes, "Fingers were invented before forks. " Our bill of fare for the day that honors Dad features just what the guys (and most gals) like by way of summertime eating: Sassy fare, cooked outdoors, that you can pretty much eat with your fingers.

This is the kind of salsa I’m used to having at home in Arizona. It uses fresh ingredients and none of it’s pureed or cooked. I used to get into arguments with my Texas boyfriend about what made the perfect salsa. (He would secretly cook and puree my salsa when I wasn’t around.) Well, I think my  version is better than his. Of course.   Salsa Fresca About 1lb fresh tomatoes 1/4 C cilantro 1/4 C red onion 1 medium jalapeno (remove the seeds or start with half if you like milder salsa)

My introduction to Mexican food was a little place in the Midwest called Piedras Negras. The hole-in-the-wall space, ratty decor, tinny mariachi riffs cranked out of an old juke box and flies buzzing bowls of chunky green jalapeno salsa made the restaurant an exotic treat. Only the sparsest of commercial English was spoken. But no matter, the kitchen did all the talking. Piedras Negras spoiled me and, outside of El Paso, Texas, I've never found its equal and was always careful not to judge lesser Mexican joints by the smoggy yellow light of Piedras Negras.

It's a brave restaurateur who'll open a Mexican place just a few blocks north of what are probably the two most popular Latino establishments in the area. The owners of the new Si Salsa in Pomona Square did just that. They have wisely decided not to compete in the authenticity arena with Mari Luna Mexican Grill and its sister restaurant, Mari Luna Latin Grille. Instead, Si Salsa offers the South of the Border and Tex-Mex specialties everyone loves, like tacos, burritos and fajitas, plus American standards with a Latino accent.

Is salsa hot stuff these days? You bet your sweet chipotle it is.With hundreds of brands on shelves at grocery stores and gourmet markets, with sales in the hundreds of millions, this newly popular dip/condiment/cooking ingredient is hot, hot, hot."Salsa in general has become one of the biggest items we have," says Janis Talbott of Morton's, the Mount Vernon gourmet food and spirits shop. "It even outsells peanuts, which I think is saying a lot.""Last year salsa outsold ketchup in gross sales -- so it's become the top-selling condiment in the country," says Daniel Wimer, general manager of Some Like It Hot, a mail-order firm that sells a variety of hot sauces.

Ah, the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are here, and gardens are overflowing with fresh vegetables. I went all out this year - planting boxes with turnip, mustard and tender greens, bell peppers, jalapenos, eggplant, tomatoes, scallions, onions, cucumbers and squash. Even though I just planted a few of each vegetable, the harvest is already plentiful. What am I going to do with all this stuff? My grandmother knew just what to do. What she did not use for her family or give away, she canned.

I was in Pikesville last week and stopped by the new Si Salsa (1700 Reisterstown Road, 410-484-4405, sisalsa.com) for lunch. This is the bar, grill and cafe in the Pomona Square space that once housed a Kosher restaurant, Amanda's, and before that, the Brasserie. It's a pleasant place to be, but not terribly ethnic-looking, with lots of booths and white-clothed tables. Relatively modest decorative accessories like strings of red-pepper lights and South American wall hangings have been added to the neutrals of the former dining room.

Every spring it happens. You think you're ready to venture into salad entrees, but Mother Nature decides otherwise. Because salsa and avocado evoke warm, sunshiny days, their presence in this soup makes up for any lack of swimsuit weather. The soup is so easy that even the most reluctant cook should give it a try. Its main ingredient, and the key to its success, is a jar of salsa. And there's the catch: So much depends on the quality of the salsa, you really need to buy the good stuff.