TA DA!!

Like a Lion

Alex here, helping with the technical side of things.

So Lisa and I saw this month's theme, and, thanks probably in part to my love of spicy foods (discovered in recent years), we knew the "lion" part would have to be spicy. I'd like to think of "in like a lion" as "warm and spicy." So what you have here is Mexican posole--like a spicy stew made with puffed up corn hominy that has the consistency of potatoey pasta or something. There is celery, carrot, onion, garlic, veggie broth, cumin, cilantro, chili powder, salt, pepper, hominy, and a meatless grain sausage we found at Ozark Natural Foods that was way spicier than either of us thought it would be. Still good though.

Like a Lamb

So the lamb part needed to be a kind of opposite to the lion part, so we thought dessert. Lisa had the idea, in keeping with our Mexican theme, to make pastel tres leche (literally: three milk cake). So I found a recipe here: http://www.texascooking.com/features/sept2002treslechescakerecipe.htm, and we made it (it was often that I brought this home when I worked at the Mexican bakery in Ohio). The only change was that we did not put the liqueur in the milk mixture, and we layered the cake with strawberries in the middle. So "like a lamb" became "cool and sweet." Next time I think I'll just try vanilla soy milk for the same effect and cool whip for the icing. Bottom line: "In like a lion, out like a lamb" = "warm and spicy, cool and sweet."