Cooking with Mama Perez

So...

I have this friend.  Her name is Jessica.  We went to college together.  We may, or may not know a couple of each others dirty little secrets.  But we aint talkin'.

She is stunningly beautiful.  Uber talented.  Vivacious, full of life and fun.  The Mommy to three gorgeous wee ones.  And somewhere in there, she cooks.

No, I mean the girl cooks.

As in, "Oh, give me a minute and I'll whip up a couple of breakfast burritos with avocado and homemade tamatillo salsa.  It's no trouble!  Have a coffee."

Yaaaahhh...  With three kiddos 5 and under.

Superwoman with a spatula, I tell ya.

She lives in Colorado, and I live in Oklahoma.  We haven't actually seen each others faces in person in 11 or 12 years, and we only talk on the phone every 6 months or so.  But with a friend like Jess, that really doesn't matter.  I could show up on her doorstep tonight at dinner time and she would meet me at the door with a big squeeze and a plate of homemade tortillas.

Which brings me to today's post.

Jess has taught me how to make homemade tortillas over the phone and through text messages and emails over the last couple of years and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!  You can find her recipes on her blog, Cooking With Mama Perez.  

I made these the other night, to the delight of the men in my life.  And I'm telling ya, Gentle Reader.  Once you've had good, warm, fluffy homemade tortillas...  You're never going back.  And if you do, your husband and children will weep bitter tears.

So, I have a tortilla press, but I didn't use it this time.  Jess rolls hers out, and I want to be just like her when I grow up, so that's what i did this time too.

My heavy marble rolling pin is a little much for this task, so I got out my fondant rolling pin, and it worked like a charm.  A charm cast by Hermione Granger.  From the Standard Book of Spells Book Seven. Which Hermione never got to take because she was on the run from the Death Eaters and looking for horcruxes.

But I digress.

And, I 've discovered the secret, friends.  The magic step that really, really makes these bad boys yummy.

Let that dang dough rest.  Don't be in a hurry.  Let them rest, I say.  Then they are so, so beautiful.  And they puff up in the pan to tell you what a good job you're doing.  And each little bubble whispers what a good mother you are, and that your children will grow into strong, sensitive, well balanced adults, who will smile sweetly when they fondly remember the hot, fresh, tortillas you fed them in their formative years.  And then they will write a moving story about how wonderful you are, and you will hear it on NPR when you're driving your car to the grocery store.  Isn't that nice?

Mmmm...  Good stuff.