Mexican Salad Recipe

Used to be Espiau's in Pomona

As a kid, our parents took us to Espiau's restaurant in Pomona, California on a regular basis. It was about a 30 minute drive from our home in the San Gabriel Valley, but so worth it. We didn't go there for the entrees or the hot cheese dip that my mother loved. No, we went there for the salad! Espiau's Mexican Salads are incredible. They're really quite simple, iceberg lettuce mix, a vinegar and oil based dressing topped with a lot of finely shredded mild jack cheese. But the tart dressing is one of a kind. In the 80's the Espiau's restaurant in Pomona closed, but fortunately it reappeared a short time later in the form of The Danson/Espiau's in Claremont, California. Shortly after my wife and I moved to Seattle in 1995, I began working on replicating the Mexican Salad dressing that we missed terribly. After years of experimentation with many scores of failed attempts. I think that we have come pretty darn close. Here it is:


Espiau's Style Mexican Salad Dressing

1 1/2 cups......Red Wine Vinegar
3/4 cup.........Vegetable Oil
6 tablespoons...Sugar
6 teaspoons.....Lawry's Season Salt
2 1/4 teaspoons.Onion Powder
1/4 teaspoon....Finely ground black pepper

Apply the dressing liberally over an iceberg lettuce salad mix. Shake the dressing well as it is applied as it separates very quickly. You want all of the lettuce good and wet before topping the salad with a generous helping (heaps) of finely shredded mild jack cheese. Finding a mild jack is critical as it really sets the dressing off. Enjoy!!!

How your mouse really works!

Have you ever wondered how the small cursor arrow on your computer monitor works? When super magnified, the mechanism becomes apparent. A Japanese engineer has developed a special web page that greatly magnifies a portion of the screen, allowing you to view this remarkable process. You won't believe it.

CLICK HERE

After the magnifying page loads, slowly move your mouse though the super magnified circle in the center of the screen. Wow!

Espiau's Mexican Salad

I ran across the following post on epicurean.com. I suppose that its time that I post my recipe:

In Response To: Re: Espiau's Mexican Salad Dressing (Linda)

Wow im happy to hear people are still enjoying my grandparents style of mexican food so much, especially the salad dressing.

Ok regarding the salad dressing recipe.

I'm the grandson of the owners and let me tell you this: My grandmother wouldn't give any of us the recipe not even my father. She held onto it really tightly and we all hassled her for years about it. Sometimes she'd make up stuff and say "Well I add a fistful of this and then I cuss at it for a while" etc. Only she and my grandfather knew the recipe and the owner of the Danson got it and that's all I know.

Weird huh. So I wish you a lot of luck trying to duplicate it as we've all tried for a long time. If you find the recipe let me know cause I'd like to get it myself. It really was TOP SECRET.

May you eat well and live long

Robert Espiau

: I too am looking for the famous Espiaus Salad Dressing recipe! I

: was in So. CA last month and bought a gallon of the stuff.

: Needless to say, it's already more than half gone! I'm not ready

: to drive 600 miles to buy more. I know they keep the recipe TOP

: SECRET, but I'm really hoping to replicate it someday.

Sam's Revised Little League Schedule

Steel Lake Little League has revised their schedule. The updated schedule is below. Sam playes for the division 1A Orioles.

Wed 04/04/07 5:30 PM SKC 2 Mariners vs. Orioles
Sat 04/10/07 5:30 PM LkDollof Yankees vs. Orioles
Wed 04/18/07 5:30 PM SKC 2 Orioles vs. Mariners
Sat 04/21/07 4:30 PM SKC 3 Devil Rays vs. Orioles
Thu 04/26/07 5:30 PM SteelLk 2 Orioles vs. Yankees
Wed 05/02/07 5:30 PM SKC 2 Orioles vs. Mariners
Sat 05/05/07 2:00 PM SKC 4 Devil Rays vs. Orioles
Tue 05/08/07 5:30 PM Wildwood Orioles vs. Yankees
Sat 05/12/07 4:30 PM SKC 3 Orioles vs. Devil Rays
Thu 05/17/07 5:30 PM Wildwood Mariners vs. Orioles
Sat 05/19/07 4:30 PM SKC 1 Yankees vs. Orioles
Thu 05/31/07 5:30 PM SKC 2 Orioles vs. Devil Rays

The Steel Lake Little League rainout numbers are:
South King County Fields: 206-205-3891
Federal Way Fields: 253-835-6905

The web site address is: http://eteamz.active.com/steellakelittleleague/

Nora, The Piano-Playing Cat

Garrett Barker brought this to my attention yesterday. Enjoy!

J-Crew Update

J-Crew is atop the standing once again this year. Here are the standings through Sunday's games:

Evergreen/Continental League
Sunday South Division

J-Crew.......................3...1...0.750
Hitmen/Puget Sound Builders..3...1...0.750
Cobras.......................3...1...0.750
Murphy & Sons................2...2...0.500
Skyline Material Curriers....1...3...0.250
Dirty Dogs...................0...4...0.000

Results

Sunday, April 15

Game 1

Skyline Material Curriers..10

J-Crew.....................15

Game 2

J-Crew.....................23
Skyline Material Curriers...4

Sunday, April 22

Game 1
Cobras.....................18

J-Crew......................8

Game 2
J-Crew.....................22

Cobras......................7

Links:

Standings

Schedule

Pastrami

Everest is good, but the best pastrami is still at The Hat!

Vacation

Well, The Jim Spillers family just returned to Calhoun GA from a week in So Cal. This was our first time back since we moved out here almost two years ago. The weather pretty much sucked! Overcast, drizzle, wind, all of the stuff that makes it hard to just hang out outside. We got to see everyone we wanted to, but mainly uncle Boots and aunt Sharon, Boots has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is probably not going to be with us much longer. He is in real good spirits, and loves to remember the past, he talked alot about dad, and get's a little emotional when he talks about mom (his sister) But it was wonderful to get to see him.

Of course there were a couple of other things we had to do while we were there..

There is nothing better than In-N-Out and Everest for a little comfort food! Of course we hit The Danson, Jack In The Box, Carls Jr, Vinces Spaghetti, and Northwoods Inn for some Cheese Bread!

As much as we thought we would miss being there, it was more like we had never left. I kept thinking "OK, we will just drive south on Central, left on Palo Verde....... and be home" That part of it was kind of weird. The saving grace is that the old 'hood is pretty run down, the old house has been decorated like it is in Tijuana, and the park next door was still the same.
Boy it's good to be back in Georgia again!

Our House from Space

The satellite images of our neighborhood displayed by Google Earth have been updated. The new images are of a much higher resolution than the ones used previously. Here is a picture of our house from space:


Laura's red Ford Freestyle is parked in the driveway. Most of our backyard is in shadow, but you can see our decks.

Click here to see our entire neighborhood with Google maps

J-Crew 2007 Spring Softball Schedule

City of Kent Parks, Recreation & Community Services2007 Adult Softball ~ Evergreen/Continental League ~ Sunday South Divisiion

Standings: http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/SportsLeagues/AdultSoftball/

Rainout Line: 253-856-5020. Updated everyday after 4:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. on Sundays).

Fields: Russell Road Softball Park - 24230 Russell Road, Kent

Sun., April 15
5:00 p.m. Skyline Material Curriers vs J-Crew RR #3
6:15 p.m. J-Crew vs Skyline Material Curriers RR #3

Sun., April 22
7:30 p.m. Cobras vs J-Crew RR #4
8:45 p.m. J-Crew vs Cobras RR #4

Sun., April 29
7:30 p.m. Carpinito Brothers vs J-Crew RR #3
8:45 p.m. J-Crew vs Aarons RR #3

Sun., May 6
5:00 p.m. J-Crew vs Hitmen/PugetSoundBuilders RR #5
6:15 p.m. Hitmen/PugetSoundBuilders vs J-Crew RR #5

Sun., May 20
7:30 p.m. Murphy & Sons Wizards vs J-Crew RR #5
8:45 p.m. J-Crew vs Murphy & Sons Wizards RR #5

Sun., June 3
7:30 p.m. Athletic Supply vs J-Crew RR #3
8:45 p.m. J-Crew vs Safeway Ice Cream RR #3

Sun., June 10
5:00 p.m. J-Crew vs Dirty Dogs RR #4
6:15 p.m. Dirty Dogs vs J-Crew RR #4

Sun., June 17
7:30 p.m. Lucky Strikes vs J-Crew RR #3
8:45 p.m. J-Crew vs Team Pabst RR #3

Hair by Marge

Marge Simpson showing off her latest creation in Seattle

Don't Hit Baldy!

Always look both ways before crossing the street

Especially when there is a big truck coming!

Synergy 2

The Easton Synergy 2 is the hottest (most pop) softball bat allowed by the Amateur Softball Association (AMA). They're no longer in production and have become quite valuable. New ones sell for in excess of $329. I picked this used one up on ebay.