My grandmother, Mimi, taught me a lot of things. Her one-liners always taught from a place of humor, wisdom, sometimes tough love, and rang the bell for common sense. A few examples:

• When telling her about something holding you back, but really you were in your own way:

  • “And what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

• When being too myopic about a problem in the present day:

  • “A 100 years from now, we will never know the difference.”

• When it came to loving her family:

  • “You can’t be spoiled if it’s done with love.”

• When it came to dispensing marriage advice:

  • “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

• And finally when it came to making pico de gallo:

  • “The finer you chop it, the better it tastes.”

She was always trying to make sure that we were prepared. However, I fear I let her down as the first time I made something with jalapenos, and it went disastrously wrong. Picture this: Dallas, 2015. A young graduate school student, living with her parents (me), was trying to make a snack for her then boyfriend (now husband) for football game viewing. Jalapeno poppers seemed like a great idea—I came up with the recipe myself, he was bound to be impressed! So I set the oven to 350, cut open the peppers, scooped out the membranes, filled them with pimento cheese, and wrapped then with bacon. Yum! How amazing they looked! Quickly popped them in the oven, set the timer, and ran upstairs to shower, and get ready. Practically beaming at my ingenuity: Efficient and delicious. Oh, how the mighty were about to fall.

Sometime in the shower, I thought it would be a really great idea to shave my legs, not remembering…

… I did not wear gloves when I cut the peppers.

There was still pepper oil on my fingers.

Houston, we have a problem. There was a 3-alarm fire on my legs. *sirens sounding*

As the timer went off for my poppers, I found myself wrapped in a towel in my parents’ kitchen, arms full of every single milk product I could get my hands on—desperate for relief.

My mom, dad, and boyfriend enjoyed the poppers and the game, while I took a milk bath.

But I learned a valuable lesson, always use gloves when dealing with peppers, people. Especially if you wear contacts! Can you imagine?!

As much as our loved ones try and prepare us for the twists and (spicy!) turns of life, sometimes you have to feel the burn to learn the lessons. My grandmother laughed hysterically when I told her this story and I told her that would leave all future pepper dealing to her—also teasing her about where was her wisdom-filled quote for jalapenos?

This is her fabulous pico de gallo recipe that was often served at every major family event, by popular demand. Since her passing, I have tried to make this recipe the way she would have, finely dicing everything and tasting with a chip. “Taste with a spoon and your salt will be off” as she would say.

Ingredients:

• 6 roma tomatoes, diced

• 1 medium onion, finely diced

• 1 avocado, cubed

• juice of 1 lime

• a pinch or two of kosher salt

• a large handful of cilantro, chopped

• 2 serrano peppers

  • one chopped with ribs and seeds

  • one de-seeded and ribs taken out

• plenty of crunchy, well-salted chips!

Method:

1. Finely dice onion, roma tomatoes, cilantro, and serranos and put into a large bowl. To help keep seeds out when cutting tomatoes, make a cut length-wise, half way until you hit the core, then slice around the core. The tomato skin will be in a flat-ish sheet. It’ll be easier to cut and no seeds!

   Tip: To help control the spice, take out the seeds and membrane of one of the peppers (with a gloved hand!)

2. Peel, de-pit, and cube the avocado and place into a bowl. Squeeze the lime juice on top and mix together!

3. Add kosher salt to taste, but remember taste test with a chip or your salt will be off!