Jalapeño-Cheese Cornbread Muffins

I made these for my Thanksgiving party this year. After 3 test batches of dry, brick-like cornbread, I got the proportions right! They are extra delicious right out of the oven!

Ingredients (for 12 muffins):

• 1 c. yellow cornmeal
• 1 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c. buttermilk*
• 2 large eggs
• 6-8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
• 1 c. grated cheese
• 1 handful chopped jalapeños (depending how hot you want your muffins)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 12 regular muffin cups. Stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk and egg in another medium bowl; whisk in melted butter, then add grated cheese and jalapeños. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir just until incorporated (do not overmix). Pour batter in muffin cups. Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Yum!

*I couldn't find buttermilk so I used this substitute, which worked great: Add one Tbsp of lemon juice to a cup of regular milk and set aside for 5 minutes.

Emilio's "Check my roast out"

What's up my dearest America? Here's my little contribution to your already rich variety of food and recipes!
I'd like to thank Laurel for taking the photo, where you can see me (looking almost bald, which I'm not) slicing the roast. The white glove is not for hygienic purposes but because I just cut a finger for the 12th time this month! So please remember never to smoke, drink, talk or do anything else when thinly slicing the amazing result of this recipe! I called it "check my roast out" because I loooove Hip Hop a lot lately! Enjoy and remember that I miss you all!

Ingredients (for 5-6 people):

3.5 oz. of sundried tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
2 shallots
about 1 1/2 lb veal rump (you can also use pork loin)
2 Tbsp Lard
2/3 c. Port
1 c. beef broth
1 1/4 c. cream
1 tsp lemon juice
a small bunch of chives

Preheat oven and roasting pan to 175°F. Pat dry the sun dried tomatoes and cut them in to thin strips. Peel and finely mince the garlic and shallots. Salt and pepper the meat . In a large, non-stick pan, heat the lard until boiling. Brown the meat on all sides in the lard over high heat for about 8-10 minutes. Remove meat (do not discard juices) and place in preheated roast pan in oven. Cook at 175° for about 2 1/2 hours. In the cooking juices left in the non-stick pan, sautee the sundried tomatoes, shallots and garlic. Deglaze with the port and reduce it by one half. Add the beef broth and reduce some more. Add the cream and cook until you have a well mixed, creamy sauce. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice. Set aside. Immediately before serving, bring sauce to a boil and season with chopped chives. Cut the meat in thin slices and cover with the sauce.