I had already met salsa. It was there in a little dish on the table at La Plata Grande, the first Mexican restaurant I remember visiting. Later I learned that you could buy it in jars at the Giant right across the parking lot. Much later, I saw a fellow guest at a book lunch make some right before our eyes--but this guy is big on presentation and the salsa experience with him involved flashing knives and some kind of Mayan artwork and a healthy swig of culinary intimidation. It was good salsa, no question, but too scary to try at home.

This past week I decided that in honor of el Cuarto de Mayo, which happened to be the first Wednesday of the month, I would make a bunch of different salsas. I ended up with four and learned some things about salsa. Before then, I thought salsa was a tomato thing. It's not a tomato thing, although tomatoes definitely make good salsa. I made one tomatoless salsa and it was also good. The only ingredient common to all four was cilantro. I'm not sure the cilantro is a rule, but I think it's a nice touchstone and I plan to keep it for my future salsa endeavors. The epiphany for me came as I chopped and chopped and chopped ... salsa is chopped stuff together in a bowl. I am having a lot of fun making salsa this week.