Mother Hubbard's Tortilla Soup

Sunday's at the Hubbard house generally consist of decompressing from the weekend spent singing, playing and driving. As the weather becomes to cold to sit on the porch and watch the grass grow we like to hang on the couch with a fire going and football or music documentary's on the tube. We normally don't even leave the house and no one enters unless they already know the gate code. If we are going to dine on something other than the deli tray leftover from previous nights gig (like the one Ray stole from Casey Donahue's dressing room last night; sorry...ours only had broccoli and carrots, yours had meat!) then I usually cook up enough food to last all day and more times than not it's tortilla soup. I have worked on fine tuning the recipe over the years and I think today was indeed my best batch. Apologies in advance for the lack of proper measurements on several of the ingredients. You can't really mess this up so just go for it and send me an email if you have any questions or just want to let me know you made it and it was yummy!

5 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 1/2 onions
3 Celery Stalks

Orrington Chicken Stock Base (Any chicken stock or broth will do but in my opinion this takes it from good to great)
Comino Powder
Chili Powder
Cayenne Pepper
1 Jalapeno Pepper
2 Cans Hominy
2-3 tomatoes
3 Avocados
1 garlic clove
soy sauce
1 lime
salt and pepper
1 cup shredded cheese (I prefer Monterey Jack or Cheddar/Monterey Blend)
tortilla chips

I like organic boneless chicken breast which I cut all visible fat off. Lay them in a big soup pot and generously sprinkle with comino powder, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Pour in just enough chicken broth to cover breasts add 1/ 2 chopped onion cover and cook on low/medium heat about 30 minutes until no longer pink inside.

While chicken is cooking mix together the following for your Pico Di Gallo and refrigerate:
2 or 3 chopped tomatoes
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro stems removed
1 jalapeno (the more seeds you leave in, the hotter it will be)

Once the chicken is done I throw out the cooking water as it has too much fat for me (actually I share the love and add it to the dogs food). Shred each chicken breast into bite size pieces by holding it on cutting board with a fork in your left hand and use your right to hold another fork and stab chicken and pull apart to shred.

Once it's all shredded return to pot and add about 3 stalks of chopped celery, juice from 1/2 lime and 1/2 chopped onion. Add about 6 or more cups of chicken broth and cover. Simmer on medium heat about 20 minutes while you are making your guacamole.

In another pan heat two cans of hominy

Mix the following ingredients for your guacamole:
3 avocados mashed
1 clove garlic chopped
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Juice from 1/2 lime
2 large tablespoons of your pico de gallo


Now it's time to assemble your serving line. Let each person serve themselves as they can adjust the portions of each according to their individual taste. Below is the order we spoon the goods into our bowls.

Hominy
Tortilla Soup
Shredded cheese
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Top with a couple of tortilla chips

Enjoy and if there is any left over it's even better the next day!

College 101

As we embark on a new school year many of you will be leaving home for the first time. Imagine, no one telling you what time to come home or to clean your room, brush your teeth or God forbid ask, "Where are you going"?

You will undoubtedly receive practical advice from mom and dad when you have the “going off to college talk”. You know... study hard, call home, don't drink and drive and pick your friends wisely. All good advice but there are a few additional things you should know that mom and dad might not include in the "talk". If you are a Freshman you may want to print this out and tape it on your fridge so you can refer to it often; for upper classmen hopefully you will not have violated too many of these already and a quick refresher may be in order.

GIRLS

1) NEVER under any circumstance take a picture with your cell phone that you wouldn't want your grandmother or your dad's boss to see. Trust me no matter what your guy says, it WILL be shown to his friends and it CAN end up on the Internet. If he says it’s for his private “moments” he is lying. Those are spent with Playmate of the Month pics, not you.  Note to self:

Internet = everyone in the universe can see it = forever = you will never be able to marry a Governor or a Preacher or the President.

2) Videos - Unless you are planning a career in the adult film industry don’t even think about this. (When was the last time Paris Hilton or Pamela Anderson had a steady boyfriend? Once their sex tapes where made public even their prospects were reduced!) See rule #1

3) Attire - Mom is no longer monitoring the amount of clothing you wear and it will be tempting to go all Beyonce here. Let’s try not to get too carried away. A little cleavage is sexy; butt cracks are not.

4) If you are not ready to have sex with a guy then stay away from the area below his waist and above his thigh. Any activity you participate in which involves this area is considered sex. If he tells you otherwise he lying. President Clinton was wrong; a penis in your mouth IS considered sex. Why do you think they call it oral sex?  Sorry guys but it's time someone told them the truth. They will have daughters some day and they need to know this. 

5) This one is important, pay attention. A roofie is not the guy who put new shingles on your parent’s house. It is a drug that is slipped into your drink by a guy who can’t get laid by any means other than drugging unsuspecting girls. Yes it happens to people like you. Never leave your drink unattended or accept a drink from someone you don’t know well.

Guys

1)    Clean out your car before picking her up for a date. No need to overkill with the Armor All on the dashboard, just remove the books, dirty socks and Whataburger leftovers. A little insight to how our mind works:  Clean car = responsible guy, nice family, bright future, we’ll have a house in the suburbs, marriage material = let’s have fun tonight.   Trashy car = mama’s boy, dad’s in prison, trailer park in the future, I’ll have to work 2 jobs = feed me and take me home.

2)    Condom’s – Always use them, no exceptions. Regardless of what the media portrays; people in Third World Countries and homosexuals are not the only ones who get Aids. College kids in America can and do, lots of them.

3)    It will be tempting to skip class from time to time in order to participate in a HALO or WOW tournament. But be careful here as video games are like crack. One day turns into 2 weeks and the next thing you know a whole semester is gone and you have only attended class 6 times. There is no place on a job application to list your HALO ranking or number of kills. No one over 25 cares, least of all your parents.

4)    Do not take your clothes home to your mother to wash. Sounds cute, looks bad. It’s simple really: dark jeans, underwear and shirts can be washed together on warm water with cold rinse. White clothes together on warm wash cold rinse, only use the bleach if everything is white.   Towels and socks together on warm wash/warm rinse. (Washing towels or socks with dark t-shirts leaves all those little fuzzies on your shirts) Anything that might shrink or anything with bright colors that might bleed wash on cold and hang to dry. You are in college I know you can do this.

5)    Putting a roofie in a girls drink to “loosen” her up so she will have sex with you is not harmless, funny or cool. It is a felony. It is rape. If you can’t comprehend how traumatic rape is don’t fret, as your first week at Leavenworth Penitentiary will solve that problem.

Girls and Guys

            I am sure you have already been told this but I feel it bears repeating hopefully impressing upon you the seriousness of this simple task. Call home, really. Just dial; tell them you are doing great and just called to check in and let them know you miss them. Do not ask for money on every call, they will expect it. Try and grasp this concept. When you don’t call your girlfriend/boyfriend they just get irritated. Don’t call your mom and she’s devastated. We may not tell you but trust me; we created you, we live for you, we would kill to protect you. It’s just a phone call; make it.

            And finally don’t forget to have fun, make friends, learn something and enjoy. Most people will tell you their college years were some of the best years of their life. You have worked hard to get here and you will have to work hard to stay but the pay off is worth it. Now go out and create some great memories and a bright future!

xxx

Mother

                                                                                                                                    

What's a Mother to do on a Friday night?

Well the bad news is the boy is 17 and no longer wants to hang at home on the weekends with his mama when his daddy goes out on the road. If he is not playing guitar with Mr. H then he is somewhere out there doing whatever 17 year old kids do these days. Don't want to think too long on that one...
So Mother Hubbard has been spending a lot of time at home on the weekends all by my damn lonesome. Not sure what to do with myself when the house is empty. Choices are: A)organize Mr. Hubbard's sock drawer or B)work on answering or filing the 1,100 plus emails lurking in my inbox which seem to multiply faster than I can hit the delete button. Hint:There is no C. But damn I am the President of a record label...Clive Davis probaby isn't working on weekends. I bet Mr. Beyonce's daddy Knowles isn't agonizing over some P & L sheet on Friday night so I shouldn't have to work either. But I am bored. I tried gardening..killed everything. Bought more, killed it too. You have to be consistent with the watering thing. Tried sewing and well that went well till I sewed my finger last weekend cause I was driving the sewing machine thing to fast. Hurt like a sonofabitch. Plus it's boring to sit home like some Betsy Ross old lady and sew by myself. Before I settled down my wild ways many years ago I was thinking about joining the Convent and becoming a nun cuz I figured it would keep me out of trouble. But checked into it and realized solitude is not a virtue I do well with so I got a job selling and repoing cars instead. Well that is where I find myself again. At a crossroads. Not much for hanging in the honky tonks by myself...that is kinda creepy; so that is out. Well I am open to some suggestions...

Hey...here's a thought; how about if I become a professional designated driver! Since I don't drink any more but still like to go see a live show now and again and when Mr. H is home he isn't one to go to a honky tonk unless his name is on the marquis. I can understand that I guess. But every once in a while a girl wants to go out and smell stale cigarettes and watch a good band. I was diagnosed as a teenager with neon poisoning. That means when the neon lights go it is wired in your DNA to be in a honky tonk. Can't help yourself.   So I could put an ad maybe on Craigslist and be Mother Hubbard-Designated Driver or Mother Hubbard's Pub Crawl. I would be cheaper than a cab and know where all the good venues are...hell I even know how to go in the back door at most of them. I am old enough to be most peoples mom so I would not be mistaken for someone's date so wouldn't cramp the guys style if I was DD for guys. If I was driving a bunch of girls then I could teach them some of my old work the room "secrets". It sounds like a win, win situation for everyone. So let me know what you think!

But in the mean time until I get some Designated Driver gigs, I am going to go find some cool new music on a few of my favorite blogs and post it here so we can broaden our musical minds together.

Tonight we landed at Saving Country Music. I like the fact that Triggerman over there seems to find so many bands that I never heard of...meaning they aren't on every other blog or music biz online mag I read every day which could mean either they can't afford a high priced publicist to get them strategically placed in the viral outerspace of coveted ink which can be a good thing because it usually means they are new and there is something so organic about that. It gives me warm fuzzies to hear new music with grit and soul and don't give a shit if I ever get a beer commercial honesty. It makes Mother happy. So cruisin on Save Country Music I saw a name I have wanted to check out for a couple months and dove right in. Lucky Tubb. Now Lucky is a Texan and I know a lot of you out there probably think we are all cozy like bugs in a rug and know each other and go drink from the same koolaid fountain every night before bed but that is not entirely the case. Not sure where this kid has been hiding or how long he has been out there but I met him a couple of months ago over at Lone Star Music in Gruene when I was dropping off some CD's of Mr.H for them to sell. (Yea, I do that). Well I walked in and there was this kinda scraggly looking youngish darling guy dropping off merch to sell also and he kinda reminded me of a young Mr. Hubbard...ya know "total gun toting, cigarette smoking, cuban heel cowboy boot wearing, tequila drinking, bad boy; but with polite manners and a souther drawl and so cute I just wanted to take him down to the taxidermy and have him stuffed so I could put him on a shelf in my living room. Ya with me...? Well we introduced ourselves and hugged like long lost cousins because that is what Texans do and started telling road stories and laughing, cussin and entertaining the fine folks at Lone Star Music. Nothing calculated or branded about this one. He has gypsy traveling music man in his bones. So you would think with a intro like that I would have put his CD in the car and checked it out on the way home but the CD player in the jeep is broken and when I got home stuff starts pulling from 9 directions and I never followed up on it. Well all I gotta say is my bad. He is everything he looks like he is gonna be and doesn't disappoint one bit. But don't take my word for it go here and listen and decide for your own self. Would love to hear what you think once you do.

You can go straight to Lone Star Music or to his myspace page to check out his music and  while you are listening go back over to Saving Country Music and read all about him. I am digging Damn the Luck, Not At All, West, Lonesome Cowboy and Used Up Love. His music reminds me of the old Merle, kinda Conway country that makes you want to go down to the nearest VFW and grab one of those old leather faced cowboys with a frisbee sized belt buckle that doesn't talk except to say ma'am cause those are the ones that have been two stepping since they were ten and know their way around a dance floor.
 I'm feeling lucky finding this one.

XXX
Mother

How you supposed to compete with a dead guy?

Johnny Cash is putting out a record. Great. There goes our spot on the Americana Chart. Again. Now I certainly don't want to disrespect the departed nor do I have anything against Johnny Cash. Loved his music all my life. Met him once on Waylon's bus after a Highwaymen show. Listened to him and Willie talk about cooking rice recipes in the microwave on a tour bus. Pretty surreal...but anyway it seems that first Townes, now Johnny still come out with a new record every couple of years. The dilemma I see is that all the artists who are out here schlepping around amps from one city to the next and writing new songs are vying for the same spot on the ever so coveted Americana Chart not to mention the new Americana Grammy category.

Seems like there should be a sub-category in each genre for that. Like maybe: A.Living B. Not living (Hint: There is no C).
Just a thought.

What do you think you're doing?

Ask Mother Hubbard is the alter ego of me, Judy Hubbard, wife of singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard. It began in 2007 when Lone Star Music Magazine asked me to write a monthly column in their magazine. Not being the write a monthly column kind of gal I suggested that maybe an advice column would be more my style since I often seem to think I can manage everyone's life. (Mr. Hubbard told me once that I should just apply for the job of Queen.) Anyway, my alligator mouth once again overloaded my jaybird legs; they didn't realize I was just kidding and "Ask Mother Hubbard" was born. Since I have managed Mr. Hubbard's music career for over 20 years the majority of questions were regarding the music business. Then a few boyfriend dilemmas crept in, a roomate problem, loud dogs barking next door, and...well you get the idea.

Fast forward to 2010. The kind folks over at Dickson Productions (you know Steamboat MusicFest, CCR Cruise, Ski Jam) decided to expand their twice a year MusicFest Magazine to six issues a year and invited me to bring "Ask Mother Hubbard" on board. The new “MY” MusicFest Magazine which will launch in March 2010 will be dedicated exclusively to genuine music, the artists that create it, and the community that embraces it.
Issues of the publication will include feature articles written by artists, current CD releases and reviews, the latest news and updates from the genuine music community, and also industry reports, in-depth stories on your favorite songwriters and performers, plus festival and event reviews, information on classic venues, plus accolades.

"Ask Mother Hubbard" will answer your questions as well as include a recipe in each issue. I would love to hear from you so don't be shy. If I don't know the answer I'll find out or make up one. The only rule is that you know that I know that I am not an expert at anything. I do know that laughter is the best medicine and hope you find a chuckle or two while visiting.
XXX
Mother