The Great Tomatillo Search of 2013

I got this slow cooker cook book for my birthday in November, and the beauty part is I don't own a slow cooker, but this book has instructions for slow cooker and dutch ovens, which I do have.  Everything I've made from this book has been outstanding.  The one thing that I wasn't super excited about was the Italian braised short ribs, and that was because Rob got some meat with a big marrow bone in it instead of short ribs, and the result was way too rich.  The leftovers are still in the freezer and there they will stay until we no longer feel guilty and we throw them out.

Last week, I had a plan to make chili verde.  The recipe calls for 2 12 oz cans of whole tomatillos.  I started at Whole foods, where I like to buy meat. I got the pork shoulder, but they didn't have the tomatillos.  I went to 5 more supermarkets to get tomatillos, and the closest I got was a label on a shelf in the ethnic food aisle of Safeway.  I had already spent a small Whole-Foods-fortune on the pork shoulder, so I couldn't shit can the whole idea, which is what I desperately wanted to do. 

Store number 6 was a large, Latino market two towns over.  I thought this was a sure thing.  After a fruitless search (pun somewhat intentional) I grabbed the manager who told me that whole, prepared tomatillos were kind of rare. 

Why, Williams Sonoma, do you include an ingredient in your recipe that does not exist?  Why would you do this to me?  To the world? 

The manager said I should just use fresh tomatillos, and lead me over to them since I didn't know what they looked like.  He instructed me how to peel them, wash them, blanch them, and put them in a blender.  Then he loaded me up with a pound and a half of them and sent me on my way. 

I guess its too late to make a long story short, but I followed his instructions, and you know what?  So easy, no problem, and the chili verde was fantastic. 

I'm not sure this whole thing was worth writing about.  Its not really that interesting.  It seemed like it would be when I was driving all over the place looking for tomatillos, but now that I'm reading over, meh.  Can't win 'em all.