It's cold outside and people are bundling up and staying inside, doing what people do when the weather turns sour and thoughts turn indoors ... Watch sports, of course! And what's the perfect accompaniment to watching sports, besides a comfortable couch, a cozy blanket and maybe a beer? Snacks!! So I got out my trusted Top Chef Cookbook, looking for a good snack recipe - something a little different - off the beaten path from your average snack. And Harold came through for me, with his Ecuadorian Ceviche with popcorn cakes.

Making the "Tomato Water": I was excited and intrigued by this recipe because the ceviche marinade called for "tomato water." Making the tomato water was not hard - it simply required advance preparation. The recipe called for pureeing 3 large tomatoes in a food processor to obtain one cup of liquid. I found that all that was needed were 2 large tomatoes.

After pureeing them, I placed them in a mesh sieve lined with two layers of cheesecloth over a bowl, and left that in my refrigerator overnight to obtain the "tomato water" which slowly seeped through the sieve into the bowl.