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I was a confused eight-year-old kid, in my third school that year for third grade. We had left snowy, rural farm country. Our new home was the crowded Mexican neighborhood of East Los Angeles . We were instantly immersed in a foreign culture, amid a sea of strangers.

There was one constant that remained. We were a family who liked to eat, and there was plenty of interesting food. I was fascinated by the mysterious things at the little Mexican restaurants and grocery stores that surrounded us.

Saturdays meant grocery shopping. I would watch in awe as the women patted out endless stacks of corn tortillas, and we kids were mesmerized by the blank stares of dozens of goat heads. We would buy all the normal things, but there was also fresh chorizo to be scrambled with eggs, dozens of still warm tortillas, containers of freshly made menudo, and searingly hot salsas.

Afterwards, we'd head for our favorite local restaurant. My standard order quickly became chiles rellenos. That translates simply as stuffed peppers, but it was nothing like the stuffed bell peppers I knew. These were rich and comforting, exotic and enticing!

I still feel that way, and the perfect chile relleno has become my constant quest, a search for that nostalgic blend of ingredients, smells and textures that transports me back to the Los Angeles of my childhood.

For this recipe, you'll need 9 poblano or pasilla chiles, the heart-shaped, darkish chiles, nice fat ones. Choose shiny skinned, plump fruits, as fresh as you can get them. (You can use canned whole Anaheim chiles if you can't find the fresh ones, or you don't want to go through the whole roasting and peeling process.)

You'll also need 4 eggs, separated, all purpose flour, a finely diced white onion, some ground cumin, a large can of diced tomatoes in juice, a bunch of cilantro (Chinese parsley), and enough corn oil to maintain a 2 inch level for frying the battered chiles.

A pound of smoothly melting white cheese is required. You can use Monterey jack cheese, but try to find a Mexican melting cheese. If you can find Queso Asadero, you've struck gold. Its tangy, rich flavor is the perfect complement to the rounded, deep flavor of the chiles poblanos. You'll need three green onions. If you can find cotija cheese, grab 1/4 pound of that, too. Otherwise, you'll need an additional 1/4 pound of your melting cheese. Set out all the ingredients to allow them to come to room temperature.

Start by roasting the chiles in the broiler, on a cookie sheet, until

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