By October 2027. The season is 6-0 and on track for another championship run. The program is doing what well-built programs do: it's producing without requiring constant external input. My assistants lead their position groups with autonomy. The culture runs itself because the players carry it. I'm navigating at the level of strategy rather than execution, which is where a head coach should be ten years in. The work I'm doing now is different from the work I was doing in year one. Both are necessary. Only one of them is available to a coach who's been building long enough.
Hector had a hard week. The fluid retention is back with more persistence than before. Clara and Marisol are managing the medications but Marisol called on Thursday with a tremble in her voice I haven't heard before — not panic, just the sound of someone whose reserves are running low. I told her I'd come down in two weeks. She said that would help. I'll come down in two weeks.
Diego had his best NFL game yet: 98 yards, a touchdown, named offensive player of the week in his conference. He called me the next morning. The call lasted an hour. He wanted to analyze the film — his own film — play by play. I had watched it already. I had three pages of notes. We went through every carry. He's learning the professional game from the inside out, the way you can only learn it by being in it. His football intelligence, which was formed here and refined in college, is fully deployed at the level where it has always been heading. I could hear it in the way he talked about the third-down conversion. He saw the linebacker before the snap. He always saw the linebacker before the snap.
Made birria this week. The long version. Good for October.
I had planned on making birria — the long version, the way it deserves to be done in October — but Thursday’s call from Marisol took something out of me, and by the time the weekend arrived I didn’t have the patience for a braise. What I needed was something I could put together without having to think too hard, something that still felt intentional. These roll-ups are exactly that: a few good ingredients, a sharp knife, and ten minutes, and you’ve made something worth eating. Sometimes the week calls for that instead.
Ranch Tortilla Roll-Ups
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min (plus 1 hr chill) | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 packet (1 oz) ranch dressing mix
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 4 large flour tortillas (10-inch)
Instructions
- Make the filling. In a medium bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and sour cream until smooth and well combined.
- Add the mix-ins. Fold in the shredded cheddar, diced red bell pepper, sliced olives, and green onions until evenly distributed throughout the filling.
- Spread and roll. Lay a flour tortilla flat on a clean surface and spread an even layer of the filling across the entire surface, going nearly to the edges. Roll the tortilla tightly into a log. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- Chill. Wrap each roll tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight, to help them hold their shape when sliced.
- Slice and serve. Unwrap the chilled rolls and use a sharp knife to cut each one into 1-inch rounds. Arrange cut-side up on a platter and serve cold.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 280 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 21g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 520mg