I LOVE MAY!

hello friends

this is by far my favorite month, with august and december coming in close seconds. as always, a lot but not has transpired in the last month. it's been a busy 2 months for me actually - ladybug was in a play and talent show; i hosted our family's Easter dinner and threw it together at the LAST minute; and then had a few rounds of chemo, of which i'm just finishing up, and now getting ready for vacation which we leave for in exactly one week. whew!

so where do i begin? i'll start with ladybug since so many have been looking for pictures. so here they are. and ladybug was AMAZING! she had a major part in her schools production of "Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as Fenris Ulf the queens (witch) trusty captain. she practically stole the show and i'm not being prejudice (i promise, lol!). we had a small party for her between shows on saturday where the whole family and tons of friends came; juans family even flew out from atlanta - it was just a wonderful day full of love, laughter, and food.... and i was exhausted. then i started chemo the following week, but not before her solo performance in the schools talent show! i can't wait til the school year's over!

** as i go to upload ladybug's pictures, i see that i don't actually have any of her!! juan only took video!! stay tuned i will update this with her pics tomorrow ** 

next up is our vacation. heading to atlanta for a nice break. will be surprising ladybug with a quick trip to disneyworld. i can't wait, we need a vacay so bad. it was around the holidays when i realized that we've never taken a family vacation before - ever! we've done tons of trips all related to track, and yes, we go to atlanta every year, but that's our second home - literally. that's not a vacation.

i'm so glad the valley is so close

i just adore him.

so pretty

the day my chemo quarantine ended (last saturday), juan was thoughtful enough to whisk me off to the napa valley (yountville/oakville/st. helena) for lunch and to hang out while ladybug was of on a play date. the weather was nice so we grabbed some sandwiches from Dean & DeLucca then headed to one of my favorite wineries, V. Sattui , and had an impromptu picnic. we had a grand time flirting, eating, and kidding around. then headed down to yountville, home of the famous The French Laundry, and grabbed some dessert at Bouchon Bakery then he took me shopping. it's a wonderful thing when you have a someone in your life who enjoys food as much as you do, but also enjoys you enjoying it, AND actually wants you to shop! jealous?

this is what all the fuss is about!

beautiful 6ft foxglove

yes, i'm still gardening and it's going well. i'm off to a late start though due to the wet cold spring we've had. i'm just now pulling out my cabbage and broccoli! i'm at the tail end of my last patch of carrots, and am about to put in my zucchini and sweet pepper starts (all from seed). my green beans (haricort verts) are coming up now, and i'll be putting in my tomatoes this weekend - roma's, sweet 100's for sure, and maybe early girls, not sure yet. i've got lots of flowers going this spring/summer too - dahlias, gladiola's, and lillies from bulbs (my first time!), and hostas, gardenias, and more bouganvillea are waiting to go in. i'm excited!

under miscellaneous is that i'm finally getting back into photography. i used to develop my own film 'back in the day', and have put up my SLR (Cannon EOS) for a bit to play with my Nikon D5100. so i'll be posting even more pics, so definitely stay tuned!

be well my friends

my new venture.... yes, another one

as you've seen from the post below... i've taken up gardening. hubby built two 3ft x 3ft raised beds that are about 16 inches deep and filled them with good old fashion organic compost - all in one day! boy do i love that man!

on moms day we went to the garden supply and nursery to pick up the things we/i needed and i got to it on monday and tuesday. i'm trying hard not make what the 'certified nursery professional' called a classic newbie mistake, by going overboard with all my plantings. i'm trying to be smart about the space i have, which is not alot, and the amount of sun i get (about 5-6 hours max), and what i want to grow/eat.

we don't have a lot of backyard space in general, but its just right for us, so i'm trying to balance the growing space with patio/entertaining space with where the sun actually is for most of the day. and it's not easy! we've been on a search for the perfect patio furniture for at least 2 years now and still no luck. i don't want to spend an arm and 2 legs, but still want something with a little flair i had no idea just how hard that would be. so now summer is fast upon our heels and we still have nothing. well, actually, we may have found a compromise at a local store. yeah, if we get that set we'd be settling, but hey, i want to actually sit out, or maybe even take a nap in my backyard this summer!!! i will have a set by the end of next week if its the last thing i do!

now, back to the veggie garden... so i'm going to try to grow -
3 types of tomatoes - sweet 100's, yellow pears, and early girls
3 kinds of summer squash - green empire zuc's, and yellow straight necks
italian bush beans (green beans)
bok choy
2 types of sweet peppers - red and green bells
collard greens
cabbage
spinach
broccoli
various salad greens - mesculin mix, romaine, red leaf
various herbs - rosemary, thyme, sage, french tarragon, genovese basil, and parsley

so what do you think? enough huh? i know! and after i plant all that, i'll still have those big wine barrels left to fill!! hmm... corn? carrots? rainbow swish chard? i'm so happy i could scream!!

be well :)

mommy's day

this is late, but i've been just too pooped, and my fingers have been too swollen and too much pain to type.

well, i do hope that all the mommies out there who deserved to have a great day for them, did. i know i did!

it began with hubby dearest getting ladybug and i up at the almost the crack of dawn - 7:30 am - he let me sleep in! we went off to breakfast, then he took me to my all time favorite kitchen/cooking store - Sur Le Table - and let me pick out several things, but most important, he 'made' me get my beloved Le Creuset!!!! i have been a crazy fiend for these pots for at least 10 years! my granny had 3 that are at least 40 years old, i just don't know what's happened to them. so, i hemmed and hawed about whether or not to get those pots til dh walked up behind me and told the sales lady that i'll take the purple ones. he said that that's why he brought me in the first place, and that he would have just done it himself only he didn't anticipate there being two different purples (purple is my favorite color), both of which he thought i'd like (he was right). i melted right then and there!

then off we headed to the nursery to get the supplies we needed for the raised bed garden that dh built for me. i was showered with cards from my brother, mother, and father, and then dinner was made for me! all and all i had a great day! here are a few pics... please enjoy!

i've got a new luvah....

take a look at him. a good look. isn't he just the mostest?! he's so sexy!! so hot! i can't barely stand it! oh yes, mama got a new luvah!

no, not him... that's my dear hubby breaking in my new baby! but he's cute too, huh? nothing like a man who knows his way around a kitchen.

anyway, i got a new stove!!! yes! major score! no, it's not the viking i wanted. it wouldn't fit and we aren't redoing the kitchen for a little while - fancy new cabinets, knobs, pulls, and a new faucet.

anyway. it's love.

be well :)

still recovering... and happy kwanzaa!

greetings and happy kwanzaa!

i hope everyone is having a very wonderful and safe holiday season.


whew! i've had a very busy week and i've been so exhausted, but am recovering. it all began with ladybugs school christmas program, then i had to make and decorate tons of cookies for her class party. i rested for a couple of days before i realized that i had not realized that christmas was just a few days away! oh dear!! i had to get back to baking again. lots more cookies - my jelly rolls, lemony lemon shortbreads, and chocolate truffles. oh yeah, and what were we gonna have for christmas dinner..?? uhg.


well, here are a few pic's of my holiday week. i'll try to add captions. one quick note.. ladybug has discovered barbie. yes, barbie. and is totally in love. now, i've always had barbie issues - back in te day 'black barbie' didn't look like me. where i grew up all the hispanics bought 'black barbie' because thats what she looked like. i guess the mattel just took the regular white barbie and spray painted her tan, and that was it. and hubby is totally against the girl. i mean like she's the anti christ. but i realized that times have changed 'black barbie', she now looks like an african american. she looks like my girlfrinds, women i went to school with, colleagues. hell... me! so, i tried to convince hubby that we shouldn't deny our child this rite of girlhood. that we (he!) needed to unpack that baggage, and get over it. well, actually, i didn't try to convince him of anything. i didn't give a damn what he thought about it anymore. my baby was to have a barbie! and my baby got a barbie. her barbie. and the picture here doesn't even come close to doing justice the look on her face when she opened that present. ahh... satisfaction. love. i'm a mommy.



oh, and for dinner we wound up having a wonderful beef roast with rosemary, tyme, and garlic braised in red wine and beef broth, with fresh green beans carmelized with shallots and garlic, along with my potatoe gratin. heaven!

enjoy!

ps.... i don't want to see another damn cookie for at least, hmmm.... a week or so! be well :)

pride

ladybugs track club had their annual awards banquet and she was so excited to recieve a real trophy! she could barely stand it.

what was funny was that she was torn between acting like a 'big girl', trying to be cool, like it was all in a day's play. or to just be as thrilled as she actually was - lots of giggling.

i'll be back with pics all her medals and ribbons.

be well :)

ok, finally!

hey y'all!

so, my brother fred was here for surprise visit that was the best of all best. he took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to come check on his big sis. after the last month or so i've had (surgery, the aftermath of it, and then my beloved malik) he said that he just had to check on me. look me in the eyes and know how i was. because he knows me. my god am i loved. yes.

he is a masterchef (formally trained) and is currently in management at a large grocery store chain. he LOVES it too! it was to be just a gig to help get him through school (culinary sociology degrees), and, what? 15 years later, he's still there, working like a hebrew slave, and loving it. i think it's a ministry for him really.

when i was pregnant with ladybug he flew out an average of every 2 months or so to help me keep my sanity, and help me be a bad girl, while i was on severe medical restriction. he shuttled me to the hospital everyday (for labs and tests, as i was very sick). actually, it was he who convinced me to deliver. every week my doc would plead with me to deliver. but i was in some major denial (hmmm is that when it started?). well, after the last visit with the doc, fred said in his quiet, gentle way, that it was time. i didn't even have to look at him.

and so his 'apple dumpling' (ladybug) was born. she took one look at fred and he of her. love at first sight. other than her daddy, he is the only man for her. and he is beyond crazy for her. once she came, he was here practically every month for the first 3 years!!

well, i suspect though that a big part of his coming had to do with apple dumpling as well. and that's fine. because is pleases me so very much to see the two of them together.

and have i mentioned how crazy we get about food??! OMG, when he comes out we go straight to whole foods with our menu list and loose our righteous minds after we cook up a storm. and when we're not cooking we're in 'the city' (sf) having dim sum, or berkeley's gourmet ghetto, or having local junk food like the famous 'giant burger' or zachary's pizza, or barney's burgers, or.... i could go on and on!! lol :) then we come back to my 'palace' and retire to my comfy blue sofa. he to his 'thrown away from home' which is the big chair.

most importantly, he lets me be me. and let me cook my ass off! juan has not let me set foot in my kitchen to do any serious damage for fear, his fear mind you, that i may hurt myself as i am still not quite better (that's another post). buy my fred got me proped up and turned me loose as soon as we saw juan turn the corner from the kitchen window!! i found some glorious collards, and some unique cheeses from the market and i went at it!! heaven i tell you! heaven!

i love this man who is my cousin, my brother. we have a connection that has no words to explain it. he is me, and i, he.

be well :)