Wedding planning with a “digital bride” twist

My fiancee and I are planning a summer wedding. Summer 2012. It seems so soon! Since we have different work schedules, I have gotten creative on how to discuss wedding and reception ideas. So far a few things we did:

• Create a joint wedding email account, which forwards to both of us. Then we can say: did you read that one from (insert vendor) instead of waiting until we see each other to discuss what was in the message.
• Found ribbons in “our colors” at a crafts store, then going to a home improvement store so we could get paint chip samples. This is a little more manly for when he has to choose his tuxedo and pocket square, and a lot less messy than a ribbon fraying.
• Drafted invitations online. No commitment to print or order from that vendor, but a nice image of how the words would look with different fonts and paragraph alignment.
• Use an online “inspiration board” to collect ideas. This way I avoid bookmarking websites and forgetting what I liked at each one.
• Design a virtual wedding dress online (I don’t want him to see the REAL finished product until the wedding day).

Have you found new ways to use technology for event planning? Do you have any ideas for other wedding planning shortcuts?

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Red Watch – Fashion Friday

Last night I attended an event for a video game company – separate post to come. I took the long way home, and enjoyed the feeling of summer as it should be.

I walked slowly, enjoyed the view as other people ran past, then eventually looked up and saw only space. Very few people at the bus terminal. I asked a woman if the bus had passed, she told me it had not, because she was also waiting for it. We struck up a conversation and within about three blocks I found out a little something about her family. I won’t share all that here because it was her story.

Besides, what kept my attention was her red watch. In one word, it was sparkly!  Brilliant, polished wood and beads on a stretchy band. When I said the words out loud, she said “what, this? I never had a watch for a long time, I picked this up in Mexico for $4 and now everybody loves it.”

Red Watch

This is the first of what I hope will be many Fashion Friday photos – next time we meet up I might do that whole body slow staring thing. Please remember, I’ll be admiring your outfit and accessories!

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Apple, Pecan and Gorgonzola Side Salad – Sabroso Saturday

Here we are, the end of June. Children are now home all day long, they have friends dropping by at any time of day or night – hey, school’s out for summer! Or maybe your kids are going to day camp, and need to take snacks or lunches. Whatever your situation, there’s probably travel involved.

Some moms are like Alice from the Brady Bunch, with a magical never-ending supply of snacks. Others may be more like me. I go to the kitchen, open the cabinet or refrigerator, and ask myself “what can I put with what?”

This recipe comes from www.kraftrecipes.com, where my search for “fruit salad” and “under 10 minutes” kept me busy for a while. Finally it came down to this one, with simple ingredients and an elegant, fancy presentation. This salad can be served as in the photo for a dinner with your sweetheart, prepare it in a container for a picnic – or to keep in your cooler for a family outing to the amusement park. (We all know the feeling of “HOW MUCH FOR A HOT DOG?“)

I think the most difficult part of this recipe is slicing the apples. Please be careful when working with knives! (Nutritional information is at the bottom)

Apple Pecan and Gorgonzola Side Salad from KraftRecipes

Apple, Pecan and Gorgonzola Side Salad

total time 5 min

prep 5 min

servings 4 servings

what you need

2 Granny Smith apples, sliced

2 Tbsp.  toasted PLANTERS Chopped Pecans

2 Tbsp. ATHENOS Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

1/2 cup  GOOD SEASONS Italian Dressing Mix, prepared with balsalmic vinegar

Make It

ARRANGE apples on four salad plates.
SPRINKLE with pecans and cheese.
TOP with dressing.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Serving Suggestion

A serving of this salad makes a great accompaniment to 3 oz. of cooked turkey, chicken or pork and your favorite steamed vegetable.

How to Toast Nuts

Toasting nuts adds crunch and intensifies their flavor. To toast nuts in the oven, spread nuts in single layer in shallow baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 8 to 10 min. or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. To toast nuts on the stovetop, place nuts in ungreased skillet. Cook on medium heat until golden brown, stirring frequently. To toast nuts in the microwave, place up to 1 cup of nuts in a microwaveable shallow dish. Microwave on HIGH until fragrant and crisp, stirring every 30 sec.

nutritional information per serving

Calories 210            Total fat 18 g      Saturated fat 3 g       Cholesterol 5 mg            Sodium 400 mg         Carbohydrate 12 g

Dietary fiber 2 g    Sugars 10 g          Protein 2 g         Vitamin A 0%DV       Vitamin C 6%DV     Calcium 4%DV     Iron 0%DV

This post is part of MsLatina’s Sabroso Saturday blog hop. Check in at her site for recipes from bloggers across the country, and from all corners of the internet. Sometimes they involve slow cookers for “set it and forget it”, sometimes the recipes are simple enough for kids, sometimes there are videos. Every week the recipes make me drool!

DISCLOSURE: The link “Alice from the Brady Bunch” goes to Amazon, where you can buy a book of recipes by Ann B. Davis, the actress who played Alice. If you buy the book through that link, I get a percentage of the sale.

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Sancocho 7 carnes- Sabroso Saturday

My mom is here today – she cooked rice and beans for us, which we ate with a roasted chicken from the deli section. We finished our meal a short while ago and then I remembered Sabroso Saturday. I need a recipe! She recited this from memory, making it seem easy and routine. Of course there are no measurements. This is a non-recipe, handed down from one generation to the next, because it’s so simple. It’s all about what looks good or smells good when you get to the store.

You should know, to my mom cooking is natural like breathing. For years she kicked us out of the kitchen, while she prepared a full meal for a crowd, every single day. Mami thinks nothing of making a sancocho. It’s much easier for her than making meat and potatoes, or any other food that needs a side dish. Sancocho is comfort food, one pot, one bowl. Most times, anyway.

Sancocho

This photo shows the last time Mami made a sancocho for the whole family. It was a spring day where the weather started out nice but hinted at rain.

We went out in the rain for groceries with my sister and Lesli -  after we were already on the road, the rain turned to a storm. It got so bad, the store even lost a window! Employees were running around with cardboard and planks to seal up, while we hunted for the best of everything. All of us came back home soaking wet and then the fun really started.

We had bought so much of everything, that the meats and vegetables overflowed from one pot, so Mami had to get another.

Sancocho de 7 carnes

(Stew made with 7 meats)

Ingredients

• Meat: beef, chicken, pork, guinea fowl, goat, rabbit, smoked ham (leave out any you don’t like or have)
• Vegetables: Celery, corn, green guineos, malanga, plantains, potatoes, squash, yautia, yuca (skip the sweet potatoes or anything that would go in a salad – we’re going for firm starchy vegetables)*
• Seasonings, herbs, spices: adobo, basil, bouillon cube, garlic, onion, oregano, salt, pepper
• Cilantro

Steps
Add seasonings to meats and put them in a large pot with room in it.
Cover with water, bring to a boil.
When the meat is starting to get tender (before it’s falling off the bone), lower heat to simmer and add vegetables.
When vegetables are soft and starting to crumble, the broth will start to thicken.
Add cilantro, keep on simmer for 10 to 15 minutes then turn off flame.

My favorite way to eat sancocho is over white rice, with chunks of avocado and hot sauce. We have no photos of that, because once we smell the food, everybody comes over to sneak a bowl.

*You can find lots of these in the frozen section, and sometimes even a blend of “sancocho” vegetables, but Mami says it’s better to buy them fresh. Whatever looks good, or smells good, or makes you smile when you see it in the store, that’s what you put in the sancocho.

I wrote this post as part of the Sabroso Saturday blog hop originated by MsLatina. She writes a post each week at her site – then other bloggers add links to their recipes. I would suggest grabbing note cards, stocking up on ink for your printer, because you will want to try more than one of these recipes!

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Huevos Divorciados – Sabroso Saturday

A few weeks ago I was at my friend Lety’s house. Lety is a book lover, food lover, businesswoman, mom, wife. To put it simply, a woman I admire. Did you catch that bit about book lover? The vocabulary word would be bibliophile, which I really really like to say. Lety has business books, science fiction, romance, art, biographies and my favorite: food books. Not just recipe books, but books that involve food. Sitting in Lety’s house always feels like home. Very safe and comfortable. I grab something off the shelf, ask questions, we start talking about anything or everything..

This last time at Lety’s house I spotted her book Tacos by Mark Miller. This book tells you everything about tacos. How to make them, where to to buy special ingredients, which ingredients to use when, how to fill tacos, what to serve with  tacos. As I flipped through the pages, the photos made me drool. There is even a seafood section!

The recipe that made me laugh was “huevos divorciados”, divorced eggs. In the book, they are served on separate tortillas instead of being separated by a wall of tortilla chips. But I hope you get the idea.

This is Mark Miller’s recipe, the photo below came from Wikipedia.

Huevos Divorciados

Makes 8 tacos, Serves 4 – Heat level 5 (on scale of 1 to 10)
Prep time 20 minutes

• 1 1/4 cups Green Chile Sauce (recipe in book)
• 1 1/4 cups Red Chile Sauce (recipe in book)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 large eggs
• 8 (5 1/2 inch) soft yellow corn tortillas (recipe in book) for serving
• Garnish: crumbled cooked bacon

Heat the red and green chile sauces in separate saucepans, and keep warm.

Preheat a large, heavy nonstick skillet to medium-low. Melt the butter, then add the eggs and fry sunny side up.

This is a knife and fork taco. For each serving, lay 2 warmed tortillas side by side, open face and overlapping on a plate. Top each tortilla with a fried egg. Spoon some of the red chile sauce around one egg, some green chile sauce around the other.

*NOTE* In my house, the sauces would probably come from jars. Then we would add extra spices or chiles, and use premade tortillas to make the eggs the star of the dish. Since I like my eggs pampered, coddled, over medium, any way that leaves the yolk soft enough to dip, I might occasionally do this presentation below with tortilla chips. I hope to soon make my own tortillas, maybe adding flecks of fresh chiles in the masa.

Huevos Divorciados - photo from Wikipedia

This post is part of the Sabroso Saturday blog hop originated by MsLatina. You will find links to recipes from bunches of bloggers recipes at her site – grab a napkin now, because when you start reading all the recipes you might end up licking the monitor!

DISCLOSURE: The link for the Tacos book goes to Amazon. If you buy through that link, I get a percentage of the sale.

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Best Compliment Ever

I have to clarify, best compliment ever – from a stranger. At the time it happened, the incident did not seem so important. But now that spring is turning into summer, I think back. I see boys on the street, trying desperately to catch the attention of any passing female.

• “Excuse me miss.”
• No response.
• “Hey sexy.”
• No response.
• “Hey mami.”
• No response.
• “Mami why you gotta be like that?”

I say boys, because to me these lines are not how a man would get my interest. These lines are not even the best way I can think of, to get a smile from a woman.

Picture this … Years ago, back when Lesli was shorter than me, we left home early one Saturday to meet someone at  Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey. It seemed early, anyway. I had jumped into the shower and then left the house with my hair still wet. This was no big problem though, because it was summer. The weather was warm.

I held Lesli’s hand tightly and looked around for our person. Trains and buses unloaded. People flooded the hallways. I  slowly walked backward until we were against a wall. As I spotted our person and stepped forward, someone crossed my path. A tall, distinguished looking man in a suit. He nearly brushed up against me but kept a respectable distance as he uttered one syllable. Mmmmm. As he walked away and went about his day, I didn’t turn to follow his voice. Just looked up calm and smiling. The time, place and manner in which this all happened made it the best compliment ever. Truth be told, this man may have been thinking about his lunch date but I took it as a compliment.

Since that day, Lesli has said some amazing things about my mothering skills, creativity and even my cooking. Those compliments were more significant. Still, from a man who didn’t know me, and didn’t try to “spit game” about being my Mister Right, who could ask for more?

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Miss Nonnegotiable

Here we are. The weather is getting nice. Soon you can spot me cheering or clapping for my niece or nephew at one of their many activities. And I feel like the neon sign is over me, even sitting outdoors or nowhere near an exit. You wonder why? Well, imagine me with Lesli, suddenly looking up and seeing all the happy couples. My back stiffens, in preparation. I can almost count down to the moment someone will ask: “so, do you have a boyfriend”? My easy response of “no” brings another question: “would you like to meet someone?” (yes, yes I would really like to meet someone special). Sometimes, instead of “would you like to meet someone” I get an awkward silence accompanied by the “you’re not getting any younger” look .. a raised eyebrow, eyes shifting to one side or even a pout.

Once in a while, someone will ask “are you on any dating services?” No, and I do not plan to spend the time or effort to join one. I know at least two women who found their Mister Right on dating sites. I even signed up on a dating service, way back when. What happened was, I found more frogs than princes. And I learned something about myself. The idea of getting dolled up, dressed up and worked up, then desperately trying to “be cool” is enough to make me hide under the covers. Besides, I already have a lot going on my life without a man. No need for Jerry Maguire to complete me.

Each morning I wake up to nag Lesli until she leaves get Lesli out to school, then handle my own day. As a full-time college student, student programming member, mom to a teenager, and blogger, my day can include: classes; committee meetings to plan or decorate; discussions with students, teachers, staff, administrators or vendors about campus events or extracurricular activities; social media events online, or in person at different locations; contacting public relations or marketing staff about products. And this is Monday through Friday, while Lesli is at school or at home. Saturdays we: do errands like shopping; volunteer for our community; attend church socials; or prepare for the upcoming week. Every Sunday is church. Lesli and I each serve in the nursery at least once a month. Sometimes we cook or bake for functions at church. Now that the weather is so nice, Lesli often suggests getting out of the house for a long walk together. This can be a good thing, because I wear a pedometer whenever possible, to keep from adding exercise on my to-do list.

By now you may be thinking, does she ever plan to get out there and meet Mister Right? Well, no. Mister Right needs to lace up his shoes, get out and find me. I refuse to give up any of my activities. Blogging? No time soon. If I kept every thought to myself it would not be good for my health. College? No – education is the key to my future. I plan to keep learning, even after I graduate. My work on student activities, is how I give back to the school, my classmates, the staff and administrators. My church is a source of inspiration and support. Motherhood is a rewarding duty and privilege. Mister Right will have to catch my eye and say hello. I have faith that it will happen at the right place and time.  We have not met yet because God is working on my Mister Right, and on me, so we can recognize each other.

For those who believe “be careful what you wish for” (or my version, be specific in what you ask for) here is my list. I am certain all of these items are very important. Just call me “Miss Nonnegotiable”. Take it or leave it.

1. Share my faith
2. Family man: love his parents, love me, love Lesli, be comfortable around children
3. Physically and mentally strong
4. Willing and able to work with kitchen gadgets – at least fix a salad, sandwich and brew coffee (or limeade) for himself or me
5. Kind, especially if he has to tell me that my latest Sabroso Saturday recipe creation needs to be tweaked
6. Study with me – or get out of the way when I dump textbooks, notebooks, pamphlets, brochures, samples and research all over the couch, table or floor – and leave everything just like that until I ask for help
7. Understand that sometimes I process things by talking – I ask for advice, then solve the problem on my own
8. Skilled communicator – nice speaking voice, good listener
9. At least one: philanthropist, volunteer, activist
10. Taller than me
11. Intelligent
12. Curious
13. Adventurous
14. Ambitious

Am I asking a lot? Do you have a list of nonnegotiable expectations for potential romantic partners?

DISCLOSURE: The link above for Jerry Maguire is my Amazon associates link. If you buy the movie, I get a percentage.

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Smile! It’s the Peabody Memphis Ducks

Our video from visiting a couple of years ago. If you ever come to my home, be prepared to see ducks scattered around the bathroom, living room and maybe even the kitchen.

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Point of View 4 – Wordfilled Wednesday

This weekend, Lesli and I saw someone who made us think of a loved one we lost much too soon. This left me feeling confused, and missing that person. I won’t say much about our loss. Just that it made us appreciate each day together, and made us grateful for our good health.

Monday we went out shopping and for dinner. It hit me suddenly – a post for DKMS, the Bone Marrow Donor Center. DKMS matches donors to recipients for life-saving procedures. And right now you might be wondering what does a living copy of a dead person have to do with bone marrow donation? Well, if we looked at this doppelganger experience from one point of view, I should be sad. But I’m choosing to turn it around and use it as motivation to help others.

I already registered with DKMS in 2010, and wrote a second post in the early summer of 2010. How can I convince you that this process is very, very simple and painless? Here are some images from the DKMS website. So you go to a donor drive, get swabbed, get a pin. It’s that easy.

 

Get Swabbed

OK, no donor drive near you anytime soon? You can  register online, to receive a kit in the mail. Swab your cheek at home, then mail it back. Still not complicated. Or you can help in other ways. Donate money to cover the costs in DKMS’s efforts to register bone marrow donors.

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Point of View 3 – Wordfilled Wednesday

Have I mentioned International Sundays at my church? Members of the congregation share highlights of our native countries. So far we’ve covered Puerto Rico, Korea, British Caribbean, Africa, and this past Sunday was Latino countries of Central and South America. Every week is a feast for the senses, with native costumes, music, photographs and food.

You can imagine what happens when every week brings new food. I sample everything at the buffet. Every Monday morning, the numbers creep up. A little something here, un poquito por allí, don’t forget dessert. And there are about six weeks left of International Sundays.

In order to bring the “numbers” back down, this Sunday Lesli and I walked home. We shopped at one store to pick up something she needed for school Monday morning, then somewhere else to pick up salads, then finally came home. As we came over the hill, this was the view that greeted me.

Later in the year, this view might make my eyes water from allergies. Believe me though, after eating a little each from the trays that had guineos en escabeche, papa a la huancaina, arroz con gandules, taquitos, jalapeños, tortas de res, arroz con leche (and trying to walk it off) .. this sight inspired me to hustle so I could get in and take off my shoes. It’s all about the point of view, folks.

 

spring

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