Lessons from 2011

In the past year I may have experienced every positive human emotion. Gratitude, when I realized my neighbors watched for Lesli and me, by shoveling after the snow. Awestruck surprise, when Daisy invited me and two other ladies into her personal kitchen for an unforgettable cooking lesson. Pride, when I received the dean’s award. Joy, when Arthur asked me to marry him.

It would seem my heart has overflowed with all good emotions. Honestly, last year when I was watching the confetti drop on Times Square I never expected any of this. As 2011 comes to a close, this photo (snapped when I stepped away from the table during a dinner outing with Daisy) seems most appropriate.

Cherish Live Dream Lesson 2011

Cherish Yesterday – Live Today – Dream Tomorrow

As I think of 2012 I will be completing my degree and taking a walk to the altar. I look forward to more good things as the year starts in a few hours. I look forward to becoming a wife, and making a start as a family. What do you have happening in 2012?

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Another New Beginning

You may have seen my update on Facebook or Twitter:

It’s not Christmas but Arthur gave me something sparkly.

After Thanksgiving dinner, while the rest of the family lounged over dessert, Arthur suggested we move to the living room. He gave me a beautiful engagement ring, which made me lose my breath and giggle like a little girl. I ran to the dining room and flashed the ring. The adults refused to believe it until Arthur proposed loud enough for them to hear. We all hugged, some of us got emotional. We all floated away from the table happy and excited. I later learned, Arthur had Lesli approve the ring before presenting it to me.

The next morning it started to hit me. I AM GETTING MARRIED! I have to plan a wedding. Correction, we have to plan a wedding. I have to juggle my work schedule while finishing this semester, then Spring 2012, at least, before becoming Arthur’s wife (or as Latinos say, la señora de Arturo). Add in Arthur’s work schedule and we have a lot to coordinate while planning for the joyous event.

There are so many things to be planned, purchased, paid for, positioned. Every time I turn around it seems another item is added to the list.

So far we have decided a few things:

• Ceremony location – the place where we met.
• Colors – ocean and sand (shush, it’s better than blush and bashful in Steel Magnolias).
• Theme – tropical, beach, relaxed.
• Wedding date – early summer, after school ends for me and the children we want in the procession.

Invitations and printed items are still to be decided. Call me a digital bride, I fail to understand the need for tissue over the invitation. I also wonder about response cards. So many people call, text or email with questions. Enclosing these extras with the invitation seems a bit unnecessary unless the menu has choices like beef, chicken or fish. Which leads me to:

The reception menu is still to be decided. So far we know we want to share our favorite foods. We both enjoy sushi, barbecue, pasta, rice, seafood, pastries, cakes, you name it. This also leads to another sticky point:

We will not serve liquor during our reception, except perhaps for the toast.

As I mentioned above, so many things I never considered are now becoming important. What seems most important right this minute is to practice the following phrase, maybe use it two times a day during the planning and decision time:

I need to check with Arthur on that.

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Spotted While Walking 3 – Wordfilled Wednesday

*Hi everyone – I’m encouraging Lesli to write more often, especially when she notices unusual things. Below is what she told me about her walk home, on a warm day. She wrote it herself. Since Lesli was not directly involved in the incident, she included a photo of the tree, not the person.*

Not very long ago – a couple weeks at most – I was walking home from school when I made a quick decision to take the long way home (the weather was perfect for the park, I was late anyway..) I spotted a man, in his 50s or 60s, sitting on a picnic blanket under a tree.

He was talking to himself so I thought he was just another crazy. I walked by slowly. As I was walking past, I saw him searching for something. Just to be polite, I asked, “Do you need something? Can I help you?” He blinked  at me. “I was just looking for my paper towels. I made a mess of my dinner.” I peeked over his shoulder to see overturned marinara sauce and an urn. I looked questioningly at the urn, and he noticed the expression on my face. “Today is the one year anniversary of my wife’s death. She loved coming to this lake and watching the ducks swim past. After dinner, I’m going to put some of her ashes into the lake with the ducks.”

This was way more information than I ever wanted to know about a stranger in the park, but I was kind of glad that he shared his story with me. How do you remember your loved ones that have passed away?

 

Walking Past Tree

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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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