Lily and Maria

It was so fun to see Lily and Rachel a couple of weeks. Lily is getting so big and grown up. She was walking all over the place. She and Maria were playing with a toy and Lily kept saying things to Maria as if she was teaching her how to use it... it was so cute!!!
Here is the only picture I got of them together:

We decided to put Lil's in the swing to see if she'd like it.... thinking that she'd be fighting to get out... but she didn't, she rather enjoyed it.

So much so that she zonked out for nearly an hour!!

We're looking forward to when we can all get together again.

Fish Tacos

Ok.... this is a family favorite, but there are SO many different ways to prepare it. Also, it's not a picky dish, if you don't have something in the house you can easily substitute something else.

Fish Tacos

Tortillas:
you can use either corn or flour. if we have corn that's generally my first choice to use for fish tacos.... i think it's more authentic that way.

Filling:
this consists of 3-4 things: fish, sauce, salsa, salad.
Fish: easiest way is to throw a couple of fish sticks in the microwave, but that doesn't generally taste the best. if i do use fish stick, baking them so they're nice and crispy is best. or you can make your own fried fish. or if you want to do it a little healthier, (and this is what i generally do because it is quick and pretty inexpensive) is you can get your own fish (i generally use a white fish, tilapia or cod, but really you could experiment with any kind of fish) and then prepare what i call scrambled fish: in a frying pan put a couple teaspoons of oil or butter. add a clove of minced garlic, let the garlic cook about a minute and then add your fish. as the fish cooks let it break apart into small chunks. season with salt and pepper.
Sauce: Mayonaise and tabasco. Use as much or as little tabasco as you want to get the desired heat. I don't use a lot in mine (sometimes none at all) but husband normally likes it so hot that he sweats.
Salsa: I just use my pico de gallo.... you can find the recipe here.
Salad: I use either shredded lettuce or cabbage... and if i don't have either, no biggie, i'll leave it out. but it does add some nice texture.

Caramel Popcorn

This is the easiest caramel popcorn recipe ever. I had an old roomate that I got this from. Her family would make this and play cards Sunday afternoon. It was a great tradition.

Caramel Popcorn

3 gallons of popped popcorn
2 c packed brown sugar
1 c caro syrup
1 cube butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Combine brown sugar and caro syrup in a pot and bring to a boil. Add butter and cook until butter melts and mixture boils again. Add sweetened condensed milk, bring to a boil, cook to soft ball stage. Pour over popcorn, stir well and serve.

Excuses, excuses...

that's all i have for not posting lately...

-i've been sick... had a nasty little bug, but all is better now.

-i got a job... translating spanish/english for parent teacher conferences. its really cool, my first two conferences were no-shows, which was sad, but the next day i had three and it was so fun to use my spanish in a helpful way!!

-maria's first tooth is coming in... and she is a tired little cranky girl who wants to be appeased all the time. yet i do have to admit that sometimes she is just this happy little baby that gives the biggest smiles, which is so great, but then at the drop of a hat she'll be crying her pretty little eyes out for what seems like no reason at all, but in all reality there is a reason and the only way she can vocalize it to me is thru screaming her head off.... oh yay... only, what is it, 36(?) more to go.

-family came to visit (hi rach & lils) and it's harder to post when family here because i want to spend time with them, and this was such a short visit, and i had to "work" one afternoon. i hate short visits. we didn't really have much time to do much of anything.... but we did check out the new sonic in ferndale... it was yummy.

-i've been trying to get some editing of photos done and posted... did a couple of photoshoots last week, it was so exciting and i had a great time.... there is still so much for me to learn and experiment with, it's great to be learning something new!! i finally got those done earlier this morning you can check it out here.

-the bathroom really needed to be cleaned, and the laundry really needed to be done, and for some reason they took priority over blogging.


i can't think of any other excuses, and i'm not going to give any promises that i'll be updating with any regularity, but do i ever do that? we've got some travel plans in the semi-near future that i'm really excited about. i'll post more info about that when i know more info.

lets see here... what else can i write. i'm working on painting chairs. one is going to be a distressed yellow chair and another is outer-spacey. i still haven't finished the quilt i started about a year ago... but i am making progress, the majority of the front is together... it's this really cool puzzle-ish design. i'm reading "the reader" and "slumdog millionaire". i finished "the historian" and "the pilot's wife". i enjoyed "the historian", it was all about dracula and vlad the impailer... not exactly a "feel good" book, but it was long, and i finished it; so that's a good sign. funny thing about "the pilot's wife"... forever i thought it was about the wife of pontius pilate. obviously i didn't take a good look at the title.

well. that's it for now. i'm going to take a tylenol (i've got a headache) and maybe do a little reading. "the reader" is a library book so i should get that one done so i can return it.

The Butler Children

While Kristen was in town visiting her family I had the opportunity to do a little photoshoot with her beautiful children. Here are some of my favorites...

Ashmore Family

Sorry for the delay on this one... I caught a nasty bug and then my daughter's got a tooth coming in do she wants to be held all the time!! But here we are, the beautiful Ashmore family!!



Here is beautiful happy Adelle:






Here's Braxton... he's a stud!!






Here's Carson, their cousin... He's got these beautiful eyes!! (PS. Lesha- I didn't get many shots of Carson, but I'd love to take some more if you're interested)

Honey, Mustard, and Rosemary Pork Roast

Honey, Mustard and Rosemary Pork Roast

3/4 c beer
1/2 c dijon mustard
6 Tbsp honey
1/4 c olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (1 Tbsp dried)
2 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 lb boneless pork roast
1/2 c whipping cream

Wisk first 6 ingredients to blend in a glass bowl. Add pork and turn to coat. Let stand at room temp. 1 hour or cover and refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350. Transfer pork to roasting pan and reserve marinade. roast until thermometer inserted into center reaches 150 (abt 55 minutes) Let stand 15 minutes. Strain marinade into sauce pan. add cream and juices from roasting pan. Boil sauce until reduced to 1 1/2 cups (abt 15 minutes) Season with salt and pepper.

Sneak Peek : A, B, & C

I did a family picture for these people today and got a few shots of A, B, & C while I was there.... I couldn't help but post one of each of these adorable children!

Here's A:


And her brother B:


And their cousin C:

Maria mini session

I think she's just so adorable!! I'm so surprised that her eyes are staying blue!!

Time Out For Women

For Christmas my uncle got a bunch of us ladies in the family tickets to TO4W. So, last Friday a few of my aunts, my cousin Dawn, my mom and I ventured down to Seattle...



Here are some highlights from the trip:

-shoe shopping
-clothes shopping
-walking around downtown Seattle
-dinner at the Cheesecake Factory
-Dawn hitting on Steve (one of the ushers at the event)
-our hotel
-walking to our hotel (we were walking and one man said to another he was passing "... hey man- Smile!!" and he replied "give me a dolla' and I'll smile!!" it was funny)
-missing Maria and crying
-wonderful uplifting talks (Kris Belcher is SO funny!! there is no reason a blind person should teach their children sign language)
-sourdough bread from Pikes Place Market
-being waitresses (the lunch restaurant was a little understaffed.... so we got our water.... and the water for about 20 other women (that I'm assuming were from our event)... fun and spontaneous!!)
-hanging out with family
-chocolate
-appreciating the joys of being a woman
-getting really cool tote bags

I had a really good time (although I do have to admit that I was glad to be home... back to my baby (and husband) and in my own bed once again. I'm looking forward to more trips with the girls!!

While we were there I wanted to take advantage of some of the amazing locations that we found... we didn't have much time but here's one of Aunt Odette, Dawn, & Mom.... one of just Odette, and one of just Dawn...

Pork Chops in Sour Cream Sauce

Pork Chops in Sour Cream Sauce

1 Tbsp olive oil
6 pork chops
1 c water
1/2 medium onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 cube beef bullion
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c ketchup
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 c water
1/2 c sour cream

Brown pork chops in olive oil. Add water, onions, garlic, and bullion. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Remove pork chops and set aside. Add brown sugar and ketchup to onion mixture. Mix together and cook on medium high for 1-2 minutes (add extra water if needed). In a small bowl combine flour and water. Slowly add to ketchup mixture. Cook until thickened. Add sour cream and remove from heat. Add pork chops and turn to coat. Serve with rice.

Seattle (Virginia Mason & Pikes Place)

Yesterday (Friday) Marco, Maria, and I joined my parents on a little excursion to Seattle. We started the day off way to early and were on the road at 5:07 am. My Dad had an appointment at Virginia Mason, so we stopped there first, and then afterward headed over to Pikes Place Market.

Marco, Maria & Mom getting ready to cross the street:

Some of the beautiful produce they've got there:


My dad and his nummy eclair:


Check out those lobster tails and shrimp!! They're HUGE!!

My mom carried Maria in the Moby so I could take pictures:



And when she and Maria both wanted to have a treat my dad helped... there's nothing like teamwork:

It was an absolutely beautiful day. It was a tad bit on the cold side (notice we're all wearing jackets), but the sun was out and shining, and we could see all the way over to the Olympic Peninsula. Here's a pic of Marco with Safeco field in the background:

On this little lookout thing there were a couple of totem poles. I am NO expert on Native American totem poles so I have no idea what they mean, but it lookes like one of the pole carvers was lazy and didn't finish the job... we laughed a little at that (knowing that it's not true):


We stopped in a little market and saw these colorful pasta.... I wonder what kind of a sauce you'd serve these with:

I saw these chairs and just had to take a picture. No real reason, I just thought they were pretty:


Another post with no pictures of me... I can't say that I'm too incredibly sorry about that.... I prefer to be on the picture taking end of things. I'll see about trying to get in at least one of the pictures next time though.

Beef Stew

Beef Stew

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs stew meat (1" pieces)
2 c flour
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
2 c sliced mushroomos
3 c beef stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 lb new potatoes diced
1 c diced carrots
1 c diced onion (or frozen pearl onions)
1/2 c frozen peas
4 fresh thyme sprigs
4 fresh oregano sprigs
4 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves

In a medium bowl combine flour. pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, and salt. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Dredge meat in flour mixture and brown in olive oil. Remove from heat and place in a large pot. Add 1 c stock to skillet and scrape all the goodies off the bottom. Add thyme, oregano, rosemary and bay leaves. Pour mixture into pot with meat. Add mushrooms remaining stock and tomato paste. Cover and simmer 2-3 hours. Remove bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and rosemary sprigs. Add potatoes, carrots and onion. Cook for an additional 20 minutes. Add frozen peas during last minute of cooking. Serve hot with homemade bread.

Maria's first photo shoot...

Actually, it wasn't so much a photo shoot. But, I did take the time to set up a little bit. What I normally do is take out the camera and shoot. Today I got out a piece of material (and even ironed it) and draped it over a chair, looked at where the light was coming in for placement and then put Maria where she needed to go. I didn't take many pictures... maybe a dozen, but I thought these two turned out pretty good. Next time I'll take more pictures, and maybe I'll even dress her up all cute so you can tell that she's a girl!!

Brussel Sprouts

This is my Mom's favorite recipe, well maybe not .... but it is her favorite way to cook brussel sprouts.

Brussel Sprouts

1 tsp olive oil
1 c chopped red onion (if we don't have red we'll use yellow)
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin (we just use the minced stuff that we have on hand... but fresh is better)
8 c brussel sprouts sliced
1/2 c chicken broth
1 tsp sugar
8 tsp chopped pecans toasted (oven @ 350 for ~5 min)

Heat oil. Saute onion and garlic for 4 minutes until lightly browned. Add brussel spourts and saute 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and sugar, cook 5 minutes stirring frequently. Sprinkle with pecans.

Pollo Loco

Crazy chicken. This was one of Marco and my favorite meals from a restaurant back in Raleigh. It's not exact, but it's the closest thing.

Pollo Loco

4 chicken breasts, fillet and pound flat
juice from 1 lemon
juice from 1 large orange
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp worchestershire sauce
3/4 c chili sauce (I substitute ketchup with a LOT of chili powder)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1 dash tobasco sauce
2 Tbsp oil

Wisk all ingredients together and marinade 4-24 hours. Grill on medium high, 6-8 minutes each side. Serve with spanish rice, pico de gallo, and a salad.

This also makes a great freezer meal.... prepare the chicken, throw together the marinade. Place it all in a plastic bag and throw it in the freezer... it marinades as it thaws.