I'm still here! Hope you have fun in the Valley, Carol! If Killy really wants to get healthy, he should have brown rice instead of white ;P Hey, how do we upload photos that aren't on the web? Do you know how to do the "amazing upload thing" that the boys use? I think everyone's just busy with the holidays, Carol -- talk to you after T-Day -- Hope you get lots of yummy gobble, gobble, etc.

my love has high cholesterol

So one of the things that my lovely husband learned when he was sick is that he has high cholesterol. Now he can't enjoy all the junk food he grew up on. I offered to make him some white rice with stir fried broccoli (mostly steamed) and he almost cried.
It broke my heart too, but we are both eating healthier as a result.
Last night, we had baked chicken, spinach salad, asparagus and steamed potatoes. For desert, we languished by the fireplace and enjoyed some cholesterol free white cake with mexican hot chocolate with skim milk, yummm, and watched Terminator 3.

I love winter. I wish it was cold longer here. This way I could justify investing in some really nice and fun sweaters and coats.
But no luck.
Texas can be so drab.....

THANKSGIVING

I am looking forward to a six hour drive to the Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday. Once there, we will check into the Echo Hotel and Conference Center for the night. The next day, we travel to my brother's house for the cooking and the hanging out that happens before dinner.

I grew up in a house where Thanksgiving dinner took place at Midnight. My husband thinks this is wierd. I think his family is wierd for having Thanksgiving dinner at 11:00 in the morning (What?!?!). The idea is, he explains, we have time to digest our first attempt so we could hit the leftovers later. I am used to hanging out and dancing all day, cooking all afternoon, dancing some more, drinking some sangrias or some ollitas and then relaxing to a wonderful dinner late into the night. Then we stay up singing on the guitar and dancing some more, friends and family gathered all around. The girls in the kitchen cleaning and the guys in the living room trying to best each other on the guitar or the guys in the kitchen cleaning and girls in the living room watching them and laughing.

In any case, my brother, Fidel, has four kids, FOUR. There is Cesar Emanual, Lisa Marie, Felipe and Jason. They are all cute and adorable and WILD. My brother and his wife are wonderful happy people. His wife stays home and watches the kiddies and my brother works for the city. There is no way to describe their little house. It is CHOCK FULL of STUFF. I swear, they seem to collect everything. I remember at one point he had about three VCRs that he'd collected and fixed scattered about the house. Fidel has an incredible collection of matchbox cars. He has had them as far back as I remember. He also has a historic collection of record albums that are ancient and probably worth lots of money. I'm sure he has something in that house that is worth tons of money, but isn't even aware of it.

Anyway, the Chavez family will bring the Turkey and potatoes and cooking wine. The Singleterrys will join us there and they will bring desert. The Mercados will provide the sides. I figure we'll spend all day cooking and making a mess while the kids play with the mountain of toys Fidel has collected over the years and go wild with so many visitors. I'm sure there will be a crying or screeching kid at various points throughout the day. Lina will periodically go outside to bury potato skins or onion peelings under her garden patch and may come back inside with a papaya or melon or something. Fidel will inevitably be sent to the nearest HEB to pick up some last minute things, butter, vegetable oil, salt, at least three times. At some point, I will take the kiddies for a walk around the neighborhood but will hurry back when the neighbors rabid dogs threaten to jump out of their little yards and rip us to pieces. Then, afternoon will start to set in. The TV will be blaring some popular Disney movie in Spanish and the kids will been scolded many times throughout the day, Lina will have pulled out her big bib and will begin to give free haircuts all around. Her littlest will take the broom and sweep up the cut hair and the second to the littlest will get the dustpan. Lina will be angry at whoever tries to wash her dishes. You know, she will tell us in Spanish, you will keep me in the poor house for washing my dishes.

The early evening approaches, we are all hungry, we are all grabbing seats and food and eating and feeding our offspring as best we could. The house is still a mess from the cooking, but all that will be taken care of soon. Another movie is playing on the t.v., exhuastion sets in. Killy and I are the first to leave, we will be driving back home tomorrow. We hit the hotel and rest in preparation for another 6 hours on the road tomorrow.

That's that!

Well I hope you all know what I've done to my poor spouse. I've abused him, injured him to the point that he had to go to the ER-6 stitches in the end. Carolina knows this because our husbands were comparing stories about the ER, while Taggart was in the ER. So, the scab is healing, I got to take the stitches out, that was fun. He doesn't miss an opportunity to tell me how much he loves me, then make some cruel joke about how clumsy I am, or how he promises not to let his face get in the way of the hatchback again. I love being married!
Just saw Love Actually-it was cute, but not that cute. I'm reading a book now, (Diana may be interested) about the metaphysics of healing. Being in the healing industry and all....I got to see 3 surgeries today, and you know what? I think anesthiologists are the nicest of em all. I learned so much from them today. I was kind of surprised. OK, you want to hear something funny-I probably shouldn't say it because then I may have to live up to it. Some nursing students and I are going to train to run a half marathon in Feb. So I think between running and yoga-sounds like a pretty healthy christmas right? Like I said-I probably shouldn't say it because I have been know to HATE running. So I'm crazy-but ambitiously so!
Ladies, take care of your men-they need it. Don't use my case as an excuse to slam your man's face with the trunk of the car. It's not worth it.

Just read the DaVinci Code.
I really enjoyed reading this one too! It was a fast read, I normally don't get into thriller/mysteries, had a bad experience with them when I was at HCCH. But this one was well done, quick, exciting and fun!

The pace of the book was such that the story threatened to veer out of control to crash and burn. I was afraid the author would be forced to bail out with some some cheesy, easy guess disclosure. But, fortunately, that never really happened. In any case, besides keeping me awake late with it's fast pace, I was continually intrigued with mind tickling anagrams and word puzzles. Although my curiousity was piqued with these superb word games, my devotion to the read was solidified with interesting anecdotes. Among these interesting tid-bits, I learned that Walt Disney was a member of the Masonic Service Association of North America.. Also, and most importantly, the unfolding of the mystery regarding the divine feminine.

Obviously, this is sensitive subject matter. There are many opposing views posted all over the web about the historical accuracy of the book and what constitutes Dan Brown's agenda for publishing it.

Personally, I enjoyed having my curiousity awakened enough to get me running to the nearest Borders books for some fun research.

Amber, this one's for you.

With this subject matter in mind, this is certainly a book for you to read, if you haven't yet.
A review of the Da Vinci Code by pop matters. Read more reviews.

Politics: I'm closest to Bugs Bunny.

Check out this gorgeous orchid!
What's everyone doing for the holidays?

I think that sounds great!
We could be the Naked Girl Chefs
HA


Baby eating spaghetti...

Carol, if we were to make a new cookbook today with all our new-found wisdom, would it not far exceed in taste and indulgences our previous satisfactorily delicious yet culinarily sophomoric effort? I have so many better recipes now!! If only I knew then what I know now. Souffles, spices, truffles, how to keep eggplant from becoming bitter, how to keep green veggies green, how to make risotto creamy, how to fry a seafood batter to a light golden delicious brown without having it fall apart in the oil, how to make your own curry powder, how to braise lamb shanks, how to make mousse stay fluffy instead of becoming heavy and pudding-like, I could go on and on ... I think we should have our own cooking show ...

Breakfast Recipe
1 whole wheat tortilla
1 slice low fat turkey
2 egg whites
1/4 cup chopped green and yellow zuchini
1/4 cup chopped onion and tomato
1/4 cup chopped spinach
pinch parmesan cheese

Spray some cooking oil into a non stick omelet pan. Over a medium flame, heat slice turkey 10 seconds on each side. Remove from heat. Spray lo-fat cooking oil into pan again. Over a low flame, toss in green and yellow zuchini and cook for 20 seconds stirring, add chopped onion and tomato, cook for 20 seconds, stirring continually. Add chopped spinach, cook for 10 seconds stirring continually. Finally, add egg whites and a pinch of parmesan cheese, stir and cover. Allow to cook for about 20 seconds, then flip.
Heat tortilla and add turkey slice, top with omelet mixture.
You can top this with pico, salsa, or just plain cilantro (I love cilantro with this).

Salsa
All my salsas are real basic. I never use oil so it is all lo-fat.

Fresh tomatoes, any kind, I usually use large slicing tomatoes.
Any pepper, fresh or dried, whatever you want to try, for breakfast salsa, I use jalapenos.
If you want it less spicy, *remove the seeds from the peppers.
If you want it to be a little spicy but palatable, use less peppers.
Salt

Breakfast Salsa
Two large slicing tomatoes cut into four chunks each.
Jalapeno peppers, See spice chart below
- For my white homies- 1 pepper per tomato
- For breakfast- 2 peppers per tomato plus 1 extra
- For Killy and gatherings - 3 peppers per tomato
- For me - 4 peppers per tomato and a GIANT bag of potato chips (I don't like this salsa with tortilla chips)

In a medium pot, place tomatoes and peppers add water to cover all. Bring to a boil, let boil for 1 and a half minutes. In a blender, place peppers first (they have tougher skin and will need to be closest to the blades to be chopped up enough, or else you'll get a green chunk that can be pretty painful and/or embarrasing depending on the company), then place cooked tomatoes on top. Add salt now (not later, there's some kind of chemical reaction, I'm sure, that affects the taste if you put it in later.) Blend on high for just about 10 seconds, not too long at all. Actually, when you see the cooked tomatoes start to whirl and disintegrate, stop blending now. If you blend too long, you'll have a soupy salsa. You want it to be chunky enough to drown your eggs with it and enjoy with tortillas for breakfast.

That's it!


HEY AMBER

Whudja do with our Christmas recipe book we made back in the day???

*In my life experience, I have never removed the seeds

Hey Diana, the class I go to is open to all levels -- you can take the postures deeper depending on your comfort, flexibility, etc. -- I highly recommend it ... btw, I loved how Todd wrote on the boys blogger that he remembers to take his vitamins every day because you love him! :>

oh, yeah,
I'm looking for interesting new breakfast ideas.
The criteria: must be low sugar, low carb, healthy, and fast.
Any ideas? Carol, can you give me a good pico de gallo or
chunky salsa recipe to go with eggs (only mildly spicy)?

That virus Killy has sounds so awful!! Anthony is having second thoughts about being a dad now ... I'm sure he'll get over that within a day or so and start pestering me again about when we're gonna have ourselves a Junior ... wait, isn't it usually the woman who's clock starts tick-tock-ticking first?

I finally made it to yoga and made up for my slouching by doing Bikram yoga, which is a style that involves very fast transitions in a room heated to 95-100 degrees -- so you sweat like mad and lose every bit of retained water by the end of it -- just what I needed.

Wish me luck this weekend -- I'm teaching an orchid class at the New York Botanical Gardens and have 40 students signed up already -- the biggest class I've taught up 'till now only had 20 students!! yikes!! I'm gettin' a little noivous ovah hea' (that's my imitation of a new york accent) ...Ciao!

Welcome Diana!
What exercise tips, good books, recipes, gossip of boys, would you like to share!

Good morning girls!

Courage is the resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain

OH
I read that book! I was a member of some obscure book club that would periodically send out FREE books to read. I don't remember what book club that was and I lost touch with them for a while now, but that was one of the books I got for free.
I love the part about the guy who collects specimens with a swab and stores them in bottles. Didn't he carry them around in a briefcase? I can't remember all the details now, but it really was a great book.

Memoirs of a Geisha.

Liz,
Tell about your weekend!
All,
My big beautiful husband went to the emergency room Sunday morning, 'bout 3 am or so. He had been complaining of fever and sores in his mouth. Turns out, the baby gave him some baby virus that spawned into some giant contagious yucky monster yuck in my honey's beautiful being.

Of course, I was tired and worried about my job since I worked from home on Friday (work??? - yeah right...). Seems my mother in law thought it was her day off or something. All sorts of errands and all sorts of last minute emergencies that required her to be off and running throughout the day leaving baby crying for mommy's attention all day. Not only was it impossible for me to be the ideal employee with screeching angel hanging on my knees, but I was a complete failure as the loving doting mommy because of the many work related fires burning out of control with my absence and a less than perfect caring and supportive wife to my sick husband with all of this going on. AAARRGGGHHH. I finally practically screamed for relief and help when grandma came home about 2:00 pm with yet another list of errands to run!!!
WAIT a minute!
My husband is deathly ill...I couldn't very well leave my feverish contagious husband with the baby this morning when you went to "drop Barbara off at school" only to not be back until well after 10:00 am. By then, I was already trying to stomp out a fire taking place at work via email. So I couldn't very well leave everything up in the air while I take the half hour ride into the office. Who knows what could have happened during that time. Only to find you rushing out the door for a lunch date with your daughter. See, my husband stayed home because he was sick. I stayed home because you weren't here, but I am supposed to be at work. All I need is ONE HOUR to put out ANOTHER fire.
OH... I'm sorry mijita. I will take the baby for a walk.
which she did. But while I was fixing problem number 2, I had completely neglected my daily responsibilities which will only pile up on me for a Monday catch up session. BUT WAIT! Giant fire number THREE!!!
and the day is almost gone
and the baby and grandma are back
I just need to got pick up Barbara from school. Should I take the baby with me?
Baby screeching for me to pick him up - he still hasn't forgiven me for leaving him for the one night I needed to be in Raleigh
Brow is sweating, a meeting room is double booked, fifteen people flying in all over US to the meeting I am responsible for. HUGE headache.
Please take him with you.
Found other meeting space, great price, notify everyone, make hotel changes, arrange car pools.
Grandma is back with Barbara.
Carol, Mom wants to know if she should bring the baby in now...
Not yet please
Grandma walks in with sleeping baby who promptly wakes up and spies me talking on the phone with my boss.
No, everything is OK.. I found a meeting room right down the street. We got a previously canceled room at a great price. Lunch will be...
Grandma sneaks back out with now screeching baby.
Barbara rushes out in a thick fog of sickeningly sweet Victoria's Secret perfume
Sudden stabbing guilt at the thought of subjecting my baby to such environmental hazards.
It's past 4 and everyone in Raleigh is gone for the day, can't do much else but stress for the rest of the weekend, which I proceeded to do without hesitation.
Go and hug my husband for the 45 seconds I have before baby gets home SCREECHING for me.
Love love kiss kiss, feel better baby...
Baby is home, screeching resumes, hug hug, kiss kiss, chase chase, growl growl, giggle giggle, read read, bathe bathe, sleep sleep...

3 am

That was Friday.

Saturday will follow.....

I just got home from work at the Banana...I didn't buy anything today, I'm so proud! usually I'll buy whatever damaged stuff they have for like $5, then try to fix it. It's funny though, since I can't really even sew on a button. Carol, while you give your son a bath, Taggart gives our dog a bath...he talks to him, washes his hair, he gets so muddy so he gets a bath like once a week. That ceviche recipe was making my mouth water...gotta try it, but it won't be as good as yours. THat sweet potato stuff, Amber, mmmmmmm. Thankfully, I have three sweet potatoes (about 2 months old) but still good! I'll fix em up soon.
Frozen pizza is so easy though....Actually, all this stress from school has made me lose weight. I better make sure the frozen pizza doesn't catch up though! Yoga tomorrow!!! Taggart even likes it now! what a man.
If you haven't read memoirs of a Geisha yet, do it. one of my favorite books.

Hey -- no guys allowed -- what's killy doing reading about my lame yoga excuses?? ;>

HELLO GIRLS!
I'm back from traveling yesterday! Went to a training class at my corporate office in Raleigh, NC yesterday. It's nice when you can visit some people you work with, take them to lunch, have a nice chat, then leave. Leave them all behind with their office politics and their water cooler gossip.

Speaking of gossip. I picked up another book at the airport. As a newbie traveler, I don't really know what books to get so I am reading lots of jackets, inside covers, looking at what other people are getting. Not until the morning I was checking out of the hotel did I peruse the complimentary USA Today left at my door and notice

(killy is reading over my shoulder and chuckling about how crazy we are, now he's kissing the back of my head and neck to give him undivided attention)

that there's a book list IN THE USA TODAY!

OK

But for now, I already had a book. And it was amusing and entertaining. Yes, I'm one of those people who sit there laughing at the funny parts and expressing all sorts of emotion, albeit quietly, still unashamedly, while reading my book. There were tears, laughter, excitement and driftwood dolphin sculptures. Pretty funny book. I finished reading it in three hours.
The Boy Next Door
by Meggin Cabot

OK girls, Amber, shame on you. Liz, get off your butt or you'll end up like me!

The hotel has a gym, I was on the FX machine for half an hour. For the next half hour, I did all the weight machines that were there.
This! at the hotel.
I wanted to feel good in my new Victoria's Secret surprise!

So there!

By the way, I am proud to say that I was wearing a size 8 skirt all day yesterday. And was not uncomfortable one bit.

Recipe,
Prepare the day before
Prep time, 25 mins
Ceviche

3 lb fresh red snapper filet
1 large red tomato
1 large yellow onion
4 deseeded, deveined jalapeno peppers
1 bunch fresh cilantro
4 cups key lime juice
2 small avocados
Salt to taste

Night before, in a large freezer bag, place entire red snapper filets and all the key lime juice making sure that all of the flesh is covered in the juice. Zip and put in refrigerator overnight.
2 Hours before, take the bag of filets out of the fridge, set aside. Mince all the other ingredients except for the avocado. Mix together in a medium bowl to make the pico. Set aside. Take the filets out of the lime juice. Separate the flesh from the skin using your fingers (if there was no skin, then just use your fingers to tear the cooked flesh). This way you make sure there aren't any bones left in it. Now you mix the snapper and the pico together until fully combined. Add salt to taste. With your hands, shape the mixture into an oval. Use the avocados to create fins or scales.
Serve with tostadas and Cholula hot sauce (looks like tabasco).
Dark and light dos equis served over ice with a little salt!
Yumm!

I had a million excuses why I couldn't do yoga today -- it's raining, I don't want my yoga mat to get wet, the subway's running too slow, I'll be late, I'm dehydrated, I feel constipated, I exercised on Sunday, etc, etc ... so I'm afraid I'm not as inspirational as I aspired to be today.

Oh, I have a recipe for you, Liz -- I made whipped sweet potatoes the other day with lime and cayenne pepper -- to die for! the lime brings out such a tangy zesty flavor in the sweet potatoes -- an unexpected combo but it works -- just peel sweet potatoes, cut into 2" chunks and drop in boiling water for about 20 minutes or until soft, then put in a bowl and add some butter and a little milk to lighten them up a little, then add lime juice (about 1-2 TBSP for 3 potatoes) and 1 tsp of cayenne (or more if you really like it spicy) -- and then blend/puree in a food processor or with an electric blender -- um, um, goooooood!

How cool! Good Books...well I haven't read anything but nursing books in a while, and nobody wants to hear about that. I haven't cooked anything in a while either, bad wife syndrome, but I'd love to hear all about easy, cultural recipes. I loved the shots of little Gandalf...and that twirling around on the floor dance, ohmigod-so funny!
I can't wait until thanksgiving-tag and i will be in houston for a couple days so we can visit all the houstonians.
I'm meeting Taggart over at his bosses house, their cooking dinner and drinking (way too much) wine. That should help me deal with my stressed out condition right now.
If I could write in a font that was all squiggly to express my stress, I would.
Yoga! I've been going to this great studio in Austin-I hope you girls inspire me to get off my duff and back on my majic yoga mat!

I love it!! This is an excellent chance for us to talk about chic stuff: books we love, movies, what we're doing on the weekend, our jobs, our men, our bosses, our gardens, yoga, weird diets, poems we've written, and all the other good stuff that the boys just don't understand. Aaaaah, I feel so relaxed here -- I think I'll just curl up on a comfy sofa with a cup of honey-chamomile tea and read whatever you brilliant girls come up with next -- scones, anyone?

Girls.
This blog is a safe refuge from the inane chatter currently making up the boys' blog, killyandfriends. Today marks day one of good, funny, exciting and interesting thought sharing. This is our opportunity to show our boys that there is more to this good world than a computer and a game of war.
So let's go girls!
Let's do this thing right!



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