Well, many things have happened these past week. One too many doctors appointments, which are not going to end until maybe 2 weeks, I hope.. An unfortunate death in the family. My sweet uncle lost his battle against prostate cancer. My mother was a wreck and everybody felt sad for the whole situation and for seing her like that.

Anyway, it looks like we are going back to normal, slowly, whatever normal is. I have been working on a project for a web site and that has taken me some time away from my relaxing kitchen. But, I’m finding my way back. And while I was thinking what to do next, I remembered that I had some poppy sees left in my pantry. Instantly I started to crave poppy seed lemon muffins.

I don’t have [yet] my own recipe for these delicious pieces of heaven so I looked for one that it didn’t call for enormous amounts of flour, and this one was suitable for what I was looking for, even thought I tend to change the recipes a little here a little there, they turned out great. I know it’s in Spanish so let me know if you need me to translate it for you.

The Butter cream icing is one I’ve got from here. You can browse this website and find the one you want to try/like the most.

I usually feel torn when trying to choose movies for Victoria to watch. Here is the thing she is 10, a really young age but she no longer loves those character Disney movies she used to. Don’t get me wrong she can watch Alice in wonderland 50 times and never get bored of it, but she is changing so fast, she craves for a more realistic play.We have watched almost every Harry Potter and some other good ones. But she is the biggest fan of Jack. So, when she heard that Tim Burton was having a new movie, she was the first one in line to see it…well the 3 of us…

Now, the funny thing about this movie is that except the blue hair that Coraline (not Caroline) wears; Victoria does looks amazingly like her, she is really skinny and tall, long long legs, short hair in the back, longer on the front, they are both lefties, and her whole character…I mean, the first time we watched my husband looked at me like, what the h… and I was as shocked..well I leave you with the trailer. It’s a great movie but for older kids whom would enjoy a daily  quote of sarcasm..

And then in the afternoon she had a birthday party. And let me tell you that should go totally by itself on another post, because I want to make an affirmation here.  There are sometimes when even people talking on the same language have no idea what the other is saying…so I’ll leave it there for now…

On Friday my oldest sister (I need to make a post just about my family..you’ll be surprised) her 3 boy, me and my sweetie pie, went shopping to one of the biggest malls around. It huge!! It’s so finely design that everytime I leave I feel I still didn’t see everything..So I need to come back, ya know.

anyway, if there is one thing I love about my sister is that she enjoys food as much as I do, actually my two sisters do, so, after some shopping around we felt hungry enough to feed the children so there we went.

After so many years of cheeseburgers, they don’t enticed me no more.. so I look for more ethnic choices, I will try anything just once, except for something I need to add to my list of no-no’s. So, we ended up here and boy were we glad we did!! A little taste of gourmet France in your mouth, delicious, superb, exquisite, soft, super yummy, fresh…
My sis had 2 quiches, the girl can eat, one with smoked salmon and broccoli and the other with leek and Roquefort, amazing both. I had a Chiavarina (Sandwich) with meat, tomatoes, arugula and a really soft mayonnaise, it was also amazing. Followed by two tarts, fruits and chocolate. Do I really need to say anything else?

We are going into the spring season (Argentina) but we have had some really cold days lately (13°C, 55° F) I mean we had colder days before but knowing that spring is almost here you expect something more for the weather.

Anyway, my mother and I usually have lunch together on Fridays. Most times we, Victoria and I) go to her house but this time she came to ours. It was a rainy and cold and gray all around day so I thought to pull some cans form my pantry and some veggies form my fridge and make a veggie stew.

Here are the ingredients:

2 medium yellow onions.

1 clove of garlic.

2 green onions.

1 bay leaf.

2 stick of celery.

1 leek

3 medium white potatoes

2 carrots

1 can of peas

1 can of chickpeas

1 can of butter beans

1 tblsp vegetable oil

Water

Salt, pepper, paprika to taste

Chop the garlic, onions, leek and green onions. On medium high add the oil to you stew pan, add garlic first and let it stay with the oil for 20 seconds, BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN IT, add onions, leek and green onions. Let it sauté, until the onions turn transparent. Add the carrots, I cut them in circles, you cut them the way you like and potatoes cut in quarters. Add salt, pepper and paprika to your taste and the bay leaf, I like a good ration of pepper and paprika. Open the can of beans and peas and add the water that comes with them, NOT the peas or beans themselves, put aside for latter. The idea is to recycle as much as possible, and the cans have a lot of flavor in the water, why not to use it.

Let all simmer for 5 minutes and add more water if needed, you need to cover the potatoes as much as possible, turn the heat to medium lower and cover.

Check it out once in a while and stir. 10 minutes into the cooking you need to pierced one potato with a knife, when they are half way done, add the peas, and the beans.

5 to 10 minutes and everything is done.

I know how good rain is for the soil, believe me I feel blessed we’ve just got so many cm these past 2 days. But to be honest, even though I’m a “water” kind of person, I really need the sun…

I think my body and my whole being are  changing. That’s an obvious statement after you turn 30 but really, how can I be missing the sun when my fondest memories sometimes are my dark teenage years. When we put our long black coats on and went for a walk under the grayest of skies, listening to the music I still love, passing, sometimes, through the local cemetary and we actually enjoyed it.

But now it’s different. Specially today with so much rain outside and so little to do inside. Victoria and I looked like a carousel taking our turns between the tv and the computer and usually I would look for something to do with her, like for example my mother came for lunch today and I made a veggie stew (I’ll post the recipe and the pics later) so the morning went ok. But now,  after 4 days of cloudy skies, I feel depressed…I admit it. I know it will go away as soon as I can see a glimpse of a little bit of sun underneath a cloud. I’m even a little anxious and I don’t like this feeling of wanting…anything, just something different than this day.

Could I be actually gravitating to a new place in my life, a more warm and calm one?

After 2 days of getting mad at Martha, I think it’s finally time to move on and get on with my life. Off course I’ll keep speaking my mind about being truly  green but I had too many things to do to keep worrying about these people. So Anyway, something I was procrastinating for quite some time already, had to be done and today was the day..so voila, after a pretty busy day, between dreamweaver, illustrator and filezilla, I’ve got my web site the way that I like it.

Now, I can go cook dinner…

Where the “free speech” ideal has gone. And if you have the right to moderate your comments, which I certainly find fair, at least have to consideration to let me know why my comment was deleted. I wasn’t lying; I wasn’t been rude; I wasn’t saying anything bad about anybody, ohh but wait, I got it now, I wasn’t totally buying what was being posted. I actually was making a “remarkable” observation. An observation every single person whom added a comment to your post seemed to be skipping ahead.

The above paragraph is just my thoughts on one of the most ridiculous things that have happened to me in a long while. I’m talking about my sincere and innocent comment on Martha Stewart’s blog.

She (or her staff, I really don’t know) has been writing for 2 days in a row about a trip to Montana’s Ted Turners house and acreage. Lovely trip and even more amazing pictures. That is one thing you can be sure to find on her blog, beauty and prettiness all around.

But I have to say, I’m not a big fan of Martha but I’m a fan of what Martha does. She is a perfectionist with incredible sense of beauty and style and I have always admired that on her.

Now here is where the ridiculousness starts: On the first post about this trip, and as usual on her blog, you get pics to see. Well that day there was 37 pics starting with Ted Turners private jet; look now and try to find it, you wont, they deleted it and I’ll tell you why. Because the whole post is about how amazing Ted is on keeping up with the environment and trying to be as green as possible. So, while I’m reading this and seeing the lines between the lines I wondered off and went to bed. Just to get up today and go back to add my thoughts into a comment and voila the pic is gone, which made me wondered even more. So, I had to say something. And this is what I wrote:

“I’m sure you guys have a great time. But, if I may say something. I think that Mr. Turner should use a more eco friendly way of transportation. Airplanes and private jets are responsible for a huge amount of waste in our air and I do believe he does a lot for the environment, but we need to go the extra mile and if that means to go slower on traffic, well, so be it”.

What is it so offensive on my comment that needed to be deleted? Or is it that because this guy has so much money and power everybody looks away from the atrocity that so many celebrities like him, are causing to our planet? Getting my comment deleted from the blog just shows exactly what I’m talking about. You can delete my comment, but you can make me quite, I won’t keep it quite, I don’t care who might be bothered with this. You can’t just go talking green when you have a jet leaving a huge carbon footprint waiting outside to take you home.

And as for Martha, maybe I was expecting more from her, maybe I was too naïve. There is only one thing I know for sure. This is making me talk even more…

As the end of the year approaches I find myself in a turning point between morning pastries and fitting into my jeans again.

You might call it vanity, I call it the non-spending-machine. For many reason I do believe that if I watch what I eat I’ll be able to save more money. But the question in my head remains..I don’t really have unhealthy eating habits, so where should I cut back?

You see, I love vegetable and I cook dinner from scratch every evening. I love fresh produce and I get excited over ripped tomatoes and green herbs.  But if I have to be truly honest, I know exactly where I have to cut back. And that is the hardest thing I have to do.

I live in the country of the great cow, which means all our dairy is extremely creamy and delicious, including my biggest enemy: Butter.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Paula Dean, but I do love my french bread and butter and if I tell you my hubby and I can get a kilo down in no time, that wouldn’t help the situation. So there you have it. If I want to fit on my nice summer clothes for my 19th high school reunion this December, I better start cutting back on those.

Let’s see how it goes…

Epicurean has got a great idea for all amateur cooks like myself. Your very own cooking book!

I’ve got mine a year ago and I still love it. ***Obviously they are not your real recipes, but you get to choose the ones you want, the cover, and it comes with the title that you want.

Mine is called “Girl’s night in, monthly party” because at the time the book was in the press, we (5 of my girlfriends and I) were having dinner once a month at home. Since then, I’ve moved to another country and unfortunately can’t dine with them right now, but my book is with me and I have some new friend pushing to do the same here, so, we’ll see how this Summer works out, dinning wise.

***I made a small mistake for not checking this out before. You can have your own recipes, check the link, sign up and go to “Create” where it gives you 3 choices and one of them is “recipe”

Seriously, if you haven’t opened a Photobucket account, I don’t know what you are waiting for. Being a webmaster, I’m always in the hunt for new tricks of the trade. But most importantly, I look for programs or sites that can be a life saver in case on needing one, like not having your notebook with all your nice Adobe stuff in it and have to edit a picture…what would you do? I’d get on-line on any ciber cafe of wi-fi place and get on Photobucket.

I’ll tell you, they have come a great way. I started using it some years ago when I had my first blog, just to be able to upload your pics. Because I don’t know if you remember, but nor Blogger neither WordPress had a picture up-loader application back then. So, we, bloggers looked for different ways. I actually got the tip from another more advanced, at the time, blogger-friend; whom kindly shared this useful tip with me.

Anyway, I could upload and download as I pleased. And to be honest, I have forgotten about it for a while, until I remembered I still had some old 35 mm pics in my account.

To my surprise, what I found next, kept me busy, playing around for quite some time, with the extremely, for being a web site,  complete “edit your album” feature. You’ve got to check it out.

I’m going back myself to play some more…