Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New Blog & Toda La Familia


Well, here we are going into our first week of the new year and already I have something to rant about!! Oh yea, as if that's a big surprise to you!! However, before I begin my "observations," I want to recommend a blog for your reading enjoyment. My daughter has begun a weight-loss journey and decided to write about it. Now my girl is very much like her "mummy," she's fluffy and funny, although, I think she's funnier than I and writes a heck of a lot better. So if you want a good laugh and a sneak peak into the life, trials and tribulations of a 32 (there Andria, I corrected it) year old mother of 4 adorable little boys (my addition to that, not hers), a music teacher, wife and fighter of the fluff, go on over: http://fattyandi.blogspot.com/ She also has a fan page on her Facebook, so if you like this blog, join her fan page...oh wait, I haven't yet, but then I'm her biggest fan...I don't need to sign up for no stinkin' fan page!! LOL

Right now I'm listening to one of my many stations I've developed on Pandora. I love Laura Nyro, who died much too young. If you haven't heard of her, Google her and see all the wonderful music she sang and wrote, made famous by other singers and groups, such as , Barbara Streisand, Three Dog Night, The Band, The Fifth Dimension and many others and if some of you do not recognize some of the above artists, then Google them!!! LOL

I'm reading another book for book club, but this time, it's a children's book. The sponsor of this months literary evening, is an elementary school librarian. After our first meeting of book club ladies, Carolyn brought me home since I was on her way. We discussed our love for children's literature and how I've been collecting it for years, even though my daughter took the bulk of my collection when she began her family, but I have continued since. She decided to pick a very sweet story about a rabbit, "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane." I called my 10 year old grandson and asked him if he had ever read it and he had, in 3rd grade!! He told me it was about a "plastic" bunny. Actually, it's about a "porcelain" bunny, but who's noticing. So I took my mother to her doc's appointment on Monday and having the past experience of waiting so long in that office, my clothes go out of style, I took the book to begin my reading! This reminds me of a story my daughter told me about my ex-mother-in-law, who I still adore...her son, not so much! She told Andria that she has dropped some of her docs due the long wait she has to endure in the waiting room. One of these physicians complained to her that her blood pressure was too high, but she rebutted that if he didn't make her wait so long in the outer office, she wouldn't have high blood pressure!! Makes total sense to me...amazing how I haven't stroked out yet!

We entered the office and to my absolute surprise, it was wall-to-wall people. Actually, it's always full, but we're talking full house! I entered and blurted out "Holy Sh-t, it's standing room only!" Some of the patrons laughed but not Church Lady, who we ended up sitting next to...she didn't think I was "special" at all (remember Dana Carvey's "Church Lady" on Saturday Night Live back when it was still funny)! I don't know if you're familiar with certain little quirks we beaners have, well, not all of us, but around here, it's the norm. Doctor's visits are obviously a family affair..."toda la familia!" A lady who was new in our fair city, asked me once why there are signs in some offices that specify only a certain amount of people can wait in the outer office...I almost fell over from laughing!! I explained the "toda la familia" syndrome that afflicts many of the population here in ol' El Paso.

Well, back to the doctor's office experience the other day, Church Lady and her mother were led back to the patient's waiting room, when a "toda la familia" came into the office, 4 friggin' generations of them!! There was the great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and 2 small children, one of them being about 12-14 months. Now I love kids just like the next person (lies, Georgina, you hate all children including your own), ok, well, maybe not all children, hey, I like mine, sometimes, and my grandsons all the time!! LOL They called in the great-granny, the actual patient and the grandmother, daughter I assume, escorted the little old woman into the back, leaving the mother and the two little ones. All I could think was this woman doesn't get out much because she struck up a conversation with the women sitting next her and the entire time, never came up for air!! The toddler was growing impatient, as toddlers tightly strapped into strollers do, and the mother was oblivious to her complaints, unfortunately, everyone else was quite aware! The problem was that they were sitting next to me. The child cried, wailed at times, threw her bottle and then proceeded to throw it at me...oh no, you didn't!!??!?!? I tapped the mother on her arm and proceeded to explain to her that her child was becoming irritated and was attempting to get her attention...she then told me she doesn't speak English, so I translated my comment to her. Her reply was that the kid does it all the time, and returned to her yammering to the poor souls next to her. The little darling returned to her "usual" behavior and again, launched the bottle my direction. I politely picked it up and set it on the table next to my seat, without any comment or glances and returned to my bunny story. The mother turned around and I assume was ready to give me a piece of her mind, but before she could get a word out, she was met with many tongue lashings from the other people who watched and had to endure her child's shenanigans.

This again, reminds me of another story. We had this cat, Purcy, who was constantly victimized by this neighborhood bully cat. I guess Purcy had enough one afternoon, so he lead this cat in a chase through the metal gate into our backyard, bully kitty right behind him. There standing at the entrance of the gate, were our two doggies, our Belgium Shepard, Charro, and our little Benjie type terrier, Edgar. Well, fur flew and I watched Purcy on the wall watching the show and bathing himself while being entertained by his canine buddies. Needless to say, that cat never bothered our Purcy ever again. Except for me sitting on a wall and lapping myself, that's about how it went in that out office...verbal fur was flying and the irate mother took her two little sweeties outside...bu-by!!

Now for something completely different (Monty Python fans may recognize that one), but the other night I was watching television and this commercial came on. It was an advertisement for a Time-Life music library selection, a set of classical music CD's. As I listened to some of the samples of music, all that came to mind was, "Kill the wabbit, kill wabbit, kill the wabbit!!" Thank you Warner Bros. for introducing me to opera and classical music at such a young age...it left it's mark! Oey vey!!! Well, that's about all, my friends. I plan on going into my newly organized and clean studio, backache and all, and begin creating again. Have a great week and peace out.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year


Here's wishing you all (or y'all if your from these parts) a wonderful, happy and safe New Year. I want to take the time to thank all of you, my bloggy buds for leaving wonderful, heartfelt, loving and just too funny comments throughout my year of rants and art, or art and rants!! That comment reminds me of the time I asked my now deceased, wonderful Pop, when I was about 7 years old, if he suffered during the Great Depression. He said there was always food on the table, for breakfast, they would have beans and tortillas, for lunch, beans and tortillas, so I figured he had the same thing for dinner, but he said absolutley not, for dinner, they'd have tortillas and beans!!!! Para-pum!! Ok, you saw that one coming, but I was 7 for heaven's sake!!

So, I shall post my last blog here for this year and will return next year with more art and rants and even throw in a recipe or two....how about my recipe for Menudo??? I can just imagine what a particular gentleman in CT is doing just about now!!! Tristan, are you there???? LOL Off I go into the confines of my kitchen to cut the "panza" (stomach) sounds so much nicer in Spanish, and take out as much fat as possible, clean it thoroughly and throw into the my big stew pots with the pozole (hominy), ox tail, green onions and later, add the red chile sauce. Will cut up the limes, green onions, open up a brand new package of Mexican oregano and red chile seeds, heat up the bolillos (small French style rolls) and serve up a nice steaming bowl of menudo to warm the belly and heart. I'll have friends and family stopping by tomorrow, Tupperware in hands, for a bowl of my soup and leave here with great satisfaction and full container of my tasty treat.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, MY FRIENDS. Peace out.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Straight No Chaser - The Christmas Can-Can (With A Special Greeting)

Sending you all the best of Christmas cheer, laughter, love and lots of eating!! I'm dedicating this song to my buddy, Cindi at http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/. Enjoy this, my friend....hope it makes you smile!! Loves y'all. Peace out.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Cookies And Then Some

Well, it's that time of year that the elf gets her fat arse in the kitchen and start making all those deliciously fattening, sweets for family and friends. The insanity began Friday. I mailed off my last Christmas gift to my buddy in Austin, then returned to my kitchen where all those little sugar plum fairies (just exactly what are sugar plums?? Or is it "sugared plums??") awaited for my arrival.

So my bloggy buds, today I'm going to show you how to make Mexican Bischochos. They are these little morsels of pure melt-in-your-mouth pleasure (not orgasmic, but pretty close!) Sorry, TMI, right??? They are a tradition in these parts and I've been making them for years. This is the only time of year I actually well go out and make a special trip to buy lard since it's not a staple in this house. Yes, my friends, it's made with lard and lots of butta!!! Also, due to the close proximity to the great state of New Mexico, state line just down the street from me, I also love the New Mexican version of "Biscochitos." They add anise seeds and pinon nuts. A couple of years ago, when my hubby and I were traveling to Ft. Collins, CO for a seminar, we passed through NM, necessary if we wanted to get to CO!! LOL Anyway, it was October and as we were north of Santa Fe, right off the Interstate, cars were pulled over and parked. I could see families in the wooded area, picnic settings, ladders and sheets of some sort on the ground around the trees. Turned out, they were pinon trees and the locals made a day of it by collecting the nuts from the trees. It looked wonderfully fun and if we weren't in a rush to get up to Ft. Collins, I think we would have done a little pinon nut picking!!

So here's the recipe, pictures and all!!

BISCOCHOS

1 LBS. lard

1 c. butter, (softened)

1 2/3 c. sugar

5 eggs

8 c. flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teasp. vanilla extract

*A little brandy or whiskey to moisten the mixture

*Sugar and cinnamon mixture to use for coating bottom of glass to press down on cookie to flatten

In a large bowl, cream lard and butter together. Add sugar and continue to cream together. Add eggs, one at a time, then cream in vanilla. In another bowl, sift flour and baking soda together. Slowly, add dry ingredients to cream mixture and then add brandy or whisky slowly to get a sticky consistency (not too sticky, but firm enough so dough can form a ball without it sticking to your hands). Mix together and take a 1/2 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet (I still like spraying it with Pam). Take the bottom of a small juice glass and press onto dough in bowl, then set it down on a plate of sugar and cinnamon mixture, pressing ball of dough to flatten. Always press glass bottom in sugar/cinnamon mixture before flattening every cookie. Bake at 350 for 10-12 mins. till browned. Take hot cookies and coat in bowl of sugar and cinnamon mixture. Makes many batches!


This is what it looks like once it's mixed. When adding the whiskey or brandy (I used whiskey...had a bottle left over from a couple of years ago), make sure the dough is a "hard" sticky...ok, I'll admit that's a "Georginaism!!" LOL Guess you have to be there!!


Leetle balls!!! Now many folks will put the dough through a cookies press, but after years of doing that and my carpel tunnel really pitching major fits when I did, I devised this version.

Dip glass in cinnamon sugar and flatten...



Big a-- bowl of cinnamon sugar...

Right out of the oven...reeeeely hot!!!

Into the the cinnomon sugar...twirl bowl carefully to coat cookies....

Coated cookies.

So, here is a sample of my Christmas tradition. Today, Mexican Wedding cookies!!! In Italy, they're called "Liar Cookies." Last year when I was in Austin, I told my grandsons and they wanted to know why they were called that...told them to eat one and see where the powdered sugar ended up...around the mouth and on their shirts!! They got a kick out that one and caught them many times sneaking a cookies here and there....I think they just wanted to be found-out! LOL


A random picture of a pot of pinto beans (BTW, the best pinto beans come from CO)!! Was making beans while making the cookies...was planning on making enchiladas, but at the end of the day, I was pooped and made Chilaqueles instead...Enchilada casserole. Here's an idea on how to take the bitterness out of red chile sauce, add some "Abuelita" hot chocolate. It comes in round blocks and I cut them up and add the segments, one-at-a-time till I get the flavour I want.

Hope you enjoyed reading about some of my beaner traditions. It's late and I need to get into the kitchen and continue with the Diaz Bake-Off. Take care and if I don't send you all Christmas salutations, have a very Merry Christmas. Love you all!! Peace out.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

One World One Heart


Just a short post about something that's sound lots of fun!! Lisa at http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com is having a blog event. I first read about this over at someone elses blog and I checked it out....sounds like a great way to start your new year. Regrettably, this is her final year of organizing this....where I've been the last few years??? I'm sorry I've missed the other 4 years!! This kind of reminds me of a great television show that ends while they're still on top, kind of like "Seinfeld" and now "The Closer!!" LOL I'm just happy to get on board now.

So go on over to Lisa's blog and sign up. Peace out.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Doll Swap & Ornies

I just had to share with you this great doll swap I was recently involved with over at Zan Asha's Blog, http://vagabondcreations.blogspot.com. She has these wonderful doll exchanges once a year and I love participating because, one, you invariably get back a terrific piece of art work in the bod of a dolly and two, one really has to put on their creative thinking cap to come up with something equally terrific. This year's theme is "The Holiday Ball Swap," which she asked us to make a doll pertaining to any holiday. Of course, I thought of Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos, a no brainer for me, right? So I decided to challenge myself and try out something completely different...Valentines! So I made a Valentine doll, similar to one I made a couple of years ago, but definitely, a newer and very much improved version!!

One of the things that Zan will ask us, is if we have any preference as far as choosing other participants to partner up; my reply is always the same, surprise me! I have never been dissatisfied with any of the people she's paired me up with...(Oh no, I hear my fifth grade teacher's ghost scolding me for ending a sentence with a preposition!!). This year my partner was Marfi of "Incipient Wings," marfibradford.blogspot.com. Her doll was incredible!!! Not only was her doll fantabulous, but the packaging was terrific!! I wish I could show you the front panel of the box in it's entirety, but it does have some rather private information, ie. our addresses:






Here's the doll...

Pretty wonderful stuff, right?? Well, that's not all, look what else she added in her package...



She also included a bag of sugared popcorn and a little bottle of foo-foo spray, cotton candy scent. I love the purse and will have to just show it off!! I was so over-whelmed by this lady's wonderful talent and generosity!! Thank you Marfi for this royally fabulous gift and thanks to Zan for sponsoring these fun events. She will have a photo parade later on on her blog, so go over there and check it out and see all the talented folks that had a blast playing again this year!!

I also wanted to show you my new ornies I made for my little guys, grandsons, and another special little guy, I won't mention him now...don't know if they've gotten the package yet!! I decided last year to come up with a yearly ornament for my grandsons..kind of like Hallmark!! LOL Last year I made them the Christmas Worm. I was going to write a little story about the adventures of the 5 worms and how they finally got together to spend Christmas, but while researching, I got a bugger of a virus and it killed my poor leetle Dell!! So, almost a year later and an almost year old Gateway, I'm no way going to do anymore research on Christmas traditions around the world!! Just send them the ornie and let them figure it out!! LOL



Well, my hubby is on his way to CA to visit Son #2 and his family, leaving me here alone...left to my own devices!! Going to do some more studio stuff...working on some ornies for gifts and tomorrow, the Christmas Diaz Bake-off begins, making my breads this weekend. I will be making banana-nut bread, using all 3 contestants entries....yum, can't wait. Also, going to make Cranberry Orange giant muffins, so all this work should keep me out of trouble...well, maybe!! Peace out.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Magic Wand

Good Afternoon, my bloggy pals. I don't have much to say today...ok, stop with the dramatics you all out there, I know what you're probably saying or at the very least I know there's some major eye rolling going on there!!! I wanted to share a Christmas gift I made my oldest grandson, Sean. He's 10 going on 4 million, hence his nick-name, The 4 Million Year Old Midget!! He's really into Harry Potter and has read all the books and seen all the movies, so he's a Potter expert.

While I was visiting in Austin this past October, he and I were having a very interesting conversation about all matters of Harry!! I actually enjoyed watching the next to last Potter movie and he explained everything, bringing me up on the current Potter dilemma. A week after I returned home, he won tickets to the premier. He attended with a couple of his mother's Potter fanatic friends and he even went in costume....super nerd, right??? THANK GOD!!!

During our discussion, he asked me if I knew how to make a magic wand and my reply was, "Can your Meema make a magic wand, well, hell yea!!" So I returned with this little conundrum, how in the hell do you make a friggin' magic wand!!?? Well, leave it to my mother, Miss Daisy the Sage. We were at Home Depot and I had the idea of getting one of those decorative moldings, have them cut it for me then adhere the two flat sides, then painting. Soo, there I am looking at just exactly what I was thinking of, but the price of this long wooden stick was outrageous!!! However, I was willing to go the whole enchilada with this wand. While she was waiting for me to make my decision, she asked, "Will this work better?" There in her hand was a unfinished chair leg!!!!!!! FRIGGIN' EINSTIENEAN, MOM!!!!!!! And the cost of said leg was just a mere $2.50, or less, don't recall now, but it was lots cheaper than that decorative stick!!

So here is the finished product with black bag and all. I know it's not exactly a Harry Potter wand, but hey, it's still magical, Meema magical!! I know Sean will love it and come up with all kinds of magic spells, while little brother Zachary, age 6, will undoubtedly, play "caveman" with it. Better contact the FBI and warn them about my weapon...er. wand!!! LOL I'm also including a pic of my 4 little guys. As you can tell, Senor Sammy is not too happy sitting on the fat guys lap...poor fat guy!! They are from left to right, Sean, Zachary, Santa (the fat guy), Sammy and Ryan.







Have a great weekend and for those of you under a blanket of snow, enjoy! My hubster is out on the links today...in the lower 70's out here!! Peace out.