I love giveaways. But I hate to choose just one person. What a conundrum!
So I go to Random.org. and I enter all of your names and it chooses for me, thereby sparing me the pain. ;-)
Without further ado, here's the winner of the Crisco basket:
Anne Marie said...
I don't know what staple of my kitchen I love more than olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil to be exact. (Please don't call it EVOO in my presence, that's just weird. Thank you.)
So I was delighted when the good folks at Crisco contacted me and asked if I'd like to receive a basket of their goodies. (Well, technically, a basket of stuff that I use every day to make goodies, but that's not important right now.)
Umm....YES!
This festively adorned basket arrived on my doorstep yesterday. How much fun is this?
I popped over to the Crisco site and found they had some recipes that totally make me happy. Including a video from their chef, Sylvia Melendez-Klinger making a Lime Tortilla Crusted Snapper with Cilantro Sauce that looks out-of-this-world.
(I sort of fantasized for a bit about video-taping myself cooking something and talking at the same time, but then I remembered that I was me, and I am usually in kind of a zen-like zone when I am cooking which makes speaking impossible because I have to stay so focused, but that's not important right now, either.)
Meanwhile, back to my fabulous Crisco basket....
4 different kinds of oil. An embroidered Crisco apron. A sweet spatula, coupons, and recipes (in English and Spanish).
Can it get any better than this?
Umm....Yes!
My friends at Crisco have generously offered to send one of you (MBFCF readers) the same basket of cooking goodies. (I know. Shut up.)
Please just answer this question in the comment section:
Do you know when to use different varieties of oil when cooking/baking? In what ways do you tend to use different flavors of oils such as olive, canola, vegetable, peanut and corn?
There are no right or wrong answers, they just want to know. Leave a comment and I will pick a winner on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 10 am Pacific.
I have to go now....
I'm going to go put on my new Crisco apron and fry up some tostones. ;-)
I homeschool my kids.
Lucy is now 16 and a junior in high school. Jonathan just turned 14 and is in 8th grade.
We've been at this wonderful, terrifying, exasperating, delicious experiment for the past 8 years and in retrospect, I don't, for even a moment, regret our decision to take on this mighty task.
Lucy was in the 3rd grade in our local (highly rated) public school.
Jonathan was in Kindergarten.
Jon, my easy-as-pie, roll-with-the-punches kid, HATED Kindergarten. I wondered how that could be possible. Isn't Kindergarten supposed to be a beautiful world of finger-painting and growing bean sprouts and art and taking care of the class mascot rat and playing chase with your friends?
So I started volunteering in Jonathan's Kindergarten class one day a week. And I found that there was a big academic push in Kindergarten. To learn to read and do math and PRODUCE RESULTS. (I started to hate going to Kindergarten myself.)
Lucy had already tested in the gifted category. I think that just meant that she could already read well and understand what she was reading. She was a pretty articulate child. But what did "gifted" mean?
In this particular (did I mention it was highly rated?) public school, it meant they gave her individual busy work and sat the class behavior-problem next to my sweet and quiet girl. The expectation being that she would get her work done and be a calming influence on the resident classroom devil-child.
Needless to say, Lucy started to dread going to school.
What was happening here? Kindergarten through 6th was supposed to be the most fun time of anyone's life! Not so in our little world. I had homeschooled Amy and Adam for a couple of their elementary years, so I knew I could certainly homeschool these two. But did I want to?
Towards the end of that particular year, we made the decision to bring them home and commence their education here. Childhood goes by so fast. Did we really want them to suffer through it? As you can guess, the answer was a resounding 'NO!'
I researched all of our options and read everything I could find on the subject of homeschooling. We didn't make the decision quickly or flippantly. And yet, when we brought our kids home, we got nothing but grief from friends and family.
Somehow, they figured we were depriving our kids of a major social experience. They would ask the ridiculous, "What about socialization?" question.
"Socialization" is not, as most people believe, providing our kids with a social life. It's giving them the skills that will help them function in most areas of life and with all kinds of different people. We realized early on that a classroom full of peers was not the place we wanted for them to be learning how to behave.
So we brought them home. And we RELAXED.
We did not try to recreate a classroom situation at home.
We read lots of books and did art projects and talked about lots of things. We (Eric and I) didn't really teach, so much as facilitate. We didn't try to pour information into their heads for them to regurgitate on a test. We taught them to love to discover and learn. This was the great success of this social experiment.
Jonathan and Lucy. May 2009. Federal Hall, Wall Street, New York.
Last year, we had this mini-drama play out just outside our front door. (It applies, I promise.)
Just outside our front door, under our eaves, we noticed a pair of birds building a nest. We were privileged to be a part of the process from when they first started to scope out the location...
To when they actually built the nest. The mom was committed and would spend hours covering those fragile eggs.
The dad would go get food and pace nervously near the nest to ensure there were no predators nearby.
One morning, like magic, we heard a new sound from the eaves. The babies had hatched and were making feed us! noises.
We were delighted to watch the drama unfold. (As were other members of our family.) =D
We began looking forward to the times of the day when we would hear the noisy kids demanding to be fed, the parents dutifully providing for them, and then they would go quiet for a while. It was a fascinating process.
Weeks of this went by and then one day we noticed that the mom had booted one of the babies from the nest. They were getting big and strong. And were crowding themselves out.
She no longer had to feed them. They could survive on their own. They had outgrown the nest and were standing on the edge, ready for flight.
And so it was. They flew away. We felt a kind of joyful sorrow. "Good for you!" we thought. "We knew you could do it on your own."
So we provided a feeder in the garden.
And they kept coming back. With friends.
It seems that the early protection and nurture had served them well to socialize with the rest of the birds in the "real" world.
We're finding that the same has been true for our kids. I don't fret as much anymore about whether Our Great Homeschooling Experiment has worked. I know it did.
They have grown into lovely people, with good morals and standards. They love to learn and are interested in many things. They are smart. Book-smart and socially-smart. They're curious and are constantly learning. And they can look you straight in the eye when having a conversation.
When I see them interact with others (which is often - they have lots of friends), I see confident, self-possessed people. ("What about socialization?)
Let's see the (highly rated!) public school system duplicate those results.
1. We've been doing weather.
2. I decided to make homemade chicken soup, Cuban-style. (I know. Shut up.)
But....
3. I had my (95 year old, very, very opinionated!) CUBAN mom with me when I made it.
That means that I was able to achieve The Perfect Storm.
The story and my recipe for Sopa de Pollo (Cuban-style Chicken Soup) is posted over at Babalú blog today.
Go check it out, then come back here and offer me some comfort. ;-)
The following post has been brought to you by the lovely and talented Kikita (who is still practicing her cooking skills).
There are perks to being Mami's "driver/photographer." I get to see and do a lot of cool things.
I'm sure Mami has every intention of sharing with you the fantastic experience that came from being invited to a fresh & easy event at Sur la Table in the Los Angeles Farmer's Market.
So I'd just like to tell you about my "after-adventures." I like the sound of it, don't you?
Well, so we had an awesome time during the event and I realized that I have not one, not two, but THREE (YES! THREE!) fresh & easy stores near my house! I had been operating under a common misconception that this fresh & easy market was super "chi chi" and on the expensive side so I had never bothered to go and check it out, but after meeting some of their people I decided to check the place out for myself.
What I found when I walked inside was a smallish grocery store that was well-lit and already pleasant to be in. I got the feeling that I was going to enjoy this shopping trip.
I admit, I had it in for them. I was looking for them to fail me. I went in with a list of stuff I needed to make a big Cuban dinner (you know, rice, beans, & maybe boliche). Boy was I in for a surprise!
Not only did they have everything I was looking for, they also had . . . *drum roll, please* . . . CAFE BUSTELO!! That was the moment when I decided I would be shopping there from now on!
As if them having Bustelo was not enough of a reason already, I found the ultimate reason for continuing to shop there . . .
When I saw that they carried their own brand of Dulce De Leche Ice Cream I swear I heard a choir of angels singing. And then there was one more extra fun thing that this wonderful fresh & easy place offered me . . . a childhood dream.
WHAT?!?!
Ok, so I have a bit of a confession. As a kid, I totally thought it would be fun to work in a grocery store and scan people's groceries. Once I realized that I was destined to become a golden goddess I put aside my childhood dream, but the fresh & easy people made it happen for me via "Self-Checkout."
Yes, I AM aware that other major chains offer this luxury, but if I am given the option for a bit of social interaction, I'll take it (translation: I'm kind of freaked out about doing the self-check-out when there are perfectly able bodied checkers right there).
The deal with the fresh & easy is that there is no option. You are on your own.
What is even MORE fun is that while you're busy focused on living a childhood dream (oh, come on, admit it, you always wanted to do it too!) a person will magically appear and bag your groceries for you!
And these same magic people help you to buy the alcohol that they sell there (sorry kids! no sneaking through!) . . . just beer and wine, so you won't be making mojitos without a stop at the liquor store, but I think it's a small price to pay for the fresh & easy shopping experience.
Go! Find a store near you and just check it out. I promise you'll like it! =D
********************************
UPDATE: I realize that many of you East Coasters probably do not have a local fresh & easy anywhere near you. What's cool is that you can send them a suggestion for where to open a store. Do it. Be the change you want to see!
IMAGINE: A fresh & easy HIALEAH! ;-)
There are things that I treasure, not because they have monetary value, but because they are special to me.
That's the way I decorate my home. I ask: Do I love it? Does it have meaning to me? If I waffle on the answer, it just doesn't make the cut.
I have a similar process with my jewelry. I confess that I own stuff that may not be "in style" but that I'm attached to for other reasons.
My friend, Pam (My BFF) sent me the most wonderful Christmas gift. It has great style and is already sentimental to me.
It's a dime. Yes. A dime.
Hammered and finished into the beautiful disk you see here. The date on it is 1955. The year I was born.
Here is where the story gets good....
She also got them for my daughters and for my mom:
The years are Lucy (1993), Amy (1983), Luza (1914).
And this weekend we all happened to be wearing them. Cool, huh?
"Let's send pictures to Pam!" I suggested. To let her know we were all wearing them and thinking about her.
So I sent her a photo (via my iPhone) with a text saying: "Thinking of you."
She sent back the following:
"Me too!" (I think hers is from 1956.)
This is a perfect illustration of how heirlooms are born.
Thanks, Pam! We love you!
We're having weather here in So Cal.
According to the Weather Service, it's Severe Weather. (Which is weatherman speak for it's-been-raining-like-crazy-all-week-and-we-don't-know-what-to-wear-or-how-to-drive, but that's not important right now.)
In the past two days there have been tornado watches and sleet and hail. It's been very dramatic and, well...severe.
A friend sent us this photo of the Huntington Beach Pier, along with the question: "Doesn't Amy live right there?"
Yes, that seems to be a waterspout that looks tornado-ish. And yes, my first-born lives just blocks away from the danger!
All of my Cuban Mother synapses start to fire.....
I imagine her apartment building being ripped from its foundations and being swirled off into the spout, up, up, up and over the rainbow, landing her somewhere in Oz. (Minus the blue gingham dress, the little dog, and the Munchkins.)
Seriously, I was pretty worried. What if she's hurt?? What if she's dead?? (Not dramatic, at all, right?)
But then I receive this photo from her:
And the following text:
Hi Mom!
I'm alive!
I have only left the house to get a quick bite . . . and I've been very safe!
I'm staying dry and warm.
She knows me so well. =D
I've been helping my friend, Tamera (she of the Amazing Good Taste and Style) put together a blog. (I am super excited about this project, as I believe she is the Embodiment of Fabulousness and can't wait for her to share her amazingly creative lifestyle with the blogosphere, but that's not important right now.)
Well, technically, we're still in the embryonic planning stages, ("Baby steps, Darling!) and it may take a while to get it live, which is fine with me because that means that I get to spend a few hours each week with my Fabulous Friend, in her Fabulous House, being treated to her Fabulous Hospitality.
Tamera is not only Personally Fabulous, but she's amazing when it comes to doing research.
Look what was waiting for me today:
Bustelo has never known such Absolute Fabulousness!
Thanks, Tamera. This project is seriously MY pleasure. =D
We have lived in our current home for nine years now. Before that we were bottom-dwelling-month-to-month renters. (Not to disparage the month-to-month thing, but it was such a grand and glorious feeling to finally own our own home that it completely lifted us up and out of our feelings of inferiority, but that's not important right now.)
I used to joke that once I owned my own home I would "Park a rocket ship on my lawn or write on the walls if I darned well pleased."
And when we finally signed the last of the ownership papers and held the keys to our own little personal piece of the proverbial pie, we celebrated with champagne and again I suggested, "now that I own this house, I can write on the walls if I want to!"
Of course, it was meant to be funny and to convey the victorious and exhilarating feeling of finally having arrived at (insert the angelic choir here...) our goal of Home Ownership.
"Free at last! Free at last!" (Okay, so maybe that's a bit dramatic....)
As it turns out, one of the first things that we did after painting walls and adding crown molding, was to add some words to the walls. (When I say "we" I mean, I thought of it, but Eric helped with the follow-through.)
By the way, the "parking the rocket ship on the front lawn" thing was all hot wind and bravado. But it sure sounded earnest, didn't it?
As it turned out, however, the writing on the wall turned out to be quite a cool thing...
In our bedroom:
As soon as our bedroom was painted, we had this stencil made to our specifications by Saw What? by the Mad Stencilist.
The fairy-tale quote is the classic favorite ending. It sits above our sliding door to the balcony. It's the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and it never ceases to make me smile and reminds me that "we" are "they." =D
I have another quote in our bedroom. I got it from wonderful graffiti and again it was a special order:
These are vinyl letters and quite easy to display. It's rub-down type, really and can be easily removed. I put this one up on the morning of St. Valentine's Day, while Eric was still asleep. He woke up and found it and actually thought I had scribbled it in my own lipstick. You've gotta love that.
(What does this tell you about what my husband thinks I'm capable of?)
In the stairwell, we have some old and new photos, but there is also a favorite Bible verse:
It's from the book of Job and in English it means:
"You will know that your descendants are many and your posterity like the grass of the earth." (It was a promise given to Job by God himself after Job had lost pretty much everything he had, including his family.)
As you come down the stairs and venture to look up you will be met by these Latin words:
In Omnia Paratus. "In everything, always prepared." or "Ready for anything." We originally heard it on the tv show The Gilmore Girls and loved the idea so much, we decided to put it on the wall so it's the last thing you see when coming downstairs. It's supposed to make you question your readiness to face the day. I like it.
Obviously, this was the year we got married. It's also a rub down from wonderful graffiti. It sits at the top of the arrangement on the stairwell with the rest of the family photos.
When you reach the bottom of the stairs and you turn to your right, you are bound to see this:
Actually, it's practically the first thing anyone notices when they first walk into our home. It reads, "Sit long. Talk much." And we mean it. =D
In Jonathan's room, is the Spiderman quote:
When you're raising boys, it's best to set the bar as high as possible. Don't you agree? ;-)
Next you will find yourself in our living room. Here above our mantel I've stenciled in gold foil, "Amor est Vitae Essentia." Or "Love is essential to life."
Then right before you walk out the front door (or just after you come inside, depending on if you're the type of person who looks up at the door frame....) you'll see this:
I find it comforting somehow....and I'm less and less concerned that a freak tornado is going to pick up our house and deposit it on the other side of the rainbow, but that's not important right now, either. ;-)
Eric has a favorite Bible verse/promise up in his office:
He sees those encouraging words every day as he sits at his desk to begin his work day. I like that the first thing he does is remember God has plans for him. The day goes much more smoothly when you are confronted with that promise each morning.
And then there's our giant calendar. The calendar is the nerve center of our office/school/studio. It's where we post plans we've made and make notes of shows we'd like to see and places we want to go. I've shown it to you before, but I don't know if you've noticed that I have a favorite quote above it:
It's by Carl Sagan, and it reads, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
That's our inspiration for starting our homeschool days.
So thank you for coming along on this Tour of the Darby's Walls.
This is a particularly favorite quote of mine. I'm going to put it up as soon as I finish decluttering/re-designing my studio space:"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." ~Sir Cecil Beaton
Do you have anything written on your walls? If you do, will you share it?
If you don't, did I maybe inspire you? =D
So, I'm still recovering from the Comelatas that defined the month of December for me. And I'm still struggling to migrate my files from the old Mac G5 to the new (Thank you, God and my sweet husband!) Macbook Pro laptop.
There have been multiple trips to the Apple store to consult Geniuses and of course there's a learning curve, but while my digital photos, music and files are all in disarray, there is one constant in my life: I still have to eat. (Actually, more like, I still have to cook, but that's not important right now.)
I noticed that, not only have I been cooking a lot, (and eating well, I might add) but I also tend to take photos of my meals. Does anyone else do this?
I know. It's weird, right? It's almost like a diary.
I am remembering that in the early days of our Cuban exile, for some reason we took photos of our food "to send back to Cuba." Thinking about this early practice now with a semi-reasoning mind, I'm wondering "What the heck were we thinking?"
Seriously. Like, "Look at all the food available to us here in America. Neener, neener?" Now, in my current life, this compulsive-food-photography-to-share-abroad seems totally strange, and yet....
I continue to photograph whatever is on my plate. I know. Shut up.
Carryover from Interrupted Cuban Childhood?
Artistic Fascination with Colors, Textures and Aromas?
Or Personal Dysfunctional Obsession? ;-)
Here's the evidence. You be the judge.
The following were all on my iPhone, taken in the last month.
Look at all that fabulous food I've been eating.
(Neener, neener!) =D
Ana Quincoces Rodriguez: Sabor!: A Passion for Cuban Cuisine
Gustavo Perez Firmat: Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way
Gustavo Pérez Firmat: Next Year in Cuba: A Cubano's Coming-of-age in America
Humberto Fontova: Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him
Luis M. Garcia: Child of the Revolution: Growing up in Castro's Cuba
Your secret is out now, Anne Marie. ;-)
Send me an email with the subject line:
Hey, Marta! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! and include your snail mail address so I can pass it along to the good folks at Crisco.
I have to say, I'm VERY impressed with how much all of you know about cooking oil. =D
"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."
~ Harriet van Horne