Future NBA star?

Meet our nephew Michael James. He just turned 2 on January 26th. He loves swinging on his swing, chasing after Teddy (his dog), watching movies (Finding Nemo and Up are his current favorites) and playing baseball, basketball and soccer.

We visited him this weekend and got to see him in action. Here he is playing basketball:

It was this shot that made me think he might have a future in the NBA. Look at that form and follow-through!

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Chicken...the Kosher white meat

Week 4 (January 27, 2010)
It is my turn to cook this week and since the past couple of weeks have included beef dishes (weird, because we rarely cook beef), I decided to make chicken. I found a super easy recipe for Cilantro Chicken and decided I wanted to try a new salsa recipe as well (Roasted Tomatillo-Mango Salasa with spiced tortilla chips). Fearing that the chicken would turn out dry, I decided a good side dish would be Black beans and rice.

I started with the chicken since it needed to be marinated for at least 1/2 hour.

Then I worked on the spiced chips and on roasting the items for the salsa (great technique and super easy, btw).

When I had a free moment, I started the beans and rice dish.

At this point, it was chaotic in the kitchen, especially when I had to get out the food processor for the salsa and get the chicken on the grill. I was surprised that I didn't make a mess with the food processor so much so that I proudly told Geoffrey "Wow, I didn't make a mess" and moments later, as I was pouring out the salsa into the serving dish, the processor blade fell out, bouncing off my hand and to the floor. This resulted in me tilting the serving dish and spilling half the salsa on our toaster and counters. Yes, I had officially jinxed myself.

Overall, I think I was a little ambitious with tonight's dinner (tested 3 new recipes!), especially since it was a long day at work and I still had to go grocery shopping. It took longer than I would have liked (1.5 hours), but the dinner came out pretty good. Overall, we give it an average of 7.875 (Mayra: 7; Geoffrey: 8.75). Geoffrey really liked the salsa, although it turned out pink (note to self: do not use purple onions) and I only used 1/2 chopped mango (I prefer my salsas savory not sweet). I halved the beans/rice recipe but forgot that in the beginning, so the rice had enough salt and EVOO for 2 cups worth, which was disappointing even though it was only 1 tsp salt and 1.5 tsp of EVOO (next time I will just use plain white rice--the beans had enough flavor). The chicken came out nice and juicy too, which surprised us.

By the way, I couldn't find a slogan for chicken, so I made it up. Pretty good, huh? Note to everyone: I am available for all your slogan needs!

Sometimes falling feels like flying

Just saw Crazy Heart the other day. I loved and highly recommend it. I even went out and bought the soundtrack. The movie (and the music) is a little melancholy yet still hopeful and inspirational. Jeff Bridges (the Dude) did an amazing job!

Need another opinion? Check out Roger Ebert's review.

Modern Family

Geoffrey and I just discovered Modern Family and absolutely LOVE it! It is hilarious! We love the witty, ballsy writing, sarcastic plot lines and quirky characters. We've only seen 5 or 6 episodes on Hulu and just caught the pilot episode the other night. Our favorite character is Phil. He's what I imagine Geoffrey will be like as a father. It melts my heart. Haha. I also like Gloria and Manny-- nice to see some Latinos on tv these days with accents and all.

Watch the pilot episode here and let us know what you think.

Albóndigas!

Week 3 (January 20, 2010)
After a very wet and windy San Francisco day, Geoffrey decided that what we needed for dinner was soup! My favorite! He picked out a recipe for Poblano Albóndigas with Ancho Chile Soup. As soon as I was banished from the kitchen--Geoffrey doesn't like it when I hang around and "judge" him while he cooks-- Geoffrey got to work on the soup. And since I could not be anywhere near the kitchen, I am narrating using the pictures that Geoffrey took while he was cooking.

This soup required quite a bit of fancy techniques for a soup (and for a Wednesday night dinner). First he had to roast the poblano peppers and then put them in a paper bag.

Then he had to make the albóndiga (meatballs) mix and start the soup base.

Next he rolled the albóndigas into their proper shape and dropped them into the soup to cook.

Lastly, he fried tortilla strips for garnish.

Two hours and various cooking techniques later, we had our soup! Overall, this recipe got an average rating of 7 (Mayra & Geoffrey: 7 each). Geoffrey loved it, but he thought the recipe was a little too complex for a soup. I thought the soup was OK, but could have used more veggies to hearty it up a bit.

Slow Cooking

I am home sick today because I let my dentist convince me to pull out one of my wisdom teeth yesterday because "the area is going to be numb anyway" due to my new crown being put in. Since I eventually had to get the wisdom tooth pulled before my Invisalign can begin, I thought, why not? So I am home with a mouth full of gauze (and vicodin!), rinsing every 2-3 hours. My diet is also limited to soft foods that can be chewed on the left side. But it is my turn this week and figured I could still cook dinner!

Week 2 (January 13, 2010)
I picked the recipe for Cuban braised beef and peppers last week, which I think I might be able to eat since it is supposed to come out tender and shredded. One hurdle though, the recipe called for use of a crock pot, which we don't have. Note: We used to have one, but it took up too much space in our little kitchen so it went to my mom's house. I decided since I was going to be home all day, I could use our Le Creuset French oven and slow cook it for a few hours in the oven.

I started by browning the flank steak

Then I chopped the veggies and sautéd them with a bit of water to pick up the browned bits (for more flavor and easier clean up!).

Then I placed the meat back in the pan.

I followed the rest of the recipe with a few exceptions, since I tend to stray from recipes. I decided to throw in a dash of cayenne pepper and 1 chopped jalapeño pepper to give the dish a kick of spicyness (btw, I like this spelling better than spiciness). I threw it in the oven at 325° for 3 hours. Et voilà!

Dinner is served!

Overall, we gave this night's dinner an average of 8.25 out of 10 (Mayra: 8; Geoffrey:8.5). It was super easy, didn't require a lot of ingredients, came out nice and tender (yes, I ate is just fine), very flavorful and would be great for entertaining! We have plenty of leftovers and we are looking forward to eating them tonight!

You Play. To Win. The Game.

Sundays during the football season have become some of my favorite days of the year. Geoffrey and I sit lazily on the couch all day watching football (I've also been known to take a nap or two). We also started to watch "Inside the NFL" on Wednesdays nights and they recently featured this video that we can't seem to stop watching. It's also Herbert's favorite, along with Ochocinco and the Bengals. They had a good run this season and I am looking forward to watching them next season.

Inspired by Julie and Julia

Geoffrey and I watched Julie and Julia the other night and we were so inspired by it that we decided to cook one new meal a week. Wednesday has now been deemed the "new meal night" in our household. We will be switching off every week, with one of us is in charge of finding a new recipe, buying the ingredients and cooking it for the other.

Week 1 (January 6, 2010)
Since it was Geoffrey's inspirational idea, he started us off with bruschetta (not new, but always a good starter) and for the main course a kale and white bean soup. The bruschetta was very spicy, but that was due to the 4 raw garlic cloves Geoff used (I know, crazy!). The soup was OK, but it needed a little more flavor/spice. Overall, we gave this night's dinner an average of 4.5 out of 10 (Mayra: 4; Geoffrey:5).

If you have any recipes to recommend, please send them my way and perhaps it will be featured here in the future!

Oh Sandy!

Can I tell you that I am just sooooo excited that Sandra Bullock is finally getting the recognition she deserves? Even though it has been 15 years since her breakout role in Speed (yes, 15 years!), she is just now getting noticed for her talent and box office pull. I just read that she is in the first movie ever "driven solely by a top female star" to break $200 million! She received not one but TWO Golden Globe nominations this year and there is talk that she might be a Best Actress Oscar nominee for her role in the Blind Side! On top of that she is beautiful, relatable, funny, silly and just the kind of girl you would want as a friend. I heart her! In her honor, I am listing my Top 5 favorite Sandy movies of all time (to date, may I add).

Drum roll please...

5) While You Were Sleeping: Who didn't want to work in a subway token booth and get proposed to by Bill Pullman?

4) The Proposal: Sandy looks great in a suit and without (hehe, her first nude scene was classically Sandra!). Great chemistry with Ryan Reynolds that actually made me like him a bit. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.

3) Two Weeks Notice: Sandy and Hugh both have wonderful comedic timing. I loved their back and forth bantering. It was like watching an old married couple. Loved when she ordered the Chinese food...for one.

2) Miss Congeniality: "You think I'm gorgeous... You want to kiss me... You want to hug me... You want to love me... You want to smooch me... You want to hug me" Need I say more?

1) Hope Floats: Hopeful, inspiring, romantic and heartbreaking all in one. My all-time favorite. Great soundtrack. Plus Harry Connick Jr. as Justin Matisse, Matisse, Matisse... Yum. "What? Is there like a coaster stuck to my... butt or something?"

I have yet to see the Blind Side, but will go out there and add another $10 to her record breaking movie! You should too!

To goal or not to goal, that is the question

Ok, so I tried having No goals for the last four days in December and kinda succeeded...I mean, how many goals could you have in 4 days right? However, I didn't get anything done that I wanted to before the end of the year but I blame that on being sick--thanks to my hubby, Geoffrey. So I basically spent my days lazying around at home with Geoffrey and it was wonderful!

You should try a week without goals and see how it goes.