Monday Bake-Day

Lately I have taken to baking. I like baking bread, cupcakes, brownies, cakes, and pies. I usually pick one day a week to focus on my baking creations, Monday.

Here is a picture of my latest experiment: A blueberry pie. Summer Deliciousness!

Underwater Modeling Adventure

I love photography; it is an enchanting way of expressing yourself and representing the world to others as you see it. Here is a picture of me that a very talented friend of mine, Gwen Coyne, took. More of Gwen's pictures (of me and other delightful subjects) are on her Flickr page: HERE.

Five Days. Not One Dime.

In order to keep myself entertained, sometimes I give myself challenges. For example, I might challenge myself to make a wedding cake, do 350 sit-ups, or spend 5 days without spending a single dime. Of the latter I am actually particularly proud. I wanted to see if I could, consciously, avoid any type of situation that would entail spending money for a period of no less than 5 days. Today was the end of my fifth day. I drove less, went to the public library, baked bread, ate homemade meals and watched movies. Success!

When was the last time you spent a week without spending money?

We Accidentally Eloped

When the Mexican wedding plans were still in full motion, I discovered that our official Mexican wedding license would need six months to be translated, signed, sealed, and approved in the USA. For practical reasons, Alan and I thought that six months was too long to wait in order to recognize our marriage in our country of residence. Therefore, we decided to have a small ceremony in the USA to make things legal before our big Mexican celebrations began.

Alan and I thus planned a "Secret Wedding" in order to quietly legalize our marriage status in the USA. We did not want to make a big fuss about it, or spend any money on it, because our "real" wedding was supposed to happen in the Caribbean. Our USA wedding day was conceived, planned and executed in less than two weeks on the tiniest wedding budget you can imagine. We invited a handful of close friends, most of whom would not be able to attend the wedding in Mexico anyway, to act as our witnesses. I made my own bouquet. And, on Sunday April 5th, 2009, we tied the knot officially and legally and in writing, till death do us part.

I could not have asked for a better day to host a Secret Wedding. The ceremony was held in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, in the garden of old roses overlooking the bay. The weather was perfect, sunny and warmer than expected that morning. Except for our presence, the garden was practically empty. Our friend Ian acted as photographer. Prathna was our minister. The ceremony itself lasted about 5 minutes. And then, the day's debauchery began. We took many, many pictures as we rambled about the beautiful botanical garden, surrounded by the sweet smell of flowers and sparkling morning dew. Since this was not our "real" wedding, there was a lot less pressure involved; we just let ourselves have fun and be silly. At 11am, we all went to brunch at the Clairmont Hotel in Berkeley, where the food was copious and fabulous. We drank mimosas. We laughed. After eating to our heart's content, and sharing our first dessert as a married couple, we finished the day by returning to the lovely Redwood Grove of the UCB Botanical Garden, where we took even more pictures.

Alan and I had a lot of fun on April 5th. From that day forward we were, indeed, married. We just didn't tell anyone. After all, it was supposed to be a secret... but then the big Mexican wedding was unexpectedly canceled... The cancellation was such a huge disappointment and caused me so much stress that, after all was said and done, I didn't have the will to plan and execute yet another big wedding extravaganza. So, our small Secret Wedding turned out to be our only wedding, which means Alan and I accidentally eloped. We didn't mean to elope, but sometimes life throws you curve-balls.

Good Wedding Advice

I received some good advice over the weekend. The advice was as follows: "If you are invited to a wedding celebration, just go!"... After all your friends are married, you won't have any other celebrations quite as joyful to attend. Then the funerals start. So, if you have the means, even if it is inconvenient, you should celebrate love, family and friends at every single wedding you can.

So, here I stand, ready to follow this wise advice. If you invite me to a wedding, rest assured that I will attend.

The Good Life

Today I woke up to snuggles and the smell of fresh coffee, made by my new husband. I decided to eat breakfast in bed, which consisted of a brownie, a cookie, a handful of ripe, sweet cherries and -of course- coffee. While eating breakfast, I reminisced about yesterday's modeling adventures and underwater photo shoot. I also browsed the Internet for news sources and funny stories. It is now 11am, and I'm getting ready to go the the gym.

I have the good life.

Spaghetti Ice Cream Maker

Do you love eating ice cream, but are bored of traditional "balled-up" ice cream presentations?
Do you dream of having ice cream qualify as a "main meal"?

Do you like spaghetti?

How about we make your ice cream look like spaghetti!
YAY!

The Husband Unit

He is away on business, in Switzerland. I miss him.

Yoga is Intense

I have wanted to take a yoga class for several years, since I was an undergrad student at UC Berkeley. I just never had the time. In my previous life, as a fully employed HR Manager/grad student at SJSU, I was not able to indulge my time-consuming whims. I am happy to report that with my new found freedom from corporate America, and my shiny new YMCA gym membership, my dream finally came true. I took my first yoga class. Boy am I sore all over! Everything hurts. My lower back is revolting and I have muscles that ache that I didn't even know existed. Yoga is as awesome as I expected it to be and I am definitely going to continue taking classes, but it is INTENSE.

Happy Fourth of July!

(Photo from Alameda's 4th of July Parade)

At my father's annual 4th of July BBQ, while surrounded by mountains of ribs and potato chips and macaroni salad, I realized that one of the most significant things that makes us American is our food and the way we eat it. Americans have greasy, unhealthy, unapologetically calorific food, which is eaten with urgency and pleasure. This gastronomic culture is embedded in our history to such an extent that the average American citizen might not even realize it is there. Here is a link I found called "This is Why You're Fat". The website features meals that are distinctly American in creation and execution.

THIS IS WHY YOU'RE FAT

In which other country could you find Krispy Kream hamburgers, deep fried- chocolate covered Twinkies, or bacon embedded waffles a la mode?... Isn't it great to be an American?

Fun Times

A couple of weekends ago, Dad, Karen, Alan and I went on a Napa River cruise boat, which concluded in a wonderful lunch and wine tasting at the Acacia winery in Carneros. The river cruise was amazingly relaxing and peaceful. We had a great captain who pointed out marshlands, birds, local history and future Napa River projects as we joyfully wondered along. It was great to see Napa from such a different perspective. The following lunch at Acacia was hardy and delicious; it featured cold slaw, sweet corn on the cob, heirloom beans and a wine-infused peach-biscotti dessert. And, the wine... Well, lets just say that I fell in love with the Acacia 2007 Chardonnay. I usually don't even like Chardonnays. (Dad got me a bottle of it. Yay!)

Our boat was the maroon one.

After exiting the Acacia winery the four of us decided to visit Bouchaine, Dad and Karen's favorite winery. At Bouchaine the wine was delicious, the pours were generous and the surroundings were to die for. I love visiting the wine country.

Bouchaine has a Horse Shoe game for visitors to play.

Picnic and Chocolate Souffles

Today Ian came over to visit. Alan, Ian and I ate homemade pancakes for breakfast. Then around noon we set out for a picnic. The three of us went to Deer Hollow Farm in Los Altos. We decided to go there under the promise that there would be live farms animals to observe and a barn with picnic tables. Deer Hollow Farm is located in the Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve in Santa Clara County, which is really close to where we live. The location was beautiful and there were lots of families, joggers, chickens and blue jays. However, we did not know that we would have to carry our over packed, difficult to carry, picnic basket for about a mile before we reached the intended barn.

(As you can see, Alan was not happy to carry the basket for so long.)

We were quite exhausted from carrying the picnic basket by the time we reached our destination, but we were very determined to eat some cheese in a 100 year old barn. After about 30 minutes of walking, we finally were able to sit down in the shade and eat our brie, apples and crackers. The simple food we ate was delicious and the location was very relaxing. Unfortunately though, it was too hot and we were too tired to drink the wine we had lugged.

After the picnic Ian left. To kill time in the afternoon, Alan and I set out to make chocolate souffle. I read this article a couple days ago about chocolate souffle by Mark Bittman and I was dying to try to recipe. Chocolate souffle seems like such a grown-up, sophisticated, Frenchy thing to make, and I had never tried a souffle before. So, we did it. It was surprisingly easy to make. And tasty :)

They deflated pretty quickly (the picture above was taken after they deflated), but I was proud of our souffle. We made them in ramekins that we received as a wedding gift from my aunt Indra and uncle TK.

I Dream of Fortune

Yesterday, during my routine walk around Shoreline Park, I prayed for peace and good fortune. I prayed from the heart. I was admittedly a little sad because I have not had much luck job hunting. Then, last night I had a dream with a fortune teller. I rarely ever wake up being able to remember my dreams, which makes this dream even more extra special. Here is my dream:

All the sudden, my friend Gwen appeard and led me to the beach to see a fortune teller. The fortune teller was sitting behind a small table, nestled in a small beach-hut made of sticks, which was standing precariously over the white sand. When we entered the hut, I told both Gwen and the the fortune teller that I had no money, but they both said that I shouldn't worry about the lack of funds, and that I should just have my fortune read. (Even in my dreams I am unemployed!) The fortune teller was an old lady, with brown skin that had absorbed a lot of sun over the years, and a wide mouth. She handed me a deck of cards that I have never seen before.  She told me to cut the deck and then pick three cards. I started shuffling the cards a lot; she got impatient and told me to just pick three cards already. So, I quickly picked three and, without looking at them, handed them to her. 

First Card: The fortune teller looked at me and told me to eat vegetables. She told me to eat lots of beautiful vegetables. She didn't explain why I should eat vegetables, but she said I should make sure to pick beautiful ones. To make her point, she went to her kitchen and brought back a gigantic onion, and a big celery and dumped them in front of me. "Like This" she said, smiling proudly over her big, unblemished vegetables. 

Second Card: As soon as the fortune teller touched the second card, I was distracted by the sight of my grandmother swimming in the ocean. Nana Teo is my grandmother from my mother's side. She loved the beach. Nana Teo was born, raised, and lived her life to the end in a little beach town called Carupano, in Venezuela. She was a feisty old lady, and she spent a lot of time taking care of me when I was growing up. But, in the dream I felt that she was still alive; I forgot that she had died. I could see her, clearly, swimming and relaxing on the beach. She looked beautiful. Every now and then she would look over to where I was, and then continue swimming. Nana Teo ignored the fortune teller. The fortune teller then told me that my grandmother was "still around", that she came "back and fourth" and spent her time in the other realm "with Nostradamus". I understood that Nana Teo was looking over me, maybe even protecting me. 

Third Card: As soon as the fortune teller saw this card she smiled, and proclaimed "You will have a boy". 

Then, I abruptly woke up from my dream to the sound of crows squawking loudly next to my bedroom window. I currently have a crow problem. They are nesting close to my bedroom window and they squawk annoyingly at early hours of the morning, throughout the day, and until night time. The crows could not have squawked at a more inopportune time, as I was about to ask the fortune teller to elaborate on the third card. Although, in retrospect, maybe the fortune teller knew the crows were going to wake me up shortly, which is why she hurried me when I was shuffling the cards at the beginning. I guess I'll never know.