Biscochos...a family tradition. Done for 2011!

Every year in our family we get together and bake Biscochos, a small, crispy cookie flavored with Anise, Cinnamon and Cloves. It's almost like a Mexican version of the Snickerdoodle. And it's very popular. One of my blogging buddies, Paula from Sweet Pea also made some recently. She calls them biscochitos. Her recipe calls for brandy! I never thought about adding Brandy.

We grew up eating these as children. Our Tia Nico would make batches and batches of these and everyone always went home with a big Folgers coffee can full of them. It wouldn't be Christmas to us without this cookie and without Tamales, which we are making next weekend.

Here's my mom, the Head Chef and Baker and her two lovely assistants, me and my sister. My sister had hurt her back a couple of days ago so she was barely able to move. She was mainly there for moral support and entertainment value!

Last year we had the whole family, including my brothers, their spouses and kids in an out throughout the day baking. It was a real family affair and you can see last years pictures HERE if you so desire. But this year because my sister had hurt her back and my mom has been suffering with pneumonia and bronchitis we figured we wouldn't make them this year, but at the last minute we said "What the heck!"

My sister's two boys, Sean and Isaac were there helping for a bit early on. Isaac brought his Ipod and played some wonderful music for us. The boy has great taste in music. Here's a few pictures of the boys with me, with my mom and with their mom.

Sean and me

Me with Isaac, he's my nephew and my Godson.

My mom and her grandson, Sean.

My Mom and her grandson Isaac.

My sister and her boys.

And here's the boys, helping? Brotherly love!

Ok, now we're ready to get busy. I like to get it started with some energy drink...in the form of Agavero Tequila! This is a delicious sipping tequila that my cousin Stella introduced me to. Unfortunately...right after this picture was taken my nephew/godson spilled it :-(

Oh well, no crying over spilt tequila when there's Biscochos to be made! Several years ago my daughter gave me this Pink KitchenAid mixer and I love it! It makes creaming the sugar, shortening and eggs a breeze. You just set it and forget it. Well except for having to scrape the sides now and again.

While this stuff is getting creamed, we sift all the dry ingredients together. Then we mix the dry into the wet slowly and you knead, knead, knead the whole thing. Then we roll softball size balls out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with a little pizza cutter that has a curly edge, like a crimping edge. That's the little gizmo in the picture.

My daughter April had to work and didn't get to come and help and hang out with us. She always likes to use cookie cutters instead of the little crimpy pizza roller, so I made a special tray of Christmas Cookies just for her.

Then you bake and here's what you end up with!

These little guys are so good right out of the oven but they actually get better as they get cold and age. They get crispy and sweeter. We doubled the recipe and look how many it made! If you would like the recipe, please click HERE.

My mom was kinda dreading making them as they are a lot of work and she wasn't feeling up to Par and my own sis's back is broken. But between the three of us we accomplished another annual Biscochos bakeoff! Doesn't my mom look happy here? All the work was worth it just for this picture!

And so ends another lovely day in my life. Now I just have to get through a week of work and then we get to start all over in the kitchen and make Tamales next week. Tune in for that!

Take a letter Maria, Address it to My Wife. . .

Hey…remember that song, Take a Letter Maria, Address it to my Wife?

Earlier today, I asked my assistant Mary if she had added a trailer to a policy and she said, "What" and came into my office so she could hear me better and I sang, "Add a trailer Maria".  Then she gave me the look I get 100 times a day, the look that says, "Why oh why did I have to be assigned to Alicia?" So I said, haven’t you ever heard that song and I sang,

"Take a letter Maria,
Address it to my wife,
Tell her I won’t be coming home
I’m gonna start a new life."

After hearing me sing in it my beautiful, melodious voice...well then she thought it was a cool song. Which made me wonder why the man singing it was so cold blooded. Telling his secretary Maria to take a letter and tell his wife he’s done with her. So I pulled up the lyrics…

Last night as I got home about a half past ten
There was the woman I thought I knew
In the arms of another man

I kept my cool, I ain't no fool
Let me tell you what happened then
I packed some clothes and I walked out
And I ain't going back again

CHORUS:
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Say I won't be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life

You've been many things but most of all a good secretary to me
And it's times like this I feel you've always been close to me
Was I wrong to work nights to try to build a good life
All work and no play has just cost me a wife


CHORUS
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife

Say I won't be coming home, gonna start a new life
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life


When a man loves a woman it's hard to understand
That she would find more pleasure in the arms of another man
I never really noticed how sweet you are to me
It just so happens I'm free tonight
Would you like to have dinner with me


CHORUS
So take a letter Maria, address it to my wife
Send a copy to my lawyer, gotta start a new life
 
This song was written by Ronald Betram Aloysius "R.B." Greaves III in 1969 and was a #2 top hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
 
1969...hmmmm, that means that I was only around 11 years old when this song came out and I was singing it at the top of my lungs everywhere I went. A song about infidelity, being sung by an 11 year old? What do you think I was thinking when I was singing this? I don't remember anymore. I just remember I loved the song, the words were easy to remember.
 
It really was a lovely song, if you just don't take into account the infidelity and the sexual harrassment there at the end when the boss hits on poor defenseless Maria. Give it a listen.
 
 

Pet Peeves

We all have pet peeves right? Things that we can't stand? Some people have a pet peeve about those who snap their chewing gum or crack their knuckles.

There are actually a few website devoted to lists of pet peeves, there's pppeeves.com, you can even check your annoyance level on that one and then there's getannoyed.com. My favorite pet peeve on that site being when famous people give their kids strange names, that bugs the heck out of me too!

One of MY biggest pet peeves is people that stay in the far left lane even when they know that lane is going to end up ahead and then expect everyone to stop and let them merge right into the lane that is now going to become the far left lane. Does that make sense? No? Ok, let me show you a drawing of what I mean.

Ok, so above you see 3 lanes of traffic. Don't you love my cars? Purple, Red and Blue. The long ones are truck-tractors cause they are my 'bread and butta! The cars in purple in the far left lane...I call those people the A-Holes as the label clearly shows. (Pardon my french, but they are A-Holes!) I usually am in the red lane (the middle lane) and it peeves me greatly when those A-Holes in purple in the far left know they have to merge ahead but they gotta get one more car ahead until they can just STOP all traffic in my red lane so they can get in!

As they are passing me, I yell out at them (in my head of course cause I am a proper lady and everyone knows that proper ladies can curse in their heads as long as that filth doesn't come out of our mouths!), "That's right A-Hole! Pass me! I'm sure wherever you are going is a much, much more important and special a place than where I am going, so by all means...............pass me! A-Hole!"  Then I end up having to slam on my brakes cause everyone ahead of me is slamming on their brakes cause all the A-Holes in the far left lane are now merging!!!

So this morning, I'm driving along having my morning chat with my sister and I am telling her how I heard on the news that there will be some construction on the "99" this morning and to avoid the area if possible and I forgot and got on the "99" anyway. She's telling me that she saw that too and meant to remind me but she forgot too! (I think it's all the nachos and tequila that makes us so forgetful. It's definitely not our age!)

So I'm driving for once in the purple lane, the far left because when I get on the freeway I have about 18 miles to go before I get to my destination so I go in the fast lane cause that's how I roll people! I got places I gotta be and I don't want to be held up! Alrighty then, I'm in the fast lane and the traffic starts backing up and I chat with my sis about that and then all of a sudden on the left side of the road, right in front of me, is a BIG sign saying "LEFT 2 LANES CLOSED AHEAD".

It's then that I realize that I am in the far left lane! That lane is going to close ahead and when I move into the right lane that lane is going to close ahead as well and I'm going to have to merge right TWICE! So all of a sudden I realize that I now am the A-Hole!! And I tell my sister, "OMG sis, guess what? My lane is gonna end and I'm going to be that A-Hole I hate that slows up traffic further by having to merge!"

My sis busts up laughing at me! I'm mortified! Not to mention I hate merging in tons of traffic. Luckily truck drivers are the Angels of the Highway because two of them let me in and I merged safely and was only 20 minutes late to work!

And that's my story of how I started this day by being an A-Hole. Unintentionally of course, but I'm sure all those people that had to slam on their brakes so I could merge didn't think it was unintentional...they just thought, "There goes another A-Hole with places to be that are more important than mine!"

Oh, by the way...in the very detailed drawing above...you see the first purple car?...you see that yellow in the bottom right corner of the car? That's the blinker! The blinker I have to stare at! It's like a little blinking light taunting me and saying, "Hahaha, you have to wait for me to merge, Nani nani nani!" Grrr!

A Face that is Pleasant and a Face that Apparently is Not!

The other day my sister Lisa and I went to Denny's for pancakes after a difficult day. Actually we had pancakes and Nachos. Actually Lisa had pancakes and Nachos, I had french toast and Nachos...and decaf coffee. That's right, it's Friday night and the "sistas" are living the dream! Out on the town in the Big City (Bakersfield).

We walked in and decided to go to the bathroom and wash up first before being seated. When we came back the Host/Greeter, the guy at the front behind the register told my sister, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" My sis says, "Well I don't know, have you ever had insurance, buried a loved one, bought a casket or a John Deere tractor or been to Shafter?" (Actually she named all the places she's ever worked and then the tiny little city we live in.)

Mr. Greeter said, "No, I haven't ever been to any of those places or that small town, but I swear you look familiar, maybe it's just cause you have a pleasant face?"

A pleasant face. Hmmm, well yes, my sister does have a very pleasant face, she is always smiling and she does have a lovely smile. She's a good-hearted, caring person that will give you the shirt off her back (as long as she's wearing a t-shirt or camisole underneath) so yeah...I guess you would say she has a pleasant face.

But if I had a dollar for every time someone tells me that my sister and I look the same, or are we twins, I could buy...well I could buy French Toast and Nachos at Dennys! Anyway...it happens a lot.

So I tell Mr. Greeter, "Well what about me? Don't I have a pleasant face?" (In reality...Mr. Greeter hadn't even noticed I existed.) So he turns to me and stares and then mumbles something that sounded like, "Umm...yeah, I guess your face is pleasant too?"

What the heck! My face is pleasant too??? With a question mark at the end? Hesistantly like he didn't know what else to say? Dude! My sister and I are basically the same person! How can her face be pleasant and mine not? And to make matters worse, she fell in love with my glasses and recently she ordered a pair EXACTLY like mine! We have the same glasses!

It was all I could do to suck down my french toast, nachos, eggs, hash browns and bacon (included with the french toast thank you...I didn't order extra!). Then Mr. Greeter has the nerve to come over to our table to make sure all is ok and he starts quizzing my sister again on where he knows her from cause she just has this very pleasant face! Too bad he wasn't our waiter because then at least I could have had my vengeance by not leaving him a tip!

Me..........................

My sister................................

Almost twins right? Ok, well when you put our photos side by side like this I guess we're not exactly the same person, but I think we both have pleasant faces. Don't we?

Iwanna Wednesday - Let's Wrap it Up!

So I used to do this thing called "Iwanna Wednesday". Remember that? I hear it was very popular with many of my readers. Alas, I won the lottery and purchased everything in the world and so now I lack for nothing and there is nothing left to lust for anymore...well except for Keanu Reeves! *sigh* I love that man! But I couldn't buy him, he has to come to me of his own free will!! (Yeah, like that's gonna happen.)

So anyway, back to Iwanna Wednesday and the whole winning the lottery thing. (Spoiler alert...I really didn't win the lottery, that was just to catch your attention!)

Ok, so yeah...I did this Iwanna Wednesday thing because I am one of those people that wants EVERYTHING! I can walk into a store and the very first thing I see I say, "I want one of these!". I can drive down the street and look at someone's front yard and say, "I want one of those in my front yard!" So my sister and my mom say I want everything I see therefore they call me "Iwanna". Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm materialistic, I just find beauty and joy in almost everything I see and then I want it. It's ok to want it if it's beautiful and it brings you joy, it's bad to want when you just want it so someone else will be jealous that you have it. And yes...that is the way my mind works!

So I designated Wednesdays as my day to want any "lil ol thang" I want. I don't necessarily have to have it, but hey...I can want it right?

So the other day, I was stumbling with my favorite little friend on the computer; stumbleupon.com and I saw this nifty youtube video. Watch it, it's short and very cute and educational. And the young girl is just so cute! Watch her laugh and dance, she's just cute as a bug!





I've done an Iwanna post about scarves before. Well scarves and pashminas...you can read that one here, there were some real gems in that post! But I don't think one can ever lust too much when you're lusting after scarfs, pashminas, mufflers, gloves, all those things that help to keep us warm. So Iwanna share some more with you so you too can go out and buy a few and use the handy, dandy video above to tie, knot and wrap them 25 new ways!

First...since it's football season and my favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys (and aren't they doing great by the way?) check out this one. The reason Iwanna this one is because even though I know it represents my team, during non-football wearings it's just beautiful, feathery shades of blue and silver. Perfect for those cold, gloomy, foggy days here in Kern County! This one can be found at www.artfire.com and it's $26.96, but if you're good at knitting or crocheting (Lisa) you could probably make this lickety-split! I love things that are wispy and feather, or lacy or sheer and feminine.

I've seen this next scarf quite a bit in the stores this winter. It's a squiggly scarf, this one is Cashmere and it's from bluefly.com and even on sale it's a bit pricey for me, it's $77.60 on sale. But they are so amazingly soft, even the ones that aren't cashmere and they hug you when you wrap them around you as they are springy, like a slinky...remember the SLINKY? My mother would love this one, red is her color!

My sister came home from a conference in Santa Barbara a few months ago with a scarf knitted with ladder or trellis yarn, which looks like this. We have searched high and low for this yarn in all of Bakersfield and we can't find it, but I did find it online at creativefiberarts.com, this one is Ice Ladder Yarn and it's $3.25 for the ball and I believe you can make the whole scarf with just one ball, so that's a bargain compared to the other two scarves above!

I wish I had a picture of the one my sister has, but it's something very similar to the one below. If you're listening Lisa...Iwanna one the exact same color as in this picture. It reminds me of the tail of a mermaid :-)

On Black Friday, my sister and I went to Big Lots! Iwanna wanted to buy an artificial White Christmas Tree that was going to be on sale. Unfortunately, it was too small for Iwanna, but she is Iwanna after all and can find beauty and joy in EVERYTHING so she came home with the scarf pictured below for $5! (She's such a bargain shopper!)

Pardon the photo, but the only light available in my house at night is on my kitchen table. Isn't this gorgeous? Now the only reason I can think of why it was being sold at Big Lots and for only $5 is that if you will notice, it only has fringe on two sides opposite each other. The other two sides are plain. Why does that make a difference? Well imagine folding this scarf in half to create a triangle? One side would be fringy and the other would not and then on the opposite side you would have the mirrored version. But it's so beautiful and warm and I know no one will notice anyway!

There is only one other scarf Iwanna today on Iwanna Wednesday...it's gray, it's wool and it's wrapped around the neck of that other little item Iwanna. . . *sigh*

Happy Iwanna Wednesday and may all your Iwanna wishes come true!

Cough, Cough, Cough

I went to Las Vegas almost two week ago and unfortunately the things you catch in Vegas...they don't stay in Vegas...sometimes they come home with you!

On the drive home my throat was feeling scratchy and I was really tired. I figured maybe my throat hurt because of all the cigarette smoke in the Casinos and I was sure I was tired because I had stayed out until 2am dancing and having fun with my little posse of cousins (more about that later).

But by Monday it was a full-fledged sore throat with coughing and scratchy eyes and just general "blah".

Tuesday I had to call in sick and I slept most of the day. Wednesday I tried to tough it out but ended up going home half day. Wednesday night I took a tiny little teaspoonful of cough medicine with Codeine and it knocked me on my butt and I wasn't even able to drag myself out of bed on Thursday. I vaguely remember texting in to work that I wasn't going that day. Friday I toughed it out the whole day but I doubt I was of much use...who knows what I might have screwed up that day!

This past week I've been coughing up my lungs! (Hence the picture above, pretty darned accurate to how I feel!). I went home early one day but pretty much I'm just been trying to do the best I can.

I haven't gotten sick since my surgery to remove my thyroid in 2008. So I guess I was about due, but I'm so miserable!!! So anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging. I have lots to share about our adventures in Vegas and some other stuff. Hopefully I can get some rest this weekend and be back to normal soon. Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?? Oh gosh...I have to drag myself to the store to get stocked up for it too.

I move that we move Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years to April and May...it's much warmer then and people are less likely to get sick, plus it's right after most of us receive our tax refunds so we'd have much more money to spend! Who's with me? Show of hands!

Cough, cough, cough!

Expecting Adam

Being pregnant while in graduate school is no piece of cake and even more stressful to learn your unborn child has Down Syndrome. In her memoir "Expecting Adam", Martha Beck battled almost everyone over her decision to continue her pregnancy. Join From Left to Write on November 10 as we discuss "Expecting Adam". We'll also be chatting live with Martha Beck at 1pm Eastern on November 10 on From Left to Write.

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As a member of From Left to Write we don't do book reviews, we write a post, drawing inspiration from the book. I debated over what to write about in this post as the book inspired so many different thoughts and feelings.

Finally I decided that I wanted to write about abortion. In the book Martha faces abortion as one of the options in dealing with finding out the child she is carrying has Down Syndrome. There was a paragraph in the book that bothered me.

Martha and her husband John, at this point still don't know that the baby has Down Syndrome and they are dining in a restaurant and the conversation comes up what would happen if this baby was less than perfect. Her husband John says, "The worst-case scenario is that you might have to have an abortion, and that's a long shot. Everything is going to be fine." What she replies is what bothers me, "I might have to have an abortion? Since when do you decide what I have to do with my body?" Then she says, "What we've talked about is that I am pro-choice. That means I decide whether or not I'd abort a baby with a birth defect. You steer clear of this one, John-boy. It is not your call!"

Two things bother me:

1. She invited this man into her body to plant his seed and when the baby is born she expects this man to make decisions that involve this baby 50/50. Yet he has no choice, no call in deciding if the baby should be aborted simply because she is the one carrying it? It is her body that is housing the baby for 9 months so he has no say until the baby is born? He has no say in whether or not he wants HIS child's life to be taken?

2. Why do women want to allow a man the chance to "wash his hands" of a child that is to be aborted? If the child is born you can bet the woman will move Heaven and Earth to try to get this man to help support the child financially. Yet when a women gets pregnant, the awful choice of taking a life is left solely up to her? The man is not involved? The man is absolved of all guilt? Seems to me the man gets off pretty easy!

I'm not pro-choice, but to me the argument that women have used about how it's their body and their right to make a choice about what they do with their body ends when you invite a man into your body and you create a child together. Now I'm not talking about situations of rape or incest or any other situation that is not consensual, that's a whole different ball of wax. I'm talking about two people, a man and a woman having sex, making a baby, on purpose or not. They both have a right to decide what happens to that baby; both before and after the birth.

Martha and John chose to have their baby regardless and are richer and happier for it. Would everyone be able to handle a child that had Down Syndrome? No. I don't know if I could have handled it. I'm glad I never had to make that decision, but if it had come to my deciding that, I don't believe that it would have been fair to tell the father to "steer clear, it's not your call."

A Matter of Control

Picture a young bride. Hopeful, happy, looking towards the future and picturing a beautiful life filled with challenges and knowing that it's she and her groom against the world. Picturing herself building a life, a home, raising children together. Picturing herself growing old with this man standing by her side and knowing that someday they would sit together at soccer games, dance recitals, school plays, holding hands while they watched their grandchildren. Hands aged and weathered by time, hands that had healed and loved, caressed and protected.

All young brides see that picture from the minute they say "I do" to the moment they are walking down the aisle towards that perfect man. The one. The love of their life. Their rock, their witness to their life. Imagine if someone at that moment tells you you have to give it up. Would you? Could you?

That's what makes it so hard for someone who is in an abusive relationship to leave. You keep remembering that picture, playing those moments in your head. This is still that handsome young groom and you can't understand why he's doing the hurtful things he's doing to you. You didn't sign on for this but you think if you just try a little harder, give a little bit more, make sure that you do everything the way he likes it done then eventually the dream will come to life and you'll have it all. It's hard to reconcile yourself to the fact that things are never going to get better, he will always hurt you, he will always try to control you. But the dream is the reason you stay in it, probably way longer than you should have.

I can remember early on in our marriage my handsome, young husband, saying to me as we're heading out to dinner, "Where do you feel like eating?" And me saying, "Let's go to Woolgrowers." (One of his favorite restaurants.) And he says, "Are you kidding me? Woolgrowers? Why would you choose that place of all places on the day that I feel like eating Mexican food? You always want Mexican food, but nooooo, today you gotta say Woolgrowers!!!" So I say hesitantly, "You wanted Mexican food? Well that's fine with me, let's get Mexican food, that sounds good too." And he says, "No, now we're gonna go to Woolgrowers because you already messed it up and now I don't want Mexican."

The next week comes around and again we're heading out for dinner and my handsome, young husband says to me, "Where do you feel like eating?" My mind races...what do I say, what's the right answer? I want to enjoy this evening, I want to please him. So I say, "Oh, anywhere you want Honey. I'm just hungry, anything is fine." My husband, the love of my life says, "Great...so you can't even pick a restaurant? Why do I have to make all the decisions? Here I am being a nice guy and taking you out so you don't have to cook and I have to decide where! Great!" Another evening ruined.

The next week comes around and again...as usual, heading out to dinner. I'm already dreading that question. I know I can't say the right thing, but I can't just abstain from answering. My stomach is in knots, I have absolutely no appetite, I just want to stay home and not even go out for my weekly gift of not having to cook. Again...the question from my husband, "So where do you want to eat?" Woolgrowers was the wrong answer before, letting him choose was the wrong answer before...but he did say he wanted Mexican food, so I say, "How about Mexicali or El Sombrero?" Again I get that look of disdain as he says to me, "Mexican food? Are you kidding me? You're Mexican! Didn't you get enough of that crap growing up? Great, just when I was in the mood for a good steak you have to go and ruin it by wanting Mexican food!"

I couldn't win. There was no right answer. He didn't want to take me out for a wonderful, happy dinner as a treat to keep me from having to cook one night a week. He wanted to control me, manipulate me, hurt me, confuse me...and it worked. This was just a small example of the many ways that he did this. This man that I had planned to spend my life with, the man in my dreams that stood at the end of that long church aisle.

And this story is just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much more that no one knows, so much more that I can't share with a public audience like this. It's easy to criticize women in domestic abuse relationships, to say, "I would never put up with it, he lays a hand on me just one time and I'm outta here." Or "he dares to talk down to me and I'm outta here, I don't have to take it!" But remember that dream and the fear this person instills. He takes away your freedom of choice, he takes away your strength, your mind, your thoughts. It's easy to say, "Oh but that would never happen to me." It happens. It happened to me.

If you are in a relationship like this, whether it's physical abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse; just know that you are stronger that you think. Look deep down into your soul and find that strength and get out. And if today is not the day to get out, then know that it's not you. YOU are not the one that's wrong. YOU are not the one that is doing the wrong thing. YOU are not the one that is stupid, or weak, or dumb, or lazy, or fat, or ugly...whatever horrible things this person says to makes you feel like you deserve it. YOU just aren't ready. But I hope you will be soon, I hope you find someone you can talk to and I hope you find your way out.

This post was inspired by the book "Lost Edens"In Lost Edens, author Jamie Patterson struggles to save her marriage which may or may not be already over. Keeping her attempts a secret from her family, she attempts to mold herself into the wife her husband wants her to be. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a complimentary copy of this book for review. You can read other members posts inspired by Lost Edens by Jamie Patterson on book club day, October 27 at From Left to Write.

Who Do I Love - Mike Rowe

Last night I watched...well I half watched...ok, I one-third watched a new show by Mike Rowe, the man all men want to be and the man all women want to be with! No? You don't want to be or be with Mike? Well I do! Ok, I don't want to be Mike Rowe but I wouldn't mind being with him, he's gorgeous! (My sister wouldn't come near him with a ten-foot pole! Because he's dirty!) But me, I don't mind a little dirt on my man, especially when he looks like Mike! Yowza! The new show he was on last night was the Curiosity Show and his episode was titled World's Dirtiest Man. Go and check it out. Here's what the promo says about the show:

"We shower, we bathe, we apply perfumes and deodorants. We're cleaner and healthier than at any other point in human history. So it may be surprising to learn there are 10 times more things living on you than cells in your body. From the flora of our guts to the fauna on our skin and hair, this episode explores the wildlife park that is the human body in stunning, microscopic detail - combining the creativity of natural history filmmaking with the charisma of Discovery's very own Mike Rowe."

I have to say, the show was a little gross and disgusting. I actually would have watched it all but I had a super busy weekend and no naps on my couch so by 9:15 pm I was falling asleep. If you've never heard of Mike Rowe, then I'm sorry for you. I'm even making a sad face for you right now :-( because he's fabulous. He does a show called Dirty Jobs where he spends a day doing some of our countries dirtiest jobs in order to show us what some people will do and put up with just to give all of us the quality of life we're accustomed to. He spends time in sewers, under houses, on pig farms; you name it, he's done it. So if you get a chance pop over to The Discovery Channel and check out some of his videos.

And just cause I love you all and I want you to drool on you keyboard like I've done just now, here's a short video of someone asking Mike random questions. I don't even know what he said I just sat here drooling and sighing *sigh*.

Hopefully the little link here works and you can see this short video.


Ask Mike « mikeroweWORKS

My Summer - Part One with Chorizo at the Coast

Now that fall is here and things have calmed down a little bit on the weekends I have time to post some pictures of a couple of fun trips I took this summer.

In August I took a weekend trip with my favorite daughter, April and my favorite grand-puppy, Chorizo. Yes...she named her puppy Chorizo which is the name of a much loved Mexican Sausage usually fried up with Huevos (Eggs) or Papas (Potatoes). I guess it's a fitting name as Chorizo is pretty spicy!

Chorizo loves car rides! What dog doesn't right? But don't worry, we don't let her drive! (Be sure to click on any of the following photos to enlarge.)

First we went to Elephant Seal Beach. We've gone there before and I posted about it on March 28, 2010 and you can view that post HERE which has more details of where and what Elephant Seal Beach is. I will tell you that it is located at Piedras Blancas in the southern range of Big Sur, near San Simeon and I love it there! Where else can you go to see nature in all it's glory for free? Here's some pictures you can enjoy for free as well!


A view of the coastline. The weather was beautiful and as is usual for that area, it would alternate between being overcast and being sunny.

Here's a picture of the Elephant Seals basking in the sun. Ahhhh, this is the life! Except for all that sand and having to haul your body around on those little flippers.

From there we headed to Avila Beach to a little fruit stand that April wanted to show me. She knows where all the best spots are! I loved this place. It was very busy, lots of people but you were free to roam around and see the animals and people watch. I'd love to go again!

This fruit stand is known as the Avila Valley Barn and you can go HERE to read more about the history of the fruit stand, get directions, and view tons more pictures. They're working on an online store where you can order custom mixed Cake and Pancakes mixes and their Jam, Jellies, Preserves and Honey! Here's a view of where we parked. Is this a beautiful parking lot or what? These are Zinnias. I've grown Zinnia's before but they never grew like these! Mine were short, scrawny little plants, these are gorgeous!

This is the view heading into the stand itself where they sell fresh flowers. Isn't this a beautiful display?

Here's a closeup of those beautiful red flowers. I want to say they're daisies, but I'm not sure. Doesn't it look like I photo-shopped this picture to get those beautiful colors? Nope, that's just Mother Nature's doing! I love the aluminum buckets they use to display them.

And a closeup of those tulips! I wish I had bought some now that I'm looking at them!

That night we had dinner at the Great American Fish Company in Morro Bay. I didn't take any pictures because the flash in my camera is "no bueno" at night and that's when you need the flash right? But here's a picture from their website and you can click HERE to read more about them and see their menu. April and I both had the Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon and it was so juicy and tender you could cut it with your fork! We also had an excellent bottle of Champagne from a local winery, Tobin James Cellars. I say we...but I mean me. April sipped at her glass and I drank the rest of it. Yum...it was wonderful!

The next day we headed to the Nipomo Swap Meet. It had been years since we had been there and it has changed so much! When we used to go it was filled with vendors selling Arts and Crafts and second hand and antique merchandise. Now it's just like a giant parking lot filled with 99cent stores. Now I love 99cent stores, but that wasn't what I wanted to see, so that was a bit of a let down.

We headed back to find someplace to have a nice lunch. Someplace that would allow us to have Chorizo with us. So that meant outdoor dining and April knew just the place. I tell you this girl of mine knows all the best places and a weekend with her is filled with fun and adventure! We went to Zorros Cafe and Cantina in Shell Beach where we enjoyed Mimosa's made with the same Champagne we had the night before. They had the best Chips and Salsa and if you ever get to that area you need to go try it! Doesn't Chorizo look like such a proper and well-behaved little puppy just sitting there. She's adorable!

After a wonderful lunch April figured she still hadn't tired me out enough (trust me, she had) and she insisted we drive out to Montana de Oro. Montana de Oro translates to Mountain of Gold and is named that due to the golden wildflowers that bloom in Spring. We love it there, it's so beautiful and peaceful and pretty secluded so you don't have a ton of people there.

Chorizo loves wading in the water. Here she is with my daughter April enjoying herself.

And just in case the waves carry her away and she doesn't know how to swim (I tell April all dogs know how to swim) April insists on her wearing a little doggie life jacket. Isn't she cute!

And as we ride off into the sunset back to our little casas (homes), we say "Adios Montana de Oro...until next time."