Brace yourself, this is going to be incredible cute...

I just thought I'd take a moment and put my nephews on display.

 Julian

alexander (we call him xander)

I think xander looks like a little frog in this one. 

 both (below and above) of these are xander :)

 this is Julian over a year ago

Now didn't that post just make your day? It sure made mine.

\

One too many...

It's high time I posted about food eh?

I've had a revelation. Sometimes, there can be.......too many..........flavors.

WHAT!?

Yes, It's true.

The other day I made this sandwich

Beautiful isn't it?

 It was so tall that it couldn't stand up (the bread was really skinny). Turns out though, that I had put so many different things in it all jumbled up together that I couldn't taste anything distinct. I ended up taking out the avocados and eating them separately so I could enjoy them. They were drowning under all the other flavors. Lesson learned.

Just because all these things taste good...

...does not mean they should all go together at the same time. (For the record, I did NOT put all those things in my sandwich.)

We have to find the right balance when it comes to combining flavors. I guess that's where all the experience comes in for Chefs and all other brilliant cooks. Like the guy who invented this awesome pizza.

I can't remember what it was called, but that is not a Supreme pizza my friends. It has different meats and veggies that tasted good together, but not ALL you have ever heard of.  It was perfect unlike the Supreme, which to me, is another one of those what I now call, Flavor Bombs. 

Next time you are cooking, don't just throw everything on your spice rack in the pot. We don't want an avalanche of flavors, just a nice steady roll. 

NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG.

I'm not saying to stop trying new flavors and combining things you thought wouldn't go. By all means add some sweet to your sour. Mix that salt with your pepper. How will you ever know when you have too many flavors if you never try any of them together? My sandwich was still good... after I took out a few things.
Yet, I would have never known what to keep had I not TRIED it. 

So when you're cooking, use all the flavors you want to make a colorful picture for your mouth...just try to avoid a gray blob. 

 

Memorial Day

No, I'm not confused about the holidays, I am aware that tomorrow is July 4th. This post is just a little over a month late... can I just say that June was the craziest month of my life?

So, memorial day, think back to May....

"I was deprived as a child." that was my excuse over and over while celebrating memorial with my southern family. Usually my family doesn't do anything for memorial day so how could we say no when  my sista from another mista invites us to hang with her fam for memorial day. I don't really know what I was expecting, but boy was I pleasantly surprised when I found out it was a full out cook out complete with corn hole,  homemade ice cream and sweet potato fries.   It was so much fun. I found out there is so much to southern life that I have been missing out on. For example, corn hole, shrimp wrapped in bacon and covered with pepper jack cheese, and the fact that mango is not only a delicious fruit but also a reminder of Christmas. Anna's bro in law told us that mangoes tasted like the smell of Christmas trees to him, and of course that's all I tasted after that :\. Hopefully he didn’t ruin the taste of mangoes forever for me.    The whole night was a blast, even when we stayed a whole two hours afterwards to clean. During that time we got to discuss the art of drinking straight vodka with anna's musical grandpa who apparently is a pro... At drinking vodka. ;) I was reminded that day of why I love the southern part of me so much. Actually, Southerners and Dominicans are a lot alike, they are social, loud, love to eat, love to gather, love to eat to gather, and stay all day...and many other similarities. In reality, people in general are alike.  Where, who, when we get together, and what and how we eat does differs greatly, but when we get right down to it, we all love to gather and feed each other. There is just something inviting and pleasant about sharing a meal. I've always told people I enjoy sharing food because I then I'll have someone who is enjoying it with me. Maybe we all are that way. We love sharing in each other's joy. 

Sangria :D (No, I didn't drink it straight, I mixed a tiny bit with lemonade. it was SO good.)

God is good.

So tonight I almost had a heart attack. I made a mistake that would have bummed out a ton of people, but of course God used it for good, better actually. He is forever teaching me that His plans are better than mine. That despite all my planning and supposed control, things WILL spiral out of my tiny grasp into His bigger hands.
Tomorrow a bunch of girls and I planned to go to six flags to take a friend who had never been. We "planned it perfectly" so that those with passes could get others a discount. I completely forgot that I had made a commitment to baby-sit for someone the same day. Which of course, I didn't remember till about 10pm tonight. So for a little over an hour it was a crazy rush to get someone to replace me. We were so close to canceling the trip and bum out six girls. Then Leslie says she didn't want to go to six flags in the first place so she is going to babysit! So that solved one problem. Unfortunately, she was one of the season pass girls. To shorten the story, we finally decided to give her season pass to a friend. Leslie apparently didn't want one of those either. So in the end, everyone got taken care of better than I could have hoped. Leslie gets out of sixflags and gets to make money in the process, I get to go, mom doesn't have drive us, and a very deserving girl gets a cool surprise present. God is good

oh right...

hello my few followers. Sorry, I've been so neglectful. It would be awesome if I had a really cool excuse about being busy with exciting stuff, but alas, my life isn't that interesting these days. I do have a couple posts in the making, have no fear, they'll be up soon. Next week is my church's second ever VBS and MY MOTHER is in charge. That's right ladies and gentlemen. My. Mom. Our house looks like a storage facility for disney's "The Sword in the Stone". It's been crazy. So I suppose that's my excuse. When I do get some downtime, I usually watch Doctor Who or sleep. So I suppose that obliterates my excuses huh? I hope you are all having a grand summer so far and soaking up every minute!

New Orleans

While on our way home, we stopped in new Orleans to eat. We didn't get to see the city, it was jazz festival weekend, so it was super packed... "ain't nobody got time for that" ...we still had two states to drive through. 
We did get to stop at this little place called Sammy's. Man it was good. I thought I had eaten gumbo before...I was WRONG. It was so deliciously different, I dont even know what that cheapo wanna be gumbo I had before was THINKING. The whole atmosphere was different. In Georgia you get used to the slow paced kindly southern folk who hold the door for each other and will give you a nickel if you're short at the checkout. That tiny restaurant we stopped in was nothing of the sort. It was fast paced and crowded. Not fun to be caught in, but fun to watch from the sidelines. There was literally a lady who yelled "if you don't know what you want, STEP OUT OF THE LINE." I ordered quick as I could and stepped back to watch. It was crazy but everyone seemed to be getting what they wanted. Our group was a little lost, but all the other people seemed to be having a fine time. Just another Saturday afternoon lunch rush for them. I hope I can go back and spend a little more time there. And not just for the food either. 

taste of atlanta

I MUST GO TO THIS.