Have a nice cup!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

I had a great time celebrating the New Year, we were invited to a friend's house, and a lot of the people were there from the Indian group we are part of. Obviously we had some Indian music, and we actually ended by dancing in front of the TV trying to emulate Bollywood Dances...Not so much luck with that, but it was fun!
Some people saw the article about us in the newspaper and recognized us at the party, for a second I felt like a tiny tea celebrity.

White on white?

2008-07-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

Now and again I just "have to" change something about my house. I would love to say that I had been successful all the other times I tried to renovate at all, but at the most, I have made some little changes just like painting my dining room a very bright asparagus color.
Right now I'm oscillating between painting living room, dining room and hallway in the light grays spectrum or going for an all white house. Here's a country version of white on white, I'm not that country, but I really like the rustic and cozy feeling of this house.

Photo by Helén Pe

Spaghetti Night

2008-07-14T23:11:00.000-05:00

So, for my first real meal after all these weeks loaded with liquid food, I decided that I needed to cook something very simple and fast (my energy has been very, very limited)
The only thing I could it think was of course: spaghetti. I mixed a can of tomato sauce, with sautéed onions and garlic...and voilà!

Notes from my Garden

2008-07-10T13:47:00.000-05:00

After two weeks in bed, I was so happy to walk around my house and discover how just 14 days can change the face of my garden, it's hard to believe how many things can happen in such a short time.

Like my peach trees: I have 6 of them, the first year in our home, we were plagued by Japanese beetles and they destroyed every fruit on all the trees. Last year we didn't have a single peach, and this year we not only have peaches, we are plagued by them!

Suddenly we have so many peaches that we have a couple of branches that couldn't stand the weight, and they are not even ripe yet. Here is a branch that is almost touching the ground.

Peaches are not the only fruit trees we have, we also are owners of two apple trees, but we have never been witnesses of any apple production at all. This is our first year we have been able to see some of the fruits actually getting a little bigger than a plum (we have a plum tree too).

I'm so excited about the development in our trees, because they came with the house, and for two years we haven't been able to enjoy any of the fruits, just heard rumors from our neighbors about the greatness of the peaches, until now (we hope).

Macaron Heaven

2008-07-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

I really want to learn how to make macarons, mostly because I dream they are going to look as heavenly as the macarons from Paulette in Beverly Hills. They have a big variety of flavors and each one has their own color and design, they are just lovely!!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

2008-07-02T15:00:00.000-05:00

I know that probably "Baby Boy" is not the most emasculating nickname in the world, but you are the most amazing husband ever (statement especially true during this very difficult time after my surgery)
Thank you for all your patience, for sleeping beside my bed during my time at the hospital, for creating a menu so I can pick up things to eat without talking or for giving me my medicines every 4 hours without complaint.
Happy Birthday, te amo.

I'm a Super Trouper!

2008-06-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe this is going to put me at the bottom of the hip list, but since I was a baby I have had a soft spot for ABBA...(yep, I said ABBA)

I went to see a cover band singing with the Indianapolis Symphony, I couldn't hear anything from the Symphony, you couldn't even tell if they were playing at all, because the music from the cover band was drowning them out.

Now something I didn't know until I was there is which cover band was actually playing, because they hide the name of the band from every single piece of advertisement from the event, the only hints I had were: They are a very famous band, they are from Sweden, they play with some of the original musicians from the ABBA band. Pretty good hints right? WRONG!
There is more than one band with those exact characteristics, actually there are some cover bands that have their own cover bands! I'm right now thinking that maybe I should start my own band...

Back to the concert: we had a great time, we sang aloud, we danced like groupies (a spontaneous crowd appeared below the stage and had their own party, and Mr. Herb and I were there dancing like dancing queens...and kings)

Here you can see how people are still far away from the stage, just eating and looking at the band without any interaction. The smoke is from the citronella candles, I can't be thankful enough for those.

Now in this picture, you can see how close I was to the stage, that I could actually sign to the singers and they would answer back.

2008-06-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

I'm a sucker for British magazines and feta, and when I saw this recipe in Olive Magazine I was in kitchen heaven! This is a very easy to make dish:

Ingredients:
olive oil
2 garlic cloves , sliced
a big pinch chilli flakes
2 x 400g (2 x 14 oz) cans diced tomatoes , drained
a small handful oregano leaves, chopped
2 x 200g (14 oz total) blocks feta cheese , broken up into large chunks crusty bread , to serve

1.Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan, add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the chilli and tomatoes and simmer for 25 minutes until thickened. Season and stir in the oregano.

2.Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 (400 F). Put the feta in an ovenproof dish, cover with sauce and bake for 20 minutes before serving.

I combined this with recipe with penne pasta and everybody loved it, let me know if you make it!

Hashimoto and me

2008-06-18T15:08:00.000-05:00

8 months ago I woke up looking like a frog (not green, just swollen up like one) and my doc suggested that I have an ultrasound, which I obediently did and they found a "little dot" (literal words of the person who interpreted my results) and who suggested to wait another 6 months to "see if something happens" (yep, literal words again)...and I did wait!
Almost 2 months ago I woke up looking worse than a frog, this time I looked like I was wearing a fat suit like in the movies (like Monica used to look in Friends when she was fat) no neck at all, I was so swollen that my tonsils were together, and my voice was totally different. That day I freaked out and I ran to have another ultrasound, this time they found that I didn't have one nodule, but 2 on my thyroid.
If the nodules weren't bad enough the doctor ordered me to have a biopsy, because "maybe they are not just nodules...maybe it's cancer". Thank you doc. Everybody was extra nice to me those weeks that I was waiting for my biopsy appointment. Luckily it wasn't cancer but Hashimoto, a syndrome that ultimately is going to destroy my thyroid, so I had 2 options: take a medicine for life and wait until they get destroyed or take my thyroid out right now, eliminating with that the syndrome and taking the same medicine for life anyway.
I don't want to wait for that total destruction, so I'm having surgery next Thursday to remove my 2 nodules, my thyroids and my tonsils, because they are way too big and they cause me infections all the time.

Good news: I can have a looooot of ice cream! Thank you, Hakaru Hashimoto

A simple hi!

2008-06-17T15:03:00.000-05:00

I'm the owner of herb + ginger , I love dogs, interior design, illustrations, good food, books and my beloved Mr. Herb.

Thanks a lot if you are reading this, I hope we can share some ideas in the near future and...Have a nice cup!