“Pinche” Sauce (Creamy Chipotle Sauce)

03 Friday May 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Condiments, Preserves, and Spreads

Tags

baked potatoes, bitchin sauce, chipotle cream sauce vegan, chipotle sauce, cooking, food, vegan, vegetarian

Creamy Chipotle Sauce (dairy free)

This blog is supposed to be PG, but there is just no other name that would fit this sauce as perfectly as this one. I was inspired by this great nut based dip called Bitchin’ Sauce.

Ingredients for sauce

I’ve been trying to find a way to make a delicious plant-based baked potato, one that has the creaminess of one slathered in butter and sour cream, or stuffed with broccoli and that fake yellow nacho cheese. Remember when Wendy’s used to sell broccoli and cheese baked potatoes? I used to love those! I was also a little chubby in those days.

Just put it all in the blender

I tried stuffing the potato with veggies and then topping it with salsa, but I wasn’t satisfied. I found a recipe for a chipotle sauce that would work, but it was made with soy mayonnaise which just didn’t sound appetizing. I refuse to try vegan cheese, because frankly I think it’s disgusting and highly processed. It’s not the flavor so much as the texture, it’s like eating slightly melted plastic wrap tinted with food coloring. So no vegan cheese for me! I gave up on the whole baked potato thing for a while until I remembered bitchin’ sauce.

Baked potato stuffed with quinoa, a sauté of mushroom and kale, and creamy chipotle sauce

I didn’t set out to recreate Bitchn’ Sauce I just took the basic principle of the sauce. Who new water, almonds, oil, chipotle, and lemon juice blended together could make such a wonderfully creamy dairy-free sauce?

Yay! Success!!

I stuffed my baked potato with tri-colored quinoa and a sauté of kale, swiss chard, and mushrooms. Now that spring is here, and summer is fast approaching you can fill your potato with roasted summer squash, corn and tomato and top it off with the pinche sauce. You can also try it as a sauce for pasta, to dip your chips in, or drizzled on those quinoa bowls that are so popular with vegans.

Side view

Pinche Sauce (Creamy Chipotle Sauce)

Yield: 2.5 cups

Time: 15 min.

Ingredients:

Almonds, whole, raw	½ cup
Grapeseed Oil	¼ cup
Chipotle en adobo	1 ea.
Garlic, clove	1 ea.
Water	¾ cup
Lemon juice, fresh	1 tbsp.
Salt, kosher	To taste
Black Pepper, ground	To taste

Preparation:

1. Put all ingredients in the blender and blend on high until smooth.

Chef’s Notes:

Chipotles en adobo are a canned product that can be found in the Mexican aisle of the grocery store. Here is what they look like: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/how-to-work-with-canned-chipotle-peppers-in-adobo-sauce/

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

14 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Main Courses

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

food, FoodArts magazine, moroccan vegetable tagine Nopa, vegan, vegetarian

FoodArts is my guilty pleasure. I check the mail so often, surely the mail man thinks I’m stalking him! FoodArts is an industry magazine that has news, recipes, and the latest innovations in food and equipment happening now. Ok so maybe it’s not for everyone, but I really enjoy it. I usually pore over the pages and marvel at how quickly the industry changes, I try to find old classmates in the ” deep dish” section, and wish I could recreate the amazing recipes at home. Sigh.

Latest edition of FoodArts

Some of the recipes are simple and can be recreated; others have ingredients not available to the home cook like gum arabic and gellan gum; some use techniques like sous-vide cooking and pressure cooking that require special equipment; but mostly the recipes are just time consuming. The magazine is not geared to the home cook, so none of this should come as a surprise. I just can’t really justify spending 3 days on a dish when I know for sure that both the hubby and the munchkin would be happy with pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese. Oh wait! We’re not eating cheese right now so I guess just pasta and sauce.

Vegetables ready to be roasted.

Potatoes tossed in spice mixture.

Yes, we’re still doing the vegan thing, except for one day a week. The one day a week has really helped us to not get frustrated, and we usually try not to go overboard and pig out. With the exception of this week, when we ate at Trattoria Neapolis in Pasadena. The chef, Bryant Wigger, is a friend of ours and we couldn’t resist working our way through the menu. It has taken me the rest of the week to recover from my food coma.

Broccoli boiled and blanched.

Tagine cooking.

This recipe for Moroccan Vegetable Tagine is one of the best plant-based recipes we have tried yet. The flavors are intense and perfectly balanced. You can find the original recipe in the FoodArts issue of September 2012. It was created by Chef Laurence Jossel of Nopa in San Francisco. I have adapted it to fit my current needs and to make it more accessible to the home cook.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine.

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

Yield: 6 servings

Time: 1 hr.

Ingredients:

Spice Mix

Cumin, seeds	1 tbsp.
Coriander, seeds	1 tbsp.
Fennel, Seeds	1 tbsp.
Crushed red pepper flakes	1/4 tsp.
Salt, kosher	½ tbsp.
Black Pepper, ground	½ tbsp.

Chickpeas, canned, drained	2 cups
Tomatoes, diced, canned	1 can (8 oz.)
Vegetable broth	4 cups
Orange, zest removed in wide strips	1 ea.
Lemon, zest removed in wide strips	1 ea.
Bay leaf, dried	1 ea.
Olive oil	5 tbsp.
Red onion, sliced	1 ea.
Fennel bulb, sliced thick	2 ea.
Saffron	1/8 tsp.
Carrots, large, cut into ½ in. chunks	4 ea.
Garlic, cloves, thinly sliced	2 ea.
Thyme, fresh, chopped	1 tbsp.
Yukon gold or fingerling potatoes, halved	1 lb.
Cauliflower, cut into florets	1 head.
Broccoli, cut into florets, blanched	1 head.
Zucchini, cut into ½ in. rounds	2 ea.
Corn kernels, fresh or frozen	1 cup
Green beans, blanched	1 cup

Garnish

Green olives	2 cups
Almonds, toasted, roughly chopped	1 cup
Cilantro, fresh, chopped	¼ cup
Mint, fresh, chopped	¼ cup
Harissa sauce	½ cup
Greek Yogurt 1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp. lemon juice	Optional

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Combine vegetable broth, chickpeas, lemon and orange zests, bay leaf in a large pot. Set aside.
Combine spice mix in a small sauté pan set over medium heat and toast. Remove spices from pan and set aside. Once cool, grind in spice grinder.
In a large bowl, combine red onion, fennel, 2 tbsp. of oil, half the spice mixture, saffron, and toss. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and roast in oven for 20 min. Remove from oven and place in the pot with the chickpeas.
In the same bowl, combine potatoes, thyme, 1 tbsp. of olive oil and second half of the spice mixture. Place on a sheet pan with parchment paper and roast in oven for 35 min. Add to pot with chickpeas.
In the same bowl, combine carrots, garlic cloves, and 1 tbsp. of olive oil. Place on a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place cut zucchini and cauliflower separately in the same sheet pan as the carrots, drizzle with 1 tbsp. of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 min. Add to pot with chickpeas.
Add blanched broccoli, blanched green beans, and corn to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring ingredients in the pot to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 min. or until vegetables are cooked through.
Serve in bowls and garnish with almonds, harissa, yogurt, olives, mint, and cilantro.

Chef’s Notes:

Serve with whole wheat or plain couscous.

Angelina’s Pizzeria Napoletana

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Random

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

angelina's pizzeria dana point, authentic Italian pizza south oc, best pizza south OC, food

We discovered a great pizza place in Dana Point, and who better to review it than my hubby himself.

Angelina’s

I have no idea why I have such an obsession with pizza. Growing up in America, for me pizza was Friday nights at a distinct red brick building with a faux fire pit in the middle and scores of kids in full pee wee sports regale collected at mass tables around it. Pizza was something that everyone could enjoy and it wasn’t hard to find. The cheesier the pizza and the atmosphere were the better. As a kid I thought pizza should sweat cheese out of every possible pore, in fact, shove some in the crust while you’re there. Looking back my taste in pizza mirrored my taste in a lot of things. Today I can’t believe I wore those clothes, acted that way and did those things. If I met my adolescent self on the street I would have to be dragged away fists swinging. After moving to California, pizza has become my Bigfoot, my white whale. Now when I hear, ‘Thar she blows!’ from a local. I refuse to even turn my head. There are scores of bad pizza places here and they do much discredit and harm to the few that actually do a good job. No, my father isn’t from Napoli but neither is every other Italian-American who can’t speak the language. But I know the real stuff when I see, smell and taste it.

The first time I was introduced to Pizza Napoletana I was 16 working for a sweaty, robust, verbally abusive Neapolitan owner who dumbed down his entire menu for Americans but would not budge on the pizza. No substitutions, no additions, one size only were the rules. If the pizza sat in the kitchen window for more than 60 seconds he would come rumbling out, cigarette in mouth, berating staff for ruining his nephew’s pies. For a week I watched the pizzas walking out from the kitchen and ordered one as soon as I could. It was like that awakening when you have real coffee, wine or chocolate for the first time. That first encounter annihilated every preconception that I had for pizza for the rest of my life. In the past few years I have driven countless hours down to San Diego or Beverly Hills just to get a real pie. When a friend from Milan told me about Angelina’s in Dana Point I was still skeptical. They only reason I wearily agreed to meet him was because it was so close to home and a chef friend from the Veneto agreed to come. If the pizza was bad I knew the company would help make up for it.

When the pizzas first came out, chef and I looked at our Margherita, smiled at each other and knew we were in the right place. He couldn’t stop touching the bubbly crust like it was a piece of art that he didn’t want to soil with his appetite. Wantonly I dove right in and together we destroyed the perfectly balanced Margherita within a few minutes. After that, we ordered 3 more pies and a few hours later I went back with the wife and son for dinner. It was like walking through the Sahara and getting a cool drink of water. I wanted to plunge my face in.

That’s right I said Dana Point, not Los Angeles, Newport, Costa Mesa, or even the up-and-coming Santa Ana. South County finally has good pizza. If I’m labeled a pariah for saying that the established pizzerias in the area can’t hold a blowtorch to Angelina’s…I couldn’t be happier. Angelina’s Pizzeria is legit and it’s is the place to go to if you are serious about pizza. They don’t have a website. They don’t have much on the menu other than pizza. The servers are very green and could do with some more training. The low quality tablecloths are a bit unnecessary since the tables look nice by themselves, and I’m not a fan of the mafia movie stereotype artwork.

Angelina’s does have Southern Italian wine varietals that would pair well with their pies and adapt with California palates. They have enough variety on their menu for pizzas to return several times a week. The service is friendly enough to make up for the lack of experience. The buffalo mozzarella STG, guanciale, OO flour and other high quality ingredients make the deceptively simple pizzas extraordinary. The pies are separated into two categories, red and white. The white pizzas have no tomato but accentuated with other ingredients that makes you wonder why pizza comes with sauce. I have 2 pizza’s left to try but every time I go back I can’t resist to order what I had been lusting for a week. Angelina’s pizzaiuolo (pizza chef) had participated twice in the Camponiato Mondiale del Pizzaiuolo Napoli (Naples Pizzaiuolo World Championship). Every time I walk in I smell the dedication, passion, grit, confidence, determination, and willpower wafting out of that beautiful bright red wood oven floating straight over to me making my toes curl.

Angelina’s Pizzeria

32860 Pacific Coast Hwy
Dana Point, CA 92624

(949) 429-1102

Mexican Confetti Eggs

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Random

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Easter crafts, food, Mexican confetti eggs, mexican traditions

Confetti eggs are an Easter tradition in northern Mexico, where I am from. They are easy to make and are so much more fun than painted hard-boiled eggs. Even after living in this country for 9 years I still think painted hard boiled eggs are the weirdest thing ever. What do you do with the eggs? Are they part of the Easter egg hunt? Who eats all those eggs? I know the children definitely don’t.

To make confetti eggs, tap the top of the egg with the dull side of a knife, just enough to crack it. Using your thumb and forefinger make the hole a bit bigger. Pour egg out and wash shell. Let dry at least 24 hours.

Once shells are dry you can paint them any way you like. Let dry and fill with confetti. Cut tissue paper into 1.5 inch squares and glue over the hole.

On Easter, hide the eggs and let children find them. Once everyone has collected their ration of eggs, the fun begins. Smash an egg over a family member’s head and watch the confetti pour out all over! Repeat as many times as possible. Happy Easter!

Roasted Romanesco with Tarragon, Olives, and Lemon

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Sides

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

food, how to select romanesco, roasted romanesco with tarragon and olives, vegetarian

Romanesco cauliflower

I’m having a crisis, a food crisis. I’ve been avoiding the blog, because I’m having a hard time coming to terms with the truth. The hubby and I have decided to keep practicing the plant based diet after Lent is over. We plan on eating like normal human beings one day a week. One day a week!!! ” What about cheese? No more cheese!”, is all that keeps going through my head.

I have been having some health problems, in the last 3 years, that have caused me a lot of discomfort. Medicine hasn’t helped or any other doctor recommendation, and I have finally reached the point where I would try anything to make it better. Well, just in the first week of cutting out all animal products from my diet, most of my symptoms disappeared, thus our decision to stick to this plant-based “nonsense”. Surprisingly my hubby is on board with this, not only to be supportive towards me, but because he has seen an increase in energy and his day-to-day life, and because frankly he feels good.

Romanesco about to be roasted

Don’t worry, I’m not making this a vegan or plant-based blog. I hate labels, what if I start calling this a vegan blog and one month later I change my mind? We’re hoping that by eating animal products one day a week we won’t feel too deprived and be able to keep this going for longer than 40 days. I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes.

Romanesco is the ultimate confused vegetable. Is it broccoli or is it cauliflower? It is known as romanesco cauliflower, broccoli romanesco, or roman broccoli. It is a variety of cauliflower, not a cross between broccoli and cauliflower, as is often thought. Its taste is very similar to cauliflower, but it is nuttier, sweeter, and with a softer texture when cooked. It is in season from late fall through winter. You can usually find them at your local farmer’s market, which is where I found mine. When selecting them be sure to look for a firm head with no signs of discoloring or yellow buds. To store them, cover in a damp paper towel, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, and place stem side up in the refirgerator. It will keep fresh for about a week. To prepare, wash and cut just as you would a cauliflower.

You can eat Romanesco raw, steamed, sautéed, roasted, and boiled. We like it roasted the best, but it is great in pasta, mashed with potatoes, in soups, or raw in salads.

Roasted romanesco with tarragon. olives, and lemon.

Roasted Romanesco with Olives, Tarragon, and Lemon

Yield: 2 servings

Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

Romanesco cauliflower, cut into florets	2 heads
Olive oil	1 tbsp.
Salt, kosher	To taste
Black Pepper, ground	To taste
Olives, green, manzanilla, sliced	1 ½ tbsp.
Tarragon, fresh, roughly chopped	1 tbsp.
Lemon juice, fresh	2 tsp.
Lemon zest	¼ tsp

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl combine romanesco, olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss to coat.
Place romanesco on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and cover with foil. Roast for 30 min.
Uncover and raise oven temperature to 400F. Roast for 15 more minutes.
Remove romanesco from oven and combine with fresh tarragon, lemon juice, lemon zest, and olives. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Chef’s Notes:

This recipe will also work with cauliflower.

Here are some other ways to use romanesco:

Romanesco, celery root and Broccoli Soup – pineappleandcoconut.com

Linguine with romanesco and scampi – latartinegourmande.com

Romanesco and sweet potato gratin – cookinginsens.wordpress.com

Velvety Red Lentil Dahl

09 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Soups

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

food, indian food, plant-based diet, red lentil dahl, vegetarian

We are already half way through lent and I haven’t told you guys that the hubby and I decided to do the plant-based diet thing again. Just to recap, we’ve given up all animal products for 40 days. Not having cheese in my life has been hard, but manageable. Seriously though, this time around it has been much easier. The challenge, however, remains the same. Coming up with a variety of dished has been difficult, especially when you don’t have items like bacon, cheese, or eggs in your fridge.

Saute spices and onion in oil

There are some great blogs and books out there with many, many recipes. I don’t know if it’s just me, but they all seem to be very similar. How many versions of veggie burgers can you make? They all seem to revolve around the same recipes, lentil loaf, quinoa (lots of quinoa), chili, marinated tofu, and of course some dish involving chickpeas. If you have any vegan or plant-based blogs to suggest I’m all ears. Instead we’ve been eating a lot of Korean, Indian, Thai or Chinese food.

Add the rest of the spices and continue to cook 1 to 2 min.

I’m planning on doing some research on cuisines around the world that were once plant heavy or remain so. Hopefully then I’ll be able to come up with recipes that are not poor versions of meat dishes, and let the vegetables and grains be the centerpiece. We’ll see how it goes.

Add diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water and reduce by half

Add lentils and rest of the broth or water and cook until tender.

This recipe for lentil dahl is one of my favorites. You can serve it with basmati rice, a salad, and some kind of flatbread.

Red lentil dahl, basmati rice & flatbread

Velvety Red Lentil Dahl

Yield: 3 – 4 servings

Time: 45 min.

Ingredients:

EVOO	1 tbsp.
Cumin, seeds	3/4 tsp.
Mustard seeds, black or brown	3/4 tsp.
Onion, yellow, diced small	1/2 ea.
Ginger, fresh, minced	1/2 tbsp.
Turmeric, ground	1 tsp.
Cumin, ground	1 tsp.
Sea salt	TT
Diced tomatoes, canned	1/2 ea. (7 oz. Can)
Chicken or Vegetable Stock	6 cups
Red lentils, rinsed well	1 cup
Cinnamon, stick	1/2 ea.
Lime juice, fresh	1 tsp.
Mint or Cilantro, finely chopped	1/8 cup

Preparation:

Set a large pot to medium heat and add oil. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and saute until they begin to pop, then quickly add onion, ginger, turmeric, ground cumin, and a pinch of salt. Saute until onion begins to soften, about 3 min.
Add the tomatoes and saute for 2 more minutes. Pour in ½ cup of broth and reduce by half.
Add the red lentils and stir, then add remaining broth, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boíl, then turn heat down to a simmer, cover and let cook for 30 min. or until tender.
Add salt and let simmer for another 5 min. Remove the cinnamon stick and pour in lime juice.
In a blender, puree the soup until very smooth. Adjust consistency according to preference with more broth.
Return soup to pot and reheat. Serve with chopped cilantro.

Chef’s Notes:

To leave this soup a bit chunky, using a hand held blender, pulse several times to puree the soup slightly.

Recipe adapted from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen by Rebecca Katz

Reading at the Table: Food News RoundUp

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Dora S. in news

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

aging wine in ocean, food, food news roundup, french omelet, is juicing good for you, lentil recipes

Napa Valley winery ages wine — in the ocean (latimes)

A winery will be conducting an experiment and aging wine in the ocean. Apparently the ocean could be ideal for aging.

image courtesy of zole4/freedigitalphotos.net

Can you pass the French omelet test? (poughkeepsiejournal)

It’s harder than you think.

image courtesy of Dan/freedigitalphotos.net

In Praise of Lentils (TheSalt)

I love lentils and this is a great and informative article with recipes.

Image courtesy of John Kasawa/freedigitalphotos.net

Juicing fruits and Vegetables – is it just a trend (azcentral)

A look at juicing, its benefits and downfalls.

German Soft Pretzel Sticks (food&wine)

These looks so good!

Focusing on Ingredients: Sunchoke

21 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Random, Sides

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

food, how to cook sunchoke, how to use sunchoke, ingredients, vegetarian, what is sunchoke

Sunchokes

Also known as Jerusalem artichoke, sunroot, or tompinambour. It is a species of sunflower grown for its tuber, native to North America. The tuber is stubby and stumpy odd shaped vegetable, and covered in beige skin. However, it can also be long with branches protruding from it. Raw, it is very crisp, almost like a water chestnut. Its taste is sweet and earthy, reminiscent of salsify and artichoke. When cooked it behaves much like a potato, while retaining its characteristic flavor.

Peeling artichokes

Drop into acidulated water

In North America it is in season from October to April. (In Orange County you can find them at the farmers’ markets.) When selecting them make sure they are firm, beige colored, and without any sprouts. To store them, wrap loosely in parchment paper, then in plastic. They will keep fresh for about a week.

Grate and place back into acidulated water

Squeeze out liquid

So how to use them? You can roast, sauté, boil, or steam. Pretty much anything you can do with a potato you can do with a sunchoke. The skin is edible, but it can be quite tough on some varieties. The best way to find out is to simply eat a piece of skin. To prepare them, first peel and drop into acidulated water to prevent it from discoloring, then continue using your chosen cooking technique.

Add nutmeg

Add egg, flour, oil, cayenne pepper, onions, salt, and pepper.

I like to use them raw in salads. Cooked, we like them roasted with a little bit of oil, salt, and pepper; pureed and mixed in with mashed potatoes; sautéed with other veggies and some butter; braised with chicken and herbs; and pickled (sunchoke kimchi). So there you have it. Will you at least try them now? Here is a simple recipe, and some links to other recipes.

Form into patties and sear on both sides until golden brown.

Golden brown

Finish cooking in oven. Serve.

Sunchoke Roesti

Yield: 8 – 10 roesti

Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

Sunchokes	2 lb.
Onion. Yellow, medium	1 ea.
Egg, whole	1 ea.
Egg yolk	1 ea.
Cayenne pepper	1/8 tsp.
Nutmeg, ground	1/8 tsp.
Hazelnut oil	1.5 tsp. (optional)
Flour, all-purpose	1/3 cup
Oil, grape seed	1 tbsp.
Salt, kosher	To taste
Black Pepper, ground	To Taste

Preparation:

Peel sunchokes and drop into acidulated water.
Grate sunchokes and continue to place in acidulated water.
Grate onion, salt, and place in a colander. Let onion drain for 5 min.
Drain water (by squeezing) from the sunchoke and the onion, and place in a large bowl.
Mix in egg, egg yolk, oil, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper into the sunchoke-onion mixture.
Form patties and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350F
Set a sauté pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp. of grape seed oil. Cook patties about 2-3 min on each side. Remove from pan and place in oven.
Let cook for 5-7 min or until the patty offers no resistance when pricked with a toothpick.
Remove from oven and serve.

Chef’s Notes:

Make sure that you squeeze all the water from the mixture or you will end up with a soggy mess. Recipe adapted from Chef Dominique Filoni

Sunchoke Mashed Potatoes, Butter and Chives – Epicurious

Easy Roasted Sunchokes _ Sarah’s Cucina Bella

Sunchoke Soup with Virginia Ham Croquettes – New York Magazine

Being a Mom..

07 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Dora S. in Random

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

challenges of motherhood, family life, living with a 3 yr old, motherhood, stay-at-home mom

Found mommy’s make-up lying around

Being a mother can sometimes be overwhelming and exhausting. Oh, and you can forget about that thing called sleep. There are also the doubts and guilt that you can’t help from feeling: ” Am I being a good mother? Am I neglecting my husband?” You find yourself pulled in so many directions, followed by a to do list that is never ending, housework, work, prayer, life, love, joy, and sadness all mashed together in one weave.

There’s also the worry about being able to afford college, clothes, books, and sports. There’s never enough money or time, but there is poop, lots of poop. There will also be broken crayons, legos all over the floor, and food in every crevice imaginable, all at the feet of a 3 yr. old with an insatiable appetite for adventure. ” I wonder what will happen if I poop here?”, I can almost hear him thinking. ” If I paint the walls with Vicks will mamá notice?”

Mamá does notice and sometimes wants to crawl right back into bed and shut the door. Yet, the wheels of life must keep turning, and meals must be made, clothes washed, and floors cleaned. At the end of the day I’m not a successful chef who runs her own restaurant, as I might of envisioned when I was younger. I’m nothing exceptional to the world, just a stay-at-home mom, but you know what? To a little 3 yr. old someone, I’m the most important person in the universe, and that’s all that matters. At least that’s all that should matter.