when life hands you lemons

Amazing how life can be so unpredictable. I am so grateful for everything that I have, and also grateful for everything I don't have. The things, or actually the only things that make an impression on my life are the people in it. My family, friends, and especially my husband and son - they matter most. I feel so blessed knowing that I have everything I need...starting with LOVE that I receive daily from my family. I am the richest woman in the world right now and my problems of the world are microscopic compared to the problems of others and I thank God for that. My God is powerful and knows that all I want is for my family to be safe and happy, and to know that we have that and more makes me feel happiness in its purest form.

I feel a huge ball of energetic fire glowing deep inside of me, I feel the heat rushing from the heals of my feet to the core of my being. I want to concentrate on the positive and delete the negative (in all forms) in my life. I have this wonderful chance at life and so far I have accomplished quite a bit.

On July 2nd 09, my husband and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary. I feel proud, and know that our 14 year old son feels the love and in turn makes him a stronger, more confident person.

I, like many other people are burdened with worldly problems...almost everyday I find myself against the world fighting just to be happy, healthy and able to pay bills with ease. Life will throw lemons at you from all directions, and to me that is a beautiful thing, because there are so many things that you can do with a pile of lemons. Today as I was taking a swim I had to take a moment to tell the earth how much I loved it...how much it meant to me, and I had to thank God for everything I have (and don't have). That very moment a large black and yellow butterfly flew towards me and landed on my nose...I laughed and pushed it off. It then flew to the edge of my pool and my pup Odie approached it and sniffed it out, and the butterfly just stood there - it seemed so happy and carefree.

I felt a glow inside of me and thought of my Grandma Robledo...don't know why, but I did and all of a sudden all of my worries went away. All of my problems sort of just vanished and instead, I was faced with a long list of things in my life that I am thankful for. I love my Grandma, I love my family and nothing in this world can ruin that for me.

Life can be very challenging and sometimes depressing, but I hope that more people out there realize that they still have a chance at life as long as they are still alive (no matter what) if you are alive, you have a chance.

One thing that makes me happy is cooking. I learned to cook from watching my Grandmother's, aunts and mom cook from scratch. I love food, and I love preparing food for my family; it makes me happy knowing that what I am cooking is not only nourishing their bodies/minds but also am giving them something that they enjoy eating.

This morning I shuffled through my fridge and found a couple of potatoes, some onion, tomato and fresh jalapeno. I also had some leftover sausage and tortillas from a barbeque. I decided to cook papas ala mexicana tacos with sausage and it was delicious.

Now, this is not the first time I've shuffled through my kitchen and managed to pull out a meal - this is something that I am acustomed to, and have found that those meals have been some of the more enjoyable meals I've cooked in my life time. Simple, hearty, homeade meals that make your tummy smile. I included a photo of today's breakfast and will include the recipe below:

Papas ala Mexicana

2 idaho potatoes
1 tablespoon of oil ( i use olive oil)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 raw jalepeno (chopped)
1 large tomato (chopped)

heat oil in skillet
peel potatoes, then slice or cube
add potatoes to heated skillet and sautee until brown
add onion and jalepeno, stir
once potatoes are crisp add chopped tomato, salt and pepper to taste mix and serve with corn or flour tortillas.

papas ala mexicana is a simple, delicious and affordable meal that will please any family ~ it's one of our favorites!

myspace

I do have a myspace and a facebook account, but if you read my blog, I prefer you to reach me on (poetry) myspace:


www.myspace.com/poetryandbrokenstars

I have several poems and short stories that might or might not be mirrored here on my blog, however I will appreciate you visiting my page and leaving any sort of comments you'd like to share with me.

Pictured above are some delicious cupcakes: Strawberry cheesecake and the swirly ones are Boston Creme Pie.

Poem

I haven't posted recently because I had forgotten my password. Anyway, I remembered it and figured I should post my new poem that I had posted on my poetry myspace page a couple of weeks ago ~ I hope readers enjoy it:




deafened
by: evana vleck


My poem spits back at me, melodically
as i sit and shuffle my fingers together in contorted rhythm

the varying sound of my fingers linger
and they cause my ear drums to be one with the softness of the moon
and the cascading waves that fall upon your sturdy shoulders

ever so gently
my fingers extract an emotion
and find themselves
in the waves upon your loving shoulders

deafening
struggling
hypnotically changeling

beat by beat
rhythm by broken rhythm

heart within hand
and breath...
deafening,
to my falling soul

a place where only you and i
know

Fideo! I love you!

My (healthy) Fideo recipe (it's really really good)



1 tablespoon olive oil

½ yellow onion finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

4 ripe tomatoes

1 jalapeño

Sea or Kosher salt to taste

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp cumin

½ lb wheat angel hair pasta (or thin wheat spaghetti) cut into small pieces

2 tsp of fresh lime juice

2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
Heat oil in large skillet

Finely chop veggies: onion, garlic, jalapeno, and carrot. Sweat the veggies in the oil until onions are just translucent

Put tomatoes and jalapeno on baking sheet and broil with olive oil until plump. When done, take out and blend.

Cut pasta into small pieces (aprox 1 inch) and add to skillet. Turn up the heat, and stir until pasta is lightly toasted.

Add fresh black pepper, cumin, and tomato mixture then stir

Once all ingredients are incorporated add the vegetable broth, a squeeze of lime and salt to taste.

Cover and simmer on Low for 15 minutes or until pasta is aldente.

Serve with fresh sliced avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and corn tortillas.

For soupy fideo add 1-2 cups of extra broth depending on how soupy you want it. I like mine dry to eat in tacos ~

Baked Veggie Eggrolls

Baked Veggie Eggrolls (my recipe!)


One of my favorite past times is cooking. The problem is having the time to cook a fresh, wholesome meal, but because I feel it's important to offer my family a home-cooked meal, I make the time. One of my favorite dishes is vegetarian eggrolls.

1/2 head of cabbage finely shredded
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp fresh ginger
2 cups broccoli
2 cups carrots, julienne
2 cups snap peas
4 cups sliced shitake mushroom
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoison sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsp hot red chili flakes (or hot sauce)
1 package eggroll wrappers (thawed)
1 teaspoon of corn starch, water
wok or large sauce pan

heat oil in wok, add 1 thinly sliced onion and 1/2 head of shredded cabbage - sautee and add garlic, ginger (3 min)
add broccoli, snap peas, and carrots. sautee until just tender (4 min).
add sliced mushrooms, and minced garlic, sautee for 2 minutes and add soy, hoison sauce and chili flakes. stir until well combined, and take off heat.

heat oven to 400 degrees.

mix cornstarch and water in s small dish (this will act as a adhesive). lay out eggroll wrappers with corners facing N,S, E & W, and place about 2 tablespoons of filling in center. Fold in E, then W corners, fold south corner up and roll, and dip your finger in cornstarch mixture, then seal corner of eggroll wrapper. place face down on a non-stick cookie sheet and continue until veggie mixture is gone. (should be about 20 eggrolls) I make the entire batch, and just freeze what I'm not going to use for later.

Brush eggrolls with olive oil on all sides, and bake for 20 min on 400. Dip in spicy mustard, or tempura sauce. I usally make this dish with tofu/veggie lomein or tofu/veggie fried rice. YUM!!!!

Mid Heaven

"To get some of the brightest views of the skies, December nights are the best. This month was discernible by a chain of concurrences and it also has the full view of the planet "Saturn". Though a clear sky facilitates the seeing of the winter sky - they are more beautiful to look at while the sky is either deep blue or dark." The bright planets of Venus and Jupiter along with the moon are also coming closer to each other to make an unusual sight. " (taken from The Planet Articles in Encyclo Central)





During this time of my life, there are emotions that I can't escape from. Most of the time, my emotions enclose me and instead of tuning them out, I listen. For some people this is a bad or negative thing because they are unsure of how to respond to it, but I figure that it's for them to deal with. Lately, for the past week or so I've been feeling closer to the universe and further from the world. I can feel the moon beating down on me and the sun caressing me. If I ignore it all, what good will it do me? So what if I'm not being black/white about the thoughts that are currently embodied within me – I don't care if you get what I'm saying or not because to me it makes sense.

Lately, I've been remembering every single one of my dreams and have been taking the time to share them by writing them down. Only certain dreams I remember, others will fade away, and at times I'll remember a part or an image of a dream that didn't piece itself together for me.

Last night's dream meant something to me.

Here's the dream: I was standing on the edge of a beach trying desperately to push the ocean water back, it was dark and the stars enveloped the sky, the ocean and the ground beneath me. Slowly, I'd turn to a voice that was calling me, and nothing was there. When I turned back to face the ocean, it was gone…I was now in an orange grove, much like the orchard in my old neighborhood growing up. I started walking through the trees searching for something and as I continued to walk, I saw a dear friend of mine. He seemed cold and lonely – I approached him and I started to shake off some leaves that clinged to his jeans. When I looked down, I noticed that I wasn't a person, but was a cat. I didn't feel so different, but knew that I had to leave, and just like that I flew away.

I do have an idea of what it means, but that's the personal part for me. Telling you that my dreams mean something to me is vague and general, I'm sharing something general, it's nothing that anyone needs to feel uncomfortable about – we all have dreams. I'm no different from you because I chose to write and think about it.

Some of the people who have been in my dreams lately, I feel a strong connection to and miss dearly inside of my heart. It makes me a little sad, however I know it must be a positive force, not a negative. I miss them and hope life is well on their part.

We are sad people beneath it all, buried deep within the earth's crust begging for life, pleading to be loved, in always despite our faults. That's so sad to me. Lonely is sad. I don't want people to be or feel alone, but sometimes it's inevitable. Everyday, we fight to be happy, in our jobs, in the people we choose to have in our lives, in the books we read and in our choices, we fight to be happy.

I think that birth is the closest thing to death. We are striving for breath, emerging from one dark spot to another maybe even darker spot not knowing what to expect. We end up in the arms of someone who we think is going to love us – but may never will. Dreams bring me closer to life.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Snow White is an immigrant

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had to delete this, because someone plagiarized me, go figure!