Home Remedies

So James is home today from work, sick with the flu. As always during this season, we all have to be careful with the flu. We fall into the same routine whenever either of us get sick. Here are some things that work for us, and maybe they'll work for you too.

EmergenC

This powder is packed full of vitamins and unique flavor. It helps strengthen your immune system.

Echinacea

Completely holistic, but can be found in a tea or pill form. We usually drink it in a tea form. Much like Vitamin C, this plant helps strengthen your immune system. James and I get the tea with the peppermint in the bags because peppermint also helps those nasty sore throats.

Soy Milk

As mentioned earlier, we drink Echinacea tea. Something that is so soothing is drinking it with steamed soy milk. Especially when you're sick, it's best to avoid dairy, so we substitute with soy milk. It's full of protein and is amazing with the light vanilla taste.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Of course, you can't go through any illness without going back to chicken noodle soup. This stuff DOES work. However, the way we eat it isn't like most.

Kimchi

We add Kimchi to our chicken noodle soup. Kimchi is a Korean food staple and it has plenty of good nutrients for anyone. By far, the best thing for someone who is sick and does not want to eat anything. When I got sick with the flu a couple years ago, I could not keep anything down. As soon as James made chicken noodle soup with kimchi, it was the only thing I could eat. The joining of these two is from my mother. She started making this for me when I was sick. It is SO incredibly good.

Chicken Broth

Whenever I got nasty sore throats, I would just drink a cup of chicken broth every couple of hours. It cleared my sinuses and I was eating something!

All of these are our personal remedies. They work really well for us and it cuts our sick time down by half. We rarely have Nyquil or Sudafed unless we can't sleep at night. The main goal is to help the immune system as much as possible. I hope it gives you some ideas for this upcoming flu season.

Megan's Munchies Popcorn Giveaway!

Megan's Munchies is having a Gourmet Popcorn Giveaway! Check it out!

Lookie! Sunday Fun!

So when we were out in Albuquerque last week, I had a gift card to Macy's. So my mom and I went roaming around Macy's, just to see what they have to offer and Mom decided she wanted to buy Alex's Halloween costume. So here is his fitting. I know Halloween is a month away, but I couldn't resist posting this picture! And in case you can't tell, it's a dragon costume! I love it!

Yummy!!

I know LA is the city of skinny Hollywooders, but how can you be skinny when you live close to this???

Fun Foto Friday!

So Stacey and I got together and decorated cakes! It was definitely a learning experience and I know what to try for next time. I did the cheesey romantic cake for James. He was bummed that he didn't get to enjoy the cake decorating experience. But I think for next time, I'm going to try cupcakes and I will definitely work on roses!

Fun Day at the Park!

 

James and I took Alex to Walter Hall Park today. James had the morning off, and starts his first overnight shift tonight. He wanted to take Alex to the park and have some fun with us. They have an adorable rock wall there for little ones, and James couldn't resist. We can't wait to take him to a real climbing gym and expose him to the thrill!!

So I did it!

I submitted Alex's photo to the Great American Photo Contest! So please, please, please!! Vote for my cute baby boy!

Fun Foto Friday!

 

I was having fun in my kitchen and I'm going to post a blog about this later, but it's about which utensil to use to make omelets. 

A taste of home (New Mexico home!)

New Mexico is not the most well known state. But if you're from the Southwest and are familiar with Mexican cuisine, you KNOW about green chile. And the rule of thumb is, if it isn't from Hatch, it's not any good. Hatch is a small town in the southern part of New Mexico and every year, the town holds an annual chile festival. People from ALL over come and get their roasting on to get some good chile. And you're not limited. There are reds, greens and about all in between. When we lived in Albuquerque, there was a chile roaster on about every corner and just the smell made your mouth water. Every year, my mom goes down to Hatch and gets at least three 10 lb bags of green chile. They will roast them for you and then my mom, James and I would go through the task of peeling the chiles. It was marvelous and hot! Mom would freeze a few bags for us and we'd keep it in our freezer, using some here or there. Being Asian, we'd sometimes eat green chile, rice and seaweed. Oh it's so good! New Mexico puts green chile on everything, you name it and they ask "Red or green?" I always ALWAYS say "Christmas chile" because I want both! And I'm greedy! Well, today, I missed New Mexico so much that I busted out the green chile.

Tonight I made turkey green chile enchiladas! They were quite delicious and it was great to have a taste of home! I got the recipe from the Hatch Green Chile note page from Facebook. All I did was change it to ground turkey and it was still quite yummy! Here is the recipe:

Turkey Green Chile Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 pound roasted skin-on green New Mexico chiles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
10 (7- to 8-in.) corn tortillas
1/2 lb of ground turkey, cooked
2 cups coarsely shredded cheddar or jack cheese, divided
Sour cream
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°. Peel, stem, seed, and chop chiles.

2. Heat oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chiles, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add 1 cup chicken broth and simmer until reduced by one-third, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare tortillas: In a small frying pan, bring remaining 2 cups chicken broth to a gentle simmer. Working one at a time, very briefly dip tortillas into broth to barely soften. Transfer each tortilla to a large baking sheet (you may need 2 or 3 sheets). Do not overlap or tortillas will stick.

4. Divide 1 1/4 cups cheese equally among tortillas and top each with shredded chicken, dividing evenly. Wrap tortilla around filling and transfer, seam-side down, to a 9- by 13-in. baking dish.

5. Pour chile sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake until cheese is bubbling and browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

If you can't smell the goodness from here.. Well, I feel sorry for you!


Oh the green chile goodness!

GOALS!

I have a long list of goals, like finishing my Master's, getting a teaching job, learning how to cake decorate..

But one of my goals that I have to constantly work on right now is my weight loss goal. I know I've mentioned it before, but I recently got inspired so I'm going to stick to my guns! Especially since my and James' birthday is soon and our anniversary is coming up after that and I want to look pretty in pictures and in dresses! Anyway, this is one way of keeping me accountable.

I'll be updating as I go, so let's hope a true transformation will begin!

Interesting read

I am reading the most interesting book about the legacy of divorce. Basically, how divorce affects the children and the future. It's a longitudinal study that has been going on for 25 years. The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: The 25 Year Landmark Study reads like a novel. Very informative and shocking!

Hoarse baby

I'm concerned about my boy. I don't think he's been crying more than usual, but his bedtimes are getting more and more difficult. As a result, I think he's losing his voice. He doesn't have any cold symptoms or anything indicating that he's sick. So he's just got a hoarse voice. I feel awful. I miss his cooing.. If it doesn't get better in a day or two, I may call the doctor.

Marriage

Don't take this as a bad post. It's just me venting about what I think marriage should be. Believe me, I love my husband and he's doing such a wonderful job. I couldn't ask for a better man. I have a lot of faith in our love and marriage because of our foundation.

My parents have rules since being married and James and I have adapted them as our own. A lot of it comes from observation, and the fact that it helps our marriage. These are a list of our own rules and we're pretty good at following them.

1) Never talk to a member of the opposite sex about marital problems. It's okay to talk to family, that's a given. But I would never find it appropriate to talk to a guy about my problems with James. Just sets up for a bad situation.

2) Never go to bed angry. This is based off the biblical verse to not let the sun set on your fury. And I agree with that. There have been nights where James and I would be up for hours, just talking and trying to resolve whatever is going on. Plus, when you fall asleep angry, you just start your day angry and that's never a good thing.

3) Always sleep in the same bed. This was a huge observation based on divorce parents. As long as you're constantly there with your problem, you have to face it and deal with it. It's always better to deal with it and resolve it than sleep in another room and avoid it.

4) Never storm out during a fight. Walking out is always a bad thing. It usually makes things worse. I found that it just makes James even angrier with me because it gets the public involved.

5) Never fight in public. Stems from the storming off rule, it would be embarrassing for us to fight in public.

6) Don't use the "D" word. The word "divorce" is poison. How can you expect to stay with someone forever if all you say is that you want a divorce?

We're not perfect. We don't follow the rules all the time. But to make sure that there isn't more complications to it, these are our rules. We love each other and that's what a marriage is truly based on.

Fun Foto Friday!

I love how my hair is a mess! Gotta love my new coffee mug!

Taking the big plunge!

Well, I applied for graduate school. And to be honest, I'm scared out of my mind! I applied for my Master's in Secondary Education with a focus in Math. I really believe that I'm going to be a student for life! I do want to start working, the education field has always been intriguing to me. Just a few things I have to think about:

• How soon will I start to teach after I get my degree?
• What about Alex? Should I wait till he's in preschool?
• When I get pregnant with my second child, will I take a break or just continue working?

Ideally I would teach fairly quickly and Alex can go into daycare. I would tell myself that it wouldn't be too bad since a teacher's schedule is no where near as demanding as any other job. Plus, I would get summers off and once Alex starts school, we'd both be on the same schedule. I want to be around for those precious moments but I also feel the desire to work. I'm really torn. I keep thinking that if we were in Albuquerque, I would go ahead and start working and leave Alex with my mom.

I also think about maybe just getting my Master's for right now and then get another Master's in school counseling later, and when our kids are in school, I can go to work. I'm unsure. I love staying at home with Alex, but with the current job situation, I feel that James and I should have some sort of a back up plan.

I wish this could be easier. I wish that we were closer to my family and if we had to put Alex in daycare, he could stay with my mom and it would make my choices easier. I'm not sure where my dilemma is. Is it the fact that I might be leaving Alex? Or that I don't want to put him in a daycare? Would I want to put him in one? What if I don't like being away from him? What about if we have another child? So many choices.. So much to decide..

Motivation?

I have tons of laundry to do. I need to clean out our bedroom.. I still have this big to do list and not a lot of it is getting done! I just wish I could hire a maid and have her do it all for me! Plus, Alex is being a real handful lately. I try my best to play with him and clean during his nap times. But I think he's teething, so he's been really fussy. Well, we're going to Albuquerque this week, so maybe thinking of that will get my butt into gear..

Fun Foto Friday!

This picture was taken at my mother in law's house over the 4th of July weekend. I thought it was adorable and appropriate.

4 Month Stats!

Well today Alex had his 4 month well visit. And he was a good boy as usual. He weighed 21 lbs 10 oz and was 27 inches long! So he was 95th percentile for length, but well above the 97th percentile for length. The doctor isn't concerned about his weight now, since he is exclusively breastfed. But she did mention that when we start solids with him, we may need to monitor his weight a bit more. I'm just glad he got a clean bill of health and now we officially have to install the convertible car seat we got him. I don't want my baby to grow up! I want him to stay this size!

Scale Sunday!

So I've been internally battling with myself, deciding whether or not I should post my weight and what not. I'm not trying to be super skinny, just enough to get down to a healthy BMI and get more energy to take care of Alex. Before too long, this kid will be crawling and I will be even more exhausted. Well, my answer is I will keep track on here, but nothing like a full time weight loss blog. After all, this blog is about everything I do as a stay at home mommy, which includes my scale troubles. Here is my weight for today:

6-28-09 : 184.0 lbs

I just plan on posting my weight once a week. And I'll be able to look back and see it when I need to. My goal this week is to hit the gym at least three times for an hour workout each time. And it's going to be tough since I'll be in Austin for the weekend ;-)

Feel the burn!

So today, I finally got off my lazy butt and went to the gym. I had not been to a gym since my dad came to visit, about two months ago. I've been running a few times, but I don't get a great workout running. I had been checking out gym prices, and found out that Bally Total Fitness had the best deal. I don't know if I want to start a separate weight loss blog or not. Battling weight problems is technically something Stay-at-home moms do, so I may just keep track of it here, along with the healthy eating and recipes.

After the gym, James and I decided to take Alex to the community pool, and we had a blast. My side of the family is part fish. My dad use to scuba dive and I use to be on swim team, so we love the water! Can't wait till he enjoys the water more, but he wasn't scared so that's always a good sign!

Fun Foto Friday!

James threatened to post this if I didn't.. So I figure this was the perfect time! This is me, cooking my chicken fried steaks.

Behind.. And Chicken Fried Steak!

Well, I had a one week trip to Albuquerque and I had my father in law staying with us for about two weeks, so I'm sorely behind on my blogging. I apologize! The one nice thing about my father in law's visit was that it motivated me to try new recipes. I've made some new things that I haven't tried before. And one thing that was a big success was the Chicken Fried Steak recipe that I got from the Food Network by Alton Brown. Here is some visual aids, to show how I did it.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt I used regular salt
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk
  
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut the meat with the grain into 1/2-inch thick slices. Season each piece on both sides with the salt and pepper. I was able to find pretenderized beef bottom round steaks at Kroger, however, I was not a fan. If you do get it, ask the butcher to cube it. It looks like toothpick holes basically. This recipe calls for seasoning with salt and pepper, and then tenderizing. I obviously did not do that. But I don't think it jeopardized the flavor.

Place the flour into a pie pan. Place the eggs into a separate pie pan. Dredge the meat on both sides in the flour. Tenderize the meat, using a needling device, until each slice is 1/4-inch thick. Once tenderized, dredge the meat again in the flour, followed by the egg and finally in the flour again. Repeat with all the pieces of meat. Place the meat onto a plate and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. This was the messiest part of the cooking. The coating of flour. Since I was doing 5 steaks, my fingers got super coated.

Place enough of the vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch slope-sided skillet and set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the meat in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook each piece on both sides until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes per side. This is one of the reasons why I want a cast iron skillet. You can fry things so much better and it adds a bit of extra zing to your food.

Remove the steaks to a wire rack set in a half sheet pan and place into the oven. Repeat until all of the meat is browned. These are before and after shots, compliments of my husband James.

Add the remaining vegetable oil, or at least 1 tablespoon, to the pan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the flour left over from the dredging. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Whisk until the gravy comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the milk and thyme and whisk until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste, with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the gravy over the steaks.

Looks delicious? Actually, it's quite yummy! I'm adding thyme in the first picture. I always feel fancy when I add fresh herbs to my dishes. The second picture is testing the gravy. It's a great test to make sure it's ready to serve.

This is the final product! Ha ha, I didn't mention that I also made mashed potatoes and green beans as well. One tip about green tips when serving it with Chicken Fried Steak, use chicken broth to soften it up. Adds a ton of flavor and compliments to the dish.

Alex's 100 Days

Back in the day, the infant mortality rate was high in Korea. Often a baby would die before it reached 100 days old. So, whenever it happened, there was a huge celebration. Since the introduction of Western medicine and through proper diet and research, it's now known that a baby can easily surpass 100 days. So the celebration does not seem to be important. Actually, currently, a professional picture is taken. If you enter a Korean family's house, you can more than likely find a framed picture of the baby dressed in nice clothes. So, following tradition, James and I had a photo shoot with Alex when he turned 100 days old. We also got some family portraits done since we don't have a professional picture of the three of us. The photographer is Vanessa Sanchez, my brother's girlfriend. Very talented young photographer.


.

3 months later and they get to meet!

Ever since James and I got married, besides my dad, another person that wanted us to have kids is my baby brother. My brother is 3 years younger than me and he's currently going to school to become a graphics design artist. I've seen a lot of his stuff and I'm really impressed at his talent and creativity! I think I missed out on that creativity gene but Matthew (my baby brother) has it in spades. When Alex was born, Matthew was suck in New Mexico all by himself. My parents were out here in Houston to support both James and me. Matthew had a lot of school work going on and midterms were coming up so he was pretty busy. Anyway, Alex and I were hoping to come out to New Mexico much sooner than now. However, Alex's doctor did not feel comfortable letting us go just yet. So now Alex is 3 months old and we're going to New Mexico in a few days but Matthew, being the considerate person he is, will be coming out here to help me fly out with Alex. I'm excited. It's been awhile, and Matthew finally gets to meet his nephew! Can't wait! This is a picture of my brother with a balloon under his shirt at my baby shower. What a nutter!

Hot house!

I got the hankering to make some Korean soups since it's been awhile. And I had to call my mom on how to make her beef broth. I remember she would spend DAYS or WEEKS boiling, making her own broth. I use to think she was crazy but now I see it's well worth it! So I'm currently making my own. I bought a couple ox tail bones (which I've only been able to find in an Asian market) and I had to make the initial boil to get the fat out. Now, I'm boiling more to make the thick broth. Then, I'll put them in sandwich bags and freeze them for later use. Here is the basic recipe:

Beef Broth

2-3 ox tail bones
1 HUGE pot

Fill the pot up with water, and add the bones. Bring to an initial boil then let it cool. Take the fat off the top of the water and add more. Boil for as long as needed to get a thick, dense color broth. Could take 2-5 days for the first time. Can use the same bones to make more, will need to boil longer.

How does your garden grow??

So I went to HEB today to get some food to make for dinner. There was a great sale on bratwurst, so I'm going to do Rachel Ray's Chianti brats. James LOVES them and has requested them a couple times, but I've been too lazy to make them. Another thing that is made with the brats is pesto pasta, and I usually use the regular basil and pinenuts for my pesto. As I was searching around HEB, I saw some real basil plants and I got SUPER excited! James and I were JUST talking about how I need to get started on my garden and more than anything, I want to grow my own herbs. I use to grow sunflowers and beans in my room when I was younger. Since we don't own the house we currently live in, I can't quite build my DREAM green house or garden yet. But I'm looking at some options and if I save enough, I may buy one of these and start my herb garden. I found it at Home Depot. My make shift green house ;-)

Fun Foto Friday!

Crib Time!

So tonight is the night! Alex is currently sleeping in his crib and will hopefully be like that for the night! We put his white noise machine in there, so he has some familiarity. He cried for a little while, but fell asleep. I just hope it lasts. I'm already extremely lonely without him, especially because James just left to work another overnight shift. Alex isn't quite 3 months old, but he was getting so huge for his bassinet, that a change really needed to be made. He's been pretty consistent sleeping 6 hours a night, and last night he actually slept 7 hours. So I hope this trend keeps up. He's growing so fast! Where does all the time go??

Live Long and Prosper

So my mother in law is coming next weekend to spend time with Alex. She said she wants James and I to have a date night, which would be great. James and I haven't really had a date night since Alex has been born. Well, we were talking about what we would do and we decided to go see the new Star Trek movie. I've heard a lot of great things about it and I'm VERY excited to see it. There are many reasons. But the biggest reason is that I'm truly a Trekkie. It's sad. I LOVE Star Trek. Now, I won't succumb to the Star Trek vs. Star Wars thing because I truly believe that Star Trek is mainly science fiction with a little fantasy and Star Wars is mainly fantasy with a little science fiction. Two completely different things, and I love them both. However, I have my father to blame for my true Trekkiness. Ever since I was born, I was watching Star Trek. I can quote Star Trek movies and I know stupid trivia because my dad and I would play trivia games AND we collected the Star Trek collectible cards. One thing I don't/won't do is learn Klingon. Sorry, I'm having trouble remembering Korean and that is a REAL language. So I really eagerly look forward to the new movie and my reviews on it. I know it's not like the old Star Trek and I don't expect it to be. That is one of the reasons that the last two Star Trek movies did so poorly is because they didn't appeal to a larger audience, just the die hard Star Trek followers. Anyway, if you've seen it, don't tell me anything! I don't want to know! I'm just waiting to see it with my own eyes!

Tonight I made James' favorite. It's from Cooking for 2, but I modified it a little.

Spicy Turkey Tomato Soup

1/4 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small onion, chopped (I prefer red onion, better crunch)
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup canned Mexican diced tomatoes
1/3 cup uncooked whole wheat spiral pasta
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 chopped green chile or 1 can of green chile
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno pepper, optional (if you want it spicy)

Cook the turkey in a saucepan with a little olive oil. Season it with the garlic and black pepper. Add the zucchini and onion and cook till turkey is done. Add in broth, tomatoes, pasta, cumin, green chile and jalapeno. Let it simmer till pasta is tender, then serve.

Hubble Telescope

I have two zucchini loafs in the oven, my son asleep in his bassinet and my husband just left for his second overnight shift for NASA. While I'm waiting for the bread to finish, I'm just going to take a moment to explain how historic this shuttle mission is. To put it very briefly of what James does for NASA, he works for Boeing contracted to NASA. He studies the thermal signatures of the shuttle, to make sure it doesn't burn up or freeze. This mission is the last mission to the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble Telescope is located 300 nautical miles from Earth and it gives us an extended eye to the unknown universe. The Atlantis crew is going up to Hubble one last time to make final repairs. NASA hopes that these repairs would last Hubble about 10 years before it no longer works. Currently NASA is working on another telescope that will go out much farther than Hubble. One of the reasons that this mission is so dangerous is because IF something were to happen to the Atlantis shuttle, the Endeavour would have to launch in order to go up and save the crew. During normal missions, it is not a big deal because the shuttle is docked to the space station. But for this mission, there is no safe haven for the crew. The odds are there, but we're all praying that they are slim. Anyway, this is one last maintenance for the historic Hubble telescope. It has given us such beautiful images to look at. This image has often be referred to as "The Eye of God."Well, my zuchinni bread is done and I'm off to bed!

Fun Foto Friday!

I swear he wasn't crying! He was just sucking on his hand. Fun at Pac Sun!

Knives

So I was chopping up some green onion today and I was frustrated because I had to sharpen my knife, YET AGAIN! I use to think my mom was weird because every time she took out her knife, she sharpened it. Well, now that I cook all the time, now I need to have a sharp knife all the time. James loves watching "How It's Made" and he saw a special on ceramic knives. These knives are so awesome, you don't have to sharpen them! The Kyocera knives were featured and we decided to get them for my mom for Christmas one year. Keep in mind, my mom has been using a knife for decades. She can chop, peel, dice, slice.. Like no one's business. And when we got those for her, she actually cut herself! The reason being, the ceramic knives are deceptive. They are extremely light to the touch, but incredibly sharp! So another tool that I need for my kitchen someday... Going back to my green onion, I made Hot and Sour Soup today. Here is my recipe:

Hot and Sour Soup

4 cups of chicken broth
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 slices of tofu
1/4 lb mushrooms
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1 egg - beaten
1 cup bean sprouts
1 chopped green onion

Combine 1/4 cup of chicken broth and corn starch. Combine the remaining chicken broth, tofu, mushrooms, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, green onion and pepper over high heat. Mix well, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, stir in the cornstarch mixture until it thickens. Slowly stir in the beaten egg to form egg strands. Add the bean sprouts and simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Family! Woo hoo!

My dad came for two weekend visits to see Alex. During the week, he went to Alabama on business, so Houston was a half way point for him. Anyway, my daddy FINALLY got to spend some quality time with Alex. He got to feed, hold and burp him. But of course, when Alex dirtied his diaper, my dad said "I've already done it, it's Mom and Dad's turn." Apparently my dad was worried Alex was going to cry when they met, but it was quite the opposite. They both had a great time together. Here is a picture of my boys, just missing my brother!


My dad left yesterday afternoon. After we took my dad to the airport, James, Alex and I were just laying down for a short nap when we got the call that James' brother Ronnie, wife Eighmy and daughter Alina were coming to visit too! In case you don't know, Alex and his cousin Alina are the same age. Eighmy and I were both in labor at the same time. Alex was born at 1:53pm and Alina was born at 5:05pm. We haven't seen them since the babies were only a week old, so it was great to have them over. The babies got to see each other and everyone ate all of my oatmeal cookies! What the heck?! Anyway, here are some pictures to see the difference in sizes between Alex and Alina. As posted before, Alex weighs 17 lbs 7 oz and his cousin Alina is 10 lbs 12 oz.



Tonight I'm making Korean Yellow Croaker (have never found this except in Asian markets) and cooked tofu. For the Yellow Croaker recipe, I'm sure you could do this recipe for trout, or any other type of whole fish. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan on it in the future. They are my mom's recipes, very simple but extremely tasty:

Yellow Croaker

2 Yellow Croakers (fish)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp garlic powder

Clean the yellow croakers and add the salt, pepper and garlic on the fish. Let it sit for an hour to marinate. Put the fish on a skillet, medium heat. Cover the fish and let it lightly brown on each side. Eat fish whole, make sure you warn those you serve it to! Look out for fish bones. We usually use chopsticks to eat this.

Cooked Tofu

1 package of medium firm tofu
1 tbl salt
1 tbl sugar

Cut the tofu into cubes and put into a bowl. Add the salt and sugar. Make sure each cube has some sugar and salt on them. Put the tofu on skillet on medium heat. Let it lightly brown on each side.

Four

Go to your fourth folder and post the 4th picture in that folder. Then tag 4 friends to do the same.

This is from Thanksgiving 2008. From the left: James, me, my mother in law Shirley, my sister in law Eighmy and my brother in law Ronnie. Eighmy and I were (obviously) both pregnant at this time and James was working over night shifts for the shuttle mission. He was running on energy drinks at that point. I tag James, Kara, Tina and my mystery friends!

Note to self..

ALWAYS put vinegar in the water when making hard boiled eggs.. More on this later..

Growing baby

It's all known that Alex is a big boy. He had his 2 month appointment today. Poor baby had to get his shots :-( Now, James and I have been aware that Alex does weigh quite a bit. We know that he is heavy but he also pretty long too. So we got his official weight and length at his appointment and this boy is 17 lbs 7 oz and 25.25 inches long! He is in the 97th percentile for length but he is certainly off the charts for weight! Doctors expect babies to double their birth weight by 6 months, but it looks like Alex is going to attain that by his 3rd month! I asked the doctor if I should be concerned and she said no since all I've been doing is breastfeeding. And of course, breastfeeding is the best thing for both mom and the baby. To give you an idea of where he stands on the chart, here it is for boys (yes, it's different for boys and girls):


Looks like I need to go shopping for more clothes. He's growing so fast! So tonight, I'm making chicken enchiladas and here is my recipe:

1-1.5 pounds of chicken (breast or thigh)
4 cups of chicken broth
1 tsp of Chili Powder
2 tsp of black pepper
2 tsp of garlic powder
2 cans of enchilada sauce
1 can of diced Mexican tomatoes
1/4 cup of diced spicy peppers of your choice
1 small chopped green bell pepper
1 cup of Mexican shredded cheese
8 corn or 5 flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the chicken broth in a saucepan, add the black pepper and garlic powder. Add the chicken into the broth mixture and bring to a boil. Leave chicken till it is cooked thoroughly. Drain the broth, then shred the chicken.

In a saucepan, combine the shredded chicken, chopped bell pepper, chili powder, diced spicy peppers and diced Mexican tomatoes. Add 1.5 cans of enchilada sauce and 3/4 cups of cheese and cook over medium heat till sauce thickens.

Put the mix into the tortillas and roll them into a light greased casserole dish, laying the enchiladas side by side. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over all the rolled enchiladas. Put the dish into the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven and add the rest of the cheese on top of enchiladas. Let the dish cook in the oven for another 5 minutes, then serve.

Tip: If using corn tortillas, use the microwave and a lightly damped paper towel to soften the enchiladas.

Keep the beat!

This kid is amazing! Just wanted to share. I'll post a blog about my dad's stay shortly.

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

New Mexico.. Here we come!

So Southwest had an AWESOME deal going on today where the Wanna Go fares were half off to Albuquerque! I guess they are trying to push folks to fly out to New Mexico. I couldn't believe it! Now, we have always flown Southwest because Hobby Airport is only 15 minutes from our house and my dad gets great Southwest specials. I've been wanting to buy the tickets on our own, and had been looking for cheap tickets for awhile. I signed up for DING by Southwest which have daily cheap ticket rates, but not always from Houston to Albuquerque. Since they had this special today, I saved $50 compared to DING rates! So it's official! Alex and I are off to New Mexico! We'll be flying out May 28th and will return June 8th. I'm so excited! I can't wait! I just wish James could come with us, but due to his crazy shuttle schedule, he'll be working his butt off. There is a shuttle launch schedule May 11th to repair the Hubble telescope and there is another launch date set for June 13th which James is responsible engineer for his group. So much going on, I can't keep up! Anyway, I can't wait for green chile and the Sandia Mountains.

Fun Foto Friday!

Accessories for my kitchen

I have an ever expanding cookbook collection mainly because I have great friends that find these and think of me. I want to buy more and try out new things. I use to get the "Cooking for 2" magazine and make a lot of things from there. Many of which James keeps asking for over and over. Well, for my birthday, I asked my adoring husband for a cast iron skillet to add to my kitchen because no cook can be without one. Now, I see something I MUST have. I first saw Alton Brown on Good Eats use it and now I want it!!! Check it out! I found it on ThinkGeek.

Comparison

Just wanted to post this real quick. This is a baby picture of James on the left, and a picture of Alex when he was only 3 days old on the right. Can you tell he looks just like his daddy??

Dancing!

This season, the husband and I got addicted to Dancing With the Stars. I don't know about you but I LOVE watching competitive dancing. I use to dance/cheer when I was younger and was in musical theatre in high school, so watching choreography like this gets me really excited and pumped up! What's even more exciting is that James (the husband) gets excited and into it too!

The dancing on the show is amazing and I'm so jealous of the talent on there. However, watching all of that just makes me want to dance even more. When I first met James, we hit it off right away. I mean RIGHT away (insert giggle here). Upon meeting him, I was talking to a mutual friend and the first thing he said to me about James was "He's a great dancer!" Well, I immediately told James what I had heard about him and he just laughs. My husband loves to swing dance and two step. He would go to the weekly swing dances at his school and from what I understand, the girls would love to dance with him. After we started dating, we use to go to a country bar and dance a lot. Now, I thought I was a decent dancer, but my dancing is small potatoes compared to my groom. I would be as lost as Cloris from Dancing with the Stars.


James and I are always thinking of things to do together. In truth, that's what keeps you connected with your partner. Being able to share things, whether physical or not. James would watch the shows I want to watch and I would go do the activities that he would want to do. He's introduced me to a new world of hobbies I never thought I would pick up such as rock climbing! And he never thought he would learn as much about fashion from TV (like from America's Next Top Model). One true passion that comes from both of our unique backgrounds is dancing. We both love to dance. So a new adventure we hope to embark on soon is taking some serious dance lessons! And maybe someday, we'll look like this...

Hiccups Remedy??

So yesterday, after great fun at the Scrapbook Junkie and even greater fun driving through flooded streets *grumble*, James and I were laughing with each other and I ended up with the hiccups. Now I don't know anyone that doesn't like having the hiccups. When my poor baby boy gets the hiccups, I feel bad for him because it takes over his entire body. Anyway, I asked James to get me a glass of water and he asked why. I told him that I was going to drink from the far side of the glass in order to get rid of the hiccups. He didn't believe that it would work. If you don't already know, hiccups are basically a spasm of the diaphragm. Depending on how extreme the hiccups are, there are some simple remedies that can cure hiccups.

According to Health911, something sweet or something tart will work.

This just reminds me of the Mary Poppins song. I've tried it once, but it didn't really work for me.

Another common remedy is simply holding your breath.

But how do we know how long to hold it for? And personally, I can't hold my breath if I'm hiccuping. It just makes me laugh.

A funny remedy that just makes me laugh even more is the scare/surprise tactic.

I thought this would work, but when you're expecting it, it never works. I've never been able to be surprised like that.

SO, my home remedy has ALWAYS been drinking from the far side of the glass. And for the record, if my hiccups aren't too bad, it ALWAYS works. So I highly recommend it in the future.