Rainy Monday

Rainy Monday. Damian took the day off. When I woke up the entire living room was clean. We went for breakfast at a near-by, cute little diner. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and tons of coffee. Damian had a Mexican omelet and re-fried beans. We shared a side of chilaquiles. Maxi had scrambled eggs, I gave him some of my pancakes + bacon but he wasn't that hungry... surprisingly. After breakfast we headed to the park where we hung out and ran around for a bit until Maximiliano started to get sleepy. Damian did laundry and after we both went grocery shopping. More Mondays like these please.

XOXO, Lidia

Mexican Pasta Salad

This is the pasta salad that was served at every get together I attended as a child. Birthday parties, Christmas, New years, Bbqs and so on and so forth. I could never get enough of it, it's meant to be a side but I usually tend to eat bowls of it without a care in the world. I made it yesterday, we had some family over and we served it with home-made tamales and re-fried beans. It was out of this world!

This salad is very adaptable and you can play around with different ingredients. To this batch, I added shredded carrots, pickled jalapeños, onion, corn and ham. Other ingredients I have added in the past are peas and boiled cubed potatoes. I didn't measure anything and it is really not necessary at all, you add everything to your liking and taste as you go. That being said I will put estimated measurements down below. This would be great served with basically anything or if you're like me, all on it's own!

Mexican Pasta Salad

Ingredients

- 1 lb. cooked elbow pasta
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 1/4 cup of chopped pickled jalapeños + 1/4 cup  of the pickled jalapeño juice
- 2 small carrots, shredded
- 2 cups of corn
- 8-10 deli sliced turkey or ham, diced
- about 1-2 cups of mayo
- garlic salt to taste

1. Place your already diced onion in a big salad bowl and pour the pickled jalapeño juice on top. Set aside while you prep the rest of your ingredients. This helps the onion pickle a bit and gets rid of that strong, raw onion taste.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, season to taste. Enjoy!

XOXO, Lidia

Ice Cream Date + Sunday Zoo Trip

Life Lately. I've been reading quite a few books, taking walks to the park with Maximiliano, cooking, forever being thankful for the beautiful weather, drinking lots of coffee and over-thinking a bit. I wish I could add listening to lots of music to that list but ever since my iPod broke a few months back, I just haven't.  Another thing I would love to start doing again is going on runs, I'm going to wait until next month when it starts getting dark a bit later.

It had been almost a month since we took a zoo trip, so we went on Sunday. I finally got kettle corn, every time we'd go, I'd say "I'll get some next time!". It was a really nice day and the bears were finally out! They were so cute, playing with each other and putting on a show for everyone. After that we walked to the park that's next to the zoo and sat and ate a sandwich while listening to the Sunday performers. It was the perfect ending to our Sunday. It all felt so good. I have another trip to the zoo planned for this weekend since Maxi kept on asking for the eagles that we did not see (one of his favorite).

XOXO, Lidia

Saturday | 01/10/15

We woke up, walked to the park, stopped to grab some food on the way, ate and then soaked up the beautiful weather + scenery. I loved that we were basically the only ones at the park and Maximiliano had the playground all to himself.

I was really feeling thankful. Thankful that we get to enjoy this warm beautiful weather on a winter morning. Thankful of all the beauty surrounding us. I really missed these Saturday mornings at the park. This is the park where I spent plenty of weekends as a child. The park that hosted many of my birthday parties, my sisters birthday parties, cousins, friends and my sons first and second birthday. Easters and fourth of July's too. Other times, just hanging out with friends. I made lots of memories here but my favorite so far are the ones that I am now making with my little family. XOXO Lidia

Best Burgers, Like Ever

| Okay, so yesterday I made burgers again and I quickly came to look at the recipe and then realized that something was missing. I could not believe I forgot to put the eggs in the ingredient list. So I am re-posting this! |

Yes, I'm going to share with you the recipe to the best burgers you'll make. Super simple, super fast like all the recipes that I like sharing here. I made these for dinner a few nights ago in like a blink of an eye. You can also make these for a weekend bbq and wow your family and friends.

I usually like my burgers with lettuce, tomato and onion. If I'm feeling fancy (which most of the time I am) I will add avocado, caramelized onion and mushrooms. Here I only added pepper jack cheese and caramelized onion because I totally wasn't aware that I was out of veggies. Also a tip for you from me, instead of buying burger buns buy fancy rolls like the ones pictured. They not only taste better but they hold up way better. On the side I like a good crunchy pickle and sweet potato fries + spicy ketchup (not pictured because this was taken the day after and I had no left overs of that).

I hope you will give these a try, you will thank me for it! XOXO Lidia

Best Burgers

- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 pound of ground turkey
- 1/2 a red onion, diced
- about a tablespoon of minced garlic
- 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- just under 1/4 a cup of worcestershire sauce
- 2 eggs

Get all Ingredients in a large bowl and incorporate well with your hands. Form in to 8 patties.
Cook on a griddle or on the grill until well done. Serve with your favorite toppings.

Ta-Da! That's it. Easy right? Now go make these for dinner.

* To make the spicy ketchup just mix ketchup with chili garlic sauce or sriracha. It's delicious.

2015

Hello. Can I just talk about how excited I am for this year?

After really debating in my head and talking it over with my husband I decided we will not be trying for another baby this year. The reason why I say I decided and not we is because my husband really left it up to me since he does work full time and understands that most of the hard work is for me.

The strongest reason why I was really considering it, is because I feel that Maximiliano would be the happiest if he had a sibling to play with. He doesn't really play with other kids and when we're at the park and he starts playing with someone, when they leave, he makes this little sad puppy face and says "nooo". That just breaks my heart.

The reasons why I decided this wouldn't be the best time for another baby are, first of all I have some traveling planned out this year. I want to visit my hometown this year, we also have planned to travel to Sayulita, Guadalajara, Cuernavaca, Mexico city, Oaxaca and Chiapas. I am so excited to explore the south of Mexico, I am from northern Mexico and would really like to see the different traditions and try the different foods, go to the rain forest and see the pyramids! Another reason is that I want to go back to school, I'll talk more about that later... These are the two main reasons and there's a few other ones but you get the idea.

I've never been too crazy about new years resolutions although this year I did jot a few down. One of the main ones is to be happier. Sometimes I can get stuck on the negative aspects of my life and focusing on them doesn't let me enjoy the positive ones as much as I should. I am really trying to over-think less and just breath and enjoy the moment. Another one is to get fit. I was so close to this goal last year, my abs were starting to show and then I started working and threw all my effort to waste, starting over is a big pain in the behind. Like I'm really trying to not eat that chocolate chip cookie calling my name... Ugh and not having time to go out for runs is really killing me but I'm trying to figure out a schedule so bear with me summer body. I'm feeling good about 2015.  XOXO Lidia

{ almond butter on chia honey toast, berries and honey vanilla chamomile tea }

{ first trip to the park of the year }

{ amazing hand rolls I made for dinner last night, I think these will be added to the weeknight dinner list and I'll probably post the recipe here sometime next week }

Lately // Christmas Edition

{ these two put up the tree all by themselves! }

{ magical }

{ awkward self-timed family Christmas picture? right after putting up the tree }

{ breakfast by the tree }

{ Maxi took a picture of Santa, I love finding random pictures he takes }

{ this years chocolate advent calendar }

{ Maxi took off Santa's hat and did this, his idea of Christmas decorating }

{ riding the train at the zoo for jungle bells }

{ never thought night time zoo could be so spooky, it was quite dark except for the areas with lights }

{ the spider was our favorite } 

{ boat light show by the bay, we went with our friends and unfortunately we all got lost and this is the only picture I took! But at least the boys saw the lights and they enjoyed them very much! }

{ what this years wrapping looked like }

{ hot chocolate with cream and peppermint marshmallows by the tree! }

{ Christmas cookies are a must! }

{ opening first present of the night, notice how tree is empty at the bottom? you can thank Maximiliano for that }

{ with his favorite aunt }

{ it's the little things, this face is priceless }

{ Christmas at the in-laws }

This is what our December looked like pretty much. Lots of hot chocolate, baking, sitting by the Christmas tree. Some wrapping, late night zoo fun and Christmas hangs with good friends. I cannot get over how fast it all came and went. 

I did very little + late Christmas shopping this year, everything was very low-key. The first two years we got Maxi a few good books for Christmas, this year since he really enjoys playing with his toys we got him one big action figure plus two smaller ones and an educational rain forest set which included a book, some flash cards, stickers and figures. He loved the rain forest set and went crazy placing the stickers on the rain forest background that it came with but as soon as we went over the flash cards and he was introduced to the piranha, it was game over haha. He absolutely hated the piranhas, he thought they were very scary and they truly are! The 24th was spent at home, some family came over, we ate, talked, opened presents at midnight. The 25th we went to my in-laws for the afternoon, talked, ate, we opened our presents then we headed back home.

Like I said this Christmas was very laid back, my husband and I didn't even get each other presents. We only got presents for Maxi and my little sister. I didn't even get dolled up. And just like that Christmas came and went! With good food and company. Hope you guys had a merry merry Christmas, XOXO Lidia.