R.I.P Biff

Today I went to feed my little beta fish named Biff and he was dead :( At first I thought he was just pretending he liked to do that from time to time, but this time he was just floating :( It was so sad, I know most people would not care about a beta. Biff had allot of sentimental meaning. He was given to my by good friend Jackie and my hubby. It was when Brandon and I first started dating, I had stayed home because I was very sick. The next day I went into work there was a nice little fishy with a cute note. That read we hope you feel better we love you, signed Jackie and my hubby :) I almost killed him on two ocassions, the first time I cleaned his home with soap.... I know I know... he was my first pet fish, cut me a break. The second time I had set the water to cold... I know he is in a better place, I just can not believe he is gone. He survived 3 years :) I hope he knows how happy he made me that day I came in and found him on my desk swimming away content as can be :) I did not have the heart to flush him down the toilet, just not the way I wanted to say bye to him. So my sweet hubby made a cofin for him, I made his head stone to the best of my ability LOL.. We dug him a little whole in our backyard and burried him. Then we said a little prayer for him. I love you little Biff...

oh yes... Biff got his name from Brandon. When Brandon and I were in training we called him Biff... LOL

Just Smile

The end!

Rosemarry Potatoes with Gruyer Cheese

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and did not get a belly ache from all the wonderful food :) Brandon's Turkey turned our deliciouse!! I do not like turkey ( I know I am odd) but I tried Brandon's and I loved it. It was a family hit at the party it was very moist and the outside was sigh crispy, with lots of flavor. I made the stuffing and came up with a some new rosemarry potatoes topped with gruyer cheese so here is my recipe for the potaotes!!!!

10 RED peeled and diced potatoes
1 1/2 chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1 table spoon of salt
1 1/2 table spoons of rosemarry
1 tea spoon of crushed red peppers
1 cup of shredded Gruyer cheese
1 table spoon of olive oil
9x11 greased baking dish
oven preheated to 400

Tip*: You do not want startchy potatoes in this dish. To reduce the starch soak the potatoes in ice cold water. I wash them under cold water 3 times. Make sure to pat them dry before cooking or you will have saugy potatoes and no crisp.

In a skillet add the olive oil under medium heat. Make sure the skillet is hot before adding the potatoes and onion. Add the potatoes and onion stirring ocassionally season with salt,rosemarry and crushed red peppers and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes or until the onions are see through.

Transfer potatoes to a greased 9x11 baking dish. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes are up sprinkle the cheese on top and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes.

Yummy there you have it folks, some simple potatoes that will be a crown pleaser and the cheese add the special touch!!

let the count down begin :)

Tic tock tic tock... hickory dickory dock the mouse went up the clock!! As the mouse went up the clock, I count the minutes until I get to go home 36 minutes to go ok 35 now... it seems like an eternity when you are waiting to be free and start your 4 day weekend!!! On a brighter note, while I wait....impatiently. Brandon and I will be cooking a very delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Brandon is making the Turkey his specialty, he was always in charge of the turkey when he was on his mission. Hooray for missionaries :)!!! 30 minutes to go....ok back on track... He is brining the turkey with an Elton Brown recipe... and tomorrow making his own rub. I will be making some rosemary potatoes with garlic and onion, along with some my famous stuffing and home made macaroni and cheese. I am super excited, as I tend to be a show off when it comes to my mad cooking skills. On a more important note, I am excited about tomorrow because I get to spend it with the people I love and be grateful for all the blessings god has given me. I will surely post pics of Brandon in his little chef hat and apron :) LOL I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving filled with lots of yummy food and lots of love!!!

To my wonderful Hubby

He is the best!! Being the Twilight fan that I am, he went to watch New Moon with me at midnight. We arrived at the theatre at 7pm because I insisted in getting good seats LOL He stood in line with me and did not complain!! He is the best!! and I love him to bits and pieces, sometimes I feel I take him for granted and I realize that their could not be anyone in the world that can make me as happy as he has!! I hope that one day we are blessed with a baby because he or she will be filled with so much love. In the meantime we are so blessed and happy for being together and creating so many happy moments. I love you hubby!!

In case you have not heard!!

I have a new photo blog please feel free to tell your friends :0 and stop by and take a look :0 I have been a busy bee!! I am loving every minute of staying occupied and seen the faces of my clients after they see their pictures. It is very rewarding to know that I can capture a moment in their lives. My new photoblog is http://dolcebesosphotography.blogspot.com pretty soon I will launch my website :0 wish me luck!!

Lessons learned

Everyone lets you down sometime, it is just a matter of how far down they go."

Profound huh? So I was thinking how far down is directly proportional to how close you are to them. We have all experienced betrayal of some kind, it just seems to hurt a lot more when you think you are safe.

How do we learn that even though this is bound to happen that the rewards of trust and friendship outweigh the hurt of deception and betrayal. The are just part of the risk.

Sometimes things happen for a reason, and I remember my grandfathers advice. Forgive and forget. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. It is not always easy to forgive but we grow as a person and we learn more about our selves and those we choose to trust. We also learn to value a frienship, and despite what may happen people will make mistakes and it is up to us to make a difficult decision. Sometimes we may be left with deception, loneliness and anger but things fall apart so the right things can fall together.

Today I realized what my father tried to teach me all those years, that when we forgive we learn a little about love and feel at peace.

Sneek Peek

I had so much fun this weekend :) I took some pictures of my handsome nephew Julian and beautiful niece Isabelle :) They are so cute and have the best personalities :) Thank you Sis for letting me snap some pictures of your babies. Here is a sneek peek :)

Huevos Rancheros ( mexican eggs)

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!! The only problem is that I am not a breakfast person and I end up eating breakfast/brunch..... So there are a few dishes I eat for breakfast you know the typical.... but one of my absolute favorites is huevos rancheros. It is the typical mexian breakfast dish if you visit mexico. Instead of the usual scrambled eggs,bacon, pancakes, and hashbrows. The mexican dish consist of sunny side up eggs smothered with red or green sauce, with a side of refried beans and if you are really hungry a side of carne asada.I am not a big fan of sunny side up eggs but this recipe I like because I do not taste the yolk!! So here is my recipe for huevos rancheros.

What you need:
3 diced jalapenos (cut into moons)
1 chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
2 cans of tomatoe sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 beef boillion cube
1 tea spoon of ground cumin
corn tortillas

as many eggs as you want to make.

In a skillet add 1 table spoon of olive oil and cook the jalapenos, onion and garlic. Cook for about 8 minutes or until the onion is almost carmalized. Then add the 2 cans of tomatoe sauce, beef boillion and the teaspoon of ground cumin. Simmer for 10 minutes. Make sure to stir ocasionally to assure that the beef boillion dissolves.

Cover the sauce and leave it under low heat to keep it warm.

In another frying pan, lightly fry the tortillas in 1 tablespoon of oil. Remove and drain If necessary, add additional oil to the second frying pan and fry the eggs until they are "sunny-side up". Transfer the eggs to the tortillas, and cover with the ranchero sauce



And there you have it easy!! and very delicious. If you want to sides, I recommend using Rosaritas beans.

As for the carne asada. You can buy it at your local carniceria. I cook the carne asada before I make the sauce and put it in oven covered with alluminum foil to keep warm.

I also love to eat my eggs with some tortillas ;)

happy Early Birthday baby

I want to say happy birthday Baby :0 Thank you Annette for bringing him into this world, by far the best present you have given me :)Tomorrow is my husband b-day and bless his little heart, what do you ask will he be doing on his birthday? He is going to serve dinner to the homeless at a shelter. That is why I love him so much, instead of celebrating he will be providing a service he is very proud of and is looking forward to it. Brandon is one of the most un selfish person's I have ever met, I love his giving heart. Through our few two years of marriage I have grown to admire and love him more and more each day. I have learned to be less demanding and a little more giving thanks to my hubby. I have also learned that no matter how bad of a day I may have and even if I feel the weight is on my shoulders my faith and smile will make it all better ( most of the time). I love how he holds me when I cry for no necessary reason, and how he gives me butterfly kisses, when he rubs my feet and makes me laugh un controllably until I cry. Most importantly I love how he believed in my dreams and encourages me to reach for the stars. Happy birthday rizos de oro ( goldy locks), I hope that tomorrow I can return a bit of happiness as you have brought into my life :)

new blog

So I am in the process of getting a new blog for my pictures. It should be up before November :0 I am excited!! I have been swamped this month and I feel I have enough pictures to get a professional blog going until I can get a website up. I have changed the name to Dolce Besos http://dolcebesosphotography.blogspot.com Until next time :0

Bistek with potatoe

Ok I know I know it has been a long time since my last recipe post. Thank you Audrey for reminding me to post some of my ymmy recipes :0 This is probably one of my favorite easy and convinient recipes :0 Bon apetito!!!

Ingridients:
3 jalapenos
1 whole onion diced in 1/2 moons
2 tomatoes
1 clove chopped garlic
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon pepper
2 chopped potatoes
1 table spoon of olive oil
2 packages of cubed beef (they sell them at most groceries, safeway and fry's has the best selection)
1/2 cup of tomato sauce
1 tea spoon of ground cumin

Preperation:
cut jalapenos into 1/2's you can remove the seeds to it is not as spicy
chop garlic,onion, tomatoes and potaotes. set aside

In a skillet over medium high heat add the olive oil and the beef, cook for about 5 add the salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes until no longer pink. Drain out the liquid it releases. After draining the liquid add the diced potatoes and onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Stirring ocassionaly. Add the jalapenos and cook for an additional 5 minutes then add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and gound cumin.Simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. You may want to add another tea spoon of salt for taste.

Walla there you have it, I love to serve it over some white rice.

My white rice:
1 cup of white rice
2 1/2 cups of water
1 tea spoon of garlic powder
1/2 spoon of oregano
1/2 tea spoon of oinion powder
1 tea spoon of butter

Add all of the ingridients in a pot and cook for 20 minutes covered under medium heat.

Halloween

I love halloween :) I am excited because this year we will be visting with my sister in law :) I just do not know what to be for halloween, I was thinking pocahontes...., a witch, or being lazzy and just buying some cat ears and wearing a black shirt.... ohh the endless choices..

baby Nathan photoshoot

What can I say!! I love my nephew Nathan!! he is so cute and he was a pro did not cry at all and let his tia take as many pictures :) More to come on my photoblog... http://dolcediariesphotography.blogspot.com

My new photoblog

Finally, I had some time to sit down and work on my photo blog. It is very simply for now but I plan on launching my website once I have more clients and a variety of pictures. Not to mention I am still learning! I had a rough time coming up with a name I wanted to encorporate the word memoir but nothing really flowed with it... So I decided on Dolce Diaries. Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words so that is what I do.. I capture moments through my lens that tell a person's story and the pictures become their own personal diary. My new blog is http://dolcediariesphotography.blogspot.com/ please stop by, it has the same pictures I have posted here but they are bigger and I have a few more to add :)

Baby Nathan Iove you!!

I love this darling little face :0 It will not suprise me if I have tons of pics posted of my precious nephew!! I love him tons and tons!!

Cute Julian and Isabelle :)

I have the cutest niece and nephew :)

Apache Picnic

This saturday Brandon and I were able to attend the Apache Picnic. I was not feeling well with horrible allergies the night before, so it was really nice to wake up and feel ok to go. We do not get to see our family as often as we would like so it was really nice to spend a cool day with the family, playing games, eating food and catching up on some good times :) Here are a couple of pictures from the picnic :)

19 days and couting

Could October please hurry up and get here and stay just a little longer :0 My favorite month is October for oh so many reason's. Most importantly my hubby was born in October :0 I get to celebrate his 26th birthday with him :)I have lots of suprises for him!! Aww October I love you so!! The air is crisp and fresh, in all honest truth the first day of October take a deep breath and you can feel this sense of euphoria. Maybe I am a little odd but it has always been my favorite month for ever and for always. I am also excited because I have a great photo session coming up, the lighting in the fall is just (long sight) beautiful!!! So I am super duper excited for all my creativity to shine through :0 Did I mention I love October!!

My baby nephew

My sister had her baby on Labor day :0 I knew as soon as the phone rang at 5am that my sis was going to bring my nephew into the world :0 My sister did great and my nephew graced us with his precence at 8:15 am weighting 6 ponds 9oz and is 21 inches long!! I am so in love with him!! He is so darn cute!!! So there will be more pictures to come as I am a very proud aunt!!

Family pics

My lovely talented friend Shannon gave us a great gift and took pictures of Brandon and I :) We did not have any pictures and she was nice enought to share her talent with us :0 We went to a beautiful resort called the Montelucia Resort in Scottsdale, it has a Morocon type of exotic field... the best part is they are inexpensive!! Thank you Shannon for the wonderful pics there will be more to come :)