Documenting the Magic

As you know, I take pictures every day. No, seriously. Every. Single. Day.

With the advent of smart phones, it's too easy not to. I think that I still have some deep, internal scarring left over from when my family had to leave Cuba and we had no pictures of ourselves from that time, but that's not important right now.

So I'm always taking pictures, because, as I like to tell my kids, "I'm documenting the magic of our lives."

I already do Project Life, which means I document our lives week to week. And I love the hybrid quality of digital and traditional scrapbooking.

When Instagram came along, I fell in love. It feeds my artistic side and lets me tell our story in bright day-to-day photos.

This past week would be titled...

The Last Week of June 2013 in the Land of the Darbys

Sunday afternoon swim at the local YMCA. I try to get in the water at least 5 days a week. Sometimes I bring my people with me.

Festive patio lights and Fiesta-colored flags decorate our outdoor movie area. Lucy sewed up the flags. It makes the whole place like so bright and happy.

If you come over for a Darby Outdoor Movie Night, there will be concessions. (Don't judge me.)

Wednesday was a perfectly perfect beach day in Southern California.

My Bleeding Heart vines are in bloom. They go completely dormant in the winter and I always hold my breath because I have such little faith that they'll return. I'm always amazed and delighted when they do.

Coffee & muffin & computer. This pretty much sums up most of my mornings.

Eric went surfing early one morning this week and Nefret found a happy place to shelter from the heat.

Surprise gift of "Pamagranate" Jelly. And it's not even Christmas. Totally made my day.

I make a whole, Roast Chicken at least one night a week. (Two if we're having company.) It's just too beautiful, isn't it?

My kids saw this in the dumpster area of the local market. Score! I'm keeping the sign on it, too.

We're having a heat wave in So Cal and our air conditioner conked out. So we made the best of it by turning on the outdoor lights and they made music. I can't even tell you how much I love this.

I know it doesn't look glamorous. But that's how our days and weeks go. Of course, I will always take pictures at birthdays and holidays and all that. But this? This is the stuff of our everyday lives. This is where the magic happens.

“The days are long, but the years are short.” ~Gretchen Rubin

“My job is to document the magic.” ~ Marta Darby

Whole Roast Chicken - Pollo Asado

Lost In Translation

My son, Adam is a handsome guy. (Okay, I know I’m his mom and all that, but I am being truly objective here. Shut up.) And even though he’s not fluent in Spanish, he can defend himself pretty well for the most part.

Adam

So he was visiting my mom (his grandmother) the other day. She speaks as much English as he does Spanish. (Ay Dios mio!)

Adam to me via text: What does ‘mono’ mean?

Me in reply: Monkey.

Adam: Doesn’t ‘pollo’ mean chicken?

Me: Yes. Why do you ask?

Adam: I think she’s insulting me.

Me: She’s not insulting you. Take whatever she’s saying as a complement.

Adam: She called me a monkey and then said I was chicken.

I know there’s been something completely lost in translation, so I call my mom and ask what it was that she said to Adam.

My mom: “Nada. Lo encontre muy mono y le dije que esta hecho un pollo.”

I clarify: “Adam, she thinks you’re handsome and you look great.”

Adam: “Damn Cubans.”

Me: “I’ll just take that as a complement.” =D

Chicken

Pollo Asado (Roast Chicken)

• 2- 4 lb. Roasting chickens
• Freshly ground salt and pepper
• Ground cumin
• Ground thyme
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme
• 2 large heads of garlic, cut in half, cross-wise
• 2 lemons – cut in half
• 4 Tbsp. Melted butter
• 2 large red onions, sliced

(Instructions are for one, but I always make two)

1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2) Remove the guts (giblets and such) from the cavity and rinse the chicken inside and out.

3) Pat the outside completely dry.

4) Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the cavity.

5) Liberally sprinkle the ground cumin and ground thyme also inside the cavity.

6) Stuff the cavity with a bunch of the fresh thyme, all of the cross-wise sliced head of garlic, and both halves of the lemon. (Yes, just fearlessly shove them in there!)

Stuffed

7) Brush the outside of the chicken with the melted butter and sprinkle again with salt, pepper, thyme and cumin.

8) You can tie the legs together at this point if you prefer, with kitchen string.

9) Place chicken on a foil-lined pan that’s been scattered with the onion slices.

10) Roast the chicken for about 1 and 1/2 hours. The juices should run clear when it’s done.

11) Remove to a warmed serving dish and cover with foil.

12) I like to serve it with smashed red roasted potatoes.

13) Here’s an added bonus, when the chicken has been carved, dig into the cavity, past the lemons until you find the garlic and thyme. Butter a piece of bread and carefully spread the roasted garlic and thyme over the bread.

Bread

Now that’s what I call doubling my pleasure. Buen Provecho!

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"What's for dinner?"

A few months ago when we had our kitchen painted, I had my painter-man do the top of the pantry door in chalk paint.
Can I just tell you how much I love this?

Sometimes we leave notes to each other, but the main function of the board is for menu planning. (And making me look über-organized when guests come over, which lately has been practically every day, but that's not important right now.)

I am that mother who gets a deer-in-the-headlights look when they asked the dreaded, "What's for dinner?" question. (When they ask is when I immediately remember that I was the one who forgot to take something out of the freezer and I then instantly feel guilty. I get over it pretty quickly, but that's not the point.)

So, I came up with the Chalkboard Menu Planner and now I am the hero again.
The best part is when one of them asks, "What's for dinner?" There's an instant response (not from me), "Just look on the board!" WIN.

Now, if I could just devise a scheme to have the laundry do itself....

Do you plan your menus? Tell me.

In case you're interested, here are some of the recipes (with pictures!) I will be using. I've shared these before in various places. Please click on the links.

Churrasco with Chimichurri

Roast Chicken

Stew - Carne con Papas

Tortilla Soup

Steak