Reason Why I LOVE May... (& a slight hint at how mad i truly am)

I live in Arizona, so I'm surrounded by Mexican Heritage pretty much 24/7/365... But, thankfully, I'm a Mexican Food FANATIC!!  & New Mexican Cuisine.  I crave it pretty much all day, every day.  Then you take that and multiply it by, oh lets say, INFINITY!! & that's how my Cravings are when I've been drinking.  So what has brought this tangent about?!?!

THIS!!

Today is our Companies annual salsa competition.  And boy, am I an addict for my salsa.  I kid you not.  If i smell salsa or even hear the word, you best put me into a straight jacket and tie me down because I will HUNT the salsa until its mine.  Now, i don't mind some store brand salsas.  Picante is a decent make do when I'm in a bind. Macayo's salsa is pretty damn good (even for it being mild) but only when you get it in the restaurant.  Most places serve a sweeter salsa and i have a hard time caring for it, but oh will i still eat it.  Its funny really, i used to only dip my chips in it and would throw the chunkies out.  But now, i will load the chip up with every chunky that can fit and hope that they have absorbed the sauce in their juiciness.  And because I have learned to embrace and love the chunkies, my new favorite when it comes to salsa is... HOMEMADE!! nothing beats homemade for me now!!  and I can't get enough of them.  I need to learn to make my own so i can have salsa on hand at my beckon call. 

Moral of this whole blog is,
I LOVES ME SOME SALSA!!  

Also, I really do need to become more of a cook, even if its just to give into my own madness... ;^{P

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO EVERYONE!!

Trying to Save $ By Eating Healthy & Cooking At Home

Every time i look at my account balance and try to figure out where all my moneys gone and why haven't i been able to save something, i end up going through my transactions and see that the majority of my purchases are food related.  Whether its grocery stores or eating out.  I need to remedy this, and the best way i can think is by starting to plan meals and actually cooking for more then one meal.
But this is hard when I've never been much of a cooker and also when i mostly cook from bags, boxes and cans.  I'm unfortunately one of those 'lets do it the easy way' "chefs".  and i really would like to break this habit.  My wallet and health are being affected, and i think it would also be another great way to calm myself from the days events.

Now, with that in mind, I need as much help as possible to find healthy alternatives that are also cheap.  Easy recipes that a beginner can do, ideas on food plans for the week, etc.  I honestly don't know how my mom used to plan out the weeks meals and actually cook them without ever changing her mind.  I mean, she used to have calendars posted on the fridge of what she would make for breakfast, what shed be preparing for my school lunch, options i could have for after school snack, and finally what was going to be for dinner.
Its sad that I used to tease her about this and hated being on a schedule like that, and now that's all I wish I had.  I need to discipline myself and gain some will power.  Have a dinner planned and if something happens that i don't get home with enough time to make the meal and eat before a halfway decent time (730 pm), then i need a backup option.

But enough of the what i would like(s)... I need to focus on the actual cooking part.  Maybe if I actually started cooking and having more confidence in my "chef" skills, then I'll be able to have more confidence in starting and sticking to a schedule.

With that being said, a lovely coworker hooked me on this site:

Budget Bytes
It is an amazing site with many recipes on it and a nice step by step blog journey, costs, etc.  I have quite a few recipes saved that i cannot wait to try and this weekend or the next, I'll be cooking for the week.  :)  Here are just a few samples of what I would love to try:

• Chocolate & Banana Baked Oatmeal
• Parsley Pesto Pasta (or Triple P)
• Spinach Artichoke Pasta (this is the one I'm SUPER excited about!!!!!!!)
• Her Top 10 Freezer Meals (will be perfect for me for work & all)
• Southwest Salad w/Taco Ranch Dressing

Those are just a few that are on my list to try. But those are ones that I'm pretty sure I'll like no matter what. So keep your fingers crossed for me.  I'll hopefully be posting my success (or hysterically not so successful) stories when i finally end up making them.

Now, are there any other websites, cookbooks, etc that can be recommended for healthier eating and beginning cookers?  I'm very open to trying new things and attempt cooking.  :)

~Spring~

PS: this isn't a healthy recipe, but it caught my eye and i CANNOT wait to try it... started salivating as soon as I saw it!! }:^)   So Not Healthy Yummy Gooey-ness!!

The only thing making something IMPOSSIBLE is your PERSPECTIVE

now, before I get into what started and inspired this blog, i have to admit that i struggled with what was the right word for my title.  Perception or Perspective.  I'm still unsure as I think either one would have been right.  But I also still doubt that either one is right. lol

per·cep·tion  [per-sep-shuhn]  noun

1.the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.

2.immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment: an artist of rare perception.

3.the result or product of perceiving,  as distinguished from the act of perceiving; percept.

4.Psychology . a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.

per·spec·tive [per-spek-tiv]  noun

1.a technique of depicting volumes and spatial relationships on a flat surface. Compare aerial perspective, linear perspective.

2.a picture employing this technique, especially one in which it is prominent: an architect's perspective of a house.

3.a visible scene, especially one extending to a distance; vista: a perspective on the main axis of an estate.

4.the state of existing in space before the eye: The elevations look all right, but the building's composition is a failure in perspective.

5.the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship: You have to live here a few years to see local conditions in perspective.

 

Now, sadly, this will bother me most of my morning.  I think I chose the right word, but then I always doubt/second guess myself. lol

 To The Point:

The reason for this blog is because of inspiration.  I was sitting at my computer at work, looking up images of balloons so i can start working on my drawing.  all the balloon clusters that i was drawing from my mind were coming out, quite frankly, looking a little like tapioca pudding or cottage cheese.  Unhappy with my imagination to hand skills, I decided to find something online that I could use as reference/inspiration to get a jump start on how i want my picture to turn out.  Lo & behold, this is what I found:

 'Original' article that will definitely inspire

 Now, I didn't believe this when I was reading the article.  I've heard of the men who have tried to tie balloons to their lawn chairs and take off, and those always have disasterous (yet hysterical) results.  But this man planned and SUCCEEDED in crossing the alps in a lawn chair tied to these things.  Grant it, as I was watching the video completely awe-struck, I started getting clammy skinned and hard to breath as I saw what was holding him up from falling to the world below.  It definitely affirmed my fear of heights and that I won't be rushing out to try this anytime soon.

but this man and what he does, it is inspiring.  Hes done what people thought was IMPOSSIBLE.  So it really is all about perspective/perception (seriously, let me know which you think is better. i whole heartedly think perspective but accept that i just maybe wrong).  if you think its going to be impossible and so you never try, it really is impossible.  But if you think its impossible and try, then you know what? you are a dreamer and a hoper.  Trying and failing is always better then not trying at all.  So when someone tells you "oh you can't do that, its impossible", you can turn around and ask them "have you done it? no? then how do you know its impossible?"

So go out there and dream big and dream vast.  Life is too short to sit there worrying and never living.  Prove that the impossible is a myth and inspire the world like this man has.  I know hes inspired me. :)


~Spring~