THANKSGIVING ZUMBA PLAYLIST 2014!

Thank you for ordering those holiday pies at www.mamaspies.org!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Hello dumplings!

As always, I'll be hosting a free Zumba class on Thanksgiving Eve. I love putting together "theme" playlists and have changed it up a little this year. This is a great playlist for your holiday walk (Turkey Trot) or run as well - the important thing is to MOVE before we all sit down for the big feast. 

WARMUP

Thank You For Being a Friend by Andrew Gold 

Yes, it's the GG theme, but I've always loved the Harry Nilsson influence here. What better way to say THANK YOU?

CARDIO

Everybody Eats by Cab Calloway

Nothing like a little jitterbug to get the heart pumpin'!

Mash Potato by Chubby Checker

A fabulous twist on...the twist.

ARM TONING

I Thank You by Sam and Dave

CARDIO

All You Can Eat by Candye Kane

She's not called "the toughest woman alive" for nothing!

EAT IT by Wierd Al Yankovic
Even FASTER than the original by MJ, this one is a scorcher!

STANDING AB TONING
String Bean by The Griffin Brothers
Seriously, how cute if this?

CARDIO
Weight by Latrice Royale
Latrice gets a place at my table anytime.

Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie by Jay and the Techniques
My mom used to make all THREE of these pies for Thanksgiving!

LEGS and BUMS TONING
Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf) by Sly and the Family Stone
Feel the burn!

COOLDOWN
We Are Family by Sister Sledge
Time to remember the folks who've got your back, or who are driving you to eat in the first place!

If you're reading this anywhere but NachoMamasBlog.com, then you are reading stolen content, my friend. Please don't support thieving cochinos, just get this stuff from the source at NachoMamasBlog.com!

Wishing you ALL a HAPPY THANKSGIVING with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama

"Shape Up For Summer" Block Party! #Positivisimo

Happy Summer everyone! Hope you've been having a beautiful time in this glorious warm weather and getting in lots of fun activity. My Zumba classes are going very well-so well that I decided to invite some of my students to join me and my family for a very special "block party!"

YUMMY!

 I've been sharing with them how I've been selected as a "Positivity Ambassador" for Milk and wanted to serve them some delicious milk-based recipes. It was a great excuse to get my cooking on!
The recipes were such a hit that I wanted to share them with all of you, too.

Nacho Mama's Podcast EPISODE 2: I want to entertain more!

EPISODE 2: New Year's Resolution "I want to entertain more!"

Listen to
internet radio with NachoMamasPodcast on Blog Talk Radio

Sick of missing out on all the fun because you're trying to lose weight? Margo from Nacho Mama's Blog has tips for bringing the party home, on plan and under budget!

THEME PARTY! Happy Dependence Day :)

Do you have any made-up holidays that you celebrate year after year? Kind of like "Festivus" on Seinfeld? I do!

The summer before my husband and I got married, we moved from Manhattan to West New York, New Jersey. It was literally across the river from NYC-if you hopped in a boat at about 79th street and rowed west you'd hit our building. Our new digs in the Garden State had many perks, including air conditioning and a swimming pool with a stunning view of the skyline.

New York City summers are notoriously brutal so we thought, by way of a housewarming,  we'd invite all of our city friends out for a BIG 4th of July party in beautiful New Jersey! We'd spend the afternoon barbecuing out on our patio, swimming and cooling off in our new place.  Sounds like the perfect way to spend the 4th, right?

The view from our street in New Jersey-photo via Wikipedia

The morning of the party we noticed that there seemed to be an awful lot of people on our street, which also overlooked the skyline. Every hour, there were more and more of them. By 3pm, when our guests were supposed to arrive, thousands of people clogged up the road and sidewalks. Seems they thought our street was the perfect spot from which to view the Manhattan fireworks show over the river. Except that they had the wrong river. The fireworks were on the East River and we were on the Hudson. We asked our new neighbors about it and they told us that yes, this happened every year. Every year, thousands of misguided gawkers made it impossible to traverse the streets of our little town. "We just don't ever leave the house on the 4th!" they said.

We tried to call our friends back in the city but they were long gone. When they finally arrived at our door at about 9pm, they were very grumpy, the food was cold and the pool was closed. The air conditioning was poor consolation for the six and a half hours they'd just spent in traffic. Oops. Let's just say it was a very long time before they accepted another invite from moi.

The next summer proved even more sweltering and I wanted so much to make up for the disaster of the "Fatal Fourth"-but what to do? Suddenly, I had a brainstorm! I sat down and drafted the following invitation:

Ever have days when you wish you could blame all of your problems on someone other than yourself?

image via Wikipedia

You are invited to commemorate the last day in history when Americans could truly pass the buck. 

Come celebrate DEPENDENCE DAY with us this July THIRD!

And thus a tradition was born. Our friends delighted in coming out to celebrate Dependence Day year after year with a barbecue, a dip in the pool and games in our cool and spacious apartment. They'd come by right after work on the 3rd and get into the holiday spirit a day ahead of their fellow citizens.

At first our Dependence Day festivities bore little difference from a traditional 4th, but in the years since we've enjoyed adding more and more touches from the UK. Here's what you'll need to enjoy a Merry Old Dependence Day, indeed:

DECOR

photo via Wikipedia

Red, White and Blue tablecloths, plates, napkins, garland, etc. YES you can use the same decorations you would for the 4th, just steer clear of anything with stars. Add a few Union Jacks, a portrait of Queen Victoria and you're laughing! Don't you just love decorations that can do double duty? You can even keep them til the 14th and throw a Bastille Day bash!

MENU 

You can even order Jaffa Cakes online! photo via Wikipedia

I am a gigante fan of British food and culture and am lucky enough to have somewhat ready access to it. If you don't live somewhere with a British expatriate community like we have here in San Diego, you can look up recipes on the internet or order your favorite UK treats online! The advent of the internet has made it easy to procure all kinds of British delicacies like Victoria Sponge, curries, Hobnobs and Fish & Chips. Our fave local pub, Shakespeare, has an online "corner store" with tons of edibles on offer. Click HERE to peruse their wares.

DRINKS

The UK's Bass Brewery is only 1 year younger than the United States! image via Wikipedia

British ales, lagers and more are available at your local supermarket. When my husband and I visit Shakespeare Pub, I often order a "Black Velvet", which is Guinness floated over champagne. I find it super yummy and have heard that this is Bono's favorite drink, so it must be good, right?  My husband doesn't care for it, though, preferring a "Black and Tan", which is Guinness with Bass Pale Ale. Or you could skip the hooch all together and just serve tea!

GAMES

photo via Wikipedia

Soccer of course! Save the flag football for the 4th. Too rough? How about a sporting round of croquet, a la Alice in Wonderland? Or billiards? Or darts?  Or a good old PUB QUIZ? Challenge your friends to a game of Trivial Pursuit, inspired by the traditional pub quiz, and reward the winner with a pint!

SOUNDTRACK SUGGESTIONS

OK, I'm going to try not to geek out too much here with my love for British music from the late 70s and early 80s. Must. Resist. Temptation. To suggest. Gary Numan! If you really need help, though, here's just a few Dependence Day-appropriate ditties:

-Fascination, The Human League
-Celtic Soul Brothers, Dexys Midnight Runners
-Dear Prudence (live at the Royal Albert Hall), Siouxsie and the Banshees
-Ace of Spades, Motorhead
-A Message to You Rudy, The Specials

And of course-

All that's left is to enjoy the party, clean up everything but the decorations and add the stars and stripes in the morning! Because we shouldn't have to depend on someone else in order to enjoy our independence, should we? Here's to a star-spangled, grand old, high-flying (In)Dependence Day weekend!


Wishing you love with extra cheese-
Nacho Mama

THEME PARTY! Golden Girls Baby Shower...

As I mentioned in my review of Legoland, I'm a sucker for anything with a "theme." I love theme restaurants; seafood places with plastic lobster-choked fishnets hanging across the ceiling and "Buoys" and "Gulls" signs on the restrooms. I LOVE theme hotels-I get giddy the moment I step onto the Vegas strip!  I especially adore theme parties!

My hubby & I spent our honeymoon at The Madonna Inn-QUEEN of theme! photo via Wikipedia

So I thought it might be fun to share few theme party ideas here from time to time-hope you don't mind!

One of my favorite theme parties I ever threw was a baby shower for my sister, who is the HUGEST Golden Girls fan I've ever met. Even though she was under 13 when the show originally aired, she nevertheless caught every single episode and knows most of them by heart. When my husband and I were first dating, he was totally baffled by her love for this show. I remember him having this conversation with my then-15-year-old sister:

HIM: Why do you love that show so much, anyway? What's the deal?
SIS: I'd just like to be like them when I'm their age! Sharing cheesecake and telling stories to each other in the middle of the night...
HIM: Um, so....you'd like to be widowed?
SIS: (dreamily) Yeah....or divorced!

Don't worry, she grew up to marry perfectly lovely man! And when we found out she was expecting, I immediately knew what the theme of her shower would be. :)

Got a Golden Girls fan in your life? Here's how to throw a shindig that'd make Blanche Deveraux beg for an invite!

DADE COUNTY DECOR

FIRST: The invitations! I went to faceinhole.com and found a Golden Girls template. Popped my sister's face in Rue Mclanahan's place and voila! The perfect invite.

SECOND: I hit my local fabric store and picked up a few yards of "Miami-Nice" fabric (see above). I can't sew a stitch, but my mom was kind enough to whip up  table cloth for my buffet and a runner for my coffee table. Thanks Mom!

THIRD: I filled my home with vases of Birds of Paradise and palm fronds. Now I live in Southern California where these things are literally right outside my door, but if you live somewhere where tropical flora is scarce you can easily find some fabulous fakes at your local craft store.

FOURTH: Never forget that, as the hostess, YOU are the most important decorative element of your party! I served my guests and moderated the games in my FABULOUS Shady Pines apron, which I found at cafepress.com.

MIAMI MENU

(All the food and drinks had printed placards letting the guests know what they were in for!)

FOOD:

-Miami Mixed Salad

-Rose's nutty Scandinavian Meatballs (served in the crockpot)

-Dorothy's Brooklyn Sausage and Peppers

-Sofia's Dinner Rolls (Just like they served at Shady Pines, Ma!)

And for DESSERT~

-Blanche's Georgia Peach Pie a la Mode

and, of course, 

CHEESECAKE!!

(my favorite is the New York-Style Cheesecake from Trader Joe's, in the blue box)

DRINKI-POOS:

-Rue McLemonade

-Iced Tea Arthur

-Betty White Sangria*

-Estelle Wetty (Ice Water)

*I realize some consider it poor taste to serve alcohol at a baby shower, but this was a party for 35 and I think you simply can't expect that many women to get along without wine (especially if they're related to me) but that's just a personal quirk!

GOLDEN GAMES

-We played the standard baby shower games (cut the string to what you think is the preggo's circumference, find the safety pins in a dish of rice, etc.)
-We also played Golden Girls TRIVIA! This was the hit of the party. I was shocked at how well those ladies knew their Golden Girls!

The prizes all had an 80s theme: A bottle of Reunite (to be served "on ice"), a Rubik's Cube, Calgon, etc.

SOUNDTRACK SUGGESTIONS

-"Conga" by Miami Sound Machine
-The theme to Miami Vice
-"Cheesecake" by Louis Armstrong
-"Bosom Buddies" from the movie Mame-sung by Bea Arthur and Lucille Ball
-For that matter, the theme from Bosom Buddies
-The theme from The Golden Girls
and so on.

Getting some ideas for your own theme party? Got a brother who can't live without MacGyver? Was your mom despondent when they canceled The Love Boat? Got a cousin who knows all the words to the theme from The Facts of Life?  Make their YEAR with a party based on their TV-land faves!

Wishing you love with extra CHEESECAKE!
Nacho Mama

PS-here's my favorites Golden Girls moment EVER! If this doesn't make you laugh, I'm not sure we can be friends. (OK we can-but no theme party for you.) Enjoy!