Nacho Mama's Weakly Reading

I don't know about you, but I've always been a voracious reader. My saintly husband (Nacho Daddy) and I were married for nearly 8 years before we had our first child. Until then, I would go through a book or two a week. Every morning I would get up early, pour myself a cup of coffee and settle down to read a few chapters before beginning my day. And the silence!


Now, of course, I am shaken awake by at least one set of little hands (that I am eternally grateful for, don't get me wrong!) As I wipe the 5 hours of sleep from my puffy eyes, the demands begin: breakfast, diapers, clothes,  pack lunch, etc. Sometimes I can get a few seconds to pour a cup of coffee in between tasks, but often I perform them in something of a stupor. After the first few years of motherhood, I could feel my brain turning to mush. Reading? Limited to safety instructions and nutritional facts. Reading had always been a part of who I was-without it, who was I?

Fortunately with baby 2 came some other wonderful things to help satisfy my need to read.

First of all, during my pregnancy I discovered blogs (tiny choir of angels). I could actually get tips and engage in adult conversation with other moms, other designers, etc. on my crazy mommy schedule! I could ask a question at 3am and someone out there would have an answer. That was HUGE. I feel so bad for moms who had to cope with the isolation of those first few months without anyone to talk to.
Blogs are especially great for moms, because posts are generally the perfect size for the amount of time that we can devote to reading throughout the day. I like to check in with my favorite blogs (some of them are in the blogroll, right) while preparing dinner and right after putting the kids to bed.

The second thing that helped was audiobooks. So often we moms have to give up our reading time simply because we need to keep our hands free! With audiobooks, I can "read" a book while picking up toys, mopping, folding laundry, etc. Right now I'm listening to Amy Sedaris' new book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People (absolutely hilarious btw-especially if you're crafty). One tip though: take a minute and listen to the preview before you decide to buy an audiobook. Sometimes the person reading the book has a voice that is annoying or worse, boring.

One of the fun things, though, about being a "bookish" couple has been watching our kids develop a terrific interest in books themselves. My husband also lost his reading time when the kids came along. Now that they're a little older, he can get the time to read, but the 2 year old enjoys hiding his reading glasses. And he can't read without them-or can he? Two weeks ago, for his birthday, he got one of these from his sister:

Now, I'd seen people at coffeehouses and in airports with these, and I must admit, they seemed kind of dumb. Why read on a screen when a book is so portable already. Now? I TOTALLY GET IT. In just the 2 short weeks since the Kindle came to our house, my husband has read 4 books without his glasses, because he can make the text as big as he wants. He can get thousands of classic books for free (our 7 year old is halfway through Alice in Wonderland) and the screen somehow comes very close to simulating the experience of reading the printed page. The only question now is whether we need a second one. Ok, it's not a need-it's totally a want. But between my husband and our kids, I have yet to read a whole book on it. I'll keep you posted :)

Finally, the other awesome thing that happened in my reading life was that our city put their library system online. Now I can search for books, even audiobooks and videos, and put them on reserve (at any hour of the day!) They get delivered to my local branch which is a very short walk from our home. I love the public library system! Even though I'm an Amazon affiliate, I always check the library first for the books I'm interested in. Sometimes I'll like a book so much I go ahead and buy it for our home library, sometimes not.  The important thing is that we are once again a household of readers. And that is worth more to me than a lifetime of silent mornings.

Wishing you love with extra cheese,
Nacho Mama

Thanksgiving BONUS Craft!

If you read my Thanksgiving table-runner post at Rock On Mommies (which was SUPER easy!) then you know I promised and even cinch-ier craft here at Nacho Mama's Blog!

I wish I could take credit for this one, but my family got these at a Halloween-pumpkin-carving party we attended at the home of our friends Dani-Sue and John. Dani-Sue decorated the tables with these a-dorable PUMPKIN PEOPLE!!

 Aren't they cute? And you won't believe how easy to make. The hair is just torn-up strips of ordinary masking tape! The pumpkin people at the party had all kinds of fun and different hair-dos. The faces are drawn on with fine-tipped Sharpies and the ribbon on top is pinned right into the pumpkin with straightpins. SO. EASY!!

I guess you could do this with a normal-sized pumpkin, but something about the baby pumpkins makes you want to steal a couple to take home with you, like I did!

Hope you'll give this one a try. If you do, email me photos at shesnachomama@yahoo.com and I'll share them with everyone.

Happy, CRAFTY Thanksgiving!

Wishing you love with extra cheese,

Nacho Mama

Nacho Mama's "Empanadas"

If you’re anything like me, this time of year brings a flood of childhood memories.  Many of them are food-related. The holidays meant a long drive from San Diego to Oxnard. And Oxnard? Meant La Central.

La Central was the bakery where both sides of the family would go for pan dulce (which, for some reason, we called pan mexicano). We’d always stop at La Central on our way home from church on Sundays. It’s still there, where it’s always been. I can still hear the rickety screen door that would always slam behind us-we were so distracted by the delicious smells that we always let it slam.  I can’t possibly conjure the intoxicating aroma of fresh pan dulce, but I can show you what we saw-and believe me, it looked almost as good as it smelled:

And by the way-La Central has the BEST glazed doughnuts in the whole world. Better than Krispy Kreme, better than Dean and Deluca,  better than in your dreams.

But my favorite thing to get at La Central was always the pumpkin empanadas. Because I, Nacho Mama, am a pumpkin whore. You may as well know.  And today my craving for pumpkin empanadas was all-consuming. I just had to do something about it. Even though my baking skills are rather, um, lacking. Oh, I can cook ropa vieja that’d inspire you to write a poem about me-but a cupcake? (cue ironic trombone here)

So? I improvised:

I had some leftover pumpkin from the pumpkin chili I made earlier this week (told you)  and some other stuff in the fridge I thought would be good. Here’s how it all shook out:

-2/3 cup pure pumpkin

-5 oz honey-vanilla greek yogurt (I used Voskos, from Fresh and Easy-my favorite!)

-1/2c light brown sugar

-1 tube light crescent-roll dough

I mixed the pumpkin, yogurt and sugar together. Then I rolled out the crescent dough, and put a spoonful of the pumpkin mixture in the middle of each triangle, sealed it and crimped it with a fork. Ok, they looked kind of weird:

But after baking in my pre-heated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes, they looked awesome!

Not satisfied, I made a glaze with powdered sugar and lemon juice, and then sprinkled them with EDIBLE GLITTER STARS. 

Yeah, you read right! Edible glitter. I thought I’d dreamt it, but I asked the Crafty Chica if it actually existed and she told me yes! I raced to my local cake supply place and bought some. You should know that I am also a glitter whore. As far as I’m concerned, there’s not a thing or person on earth that couldn’t use a little glitter. Glitter helps me think. But I digress, the point is: they were YUMMY. And they are now gone. Were they as good as La Central? No. But they were a delicious and distant second. Plus? They had glitter.

Wishing you love with extra cheese,

Nacho Mama

Raised on "Chicano Soul"

Music has always been a big part of my life. Growing up, all my grandparents sang and/or played guitar at family gatherings, often joined by uncles and cousins. We have so many great singers in the family and just about everyone plays some kind of musical instrument. I myself played piano & clarinet but sadly did not inherit the "awesome pipes" gene. Le sigh.

In my childhood memories, there is always music in the background. My mom's parents sang beautiful songs together, like Ojos Negros, Piel Canela, in the kitchen while preparing sandwiches. My dad's father loved to sing rancheros, mariachi music and corridos at Sunday barbecues. And my dad and his brothers loved to play music from the "Chicano Soul" era that took place in LA in the 60s.

What, you never heard of it?

Chicano Soul crossed over into the mainstream a few times with groups like Cannibal and the Headhunters (Land of 1000 Dances), The Premiers and Thee Midnighters. My dad's brother Jess had been in the Chicano Soul group, The Mixtures, and we kids grew up hearing stories about how our Uncle Chuy had rocked the house at the Rainbow Gardens Ballroom, where The Mixtures were the house band. My grandfather was especially proud that his son (bottom center of the photo below, with the sax) appeared on TV, in the music show that broadcast live in LA from the Rainbow Gardens.

As you might have noticed from the photo, one of the groundbreaking features of The Mixtures was that they were an interracial group in a disctinctly non-interracial time. And from what I've heard, they brought the pepper to every party! I love listening to these records when I'm spending time with my young family, dancing and spinning to this joyful, raucous music. Of course, the Mixtures albums I've been playing all these years (that belonged to my dear late father) are scratched and badly worn by now. So I was ecstatic to learn that the complete recordings were being reissued and released this fall!

My dad and my Uncle, though not twins, shared the same birthday-November 20th, which is this Saturday. As I write this, my brand new copy of The Mixures: Stompin' at the Rainbow is on its way to my home (I ordered the LP but it's also available as a CD). It should arrive just in time for me to celebrate and remember our family's beautiful musical legacy.


Did your family have a creative legacy? Did they paint or write poetry? I'd love to hear about it!


Wishing you love with extra cheese,
Nacho Mama

PS-If you'd like to see and hear a little of The Mixtures for yourself, check out their facebook page and this Youtube Video!

NOTE: My dear Uncle Chuy sadly lost his battle with cancer the day after Christmas 2010. There were many moving tributes to his memory, including this one. We will miss him very much.