Its my Birthday...Gonna Party like Its my Birthday!!

Ok, so it was a Tuesday night....but there was a good reason to celebrate!!! Since I am leaving for India on my actual birthday, I had to pick another day. Delicious food, good friends and fabulous musica!!! Smita recreated the awesome Hibiscus margaritas that wemade a few weeks ago and they were again, a huge hit!! That was my speacial birthday request, along with a great mexica menu.....and Ernesto did not dissapoint!! Tinga tacos, salsa, guacamole, beans and ceviche! Here is the MIXMASTER and CHEF!!!

There were about 20 people, mostly friends from Delta, but also special guests (below) sisters, Lenia and Livini....they always keep the party lively, we were dancing after one hour!

For some reason (alcohol?) I was a kick taking pics of peoples asses....here are a few, (more will be posted asap) can you guess who's is who's?

The girls pose during a dancing break

Lots of mingling....

Sly, one of the star dancers plays DJ and I get down

Here the group poses....some people had already left, but I wanted to get one shot! I have a very similar pic from my 30th birthday party a few years back......yes just a few!!

Thanks to everyone for coming, it was a great time!

Birthday Dinner at Globe

We are always looking for a NEW place to eat when we go out.....variety is the spice of life, no? Imagine this place with only tea-lights setting the mood. Very modern and chic! The menu was mouthwatering and the wine list was great too! I chose...yes, you guessed it MALBEC, but could only have one glass, I was still not quite right from the night before in NY. We ordered tapas style as we usually do and tried the steak asado with arugual and blue cheese, the calamari and the piedmontese salad with baby arugula, grilled artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and grana padano to start then ordered the seared tuna. WOW!

My favorite thing was the wall of green Pelligrino bottles. The repetition makes such a bold statement........hmmmm a decorating idea?? well, my sand bottles are similar. Its a little blurry, but still looks cool!!

Sexy Girls in the City!

Damn, Im a lucky girl!! I am in the Big Apple where . Delta has rented this storefront on the corner of 57th & 6th Ave and created a cool lounge called SKY360. The public can come in and enjoy the bar, hang out at one of the many seating areas, recharge thier devices and preview our new lie-flat chairs that will be on business class flights starting next year. Smita had an event to attend at the lounge and invited me to go. I had not been to NYC since February and was excited that I would be able to see Sara....a friend that I met through Smita and just hit it off right away. A chance for a girls night in THE CITY?? Hello??

The Lobby of the Dream hotel was FABULOUS!! Aquarium, naked people drawn on the wall, and mirrored squares on pillars and the ceiling. Every floor has sexy pictues that are lit from behind. We took some artsy shots!! Yes, on the lips....now kiss my .......!
Then we opened the door to our room.......OH MY GOD!!
Rrrrrrrrrrrr...check it out!

Sara and I headed for drinks and conversation at THALIA, a beautiful restaurant/bar and got caught up on eachothers lives....

We feasted the Arugula & Maytag Blue Cheese Salad, Tuna Sashimi and a

Creamy Polenta atop Truffle Reduction.....OH MY!

then headed to SKY360 to meet up with Smita....

The starring ladies in this episode of Sex in the City:

Smita, me and Sara

Below I try out the new lie-flat seating. How awesome a 14 hour flight will be with this new addition?! Perfect for China next year! It really is a BED!! One of my big motivations of going to NY was to go salsa dancing, I had convinced several people to go, but first we headed to the bar/hot-ass lounge in out hotel (boutique hotels always have hot bars) and once we started dancing there, we didnt move, the DJ was playing GREAT music and the atmoshere was perfect! Damn it, I guess I will have to plan a separate salsa trip!!

Girls at Shaun's

Smita joined a dinning club for a six week period and they went to several resturants around Atlanta that were condsidered "hidden gems". Last Thursday, she shared one gem with me for a happy hour.
Shaun's is located right in Inman Park @1029 Edgewood Avenue NE

They had a beautiful wine list...I chose a Malbec of course and we nibbled on a charcuterie plate w/ cured meats and olives, beef tartar w/haricot vert salad, prosecco dressing & hazelnuts, and pomme frites....a last minute craving!!
I would definately recommend this for a nice dinner. Great ambiance!

I'm heading to India to build Habitat homes

Delta volunteers are heading to India to build Habitat homes

More than 40 employees and, for the first time six Delta customers, will partner with Habitat for Humanity and families in the village of Nagewadi, Karjat, near Mumbai, to build six homes during a weeklong trip to the region next month.
With this project, Delta’s Force for Global Good, a program that unites customers and employees who invest their personal time and money to support philanthropic efforts throughout the world, is helping take a stand against poverty housing by volunteering with Habitat in India to help families in need of safe, decent, affordable housing realize the dream of home ownership. Also, we’re committing $100,000 and the help of other community partners to build 100 more homes in the state of Maharashtra next year.

Im really excited about this trip...leaving on my birthday next week! woo-hoo!!

Of course, since I will already be there, Smita, Frank and I are taking a side trip to Kerala, India.

Here is a little teaser.....more to come:

Pork and Tomatillo Stew

We wanted to relax last night and cook something delicious, and while leafing through the latest Food & Wine magazine, this spicy Mexican-style stew seemed like the perfect thing!

This recipe is from California winemaker Andrew Murray.

We made a trip to the farmers market and got started.

Trust me, you won't be sorry after cooking this! ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 3-inch chunks
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large celery ribs, finely diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 Anaheim chile, seeded and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons mild chile powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Pinch of dried oregano
2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
1 cup 1/2-inch-diced carrots
Two 6-ounce russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 pound tomatillos—husked, rinsed and cut into 1-inch dice
Hot sauce
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Corn tortilla chips, for serving
directions
In a medium casserole or Dutch oven, heat the oil. Season the pork with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until browned on 2 sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add the celery and onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the diced chile, garlic, chile powder, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and tomatillos, cover and simmer over low heat until the pork is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Transfer the pork to a plate and shred with two forks. Meanwhile, simmer the stew over moderate heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir the shredded pork into the stew and season with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Ladle the stew into bowls, garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with a few tortilla chips.

Eclipse de Luna

It was hump day.....and I needed a party!! Luckily, Judd and Janine had birthdays to celebrate. The venue was perfect: Eclipse de Luna in Miami Circle, a tapas restaurant which always turns into dancing at the end of the night. As a matter of fact, the only other time I had been there I could not see ANY tables because it was so packed with dancers...my kind of place! Below is the 3 piece band that was AWESOME!

I gave Brrrian a buddy pass to Ohio for the weekend, he had a few days off school and had not been to mom and dads ALL YEAR. Luckily he pays attention to his dreams (like me) and headed home.....first stopping at my house. I think I am going to make a new rule for anyone I give a buddy pass to, they have to stop and visit me first. I dont get enough attention here.

Anyhoo, I was already at Eclipse de Luna when Brrrians flight got in so he hopped on MARTA and took it to Buckhead. We had such a great time! I LOVE mi hermano!!!

Not sure what we were doing below.....but I love this picture of Brrrian !

There were some other funny pictures taken...we were making faces to see how many chins we could make....Brrrian posted on his blog....but I refuse.......

I went to Ohio that weekend too. It was great to be with everyone. Friday night we went to see Kelli play in the marching band at Wooster high schools football game. It was so fun, all of us just hanging out bullshitting and jamming to the band. They have a "drumline" too! After the game, for a half hour all the drummers stand in a circle and jam. I love how the vibrations feel, its just so invigorating. Brrrian got a cute video of me pretending to be a newscaster:

What a FANTASTIC day!!!!

It's wierd but I am actually liking staying in ATL on the weekends now. I have been home 3 weeks in a row and have had some great times. It is so nice when your house needs nothing...maybe that is why I never liked staying in ATL on the weekends....because I always felt like we had to work on our house if we were home????

Anyway, we had no plans, and have been wanting to have our friends Floyd and Richard over for 5 years now. We met them when we first moved to ATL. We all went to mid-city fitness EVERY MORNING at 530am. Since we bought our house 5 years ago, we dont go to the same gym anymore, so we only see them 2-3 times a year. (at either their house or a restaurant)

They were free on Saturday night and Ernesto planned an AWESOME Mexican dinner. We headed to a farmers market north of our house that is hispanic and asian. It is even bigger than the one by our house and it was so cool because we actually could've been in Latin America. I think I was the only American in the whole place.......LOVE IT!!!

They were making the tortillas fresh right in the store, they were sooooooo good!!

This whole isle was different kinds of dried peppers, we bought 3 bags for our dinner. Here Ernesto takes a minute to consult his shopping list and cross off the peppers.

They had a lot of samples out and I was loving this crema from Honduras. They just spread it on a tostada and mmmmmm.

Before we knew it, we had filled up our cart and were on our way out. When we got home we started preparing right away. The menu had a few things on it that we had never made before. One of them being tamales. One thing is for sure, we will be making them again. It is a little time onsuming, but well worth it. You need to pat the masa out into a sqare on the or husk, then we filled them with chicken that was cooked with chipotles, add tomatillos and a red salsa. We folded them, tied them up, and steamed them for 30 minutes. DELISH!!OK menu was: Tamales, Mexican rice, refried beans, a tomatillo salsa AND "jaimaia margaritas". Jaimaica is the hibiscus flower in spanish. These were so delicious! We had to steep the dried flowers (from the farmers market) in hot water with sugar, then add tequila and ice and shake. I had 3 and was feeling good:) Here Ernesto mixes them before our intrigued guests. Look how happy they are! The OSU game was on and actually Floyd & Richard love college football, so after dinner we moved to the couch for a bit while our stomachs settled...we were so stuffed!!

Then we decided to head to downtown decatur to the "Chocolate Bar" Ernesto had taken me there last week on our "date" and it is a perfect place for drinks and dessert. Each of us had a variation of their chocolate martini (chocolate bar, chocolate espresso, tiramisu) I forgot my camera, which was a shame because we were laughing our asses off and making funny faces. The girls next to us snapped this shot and emailed it to us.

What an awesome night!! We won't wait so long to see them next....actually Neto will be doing their x-mas lights, so I know we will see them soon:)

GEEK NIGHT

I knew when Smita mentioned "Geek Night" that I had to be part of it!

Her 2 friends/ co-workers Sly and Darren, had the idea of getting together with laptops and blogging (or whatever else you like to do on the computer) and sharing music, ideas and conversation. Sly hosted at his house and we started with cosmopolitans. Then, over dinner we had a fun conversation "If you could have 5 houses anywhere in the world, where would they be?"

My answer:

1. Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Paris, France
3. New York, NY
4. Sevilla, Spain
5. La Jolla, CA

I had a really hard time choosing #5, I wanted to put Lake Como, Italy, but since I haven't actually been there YET. ....I have been to several other cities in Italy and I LOVE the culture, the food, the scenery, and the language... molto buon...very sexy!!! I could see myself there a couple months out of the year...easily. No, I won't need a house in Ohio, I can stay with my family when Im there:)

After dinner, we moved to the living room and sat around the coffee table with our laptops. Sly was just starting his blog, Darren was working on a home video he made with his MacBook (which, by the was I MUST BUY) It's so stylish and inspiring....easy to use, and I want it!! Smita and I worked on our FaceBook profiles. Geek-y? YES, but it was so much fun. What a great idea...We will be doing this regularly. The people that I have told about this think its a great idea too...Im hosting the next one and I think its going to be a growing club!!

Easy Delicious Spicy Dinner

We made this last night, and it was wonderful. The recipe was from eating well, and we added a little more heat!! Very quick to make!

1 pound peeled cooked shrimp, tails removed

1 cup frozen cup corn

2-1 ounce cans chopped green chiles

(we used NM chiles from my brother Tim, + some fresh )

2 cups canned green enchilada sauce

12 corn tortillas

1 15-ounce can pinto beans, refried (or not)

1 cup reduced-fat shredded Mexican-style cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 lime, cut into wedges

1. Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. 2. Combine shrimp, corn, chiles and 1/2 cup enchilada sauce (or salsa) in a microwave-safe medium bowl. Cover and microwave on High until heated through, 2 1/2 minutes. 3. Spread 1/4 cup enchilada sauce (or salsa) in the prepared baking dish. Top with an overlapping layer of 6 tortillas. Spread refried beans evenly over the tortillas. Top the beans with the shrimp mixture, followed by the remaining 6 tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce (or salsa) over the tortillas. Cover with foil.4. Bake the enchiladas until they begin to bubble on the sides, about 20 minutes. Remove the foil; sprinkle cheese on top. Continue baking until heated through and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes more. Top with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.