Happy Birthday To Me!!

Even though I am turning 30 today (ouchhh!) I still find myself in the mood for celebrating my birthdays and having fun on my special day.
Age is all in the head and as with everything in life what counts the most is your attitude, so the 30's are welcome and I am ready to celebrate!
Aren't those cupcakes lovely?? Thanks Barbara for taking your time and making them for me!
I had a great time with my girl friends this week already and today we went to my favorite ice cream place in the whole world: Henry's Gelato! (at least for now, since I haven't been in Italy yet...).
I just happen to love ice cream and recently dicovered something even better than that: Gelato. It is the-best-dessert, ever! I could not ask for more today than spending my birthday with my family and enjoying my favorite dessert! I will skip baking a cake this time, but bring on the ice cream goodness!
Ana

And here is me with the prettiest cupcake! (well, I did have cake after all!)

Salad, and radishes...!

I am a girl who likes salad! A person who truly loves vegetables and fruits and am more than happy to have colorful and healthy salads for a meal!
Since I love my veggies so much I am always on the lookout for the purest and freshest produce, so there was nothing more obvious for me at this point than to join a CSA! (community supported agriculture)
Yes, now I have my own organic basket too! I am soooo happy and excited to get my little basket every week! Today is the second basket I will be getting and I can barely wait.
I wish we could get these baskets all year long but due to the cold weather over the winter the farm I joined has their deliveries done only between April and September, which is a good chunk of the year and I am happy to get that!
Last week we got some mix of greens, asparagus, radishes and green onions, plus the best farm fresh eggs I have had here in the US!
The greens were tender and even slightly sweet, the asparagus were by far the very best I have ever had, they were sweet and so tender, perfect to just eat it quickly steamed, you didn't even need any seasoning as it was very flavorful by itself. Oh and the radishes... I actually found a radish I like! This part was funny as I am not a radish fan but when it showed up in the basket we sure wanted to try it and it was not bad at all, actually it was something the three of us enjoyed a lot when eating our salad over the weekend. Who would have thought that radishes can be tasty, have a sweet undertone and not be all bitterness as the ones I had tried before?
See, good veggies are awesome, even the radishes! And I was so happy to have gotten this ones for Matheus to try again. He had tried it once with me and we both agreed at the time that radishes were not the veggie of our choice, but this past Sunday we were converted to the fresh, organic ones. Matheus really liked and every time he ate a slice he would say "yep, they are good mommy, these radishes are good!" I love feeding my child!
So our weekend was filled with soccer practice, the local spring daze fest, friend's birthday parties and, yes you guessed, radishes!
We had a great salad, so fresh and flavorful. This is why I like spring, summer, warm weather. It is the season that makes me happy and brings us delicious fruits and veggies too!
Ana

2009! And summer is coming.... tomato salad!

Man, it is already April and I haven't posted yet.... tsc tsc tsc!
Well, I am here, yes, I am!
The year has been good to us, everything is going well but I am somewhat into a crisis with myself, trying to figure out what I really want for my life, professionally speaking that is.
As kids we are always talking about "what we are going to do when we grow up", thinking about what we are going to be when we are adults, which career to follow...
But, what happens when you already grew up and still don't know?
We sure do plan all those things but for some of us life takes its own path and when you realize you have a bunch of other things going on that were not on your plan, or at least for not that particular time of your life.
My life sort of went on a different direction than that I had thought would happen. I do love the outcome and am proud of everything I have done up to this point though! I have no regrets, I am happy with my choices and I love my family more than anything I can imagine.
But sometimes a girl sorta need to find herself in the middle of all this family thing, right? Or am I over thinking all this life process?
See, I am a little lost in my own mind, but I know I will be fine and whatever I chose to do will turn out to be of value for me, even if it doesn't go as planned. Life is forgiving in its own way, time helps to mend things and chances to start over are infinite.

I think turning 30 (ugh!) this month got me thinking too much about what I have done and still need to do for myself...

Sorry about all the talking, but hey, you are all friends and that's what friends are for!
But, one cannot live on thoughts alone so of course while I do all this thinking and try to find my own little self I have been cooking a lot too!
I love this blog and keep taking pictures and more pictures, trying recipes and inventing in the kitchen, so now I think I had enough time already to think and be away from this space, and I hope to be coming back with recipes and more!

For today I am only going to leave you all with this picture I took from a tomato salad I made this weekend when we got home from the farmer's market! Fresh, fresh, fresh tomatoes, ripe and juicy, so, sooooo, sooooooooo good! Simply seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, and basil, it was the star dish of our lunch. The basil was fresh from the market too, from the little guys I bought to plant in my backyard herb pots.
I like spring but I LOVE SUMMER and this salad tasted just like that to me! I am so ready for the warm weather, bring on the heat, the juicy fruits and ice creams, I am ready for that all and to say goodbye to the winter blues who definitely got me thinking this year.

Love you all!
Ana

Ps: Thanks to all those who send me comments and e-mail asking if everything is ok!