Audacity

So what does mommy do when she's left home alone? (Ok, besides eating)

You guessed it, put on the wig, grab the broom-guitar and play "rock star"!!

Actually, forget about the wig and replace the broom with a (beat-up, yes, but nonetheless real) guitar and this is what you get: Sweetness Follows

Audacity is quite the operative word here, and the name of the program I used to record this. It even lets you use multiple tracks!!

One more time... in slow motion please!

This is it. The infamous Williams-Sonoma Flourless Chocolate Cake that fell upside down last week mere seconds before it should've entered the 375°F oven. It was reduced to a puddle of brown goo sadly smudged and smeared onto part of my kitchen floor; needless to say, so was I.

Well I just couldn't leave things like that, I needed redemption, revival. So today, since we were having lunch with Juanpa and Kelly and Luis, Penny and Bibi, I decided I'd give it a second shot thinking that if something tragic happened at least I'd have group support.

Small yet mighty, one hell of a moist, rich chocolate treat.

It was so good that when I thought about getting the camera to take pictures of at least one of the wedges, so graciously accompanied by a dollop of whipped cream, it was mostly gone and instead I had to run and get my spoon.

And to further please Kira upon her request of a recent Craving Report, these stuffed tomatoes, along with scrambled eggs with sautéed onions and toast, were part of our breakfast this morning:

Lemony and fresh, with a side of Juanpa and Kelly!

The end of an era

Some things you live through and immediately move past them. Others make you think you've come to a full stop in your life, somehow freezing passing seconds as you stand there grasping the moment, digesting it. You are left contemplating the possibilities of what now lies ahead and weighing past events, baggage if you will, that you carry with you.

As I approach the 30 (years of age) mark, I got to thinking about the line that should divide my life before and after this date, which happens to be, time after time, the very last day of the year. I realized there was none. I remembered how life is made up of the big and small, and even the events you don't remember make you who you are and are no less important than those you never forget. So today I had to remind myself to be grateful for the things I already have under my belt because engaging in lengthy house projects, getting wrapped up on week after week of work or just dealing with the nuisance of traffic at 8 o'clock in this city can make you temporarily lose sight of much more important stuff or at least prevent you from fully enjoying them.

So yes, I'm basically excited to be entering a more grown-up decade, it means something when I say my age out loud and confirm my status as a twenty-something and I know I'll inadvertently expect some kind of change, even if it's secretly giggling to myself, now that I begin to say, "Hello, my name is Greta and I'm a thirty-something". Maybe I'll even start to believe I should know better. However, I am very fond of the years that have made up my twenties and I know I'll miss them dearly, but kind of like you miss your school years: they were great and who knows where you'd be without them but you wouldn't go back. I guess I'm looking forward to finding out what's behind door number 3.