Catalunya! Catalunya!

Arc de Triomf

We are back from Barcelona and, well, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. These are just a few of hundreds I took on the trip.

streets of Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

Montserrat

a tapas restaurant

the Barcelona Cathedral

a candid moment

sipping cappuccino

A Good Friday procession on La Rambla

another shot atop Montserrat

Parc de la Ciutadella

 

Barcelona, Barcelona!

 

Jon and Jewel, Death and Life, Two Anniversaries

A couple of months ago I posted something similar in memory of Jon. Today, January 10, 2009 marks the 11 year anniversary of his death.

Jon passed away on the very early morning hours of our older sister’s birthday. Every year at this time, I remember Jon as he was and imagine what he would be like today. I don’t think any of us can picture him being any different…youthful, generous, caring, kind. He was young and discovering himself as most young (and old) people do. If you were to ask my mom, he was able to make amends and find closure with some of the important things in his life just before he died.

I know that he would want his sister to celebrate her birthday as anyone should as difficult as it may be at first. That’s just the kind of person he was.

So in remembering today as the anniversary of Jon’s death, we remember that Jewel was born on this day – a celebration of two lives, if you will.

We love you both!

Jonathan Scott Mendoza, May 29, 1977 - January 10, 1998

Happy Birthday Jewel!

 

Zachary, Our Family Poodle Dies

Mom called Thursday night with the news. Zach passed away in his sleep early Wednesday morning.

Mom adopted the toy poodle many years ago from one of dad’s patients. I believe I was in high school, senior maybe, when we got him. That would make him at least 18 years old when he passed. What a life!

Under that tough exterior was a sweet, lovable pooch many of us grew to love. We’ll miss you Zachy!

 

Remembering Jon, 1977 – 1998

This is a video tribute made in honor of my brother, Jonathan Scott Mendoza. January 10, 2008 marked the ten year anniversary of his death.

This is for mom, dad, my sisters, Jewel and Jen and all friends and family who never let a day pass without remembering him.

My apologies… the video is no longer available on youtube…I took it off in fear of breaking any copyright laws. I still have it safe and sound on my desktop though, so mom, don’t worry I can make you copy if you want.

An estimated 20 million people in the United States have asthma and, despite the availability of treatments, it remains poorly controlled among many. This health problem is the reason for nearly 500,000 hospital stays each year. People with asthma can be of any race, age or sex. Its treatment costs billions of dollars each year. (Asthma and Allergy Foundation)

Learn all you can about asthma. It’s the first step toward erasing…long-held myths and living a full, active life.(Asthma and Allergy Foundation)

 

I Found It! Photo with Michael Hutchence Among Other Things…

Thought I’d never find it. After a couple of cross country moves, throwing things in boxes and not labeling them…I think we’ve got quite a few boxes we haven’t rummaged through since we moved out to New Mexico in 2004. Four years later and many states away, some still lay unopened. I wonder what’s in them? I’ve found clothes I could’ve been wearing and my children could’ve been wearing if I had known the boxes existed. Unassembled lamps that our living space desperately needs. Tools. Kitchen junk drawers haphazardly thrown in a box. And, oh yeah, pictures. Envelope after envelope of family photos. Great photos, too. Photos from 35mm film. Whew, remember when?

1997 Y100 Sonic Session w/ INXS

We spent an evening looking at all the pictures.

I got a serious dose of nostalgia when I stumbled upon this photo of me with Michael Hutchence of INXS. It was taken by two good samaritans at an invite only studio performance with Philly’s Y100 in 1997. Not a month had passed when we found these pictures in the mail. Thanks to the Franklins for taking the pic and actually sending us two copies. Sad thing is, I am 11 years older than I am in the picture. Sadder still, Mr. Hutchence died two months after the photo was taken.

 

Box o’ Crabs, Holiday Frenzy

Hello crab!

The dining room table was well prepared for this feast. The cozy breakfast nook was no place for the debauchery that unfolded this Labor Day weekend. Mother laid out the disposable tablecloth as I stockpiled the heavy duty napkins, pre-moistened for added cleaning power. Sister took inventory of all necessary supplies i.e. nutcrackers, picks, vinegar dip, and rice. Even my youngest made sure all drinks were at hand within reasonable grasp. The towering bushel of crabs, haphazardly packed in a white cardboard box, was beautifully seasoned and placed as the one and only centerpiece, rightfully so. Extra chairs were set in place to accommodate all. Even my husband who didn’t plan on eating any, partook in the jovial camaraderie associated with crab eating, and ate one or two of his own. Do you eat as you go, or do you accumulate like me. In other words, I like to shell as many crabs as I can, piling high on my plate a mountain of crab meat then rewarding myself with spoonfuls of crab and rice. Yummy.

Box o' crabs

This crab fest is a once a year event for us. So we make sure we enjoy it. It was the perfect way to close the summer season at mom’s house. There was other food to enjoy as well: potato salad, roast beef, baked ziti, fries, chicken tenders (the kid must have), chocolate cream pie, watermelon, and jersey sweet corn.

Thanks mom and dad for making your home a constant source of fun and food for all of us and, as always, making this summer something to remember.

 

Chocolate For Breakfast, Our Summer Favorite

Ooey, gooey, champurado

Summer is almost over and the kids are revving up for another busy school year. We’ve had our fill of pool water, SPF 70, spying on baby bunnies and birdies, marshmallow roasts and sweet New Jersey corn. It’s time to get serious. Right?

Let’s not forget there is one weekend left, one last hurrah to be spent before we stow away our summer dresses and sandy Sanoks. So keep those flip flops on girls and boys, we’re heading back to Lola’s and Lolo’s house to celebrate Labor Day, a holiday that gives most of us that extra day off. A holiday that is the culmination of all things summer and sweat, joy and exasperation, beer and barbecue. Girls, we will badminton till the sun goes down. And Emil, we will let you splash us to your hearts content because in our sunny exaltation we just won’t give a ….care. All of us will enjoy the hearty Lola breakfast that brings all of us together at that cramped yet cozy breakfast bar. Homemade waffles or pancakes with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries, sausages, and, crescendo please, that creamy chocolate delight we call champurado ! It is every kid’s dream to have this oogey, gooey chocolate dish for breakfast. Better get up early or you’re likely to be scrapping the bottom of the bowl for an ounce of this stuff. For those that don’t know, champurado is a traditional Filipino breakfast treat that is usually eaten with something salty, ie salted fish or what we call tuyo. My kids pass on the fish part and blast spoonfuls of pure chocolate bliss into their mouths. Don’t worry all you healthnuts, this is a treat that can only be enjoyed at Lola’s house as I have tried and failed to replicate her recipe to the exact gooeyness. And why is that…no matter how precise I am in following any of her recipes, it never turns out the same?

Lola’s and Lolo’s is a place where we can all be kids. It’s a place where we can relax, get in each other’s business, laugh and relax again. That is why we love going there. This summer it has been every other weekend or so and it will certainly dwindle down as school begins. So kids, are you ready to go to Lola’s house?

Click on photo for a link to RecipeZaar’s Champurado recipe.

(fyi, lola and lolo are filipino terms of endearment for grandmother/grandfather or elderly person; Spaniards brought chocolate to the Philippines; there are other versions of this dish including Mexican champurrado)

 

Ascending the Button and other Pastimes

Remember when? We had asked each other all day long. Last Sunday, we hung up our beach towels and bathing suits and headed to old stomping grounds in the city of Philadelphia. Merely twenty minutes away yet we never find the time to go. And when we do, we never want to leave. Why?

It’s where we lived as twenty-something parents and feared nothing; where my second and heaviest (9.6 lbs) child was born; where my husband completed his BA in Medieval History; where we lived in an apartment that housed the world’s largest cockroach; where we lived in an apartment that was once a brothel but wasn’t told of this fact until after we moved in; where we walked and walked and walked and never got tired; where we consumed modest amounts of beer at the corner Locust Bar; where we befriended the photographer for the old 100.3 FM radio station and got invited to see and meet Michael Hutchence of INXS in a cozy recording studio one month before he died; where we declined to see and meet Squirrel, Nuts, Zippers in a cozy recording studio and regretted it; where we played with our daughters X amount of times at the 10th and Lombard playground; where I made local news by intelligently answering the question, How do you feel about the safety of the city’s playground equipment?; where the best falafel sandwich can be found; where the best kugel can be found; where the best video store, TLA, can be found; and where we last talked, laughed and cried with my beloved brother, Jonathan Scott Mendoza (1977-1998), who will survive forever in our memories.

On this occasion we strolled through U of Penn’s Museum of Anthropology and Archeology which my six year old son described as looking much like a haunted house; but plentiful with interesting artifacts and palatial Egyptian doorways, nonetheless. Then we headed towards the irresistible Button statue where kids go to be kids. We sat

and chatted with Ben and ended our day in Chinatown where we emptied our wallets to shrimp chips, Pocky treats and Hello Kitty paraphernalia. (see pics)

We love Philadelphia, but would we ever move back? Our thirty something (and forty something) urges aren’t quite so versatile, although we like to think so. With safety, schools and overall quality of life a constant concern, moving back to the city is but a notion we like to toy with. So we will take what she offers, eighteen miles away in the comfort of our home in the sweet valleys of Brandywine and visit her every so often to relive pastimes, create new ones and to be cultured, taught and experienced in ways we can’t find here in our pretty, little suburbia.

Chinatown goodies