Usually by now I would have a game plan for the year.  All the things I want to accomplish in the coming year, how much weight I want to lose.  Blah blah blah.  I don’t have a single resolution for this year other than to make each day count.

I remember back in October, or maybe even early November.  It was a Friday night.  Tony and I had already had dinner, I cleaned the kitchen per usual, and I thought maybe we could rent a movie.  But I walked into the living room and he was sound asleep.  It was 7:15 p.m.  on a Friday night!  I remember being pissed thinking “how did my life get like this?”  Same thing over and over – eat, clean up, watch t.v. every single night.  So I jumped on Facebook while he was sleeping and saw all these fun things other people were doing and I am not going to lie, I felt sorry for myself.  Sorry that I wasn’t living that life, that my husband wasn’t UP to living that kind of life.  He woke up around 9 – by then I’d had a few glasses of wine, and I was just so pissy with him.  I remember him saying “what did I do?” and I said “nothing – that’s the problem!” 

I was an asshole.  I’d give anything to stay home on a Friday night and watch t.v. – even football – with Tony.   That’s my one regret because he would always apologize for not being up to do anything other than staying home, and I almost always said “no problem babe – as long as I am with you, I am happy.”   Bottom line is I miss him.  I am so happy I started this blog 6 1/2 years ago, because I have it to look back on to remember all the fun stuff we did.  My favorite always was hanging outside with him, with meat on the grill, listening to music, drinking wine and him smoking a cigar.  I’ll miss that most of all.

I went back to his very first guest post on the blog – in April of 2009 when I got to 40,000 page views, which I thought was so much!   Now as I am reaching 2 million page views, I wish he was here to write another post for me.  Or hug me.  Or kiss me.

Thankfully with a 3 year old sleeping over last night, I didn’t have much time to get weepy.   He’s really a cute kid.  I didn’t take any pictures, mainly because it was already dark outside by the time he got here, but we ended up watching the movie UP.  I love that movie.  Especially the part at the end when he feels bad that he never got to take his wife on any adventures, and he flips through the back of the book and there were photos of all the simple things they did together – like celebrating birthdays, taking picnics, etc.  THAT made me cry though.   At the end his wife wrote “thanks for the adventure – now go have a new one!”   I have no idea what adventures I’ll have in the future, but I know Tony will still be with me.  He was my biggest fan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsG2S_1PRnk

Usually on past New Years Eve I’ve gone all out with the food – either lots of appetizers, fondue, brined cornish hens.  This year I went simple and healthy.  I made what I am calling a posole, but I am not too sure that it is that authentic.   This made a lot too, so I’ll have lots of leftovers for my lunch.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 large carrots
  • 4 stalks celery
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 32 ounce can tomato puree
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground red Mexican chili powder
  • 1 15 oz. can drained black beans
  • 1 15 oz. can drained yellow corn
  • 1 32 oz. can drained hominy
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 2 large chicken breasts (about a pound)

In a food processor, put the carrots, celery, garlic and tomato puree and blend until all the veggies are chopped up fine.   Heat olive oil in pan and add the veggie/tomato puree.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Add in the chicken broth and then place the raw chicken breasts (I cut each one in half) into the tomato/broth mixture and simmer over medium low heat for about 20 minutes.  Put the lid on the pot – it basically poaches the chicken.  Remove the chicken and shred with two forks and put back into the broth.  Add in the seasonings, the black beans, rice, corn and hominy and cook for 15 minutes with the lid off on low heat.  Garnish with cilantro, sour cream, cheese, etc.

posole 013 copy MBK

I asked Hannah to grab me the cilantro, and after I looked at the pictures, realized it’s actually Italian flat leaf parsley – you get the idea though!  This was the perfect level of spiciness – both Hannah and Jacob gave it two big thumbs up.  #winning   I shop at an ethnic grocery store, and have half of one aisle that has all the Mexican spices and seasonings – this is what the Mexican red chili powder looks like:

9632

Right now the kids are off thrifting with friends.  I am still in my p.j.’s but am going to be hitting up the gym in a little bit.  I am bringing my buffalo chicken chili to work tomorrow so I have to pick up some stuff at the store for that.  Kind of a low key way to start the year, but I am okay with that.

I hope you had a fun and safe New Years – here’s to 2015!  Hugs and Love!