Unsupervised

Last weekend we were left alone, unsupervised by our kids. We unleashed our be-an-example-to-your-kids guards, and had a total fun. At some point, I stepped away from it and took a few photos.

My friend Lisa and I were talking about this book while having a glass of that...

There was some exciting conversation going on... probably, about the food. What else can be so fascinating? Drinks?  
Sorry, kids, I know we didn't talk about you at that moment...

Then some of us opened their pool season. Yey!

Floating bar with ...

...a drink: beer or that Skinny Girl (see photo on the top)

 

Mr. IV (my husband) resting in the pool, aw... I want in there too! :)

Let the fun begin!

A vocal ...

...and a dance performance by Lisa's husband,

and by both of them. You two are so cute, and happy! :)

Cat was"supervising" us, safely, through the window

It was a good day, when we left all restrictions and rules aside, and just were, how do I say it?  Kids again?! Unsupervised? Free to be silly? Whatever it was, it lifted our spirit for many days to come. 

How often do you let yourself off the "appropriate in public " guards?

See you,

Marina

Tamales Done by Heart

Tamales

Last weekend with a help of a friend I made some tamales. They were pork in red chili tamales, the light version, not too heavy and not too spicy. My men loved it, they shoveled one after another, and in 15 minutes only corn husks were laying on the plates. For me clean plate is always a perfect sign that food was good. Although in this case most of the credit must go to my friend as I was a prep-cook this time.
It took us about two hours to make it, two hours of laughter and fun.  
For now I am sharing the pictures only as we didn't do any measurements. She makes her tamales by heart. I have to take one more "lesson" from my friend and then I will post her recipe. 


My grandmother was the same, she never had a single recipe written down, and she  was one of those cooks that was famous in the area for her food. 
I remember her catering for a big parties, and for some parties during the summer she took me along. I recall a crowd of people giving orders to one another, some arguments at times, but grandmother was always calm and smiling. She would always say a joke or two, specific to the situation, and the whole atmosphere around would change. 
I asked my dad recently how many events she catered and for how many people. I was shocked by his response: from "small" two hundred people anniversaries to fifteen hundred people weddings! Yes, it's fifteen hundred! From what I remember, the only thing grandma ever wrote down was the menu and how many people were attending the event. 
The rest was done by heart. 

Do you have a recipe that you make by heart?

See you,
Marina