it wasn't the pupusas that killed the bird!

it caught me a little off guard the yesterday when on house hunters hgtv the guy looking at a spacious room said, it doesn't seem like much space. in fact, i became a little indignant. i don't know why, because i watch it often, and i've heard similar comments. but this time when i looked up at this beautiful home he was talking about, my mind went back to HONDURAS where i lived with my parents while they were missionaries there. i thought about how many little one room shanties we'd visited, where church members lived with their families of 3 or 4 children with dirt floors and a suitcase with some clothing and perhaps a few dishes. we are more fortunate than we realize, and we don't appreciate what we have often enough.

i could tell that the flea medicine was annoying chaco today, so i gave them baths (thank you inventor of the shower cap, because i didn't want to mess with my hair too). when they got out, they just looked so great! "chaco, you're hot!" he giggled, "i'm a hotdog!!" then he thought for a second and followed it up with, "better than being a weiner! get it? anthony weiner?! ha!" they're never too young to start teaching them about politics and right vs wrong.

for lunch i decided i'd throw some italian sausage kabobs and a brat on the indoor grill.remember when i mentioned the open nature sausages? well, they make italian sausage too! (worth it! if you're interested in trying it, click on italian sausage and it'll take you to a coupon site)

yea for grilling inside!! boo when it gets smoky!

wow, nice grill marks!

 why hasn't some amazing man snatched me up? why am i still single? who knows...and at this point who cares? more food for me. i absoLUTEly love brats! the only problem with the indoor grill is that for whatever reason (probably because it's dual use and i didn't get the gridle side as clean as it needed to be) i came into the living area and noticed that it seemed a bit smoky-and chaco went into the bedroom and bruno wanted out on the balcony. amazing that the fire alarm didn't go off-maybe i should check the batteries. so i opened all of the windows and grabbed a piece of foam board and attempted to 'fan' out the smoky wild-fire look. and in the midst of fanning, dust fell from the ceiling fan (i know moss doesn't gather on a rolling stone, but dust does gather on revolving fan blades). so nasty dust clumps fell and i was grossed out. after setting down my makeshift de-smoker, i got the vacuum out and cleaned up. the entire time, my lunch was cooling off. when i finally finished and grabbed my food, chaco had made his way back into the living room and bruno came in off the balcony-fair-weather friends.

ok, i have loved pupusas since my very first tasting in HONDURAS on a bus ride to tegucigalpa-when there was a rest stop and the kids got on the bus selling their goods...and it was good! so....why have i waited so long to try my hand at these things?? especially once i realized that i am actually a pretty good cook?! again, why am i single?

masa is fairly inexpensive, so it will last awhile-especially since i was able to make about 6 pupusas with 1 c of the flour...and i can't even eat all six of them (but, you can bet i'm not putting them away yet-i may be snacking tonight!)

now i need a little garden to grow some yuca ! i'll just have to buy the platano!

 i cannot believe how easy these were to make! you'd better believe i will be doing more of this this summer! the smell of masa when mixed with water brought back memories of making dinner for BIRD, our macaw. he was beautiful! he was a red and blue but he wasn't super friendly. we would make masa balls and mix in bird seed. well, rat poison should not be stored next to the bird seed. nuf said.

oh summer, you make me forget what day it is! that's why i have to watch t.v. because i know when certain shows come on! i know, poor excuse-get your calendar out!

i'm sure you've had enough of me being impressed with myself!
julie