do you know what you just ate?

Clam Chowder
We met when I was about 7 or 8. I remember smelling it when I came home from school one day. Please note that what I am about to describe is not a discredit to my mom's cooking because she is faboo. Trust me. But the smell of NE clam chowder, clams and potatoes simmering in HOT MILK... ugh. I said to mom, "Mom, I don't think I will like it". In spite of my protests, I found myself sitting in front of a hot bowl of chowder. I dunno, even the name "chowder" sounds like a way to purge your body. "Eat it!" I stared. "Eat or you get nothing else". I still stared. I could tell my dad was starting to get uncomfortable. I could see his almost pleading glances for me to at least try it. But I COULDN'T. It was HOT MILK & CLAMS! Didn't anyone understand? They didn't but I was forced to eat it and almost all of it. It was only when I began to "purge" that I was never forced to eat the evil clam chowder ever again. I have two other foods that fit into this food group: Brussels sprouts (which I can now tolerate) and liver (don't EVEN post that it's because I haven't had it cooked the right way because I can't even stand the smell, let alone the taste).

Lamb
This food group is the one where mom was at her finest. Every now and then, mom would serve up something a bit "kid untraditional" like lamb or periwinkles. She's creative but that's not what I'd call it when she got me to eat these things. She would flat out trick me. She'd cook it up, make it look like a burger and then when I was done eating, all the while "mmm-ing" thru it, she'd ask me "do you know what you just ate?" Many of you posted that my mom looks like a blast. Oh she's a blast all right. Trouble in its' highest. UP TO IT... always.

Peas
Now, there were things I would have preferred to not eat but for the most part, I cleaned my plate. Vegetables weren't my thing but I usually ate them all because I didn't have the option to not eat them. Sometimes my stubborn streak would flare and there would be something on my plate that I was NOT gonna eat. That meant pullin' an all-nighter at the kitchen table. Peas, sometimes, was one of those things. I am like my dad. He enjoys cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, the occasional fruit (like watermelon), meat and potatoes. We are like two peas in a pod. Speaking of peas, he would eat my peas for me - it was either that or I would probably STILL be sitting at the dinner table.

When I moved about a 6 hour drive away from my ever feeding mommy, I rebelled and to be honest, I think I ate maybe zero vegetables for the first few years that I was away from home. I'm not including salads here. Now, I'm a little older (11 years to be exact) and realize that I cannot fulfill my vegetable requirements with iceberg lettuce alone so last week I branched out into another section of the grocery aisle. I actually picked up zucchini, fresh tomatoes (which I really love) & carrots AND used them. That's a big deal for me because my veggies always go bad... always. Tonight, I made spaghetti with turkey meat sauce. While the onions, garlic and fresh tomatoes sautéed, I decided to spice up my life a little and add some zucchini and canned corn to the mix. At 7.5 pts per serving I had a pretty darn good meal.

Chourico & Salad

So tonight there's a little lesson about my heritage. I am part Portuguese. You can thank this woman for all that entails.

Meet.. my mom. The Portuguese are Latin, romantic, passionate and hospitable. Please interpret that last word to mean that everything and I mean everything revolves around food. Now my mom, bless her heart, weighs about 98 lbs soaking wet but eats enough to sustain a baby elephant. Where the food goes, only the Lord will reveal it to me? And yes, THIS is the burning question I will ask when I sit on God's lap and uncover the hidden things. But I digress.

The Portuguese love to cook, eat, cook & eat and most importantly FEED YOU. I can remember when I was a little girl the first thing my vovo (Grandma) would do is sit me down at the kitchen table and start bringing food over to me. This leads me to one of my favorite foods that I grew up with.. Portuguese chourico. Basically, chourico (as seen on Emeril.. BAM!) is pork, fat, wine, paprika and salt. Then it's smoked. For more info, click here. Once that whole process is done with, you can eat it unheated in a sandwich or like many of us like to do, we sauté it with a bit of olive oil, throw in some onions and call it a day. I have a 'thing' when I visit Massachusetts which if you are all caught up on your reading know that I was there last week. I stock up on Chourico because it's very hard to find outside of New England. I found chicken chourico in Maryland once but that was almost blasphemous.

Tonight, my featured dinner:


It turns out to be approximately 4 pts per serving. Then throw in a salad lightly dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar and you have a 6 point meal... YUM!

I don't know what to post about today....

So, I'll post pictures! :) I got a new camera for Christmas and I have been very camera happy. My brother went as far as to call me "the papparazi". Nice.

This is my view of Polly's head as she sits in front of me
(the background is the cold but beautiful New England snow)


That's my daddy. My mom said this picture is too dark. I say it looks artistic.


That's my brother and my niece Faith. I love this..


That's moi after the dye job. I took a TON of pictures of me. Doesn't look too much different. My hair is very dark except for the grays that try their darnedest to reveal my age. I worry about how much I enjoy taking self portraits. Many more where this came from sooooo... if you are tired of my face (who could tire of it???), you might wanna break from my blog until I get this camera thing out of my system. As a side note, I am waiting for Mel to get back to Maryland so she can take some "before" shots of me. I can hardly wait (sarcasm to the 'shots' comment).


Me again. I'm eating out with my family. If the papparazi do it to famous people, why can't my family do it to me?


Both girls enjoying Polly's new bed. Sadie is on left (camera shy) and I forgot to mention that she is Polly's mommy. I am sitting for her while Mel is away. She has settled right in as you can see.


That's all for now. Thanks for stoppin' in. I hope you enjoyed your stay at the El Foto Tina. Please come again soon. Ciao.

Merry Christmas All...

To all of my blogging friends, I wanted to make sure I wished ya'll a very Merry Christmas. Right about this time some of you are stuffed to the gills from a wonderful dinner (and desserts) or are pooping because of the constant activity in and out of your homes. I had Christmas last week with my family in Mass as I had to work this week, so today it was just me and the dogs. A quiet day, but not such a bad day if I do say so myself. Did some cooking, tv watching, napping and just got in from a nice brisk walk in the cold December air. Well anyway, I hope you all had (and are having) a great day with family and friends and that Santa was good to you this year! Hugs.