Why Is My Cilantro Dying?

I noticed the last two days or so my cilantro plant was under the weather and thinking it had to do with lack of sun I brought him outside to enjoy the intense sunshine of Myrtle Beach. I soon realized that the "intense sunshine" was doing absolutely nothing to lighten his mood and he was looking worse, so i decided to research how to save my cilantro plant. So as any good modern person would do I googled "Why is my cilantro dying?" and like magic it answered my question. (Ahh how lazy we have become.... answers at our fingertips. We needn't truly research anything anymore. Even schools, when needing more that one source are allowed to use the internet for their multiple sources.) The gist of it came down to cilantro being hard to grow and some other reasons I can't seem to remember. So to not waste this amazing plant something had to be done. I decided to cut the leaves and make Sofrito!

Sofrito
1 Onion
1 Head of garlic (yes head not clove)
2 Jalapenos (if you don't like it to have a kick substitute with half green bell pepper)
1 Red pepper
Lots of cilantro ( I never really ever measured how much I put in, I like a lot of cilantro so I put a lot in it is up to your own taste buds. )


Chop up onions and peppers in to 1-2 inch chunks. ( This really depends on how good your blender or food processor is.) Combine with all other ingredients and blend to it becomes a little soupy. (See Picture above)
And Voila you have Ze Magnific Sofrito. I use this with rice, fish, chicken, beef, really be experimental it is a wonderful addition to a lot of different foods.
ENJOY!

My Garden

I am attempting my first garden. I have planted before when I was younger but never by myself. In my new home I have a very small piece of land and I decided to make the most of it. I planted 4 tomato plants, 1 chili pepper plant, 2 jalapeno pepper plants (for my hubby ;) 1 red bell pepper plant, 1 cucumber, and 1 yellow squash plant. I want to get an eggplant plant and maybe a blueberry bush I saw at Lowes, for some fruit but we shall have to see, unless I become neurotic and feel my garden is incomplete with out it. I have very rocky and sandy soil since I live very close to the beach but I am determined and this morning when I woke up my garden had perked up beautifully! Of course it is all up to GD and if GD wants it to grow it will! 

The Arboretum

Ahead of me is a figure, to me it looks like a giant bullfrog. I can make out the shapes of it's eyes and mouth squatting on the ground. It appears to be made out of stone. Behind it grows a small weeping willow with it's dresses hanging lifeless.

I see the leaves begin to don their new fall clothing before they become bare and naked awaiting their fresh new beginning. I can relate to the trees, it feels as if it were universal lesson all of us awaiting our fresh new beginning, whether for the first time or the hundredth, it matters not, for that is the point. We are made to renew ourselves hoping each year we will become even more beautiful than the year before.
Each person has their own view of the outfits of the trees, when it would seem they look the best. Be it spring with the new buds bringing new beginnings or the summer when the leaves are lustful in their dark and ripe green completely covered or fall where they sing out their differences and individualize themselves with beautiful displays of yellow, gold, brown, purple, red, and pinks. Or perhaps winter when they are vulnerable, bare and naked and can only prove who they truly are. During winter it is as if they are unashamed, free, knowing that true beauty is within. The rest of the trees seem to agree as they too take a chance and loose their facade and become bare waiting for their new beginning.


*I wrote this a few years ago when I lived in Philadelphia. I used to love going to the Curtis Arboretum. I always found it as a beautiful escape from the hum drums of city life. Every season was beautifully displayed there without too much interruption from human beings. 

Moving Blues

I now have tremendous respect for those in the moving profession. Although I believe they must all be quite mad to have made such a career choice, I nonetheless admire them. We moved four hours to our new home and rented a truck that we needed to return at the same place we rented it from. Starting at 9 A.M. we loaded the truck and headed to our new home. Arriving around 4 P.M. we unloaded some things, went to pick up some pieces of furniture we had just bought and finished unloading the truck. At 6 P.M. (after indulging in delicious dunkin donuts) we head back to drop off the truck and pick up the car. Picking up the car at 10 P.M., we then drive 4 more hours to our beautiful new home. Not being able to keep my eyes open I doze off a few times but not long enough to make the trip any shorter. We finally get home around 2 A.M. and try to get some sleep but alas sleep would rather be a tease. Somehow we must have dozed off because we awake to sounds of knocking at our door. Thinking it must be between 10 and 11 in the morning, since we were expecting the internet to be set up about that time, my husband drags himself out of bed to answer the door. I remain lazy and stay in bed feeling satisfied that I must have gotten enough sleep. My husband comes back into the room and I ask him what time it is. He reply with "It's 8:30." I needless to say, after hearing that am no longer satisfied with the amount of sleep I have gotten and I have never felt more exhausted. (Hilarious how your mind loves to harass you) So I drag myself out of bed and make the coffee. After the coffee we decide to inspect the house a bit and maybe get cleaned up and started on our day. Ah alas! The shower doesn't work. O and the air conditioning. O and did I mentions there aren't any screen on any of the windows so I am unable to open them to let in what is really a beautiful day with a lovely breeze. There are other things but so I don't sound as if I am complaining I will stop with that.... Unless I should mention that whilst trying to unpack my kitchen I must first wipe out and wash every cabinet.... Which is really making this all the more difficult. I really hope I don't have to move again for a while!
On a happy note.... I am very happy I am living here in my new house I just have some Moving Blues. O there I did it again. I have to add it somewhere.

Modern Day Couple

As I sit on my back porch enjoying a perfectly beautiful gloomy day, I notice my neighbor on her cell phone. Soon after joins her partner who also decides to take advantage of this moment and begins chatting his way on his technological passage to the modern world as we know it.
I see this as a very common escape to the majority of couples today. Finding a way to just be together but not being able to handle the rawness of each others' true company, so they pass the time on their phones or perhaps watching something whether on the internet, TV, or if your feeling daring, actually leaving your current residence, venturing into the outside world and going to the movies, where you will sit in silence and are entertained by the propaganda that is feeding your brain.

I once went to a restaurant where I saw a couple enjoying each others' company. The gentleman in question spent the entirety of the meal on
his mobile (which of course I am sure was a very important call that if he had not taken it could have put an end to the world that he had created for  himself and in which he was "happy.")while the lady sat in silence eating her meal and watching all the passerby's.

Why are we so uncomfortable in each others' company? The internet, the biggest social outlet, has made us introverts. People who generally would never have been able to speak to each other somehow muster the courage to approach you there. Unfortunately, while relationships are developing so well on the internet, when the time comes for actual human interaction, you wonder why the person isn't the same as they were when you 'met them.' Well the very simple explanation is you never actually 'met them.' You never saw or even heard any real emotion. People are so clever. Clever enough to know if your having a bad day you can 'shut it off' on the internet and be as charming as you want while speaking on it. The catch is though, that they really didn't 'shut it off,' you just can't hear them or feel the torment that they might be going through at that moment. True, at times this could be a very precious gift, especially in the beginning of a relationship when you don't necessarily want that person knowing what an absolute 'nut' you really are. Now you'll begin to fantasize about meeting this person and make plans for it to happen (if your really smitten).  When the meeting does occur you wonder why you have nothing to talk about. How were your conversations so long when you were chatting online? I have a question, have you ever read one of your hour and half conversations that you have had online? Believe it or not it won't take you more that five or ten minutes to read through the entire conversation. The internet has this magical way of prolonging the inevitable. The internet is such a distracting wonderland that you didn't realize that you were perhaps surfing the internet, E-mailing, or even doing some mundane task all during this intimate conversation. Of course when you are actually with this person you must give them your undivided attention and really how boring is that?

O.K. Lets not be too pessimistic. There is always the need for human touch every now and again. You might even be one of the lucky ones who has such incredible chemistry with this person that you are meeting for the fist time, that you are lost in their embrace and all the affection they so generously bestow upon you before you realize that there was absolutely no communication. (hey I'm not judging) Realize it or not at that moment you very soon will, because even that magical spark will eventually dwindle and you'll be right back at the beginning. Do you see the error here? Probably not as you log back in to your world of communication and begin all over again.

Blog of the First

I can't exactly say that starting this blog is a good idea, or in fact my idea at all. Blogging, has been recommended by my family for quite some time. Do you suppose it could be therapeutic? Perhaps for some, but i find the idea of a blog is merely to be heard. A way for people to scream without actually having to exhaust themselves with the effort. A way to be heard without "embarrassing" themselves by the nonsensical mumblings they might be spewing. (I had to put the title of the blog in the first entry... what kind of personal advertiser would I be if I didn't ;) Or another reason for a blog is for those  people who are trying to disguise their pride of the genius that is in their head and feel that if they just write it all in a blog, it is a way of being humble... and of course telling you about their blog doesn't come into that category of a show off. Well this entry doesn't at all sound cynical... I am off to a fantastic start but we have to begin somewhere... right?