First days of 2014!

First days of a pretty new year! Hope you all had a wonderful time New Year's Eve. I was away from mom for years and this year I enjoyed being together with her, just like last year.
God bless her!
I think we ate too much that night :) A couple of sodas helped to feel better next day.

Best wishes to y'all for 2014!

My son is getting very good at catching beauty of nature! Another fantastic shot taken in November from Aria's Instagram collection :) Ohh..we appreciate new followers :) 
Thank you ladies!!

It has been a while since I made it. This recipe is for eggplant lovers!. Easy and tasty!

A quick and easy eggplant recipe!

Eggplant with Lemon

2 eggplants (I peel them in stripes that's how I learned from my mom and I love it:)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion(crushed)
1 cup hot water
2 cloves garlic(minced)
2 tbsp crushed tomatoes 

  salt and pepper   

  fresh lemon juice

 I like taking food pictures as much as cooking!

Sometimes eggplant is bitter and should be soaked in salted water before cooking.
Let drain about 30 minutes.
 

Cut eggplants into slices as you want. Put olive oil, chopped onion into a deep saucepan and stir 2-3 minutes. Add chopped garlic and keep stiring 1-2 minutes more. Put eggplant slices and a few minutes later add crushed tomatoes. Cook stiring 3-4 minutes and add hot water, salt, pepper. Cover the lid, keep it on low heat till eggplant is very tender.
Sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve warm and enjoy taste of eggplant !
 

Also it is delicious with turkish famous garlic-yogurt sauce with mint :)

                  Life is delicious :)

A shot of a tangerine tree I took last week.(In front of my neighbour's house )
                
                 There are so many beauties in life!

Almost done!

Popcorn shrimp(Aria was asking for it since yesterday), black beans with bell pepper(which I haven't made it all winter) and rice for dinner today!
Who is coming over for dinner tonight??? I can happily add another plate to the table for you:)



recipe


Since we have been having a tough/cold winter, NBA Mini Jammer Basketball Hoop kept Aria active while he was stuck inside all winter.

review

Yesterday was 40 degrees, today is 30-35, but very windy right now..It seems it's gonna be under 30 degrees again over the next couple of days..

A pic from last year-First bloom of spring, 2010



Warmer weather coming this weekend, h o o r a y !