I tapped out my note and hit “send” before I had a chance to change my mind; then, within an instant noticed a typo.

Blerg. Sometimes the iPhone autocorrect feature is not your friend.

I blame any and all failures of this note on the typo. Otherwise – I’m sure this story would have had a fairy tale ending.

Maybe next time…

Thanks to Facebook, old college friends are reuniting and enjoying copious amounts of beer and laughter.

Ingredients

• 6 (6-inch) corn tortillas, preferably a little old and dried out
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 chilies (My own picks would be a poblano & a jalapeño)
• 4 cups chicken broth or homemade chicken stock
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• Coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 ripe medium avocado
• 1/2 cup Cotija cheese
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Sour cream
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

Heat a small amount of the oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and chile; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes and about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken; heat until hot.

Cut tortillas in half; cut halves into 1/4-inch strips. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Fry strips in oil, 1/3 at a time, until light brown and crisp. Remove from pan; drain on paper towels; sprinkle them with course salt.

When you’re ready to serve, put out crumbled cotija, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, sour cream, and tortilla chips out to top the soup right before eating.

After a few pints at the Hedge House, we spent the afternoon & evening practicing the guitar and pounding on the piano. Trish has her songs all picked out and I’m still going through old lesson books just trying to remember how these things work. I need to get someone in to tune the piano, too – and maybe get a friend to restring my guitar.

This seems to reflect a theme in my life lately, a theme that’s been manifesting in my dreams as well. It seems like I’m stuck in a purgatory of “getting ready.” I want to be at a point where I can *be* ready.

Maybe that’s the real underlying goal for me this year, to move from the “getting ready” to “being ready.” If you want me to expound on that, let’s go out for a drink and I’ll be happy to do some thinking out loud with you over a cocktail or two.

I finally raised the piano cabinet lid, opened the guitar case, started hammering on the ivories and strumming on the strings. It’s gonna be a while before an actual song comes out…but it’s a start.

Okay, so maybe this night wasn’t technically a wine-tasting adventure…but there *was* wine involved and I was looking for an excuse to post this cute picture. All in all this was a productive meeting in that we planned to plan our planning plans.

Soon, we shall proceed to the actual *doing* of the things!

Gotta start somewhere…I’ll start here.

I was actually digging around for some live music where we could go dancing when I came across the listing for an upcoming Portland show for the Kronos Quartet. I went to see them once when I was 20 with my friend (then boyfriend) Brad when we were in college. They completely knocked my socks off and I’ve been listening to them ever since. Portland isn’t always on their tour route, so I was thrilled to see this stop and bought tickets right away!

Though there wasn’t any jumping or dancing, there was lots of cheering and stomping and magic.

I’d actually really love to tell you all about my trip to Cuba this year, but as it’s been said before:

“If I could tell a story with words…I wouldn’t need to lug a camera around.”

I’ll keep trying…but for now, pictures.

On my first trip to Cuba 3 years ago, I had one of the most magical experiences of my life – full of a host of new friends who filled my heart in a way that made it feel like I had known them for a lifetime. I was flooded with emotion when I finally saw them again when I returned this year.