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April 29, 2008

Backyard remedies

On Sunday morning during breakfast, I started complaining about an earache.

“Which ear?” my mom asked.

“The right one. I don’t know why it just started hurting,” I told her.

She got up from the table and went to the backyard. A minute or two later she was back with a little green object between her fingers.

“The right one?” she asked to make sure.

I nodded, and she took the small rolled up green stuff (shown above) and stuck it in my ear.

“Es ruda,” she explained. “It’ll make you feel better. Just leave it in there like that for a little while.”

“You know, this reminds me of a conversation I had with Nancy last week,” I explained to my mom. “We were talking about the backyard home remedies our parents use, like sávila (aloe). My tío Pancho would slather it all over her sunburnt arms and back when she returned from a day-long concert. You know, like you would do when we returned from the beach.”

“Oh yeah, the best is when you cool it down in the refrigerator before rubbing it on. Then it’s nice and cool.”

“I thought it was weird when I was kid. It felt all sticky,” I admitted.

“Yeah, but it helps,” my mom replied.

“I know.”

Over the years, our backyard had provided all sorts of plants for home remedies. We have sávila (aloe) ready to provide some relief from a sunburn. If I have cramps or a sore throat, my mom or grandma will pick off orange (and lemon, I think) blossoms from the trees in the backyard to make té de siete azahares. We also have ruda which my mom has used for earaches for my siblings.

By the time I was done with my breakfast of huevos rancheros, frijoles y chorizo con papa (yum!) my earache was gone.

I love my mom’s (and grandma’s) home remedies.

Filed under: Cultura, Familia | POSTED BY cindylu AT 1:53 pm | 15 Comments

April 27, 2008

Mil palabaras: Las Vegas

Neon Graveyard

(more…)

Filed under: Fotos | POSTED BY cindylu AT 6:23 pm | 7 Comments

April 24, 2008

Mil palabras: Lunch in Lincoln Heights

Nancy is overwhelmed by her huarache con chorizo

My cousin, Nancy, celebrated her 23th birthday last week but I didn’t get to see her until this week for our periodic Wednesday lunches.

We’ve had dim sum, tortas and tacos on our lunch dates. All our lunches are on the Eastside (or Chinatown) because it’s close to Nancy’s school. For this belated birthday lunch, I chose El Huarachito in Lincoln Heights. I’d never been before, but it comes highly recommended by both Chimatli and El Chavo.

(more…)

Filed under: Los Angeles, Fotos | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:59 pm | 5 Comments

April 22, 2008

A Chicana Outlook on Ruben Salazar

I discussed Ruben Salazar a few years ago while contributing to blogging.la. I was inspired by César/EMC’s post in which he summarized Salazar’s life.

The post and César’s blog no longer exist, but if I remember correctly César — an awesome writer himself — felt cheated as he watched a documentary on Salazar. César felt cheated, as I’m sure many of have, when we learn of people and events like Salazar and the Chicano Moratorium in 1970. We wonder, why are we just learning about this now, more than 12 years in to our education?

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Filed under: Cultura, Los Angeles | POSTED BY cindylu AT 3:38 pm | 7 Comments

Placeholder for Ed’s clever post title

In January, I got an invitation from the blogger behind Eastside Scene to have coffee, tea and just chat about blogging. He invited other local bloggers. The first meeting was small. Just me, Eastside Scene and P3000. The next meeting in February was much better attended. I skipped out on the March meeting because I was touring Texas.

I left work on time to make sure I wouldn’t arrive at El Gallo Café the site of our monthly meetings too late. Eastside Scene was the only one there for a while and we chatted about art and blogging over smoothies. Soon we were joined by Ed from View From A Loft.

Ed’s great. Not only does he have some cool photos of major LA events posted on his blog, but he also comes up with some witty headlines. Well, more like blog titles. He complimented my writing, and I mentioned that I’d like to have his ability to write succinct titles.

“You know, you should re-name some of my posts,” I suggested.

Ed pulled up my blog and looked for recent posts. Ed, Eastside Scene and I came up with some titles for my simply-titled Nopalitos post:

(more…)

Filed under: Los Angeles, Blog/tech | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:59 am | 8 Comments

April 21, 2008

Here’s to all the pretty words we will never speak

“Breakin’ Up” by Rilo Kiley at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (I was there)

Some questions (copied directly from Sean):

Do you like/love Rilo Kiley?

If so, what’s your favorite song?

Do you live [in/around LA]?

What are you doing [Thurdsay] night?

Do I even know you?

I’m just asking.

Filed under: Música | POSTED BY cindylu AT 3:13 pm | 8 Comments

April 20, 2008

Tijuana Run ‘08

A night out in Tijuana is really not the same without Oso, but it was still fun. I joined Nathan, his wife Rosario, and several of their friends for a Tijuana run to celebrate his birthday. I haven’t been to Tijuana since the last time I went with Nathan and Rosario in June, 2006.
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Filed under: Amigos, Mexico | POSTED BY cindylu AT 11:34 pm | 8 Comments

April 18, 2008

Nopalitos

nopales

For a long time, I thought all Mexicans in the LA-area had nopales (cactus) in their backyard. Of course, my sample size was small. All my relatives had nopales growing in their backyard. We did too.

The nopales, spread out in a corner of the backyard against a brick wall, were a nuisance to us kids who had to be extra careful while playing. On the plus side, I’m sure they deterred a thief or two from climbing the wall and we were never burglarized.

For Mamá Toní, a native of Zacatecas where nopales grew on every cerro (hillside), nopales are meant to be eaten. They’re for ensaladas and guisos. They go excellent with tortas de camarón during Lent and are an excellent side dish with carne asada. (I won’t even get in to the tasty tunas, or cactus pears.)

Nopales are not only on our frentes, they’re in our tummies too.
(more…)

Filed under: Cultura, Familia, Comida | POSTED BY cindylu AT 7:36 am | 22 Comments

April 16, 2008

Dear Readers, I appreciate you

A few months ago, K posted a list of simple pleasures, those little things that make you happy. I replied with my own list, which had a lot in common with hers.

One of those things was comments on my blog. I love getting emails announcing a response to the latest post. I don’t even mind the critical and snarky comments all that much.

Of course, I would have no comments without wonderful readers. I think it’s pretty cool that you all find my tales and questions interesting enough to return. I’ve been doing this since 2001 because I like interacting with readers, which also comes from reading your blog (if you have one). I still love writing in notebooks, but it’s not the same. There’s no one there to reassure me that I’m still cool. Hah.

¡Gracias!

I wouldn’t have know about this if not for MsAbcMom, who got the idea from The Other Mother

Filed under: Blog/tech | POSTED BY cindylu AT 10:01 pm | 3 Comments

April 15, 2008

Crush evolution

I tend to develop crushes rather easily.

But all crushes are not equal. There’s the superficial crush, the mini-crush and full-blown crush.

98% of my crushes fall in to the superficial category. I decide I have a crush on him because I like his hair, shoes, eyes or smile. It’s surface level. Of course, some superficial crushes are not surface level, but they’re equally fleeting. Those are the intellectual crushes, a subset of the superficial crush category. I admire the words he uses, the ideas he states so eloquently, or his artistic or musical talents. Of course, these can be combined. He can have a great smile, be brilliant and have great taste in music and films.

But those all go away quickly and I’m left with a cool guy friend. Well, most superficial crushes go away.

The rest — 2% mind you — stay on as mini-crushes (also known as baby crushes). Mini crushes suck.

You know that scene in Clueless where Cher realizes she likes Josh? She’s terribly awkward and self-conscious? Well, that’s what my interactions with a mini-crush are like.

I like a mini-crush for the reasons listed above with the superficial crushes. The difference is that the mini-crush actually lasts longer. I try my best to keep a mini-crush from evolving into a full-blow crush. I do this mainly by trying to ignore all of my mini-crushes cool qualities. I even add some negatives in to the mix, if I can find them. The best crush diversion tactic is inaction. Taking any sort of action is a bad idea.

Of course… somewhere along the line, a mini-crush survives. I see past the negatives and the bad ideas. The mini-crush evolves to a full-blown crush.

This last type is rare, and it’s even worse than the mini-crush ’cause that’s when I forget about logic and do something crazy. You know, like actually admit how I feel.

Filed under: Randomness | POSTED BY cindylu AT 12:19 am | 12 Comments

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