Whats Going On With Nana?: This Week at Nana's

City View of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Weather Update
JULY is here!
This summer is going by too fast.

Yes, Its very hot and humid.

I have been enjoying the summer days. I hope you have been enjoying summer too. I have been working on little projects, sewing, gardening, lawn maintenance. Mainly, I have been working on prayer projects and staying close to Jesus Christ. Lately the days are soooo hot that I try not to be outside after 11 a.m. This past week, we have had some rain and could use more. It is surely needed here in Albuquerque.

Lets see, no special outings but recently I visited a carry out place for lunch with my BFF. Its called El Modelo and they have meat in everything but chile rellenos. I have to say, they were pretty good. I don't know if you have ever tried to make those at home but it is a big messy project. Its worth the money to get the chile rellenos from the professionals. We took our carry out home and I just whipped up some vegetarian red chile sauce and smothered my relleno. http://www.elmodelomexicanfoods.com/
Joseph S. loves this dive and goes there once in a great while. I had never been there because if he says its good....I know it has to be a non vegetarian friendly place. He sure loves meaty and greasy food. LOL.

Chile Rellenos Recipe

I make chile rellenos at home but I would rather eat them at Los Cuates.

Garden Plants And Outdoors Update

The chile plants are growing indoors and seem to be doing well. Im happy because this week a couple of jalapenos have made an appearance. The pepper plants are jumbo jalapeno and were purchased at Home Depot on a spur of the moment thinking it would be fun to grow some spicy peppers.

I do have two red pepper plants that are growing in the garden house but they have not flowered. They are taking their own sweet time to produce. The garden houses are still standing strong with the heat, the rain with the wind beating down on the tarps. I use to water the plants once in the morning and again at evening but that has been improved with correcting my water technique from lugging gallons of water to the back to water and now I have a long hose that reaches and I give the plants a good soaking. Some of the plants are delicate and I hand water those. Its so much fun to share the spinach and lettuce with my friends. I am still impatient and want some squash to grow. Oh, I had one squash growing and it fell off the vine or something knocked it off. I was really sad about that. Did I tell you that the water melon is flowering. That's a positive sign. The herbs are growing great. I have plenty of basil and I will freeze that soon. Apparently, it is not recommended to can basil pesto. I have some small canning jars and was going to make pesto and jar it but I do not want any of my loved ones to die of botulism. Yikes.

Pet Update

I noticed that Tuck has been enjoying life. He loves to sunbath under his UV light and I catch him stretching out in the water frequently. He seems pretty happy. The tank crew are doing well. Mr. Tubbs gets excited with I feed Tuck because he knows that he is next. He has been good about not splashing me. Mauricio has been bored. He really needs the Grands to come over and pet him. Actually, I think he is missing his extra treats that the Grands spoil him with when they are here at the house. Wheezy has been awesome. He gets on my hand and eats out of my hand. He was biting hard about a week ago but he has stopped doing that and has settled down. I think he was stressed out because. Mean Missy had jumped up on the cage and tried to do a take down, Crazy cat. She was banned for the day from the house after a firm reprimand. Missy does hang outside most of the day and stays out at night. If its raining, I go and look for her and she comes running for the house.

Action in The Hood. The Police or they were DEA did a take down of a man in the front yard of Mrs. Pochecos. Poor Mrs. Pocheco was watering her lawn and this guy had hopped her back fence running from a group of guys in bullet proof vests and blue jeans. I heard them yelling, Get on the ground! I looked out the door to see Mrs. Pocheco on her porch standing frozen holding her hose and a group of guys holding guns and picking a guy off the ground walking him down the street to Broadway. Poor Mrs. Pocheco. The house they raided was the owner of Bonnie and Clyde the two dogs that terrorize the neighborhood and kill kittens.

I baked up a couple batches of my no fail brownies for some brownie lovers. I made a cherry cheesecake. I baked up some lasagna, eggplant parmigiano and baked spaghetti. So, I guess it was sort of an Italian week. I put these meals into small individual containers and froze them for quick single dinners. Its okay to have a little pasta if you compliment it with a lot of veggies. Here is my Mom tip. Always serve pasta with salad and vegetable side dishes such as steamed broccoli and cauliflower. This will make you feel satisfied and prevent over eating of too much pasta. I forgot to take pics of the things I cooked this past week. You will have to take my word for it. Sorry. LOL.