Global eats: Chilequiles

Hola! I've been wanting to share our version of this Mexican dish ever since we had it on our honeymoon in sunny Cancun, where I searched for it each morning in the outdoor breakfast buffet.

To get you in the mood for this dish, here is one of my favorites pics from our Mexican adventure, the stunning cathedral in Valladolid, a serene 500-year-old Spanish town we toured on our last day. 

Cathedral of San Gervasio, taken by Ann Claire Green

Chilequilas are a simple, flavor-bursting baked dish - wonderful for a beach brunch, or just in your kitchen :) I use my great grandmother's cast iron skillet for oven-baked dishes, and this one has been seasoned from nearly 100 years cooking. Sunday fried chicken was her specialty in this pan, but I've never even attempted to try it since near-boiling oil makes me a little nervous. This is truly one of my new favorites, I'm always tweaking it with new add-ins.

ingredients //

bag of tortilla chips

red enchilada sauce

3 eggs

1 small potato

1 small sweet onion

1/2 cup arugala or spinach

small can Hatch green chiles

1/3 cup shredded cheese of your choice

handful of cilantro

avocado for garnish

steps //

• Heat oven to 350
• Get out a heavy cast iron skillet or shallow oven proof dish
• Slice a small onion and sauté in 1 tsp olive oil
• Slice small potato in thin rounds, cut those in half and sauté with onions
• Pour in red enchilada sauce and half a bag of tortilla chips and coat
• Stir in a 1/2 cup spinach or arugala
• 1/3 cup Hatch Green salsa or green chiles
• Toss together to throughly coat, simmer for 5 minutes
• Crack 3-4 eggs on top
• Sprinkle on cheese
• Bake 12 minutes or until whites set but yolks are runny
• Top with avocado and cilantro

EAT! If the eggs seem too runny they will set from the heat of the pan, no worries. Try not to leave it in too long or the dish can get a little dry.

P.S. This would be great with screwdriver or mimosa...and I added some honeymoon pics below of our sweet trip last November to the Yucatan and Riviera Maya!

We had Chilequiles at this table most mornings, it was glory.

View from our room in the evening, or maybe this was sunrise? It was always beautiful.

Touring Chichen-Itza, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world!

Spring woods

Who writes a blog post on a Friday night? 

This gal! 

This post is hardly any writing either, just a celebration of the first day of spring through photographs. I got these this morning on a quick walk through a park to get my head in the game to knock out some big work projects. It was cold, misty and still. But things are creeping up from the ground that was one big ice cube just last week!

I love the rhythm of seasons here. I love looking for the next change - the tiny buds at the end of the tree branch twigs and the breeze that no longer bites when it hits your face. 

No matter what I'm dealing with, I've always found comfort in this global road map. 

Snowdrops blasting through the soggy cornflake leaves!

Paths through the park and the silver birch refusing to give up last year's leaves.

The overcast day had colors popping, especially anything green

First day of spring is 'logged'. :D

Who hit fast forward??

I am definitely crawling into home plate after an intense week of career development. Think five meetings yesterday. FIVE! Two on the phone and three in person. Four were for potential jobs and two were for some articles I'm writing in a freelance gig.

I'm grateful though, becuase it all means the gears in the cosmos are turning and great things are happening that I will share more once it all solidifies - don't want to jinx myself before anything is official. I will say though, everything I've been working toward over the past two and half years that combine sustainability and marketing are taking shape.

For now I can leave you with a blur of how the week went.

Last Friday: Talking with the nonprofit Haiti Friends, and enjoying a metal art exhibit at their Reynolds St. gallery. The do some seriously good work that combines reforestation, art and public health - all in Haiti.

Saturday: Purple Muffins.

Monday: A girl's day with a dear friend, then meeting another great friend's new baby girl!! 

Aaaaand fast forward to Thursday, where I met this awesome lady representing the women's bathroom at one of the coolest places in Pittsburgh, The Cube. (where a lot of my meetings were)

On to the heights

This week I've been all about staying indoors - partly because the weather crashed again last night with several inches of new snow and temps below 20, and partly because I have felt a pull to be still and consider what it is that I am doing. 

As much as I've been dreaming of summer and being outdoors often (distracting myself from the present), the this snowy winter has served a special purpose that I'm only just coming to appreciate. It has kept me inside, but it has kept me still and watchful, nesting.

I found these tiny ice feathers growing on one of our windows this week!

It has kept me watching snowflakes fall slowly out of the front window as Ravel's piano trio drifts from the record player (Cody's "snow" song).  We've watched little brown rabbits from our bedroom window in the moonlit backyard, sitting upright with perky ears listening in the still cold, while we chatter about their cuteness. Vein-like tubes run across the snow where I suspect mice have tunneled to and fro visiting their winter stores. I've even found deer tracks pressed in the snow leading right up to our front door. We've crept over paths turned to rivers of ice in the nearby park, and eaten lots of good crockpot chili. 

This winter has kept me in-tune with the natural world just by watching what goes on around our home, and it is simple and lively. It reminds me of why I do what I do, and why I have pursued sustainability as a career. It isn't a straight path by any means; it takes a lot of creativity to pursue any one path inside this "field". It also requires being comfortable with an uncomfortable level of uncertainty. Cody is a cellist and I am a sustainability communications professional. One career is hundreds of years old, and the other starts tomorrow. It feels paradoxical, and I think it has encouraged us to be alert, watchful, and in-tune more than ever this winter.  I am thankful for all these snowflakes ; ) 

"My strength is in the Lord.

He makes my feet like the feet of the deer,

and leads me on to the heights."

Trusting through trial. Peace, the deftness and swiftness to navigate safely as we are designed to when we hold on to His promise and listen. Imagining a delicately stepping deer moving through the quiet, listening carefully - it is beautiful. 

Wear: and the Color of the Year is...

Color of the year: Marsala. 

A rusty rich red (and a wine!). I had no idea there was such a thing before this particular Creative Closet challenge. Here are a few examples I swept from a quick Pinterest research session that resonated with me.

all marsala images via pinterest

Who decides this anyway? For the past 15 years, the Pantone Color Institute has, and I've dropped in a little info straight from the Institute about how all this comes to be. 

1. Why Marsala:

"Marsala enriches our mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability. Marsala is a subtly seductive shade, one that draws us in

to its embracing warmth."

 - Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute

2. How they choose:

"The Color of the Year selection requires careful consideration and, to arrive at the selection, Pantone combs the world looking for color influences. This can include the fashion and entertainment industries – including films that are in production, the world of art, popular travel destinations and other socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from technology, the availability of new textures and effects that impact color, and even upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention."

- Pantone press release

It actually sounds like a pretty interesting process (and what a cool place to work!!), going about choosing the color of the year. I love most that this is such an earthy red. It reminds me of the rustiness of blood, or red clay that's wet. It's very human, very alive.

My fashion task this week was to incorporate it into my Tuesday Creative Closet post. I went to Pinterest to do some quick visual research on this color, and here are a few examples that resonated with me the most:

I ended up going with a pair of marsala tights paired with blues. Complimentary colors anyone?

Tights - my own | Jacket - Old Navy sale | Shoes - Target | Skirt - Anthropologie sale |  

Earrings - Pittsburgh craft fair | Scarf - Gap sale

The time I cut my husband's hair

I think the reason I wanted to share this potentially disastrous project is because I think it actually wasn't a total failure. If you've ever doubted your skills in the hair cutting arena or can't get over what happened the last time you tried to trim your own hair like me, take heart! Here is a story with a happy ending.

Cody hasn't had his hair cut since our wedding in November. And it grows something fierce, in gorgeous wavy texture of mingled blonds, dark reds and browns. He doesn't call himself a calico for nothing! We've been trying to save as much $ as we can, and his hair was starting to mushroom a bit... so I cut it. 

Yesterday as snow and rain drenched the house, I watched a few youtube videos and then got to it. I chose a simple method of "scissors over comb technique". In case you ever need to cut short hair, take a look at the video at the bottom of the post.

Simple. Easy to follow. 

He looks so trusting! I kept his hair dry to see how short it was getting, oh well.

One side done. 

The finished product.  He says he likes it! It's just a little shorter than he's used to.

Now we just have to corral all the tiny hairs I thought I had vacuumed up that we keep finding in our food. Below is the video I used. Thanks Sam Villa!

I don't think I'll be opening my own salon ever, but it's good to know I can do it. Happy Monday!