This is my bro Mark, in town for a quick visit, as he inspects my garden just like my mom did four weeks earlier.  

Quite the noticeable difference in four weeks, huh?  I love it. 

So I made some "from scratch" salsa the other day but it was sorely lacking. My brother @TMarkM makes an awesome salsa that I'm sure he stole the recipe from our mom or dad.  I can no longer remember.

I emailed him for his recipe and lo and behold, it was the same as mine, basically. So why was mine so weird the other day? Maybe allergies?

Today I made his salsa but dammit if I didn't forget to get the limes, however, it was still VERY VERY good.

So, I recommend you try his salsa and follow the recipe to the T.  I personally guarantee it.

If you send me your "from scratch" salsa recipe I will make it and review it as well.

4.8 Stars out of 5

PS:  I'm sure the lime juice would have made it a 5 star recipe. I really shouldn't penalize Mark for my inattention but I can't help myself.

________________

Salsa Montoya

From the PANZA LLENA, CORAZÓN CONTENTO Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

2-3 Big Tomatoes

½-1 White Onion

1-2 Garlic Cloves

6-12 Jalapeños

1.5 Cans of Tomato Sauce (Salted)

½ tbsp of (Garlic) Salt

½ Lime

1.  Quarter and seed tomatoes, place in bottom of blender

2.  Skin and quarter white onion, place above tomatoes

3.  Skin garlic cloves, place above onion

4.  Cut stems from jalapeños, place above garlic

5.  Add tomato sauce; let it seep to the bottom of the blender

6.  Add salt

7.  Add juice from the lime

8.  Blend all ingredients on a low chopping level to desired “chunkiness”

9.  Enjoy

Serves 6-8

Who knew there was a jewel in the middle of nowhere Arizona?  OK---in the middle of Flagstaff, AZ? 

Was in Flagstaff for the recent Doctoral graduation of my brother @TMarkM documented here. When we were in Flagstaff in May for his Faux Graduation we stayed at Little America Flagstaff but wanted to stay somewhere that was not right out of 1963. 

As always I wait till last minute to find a hotel but that didn't seem to matter as Winter graduations are not as busy as Spring graduations.  I wanted to stay somewhere new.  Found out this place was recently modeled and I was sold.

The joint was completely modern and comfortable and rate appropriate too.  Free Wifi. Free breakfast buffett. I recommend this place anytime you might be in Flagstaff. 

It was convenient to everywhere we needed to be. OK, everything is real accessible in a small city like Flagstaff but this hotel right off the freeway made it seem even more so accessible.

Only complaint?  Forgot to bring my trunks for the indoor heated pool and you can't find swimming trunks at stores in the middle of December in Flagstaff.

4.4 Stars out of 5

Pix are here.

You can see the commencement here if you like.  Mark gets his name called at 95.38. 

http://extended.nau.edu/TVS/commencement/index.aspx?playVideo=%2fcommencement%2f2009-12-11+1.Morning_300kbps.flv

My brother Mark has worked hard for many years to get to this point of his life.  He is the first Montoya and the first Saiz in our family to get a doctorate.  It has been an incredibly difficult goal to attain. We are all incredibly proud of Mark and wish him only further success in his career. 

Now a bit of advice:  move to a real town with an International Airport so we can see each other more often.  Seriously, consider a city with a moderate clime too. 

PS:  Love you Mark.

Tommy didn't have to be my dad, I mean he only married my mom and I came along for the ride. But he was my dad until cancer took his too young life in 2006.

Happy Birthday today and Rest in Peace Tommy.  I love you. Thank you for taking care of my mom.

Pix of the funeral luncheon are here.  He loved the yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet so much we ordered several hundred and gave them out to friends and family alike.  Some of us still wear it to this day.

PS:  First pix is from 2002 when Tommy was healthy and still had some meat on him.  Yes I am the giant of the family.

PPS:  Second Pix is me and my bro @TMarkM and my mother as we visit his grave Thanksgiving 2006.

PPPS:  Third Pix is my brother Mark and Tommy circa Xmas 2005.  Tommy was already visibly ill in this photo.

PPPPS:  Song is Lonely Letters by Tiny Morrie.  Tommy loved his old New Mexican Artists Spanish Songs but this one is sung in English and always reminds me of his sister Geraldine.

Lonely Letters by Tiny Morrie

(download)

Click here to download:

LONELY LETTERS.mp3 (2.43 MB)

So my mother Alice was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor on June 8^th.  She is a two time breast cancer survivor.  My mother lost her husband Tommy three years ago to his own bout of cancer.  He was my step-father and my brother’s father. She now only has me and my brother Mark.  She is 62 years old.

My mother lives in Portales, New Mexico.  Portales is rural. Surgery was scheduled on 6-25-09 in Lubbock, Texas.  Everything was in order with surgeon, hospital and insurance.  On day before surgery my mother received a call that the surgery had been cancelled:  hospital issues.  My brother had already left his home in Flagstaff, Arizona when she called him with the news.  He turned back around home.  It is a 9 hour drive from Arizona to Portales.  I had not yet left and was not inconvenienced. It is also a nine hour drive for me to Portales.

Surgery was rescheduled with a hospital that was in network.  How the insurance didn’t realize this mistake to begin with just stymies me?  So the new surgery was scheduled for University Medical Center on the campus of Texas Tech University for 7-6-09.  My brother cancelled his already scheduled vacation to Mexico.  I took off from work. 

My brother picked up my mom from Portales and drove her to Lubbock the night before the surgery.  We all met up at the Hawthorn Suites.  Super nice:  more like a boutique hotel in NYC than typical Lubbock fare. My mom stayed behind to cleanse her colon per doctor’s orders.  I and my brother Mark and his wife Katy started our culinary tour of Lubbock.  We ate at Orlando’s Italian Restaurant.  We had pizza and salad for my nervous stomach.

Next day we woke up early to take my mom to the hospital.  She kept telling us where to park but her idea of the front was my back and my front was her back.  We drove around the sprawling facility until we were able to find the proper entrance.  We checked her in and almost immediately she was whisked to the prep area.  My step-aunts: Gloria, Beatrice & Marylou drove in from various parts of New Mexico to be there for her.  They were only able to visit ten minutes at the most. 

So they tell us to wait in another waiting room.  People come and go.  We remain behind.  It is now after 1PM and no word on my mother’s condition.  Katy goes to the desk and makes an inquiry and it is then we learn that my mother has not even started her surgery.  Mark and I are escorted to the prep area where they are just about to whisk her off to the operating room.  She asks me to make sure her feet have socks on return from her surgery as she has a serious case of the cold feet.

We take this opportunity to go eat lunch.  Something quick and easy is what we all vote for.  We end up at Taco Villa.  They have this fast food joint chain in Clovis, New Mexico.  Katy is from Clovis.  It is nothing but a Taco Bell.  I experience instant nausea.

It is now about 3:30PM.  The surgeon takes us to a little room to tell us about the surgery.  He says her tumor was classified as a borderline tumor.  This means they have to wait for the pathology reports to determine if it is cancerous.  He is of the opinion that it is NOT cancerous.  He shows us pictures of the tumor.  We are floored.  It was 10+ pounds and watermelon shaped. It had grown through my mother’s back and belly area.  She also had another tumor that was tiny but growing on her other ovary.  They did a complete hysterectomy and removed both tumors.

My mother was mostly incoherent.  We find out she has an incision from upper chest to lower abdomen.  A large incision was needed to remove the tumor intact.  My mother reveals that all along she was in deep pain but that the pain she feels from surgery is way less and worth it all.

My mother is in the women’s ward and nursery ward. All the nurses are wearing blue scrubs.  We later find out the infants are tagged to ward against theft.  Apparently they steal babies in Lubbock from the nursery?  This sign was in the elevator area.

When I entered the elevator with my BABY brother no alarms went off.  I was jipped  again.

We continue our culinary tour of Lubbock. Mark wants Thai food so I pull out my handy dandy iPhone and click the Urbanspoon App.  Find the top rated Thai place in Lubbock.  Enter the address into the navigation screen of my Honda Ridgeline.  The restaurant is closed and looks like it has been closed quite a while.  I find another Thai restaurant but being smarter than a fifth grader I call our 2^nd choice first to determine if they are open.  Turns out they are on holiday and closed.  Frustrated, we eye a Johnny Carino’s and settle for that restaurant.  We go to the front door and there is a sign on door that indicates it is closed for A/C repair.  Seems the culinary gOds are not on our side tonight. 

Mark see’s a Hooters and as he has never been that is where we end up for the night.  It was not what he expected and his wife is not amused and she refuses to take our pictures.  We have to take our own pictures.

So as my mother recuperates on day three, we learn that Lubbock is in the grips of a heat wave today.  I just having left the San Antonio heat wave was not laughing.

So the surgeon comes in and informs my mother that she is able to leave the hospital that night.  We are ecstatic.  The floor doctor comes in and says no.  Apparently floor doctor trumps surgeon.  My mother is on a liquid diet and discovers that she has an aversion to broths. 

We continue our culinary tour of Lubbock.  Katy having inquired with her Face Book Friends finds us another Thai place to try.  Again I call the restaurant because what if this week is traditionally a Thai holiday?  It is open and we proceed to Choochai Thai.  It is a hole in the wall but once we receive and taste our food it is instant joy.  This place had possibly the best Thai food I have ever eaten.  Seriously, it was that good.

Pleased with the fact that our mother is doing well and will probably be released in the morning, we venture around the fine town of Lubbock.  Having grown up in Portales, a mere 90 minutes away, Lubbock was always the big go-to-city for fun and entertainment. We find the Buddy Holly statue and my brother makes it his Face Book avatar. 

I find Buddy Holly’s signature glasses and immediately decide to take them home with me.

We decide to get to the hospital early on Thursday.  The doctor and the gaggle of interns have already visited my mother and released her from the hospital.  She is happy.  She looks way better already.  That huge tumor had begun to take all my mother’s nutrients and finally she was beginning to regain her color and disposition. 

Having already made arrangements, my brother was to drive my mother the 90 minutes home where her sister Patsy had agreed to be her caretaker for the next ten days.  My mother released me from my duty and I headed the seven hours home to San Antonio.  I was emotionally drained. 

My mother continues to recover but we all remain positive thinkers. We await the results of the pathology reports but are confident that they will only confirm what we already know:  no cancer.

Thanks to everyone who kept our mom in their thoughts.  She appreciates the prayers as well. 

Here she is earlier this year at her first Spurs game.  I don’t think I have ever seen her so happy.  I eagerly await your return visit mom.

As a weird side note and I’m not quiet sure how old this song is but my mother always thought the Kenny Rogers + Dottie West classic:  What Are We Doing In Love was actually What Are We Doing In Lubbock.  What were we doing in Lubbock indeed mom?

MSaiz