Winter Fire

I sit in the mind of the snowfall

blanket the earth into slumber

come spirits and visions

insect-ideas writhe under flesh

itch the skin, bubble along a surface

shovel snow off a balcony, a frigid day

cold seeps into bones, etch marks

cools the hunger, a fire-thirsty brain

mother’s expectations press down

excess flesh bears up the burden well

dogs bark to scare a black squirrel

who sits on the fence eating a nut.

I enter the music of a dreaming cat

stretched out against an in-box

come prophesies and cantos

delight on a soft woman’s belly

gravity and age pull her breasts down-

ward point the way to her thighs

or a wet sex or the earth or the coffin

or the grave, thin red lines bury me alive

dark matter, universe turned upon itself

white dwarf star collapsed

meteor shower covers us in stardust

tastes of wine, cold space and silence.

I walk on the wing of an owl

reminded of acts of flight

come incantations and elders

read psalms with open hands

soft fingertips, curled tongues

longing to be a version of God

stretched across night clouds

illuminated by the full moon

shaking away a webbed cloak

of tangled sorrow, movements

loosen the knot, ride out a wave

of wind, flood the tongue, wisdom.

   

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

LA is M.I.A in NYC

For the record, I know I have been M.I.A. for quite some time.  I did not fall off the face of the earth although at times it kind of felt that way. My life has been in serious need of some adjustments.

Although, I wanted to start my own editing business...things have detoured a bit from that plan. Instead I landed a full-time permanent gig working as an executive assistant. God! to have decent medical coverage again makes this such a huge relief.  The people I work with are genuinely decent and respectful folks and I'm really grateful for the work and the steady paycheck. It also gives me breathing room to deal with some ongoing health issues as well as time for my creative writing.

I wish I could say that these past few months I have been writing up a storm but alas, I spent a lot of time curled up in the fetal position unable to face making decisions on my novel, on what my next move would be, on what I wanted for myself...you get the picture.  I spent time tutoring (homework duty) with my young nieces (6 year old and 8 year old), binging on two seasons of House of Cards, catching up with my reading, taking care of an ailing body. Basically, trying to sort myself out. Hibernating inside my crabby shell.  

March 3rd I started my new job and my day-to-day changed drastically. I am learning the way this office works, learning new systems, trying to gain adequate access to half a dozen different applications. The stress level is low which is really good. My days are full and by the time I make it home, I've been crashing.  It's been an adjustment but I'm hanging in there. Yay!

Let's see, so much to catch up on but I'm going to pace myself today.  
I'm currently reading an anthology of short sci-fi stories.  It's okay...nothing has excited me quite yet.
The last movie that I saw and that I thoroughly enjoyed was Spike Jonze's HER.  Loved it!!
Just saw the finale to the sc-fi show Helix.  Lots of interesting questions are coming up and I look forward to another season in 2015.
And last week's episode of the Good Wife and Being Human (US ver) left me in a state of shock.  Yes, I am completely hooked.
The three songs that I have on heavy rotation are Pharrell's Happy, Hall & Oates' ManEater, Dawn & Hawkes' cover of I've Just Seen A Face (I've attached the song below in case you wanna listen).
The last play that I went to see was The Architecture of Becoming...it was a collaboratively written piece (never a good idea) Altho' it had some decent moments, what connected the stories was flimsy at best.  I wanted more of the surreal elements they promised at the beginning of the play to play out in a grander way but by the end is was all a big let down.
I know I'm late to the party on this one but I just started watching Game of Thrones, Season 1. Really enjoying the twists and turns...I know there is more to come but I am taking my sweet time with this one.
I've also started writing up a sketch of a monologue. A tiny ember of an idea is surfacing and I wrote what I could of it earlier today.  More to come.
I've also had some groovy dinners with friends: Katt, Yoav, Christine, William, Brenda and skype visits withTony...so glad they are in my life. :-)

Gosh, so that does it for me.  I am going to try to get back on a weekly schedule with these blog entries again but no big promises. In the meantime, I am getting back to work on my writing schedule as well as trying to figure out a decent exercise schedule.  All for now.  

Peace,

L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Gluten-Free Feast

I spent the holiday weekend upstate with my best friend Tony. Buddies since college, we now share similar food restrictions so it was great to see the very many options to change up my one note menu.  He cooked his heart out and I was his sous chef for one or two recipes.  We had homemade vegetarian Indian food which included Mooli Koftas (shredded radishes) with a green sauce, Raita, Dhal where we substituted tomatoes with red bell peppers, Chickpeas in a spicy sauce, brown basmati rice…I know I’m forgetting something but it’ll come back to me.  He showed me how to change up and substitute ingredients to get a similar taste and texture from original recipes.  The biggest one was substituting red bell peppers for tomatoes and adding a little lemon juice/citric acid to give it a bite.  I made a lentil dish that’s so delish that I need to make it again as soon as possible.  

BiBamBop-November 2013
Pic taken by Antony Galbraith, Stolen by Lily

 On another night, T cooked up a host of Korean-style side dishes to make BiBamBop.  It included pickled jalapenos, spinach with garlic and sesame seeds, hijiki, cooked pea shoots, fresh bean sprouts, cooked mushrooms, pickled radishes, kimchi that he made from scratch the week before and rice.  He reminded me how easy it is to cook with food restrictions in mind that doesn’t include breads or pastas.  I sometimes get stuck eating one or two meals over and over again because it’s easy and quick to make.  The problem is the lack of variety makes me fall of the horse, reach for a slice of pizza which only causes my symptoms to flare up and pain to hook in.  A slice is just not worth it. 

He even made a modified Thanksgiving feast that included a tasty pumpkin pie without crust topped off with a dairy-free whipped cream made out of coconut milk, yum! We had squash with a mushroom gravy, a bread stuffing made with gluten-free breadcrumbs and parsnip mash. Ooo and a faux wine made with berries, grapes and celery that he juiced...YUMMY!  I did have a freak out moment when the stuffing came out of the oven and it was sitting on the stove and I saw the chunks of bread peeking out it.  I said, “Oh my god, I can’t eat that, it has bread in it.”  T just laughed at me and it occurred to me that it had to be gluten free bread.  His food allergies are a bit more extreme than mine. 

I went home with a small jar of kimchi and a loaf freshly baked bread made from bean flour. I had a cashew butter and jam sandwich last night and it was delish.   I know this whole blog entry revolves around the food that I ate but for the past couple of months I’ve been living in a bubble of all the foods that I am not supposed to / allowed to eat. [No gluten, no dairy, no tomatoes, no potatoes, no peanuts and no alcohol.] So to have a little leeway, to see other possibilities of what this new diet entails helped LOADS!!  A big shout out to Tony for being such a great friend, for cooking up such a feast, and for playing board games until we were cross-eyed. I'll include a pic of our Korean banquet when I get home tonight. 

Peace,

L~

 

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2013 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.