family

Fall in South Carolina

November 10, 2011 by Lesley Tellez

Crayton and I spent the past few days in Anderson, South Carolina, visiting his grandparents. The fall leaves are stunning here: fiery burgundies and golds and oranges, set against a deep blue sky. One morning Crayton’s grandma and I just sat and looked at them from her screened-in porch.

Here are a few more shots of them.

And here is my obligatory Clemson University mention, because I am an Anderson, South Carolinian by marriage (go Tigers!):

Clemson isn't too far from Anderson, SC, and everyone is a fan. This is a gift for our 5-month-old second cousin.

We’re in Atlanta now and then we move on to Huntsville. We get home Sunday and then on Tuesday I’m off again, this time to Brazil for a week. We’ll spend four days in Sao Paulo and 3 days in Rio.

Hope your November is treating you well so far!

Southern California in pictures

August 22, 2011 by Lesley Tellez

I’m back from vacation. Spent last week trying to catch up on emails and tour requests, and ignoring the nagging voice whispering, “You haven’t updated your blog!”

We had a nice time. In California, I made salsa for my grandma. It was the first time I cooked for her and she was wowed — she kept saying “I didn’t know chile could taste like that.” We also sipped strawberry margaritas by the pool. Penny had commanded me to visit La Casita Mexicana in Bell, so my dad and I went and stuffed ourselves with queso fundido, mole and chile en nogada. (My first of the season! It was fantastic.)

In Arizona, Crayton and I lazed by the pool, and I read three books on my Kindle: The Butterfly Mosque, Stillwater Saints and A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion. I also got to meet Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza — she’s the chef at Phoenix’s Barrio Café, and a firecracker of a woman. If you’re in Phoenix, you should go to her restaurant and save room for the cajeta-filled churros.

A few photos from my trip:

Watering my grandma's lawn at sunset

Chips and mole from La Casita Mexicana in Bell

Mole made with tuna roja, anchos and guajillos at La Casita Mexicana

La Casita Mexicana's luscious chile en nogada. If you live in Southern California, you MUST try it.

Charring the purplish-green miltomates I found at the Mexican grocery store in Pico Rivera

Blending the salsa. My dad took this picture, which was very sweet of him. (He actually took several of me making salsa.)

My roasted tomatillo and chile de árbol salsa. Grandma loved it.

Salad, grilled nopales and chicken

The famous strawberry margaritas

My grandma's backyard at sunset

Lesley and Chef Silvana of Barrio Café

Pecan pie, steaks and my husband’s birthday

March 21, 2010 by Lesley Tellez

We celebrated Crayton’s birthday last night.

We’re lucky enough to be visiting his parents in Phoenix, so we had a special meal. Crayton’s dad grilled some insanely thick steaks, and his mom made her famous pecan pie. (She buys the pecans from Albany, Georgia, because the ones in Arizona aren’t as good.)

We also had ramekins full of mashed potatoes, bacon, scallions and cheese. Crayton was in heaven. I couldn’t resist telling him: “Aren’t you just super excited for the big bowl of vegetables I’m going to make when we get back?”

We drank Elizabeth Spencer wine, and sipped cognac. At least one of us noted: “I wonder what the poor people are doing right now.” (This is one of Crayton’s dad’s favorite phrases, as a subtle way to say that we’re blessed.)

It’s nice being here. The house is quiet, and the weather’s sunny but not too hot. Today we’re going to a baseball game and later Crayton and his mom are going to watch the Phoenix Suns beat the Trailblazers.

Instead of going to the game, I’m heading out to Barrio Cafe with Crayton’s dad, which I am super excited about. The chef, Silvana Salcido Esparza, is a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award this year. Plus I have a new orange strapless summer dress I’m dying to wear.

Just grateful to be with family. Hope you’re feeling the same way too. Un abrazo, and more later.

Exploring my Southern side in Anderson, South Carolina

September 17, 2009 by Lesley Tellez

Every time we visit South Carolina, I marvel at how Crayton and I, two people with such different backgrounds, ended up together.

To get to my grandmother’s house in Pico Rivera, outside Los Angeles, we take the 10 to the 57 to the 60 to the 605.

This is the road to Crayton’s grandmother’s house. It’s outside Anderson, South Carolina, which is about 40 minutes from Greenville.

We call her Oma. In the South, grandmothers generally have nicknames.

At Oma’s house, which she shares with Crayton’s grandfather, Bpa, they usually eat poached eggs on toast in the morning. Today I hovered over her shoulder and watched. She cracked them into a small skillet half-filled with water, and then spooned the water over the top when they got runny. She served them on warmed plates, kept in the oven until serving time.

My own grandmother has been known to buy pan dulce from the local bakery, if her certain favorite granddaughter is visiting around breakfast time.

I just love coming here though. We talk slower, move slower. We’re more polite. Crayton develops a cute little twang in his voice, and tells me things like, “Mash that light.” (That means turn the light off.)

On Oma and Bpa’s sunporch, you can look out over their wide, green backyard, and listen to the breeze flutter the leaves on the trees. (I’m doing that right now.) Just noticed a spider sunning himself on the screen.

When we visit South Carolina, I’m reminded all over again how lucky I am to have married into a family that doesn’t know me entirely yet, but loves me anyway. That warmth is what I want to pass on to my own kids someday. (And they’ll be doubly lucky because they’ll have their Mexican-American side, too.)

“Your great-grandmother used to call me ‘dah’lin,’ ” I’ll tell them. “She had an accent that you could listen to all day.”

Back from San Diego

March 8, 2009 by Lesley Tellez

We’re back now. It’s kind of weird to be here again. Although, on a happy note, I did just discover that the crispy, heart-shaped orejita cookies they sell at Starbucks (where I am right now using the Internet) are actually really good. Way better than the chocolate-covered graham crackers they sell in the U.S.

If you’re ever in San Diego, you must try The Linkery, an organic, slow-food type of place that makes its own sausage. If you’re in Culver City and you want a drink and a light nosh, we really enjoyed The Mandrake.

And, um… if you live in DF and don’t know the two-for-one drink greatness that is Papa Bill’s, you must try it out. It’s totally the annoying frat-boy-cousin version of T.G.I. Friday’s, but they have awesome music. (In the span of 10 minutes, we heard CeCe Peniston, Roxette and Daddy Yankee.) Oh, and they have chips and salsa there. And our waiter wore a top hat.

The picture above is from our trip to the San Diego Zoo with my nieces and nephew. I wanted to post more, but the Internet is too slow.