Day: 494
High Temp: 66F
It is time that I fess up... I am OBSESSED with the weather here. It's not necessarily a positive or a negative thing. It is just so vastly different from what I grew accustomed to during my many years as a midwesterner. I cannot get over how strange it is. The fact that I must announce the day's high temperature at the start of every blog should only go towards proving my obsession. The subject is endlessly fascinating to me. And in an effort to prevent myself from musing about every day where the weather is unseasonable my my midwestern sensibilities, I am writing this little post.
So, it may interest you to know that it was 80 degrees yesterday. Should you not totally understand the significance of this, I should also point out that yesterday was December 21- the first day of WINTER! We still have lettuce, beets and carrots in the garden. I wore a sleeveless dress, without stockings, to take Homer for a walk last night.
I am not sure I will ever get used to a warm winter, but I also have a hard time complaining too heartily about it. Besides, with Thanksgivings spent in the snowy Sierra's, and Christmas in the chilly midwest, I suppose I do get enough winter to meet my ingrained expectations.
And as I am not coming to terms with my obsession, I would also like to apologize to my siblings-in-law for the many times I made fun of and rolled my eyes at their enthusiasm and elation over even the smallest snowfall at the cabin. Too many years of heavily snowed-in winters made me jaded, and I had forgotten the magic of snow. I hope you will all forgive me.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Family Food Memories/Traditions
Day: 478
High Temp: 56F
With the recent frequent mentions of pies on my blog (and one more to come!) I was so excited to check out my cousin Molly's blog, A Foreign Land, this morning to see that she has recently posted a video paying homage to one of my absolute favorite family foods from back in the day: the smoked oyster. Molly's video blog can be found here. Please watch it, if only to see how adorable she is.
Every word of Molly's story of the smoked oyster tradition is true. And I am not too proud to admit that I would scarf pretty much as many of these as I could, often until my mom would yell at me to lay off. We always had these at extended family gatherings, but sometimes my mom and dad would buy some for us us. I remember eating them alone (on a toothpick), or on a cracker, with a fairly thick coating of cream cheese. To die for.
You may think that smoked oysters are an unlikely candidate for the favorite foods list of an eight year old, but I can guarantee you that these gems would have made my top ten back in the day. And now I can thank Molly for inspiring me to revisit this beloved family culinary memory. They are on the grocery list for next week for sure!
Any odd or not so odd family food traditions you want to share?
High Temp: 56F
With the recent frequent mentions of pies on my blog (and one more to come!) I was so excited to check out my cousin Molly's blog, A Foreign Land, this morning to see that she has recently posted a video paying homage to one of my absolute favorite family foods from back in the day: the smoked oyster. Molly's video blog can be found here. Please watch it, if only to see how adorable she is.
Every word of Molly's story of the smoked oyster tradition is true. And I am not too proud to admit that I would scarf pretty much as many of these as I could, often until my mom would yell at me to lay off. We always had these at extended family gatherings, but sometimes my mom and dad would buy some for us us. I remember eating them alone (on a toothpick), or on a cracker, with a fairly thick coating of cream cheese. To die for.
You may think that smoked oysters are an unlikely candidate for the favorite foods list of an eight year old, but I can guarantee you that these gems would have made my top ten back in the day. And now I can thank Molly for inspiring me to revisit this beloved family culinary memory. They are on the grocery list for next week for sure!
Any odd or not so odd family food traditions you want to share?
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Chocolate Cream Pie
Day: 476
High Temp: Honestly, I cant find anywhere to tell me how warm it was today, but trust me, it was warm. I was wearing a tank top to water the garden and was getting sweaty.
Chocolate Cream Pie is a Becker family tradition. When I started celebrating Thanksgiving with Tom's family far away in California, I took the tradition with me. Honestly, I think it is the sole reason the Horans love me as much as they do...
Ingredients
1 baked pie crust
1 1/4 C Sugar
1/2 C Flour
1/4 C Cocoa Powder
Dash of Salt
4 Egg Yolks
2 C Milk (go ahead, use whole milk!)
1/4 C Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 C Whipped Cream (I like to make it from scratch, with a bit of brown sugar in it, but from the tub or the spray can is fine... I just think that stuff is a little too sweet to truly serve this pie)
1. Combine Sugar, Flour, Cocoa and Salt in a medium sauce pan, and set aside.
2. Combine Egg Yolks and Milk in a bowl.
3. Add the wet stuff to the dry in the sauce pan, and whisk together. Then add the melted butter. A whisk will break up most of the lumps, but the rest will cook out.
4. Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken and just starts to boil. It will thicken up even further as it cools.
5. Remove sauce pan from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.
6. Spoon hot filling into baked pastry shell, and chill in the fridge until the pie is completely cooled and set.
And that, my friends, is it. You can make the pie up to a day in advance, just keep it in the fridge, lightly covered with plastic wrap. When you are ready so serve, top the pie with a thick layer of whipped cream. It is so amazing. And if you don't like pie, make the filling and just eat it out of a ramekin with some whipped cream. For reals.
High Temp: Honestly, I cant find anywhere to tell me how warm it was today, but trust me, it was warm. I was wearing a tank top to water the garden and was getting sweaty.
Chocolate Cream Pie is a Becker family tradition. When I started celebrating Thanksgiving with Tom's family far away in California, I took the tradition with me. Honestly, I think it is the sole reason the Horans love me as much as they do...
Ingredients
1 baked pie crust
1 1/4 C Sugar
1/2 C Flour
1/4 C Cocoa Powder
Dash of Salt
4 Egg Yolks
2 C Milk (go ahead, use whole milk!)
1/4 C Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 C Whipped Cream (I like to make it from scratch, with a bit of brown sugar in it, but from the tub or the spray can is fine... I just think that stuff is a little too sweet to truly serve this pie)
 |
| Mise en place!!! |
 |
| The dry stuff... |
 |
| ...and the wet. |
4. Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken and just starts to boil. It will thicken up even further as it cools.
 |
| Be careful to scrape the bottom well while cooking, so the milk doesn't burn. I recommend a silicone-coated whisk. |
6. Spoon hot filling into baked pastry shell, and chill in the fridge until the pie is completely cooled and set.
 |
| The action shot! |
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
PW's Pumpkin Cream Pie
Day: 472
High Temp: 60F
For the past five years or so, Tom and I have spent every Thanksgiving with his family in California. This year, given time and financial restraints (mostly due to the wedding) we stayed in Austin. We were fortunate enough to be invited to one of Tom's fellow playwrights homes for the big meal, and oh did we feast. There was a fried turkey, dressing, pureed parsnips, a mashed potato bar, carrot soufflé, mashed sweet potatoes... shall I go on?
What about dessert, you ask? Well there were pies, of course. My pies to be exact. Now, normally I shun the pumpkin pie. Pie making can be tricky, and since I don't love pumpkin, I just skip it. Also, since we are normally with family, I just figure that if someone wants pumpkin badly enough, they know to make it themselves, or just enjoy my pies. This Thanksgiving, however, we were going to be with friends. And as we were guests, I figured it was important to represent the holiday classic with some sort of pumpkin dessert. Enter Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond's Pumpkin Cream Pie. Go ahead, check it out.
Her photos are beautiful, her writing witty, and her recipe spot on. Mine turned out exactly as promised, even though it was my first time every making a graham cracker crust. And the addition of lots of cream, rich vanilla pudding and whiskey make this a pumpkin pie I will definitely go back to.
Stay tuned... later this week I will try my hand at food blogging for the first time when I post pics and recipes of the classic Becker chocolate cream pie and my personal favorite pie, raspberry cream with streusel topping.
High Temp: 60F
For the past five years or so, Tom and I have spent every Thanksgiving with his family in California. This year, given time and financial restraints (mostly due to the wedding) we stayed in Austin. We were fortunate enough to be invited to one of Tom's fellow playwrights homes for the big meal, and oh did we feast. There was a fried turkey, dressing, pureed parsnips, a mashed potato bar, carrot soufflé, mashed sweet potatoes... shall I go on?
What about dessert, you ask? Well there were pies, of course. My pies to be exact. Now, normally I shun the pumpkin pie. Pie making can be tricky, and since I don't love pumpkin, I just skip it. Also, since we are normally with family, I just figure that if someone wants pumpkin badly enough, they know to make it themselves, or just enjoy my pies. This Thanksgiving, however, we were going to be with friends. And as we were guests, I figured it was important to represent the holiday classic with some sort of pumpkin dessert. Enter Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond's Pumpkin Cream Pie. Go ahead, check it out.
Her photos are beautiful, her writing witty, and her recipe spot on. Mine turned out exactly as promised, even though it was my first time every making a graham cracker crust. And the addition of lots of cream, rich vanilla pudding and whiskey make this a pumpkin pie I will definitely go back to.
Stay tuned... later this week I will try my hand at food blogging for the first time when I post pics and recipes of the classic Becker chocolate cream pie and my personal favorite pie, raspberry cream with streusel topping.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Welcome to Marble Falls
Day: 468
High Temp: 55F
The weekend before Halloween, Tom and I took a day trip out to a little town northwest of Austin called Marble Falls. The plan was to pick pumpkins, tackle the giant Texas-shaped corn maze and eat some pie at a famous diner in town.
First off, the pie. It was around 12:30 when we arrived to the Blue Bonnet Cafe, and there was a fairly impressive line waiting for us. Thankfully it moved quickly, and within 15 minutes we were next in line for a table, standing in front of a large bulletin board plastered with locals and (Texas) celebrities who love the pie. Among these Blue Bonnet enthusiasts, I spied Dubbya and Rick Perry. Not very appetizing, but we persevered.
Thinking that it was too early in the day to just order pie, Tom and I shared an omelette and some biscuits and gravy before deciding on the pie we would eat. It is a tough decision, too, because Blue Bonnet offers at least a dozen options each day, many with a mile high mound of meringue. We stayed classic, though. Tom opted for the apple, while I got the cherry.
The verdict? It was okay. As a person who flatters myself to think I make a pretty damn good pie, it is kind of hard to impress me. The crust was okay, but both the apple and cherry fillings seemed to be from a can. Maybe I am not being fair to Blue Bonnet... perhaps one of us should have went for a meringue, but honestly, I don't love meringue. Ultimately I would rather have a slice of my own apple pie over the stuff at Blue Bonnet any day. That said, I would be happy to stop back by Blue Bonnet to try some of the tempting cream pies they have next time I am in Marble Falls.
Once we had our fill of diner food, we made our way just a few miles out of town to Sweet Berry Farm, where the Harvest of Fall Fun was in full effect. Tom and I perused a really great sample of different varieties of pumpkins before finally making a decision. I love to go for the bumpy, mottled looking pumpkins, and here they were to be found in abundance. Ultimately, we chose one big round classic Jack, two pimply, spotted Lunch Ladies, a small, smooth, ghostly white Lumina and a green stripy Caveman gourd.
With our pumpkins tucked safely in the back of Elly, we then traipsed over to the other side of the farm to partake in the legendary Texas Corn Maze (check out a birds eye view of the maze here- you have to click on Hay Field Maze 'Texas' because their website is a little odd and won't let me link directly to it.)
Each entrant is given a ticket with 12 locations that correspond to 12 check points check points hidden within the maze. The locations are actual spots in Texas, and are located roughly within the Tsxas maze where you would find them on an actual Texas map. the object is to find all 12 and punch your ticket with the little hole puncher waiting at the check point. Each station has a different shape, so the workers can tell if you actually completed the task. If you do, you win a can of pop. It was hotter than it should be at the end of October, with temperatures in the upper 80s, so Tom and I didn't complete the maze. But we did have a lot of fun trying.
High Temp: 55F
The weekend before Halloween, Tom and I took a day trip out to a little town northwest of Austin called Marble Falls. The plan was to pick pumpkins, tackle the giant Texas-shaped corn maze and eat some pie at a famous diner in town.
First off, the pie. It was around 12:30 when we arrived to the Blue Bonnet Cafe, and there was a fairly impressive line waiting for us. Thankfully it moved quickly, and within 15 minutes we were next in line for a table, standing in front of a large bulletin board plastered with locals and (Texas) celebrities who love the pie. Among these Blue Bonnet enthusiasts, I spied Dubbya and Rick Perry. Not very appetizing, but we persevered.
 |
| This place is so retro chic. |
 |
| Warm pie. |
Once we had our fill of diner food, we made our way just a few miles out of town to Sweet Berry Farm, where the Harvest of Fall Fun was in full effect. Tom and I perused a really great sample of different varieties of pumpkins before finally making a decision. I love to go for the bumpy, mottled looking pumpkins, and here they were to be found in abundance. Ultimately, we chose one big round classic Jack, two pimply, spotted Lunch Ladies, a small, smooth, ghostly white Lumina and a green stripy Caveman gourd.
 |
| The bounty of the Harvest. We'll take one of each! |
With our pumpkins tucked safely in the back of Elly, we then traipsed over to the other side of the farm to partake in the legendary Texas Corn Maze (check out a birds eye view of the maze here- you have to click on Hay Field Maze 'Texas' because their website is a little odd and won't let me link directly to it.)
Each entrant is given a ticket with 12 locations that correspond to 12 check points check points hidden within the maze. The locations are actual spots in Texas, and are located roughly within the Tsxas maze where you would find them on an actual Texas map. the object is to find all 12 and punch your ticket with the little hole puncher waiting at the check point. Each station has a different shape, so the workers can tell if you actually completed the task. If you do, you win a can of pop. It was hotter than it should be at the end of October, with temperatures in the upper 80s, so Tom and I didn't complete the maze. But we did have a lot of fun trying.
 |
| Corn stalks... as high as a giraffe's eye at least, I would say. But then again, everything is bigger in Texas. |
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thankful that you all are still reading this blog...
I am not even going to bother with the day count, because this is a short and sweet entry to let you know that there is more to come. I know I have been MIA from the blog, and I am hoping to make amends really soon. I have some fun posts planned, including:
-A recap of our trip to Marble Falls, TX, which included pie at a place where Dubbya (eww) has eaten many a slice and a huge Texas-shaped corn maze
-Some wedding recap blogs, including some of the photos which we just recently received from our photographer.
-LH does Thanksgiving. I will be baking 4 different types of pies this year, and am excited to share my family recipes for both Chocolate Cream and Raspberry Cream pie. There will be photos! And maybe also my recipe for sweet potatoes, you know, to help you plan for Turkey Day 2011.
So, hold tight. I am hoping to get some of these posts up this weekend!
PS- Because I can't help but rub it in a bit... today's high temp is projected to be 86F. Looks like I will be baking with the windows opened for sure.
-A recap of our trip to Marble Falls, TX, which included pie at a place where Dubbya (eww) has eaten many a slice and a huge Texas-shaped corn maze
-Some wedding recap blogs, including some of the photos which we just recently received from our photographer.
-LH does Thanksgiving. I will be baking 4 different types of pies this year, and am excited to share my family recipes for both Chocolate Cream and Raspberry Cream pie. There will be photos! And maybe also my recipe for sweet potatoes, you know, to help you plan for Turkey Day 2011.
So, hold tight. I am hoping to get some of these posts up this weekend!
PS- Because I can't help but rub it in a bit... today's high temp is projected to be 86F. Looks like I will be baking with the windows opened for sure.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Exercising My Right
Day: 442
High Temp: 84F
I try to keep things pretty apolitical here at DMWL, but I wanted to let you all know that Friday afternoon I exercised my right to vote for the first time as a citizen of the (large, confusing and sometimes great) state of Texas. As a person who generally leans towards the liberal spectrum, I feel like my vote is even more important here than it was in Illinois, and I have to say that it felt really good to NOT vote for Rick Perry-I have had enough of wacky governors with full heads of dark hair, thankyouverymuch!
Despite having my heart broken early on in my voting life (I am sure you all remember Gore, then Kerry...) I always get a little thrill when I vote. Call me old fashioned, but I believe it is a really important thing to do.
So, do your community a favor and go out and VOTE on Tuesday! And if you aren't sure who to vote for, or who might be on your ballot, do a little research before you head to the polls. There are so many amazing resources for modern voters to take advantage of on the internet, there is no excuse for people nowadays to be uniformed.
High Temp: 84F
I try to keep things pretty apolitical here at DMWL, but I wanted to let you all know that Friday afternoon I exercised my right to vote for the first time as a citizen of the (large, confusing and sometimes great) state of Texas. As a person who generally leans towards the liberal spectrum, I feel like my vote is even more important here than it was in Illinois, and I have to say that it felt really good to NOT vote for Rick Perry-I have had enough of wacky governors with full heads of dark hair, thankyouverymuch!
Despite having my heart broken early on in my voting life (I am sure you all remember Gore, then Kerry...) I always get a little thrill when I vote. Call me old fashioned, but I believe it is a really important thing to do.
So, do your community a favor and go out and VOTE on Tuesday! And if you aren't sure who to vote for, or who might be on your ballot, do a little research before you head to the polls. There are so many amazing resources for modern voters to take advantage of on the internet, there is no excuse for people nowadays to be uniformed.
There's no basement at the Alamo!
Day: 442
High Temp: 84F
I mentioned in the garden blog that my parents came down to Austin just after our wedding to visit Tom and I, and bring us the load of wedding presents we had received in St Louis. We had a great time showing them some of our new favorite food spots (Hoover's and Juan in a Million were big hits), and they loved getting a chance to see Homer now that he is all grown up.
My parents were planning to stay until Tuesday morning, and as the weekend drew to a close, I started getting pressure from them to take a vacation day on Monday. The big plan was to drive down to San Antonio for the day. Bowing to the pressure, and at the mercy of my extremely flexible boss at UT, I was able to make Monday happen.
San Antonio really surprised me. I had always heard how amazing the River Walk was, and how disappointing the Alamo was. Truth is, both were very different from what I expected.
I know this is a silly thing to say, but for some reason, I expected the River Walk to be like the Arno in Florence. I expected a large, dominant river, lined on each side by wide side walks lined with old buildings houseing cafes, shops and the like. Lots of space and airy, all anchored by a large, wild river. The truth is, the River Walk is more reminiscent of Venice (are you rolling your eyes yet?) It is small, the river is fairly shallow and it is extremely engineered with perfect concrete walls along each bank. Seriously, it's not more than 12 feet across, and the sidewalks are very narrow. The overall affect was more man-made, more like Disneyland, than I had expected. Don't get me wrong, it is a very charming place, and walking below street level next to the water in the shade of the big cypress and oak trees is certainly a nice break from the heat, but it just wasn't what I expected. That said, I am excited to take Tom back to San Antonio around Christmas time, when the abundant trees, bridges and walkways are reportedly covered in lights. Sounds like the perfect setting for an evening river cruise with my sweetie and a thermos of spiked hot cocoa!
While in San Antone we also saw the Alamo, which was kind of awesome. I had been told that it wasn't as cool, or as big as you might expect, and so with my expectations sufficiently lowered, I thought it was great. It doesn't really look like it did in Pee Wee's big Adventure, at least not on the inside, but that did not stop me from proclaiming, many times, "There's no basement at the Alamo!" Thankfully, this was very amusing to my parents. But seriously, it's a big old building, with gorgeous gardens behind the barrack walls. There are also some cool artifacts, like Davey Crockett's rifle.
I also want to note that I actually heard someone call this fair city "San Antone"in all seriousness while we were there. We took a trolley tour to see a few of the old missions and some of the neighborhoods around the city, and this boisterous and entertaining pair of old ladies was on the bus with us. When one of them rudely answered her cellphone during the narrated tour, she proceeded to shout to her caller, "No, we are in San Antone!" Thankfully, our tour guide shamed her by saying he had learned it was rude to talk while others were talking. She got the point and hung up pretty quickly.
PS- I do have some pictures from this trip, but they are stuck on the throw away cameras we were trying to use up post-wedding... May come back and update the post if any turned out once I get them developed.
High Temp: 84F
I mentioned in the garden blog that my parents came down to Austin just after our wedding to visit Tom and I, and bring us the load of wedding presents we had received in St Louis. We had a great time showing them some of our new favorite food spots (Hoover's and Juan in a Million were big hits), and they loved getting a chance to see Homer now that he is all grown up.
My parents were planning to stay until Tuesday morning, and as the weekend drew to a close, I started getting pressure from them to take a vacation day on Monday. The big plan was to drive down to San Antonio for the day. Bowing to the pressure, and at the mercy of my extremely flexible boss at UT, I was able to make Monday happen.
San Antonio really surprised me. I had always heard how amazing the River Walk was, and how disappointing the Alamo was. Truth is, both were very different from what I expected.
I know this is a silly thing to say, but for some reason, I expected the River Walk to be like the Arno in Florence. I expected a large, dominant river, lined on each side by wide side walks lined with old buildings houseing cafes, shops and the like. Lots of space and airy, all anchored by a large, wild river. The truth is, the River Walk is more reminiscent of Venice (are you rolling your eyes yet?) It is small, the river is fairly shallow and it is extremely engineered with perfect concrete walls along each bank. Seriously, it's not more than 12 feet across, and the sidewalks are very narrow. The overall affect was more man-made, more like Disneyland, than I had expected. Don't get me wrong, it is a very charming place, and walking below street level next to the water in the shade of the big cypress and oak trees is certainly a nice break from the heat, but it just wasn't what I expected. That said, I am excited to take Tom back to San Antonio around Christmas time, when the abundant trees, bridges and walkways are reportedly covered in lights. Sounds like the perfect setting for an evening river cruise with my sweetie and a thermos of spiked hot cocoa!
While in San Antone we also saw the Alamo, which was kind of awesome. I had been told that it wasn't as cool, or as big as you might expect, and so with my expectations sufficiently lowered, I thought it was great. It doesn't really look like it did in Pee Wee's big Adventure, at least not on the inside, but that did not stop me from proclaiming, many times, "There's no basement at the Alamo!" Thankfully, this was very amusing to my parents. But seriously, it's a big old building, with gorgeous gardens behind the barrack walls. There are also some cool artifacts, like Davey Crockett's rifle.
I also want to note that I actually heard someone call this fair city "San Antone"in all seriousness while we were there. We took a trolley tour to see a few of the old missions and some of the neighborhoods around the city, and this boisterous and entertaining pair of old ladies was on the bus with us. When one of them rudely answered her cellphone during the narrated tour, she proceeded to shout to her caller, "No, we are in San Antone!" Thankfully, our tour guide shamed her by saying he had learned it was rude to talk while others were talking. She got the point and hung up pretty quickly.
PS- I do have some pictures from this trip, but they are stuck on the throw away cameras we were trying to use up post-wedding... May come back and update the post if any turned out once I get them developed.
Friday, October 22, 2010
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Day: 433
High Temp: 86F
My garden grows quite well, thank you very much!
On our second weekend at the Mint House, Tom and I planted a garden. There were already some raised beds in our side yard, so we went out and bought plants, seeds and lots of tools, and proceeded to break up the ground, fill the beds with compost and soil, and start planting. There were still boxes that needed unpacking, and pictures that needed hanging, but we were playing in the dirt.
That was 12 weeks ago, and now our garden is really starting to produce (hee hee)! From the very beginning, the serrano chili plant was producing (it was literally filled with serranos within two weeks). But it was just last weekend that some of our first plants in the ground started to bear veggies.
On Sunday, I harvested a big pile of green beans, and one large, beautiful yellow summer squash. These were veggies we grew from seeds, with absolutely no fertilizer except compost, and they are delicious. The green beans went into a shepard's pie for dinner, and my mom (who, along with my dad, was visiting us last weekend) sliced and fried up the squash for an appetizer.
Last night, we pulled two more monster squash out of the garden, and another large bunch of green beans. Tom also had a surprise for me... our cucumbers have started to come in! They have been wild, viney looking plants for weeks now, with pretty yellow cucumber flowers constantly blooming and withering by the dozens. I was convinced that, since we hadn't even seen the start of a cucumber, perhaps it was too hot, or too late or whatever to actually get cucumbers this year. To my utter delight, I was wrong. There are dozens of little cucumberlings out there now! I see homemade pickles and dilly beans in my future!
We were careful to follow the many charts that suggest what can be planted in August in Austin, and held back some cooler weather seeds which Tom has planted when appropriate in September and October. Mixed lettuces, winter squash, beets and carrots have all gone in the ground in the past few weeks, and are already starting to look good. I am not sure anyone can imagine how excited I am to make a roasted beet salad and serve it over my homegrown mixed baby greens!
Though I have been pulling my weight with watering, and harvesting, I have to give Tom a huge amount of credit for most of the planting, weeding and general TLC. He absolutely loves being in the garden, and I have to say, the only thing that makes me happier than our home grown veggies is the peace and joy he has been getting from that little plot of land.
High Temp: 86F
My garden grows quite well, thank you very much!
On our second weekend at the Mint House, Tom and I planted a garden. There were already some raised beds in our side yard, so we went out and bought plants, seeds and lots of tools, and proceeded to break up the ground, fill the beds with compost and soil, and start planting. There were still boxes that needed unpacking, and pictures that needed hanging, but we were playing in the dirt.
That was 12 weeks ago, and now our garden is really starting to produce (hee hee)! From the very beginning, the serrano chili plant was producing (it was literally filled with serranos within two weeks). But it was just last weekend that some of our first plants in the ground started to bear veggies.
 |
| Serranos ripening on the vine! |
On Sunday, I harvested a big pile of green beans, and one large, beautiful yellow summer squash. These were veggies we grew from seeds, with absolutely no fertilizer except compost, and they are delicious. The green beans went into a shepard's pie for dinner, and my mom (who, along with my dad, was visiting us last weekend) sliced and fried up the squash for an appetizer.
 |
| Our first big harvest. Summer squash and green beans displayed on our pretty new china. |
Last night, we pulled two more monster squash out of the garden, and another large bunch of green beans. Tom also had a surprise for me... our cucumbers have started to come in! They have been wild, viney looking plants for weeks now, with pretty yellow cucumber flowers constantly blooming and withering by the dozens. I was convinced that, since we hadn't even seen the start of a cucumber, perhaps it was too hot, or too late or whatever to actually get cucumbers this year. To my utter delight, I was wrong. There are dozens of little cucumberlings out there now! I see homemade pickles and dilly beans in my future!
 |
| One of many cucumberlings. |
We were careful to follow the many charts that suggest what can be planted in August in Austin, and held back some cooler weather seeds which Tom has planted when appropriate in September and October. Mixed lettuces, winter squash, beets and carrots have all gone in the ground in the past few weeks, and are already starting to look good. I am not sure anyone can imagine how excited I am to make a roasted beet salad and serve it over my homegrown mixed baby greens!
 |
| Many varieties of lettuce and greens coming in! |
Though I have been pulling my weight with watering, and harvesting, I have to give Tom a huge amount of credit for most of the planting, weeding and general TLC. He absolutely loves being in the garden, and I have to say, the only thing that makes me happier than our home grown veggies is the peace and joy he has been getting from that little plot of land.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Fall Envy
Day: 431
High Temp: 86F
For weeks I have felt it building: Fall Envy! It started with friends commenting on Facebook about the crisp, cool mornings in the Midwest and North East. Then suddenly on TV, in the stores, everywhere really, there were mentions of the upcoming Halloween holiday. And although it has started to cool down a lot at night (like in the 50s and 60s!) we are still regularly reaching the mid-80's each day. Don't get me wrong, mid-80's is lovely, but it certainly does not satiate my need for Autumn. Not to mention the abundant live oaks won't loose their leaves until spring when the new crop comes in!
The trip back to St Louis for the wedding was a nice opportunity to get a little Fall fix. The leaves had started to change, the air was unarguably crisp and cool enough to contemplate warm drinks and pumpkins. But it just wasn't enough. Now that I have been back for over a week, I am missing Fall just as much as I was a month ago.
It is really making me miss my old neighborhood in Chicago, Lincoln Square. Fall was made for that neighborhood! The maples would sport bright yellow leaves that looked positively magical at night backlit by street lamps. All the little kids running around the square would have traded their crocks and shorts for tiny little hoodies, and cute beanie hats. On a Sunday morning, I would convince myself it was still warm enough to eat brunch outside at Cafe Selmarie, so long as I had a hot chai latte in my hands. Each yard would be filled with fallen leaves spilling onto the sidewalk, and they would crunch so satisfyingly underfoot on my way to the train. By that evening, on my way home, those same leaves would have been crushed mostly to dust, leaving space for the new leaves that would surely continue to fall over night.
I truly miss it so much, but there is a revelation in this missing. This missing does not feel bitter, and it is not angry. It is a sweet longing, a memory, and not at the expense of what Austin is. It's liberating to look back on my memories of so many Autumn in Chicago, and not hate Austin for keeping that from me. And while I cant say that I don't want to be back there some day, I am awfully happy to be enjoying Austin so much more fully than I was this time last year.
High Temp: 86F
For weeks I have felt it building: Fall Envy! It started with friends commenting on Facebook about the crisp, cool mornings in the Midwest and North East. Then suddenly on TV, in the stores, everywhere really, there were mentions of the upcoming Halloween holiday. And although it has started to cool down a lot at night (like in the 50s and 60s!) we are still regularly reaching the mid-80's each day. Don't get me wrong, mid-80's is lovely, but it certainly does not satiate my need for Autumn. Not to mention the abundant live oaks won't loose their leaves until spring when the new crop comes in!
The trip back to St Louis for the wedding was a nice opportunity to get a little Fall fix. The leaves had started to change, the air was unarguably crisp and cool enough to contemplate warm drinks and pumpkins. But it just wasn't enough. Now that I have been back for over a week, I am missing Fall just as much as I was a month ago.
It is really making me miss my old neighborhood in Chicago, Lincoln Square. Fall was made for that neighborhood! The maples would sport bright yellow leaves that looked positively magical at night backlit by street lamps. All the little kids running around the square would have traded their crocks and shorts for tiny little hoodies, and cute beanie hats. On a Sunday morning, I would convince myself it was still warm enough to eat brunch outside at Cafe Selmarie, so long as I had a hot chai latte in my hands. Each yard would be filled with fallen leaves spilling onto the sidewalk, and they would crunch so satisfyingly underfoot on my way to the train. By that evening, on my way home, those same leaves would have been crushed mostly to dust, leaving space for the new leaves that would surely continue to fall over night.
I truly miss it so much, but there is a revelation in this missing. This missing does not feel bitter, and it is not angry. It is a sweet longing, a memory, and not at the expense of what Austin is. It's liberating to look back on my memories of so many Autumn in Chicago, and not hate Austin for keeping that from me. And while I cant say that I don't want to be back there some day, I am awfully happy to be enjoying Austin so much more fully than I was this time last year.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
So Much Has Happened
Day: 425
High Temp: 82F
Y'all! So much exciting stuff has happened since I last blogged! The highlights:
-Tom and I made home-made ginger ale
-I went to my first Cards game at the new Busch Stadium
-We got our first squash and green beans in the garden
Oh, yeah, and I TOTALLY GOT HITCHED!
It was a truly wonderful and amazing day filled with the love and support of our families and friends. There was plenty to drink, good food to eat, and so much dancing. And it was worth all the planning and hard work.
I promise to write more in the upcoming days, but for now I wanted to get that little bit of excitement off my chest.
~Mrs. Horan
High Temp: 82F
Y'all! So much exciting stuff has happened since I last blogged! The highlights:
-Tom and I made home-made ginger ale
-I went to my first Cards game at the new Busch Stadium
-We got our first squash and green beans in the garden
Oh, yeah, and I TOTALLY GOT HITCHED!
It was a truly wonderful and amazing day filled with the love and support of our families and friends. There was plenty to drink, good food to eat, and so much dancing. And it was worth all the planning and hard work.
I promise to write more in the upcoming days, but for now I wanted to get that little bit of excitement off my chest.
~Mrs. Horan
Friday, October 1, 2010
I love my Esthetician
Day: 412
High Temp: 88F
Her name is Casey, and boy did she earn her love from me on Wednesday. You see, I am getting married in eight days. The planning has been a lot of fun, but I am 800 miles away from where I am getting married, and so that has been challenging. And there is a lot of stuff to do if you are hosting a wedding with 150 guests, and you are making all the programs, centerpieces all other decor yourself (with help from your amazing mother). Add on top of this that Tom has been in tech and performances for a play all week (I literally have not seen him while I was awake since Tuesday night.) Oh, and there is the small matter of the gunman who terrorized campus on Tuesday morning. Yeah, you could say I have been stressed out.
Enter Casey. Casey is one of the talented Estheticians who works at Ann Webb Wellness Clinic located in North Austin. Thanks to a recommendation from my excellent boss here at UT Nursing, I have been going to AW for 4 months now for facials to get my skin into top condition for the wedding. It sounds indulgent, doesn't it? Well, would you believe that I have done this for the same price as just ONE facial at the Four Seasons Spa?
AW does new client facials for just $65, and after that, they are $45 for existing clients. AND you get a FREE facial during the month of your birthday. And this is no skimpy facial. I have had a facial at the above mentioned Four Season Spa, and the AW facial rivals it easily, plus, all the products they use are paraben and cruelty free, and they smell amazing.
Along with the cleansing, scrubbing, masking, oxygen treating and peeling I am treated to during my monthly facial, Casey also gives a first rate head, neck and arm massage while the products are working. And because I have been suffering from allergies the past few weeks, this week she also did this nifty face/pressure point massage thing to my face that all but relieved my sinus pressure. And I walked out of there with a free tea-tree blemish buster stick just incase I have any last minute, stress induced, wedding day breakouts!
I left feeling so incredibly relaxed with my skin glowing. A real triumph in a hectic week. True, the blissed out feeling only lasted for a few hours until I remembered all the stuff I need to get done. But, it was an island of calm that probably saved my sanity this week.
The good news for those who don't live in Austin is that Whole Foods carries her skin care line. So if you are looking for a good anti-aging moisturizer that doesn't cost as much as your car payment each month, check it out. I also love the peppermint milk cleanser which doubles as a hydrating face mask.
This little bit of love may be the last blog until the wedding. Unless I have loads of unanticipated down time while in the Lou, I will see you all when I am a Mrs!
High Temp: 88F
Her name is Casey, and boy did she earn her love from me on Wednesday. You see, I am getting married in eight days. The planning has been a lot of fun, but I am 800 miles away from where I am getting married, and so that has been challenging. And there is a lot of stuff to do if you are hosting a wedding with 150 guests, and you are making all the programs, centerpieces all other decor yourself (with help from your amazing mother). Add on top of this that Tom has been in tech and performances for a play all week (I literally have not seen him while I was awake since Tuesday night.) Oh, and there is the small matter of the gunman who terrorized campus on Tuesday morning. Yeah, you could say I have been stressed out.
Enter Casey. Casey is one of the talented Estheticians who works at Ann Webb Wellness Clinic located in North Austin. Thanks to a recommendation from my excellent boss here at UT Nursing, I have been going to AW for 4 months now for facials to get my skin into top condition for the wedding. It sounds indulgent, doesn't it? Well, would you believe that I have done this for the same price as just ONE facial at the Four Seasons Spa?
AW does new client facials for just $65, and after that, they are $45 for existing clients. AND you get a FREE facial during the month of your birthday. And this is no skimpy facial. I have had a facial at the above mentioned Four Season Spa, and the AW facial rivals it easily, plus, all the products they use are paraben and cruelty free, and they smell amazing.
Along with the cleansing, scrubbing, masking, oxygen treating and peeling I am treated to during my monthly facial, Casey also gives a first rate head, neck and arm massage while the products are working. And because I have been suffering from allergies the past few weeks, this week she also did this nifty face/pressure point massage thing to my face that all but relieved my sinus pressure. And I walked out of there with a free tea-tree blemish buster stick just incase I have any last minute, stress induced, wedding day breakouts!
I left feeling so incredibly relaxed with my skin glowing. A real triumph in a hectic week. True, the blissed out feeling only lasted for a few hours until I remembered all the stuff I need to get done. But, it was an island of calm that probably saved my sanity this week.
The good news for those who don't live in Austin is that Whole Foods carries her skin care line. So if you are looking for a good anti-aging moisturizer that doesn't cost as much as your car payment each month, check it out. I also love the peppermint milk cleanser which doubles as a hydrating face mask.
This little bit of love may be the last blog until the wedding. Unless I have loads of unanticipated down time while in the Lou, I will see you all when I am a Mrs!
Friday, September 10, 2010
I want to Blog...
Day: 391
High Temp: 92F
Really, I do! But I just can't seem to get it done. With the wedding less than a month away, it feels like I am spending most of my free time sleeping, emailing people who haven't responded to our invitation, or getting some other aspect of the wedding ready.
I don't want you to feel like I am ignoring you. You read what I write (even if it is boring and inane) and you sometimes even comment too. It's so great. And by me not blogging, or worse, submitting this sad and lame excuse for a blog, I feel like I am letting you all down (cause I know how much you count on my blog to brighten your week.)
I haven't even posted the photos of the Mint House yet! And I know you want to hear all about the HUGE tree that Hermine knocked over in our yard on Tuesday, demolishing our compost pile, but leaving our vegetable garden (and thankfully our house) unscathed. There are also the two restaurants Tom and I recently tried in our new neighborhood that I want to tell you about, and our recent trip to St. Louis which included an amazing and authentic Crawfish Boil.
I am going to do my best over the next few weeks, but please forgive me if the Mod Podge, chalk board paint and floral wire hijack my attention.
PS- I am getting married exactly 30 days from today!!
High Temp: 92F
Really, I do! But I just can't seem to get it done. With the wedding less than a month away, it feels like I am spending most of my free time sleeping, emailing people who haven't responded to our invitation, or getting some other aspect of the wedding ready.
I don't want you to feel like I am ignoring you. You read what I write (even if it is boring and inane) and you sometimes even comment too. It's so great. And by me not blogging, or worse, submitting this sad and lame excuse for a blog, I feel like I am letting you all down (cause I know how much you count on my blog to brighten your week.)
I haven't even posted the photos of the Mint House yet! And I know you want to hear all about the HUGE tree that Hermine knocked over in our yard on Tuesday, demolishing our compost pile, but leaving our vegetable garden (and thankfully our house) unscathed. There are also the two restaurants Tom and I recently tried in our new neighborhood that I want to tell you about, and our recent trip to St. Louis which included an amazing and authentic Crawfish Boil.
I am going to do my best over the next few weeks, but please forgive me if the Mod Podge, chalk board paint and floral wire hijack my attention.
PS- I am getting married exactly 30 days from today!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Best of Austin: Queso
Day: 375
High Temp: 96F (yay! it's not in the triple digits anymore!)
In an effort to continue celebrating my one-year anniversary in Austin, I bring you the somewhat anticipated (at least by Adam Simon) queso blog! Below, in my humble opinion, are the three places you have to hit if you want to eat the best queso in Austin.
It may come as no surprise to you that I love cheese in pretty much any form. From fried mozzarella sticks to the squeaky cheese curds of Wisconsin, to the sharpest and bluest blue, I love it all. When we were planning our move, I was excited to read about the reverence with which Austinites approach queso. I decided I wanted to try it all, but unfortunately, my year's research was by no means exhaustive. There are plenty of places I ate at this past year that have queso on the menu that I didn't try (do you really want to order queso at an Italian place?) There are probably dozens of places I haven't even heard of that serve a mean queso, but here is the best I've come across so far. And I promise to have fun exploring all the other queso the city has to offer in the years to come.
If you like it classic...
You have to try the queso at Maria's Taco Xpress. The queso here is smooth and rich with just a hint of spiciness. It tastes exactly how liquid cheese should taste. Served with a big pile of fresh tortilla chips, it's so good. I should also mention this place has a killer pollo guisado taco, nice and tart margaritas, and more quirky Austin ambiance that almost any other eatery I have been too.
If you like it chunky and spicy...
Go to Torchy's! If you are visiting us, Tom will probably insist we go here anyhow, so why not order the Green Chili Queso while we are there? This queso has a nice cheesy base, but mixed in you will find a hearty portion of chopped green chilis. It's all topped with cilantro and a dab of their diablo sauce. The result is a spicy (but not too spicy), chunky dip and I personally could eat as a meal. The flavor is amazing, and is unlike anything I have found anywhere else.
If you like it with other stuff...
The venerable Kerbey Lane Cafe is the place to go. When I first started at UT, my boss was giving my tips on where to eat around town. Upon learning that I had never been to Kerbey Lane, she told me that I had to go, and even if I was there for breakfast, I had to get the Kerby Queso. Boy was she right. The queso itself is actually quit thin in consistency compared to most others in town. It is also noticeably paler in hue (most are orange). Don't let the thin consistency and pale color fool you. This queso has an amazing smoky flavor that is a show stopper. And if that weren't enough, they ladle it over a big mound of creamy guacamole and top it all with fresh pico.
I had originally envisioned this blog as a top 3 or a top 5, with me ultimately naming one queso "the best" but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I could not pick just one favorite, because they are all so unique and delicious.
I am toying with the idea of doing more Best of Austin blogs, but am not sure exactly what to write about. Best BBQ? Best use of Avocado? Best Tacos? I am particularly interested in finding the best brunch, as that is what I am missing most about Chicago recently, but I haven't found many good brunch places yet. A blog would be a good excuse to do more exploring, though. It's all food related but I am sure there are other things I could explore... What do you think?
High Temp: 96F (yay! it's not in the triple digits anymore!)
In an effort to continue celebrating my one-year anniversary in Austin, I bring you the somewhat anticipated (at least by Adam Simon) queso blog! Below, in my humble opinion, are the three places you have to hit if you want to eat the best queso in Austin.
It may come as no surprise to you that I love cheese in pretty much any form. From fried mozzarella sticks to the squeaky cheese curds of Wisconsin, to the sharpest and bluest blue, I love it all. When we were planning our move, I was excited to read about the reverence with which Austinites approach queso. I decided I wanted to try it all, but unfortunately, my year's research was by no means exhaustive. There are plenty of places I ate at this past year that have queso on the menu that I didn't try (do you really want to order queso at an Italian place?) There are probably dozens of places I haven't even heard of that serve a mean queso, but here is the best I've come across so far. And I promise to have fun exploring all the other queso the city has to offer in the years to come.
If you like it classic...
You have to try the queso at Maria's Taco Xpress. The queso here is smooth and rich with just a hint of spiciness. It tastes exactly how liquid cheese should taste. Served with a big pile of fresh tortilla chips, it's so good. I should also mention this place has a killer pollo guisado taco, nice and tart margaritas, and more quirky Austin ambiance that almost any other eatery I have been too.
If you like it chunky and spicy...
Go to Torchy's! If you are visiting us, Tom will probably insist we go here anyhow, so why not order the Green Chili Queso while we are there? This queso has a nice cheesy base, but mixed in you will find a hearty portion of chopped green chilis. It's all topped with cilantro and a dab of their diablo sauce. The result is a spicy (but not too spicy), chunky dip and I personally could eat as a meal. The flavor is amazing, and is unlike anything I have found anywhere else.
If you like it with other stuff...
The venerable Kerbey Lane Cafe is the place to go. When I first started at UT, my boss was giving my tips on where to eat around town. Upon learning that I had never been to Kerbey Lane, she told me that I had to go, and even if I was there for breakfast, I had to get the Kerby Queso. Boy was she right. The queso itself is actually quit thin in consistency compared to most others in town. It is also noticeably paler in hue (most are orange). Don't let the thin consistency and pale color fool you. This queso has an amazing smoky flavor that is a show stopper. And if that weren't enough, they ladle it over a big mound of creamy guacamole and top it all with fresh pico.
I had originally envisioned this blog as a top 3 or a top 5, with me ultimately naming one queso "the best" but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I could not pick just one favorite, because they are all so unique and delicious.
I am toying with the idea of doing more Best of Austin blogs, but am not sure exactly what to write about. Best BBQ? Best use of Avocado? Best Tacos? I am particularly interested in finding the best brunch, as that is what I am missing most about Chicago recently, but I haven't found many good brunch places yet. A blog would be a good excuse to do more exploring, though. It's all food related but I am sure there are other things I could explore... What do you think?
Monday, August 16, 2010
Anniversaries
Day: 366
High Temp: 102F
Yesterday Tom and I celebrated two rather momentous anniversaries. It was exactly a year ago yesterday that we arrived to Austin, Texas to begin this crazy adventure. Coincidentally (and more importantly, I think) it was also our 7 year dating anniversary. We figured it would be the last dating anniversary we ever observe (given that soon we will have a wedding anniversary to celebrate instead) so we wanted to do it up right.
We headed down to our old neighborhood to have a celebratory dinner at South Congress Cafe, a hip fine-dining place that we happen to have a gift certificate to. (My co-workers at TimeLine gave us a generous gift certificate to this place as a going away gift, along with a membership to AMOA which I have gushed about here.) We had a fabulous meal, and spent the time reminiscing about our past, talking about the upcoming wedding, and marveling at the fact that moving to Texas had neither killed us, nor our relationship.
Oh, you want me to tell you what we ate? Well... okay, if you insist!
We started with the special appetizer of the night, Escargot. It was a huge portion (like a dozen at least), well presented in a puddle of melted butter, with a thick dusting of some sort of strong, dry cheese over top (it was an off-the-menu special, so I cannot recall exactly what type of cheese, but think of a really good parmesan or pecorino.) It also had red pepper flakes in it, to add some heat, and a ton of garlic. It was Tom's first escargot experience, and he liked it. It makes me so happy that he is adventurous when it comes to food and is willing (and often excited) to try something new.
Tom ordered the Bacon and Goat Cheese Stuffed Quail, and I had the Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Chipotle Cherry Sauce. The quail was great, and the stuffing was amazing. It was served with a blackberry gastrique that Tom found a bit too sweet, and was over fingerling potatoes and Brussels sprout hash. I thought the brussels sprouts were a little under cooked for my taste, but over all it was a really nice entree. My duck was incredibly smoky with a sweet cherry sauce over the top. Again, I think this sauce was maybe a little too sweet (I couldn't detect any chipotle in it at all) however the mashed potatoes it was over were really lovely and spicy. When I got a bite with everything, it was a great balance, and reminded me of a fancy Thanksgiving dinner.
We ended the night with the Dried Cherry and Pecan Bread Pudding. Don't worry, it was served with Amy's Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream AND a bourbon creme anglaise-type sauce. It was delicious, and a very large portion. Happy anniversaries to us!
High Temp: 102F
Yesterday Tom and I celebrated two rather momentous anniversaries. It was exactly a year ago yesterday that we arrived to Austin, Texas to begin this crazy adventure. Coincidentally (and more importantly, I think) it was also our 7 year dating anniversary. We figured it would be the last dating anniversary we ever observe (given that soon we will have a wedding anniversary to celebrate instead) so we wanted to do it up right.
We headed down to our old neighborhood to have a celebratory dinner at South Congress Cafe, a hip fine-dining place that we happen to have a gift certificate to. (My co-workers at TimeLine gave us a generous gift certificate to this place as a going away gift, along with a membership to AMOA which I have gushed about here.) We had a fabulous meal, and spent the time reminiscing about our past, talking about the upcoming wedding, and marveling at the fact that moving to Texas had neither killed us, nor our relationship.
Oh, you want me to tell you what we ate? Well... okay, if you insist!
We started with the special appetizer of the night, Escargot. It was a huge portion (like a dozen at least), well presented in a puddle of melted butter, with a thick dusting of some sort of strong, dry cheese over top (it was an off-the-menu special, so I cannot recall exactly what type of cheese, but think of a really good parmesan or pecorino.) It also had red pepper flakes in it, to add some heat, and a ton of garlic. It was Tom's first escargot experience, and he liked it. It makes me so happy that he is adventurous when it comes to food and is willing (and often excited) to try something new.
Tom ordered the Bacon and Goat Cheese Stuffed Quail, and I had the Pan Roasted Duck Breast with Chipotle Cherry Sauce. The quail was great, and the stuffing was amazing. It was served with a blackberry gastrique that Tom found a bit too sweet, and was over fingerling potatoes and Brussels sprout hash. I thought the brussels sprouts were a little under cooked for my taste, but over all it was a really nice entree. My duck was incredibly smoky with a sweet cherry sauce over the top. Again, I think this sauce was maybe a little too sweet (I couldn't detect any chipotle in it at all) however the mashed potatoes it was over were really lovely and spicy. When I got a bite with everything, it was a great balance, and reminded me of a fancy Thanksgiving dinner.
We ended the night with the Dried Cherry and Pecan Bread Pudding. Don't worry, it was served with Amy's Mexican Vanilla Ice Cream AND a bourbon creme anglaise-type sauce. It was delicious, and a very large portion. Happy anniversaries to us!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Who we gonna root for? Round Rock Express!
Day: 360
High Temp: 101F
Saturday night Tom and I joined our friends, the Mannings, for our first ever Minor League Baseball experience. We traveled just outside Austin to the Dell Diamond to see the Round Rock Express take on the Fresno Grizzlies. When we arrived at the Manning abode, little Fin (adorable five-year old superhero enthusiast) yelled, "who we gonna root for?" To which us grown-ups replied, "Round Rock Express!" We did this many times over the course of the night, much to Fin's delight.
I am not a fan of the Houston Astros, the club for which the Express serves as AAA affiliate. That said, it is amazing how willing to overlook this fact I was in order to join in the spirit and root-root-root for the home team. It was a great night, and a great game, with the Express beating the Grizzlies 4-1. I could literally write pages about how much fun we had, but here are the highlights:
-The stadium! The Dell Diamond is a gorgeous place to take in a game, and it's so intimate. Intimacy work well for art and sports, so it would seem. I am now a huge enthusiast of AAA ball for this reason alone.
-The beer! A 24 ounce Shiner was only 6.50. Nice!
-The nachos! Allowing for the standard ball park queso, there was a serve yourself tub of pickled jalapenos which put these nachos into a new class of yummy.
-The pitching! The Express pen was able to keep the Grizzlies to 1 run, and really, for both sides it was a tight game.
-Spike! Spike the Express mascot, is hound dog dressed up like an old school train engineer. Fin and his mom Courtney took a trip to the Express merchandise store around the 6th inning and brought back a miniature stuffed Spike. Fin and I spent the next two innings creating a super hero story that included Spike as the central good guy, but also featured his side-kick Needles, and his arch-nemesis Steelman!
-Kiss Cam! Yep, we were on it and that was funny.
-The Eyes of Texas? Yeah, so between innings... maybe 3 and 4... they played the UT fight song. I actually noticed that more people seemed to be wearing burnt orange than the Express' Navy and Red earlier in the game, but this was hilarious. With fingers in longhorn formation, thousands in the stands sang along to show their... longhorn pride I guess.
-An actual train! Giving the team it's name, the train runs really close to the field and we heard its whistle at two different points during the game. When this happens, they play the opening lines of "Folsom Prison Blues" over the stadium PA.
When Tom and I were first planning our move to Austin, I actually thought quite a bit about Austin's lack of professional sports. I spent the first 28 years of my life in St Louis and Chicago, two seriously baseball-loving cities. I wondered what I would do so far from a major league team. What I have now learned is that Minor League baseball is a great substitute for the Majors. I will no longer look down upon all those many small towns that are home to, and genuinely love, minor league teams.
High Temp: 101F
Saturday night Tom and I joined our friends, the Mannings, for our first ever Minor League Baseball experience. We traveled just outside Austin to the Dell Diamond to see the Round Rock Express take on the Fresno Grizzlies. When we arrived at the Manning abode, little Fin (adorable five-year old superhero enthusiast) yelled, "who we gonna root for?" To which us grown-ups replied, "Round Rock Express!" We did this many times over the course of the night, much to Fin's delight.
I am not a fan of the Houston Astros, the club for which the Express serves as AAA affiliate. That said, it is amazing how willing to overlook this fact I was in order to join in the spirit and root-root-root for the home team. It was a great night, and a great game, with the Express beating the Grizzlies 4-1. I could literally write pages about how much fun we had, but here are the highlights:
-The stadium! The Dell Diamond is a gorgeous place to take in a game, and it's so intimate. Intimacy work well for art and sports, so it would seem. I am now a huge enthusiast of AAA ball for this reason alone.
-The beer! A 24 ounce Shiner was only 6.50. Nice!
-The nachos! Allowing for the standard ball park queso, there was a serve yourself tub of pickled jalapenos which put these nachos into a new class of yummy.
-The pitching! The Express pen was able to keep the Grizzlies to 1 run, and really, for both sides it was a tight game.
-Spike! Spike the Express mascot, is hound dog dressed up like an old school train engineer. Fin and his mom Courtney took a trip to the Express merchandise store around the 6th inning and brought back a miniature stuffed Spike. Fin and I spent the next two innings creating a super hero story that included Spike as the central good guy, but also featured his side-kick Needles, and his arch-nemesis Steelman!
-Kiss Cam! Yep, we were on it and that was funny.
-The Eyes of Texas? Yeah, so between innings... maybe 3 and 4... they played the UT fight song. I actually noticed that more people seemed to be wearing burnt orange than the Express' Navy and Red earlier in the game, but this was hilarious. With fingers in longhorn formation, thousands in the stands sang along to show their... longhorn pride I guess.
-An actual train! Giving the team it's name, the train runs really close to the field and we heard its whistle at two different points during the game. When this happens, they play the opening lines of "Folsom Prison Blues" over the stadium PA.
When Tom and I were first planning our move to Austin, I actually thought quite a bit about Austin's lack of professional sports. I spent the first 28 years of my life in St Louis and Chicago, two seriously baseball-loving cities. I wondered what I would do so far from a major league team. What I have now learned is that Minor League baseball is a great substitute for the Majors. I will no longer look down upon all those many small towns that are home to, and genuinely love, minor league teams.
Friday, August 6, 2010
What a Family Looks Like
Day: 356
High Temp: 102
I have been thinking so much about family, last names, home and marriage in the past few weeks. Tom and I are just about 2 months out from our own wedding day, and these things are just a constant point of conversation.
We are in a house now, which makes us feel more grown up, and like a family. I cannot explain why. But it does. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that we will come home after our wedding to this little house. Not an apartment, but a house. We don't own it, and it is highly likely that at some point (perhaps if/when we leave Austin) we will find ourselves again in an apartment. But for now, it's a house, and that feels like a real change.
We are also still debating the last name thing. It's a conversation we have been having for many years now, and for the first time this week Tom told me he wants us to have the same last name. It's old-fashioned, but really sweet. And it seems like with how far women and society have come in terms of feminism, us ladies don't need to hold on to our own last names to hold on to our identities. At least that is how I am starting to feel. And as I sat there talking with Tom, looking at him as he said he wanted us to share a last name, I realized that this was one thing I was happy to do for him. So now I am settling into the idea that come October 9 I will no longer be known as Lindsey Becker. Crazy!
The whole inspiration for this little post was this most amazing portrait of a family that I came across today on Marvelous Kiddo by way of the fabulous Snippet & Ink. Talk about discovering what a family looks like!
High Temp: 102
I have been thinking so much about family, last names, home and marriage in the past few weeks. Tom and I are just about 2 months out from our own wedding day, and these things are just a constant point of conversation.
We are in a house now, which makes us feel more grown up, and like a family. I cannot explain why. But it does. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that we will come home after our wedding to this little house. Not an apartment, but a house. We don't own it, and it is highly likely that at some point (perhaps if/when we leave Austin) we will find ourselves again in an apartment. But for now, it's a house, and that feels like a real change.
We are also still debating the last name thing. It's a conversation we have been having for many years now, and for the first time this week Tom told me he wants us to have the same last name. It's old-fashioned, but really sweet. And it seems like with how far women and society have come in terms of feminism, us ladies don't need to hold on to our own last names to hold on to our identities. At least that is how I am starting to feel. And as I sat there talking with Tom, looking at him as he said he wanted us to share a last name, I realized that this was one thing I was happy to do for him. So now I am settling into the idea that come October 9 I will no longer be known as Lindsey Becker. Crazy!
The whole inspiration for this little post was this most amazing portrait of a family that I came across today on Marvelous Kiddo by way of the fabulous Snippet & Ink. Talk about discovering what a family looks like!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Adios South Austin Commute
Day: 349
High Temp: 97F
Yes, I am sorry. ANOTHER post about moving. I feel like I have been obsessing about moving since we got here a year ago, but this probably is not my last moving-related blog entry. I still don't have any pictures of the cute new Mint House to post. Did I mention the Mint House has dark teal trim? Only in Austin...
I think I have joked before that it doesn't take any longer than 10 minutes to get from any one point to any other point within the ACL (that is Austin City Limits to those of you not in the know). That may be an understatement, as my daily commute to campus, via Elly, is at least twice that. It's a fairly easy and fast 20 minutes in the mornings (what, no one else but me has to be in the office by 8am??) By 5:20 in the afternoon, when I hit the intersection at Congress and Cesar Chavez, there is a full-blown, mini-urban traffic jam situation happening. I always sit through at least 4 light cycles at that intersection before I am able to make my left turn. On a normal traffic day, it takes me about 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles home.
By most urban standards, it's probably not that bad. For Austin, it seems kind of ridiculous. The whole problem is that I have to drive THROUGH downtown to get to campus.
Well ladies and gents, after today's commute, that will no longer be true. You see, we are moving north of campus, and that means I only have to drive through quiet residential neighborhoods to get to campus! I drove the new commute last night afterwork because I had to go pick up a package at the Mint House. I was in Elly by 5:12, and pulling into our new driveway by 5:19. I kid you not, in what should have been the full throes of rush hour, it took me only 7 minutes to get home. In truth, the new house is only .2 miles closer to campus than our current place. But not having to drive through downtown makes all the difference.
There are lots of things I will miss about South Austin, mainly this, this and this. However, spending less time in my car every day, and more time with Tom and the Home-doggy are worth being farther from my favorite tacos. I can always visit those places on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
High Temp: 97F
Yes, I am sorry. ANOTHER post about moving. I feel like I have been obsessing about moving since we got here a year ago, but this probably is not my last moving-related blog entry. I still don't have any pictures of the cute new Mint House to post. Did I mention the Mint House has dark teal trim? Only in Austin...
I think I have joked before that it doesn't take any longer than 10 minutes to get from any one point to any other point within the ACL (that is Austin City Limits to those of you not in the know). That may be an understatement, as my daily commute to campus, via Elly, is at least twice that. It's a fairly easy and fast 20 minutes in the mornings (what, no one else but me has to be in the office by 8am??) By 5:20 in the afternoon, when I hit the intersection at Congress and Cesar Chavez, there is a full-blown, mini-urban traffic jam situation happening. I always sit through at least 4 light cycles at that intersection before I am able to make my left turn. On a normal traffic day, it takes me about 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles home.
By most urban standards, it's probably not that bad. For Austin, it seems kind of ridiculous. The whole problem is that I have to drive THROUGH downtown to get to campus.
Well ladies and gents, after today's commute, that will no longer be true. You see, we are moving north of campus, and that means I only have to drive through quiet residential neighborhoods to get to campus! I drove the new commute last night afterwork because I had to go pick up a package at the Mint House. I was in Elly by 5:12, and pulling into our new driveway by 5:19. I kid you not, in what should have been the full throes of rush hour, it took me only 7 minutes to get home. In truth, the new house is only .2 miles closer to campus than our current place. But not having to drive through downtown makes all the difference.
There are lots of things I will miss about South Austin, mainly this, this and this. However, spending less time in my car every day, and more time with Tom and the Home-doggy are worth being farther from my favorite tacos. I can always visit those places on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Time Flies
Day: 345
High Temp: 93F
Good lord, where did the last two weeks go!? I was shocked to see that I haven't posted anything since July 12. Part of this time lapse can surely be accounted for by the fact that Tom was out of town all last week. This meant not only did I have to (once again this month) play single mom to Homer, but I spent much of my free time running errands, packing and cleaning, all in preparation for our move next weekend.
It seems like yesterday that Tom and I got the good news from our friends Zach and Adrienne that they would be moving here at the end of the summer. Guess what, they get here NEXT weekend! And, I am getting married in two months. Forget the last two weeks, where the heck did my 17 month engagement go?
So here is the deal, Tom and I are leaping our way closer to that year-anniversary mark, and despite time flying, I have had the opportunity (and inspiration) to think about where I am at, where I was a year ago, and all the excitement to come this year. It has been a really rough year in a lot of ways. There was the 4 month stint of unemployment, the constant anxiety about my inability to make adult friends here, my frustrations with my living situation and just the general sense of feeling on the outside of life, while everyone else around me seem to be living in it.
I have already told you how excited I am to be moving into a real house (with a yard, no one above me, vegetable garden, etc!!!) With this exciting event impending, I have made up my mind about one thing: I will embrace Texas for all that it is, the good and the bad.
Today, I say, NO MORE moping. I am going to embrace this change of living situation as an opportunity for an attitude adjustment. When my job is boring me to tears, I will just remind myself of the anxiety of having to pay rent several months into unemployment. When I start to feel like a looser for my lack of friends in Texas, I will remember how much better it can be to have one close friend you can talk about anything with than many acquaintances you can't really relate to. When I am missing the snow of the midwest, I will just think of how lucky I am to not have to walk my dog in January wearing a sleeping bag coat, galoshes, mittens a stocking cap AND earmuffs. Missing those fall leaves? Well, there is lettuce in the garden, and broccoli, and it's November!
Tom and I are getting married in two months, and just 3 months after that I turn thirty. I have spent the last year of my life feeling sorry for myself and I am tired of it. I wished away this last year, anxious to get to the wedding, to get the heck out of the lame apartment and to be at a place where I just feel settled. I am now realizing that settled is just as much a state of mind as it is time gone by. I am there, or at least I will try my hardest to be.
I saw a bumper sticker in the Hobby Lobby parking lot on Saturday that said, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as quick as I could!" And I just thought to myself, no matter how positive I am going to be about this whole Texas thing, I am not sure I will every be that person. I am just hoping for, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I live here now and that's not so bad!"
High Temp: 93F
Good lord, where did the last two weeks go!? I was shocked to see that I haven't posted anything since July 12. Part of this time lapse can surely be accounted for by the fact that Tom was out of town all last week. This meant not only did I have to (once again this month) play single mom to Homer, but I spent much of my free time running errands, packing and cleaning, all in preparation for our move next weekend.
It seems like yesterday that Tom and I got the good news from our friends Zach and Adrienne that they would be moving here at the end of the summer. Guess what, they get here NEXT weekend! And, I am getting married in two months. Forget the last two weeks, where the heck did my 17 month engagement go?
So here is the deal, Tom and I are leaping our way closer to that year-anniversary mark, and despite time flying, I have had the opportunity (and inspiration) to think about where I am at, where I was a year ago, and all the excitement to come this year. It has been a really rough year in a lot of ways. There was the 4 month stint of unemployment, the constant anxiety about my inability to make adult friends here, my frustrations with my living situation and just the general sense of feeling on the outside of life, while everyone else around me seem to be living in it.
I have already told you how excited I am to be moving into a real house (with a yard, no one above me, vegetable garden, etc!!!) With this exciting event impending, I have made up my mind about one thing: I will embrace Texas for all that it is, the good and the bad.
Today, I say, NO MORE moping. I am going to embrace this change of living situation as an opportunity for an attitude adjustment. When my job is boring me to tears, I will just remind myself of the anxiety of having to pay rent several months into unemployment. When I start to feel like a looser for my lack of friends in Texas, I will remember how much better it can be to have one close friend you can talk about anything with than many acquaintances you can't really relate to. When I am missing the snow of the midwest, I will just think of how lucky I am to not have to walk my dog in January wearing a sleeping bag coat, galoshes, mittens a stocking cap AND earmuffs. Missing those fall leaves? Well, there is lettuce in the garden, and broccoli, and it's November!
Tom and I are getting married in two months, and just 3 months after that I turn thirty. I have spent the last year of my life feeling sorry for myself and I am tired of it. I wished away this last year, anxious to get to the wedding, to get the heck out of the lame apartment and to be at a place where I just feel settled. I am now realizing that settled is just as much a state of mind as it is time gone by. I am there, or at least I will try my hardest to be.
I saw a bumper sticker in the Hobby Lobby parking lot on Saturday that said, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as quick as I could!" And I just thought to myself, no matter how positive I am going to be about this whole Texas thing, I am not sure I will every be that person. I am just hoping for, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I live here now and that's not so bad!"
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Mint House
Day: 331
High Temp: 91F
Is it possible that come August 1, Tom and I will be living the Austin dream? Tom just got a phone call from Mrs. Maylene Bird who told him that she and her husband would like us to rent their too-cute-for-words, mint green 2 bedroom house in the Hyde Park/North Loop neighborhood! I am going to pick up the lease tonight after work. I am so happy, and so relieved that I am near tears right now.
So, what does this mean? Well, there are a lot of unknowns. We have never rented a house before, but I do know there are a lot of things to look forward to and be grateful for. For instance:
-We have just 3 more weekends in our current, little apartment! And because we are going out of town this weekend, that means just two more weekends of the drunk, douche-bag neighbors waking us up in the middle of the night! Also, did I mention no one above us? No one below us! No shared walls with anyone!
-Homer will have a yard! A nice, fenced-in yard to run around, play fetch and chase bugs in!
-We will have a guest room! We have already had five sets of out-of-town visitors since February (how amazing is that?) Now, Tom and I will be able to offer our guests their own space, instead of our aerobed put up in the living room.
-I won't have to leave the comfort of my home to do laundry!!! There is a little utility closet just off the living room, and it is equipped with a washer and dryer that come with the place! I have not experienced such a luxury since moving out of my parents home 11 years ago.
-I will have dinner parties! The kitchen in this house is HUGE, and our dining room table will fit so nicely underneath the adorable little vintage chandelier in there.
-I will have a garden! The house is on one half of a double lot. The owners have a garage/storage building on the back of the other lot, and there is also a raised bed garden. The other lot has it's own fence, but the owners said we can use the garden if we want. That means veggies for us on the other side of the fence from Homer! Did I mention that the other lot also has a fig tree on it? Jam!!!
-Austin Charm! This place is one of a kind, for sure. It was originally two tiny houses that someone in the 1950's moved to this lot and put together as one. The whole outside was re-done, so it looks cohesive, but the interior still has tons of vintage touches from the original houses. Aside from the chandelier mentioned above, the bathroom has an original claw-foot tub, and the whole house has original hardwood floors, nicely refinished. Did I mention the blue cabinets in kitchen and the glass door knobs?
-We will live in a great, safe, neighborhood that puts us even closer to campus than we were before. We are also within a 5 minute walk of: Flight Path Coffee, Foreign & Domestic, The Parlor and a trio of beloved vintage shops: Room Service, Blue Velvet and Hog Wild. And we are within a 5 minute bike ride to the heart of Hyde Park, and a few more great restaurants: Mother's Cafe and Garden, Julio's Cafe and Quack's Bakery!
When Tom and I were planning our move to Austin last summer, we had dreams of renting an affordable house with a yard. Those dreams were soon dashed by a few leasing agents, bad timing and our own lack of understanding of how Austin "works." This year, although we were learning as we went, we were determined to find what so many of our friends here have... A nice little house. I personally think we got even more than we expected, and I am excited to sign the lease, and start making plans to move. And now, I am just curious about when y'all are coming down to visit!
High Temp: 91F
Is it possible that come August 1, Tom and I will be living the Austin dream? Tom just got a phone call from Mrs. Maylene Bird who told him that she and her husband would like us to rent their too-cute-for-words, mint green 2 bedroom house in the Hyde Park/North Loop neighborhood! I am going to pick up the lease tonight after work. I am so happy, and so relieved that I am near tears right now.
So, what does this mean? Well, there are a lot of unknowns. We have never rented a house before, but I do know there are a lot of things to look forward to and be grateful for. For instance:
-We have just 3 more weekends in our current, little apartment! And because we are going out of town this weekend, that means just two more weekends of the drunk, douche-bag neighbors waking us up in the middle of the night! Also, did I mention no one above us? No one below us! No shared walls with anyone!
-Homer will have a yard! A nice, fenced-in yard to run around, play fetch and chase bugs in!
-We will have a guest room! We have already had five sets of out-of-town visitors since February (how amazing is that?) Now, Tom and I will be able to offer our guests their own space, instead of our aerobed put up in the living room.
-I won't have to leave the comfort of my home to do laundry!!! There is a little utility closet just off the living room, and it is equipped with a washer and dryer that come with the place! I have not experienced such a luxury since moving out of my parents home 11 years ago.
-I will have dinner parties! The kitchen in this house is HUGE, and our dining room table will fit so nicely underneath the adorable little vintage chandelier in there.
-I will have a garden! The house is on one half of a double lot. The owners have a garage/storage building on the back of the other lot, and there is also a raised bed garden. The other lot has it's own fence, but the owners said we can use the garden if we want. That means veggies for us on the other side of the fence from Homer! Did I mention that the other lot also has a fig tree on it? Jam!!!
-Austin Charm! This place is one of a kind, for sure. It was originally two tiny houses that someone in the 1950's moved to this lot and put together as one. The whole outside was re-done, so it looks cohesive, but the interior still has tons of vintage touches from the original houses. Aside from the chandelier mentioned above, the bathroom has an original claw-foot tub, and the whole house has original hardwood floors, nicely refinished. Did I mention the blue cabinets in kitchen and the glass door knobs?
-We will live in a great, safe, neighborhood that puts us even closer to campus than we were before. We are also within a 5 minute walk of: Flight Path Coffee, Foreign & Domestic, The Parlor and a trio of beloved vintage shops: Room Service, Blue Velvet and Hog Wild. And we are within a 5 minute bike ride to the heart of Hyde Park, and a few more great restaurants: Mother's Cafe and Garden, Julio's Cafe and Quack's Bakery!
When Tom and I were planning our move to Austin last summer, we had dreams of renting an affordable house with a yard. Those dreams were soon dashed by a few leasing agents, bad timing and our own lack of understanding of how Austin "works." This year, although we were learning as we went, we were determined to find what so many of our friends here have... A nice little house. I personally think we got even more than we expected, and I am excited to sign the lease, and start making plans to move. And now, I am just curious about when y'all are coming down to visit!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Hello, my name is Lindsey and I am a blog-subscriberholic
Day: 327
High Temp: 77F (what?!)
It's true! I have been thinking about writing a post like this for weeks now, but with the recent addition of two new blogs in the past 24 hours, I figured it is time to come clean. I am currently following 43 (!) blogs, and I keep adding more. They break down as follows:
Wedding/Event Planning- 21
Family and Friends- 8
Crafts/Fashion/Arts- 3
Food- 3
Misc- 3
Professional (like non profit, entrepreneurial related)- 2
Theatre- 2
Celebrity- 1
The most recent blog I added to the roll is Food In Jars, a blog about canning. I love to can and jar all sorts of stuff, and so I was really excited when Carol over at Alinea At Home turned me onto it. Yes, that is how it almost always works for me. One blog leads to another and another and another, and so forth.
My favorite wedding blog, by far, is Ruffled. And the only celebrity blog I am following is Jorge Garcia's Further Dispatches (which truly was amazing when he was still filming Lost, but is still nice as he is such a genuinely cool guy).
I have 45 unread items still in my reader today, even though I had cleared it out by the end of the day yesterday, and spent part of my lunch hour earlier getting through a good portion of today's posts. What do you think? Do I need help?
I, myself, am currently tending to 2 of my own blogs... There is this one here, and my wedding blog here. Who needs 2 blogs?!
It helps to have a desk job, where instead of taking cigarette or coffee breaks, I can take a blog break when my brain is fried. I also have a mandatory 1 hour lunch each day, and do a lot of reading and writing at that time.
And since I am a glutton for punishment, I have to know... what are your favorite blogs? Besides mine, of course!
High Temp: 77F (what?!)
It's true! I have been thinking about writing a post like this for weeks now, but with the recent addition of two new blogs in the past 24 hours, I figured it is time to come clean. I am currently following 43 (!) blogs, and I keep adding more. They break down as follows:
Wedding/Event Planning- 21
Family and Friends- 8
Crafts/Fashion/Arts- 3
Food- 3
Misc- 3
Professional (like non profit, entrepreneurial related)- 2
Theatre- 2
Celebrity- 1
The most recent blog I added to the roll is Food In Jars, a blog about canning. I love to can and jar all sorts of stuff, and so I was really excited when Carol over at Alinea At Home turned me onto it. Yes, that is how it almost always works for me. One blog leads to another and another and another, and so forth.
My favorite wedding blog, by far, is Ruffled. And the only celebrity blog I am following is Jorge Garcia's Further Dispatches (which truly was amazing when he was still filming Lost, but is still nice as he is such a genuinely cool guy).
I have 45 unread items still in my reader today, even though I had cleared it out by the end of the day yesterday, and spent part of my lunch hour earlier getting through a good portion of today's posts. What do you think? Do I need help?
I, myself, am currently tending to 2 of my own blogs... There is this one here, and my wedding blog here. Who needs 2 blogs?!
It helps to have a desk job, where instead of taking cigarette or coffee breaks, I can take a blog break when my brain is fried. I also have a mandatory 1 hour lunch each day, and do a lot of reading and writing at that time.
And since I am a glutton for punishment, I have to know... what are your favorite blogs? Besides mine, of course!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Job
Day: 326
High Temp: 89F
The cool thing about my job at UT is that it is one part Education and one part social services. Having spent the first several years of my career fundraising in the arts, I thought this would be a great opportunity to diversify my experience and resume. This position has allowed me to learn a ton about endowments and the funding of academic programming. It has also allowed me the special joy of fundraising to provide direct healthcare services to the under and uninsured of central Texas through our two nurse-managed health clinics.
Yesterday afternoon I had my first chance to visit the School of Nursing's Children's Wellness Center (CWC), which is located in a rural and poor area of Travis County called Del Valle. Completely bereft of basic services (there is not a grocery store in Del Valle, and our clinic is the only primary health provider for miles) Del Valle almost seems forgotten by Travis County. It is also plagued by a special set of problems that must be unique to a poor rural community situated not 15 minutes from the "major urban area" that is downtown Austin (obesity, asthma, gang violence).
Every day, our clinic provides health services primarily for children, but also for their families if they have no where else to go. We serve a population of over 1,000 children under the age of 18, providing physical exams, treatment of acute illnesses, social and behavioral interventions and hundreds of free immunizations.
I was at CWC yesterday in preparation for an event we are hosting there in a few weeks. The entire clinic used to be situated in two modular buildings, but recently the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (yes, that Dell) gave us a large grant to renovate a third building. This renovation allowed us to create an expanded lab and new nurses stations and most exciting of all, it doubled the number of patient rooms we have at the clinic. Of course, thanks are in order, and so we are all trucking out to Del Valle in a few weeks to show the people from the Dell Foundation all the good they did with their recent grant and to thank them.
Settling in to the School of Nursing has been hard for me, but this visit helped me reconnect with an important aspect of the work we are accomplishing every day (aside from educating all those future nurses which is also cool). Certainly, I miss working in the arts. But also my boss and I are both new, and we are operating under an interim Dean. Everyone wants to move forward, but until a permanent Dean is appointed, it will be hard to do. I have been feeling a little like I am playing a waiting game, anticipating the appointment of a permanent Dean, and the unveiling of new strategies and goals for the school. Until then, we are just sort of carrying on. The Clinics, however, are still growing and it is exciting to see that happening.
High Temp: 89F
The cool thing about my job at UT is that it is one part Education and one part social services. Having spent the first several years of my career fundraising in the arts, I thought this would be a great opportunity to diversify my experience and resume. This position has allowed me to learn a ton about endowments and the funding of academic programming. It has also allowed me the special joy of fundraising to provide direct healthcare services to the under and uninsured of central Texas through our two nurse-managed health clinics.
Yesterday afternoon I had my first chance to visit the School of Nursing's Children's Wellness Center (CWC), which is located in a rural and poor area of Travis County called Del Valle. Completely bereft of basic services (there is not a grocery store in Del Valle, and our clinic is the only primary health provider for miles) Del Valle almost seems forgotten by Travis County. It is also plagued by a special set of problems that must be unique to a poor rural community situated not 15 minutes from the "major urban area" that is downtown Austin (obesity, asthma, gang violence).
Every day, our clinic provides health services primarily for children, but also for their families if they have no where else to go. We serve a population of over 1,000 children under the age of 18, providing physical exams, treatment of acute illnesses, social and behavioral interventions and hundreds of free immunizations.
I was at CWC yesterday in preparation for an event we are hosting there in a few weeks. The entire clinic used to be situated in two modular buildings, but recently the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (yes, that Dell) gave us a large grant to renovate a third building. This renovation allowed us to create an expanded lab and new nurses stations and most exciting of all, it doubled the number of patient rooms we have at the clinic. Of course, thanks are in order, and so we are all trucking out to Del Valle in a few weeks to show the people from the Dell Foundation all the good they did with their recent grant and to thank them.
Settling in to the School of Nursing has been hard for me, but this visit helped me reconnect with an important aspect of the work we are accomplishing every day (aside from educating all those future nurses which is also cool). Certainly, I miss working in the arts. But also my boss and I are both new, and we are operating under an interim Dean. Everyone wants to move forward, but until a permanent Dean is appointed, it will be hard to do. I have been feeling a little like I am playing a waiting game, anticipating the appointment of a permanent Dean, and the unveiling of new strategies and goals for the school. Until then, we are just sort of carrying on. The Clinics, however, are still growing and it is exciting to see that happening.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Lambert's Downtown BBQ, Take A Bow!
Day: 325
High Temp: 91F (Suck it Mid-Atlantic states!)
Hello friendly blog readers. Before I jump into my glowing review of Lamberts, let me apologize for my extended hiatus from the blog. I try my best to blog at least once a week, but the past few have been an odd sort. Between my long weekend in the Bay Area, the fervent house search, and playing single parent to a demanding, high-energy pup for a week, I have been a bit frazzled. I promise to be better in the upcoming weeks, and actually am cooking up something fun to commemorate our 1-year anniversary in Austin (just a month away). But now, with out further ado, I give you Lamberts Downtown BBQ!
Since arriving in Austin, Tom and I have become barbeque enthusiasts. Not only have we been blessed with many out of town visitors who must be introduced to the ways of Texas BBQ, but also, we just love the stuff. We don't buy much meat for at home cooking, and we never buy pork or beef, so visiting our local BBQ haunts is a way for us both to satisfy our protein cravings.
I had not even heard of Lamberts when our friends Martin and Kelly suggested it as the destination for our evening out. Martin and Kelly are, as I write this, packing up their lives here in Austin to move to my beloved Chicago (you know I am jealous!) Kelly having finished her PhD here at UT this spring, has recently been hired to the theatre faculty at North Central College. This was sort of a going-away celebration, and perhaps our last chance to really hang out and talk before they head north.
Lamberts serves up what one might call "Fancy BBQ." You read that right. Interspersed with the well smoked meats there are a lot of french-inspired preparations. You can order a charcuterie plate for an appetizer, the mashed potatoes are made with creme fraiche and the asparagus served with bearnaise sauce, and you can order creme brulee for dessert. Some bbq lovers may scoff at this, but I have to ask you, do you honestly think that a classically trained chef could not improve upon your favorite old family recipes? I think there is something to be said for innovation, and frankly Lamberts' pairing of classical technique with homestyle southern cooking is one of the best types of "fusion" cooking I have ever experienced.
We all started with the yummy mini-corn muffins studded with jalapenos. Tom and I then shared a salad on the specials menu which included arugula, fresh Fredericksburg peaches (local!) and a yummy, soft and runny blue cheese. It was divine, and a nice, light way to start a meal that would quickly turn into a gluttonous feast.
For my main course, I ordered the Cold Smoked Quail stuffed with rice, and served over two homemade cheese enchiladas. The whole thing was bathed in a delicious ranchero sauce, and topped with two diminutive fried quail eggs. Oh my word. BBQ + TexMex at it's finest. Tom had the Brisket, which he proclaimed to be the finest he had ever eaten. He went on for days about the tender, flavorful fatty layer, which enhanced the meat. He claims that most places just can't do fat like Lamberts. Most places it ends up more like gristle, chewy and unappetizing.
The table shared two family-style sides, the buttermilk potato salad (excellent, but not as good as my Aunt Christine's) and mac n' cheese (One of the best I have had in the city thus far.) And we ended, of course, with dessert. Tom and I shared the Chocolate and Chili Pudding. This was the only let down of the evening. As far as chocolate pudding goes, this one was actually quite delicious, however, when you advertise the presence of chili, you get me hoping there will be a kick, or even just a slight, back of the throat tickle. Unfortunately, there was not even a trace of chili flavor or heat in the pudding. And come to think of it, if I am being really picky, the texture was more like a Pots de Creme than an actual American-style pudding.
All in all, the place was really delicious. While I would happily go back for dinner (or even to try brunch) any time, I am really keen to try the happy hour, when the bar food is half off (including Spicy Deviled Eggs and Broiled Gulf Oysters) and the drinks are $2 off.
Read what I have said about Salt Lick here.
And I just looked back through my blog and could not find a single mention of in-town favorite Stubbs BBQ. I promise to write about it next time we go! They have the BEST side dishes of any Austin BBQ I have visited so far.
High Temp: 91F (Suck it Mid-Atlantic states!)
Hello friendly blog readers. Before I jump into my glowing review of Lamberts, let me apologize for my extended hiatus from the blog. I try my best to blog at least once a week, but the past few have been an odd sort. Between my long weekend in the Bay Area, the fervent house search, and playing single parent to a demanding, high-energy pup for a week, I have been a bit frazzled. I promise to be better in the upcoming weeks, and actually am cooking up something fun to commemorate our 1-year anniversary in Austin (just a month away). But now, with out further ado, I give you Lamberts Downtown BBQ!
Since arriving in Austin, Tom and I have become barbeque enthusiasts. Not only have we been blessed with many out of town visitors who must be introduced to the ways of Texas BBQ, but also, we just love the stuff. We don't buy much meat for at home cooking, and we never buy pork or beef, so visiting our local BBQ haunts is a way for us both to satisfy our protein cravings.
I had not even heard of Lamberts when our friends Martin and Kelly suggested it as the destination for our evening out. Martin and Kelly are, as I write this, packing up their lives here in Austin to move to my beloved Chicago (you know I am jealous!) Kelly having finished her PhD here at UT this spring, has recently been hired to the theatre faculty at North Central College. This was sort of a going-away celebration, and perhaps our last chance to really hang out and talk before they head north.
Lamberts serves up what one might call "Fancy BBQ." You read that right. Interspersed with the well smoked meats there are a lot of french-inspired preparations. You can order a charcuterie plate for an appetizer, the mashed potatoes are made with creme fraiche and the asparagus served with bearnaise sauce, and you can order creme brulee for dessert. Some bbq lovers may scoff at this, but I have to ask you, do you honestly think that a classically trained chef could not improve upon your favorite old family recipes? I think there is something to be said for innovation, and frankly Lamberts' pairing of classical technique with homestyle southern cooking is one of the best types of "fusion" cooking I have ever experienced.
We all started with the yummy mini-corn muffins studded with jalapenos. Tom and I then shared a salad on the specials menu which included arugula, fresh Fredericksburg peaches (local!) and a yummy, soft and runny blue cheese. It was divine, and a nice, light way to start a meal that would quickly turn into a gluttonous feast.
For my main course, I ordered the Cold Smoked Quail stuffed with rice, and served over two homemade cheese enchiladas. The whole thing was bathed in a delicious ranchero sauce, and topped with two diminutive fried quail eggs. Oh my word. BBQ + TexMex at it's finest. Tom had the Brisket, which he proclaimed to be the finest he had ever eaten. He went on for days about the tender, flavorful fatty layer, which enhanced the meat. He claims that most places just can't do fat like Lamberts. Most places it ends up more like gristle, chewy and unappetizing.
The table shared two family-style sides, the buttermilk potato salad (excellent, but not as good as my Aunt Christine's) and mac n' cheese (One of the best I have had in the city thus far.) And we ended, of course, with dessert. Tom and I shared the Chocolate and Chili Pudding. This was the only let down of the evening. As far as chocolate pudding goes, this one was actually quite delicious, however, when you advertise the presence of chili, you get me hoping there will be a kick, or even just a slight, back of the throat tickle. Unfortunately, there was not even a trace of chili flavor or heat in the pudding. And come to think of it, if I am being really picky, the texture was more like a Pots de Creme than an actual American-style pudding.
All in all, the place was really delicious. While I would happily go back for dinner (or even to try brunch) any time, I am really keen to try the happy hour, when the bar food is half off (including Spicy Deviled Eggs and Broiled Gulf Oysters) and the drinks are $2 off.
Read what I have said about Salt Lick here.
And I just looked back through my blog and could not find a single mention of in-town favorite Stubbs BBQ. I promise to write about it next time we go! They have the BEST side dishes of any Austin BBQ I have visited so far.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Searching
Day: 305
High Temp: 93F
You all may have noticed that the day counter is ticking slowly up towards the magical 365 day mark. Our one year anniversary in Texas is nearing, and beyond being a sentimental anniversary, it also means that Tom and I will soon, blessedly, be released from our current apartment lease!
We are early in our search (having seen only 3 places so far) but last night, we had an experience that took my confidence in finding a nice, affordable place down several notches. Most of you who read this blog have gone through the dual excitement/headache of finding a new place to live, but what Tom and I went through last night should win top honors for the worst apartment hunting experience ever...
We responded to a Craigslist ad for a small bungalow situated in the heart of one of Austin's best urban neighborhoods, Hyde Park. This little place had a great price, and while it didn't promise a lot of room, it was just two blocks from a locally owned grocery store, a great bakery, and several popular restaurants. We got there, and it was surprisingly run down. Huge holes in most of the window screens were apparent before we even stepped foot inside. Once inside, we saw it was vacant, but the previous renter's trash and other unwanted items were still in the house. It certainly had not been cleaned, and generally it did not appear to have been "made ready" to go back on the rental market. Given the fact that it was vacant, this seemed like a red flag warning me of poor management.
It certainly was not the charming, cozy bungalow the Craigslist ad had been promised, but matters got worse when after just a few minutes of looking around the rental agent said "oh my god!" and started slapping at his ankles. It was right around this time that I felt a sharp sting on my own leg, and looked down to see dozens of FLEAS swarming my ankles. I ran to the kitchen sink (which was filled with cleaning supplies and trash) and turned on the water which I proceeded to splash on my legs and feet, trying to rinse the little devils away. Grabbing a stray roll of paper towels, we quickly exited the place to continue our frantic slapping outside. I was horrified.
The rental agent could not have been more apologetic or embarrassed, but I was incredibly angry that they had agreed to show the property without first confirming that it was in livable condition. Not only did it waste our time, but I walked away with no less than a dozen red, swollen welts from the bites.
Horrible right? I am just hoping that this awful experience gains us a little positive house-hunting karma, and that we will soon find the perfect house at just the right price.
High Temp: 93F
You all may have noticed that the day counter is ticking slowly up towards the magical 365 day mark. Our one year anniversary in Texas is nearing, and beyond being a sentimental anniversary, it also means that Tom and I will soon, blessedly, be released from our current apartment lease!
We are early in our search (having seen only 3 places so far) but last night, we had an experience that took my confidence in finding a nice, affordable place down several notches. Most of you who read this blog have gone through the dual excitement/headache of finding a new place to live, but what Tom and I went through last night should win top honors for the worst apartment hunting experience ever...
We responded to a Craigslist ad for a small bungalow situated in the heart of one of Austin's best urban neighborhoods, Hyde Park. This little place had a great price, and while it didn't promise a lot of room, it was just two blocks from a locally owned grocery store, a great bakery, and several popular restaurants. We got there, and it was surprisingly run down. Huge holes in most of the window screens were apparent before we even stepped foot inside. Once inside, we saw it was vacant, but the previous renter's trash and other unwanted items were still in the house. It certainly had not been cleaned, and generally it did not appear to have been "made ready" to go back on the rental market. Given the fact that it was vacant, this seemed like a red flag warning me of poor management.
It certainly was not the charming, cozy bungalow the Craigslist ad had been promised, but matters got worse when after just a few minutes of looking around the rental agent said "oh my god!" and started slapping at his ankles. It was right around this time that I felt a sharp sting on my own leg, and looked down to see dozens of FLEAS swarming my ankles. I ran to the kitchen sink (which was filled with cleaning supplies and trash) and turned on the water which I proceeded to splash on my legs and feet, trying to rinse the little devils away. Grabbing a stray roll of paper towels, we quickly exited the place to continue our frantic slapping outside. I was horrified.
The rental agent could not have been more apologetic or embarrassed, but I was incredibly angry that they had agreed to show the property without first confirming that it was in livable condition. Not only did it waste our time, but I walked away with no less than a dozen red, swollen welts from the bites.
Horrible right? I am just hoping that this awful experience gains us a little positive house-hunting karma, and that we will soon find the perfect house at just the right price.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Austin Myth #1: It's Dry
Day: 299
High Temp: 89F
I feel like I should address a myth that is running rampant in our country. People think Texas is hot and dry. That is only half true, at least here in Austin. It is certainly hot. We have already experienced triple digit highs, and for the past few weeks it has consistently been hitting ninety degrees or higher each day. However, in my experience the fall, winter and spring are every bit as wet as they were in St. Louis (and more so than in Chicago). And in the fall and spring, it is also pretty damn humid.
The hill country may be an anomaly in Texas, but it is quite green, with huge live oaks, palm trees and lots of lush lawns mixed in with the expected prickly pears, cacti and succulents. And I am not just referring to the well-kept lawns of the middle and upper class. The wild landscape all around Austin is genuinely green. It is, indeed, the last bastion of flora before you hit the desolate and barely living landscape of West Texas, the part of the state which seems to have lent the rest of us it reputation for dry, dessert-like conditions.
It is true that by the time we get to the end of the summer we will get very little rain, and likely experience a drought. It will continue to be hot, and with the lack of rain, water bans will undoubtedly be put in place. Car washes will close their doors, business that fail to turn off and drain their fountains will be ticketed in violation of the water ban, and homeowners will only be able to water their lawns once a week (and by that point, it's not enough, so you might as well just give it up and let your lawn die.) It will be hot, and it will be dry, and we will pray for rain. This happened last summer, and when it finally did rain, there was a great celebration (see pics of that first blessed rain storm here). But this hot and dry weather really only seems to last for 2-3 months maximum. Slowly, as we inch towards October, and temperatures drop back into the eighties, it will become rainy and humid once more.
Of course, I am not sure any weather is ever typical here in Austin. I have been told that the spring was much more temperate than it normally is, that normally it would be genuinely and consistently HOT as early as April. I guess my point is that, in my short experience here, the majority of the weather in Austin is marked by rain and humidity. It just doesn't seem fair for all of you to think, "Sure, it's hot in Austin, but at least it's not as humid as it is here."
High Temp: 89F
I feel like I should address a myth that is running rampant in our country. People think Texas is hot and dry. That is only half true, at least here in Austin. It is certainly hot. We have already experienced triple digit highs, and for the past few weeks it has consistently been hitting ninety degrees or higher each day. However, in my experience the fall, winter and spring are every bit as wet as they were in St. Louis (and more so than in Chicago). And in the fall and spring, it is also pretty damn humid.
The hill country may be an anomaly in Texas, but it is quite green, with huge live oaks, palm trees and lots of lush lawns mixed in with the expected prickly pears, cacti and succulents. And I am not just referring to the well-kept lawns of the middle and upper class. The wild landscape all around Austin is genuinely green. It is, indeed, the last bastion of flora before you hit the desolate and barely living landscape of West Texas, the part of the state which seems to have lent the rest of us it reputation for dry, dessert-like conditions.
It is true that by the time we get to the end of the summer we will get very little rain, and likely experience a drought. It will continue to be hot, and with the lack of rain, water bans will undoubtedly be put in place. Car washes will close their doors, business that fail to turn off and drain their fountains will be ticketed in violation of the water ban, and homeowners will only be able to water their lawns once a week (and by that point, it's not enough, so you might as well just give it up and let your lawn die.) It will be hot, and it will be dry, and we will pray for rain. This happened last summer, and when it finally did rain, there was a great celebration (see pics of that first blessed rain storm here). But this hot and dry weather really only seems to last for 2-3 months maximum. Slowly, as we inch towards October, and temperatures drop back into the eighties, it will become rainy and humid once more.
Of course, I am not sure any weather is ever typical here in Austin. I have been told that the spring was much more temperate than it normally is, that normally it would be genuinely and consistently HOT as early as April. I guess my point is that, in my short experience here, the majority of the weather in Austin is marked by rain and humidity. It just doesn't seem fair for all of you to think, "Sure, it's hot in Austin, but at least it's not as humid as it is here."
Monday, June 7, 2010
Toobin'
Day: 296
High Temp: 88F (with heat index of 96F)
This past weekend Tom and I were visited by one of our favorite people, Libby Ford, and her very funny beau Josef. The pair stayed with us all weekend, and despite me having to work all day Thursday and Friday we packed in many fun activities, many of which were designed to beat the heat. Libby and Josef even enjoyed their first Alamo Draft house experience (read more about my love affair with the Alamo here). We saw Exit Through the Gift Shop, a truly funny and interesting "street art disaster film" created by the extremely elusive artist Banksy. (Try not to spend all day admiring his work). Libby swears the Alamo has some of the best pizza she has ever eaten.
On Saturday, our only real day to hang out all together, we decided to head south and try what the locals call Toobin'. Toobin' is basically just "Tubing" to those living in less southern locales. You know, floating down the river in an inner-tube. It should be relaxing, fun and a great way to soak in the local scenery while leisurely floating down a pretty river. Not so on the Guadalupe River (pronounced Gwahd-ah-loop).
Now, a warning before I proceed. What I am about to write here nearly amounts to sacrilege to most Austinites, but I don't care. It's my blog and I'll say what I want to.
This was kind of a terrible experience. There were literally thousands of "toobers" on the river, outfitted by the dozens of ramshackle businesses that dot Farm-to-Market 306 in Central Texas. Oh, and most of them were totally shit-faced, and acting like assholes, despite the presence of other people, and more to the point, families with children. There was a dude launching water balloons from a huge catapult bolted to his deck, and there were many drunk douchebags who brought along water cannons and water guns, which they gleefully used to squirt those passing by.
Granted, floating down an ice-cold river was probably the only way I could have spent 4 straight hours in the hot Texas sun, but this whole experience just wasn't worth it to me. As opposed to being a way to relax and enjoy being outside, most of our cohorts on the river just seem to treat the experience as a novel way to get wasted. Lame.
Perhaps my own expectations were too high. I grew up "floating" most many weekends in Missouri. My family owns a bit of land in the Mark Twain National Forest off a small river in central Missouri, and my grandparents retired there, in the gorgeous little log cabin on the property. The setting is nothing less than idyllic, and even on the busiest weekends (the summer holidays, etc) there was never the crush of humanity that we experienced this weekend. You could sit on the bluff on one of the busiest weekend, and still only see one group pass by every 5 minutes or so. And sure, people get shit-faced on the rivers in Missouri, but from what I remember, there seemed to be equal emphasis on respecting your fellow floaters, and the river you are enjoying, as there was on getting drunk.
Thankfully, Libby and Josef, and even Tom, were able to put the ass-holes aside and enjoy the experience a lot. But me, I just couldn't see passed all those red-neck hicks, to really enjoy the gorgeous bluffs overlooking the Guadalupe.
High Temp: 88F (with heat index of 96F)
This past weekend Tom and I were visited by one of our favorite people, Libby Ford, and her very funny beau Josef. The pair stayed with us all weekend, and despite me having to work all day Thursday and Friday we packed in many fun activities, many of which were designed to beat the heat. Libby and Josef even enjoyed their first Alamo Draft house experience (read more about my love affair with the Alamo here). We saw Exit Through the Gift Shop, a truly funny and interesting "street art disaster film" created by the extremely elusive artist Banksy. (Try not to spend all day admiring his work). Libby swears the Alamo has some of the best pizza she has ever eaten.
On Saturday, our only real day to hang out all together, we decided to head south and try what the locals call Toobin'. Toobin' is basically just "Tubing" to those living in less southern locales. You know, floating down the river in an inner-tube. It should be relaxing, fun and a great way to soak in the local scenery while leisurely floating down a pretty river. Not so on the Guadalupe River (pronounced Gwahd-ah-loop).
Now, a warning before I proceed. What I am about to write here nearly amounts to sacrilege to most Austinites, but I don't care. It's my blog and I'll say what I want to.
This was kind of a terrible experience. There were literally thousands of "toobers" on the river, outfitted by the dozens of ramshackle businesses that dot Farm-to-Market 306 in Central Texas. Oh, and most of them were totally shit-faced, and acting like assholes, despite the presence of other people, and more to the point, families with children. There was a dude launching water balloons from a huge catapult bolted to his deck, and there were many drunk douchebags who brought along water cannons and water guns, which they gleefully used to squirt those passing by.
Granted, floating down an ice-cold river was probably the only way I could have spent 4 straight hours in the hot Texas sun, but this whole experience just wasn't worth it to me. As opposed to being a way to relax and enjoy being outside, most of our cohorts on the river just seem to treat the experience as a novel way to get wasted. Lame.
Perhaps my own expectations were too high. I grew up "floating" most many weekends in Missouri. My family owns a bit of land in the Mark Twain National Forest off a small river in central Missouri, and my grandparents retired there, in the gorgeous little log cabin on the property. The setting is nothing less than idyllic, and even on the busiest weekends (the summer holidays, etc) there was never the crush of humanity that we experienced this weekend. You could sit on the bluff on one of the busiest weekend, and still only see one group pass by every 5 minutes or so. And sure, people get shit-faced on the rivers in Missouri, but from what I remember, there seemed to be equal emphasis on respecting your fellow floaters, and the river you are enjoying, as there was on getting drunk.
Thankfully, Libby and Josef, and even Tom, were able to put the ass-holes aside and enjoy the experience a lot. But me, I just couldn't see passed all those red-neck hicks, to really enjoy the gorgeous bluffs overlooking the Guadalupe.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Home-Doggy Turns One
Day: 290
High Temp: 95F
Today is Homer's first birthday. It is a momentous occasion for Tom and I, who have reaped untold joy from his short time on earth thus far. Tonight we celebrate with Frosty Paws!
Although, we have really been celebrating all weekend. On Saturday we took Homer over to Barton Creek to play fetch in the water, and last night we took a long walk down to and along Town Lake here in Austin, where Homer encountered his very first goose (not a fan).
Happy birthday Homer!
High Temp: 95F
Today is Homer's first birthday. It is a momentous occasion for Tom and I, who have reaped untold joy from his short time on earth thus far. Tonight we celebrate with Frosty Paws!
Although, we have really been celebrating all weekend. On Saturday we took Homer over to Barton Creek to play fetch in the water, and last night we took a long walk down to and along Town Lake here in Austin, where Homer encountered his very first goose (not a fan).
Happy birthday Homer!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Pledging Allegiance to the Texas Flag
Day: 278
High Temp: 91F
Last friday morning at 7:45am, I found myself in a large room inside a temporary building, surrounded by a few hundred children all under the age of 10 pledging my allegiance to the Texas State flag. It was my first experience pledging my allegiance to Texas, and with all the ridiculousness going on right now in the debate on what text books in Texas should contain I was thinking to myself, "Maybe not allegiance to Texas, but Austin... okay, I feel good about pledging my allegiance to Austin."
In a state where you spend the entirety of your 4th grade social studies class learning Texas state history, it should be no surprise this is a rudimentary part of the morning at UT Elementary School, but I was a bit caught off guard, nonetheless.
This all came about as I was invited to a monthly breakfast and tour that UT Elementary School hosts for University staff, faculty and any other interested community members. It's a chance to hear from the principal about what the school is doing right, meet the crazy-smart, well behaved and articulate students, and get a peek at how UTES is working with other urban schools to improve education for the underserved. It was really cool.
The scene of my allegiance pledging was the morning school-wide assembly. It's just 5-10 minutes each morning where the school comes together as a community to pledge allegiance in English and in Spanish, (and not just to Texas, but to the US flag as well), sing their school song (with UTES appropriate lyrics set to "The Eyes of Texas"), recite their "peace code" and hear any school announcements. If it's your birthday, the whole school will sing to you at assembly (as happened for little Francisco the morning I visited). And if it's Friday you also get to hear a joke from one or two of the kids as a part of what they call "Friday Funnies".
The school is truly a model of how amazing urban education can be, if you just have a little money, and the luxury of small classroom sizes. Of course, so few urban schools have those luxuries, so it was good to see how dedicated this school is to working with teachers and administrators from other Austin public schools, and how they supplement the teaching degree programs here at UT with unparalleled hands-on opportunities in the classrooms.
With their emphasis on early interventions (physical, behavioral, psychological, etc) and a thing they call "Social and Emotional Learning", this school is doing so much right. You can see the proof in the respect the kids have for themselves, their teachers and their school. I was mightily impressed by these "Little Longhorns."
High Temp: 91F
Last friday morning at 7:45am, I found myself in a large room inside a temporary building, surrounded by a few hundred children all under the age of 10 pledging my allegiance to the Texas State flag. It was my first experience pledging my allegiance to Texas, and with all the ridiculousness going on right now in the debate on what text books in Texas should contain I was thinking to myself, "Maybe not allegiance to Texas, but Austin... okay, I feel good about pledging my allegiance to Austin."
In a state where you spend the entirety of your 4th grade social studies class learning Texas state history, it should be no surprise this is a rudimentary part of the morning at UT Elementary School, but I was a bit caught off guard, nonetheless.
This all came about as I was invited to a monthly breakfast and tour that UT Elementary School hosts for University staff, faculty and any other interested community members. It's a chance to hear from the principal about what the school is doing right, meet the crazy-smart, well behaved and articulate students, and get a peek at how UTES is working with other urban schools to improve education for the underserved. It was really cool.
The scene of my allegiance pledging was the morning school-wide assembly. It's just 5-10 minutes each morning where the school comes together as a community to pledge allegiance in English and in Spanish, (and not just to Texas, but to the US flag as well), sing their school song (with UTES appropriate lyrics set to "The Eyes of Texas"), recite their "peace code" and hear any school announcements. If it's your birthday, the whole school will sing to you at assembly (as happened for little Francisco the morning I visited). And if it's Friday you also get to hear a joke from one or two of the kids as a part of what they call "Friday Funnies".
The school is truly a model of how amazing urban education can be, if you just have a little money, and the luxury of small classroom sizes. Of course, so few urban schools have those luxuries, so it was good to see how dedicated this school is to working with teachers and administrators from other Austin public schools, and how they supplement the teaching degree programs here at UT with unparalleled hands-on opportunities in the classrooms.
With their emphasis on early interventions (physical, behavioral, psychological, etc) and a thing they call "Social and Emotional Learning", this school is doing so much right. You can see the proof in the respect the kids have for themselves, their teachers and their school. I was mightily impressed by these "Little Longhorns."
Friday, May 14, 2010
Poker Walk
Day: 272
High Temp: They say 86F, but it's past noon and only 67 right now
On Wednesday I participated in the UT Poker Walk, which is a fitness initiative that encourages faculty and staff to exercise. It's an odd event, but the basic premise is that you form a team (we were Healin' and Dealin'- get it? Nurses + Poker!) walk a 1 mile course, and along the way pick up poker chips from 5 stations. When you get to the end of the course, you turn in your chips, and the volunteer dealers deal you 5 cards. There is no discarding, and the top three best hands win prizes. I got a heart flush with a queen high. It may have been the best poker hand I have ever been dealt, including games when discarding was allowed. And it turns out that was enough to score me 3rd best hand out of 1100 participants. I won a new ipod shuffle. Sweet.
The event also pushed my UT free t-shirt total up to 4 (in as many months of employment.) This place loves to give away t-shirts. I've added it to my longhorn water bottle, tip card, multiple pens and pencils, notepads, leather portfolio, refrigerator magnet and lapel pin.
High Temp: They say 86F, but it's past noon and only 67 right now
On Wednesday I participated in the UT Poker Walk, which is a fitness initiative that encourages faculty and staff to exercise. It's an odd event, but the basic premise is that you form a team (we were Healin' and Dealin'- get it? Nurses + Poker!) walk a 1 mile course, and along the way pick up poker chips from 5 stations. When you get to the end of the course, you turn in your chips, and the volunteer dealers deal you 5 cards. There is no discarding, and the top three best hands win prizes. I got a heart flush with a queen high. It may have been the best poker hand I have ever been dealt, including games when discarding was allowed. And it turns out that was enough to score me 3rd best hand out of 1100 participants. I won a new ipod shuffle. Sweet.
The event also pushed my UT free t-shirt total up to 4 (in as many months of employment.) This place loves to give away t-shirts. I've added it to my longhorn water bottle, tip card, multiple pens and pencils, notepads, leather portfolio, refrigerator magnet and lapel pin.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
So Much Catching Up...
Day: 264
High Temp: 94F
Hello friends. I have been terribly delinquent in my blogging recently, and I can blame that mostly on the kicking into gear of my wedding planning efforts. This Sunday will mark the anniversary of our engagement, and each day we get a little bit closer to the big party on October 9. We are under the 6 month mark until the wedding, which means I am spending my lunch hours trying to stay ahead of the curve as far as booking vendors, planning decor, and creating schedules. It's crazy, and so much fun. But it hasn't left me time to blog! And so much has happened. Here is a brief run down of what you missed in the past few weeks:
FRIENDS
Good friends Adam Simon and Mackenzie Kyle visited for a few days at the end of April. They were driving cross country from Florida to LA, and made some time for us (and queso). They surprised me by picking up my BFF Camilla in New Orleans, and bringing her along for the ride. We were also luck to play foster home to Adam and Mack's adorable doggy Hannah while they were in town, as the hotel they booked was not dog-friendly. The highlight for me was the first night they were all in town, when we took both the dogs and ourselves to the unique Lustre Pearl (revisit my first visit to this esteemed and unique Austin local here) to drink beer and eat some of the best taco truck food in Austin. It was so wonderful to see them all, and the amazing high I was on being with old friends was only matched by the sadness of saying goodbye to them. Good thing there was a....
WEDDING
Tom's little sister Erin got married the last weekend of April. It was a whirl-wind trip for us to the Bay Area, with no time for wine tastings, or leisurely strolls through San Fran. We did, however, get to hug many of our favorite people, dance till we dropped, and celebrate a beautiful day with two people we love very much. Oh, and did I mention the Pyramid beer? That is one Horan wedding down, and two to go in 2010...
NEW TEXANS
The weekend we were camping we got word that the amazing Zach Gonzalez-Landis has decided to come to UT next year for grad school. Even better news that that, he is bring his fabulous and hilarious lady Adrienne Dellinger with him. YES! More friend reinforcements are on their way!
BABIES
No, not me. If you are an avid reader of DMWL (which I am sure you all are) you should know from this post that Andy and my SIL Megan are expecting twins. Megan is due in early July, but was told, because they are multiples, to expect to deliver early. Unfortunately, after a very long drive to their new home in Springfield, Mo over the weekend, Megan went into pre-term labor. She has been in and out of hospital for the past few days, and now it looks as though she may be there to stay. The boys are at 31 weeks, which gives them an excellent chance of survival and a very low risk of complications, but we are all really hoping they stay put for at least another 4-5 weeks. Please send all of your positive thoughts (and cards, emails, cookie trays, etc) their way!
In other news, Tom and I are planning to go "tubin" this weekend. A very hill-country past time, "tubin" is simply floating, but in inner-tubes. Each person gets their own tube, and you also get an extra tube, with a bottom, to fill with ice and put your beer in. Then you lash all your tubes together and float en-masse at a snails pace while drinking beer down a river somewhere in the middle of Texas.
High Temp: 94F
Hello friends. I have been terribly delinquent in my blogging recently, and I can blame that mostly on the kicking into gear of my wedding planning efforts. This Sunday will mark the anniversary of our engagement, and each day we get a little bit closer to the big party on October 9. We are under the 6 month mark until the wedding, which means I am spending my lunch hours trying to stay ahead of the curve as far as booking vendors, planning decor, and creating schedules. It's crazy, and so much fun. But it hasn't left me time to blog! And so much has happened. Here is a brief run down of what you missed in the past few weeks:
FRIENDS
Good friends Adam Simon and Mackenzie Kyle visited for a few days at the end of April. They were driving cross country from Florida to LA, and made some time for us (and queso). They surprised me by picking up my BFF Camilla in New Orleans, and bringing her along for the ride. We were also luck to play foster home to Adam and Mack's adorable doggy Hannah while they were in town, as the hotel they booked was not dog-friendly. The highlight for me was the first night they were all in town, when we took both the dogs and ourselves to the unique Lustre Pearl (revisit my first visit to this esteemed and unique Austin local here) to drink beer and eat some of the best taco truck food in Austin. It was so wonderful to see them all, and the amazing high I was on being with old friends was only matched by the sadness of saying goodbye to them. Good thing there was a....
WEDDING
Tom's little sister Erin got married the last weekend of April. It was a whirl-wind trip for us to the Bay Area, with no time for wine tastings, or leisurely strolls through San Fran. We did, however, get to hug many of our favorite people, dance till we dropped, and celebrate a beautiful day with two people we love very much. Oh, and did I mention the Pyramid beer? That is one Horan wedding down, and two to go in 2010...
NEW TEXANS
The weekend we were camping we got word that the amazing Zach Gonzalez-Landis has decided to come to UT next year for grad school. Even better news that that, he is bring his fabulous and hilarious lady Adrienne Dellinger with him. YES! More friend reinforcements are on their way!
BABIES
No, not me. If you are an avid reader of DMWL (which I am sure you all are) you should know from this post that Andy and my SIL Megan are expecting twins. Megan is due in early July, but was told, because they are multiples, to expect to deliver early. Unfortunately, after a very long drive to their new home in Springfield, Mo over the weekend, Megan went into pre-term labor. She has been in and out of hospital for the past few days, and now it looks as though she may be there to stay. The boys are at 31 weeks, which gives them an excellent chance of survival and a very low risk of complications, but we are all really hoping they stay put for at least another 4-5 weeks. Please send all of your positive thoughts (and cards, emails, cookie trays, etc) their way!
In other news, Tom and I are planning to go "tubin" this weekend. A very hill-country past time, "tubin" is simply floating, but in inner-tubes. Each person gets their own tube, and you also get an extra tube, with a bottom, to fill with ice and put your beer in. Then you lash all your tubes together and float en-masse at a snails pace while drinking beer down a river somewhere in the middle of Texas.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Long Live the Yardists!
Day: 247
High Temp: 69F (yep, it's a little chilly here in Austin!)
Tom and I had a crazy weekend filled with things we needed to do:
-Laundry
-Grocery Shopping
-Get Haircuts
-Packing for our upcoming trip to the Bay Area
and things that we wanted to do:
-See a movie
-Brunch with friends
-Play with Homer
-Check out the Austin Art Yards Tour
I am proud to say that, although it was what I would consider a very hectic weekend, we somehow managed to do it all. The highlight, was undoubtedly the Austin Art Yards Tour.
I am sure that many of you have heard the slogan "Keep Austin Weird." Well, the Yardists (yard + artists, get it?) are the people who, more than any other group, truly put the weird (or more like unique) in Austin. They are a legion of people, both artists and normal people (yes, I just implied artists are not normal) who are dedicated to make their outdoor spaces just a little more beautiful/odd/whimsical/inspiring. Tom choose for us a tour route that would take us past the landmarks who call our south Austin neighborhood home.
One yard that I was particularly stoked to experience was the infamous Cathedral of Junk. Unfortunately, just days before the tour, the City of Austin officially announced that this landmark would be closed to the public (against the owners will) until future notice. For more information on this government-gone-wrong story, check out this Austin American Statesman article.
We did however, get a chance to see:
Smut Putt Heaven- not sure where the name derives from, but this back yard was chocked full of mannequin and doll heads, glass bottle hedges, crutches. There were also dozens of bottle-cap snakes hanging from the grand live oak that is the yard's centerpiece.
Black and White- a front yard who's artist owner has decided to decorate with huge Picasso-esque black and white cardboard sculptures
Flower Power- Another front yard, this time featuring colorful metal flower sculptures, some of which turned on their center axis.
Flamingos du Jour- This wildly overgrown back yard has been besieged by a huge flock of pink flamingo yard ornaments of all shapes and sizes.
Sea Yard- One of the most understated yards, this spot is best known for the under-sea mural that graces the entire back yard fence. It also features a stunning glass mermaid mural on the yard gate. We were lucky to see the owner Lois Goodman's sea tchotchke-bedecked car in the carport. And Lois was there soaking up the many compliments that were coming her way, and talking with visitors about her art and her home (a stunning work itself!).
Flat Fork Studios- Our last stop of the tour, this spot was most notable for the GIANT chicken that is chained to a fence in the front yard. Not kidding, the thing is taller than I am.
It was an inspiring and fun afternoon, and made me appreciate yet another level of uniqueness that my adopted city has to offer. Long live the yardists!
High Temp: 69F (yep, it's a little chilly here in Austin!)
Tom and I had a crazy weekend filled with things we needed to do:
-Laundry
-Grocery Shopping
-Get Haircuts
-Packing for our upcoming trip to the Bay Area
and things that we wanted to do:
-See a movie
-Brunch with friends
-Play with Homer
-Check out the Austin Art Yards Tour
I am proud to say that, although it was what I would consider a very hectic weekend, we somehow managed to do it all. The highlight, was undoubtedly the Austin Art Yards Tour.
I am sure that many of you have heard the slogan "Keep Austin Weird." Well, the Yardists (yard + artists, get it?) are the people who, more than any other group, truly put the weird (or more like unique) in Austin. They are a legion of people, both artists and normal people (yes, I just implied artists are not normal) who are dedicated to make their outdoor spaces just a little more beautiful/odd/whimsical/inspiring. Tom choose for us a tour route that would take us past the landmarks who call our south Austin neighborhood home.
One yard that I was particularly stoked to experience was the infamous Cathedral of Junk. Unfortunately, just days before the tour, the City of Austin officially announced that this landmark would be closed to the public (against the owners will) until future notice. For more information on this government-gone-wrong story, check out this Austin American Statesman article.
We did however, get a chance to see:
Smut Putt Heaven- not sure where the name derives from, but this back yard was chocked full of mannequin and doll heads, glass bottle hedges, crutches. There were also dozens of bottle-cap snakes hanging from the grand live oak that is the yard's centerpiece.
Black and White- a front yard who's artist owner has decided to decorate with huge Picasso-esque black and white cardboard sculptures
Flower Power- Another front yard, this time featuring colorful metal flower sculptures, some of which turned on their center axis.
Flamingos du Jour- This wildly overgrown back yard has been besieged by a huge flock of pink flamingo yard ornaments of all shapes and sizes.
Sea Yard- One of the most understated yards, this spot is best known for the under-sea mural that graces the entire back yard fence. It also features a stunning glass mermaid mural on the yard gate. We were lucky to see the owner Lois Goodman's sea tchotchke-bedecked car in the carport. And Lois was there soaking up the many compliments that were coming her way, and talking with visitors about her art and her home (a stunning work itself!).
Flat Fork Studios- Our last stop of the tour, this spot was most notable for the GIANT chicken that is chained to a fence in the front yard. Not kidding, the thing is taller than I am.
It was an inspiring and fun afternoon, and made me appreciate yet another level of uniqueness that my adopted city has to offer. Long live the yardists!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Holding Back
Day: 243
High Temp: 74F
I wanted to share with you a situation and get some feedback on it. Like many of you, I have a Facebook page. I check it a few times throughout the work day, and generally find the random thoughts of my friends and family members entertaining and informative. This is particularly true of the tweenage daughter of one of my cousins. She is on it constantly, and is always in the middle of hormone-fueled dramas with her school friends. It's quite hilarious, and it helps me remember why I am so glad to not be a teenager any more!
That was not the case this morning when I read her update that said "if you come to our country, learn to speak our language, or don't come at all. :)"
I find that ignorant and offensive. Hoping that surely this young, smart kid was alluding to some kind of inside joke, I write, "that is a joke, right"
She says, "nope."
Me, "okay, well then I have to ask, you realize that "our language" wasn't here first, right? when your English speaking ancestors arrived, they were foreigners. basically, you are the product of immigrants."
I know it is Facebook, not the place to pick political or social fights with family members, but I just could not let it slide. I spent a school year volunteering in the Chicago Public Schools, teaching a curriculum of human rights and tolerance with Amnesty International. I can get a young man who grew up in the DRC to come around to the fact that it is not okay to persecute homosexuals, then certainly I can help my sheltered second-cousin realize the ignorance of what she is saying.
To her credit (I think), she then posted, "Ohh sorry i have facebook mobile and i wasnt sure which status you commented on. And didnt know that:) thanks for lettin me know.:) Haha"
I can see her rolling her eyes while posting it, but still, she seemed to at least gather that what she said was offensive.
Following that, this girl's aunt (the woman married to another of my cousins) said "I agreed because most immigrants from mexico are illegal and stubborn so the case is closed for me."
Well, that pissed me off. I want to go back on there and say to the aunt, "Oh, well, if most Mexicans are illegal and stubborn, then of course, by all means, marginalize them!" Or to the young woman who originated this post, "Well yes, with adult roll models like these, I can see what you are a closed-minded xenophobe."
These people are my family, and here there are doing their best to prove another stereotype- people from Missouri are backwards, intolerant hicks.
So, instead of instigating a huge war of the families (which I kind of want to do, because, lets face it, I am right, and I have mad debating skills), I am writing this post. What do you guys think. Hold my tongue. Fight against ignorance? Am I just self-righteous?
UPDATE: A few hours after my blog posting, I got a little notification on my Blackberry that someone else had commented on the original Facebook post which incited my little war. Nervous about what other horror may have been unleashed, I tentatively checked what was new. Turns out it was the offending tween's dad, my cousin, who had this to say, "Yeah, I just can't leave this one alone...my opinion, but this statement is a little narrow-minded, intolerant and certainly not a reflection on her father. I encourage free thinking but wowzers!"
Good on ya cousin Justin! Thank you for saying what needed to be said, in a caring and open minded way, and with a sense of humor and love. This probably had a more (positive) affect than anything I could have said.
And thanks for those who here, and over email, gave me their thoughts on this subject. It's good to know that you guys are out there fighting the good fight against intolerance too!
High Temp: 74F
I wanted to share with you a situation and get some feedback on it. Like many of you, I have a Facebook page. I check it a few times throughout the work day, and generally find the random thoughts of my friends and family members entertaining and informative. This is particularly true of the tweenage daughter of one of my cousins. She is on it constantly, and is always in the middle of hormone-fueled dramas with her school friends. It's quite hilarious, and it helps me remember why I am so glad to not be a teenager any more!
That was not the case this morning when I read her update that said "if you come to our country, learn to speak our language, or don't come at all. :)"
I find that ignorant and offensive. Hoping that surely this young, smart kid was alluding to some kind of inside joke, I write, "that is a joke, right"
She says, "nope."
Me, "okay, well then I have to ask, you realize that "our language" wasn't here first, right? when your English speaking ancestors arrived, they were foreigners. basically, you are the product of immigrants."
I know it is Facebook, not the place to pick political or social fights with family members, but I just could not let it slide. I spent a school year volunteering in the Chicago Public Schools, teaching a curriculum of human rights and tolerance with Amnesty International. I can get a young man who grew up in the DRC to come around to the fact that it is not okay to persecute homosexuals, then certainly I can help my sheltered second-cousin realize the ignorance of what she is saying.
To her credit (I think), she then posted, "Ohh sorry i have facebook mobile and i wasnt sure which status you commented on. And didnt know that:) thanks for lettin me know.:) Haha"
I can see her rolling her eyes while posting it, but still, she seemed to at least gather that what she said was offensive.
Following that, this girl's aunt (the woman married to another of my cousins) said "I agreed because most immigrants from mexico are illegal and stubborn so the case is closed for me."
Well, that pissed me off. I want to go back on there and say to the aunt, "Oh, well, if most Mexicans are illegal and stubborn, then of course, by all means, marginalize them!" Or to the young woman who originated this post, "Well yes, with adult roll models like these, I can see what you are a closed-minded xenophobe."
These people are my family, and here there are doing their best to prove another stereotype- people from Missouri are backwards, intolerant hicks.
So, instead of instigating a huge war of the families (which I kind of want to do, because, lets face it, I am right, and I have mad debating skills), I am writing this post. What do you guys think. Hold my tongue. Fight against ignorance? Am I just self-righteous?
UPDATE: A few hours after my blog posting, I got a little notification on my Blackberry that someone else had commented on the original Facebook post which incited my little war. Nervous about what other horror may have been unleashed, I tentatively checked what was new. Turns out it was the offending tween's dad, my cousin, who had this to say, "Yeah, I just can't leave this one alone...my opinion, but this statement is a little narrow-minded, intolerant and certainly not a reflection on her father. I encourage free thinking but wowzers!"
Good on ya cousin Justin! Thank you for saying what needed to be said, in a caring and open minded way, and with a sense of humor and love. This probably had a more (positive) affect than anything I could have said.
And thanks for those who here, and over email, gave me their thoughts on this subject. It's good to know that you guys are out there fighting the good fight against intolerance too!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Camping: The Menu
Day: 236
High Temp: 72F
In anticipation for this weekends camping festivities (and the anticipated "unplugging" that will happen during that time) I thought I would give you all a preview of what is on the menu for the trip.
Those of you who have camped with me before know I like to do so in semi-gourmet style. This likely stems from the influence of my aunt and god mother Patty, who on a camping trip many many years ago made me one of the most memorable and influential meals of my life. She cooked up beef stew from scratch in a dutch oven on the campfire. And topped that (literally) with an amazing peach cobbler cooked on the lid of the oven. If there is one thing I would give up s'mores for, it would have to be cobbler. That meal taught me that you can eat good ANYWHERE, if you only care to (including the bat-inhabited sandy shore of a river in Missouri.)
For my own camping trip, I plan the menu for days and make a special grocery trip just for the ingredients (I spent over $80 last night for this trip, although that did include some non-food stock up items we need to stock up on before we leave, like batteries and bugspray.) I also like to try and pack as light as possible, finding several different ways to use one ingredient (take the Dubliner cheese in this weekend's menu).
This trip will be a bit more challenging than past trips, as Tom and I got rid of our little table-top hibachi grill in the move to Austin. Having not yet replaced the grill, it was my challenge to come up with a menu that could be either A. cooked on a skewer OR B. cooked in a packet. So no pizza this time and no turkey burgers. That said, I am still pretty stoked for the food!
Without further ado, I give you the menu:
FRIDAY DINNER
-Chicken, spinach and feta sausages on whole wheat buns
-Campfire baked potatoes with Dubliner Cheese
-Rising Moon Spring Ale
-S'mores
SATURDAY BREAKFAST
-Campfire toasted Bagles with cream cheese
-Bananas, strawberries and blueberries in a homemade vanilla-lime-agave yogurt dressing
-Campfire percolated coffee
SATURDAY LUNCH
-Sliced turkey and Dubliner cheese sandwiches with tomato, cucumber and avocado
-Crudites (carrots, broccoli, cucumber) and Humus
-BBQ Chips
-More Rising Moon perhaps?
SATURDAY DINNER
-Classic campfire packet dinner with chicken sausage, leeks, whole garlic cloves, zucchini, mushrooms and potato (and more Dubliner, if there is any left!)
-Corn on the Cob
-Tempra Tantrum Wine (tempranillo grenache blend)
-S'mores (no originality here, I have to have them every night that we camp)
Sunday morning's breakfast will likely just be the leftover fruit salad and bagels/granola bars. It is nearly impossible to come up with creative breakfast ideas without traditional cooking implements, besides we rarely start a new fire on Sunday, knowing we will be heading home soon.
Happy camping!
High Temp: 72F
In anticipation for this weekends camping festivities (and the anticipated "unplugging" that will happen during that time) I thought I would give you all a preview of what is on the menu for the trip.
Those of you who have camped with me before know I like to do so in semi-gourmet style. This likely stems from the influence of my aunt and god mother Patty, who on a camping trip many many years ago made me one of the most memorable and influential meals of my life. She cooked up beef stew from scratch in a dutch oven on the campfire. And topped that (literally) with an amazing peach cobbler cooked on the lid of the oven. If there is one thing I would give up s'mores for, it would have to be cobbler. That meal taught me that you can eat good ANYWHERE, if you only care to (including the bat-inhabited sandy shore of a river in Missouri.)
For my own camping trip, I plan the menu for days and make a special grocery trip just for the ingredients (I spent over $80 last night for this trip, although that did include some non-food stock up items we need to stock up on before we leave, like batteries and bugspray.) I also like to try and pack as light as possible, finding several different ways to use one ingredient (take the Dubliner cheese in this weekend's menu).
This trip will be a bit more challenging than past trips, as Tom and I got rid of our little table-top hibachi grill in the move to Austin. Having not yet replaced the grill, it was my challenge to come up with a menu that could be either A. cooked on a skewer OR B. cooked in a packet. So no pizza this time and no turkey burgers. That said, I am still pretty stoked for the food!
Without further ado, I give you the menu:
FRIDAY DINNER
-Chicken, spinach and feta sausages on whole wheat buns
-Campfire baked potatoes with Dubliner Cheese
-Rising Moon Spring Ale
-S'mores
SATURDAY BREAKFAST
-Campfire toasted Bagles with cream cheese
-Bananas, strawberries and blueberries in a homemade vanilla-lime-agave yogurt dressing
-Campfire percolated coffee
SATURDAY LUNCH
-Sliced turkey and Dubliner cheese sandwiches with tomato, cucumber and avocado
-Crudites (carrots, broccoli, cucumber) and Humus
-BBQ Chips
-More Rising Moon perhaps?
SATURDAY DINNER
-Classic campfire packet dinner with chicken sausage, leeks, whole garlic cloves, zucchini, mushrooms and potato (and more Dubliner, if there is any left!)
-Corn on the Cob
-Tempra Tantrum Wine (tempranillo grenache blend)
-S'mores (no originality here, I have to have them every night that we camp)
Sunday morning's breakfast will likely just be the leftover fruit salad and bagels/granola bars. It is nearly impossible to come up with creative breakfast ideas without traditional cooking implements, besides we rarely start a new fire on Sunday, knowing we will be heading home soon.
Happy camping!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Camping
Day: 234
High Temp: 81F
We have, again, been having problems with our apartment. About 2 months ago new neighbors moved in next door. They are bachelors, and total douche-bags. I hate them. For the first few weeks, they were fine. However, in the past few weeks the have started to act like total assholes. They go out to the bars every Friday and Saturday night. When the bars close, they come home, and hang out on their back deck, making a ton of noise which wakes us up. I am talking 3 or 4am, laughing, incoherent ramblings and event the perplexing occasional appearance of ESPN radio. You know, sometimes Tom and I go out too, and nothing is worse than coming home, getting into bed, falling asleep only to be awoken an half-hour later.
(Okay, now I know you are all thinking, what does this rant have to do with camping? Bear with my while I suss out the finer points of my indignation, and we will get to the camping, promise!)
We have asked nicely, and we have complained. Our (nice) neighbors have complained too. We all call the security team for the complex, or we call APD. Then we wait until they show up, and eventually it gets quiet and we can go back to sleep. So far, the (asshole) neighbors just don't give a crap that they are waking everyone else up on that side of the building. The office management says they give them lease violations each time a complaint is registered, but no one is really sure what happens after that. Do they get kicked out after a certain number of violations? Have to pay fines? No idea. All I know is the us other 8 apartments on that side of the building and are good members of the community, who pay our rent each month. And for that, we are now subjected to this ridiculousness.
It makes me so sad. Since Tom and I moved over to this new building in October, we have been pretty happy. I guess I should have known a tolerable living situation in this complex was too good to last.
So, instead of waiting around this weekend to be rudely awoken again in the middle of the night, we are going camping. We are packing up our stuff (including a new, bigger tent that Tom and I bought right before leaving Chicago), and getting the heck out of town. It's bluebonnet season here in the Hill Country, and besides that the weather is supposed to be glorious this weekend. Highs in the upper 70s, with lows down into the 50s. Perfect campfire weather.
It will be Homer's first camping trip, which is exciting. He is a little bit of a scaredy dog, but he loves being outside (even in the rain) and loves to eat bugs and meet new people, so I think he will like it. The only things I am worried about are the fabled critters of Texas. While I would be amused by a somewhat far-off sighting of an armadillo (I've never seen one) or even a scorpion, I am terrified of encountering a tarantula. Please god, keep the mutant spiders at bay.
Stay tuned to hear how the adventure turns out!
High Temp: 81F
We have, again, been having problems with our apartment. About 2 months ago new neighbors moved in next door. They are bachelors, and total douche-bags. I hate them. For the first few weeks, they were fine. However, in the past few weeks the have started to act like total assholes. They go out to the bars every Friday and Saturday night. When the bars close, they come home, and hang out on their back deck, making a ton of noise which wakes us up. I am talking 3 or 4am, laughing, incoherent ramblings and event the perplexing occasional appearance of ESPN radio. You know, sometimes Tom and I go out too, and nothing is worse than coming home, getting into bed, falling asleep only to be awoken an half-hour later.
(Okay, now I know you are all thinking, what does this rant have to do with camping? Bear with my while I suss out the finer points of my indignation, and we will get to the camping, promise!)
We have asked nicely, and we have complained. Our (nice) neighbors have complained too. We all call the security team for the complex, or we call APD. Then we wait until they show up, and eventually it gets quiet and we can go back to sleep. So far, the (asshole) neighbors just don't give a crap that they are waking everyone else up on that side of the building. The office management says they give them lease violations each time a complaint is registered, but no one is really sure what happens after that. Do they get kicked out after a certain number of violations? Have to pay fines? No idea. All I know is the us other 8 apartments on that side of the building and are good members of the community, who pay our rent each month. And for that, we are now subjected to this ridiculousness.
It makes me so sad. Since Tom and I moved over to this new building in October, we have been pretty happy. I guess I should have known a tolerable living situation in this complex was too good to last.
So, instead of waiting around this weekend to be rudely awoken again in the middle of the night, we are going camping. We are packing up our stuff (including a new, bigger tent that Tom and I bought right before leaving Chicago), and getting the heck out of town. It's bluebonnet season here in the Hill Country, and besides that the weather is supposed to be glorious this weekend. Highs in the upper 70s, with lows down into the 50s. Perfect campfire weather.
It will be Homer's first camping trip, which is exciting. He is a little bit of a scaredy dog, but he loves being outside (even in the rain) and loves to eat bugs and meet new people, so I think he will like it. The only things I am worried about are the fabled critters of Texas. While I would be amused by a somewhat far-off sighting of an armadillo (I've never seen one) or even a scorpion, I am terrified of encountering a tarantula. Please god, keep the mutant spiders at bay.
Stay tuned to hear how the adventure turns out!
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