JOSEPH & AMY

It Was Never Over

2012-01-04T15:01:00.015-06:00

Where do I begin? We are back.

Back where we belong. Back together.

What a story this has become! The last time I posted it was with a very heavy heart that I signed off at the end of the marshigley blog. It had been my method of documenting and celebrating our lovely life together in Texas... the food & wine, the trips, the outdoor activity, the dogs, our happiness.

After four years we came to a point where we needed to no longer be together. The love and respect never changed, ugly words rarely said, there were just two different courses we needed to take. I didn't focus much on what would come in the future and charged full steam ahead being Just Amy. It was a busy year after that. I moved to North Carolina, reconnected with a dear friend, lived in a mountain lake house in the woods for a spectacular summer, spent the holidays in Hawaii and then came home to Columbus after ten years away. Sadly, my time in Columbus was some of the hardest of my life and losing Dad shook me so, so deeply. But from great loss sometimes comes great wisdom, and I believe that's what lead me back to where I ultimately belong.

"It was never over", according to Joseph. He promised to wait for me. And that is exactly what he did. In the ultimate demonstration of undying, unconditional love, Joseph kept our life mostly in tact in Horseshoe Bay. We never lost touch and after nineteen months of patiently waiting and never wavering from his stance that we were meant to be together and that I would realize it and come back... It became glaringly obvious to me.

As of the late hours of Christmas Eve 2011 Joseph and I are engaged to be married. We have decided on Saturday, June 16, 2012.

We will finally be The Higleys.

Just Checking

2011-10-08T22:23:00.004-05:00

Just checking.

<3

The End

2010-01-31T23:13:00.003-06:00

It's the end of an era, folks.
Our journey together has reached its destination, we're here. And now we must go.

Goodbye and Peace

The Last Time

2009-11-27T18:47:00.003-06:00

Hello, if any even reads this. It has been quite a while since I have actively posted anything here and had pretty much accepted that I'd given up. I felt compelled to write tonight.

Hopefully not for the last time, like the title may lead you to believe, tonight I am thinking about doing things for the last time in this house. Last night we cooked a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in our colorful open kitchen in this spacious, quiet house. The dogs laid with their paws and noses on the line of the carpet and watched (and Coop waited for a drop of something, anything). It's a darling sight we've seen hundreds of times while we cooked. Most of our kitchen is packed up, and from the dishwasher into boxes the dishes went today. Just due to timing really, Thanksgiving was our final meal in this kitchen. For the lovers of food, it's a perfect finale in a house we have loved.

***Thanksgiving Dinner Menu*** (will add later, with pictures)

Tonight I shopped at the one small town grocery store in Marble Falls, for the last time.
Sunday I will drive that peaceful curvy 22 miles of country highway at sunrise for the last time. My commute will now be less than four miles, from the other direction.

The list of lasts we'll do here this weekend goes on. And the list of firsts we're facing is infinite. Our new place is a loft-style above a garage apartment, separate from a family residence on a wooded piece of land near Lake Travis. It's a little more than half the size of the house we're in now, which will be an adjustment, but definitely a good one. It's just been finished this month and we're looking forward to all of it's state of the art fanciness. I get to have a desk and laptop in THE PANTRY with a window!!!!!! and our washer and dryer fits inside the walk-in closet. We're downsizing quite a bit, leaving behind anything not worth taking, which for us is mostly everything. : ) Not entirely, but it feels that way. We are donating more than half of each of our wardrobes. Our dining room table, it's a piece of trash, literally now. And most noticeably, Joseph's 70" Monster Screen tv was hauled off into the darkness Monday night.

We'll replace the tv, the table and eventually the clothes. But we will never replace the years we spent in Horseshoe Bay. It's unlike any other place in the world and I can't imagine a more idyllic location to spend your twenties. We each spent ours here. It's the lake-side retirement community where Joseph and I separately, then together, grew up. Now we start our life... as grown ups, in Briarcliff.

Goodbye, Texas - Hello, Florida!

2009-08-02T18:46:00.004-05:00

Will we ever be glad to fly the ^*%$ out of here on Wednesday morning!!!!! Yes, yes we will! We've been planning this trip for so many months and I felt like it would never get here. But it's here, finally!

Thank Goodness, because I don't think either one of us could work another week without going insane! You know when you just NEED a vacation? I have worked 17 of the last 19 days, which just about pushed me to the edge. Today was the last day of service at the club and tomorrow I have to work a few hours to close the place down for ten days. Feels like the last day of school for the summer! Seems like a rip off, ten days.

We got the first flight out of San Antonio on Wednesday morning. That means we will actually be leaving our house at 2:30am to get to the airport! I have a million things to get done on Tuesday, so I'm writing this post early.

I'm doing laundry, packing and cooking dinner with a bunch of random stuff, to try to clean out fridge. Joseph is working at Lorraine's on a Sunday, which he's only had to do one other time. A church band is playing and holding service there, at a bar...? He'll be home soon for a yummy dinner. (Citrus-soy grilled tri-tip, spring rolls, sticky fried rice and broccoli&carrots) There is a list of chores to get done that seems to be growing faster than I can check things off. Ugh. Nothing can get me down this week, though. We worked really hard to get here, I'm damn sure going to enjoy it!

The weather forecast hadn't been looking too nice, which had me a little concerned. I was trying my hardest not to bum out while imagining us irritated, stuck inside avoiding constant thunderstorms and hurricanes. But it seems to be looking up! Each day has a low chance of rain and a high of 90 degrees. That works for us! Lets go!!!

I'll post pictures throughout the trip on facebook from my phone. I'll write all about it when we get back. YAY!

PS... Get better soon, Dad. I love you.

Sorry, I suck

2009-07-27T17:06:00.003-05:00

So I was a little lofty when I declared us as "back" into this blogging situation. Turns out, like most other habits, blogging is tough to get back into a rhythm of doing when you haven't in a while. Nothing seems exciting enough when it happens to go write a blog about, so I usually don't.

We have been keeping busy and there is plently of exciting news to report though, so here goes.

*We are leaving for Miami/South Beach in 8 days. Kick ass, we need a vacation! The weather report isn't looking super awesome and in our favor, but apparently that is because it rains every day in south Florida??? We are determined to have an excellent time and enjoy ourselves thoroughly, so we'll take whatever sunshine we can get. If it's rainy and nasty the whole time, we'll probably just get drunk a lot.

**I just blogged about Joseph's recent disc golf achievments. He's been playing several times a week, despite the record-high heat for the last 2 months. It's pretty dry and burnt up around here, so a little rain in green, lucious Miami will be a welcome tropical treat. You'd better believe that he plans to golf on vacation. There is a disc golf course a few miles from our hotel that looks so beautiful. He doesn't usually putt beside the Atlantic Ocean!!! Actually, Joseph has never been to Florida, or set foot in the Atlantic. He's a West Coast boy through and through. I will use that free time to go to the spa, so we both win!

***My job is going very very well. It is easier than any job I've ever had, because so much about it is absolutely natural for me. (Overseeing the kitchen and service, baking when I have time or someone requests something, organizing private dinners, day to day operations of a home-like establishment) It brings a new set of challenges for me at the same time, because my people-managing, department-running skills are still being developed. I can comfortably and effectively manage a group of people and get the results I want, usually, but there is always the "unpredictable" factor, and handling those situations is where most of the challenges occur. My standards and expectations seem to be a little high, and sometimes that makes working with people (around here) very hard for me. It is a perfect fit for me, the club in general as well as the position. I thrive on the challenges I face and look forward to "achieving greatness", as I was recently told I was certain to do. :) Aside from enjoying the work at the club, I have found myself fostering a genuine affection for a few of the members. They're all very pleasant and nice but a particular few are really great. We see the same guys day after day, and as Ben Crenshaw wished when he opened this club, the members get used to the same few of us each day, and actual friendships develop. It's kind of awesome and I'm happy to have met as many lovely people as I have so far.

****Our guest room is going to be full again soon! Mama Lisa was here a few weeks ago for a quick little visit. It was great to see her, we spent lots of time outside at the lake, ate way too much delicious food, shopped, went to the spa, typical Amy & Mama Lisa visit stuff. At the end of August Jim is coming out for a fantasy football draft! He's staying for a week and I know they will keep each other occupied the whole time. There's a lot of golf to be played and catching up to be done. They haven't spent time together alone in many many years. They're both looking forward to it. Less than two weeks after he goes back to NY, Elizabeth and baby Madeleine are coming! We have not met Madeleine yet and I can't wait to get my hands on her chubby self. Elizabeth and I will bake up a storm and cook some intense dinners. It will be wonderful to see them both.

That's it for now. I have tons of photos to post, but that's going to have to wait!

Disc Golf Champ!

2009-07-09T13:09:00.001-05:00

He continues to defy the odds of the sport.

Joseph won his division in another disc golf tournament! He has now played in 3, and won twice.

Also, he hit his FIFTH ACE! That's five holes-in-one on one course in eighteen months. Not normal!

He needs to move up a division for tournaments and practice at a tougher course, because he is apparently not being challenged enough.

Way to go, freakish athletic anomaly that you are, Joseph!

Lakers Win!

2009-06-19T21:13:00.005-05:00

Be advised: This is not a well written blog post at all. I am tired.

*****************************************

Anyone who knows Joseph knows that he was beyond overjoyed to see the Los Angeles Lakers beat Orlando Magic to win the NBA Championship! Kobe's first since Shaq. Major!

Over the years I have developed little baby crushes on a few of the cute young players, as I have for a few young Dodgers, it makes the game more fun to watch, because I get bored after not that long. I enjoy when he gets to see one of his teams win, of course.

We watched the game and then opened a bottle of champagne when the game was over. He put the bottle, which had been collecting dust since '06 when I took it home after a busboy put it in my car by mistake on New Years Eve. He put it in the freezer in the third quarter when they were up by 15.

Joseph has forced me to leave the Lakers key chain that hangs from the rear-view mirror in the that car I drive. It had apparently been up there since a previous Laker Championship several years ago, and removing it, even to move it to another car, was not allowed. The Rockets and Spurs fans I work with talked mad shit to me about the Lakers for weeks because of that thing. So I was pretty happy that they won too. I guess it can hang there as long as I drive the car. : )

Back from Vegas

2009-06-13T17:45:00.003-05:00

No, we didn't just get back from Las Vegas. Joseph got home Wednesday evening, after an exhausting 4 days with the guys in Sin City. I have been supportive of this trip from the beginning, after being a little pissed about having to change plans for an August trip, which has turned out to be a good thing. I was thoroughly excited for him to be able to spend time with his brothers alone, undistracted and on vacation. It's just precious that Joseph invited my brother to join them and I know how much he enjoyed the time with good friends able to be there too. I will admit to still being a little annoyed that he was in Las Vegas drinking by the pool while I was working my ass off and taking care of the dogs, the plant watering and garbage day all by myself. I'm mostly kidding because he does it all the time when I travel to Ohio and Florida, but it sucked nonetheless. Maintaining a garden in Texas without a watering system is time consuming and he usually does it, which I appreciate a lot more now. I missed him too, and that's never fun.

I haven't inquired too deeply about the raucous they caused. I know they consumed much alcohol, gambled many dollars, won many dollars!, ate delicious food while drinking good wine, acted inappropriately for the sake of hysterical laughter, swam at a cool pool with water slides and caught up after not enough time together for too many years. The text messages I got were awesome, he was super happy about everything around him.

Everything is back to normal again and we're happy to have nothing going on for two weeks until the end of the month, when Mama Lisa is coming to visit! The rest of the summer will hopefully include visits from at least three Higley siblings, one with an adorable nugget baby in tow and one with a whole family with him. :) We like house guests, so bring it on! The question is, do people really like coming to visit because of the food and the lake or because we're as awesome as we think we are? We still speak regularly at dinner about our desire to share meals with our families. It's one of our favorite things to do, cooking and enjoying a delicious feast with people we love.

Men they are, not a single one had a camera. I think they could have gotten some great pictures that they would have very much enjoy having. Saying that makes me sound like a nag, but I'm leaving it because it's true.

Catch up- Food Pictures

2009-06-08T11:23:00.032-05:00

These are in no particular order and with very little description. I'm always willing to give up the goods, so ask if you want any recipes. :) These were the "pretty" dishes or just particularly good ones that we wanted to remember from February until May.

Grilled NY strip and shrimp scampi

Spicy shredded chicken, which we used in burritos, sandwiches and enchilada soup

Brunch! Waffles & berries, bacon, country potatoes and veggie fritatta

Massive (2000 calorie) baked potato, seared ahi tuna and a filet

Giant crab cake with lemon aioli

Red & green heirloom tomato & fresh mozzarella salad with pesto, basil and basamic reduction

Seared cod with grapefruit buerre blanc and green beans

Blackened chicken, white wine shrimp and dirty rice (that I finally got right after several not totally successful attempts to meet Joseph's description)

Mini banana bread loaves, with chocolate chips and almonds

Pad Thai prep

Spring rolls, pad thai and fried rice

Cousin Erin frying won-tons and shrimp rolls, and loving it!

Shrimp Pad Thai, ala Amy

Hawaiian Fried Rice

Chicken Parmesan

Cheese

Cooking Easter Dinner by himself, because I had to work. He always uses his butt as a towel when he cooks.

Easter by Joseph, smoked chicken, green bean casserole (with homemade mushroom soup, no shortcuts here), roasted potatoes & garlic sourdough

Spaghetti and Giant Meatballs

Making ice cream in the kitchen aid

Baked Spinach Artichoke dip

Marinated grilled tri-tip, rice, veggies and wine

Tres Leches cake and homemade strawberry ice cream

Pot roast for 10

We're BACK! (for real this time)

2009-05-28T16:03:00.004-05:00

I am happy to be blogging from our shiny new laptop! Finally, it's been a really long time.

I don't even know where to begin, it's been months. In March we had a great time hanging out with my cousin Erin, who spent her spring break from college with us here. Sadly for her, it was actually warmer in Boston than it was in Austin so she didn't go back with much of a tan. It was awesome to see her and we enjoyed lots of good laughs, talks and great food. What else is there?

The cold rainy day that Erin left to go back to Boston, I went to work to find only 4 golfers on property and very little staff. Sad? NOPE, not when the golfers were the Wilson family, as in LUKE Wilson. Yes, Luke Wilson and his hot caveman-looking brother are my favorite members to see. (Not really, I like some of the other guys much more, but the old nice men don't give me goosebumps and make me nervous like Luke and Andrew) One of the many perks of AGC, so far.

In April I went to Columbus to meet my brother's baby, Austin. Man, is he CUTE! I fell in love with him instantly and didn't ever put him down, unless someone took him from me. My sister, Kate was also in Columbus that weekend with Ellie. She's pretty freaking cute too, seriously! I was in baby heaven and loved every second. I'm still a little sketchy on this computer so I don't know how to get pictures from my camera on here yet, but I'll play around tonight and figure it out. I have some great pictures of the two sweeties. It was awesome to see the rest of my family as well, but the babies were definitely my highlight. I had lunch with Rappa, made fish tacos with dad, ate at "my chinese boyfriend"'s new restaurant and got offered a job with mom, walked from mom's house to dad's house with my brother and sister, each pushing a stroller, which was completely bizarre and darling. We enjoyed lots of good food and I caught up with a few friends. It was a great visit.

In May we have been busy. The weather has been really warm, but with lots of thunderstorms, so things are as green as can be. It's beautiful. Our garden is putting out tomatoes now and all of our flowers are huge and bushy. Our orange tree has one orange on it, it's small and green, but it's our very first orange from our Easter orange tree. :) We've been kayaking a few times, had several lakeside cookouts, taken the dogs swimming a few times and are already enjoying our long Texas summer. Joseph has been disc golfing like a maniac and won his first tournament a few weeks ago. He's playing in another one next weekend, which he's psyched about. The Lucky Man is headed to Las Vegas with his brothers and my brother next week for a gross, male bonding/drinking/gambling weekend. I'm sure they will all have a TERRIFIC time. I just hope they all make it home in one piece, with money left in the bank.

I'm happy to be back and the blogs will keep on coming, if I have any readers left?

I have to just say

2009-04-20T13:30:00.002-05:00

Ellie Lord is cute!

garden

2009-04-10T23:27:00.003-05:00

My friend Shawn had this quote on his Facebook page and I really like it. I think it is an terrific way to sum up a happy, hopeful spirit. "Your life is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds. If your life isn't awesome, you've been watering the weeds."

This is something that I would like to say to a few people, if the opportunity ever presented itself. I think it is a nice way to tell someone that it is a choice to be unhappy and hurt the people around you, and it is a choice to be happy and bring joy to those around you.

And I just like it, a colorful way to visualize an optimistic, healthy and productive view on life. I try to have that everyday. Most of the time I do.

Joseph is good. I am good. Work is good for both of us. Joseph is already bleached and tan from days of disc golf. Looking forward to a busy summer and lots of visits with family. Our computer will be back this week and the posts will be often again. So much to catch up on!

Quick Update

2009-04-04T21:40:00.005-05:00

Hello Hello!

I am seriously behind on my blogging, obviously. I have six weeks worth of photos in my camera waiting to be uploaded and some stories to share. Our computer issues are almost solved, and then I will get back on track with this blog. Thanks for your patience.

I have been busy working a lot. The weather is getting to be absolutely awesome and the longer daylight hours mean longer golfing hours, and in turn, longer work hours for me. It's okay though, I like it there, I'm making progress and I'm getting to know the members. I enjoy the people I work with and a certain "road-block" that had been sitting in the way of real success there has just been removed. Kick ass. Also, the fatter paychecks are nice.

Joseph went a little crazy with the disc golf a few weeks ago and strained his throwing arm. He took a 10 day break from playing, which almost killed him, and focused on putting in the back yard with his new basket. Today he played for the first time and he was thrilled to discover his arm had healed and was better than ever. I'm glad he's all better and strong again. I think I will enforce an 8-Hour Limit rule so he doesn't hurt himself again. He's still hanging in there at Lorraine's. There's talk of a game room (pool, golden tee, darts, tvs) coming to fruition. That would be good news for Joseph and Lorraine's!

We are leaving in the morning to go camping!!! SO EXCITED ABOUT THAT! We have been waiting eagerly to begin our 2009 camping season since November when we camped last. We decided to go to Canyon Lake, which is our most favorite camping spot and lake of all the lakes around. It is about an hour away, toward San Antonio. It happened unintentionally, which makes it even cooler, that we camped at the same lake the first weekend in April last year. If you follow this blog, you know how we love a good tradition to carry on for our "family" (ourselves), so Joseph decided that we must, from now on, camp at Canyon Lake the first weekend every April. Works for me! I will take tons of pictures, it's really beautiful.

Cooper knows what we're doing by the piles of gear at the front door. He is sitting at the door looking impatient and hops in the car any time of the doors is opened. He loves camping as much as we do. He will be a happy boy with that great big, cold lake to swim in and cliffs and rocks to climb. I hope we have a great time and the weather stays like it is.

That's all I know for now. More coming soon!

Welcome Baby Austin!

2009-03-25T17:14:00.003-05:00

We have a new nephew! Mike & Kristin's baby boy was born today around 11am. Austin Michael came out at a bruising 7 pounds 13 ounces. I CANNOT wait to meet the little guy. Congrats to the happy parents.

Sweet Austin, welcome to the family. There are so, so many people who love you.

And congrats to the Marsh family. Remember, Austin is the first Marsh Boy born since his daddy 25 years ago.

Pictures to come when I figure out how.

Still Alive!

2009-03-16T10:01:00.003-05:00

Long time, no post, huh?

I am sorry for the long absence from blogging. We've been having some serious (ly annoying) technical issues. Our laptop has a virus, or several, which is being erased and reloaded as we speak. Should be up and running shortly! I have the ability to post from my BlackBerry, but I'm not fluent enough with the keys to type a whole blog without major frustration, and I can't post pictures anyway, so what's the point?

We've been busy and it has been kind of refreshing to have been without a computer at home for a few weeks. Kind of refreshing, mostly irritating, lets be honest.

Joseph got his very own disc golf basket for our yard, and he is absolutely thrilled. The basket was apparently the only thing holding him back from real success, and we can't have anything holding him back, right?!? He moves it all over our yard, as well as the two empty, yet very treed lots beside our house and practices putting for hours on end. Once our computer is back from Suckville, I will post some photos.

Last week we had a house guest, which is always an exciting treat! My Cousin Erin came all the way from Boston to spend her spring break with us here. She also came to HSB in 2004, the second trip was way better. Except for the weather! Sadly, it went from being in the 80s and sunny the week before she came, to being cold, rainy and disgusting when she got here. It was actually warmer in Boston when she flew home, than it was in Austin. It was great to see her and we had lots of fun. We got a few good walks in before the rain came, but mostly we stayed indoors watching movies and eating good food. We also shopped quite a bit and got our nails done.

Mike's going to be a daddy very very soon! Little baby boy Marsh has been making some noise this weekend, but so far, no news. Any day now! I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait to see if he looks just like Mike. Fingers crossed for a healthy, fat baby and an easy, quick labor & delivery for Kristin.

And one last thing.... got to serve Luke Wilson a chili dogs last week. And I'm kind of in love with his hot brother Andrew.

Happy Birthday, Cooper!

2009-02-22T10:37:00.004-06:00

Cooper, Cooper, you are SUPER!

Happy 7th Birthday to the Greatest Dog Ever. You make us happy everyday. Here's to 7 more.

Yes, that means he was born on 2-22-02. Cool birthday for a cool dog. :)

Delicious crock pot beans

2009-02-21T20:48:00.004-06:00

While cleaning out my cupboards I found 4 open, half used bags of beans. I won't even tell you how many different varieties of rice and pasta I found. Anyway, for obvious reasons, I made some seriously delicious crock-pot beans while I worked today.

I still don't know how to post pictures from my BlackBerry and our computer is having issues so there are no photos. Anyone who has an appreciation for a simple meal for under $10 that's nutritious and delicious that practically makes itself will enjoy this recipe.

Any combo of beans will work just as well.
All added to warm crock pot, cooked for 8 hours.
I used red, garbanzo & pinto beans and a few lentils, totaling about 4 cups. Soaked overnight & drained.
1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 green pepper, 2 stalks celery, all medium diced & 1/4 c minced garlic.
1 T each of chile powder, cumin, paprika, bean seasoning. Sprinkle of red pepper flakes, 3 bay leaves & 2 dried peppers.
1 pound ground turkey (or beef) and 2 links sausage peeled & crumbled.
1 32oz. can diced tomatoes, plus 3 cups water.

Joseph made cornbread and rice to go with it. Nice to leave a home cooked meal for him before work and come home to one after work, and a delightfully aroma filled house. Everyone wins with the crock pot. Season with salt after cooking.

Hey Sprint, Kiss Off!

2009-02-19T09:56:00.000-06:00

A joyous day it is to finally be rid of that despicable company! We have been eagerly awaiting the end of our sentence (service contract) which seemed to last forever.

I won't go into why we so vehemently hate Sprint, but it has to do with seriously shitty customer service, mysterious and re appearing bill charges and a dropped call percentage of about one in four! Right, Mom? Think about that, every four to five calls cutting out, everywhere but mostly at home, for four years! You would have smashed a few phones or windshields too!

We haven't decided quite what we're going to do with our old p
hones, but it will be ceremonious and destructive! We are almost as happy to be rid of Sprint as we were are Bush.

Cheers to BlackBerries and Verizon and Sprint can suck it!

The Storm Lives!

2009-02-16T18:53:00.001-06:00

I am posting this from the car, on our way to dinner, on my new BlackBerry Storm!! It is the most exciting thing I've done in months. Almost there, more later. Thank you, Matthew for hooking it up! The Marshigleys have gone mobile. Xox

ACE!

2009-02-13T21:24:00.006-06:00

Joseph shot a hole-in-one today! It was on hole #2 at Burnet. He had two witnesses to sign the disc and pay him the $5 that every witness owes the hole-in-one shooter (per disc golf code). Then he signed and dated the cage.

This is the third time that Joseph has shot a hole-in-one. The first time was on hole #7 at Burnet on Friday, June 13, 2008. Today is Friday, February 13, 2009. That is CRAZINESS, folks, craziness!

Thirteen is his lucky/favorite number. Apparently so. He is pretty thrilled with himself today. :)

Way to go, Joseph!

(I will get a photo of the basket and disc when I'm there on Tuesday)

It's a Beautiful Day

2009-02-12T17:44:00.006-06:00

Elizabeth recently asked me, after I complained about Texas, "when do you love it in Texas?"

I had a 45 minute business meeting driving around on a golf cart this afternoon. It was a sunny, glorious day that topped out at seventy-seven degrees! So lovely. (PS. The meeting was to plan the garden that we're planting at the club, to grow some vegetables and herbs, as well as a means to reduce our waste by creating a need for a compost pile. All things I am really really excited about getting to be involved in. More on that later.)

As I drove home about 4 o'clock with my windows wide open and my left arm hanging out, I realized that days like today are the reason that I live here.

When I have to wear sunglasses and it's almost 80 degrees on a day in the middle of February ... that is when I LOVE living in Texas.

It's offically spring. It may get cold again for a day, but as far as everything around me is concerned, it's springtime, which is my very most favorite time of the year.

When I got home we took a 3 mile walk (in tshirt and shorts) with Joseph, Cooper & fatass Marshall (more on that later too). It was A Beautiful Day. :)

Feeling Good Again

2009-02-10T15:18:00.009-06:00

I feel so much better. I am still trying to take it easy and I'm lucky to have today off, on top of the three days I missed, to fully recuperate. I'm going kind of stir-crazy stuck in the house, but that's how it goes.

I sat on the back porch for a while, throwing the frisbee for Cooper. It's sunny and super windy and my hair was all over the place. I had my camera, because I always have my camera, but lets face it, the dog pictures are only so cute. So... It's no secret that I kind of love looking at pictures of myself. Naturally, this is what I ended up doing with my camera and lots of free time between throws.

These pictures are kind of rediculous. Besides cutting off my own head several times, there is charcoal and dead plants in the background and dog slobber on the glass door. Oh well. Good photography isn't my thing. Food is my thing.

And Kate, you don't even have to comment about how much dorkier this is than the Winter Fashion Show I did last year. I know it already. :)

in bed with the flu...

2009-02-09T09:57:00.008-06:00

I caught the nasty flu bug that had been circulating at work. It hit me like a sledgehammer late Friday night. I got up and went to work on Saturday morning, although Joseph and my better judgement told me not to. (I used to pretend to be sick a lot in my youth, so I have a hard time believing that I am actually sick now as an adult) I thought perhaps the vomiting and cold sweats had come from something I had eaten, and I'd feel better in the morning. In the morning though, I found my arms too weak to wash my hair in the shower and my legs too weak to stand to iron my pants. I still tried to tough it out but only lasted 90 minutes at work. Most of those 90 minutes I spent shivering and quietly moaning in the break room. It was quite pathetic.

It was a unanimous decision that I was an idiot for even getting out of bed. I drove home wishing I'd just called in sick (lesson learned), took advil, drank a vitamin water and crashed hard for about 6 hours. My weekend went something like this... advil, 7up, sleep, movie, vomit and repeat.....

Luckily, we had just gotten new movies from Netflix. I watched Charlie Bartlett (A, the main character is darling and so enjoyable to watch), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (C, made me want to go to Hawaii but that's it) and The Heartbreak Kid (A-, stupid and gross, but really funny). I fell asleep during the Express, about the first black man to win the Heisman, Joseph said it was sad but good.

It's Monday and I'm finally starting to feel better. I'm going to stick to the chicken soup and dry Life cereal diet for another day. I'm still a little queasy and weak, but just being able to sit up at the computer and having the motivation to type or read something is a complete turn around from yesterday. I haven't felt that awful in many years.

Disc Golfing all Afternoon

2009-02-05T21:26:00.022-06:00

We spent the afternoon in Burnet with the dogs on the disc golf course. I walked with the dogs while Joseph played 36 holes. It was really windy today, but otherwise sunny and beautiful. The wind made for some difficult play for Joseph at times, but he continued to impress me with his skill, control, aim and technique with various discs and throws. The dogs had a blast, running around in the woods for 2 hours is their idea of a good afternoon. They even got to see cows face to face! I was happy to spend time with Joseph, get the dogs out of the yard, have everyone get exercise and enjoy the sunshine for the first time in a while. I like days like today.

Cooper loves to ride with his head out the window. Who doesn't?

They walked with us for a while. Then something else caught their attention!
<
Big Black Cows!

Marshall was super interested in the cows. He got right up to the fence and stared intently. I had to keep Cooper on a leash near the cows because he would have jumped the fence and let his cowdog instincts take over. Chasing cattle will also get a dog shot in Texas! After a couple of minutes the cows noticed Marshall, and they were all quite intrigued by the little fluffy cow on the other side of the fence. I'm glad I had my camera.

The wind made play a little difficult. And Joseph didn't appreciate that I took these pictures of him retrieving his discs. It's all part of the game though. :)

He made some awesome shots, and played well overall. I got a few good photos of him putting. He made both these shots, if you can't quite see.

two things

2009-02-04T22:59:00.002-06:00

I have just reread a few of my recent posts. It appears that I occasionally forget how to spell. We ate chicken wing from a turkey fryer in an alley, not an ally, duh!

Also, my broken ass stove is going to be replaced with a shiny new one! Yeah yeah yeah, we're getting a new stove. This bunk POS they've got in here now is like 35 years old. It has already been 3 weeks since it blew up on me, and it may be another 3 before it's installed, but bring it on. A brand new oven to bake in is the very next best thing to my own new oven in my own new house to bake in. It'll due for now!

21 oz. NY Strip

2009-02-04T19:37:00.008-06:00

Here's how it works at Costco, I have a list of all the non food stuff we need, which we walk around together picking up. Then I leave him in the meat and wine section with a budget and occupy myself in other areas of the store. He likes to pick up every piece of meat and read every wine label, which kind of irritates me, so I wander around gathering produce, cheese, lotions, looking at cameras & jewelery & such. He always makes great choices, so it works better for us that way.

In the meat department he decided on $20 worth of tri-tip (Joseph's favorite cut of beef), four pounds of ground turkey and a 3-pack of Prime NY Strip steaks that weighed 4 pounds!, one of which we grilled "to perfection" last night.

I got home from work early so we were able to go up to spend 2 hours disc golfing before it got dark. I walked with him, occasionally putting or jogging, for 36 holes. It was nice, super quiet, beautiful sunny weather, a 4 mile hike. It had been several months since I had seen him play, and I was impressed. He is really good! He knew I wanted to get some exercise but was pretty tired, so he ran with me. We jogged up all the hills together and from baskets to tees, and even ran down a big hill holding hands. It was really cheesy, so much so that I pulled my hand away at the bottom of the hill and said that I hoped no one was watching. I really hoped that no one had seen us, but I knew for sure that if any one had, they would have been jealous.

We had worked up an appetite so... We used the remainder of the shrimp cocktail, that we made to take to the back ally shindig (I kid, I kid, it really was pleasant and the people were lovely), and added it to a salad to accompany the steak and shrimp. We drank a bottle of "Nob-lee-oh", which is actually spelled and pronounced Nob-il-o, but for rude and facetious reasons we call it Noblio or Nolibo or Nobilio. It was yet another memorable, delicious and happy meal shared at our table.

Before I left for work today I put 4 chicken breasts and the leftover quart of enchilada soup in the crock pot on low for 8 hours. When I got home it was this... Not really, it had to be shredded to look like that, but it only took about 90 seconds. Today we had it over white rice and tomorrow for lunch it will be in burritos. Nice use of leftovers, if I do say so myself. :)

Date Night

2009-02-04T19:15:00.005-06:00

Monday has become our new date night. Every other week we go into Austin on Monday to run errands and have a nice dinner. Two weeks ago it was Ruth's Chris, this week we decided it was time for a Korea House fix... Mmmm, yeah! First we went to Old Navy so I could buy some $6 pants, then we loaded up at Costco. That store is still awesome, we love it. Next we stopped by the flying saucer for a cheese plate and some a few beers before heading to Korea House. We had beef ribs and pork on the barbeque, a Diana 2 roll and a seafood pancake. My last meal, should I ever have to request it, would include that seafood pancake and Diana 2 roll.

Superbowl Sunday

2009-02-03T14:57:00.008-06:00

Last year we had a Superbowl party. I served crab legs with drawn butter, cheese and crackers and fettucini alfredo with chicken, bacon and peas. We drank white wine.

This was fun too. Seriously, it was fun.

Eating chicken wings out of a tailgate with a dead Christmas tree

Frying chicken wings in an ally

Serving chicken wings on an 80s tv tray

Watching Bruce in 3D

A patriotic garage

Naughty Dog

2009-02-03T13:59:00.005-06:00

Cooper had an exciting weekend. I got a call from strange number on Saturday just as I was pulling out of work, it was some woman I've never met calling to tell me that Cooper was in her backyard! Oh shit, where's Marshall?

The latch on our fence had broken. I bought a new one and it was sitting on the kitchen table to remind Joseph to go put it on. Without the latch we had resorted to putting the grill in front of the gate to prevent it from opening. Not surprising that Cooper wasn't fooled by that. After all, this is the dog who jumped out a moving jeep window in the dog park parking lot, rolled down the same jeep window (not automatic, the rolly kind) and jumped out in an Albertson's parking lot, jumped over a six foot patio wall to follow me, snuck out of my condo screen door a million times to go hang out with the neighbors (and once that I know of to the pond to swim) and so on and so on...

I drove fast all the way home and was relieved to see little black Marshall sitting front and center on our porch when I pulled around the corner. Good dog. I put him in the house and drove to the house where Cooper was, about half a mile away on our normal walk/run route. Cooper was happy to see me when I got to the huge ass house where he was running around contentedly with the two frilliest looking blond cocker spaniels I've ever seen. The lady told me where they had found him and I thought she was mistaken. I had assumed they had found him near our house, or at least on our street! Nope, he had apparently felt like he was due for a walk, so he went for a walk! He was half way around the 2 mile loop that I take with them every day. She said he was just walking along when they came upon him, he turned around and walked with them to their house. They brought him in, fed him dinner and waited for me to get there. First, what nice people. Second, what a naughty dog?!? Thank goodness he's such a sweet dog, or I'd have a real problem. I can't have him getting out though, it's too dangerous out here. Rednecks in Texas shoot dogs in their yards.

Joseph put the latch on when he woke up on Sunday. But not before I caught Cooper sneaking out one last time that morning. Seriously! I put them out when I got up and then got ready for a run. It had only been about 20 minutes when I headed out in the yard to get them. I found Marshall but no Cooper. I ran into the front yard and called his name. I went around to the side of the house to just catch the back of him hauling ass around the corner of the fence, way down by the road. He was going to run around, sneak in the gate and pretend he had never left. I got him to come back to me and I did my best to make it known that he'd misbehaved. I pointed my finger and said his name as mean as I could and he laid on his back at my feet. I said no no no, you don't leave the yard. Then I took him inside, put his leash on and went for a run. My "punishment" was most likely, very unsuccessful and will in no way deter his out-of-yard adventures. Cesar Milan would tell me it's my own fault.

Clean-out-your-veggie-bin Enchilada Soup

2009-01-28T17:40:00.019-06:00

That's what I did today. It's good a good thing to do once in a while, make a giant pot of soup from every scrap of vegetables in your fridge. Here's how it went. I kept it completely vegan til the end, when I added cheese. It was delicious and super flavorful before the cheese, so it's a great alternative to leave it all meat and dairy free.

A few onions, celery, garlic, green peppers, one poblano pepper, shredded carrots, one yellow squash, 2 tomatoes, one ear corn, half bunch cilantro, one avocado and a handful mushrooms is what I came up with from the veggy bin.
Everything was rough chopped and sauteed in olive oil. First celery, garlic and onion.
Then green pepper, poblano and carrots.

Then I added a generous amount of kosher salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder and two bay leaves.

Then the zucchini, corn, tomato and mushrooms.

All this cooked for about 20 minutes. Then I added one large can diced tomatoes, one cup homemade salsa, two cups tomato stock and some Mexican hot sauce.
This cooked for about an hour, until all the veggies were tender.

Then I blended it with an imersion blender, removed from the heat and stirred in one cup cubed cheddar cheese and half a cup cubed cream cheese.

I served it with fresh crispy tortilla strips, seasoned avocado & cilantro with lime and some cheddar cheese. I also diced up half a blackened chicken breast to put in Joseph's soup. It didn't need the chicken at all, I just knew he'd like it. It was rich, filling and flavorful with out it.

After lunch we took the dogs for a walk. It has been nasty and cold for the last few days, and even froze last night. We were happy to take advantage of the afternoon sunshine and warmer weather. Here is Marshall having a stand off with a deer in someone's front yard. In his doggy dreams he wishes he had gotten to catch just one of the thousands of deer he's seen in his life.

When Joseph Cooks

2009-01-27T17:54:00.009-06:00

This week I had to work early in the morning on Sunday and Monday while Joseph was off. It was nice that I got to be home to have dinner together, but I was super tired and Joseph was in weekend relax & chill mode. Joseph was in charge of the grocery store this week, and therefore, what we had for dinner on Sunday and Monday. Check out what he cooked for us!

On Sunday afternoon we watched the Lakers kick the Spurs in the ass. Joseph cheered loudly and sent rude unsportsmanlike text messages to some local SA fans. He made shrimp cocktail and a little cheese. He drank Chimay and I drank Shiner Hefeweizen with a lemon. Yumm.

I could seriously get used to coming home from work to find him in the kitchen. For dinner that night he made some bacon, bleu cheese burgers. That's crispy bacon and bleu cheese crumbles mixed into the burger patty. He fired up the grill, even though it was kind of cold. Totally worth it, they came out completely delicious.

Monday evening I was even more lucky! I am off Tuesday and Wednesday this week, so Monday was like my Friday. Joseph had two bottles of wine for us to drink and made the most delicious fettucini alfredo with blackened chicken and shrimp I have ever had. Better than the last time I made alfredo. The wine was awesome. J Vineyard, in the Russian River Valley, makes some of our most favorite wines. The "champagne" has really special meaning to us, and we've enjoyed both the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay several times. I was excited to get to taste a 4th variety from J, the Pinot Gris. Fantastic!! My turn for the toast: "To taking that trip to wine country and visiting J Vineyard before I turn 30!"

He also made casesar salad boats for an appetizer and sizzler bread with the pasta! A-Ma-Zing!

Un-sewing

2009-01-22T21:58:00.013-06:00

I read all kinds of other people's blogs about their sewing projects. My sister recently got a sewing machine and quickly picked up sewing. I grew up wearing home-sewn clothes and watching my mother sew at the kitchen table on Monday nights with Lynn. I could cross-stitch when I was six and I am naturally gifted in all things domestic. I assumed it wouldn't take much for me to pick up sewing.

I had started to notice more than few seams, socks and buttons that needed to be fixed around our house, and even the fitted sheet of an 800 thread count set with a torn corner. I asked Mama Lisa for a starter sewing kit this past Christmas. Joseph made fun of me for asking for something so lame. She sent me a darling little pink and brown sewing bag with all the basic essentials inside.

Tonight I wondered from my closet to the laundry room for 15 minutes before settling on an outfit which would require me to sew a button to a pair of cute khaki pants for tomorrow. Fine, I have The Office and Kath & Kim on dvr to watch so I'll sit on the couch and sew this button on while I watch.

Wrong. It took me 10 minutes to thread the needle. Then I realized that the thread was the color of the pants and not the button. Start over. Close enough colored thread, button semi-affixed to pants, would make due until I had some patience, or more time. How does it look? Like the wrong button! A black button on a pair of khaki pants with greyish buttons. As Chelsea Handler would say, "What!....a moron." I will find a different pair of pants for tomorrow.

Fiesta!

2009-01-21T22:21:00.008-06:00

We made some really delicious tacos last night. Joseph declared the meal "the best taco spread possible", and I happen to agree. Taco shells and spicy ground beef to make tacos and all the toppings your Tex-Mex ass could ever desire... Spanish rice, refried beans, guacamole, kick-ass salsa, diced tomatoes, white onion, cilantro, lime, shredded lettuce, cheddar and sour cream. Too bad you only get to see it.

Now I'm about to toot my own girlfriend horn. I'm kind of amazing though, it deserves to be said on occasion. I feel a little sad for Joseph when he has to come home to a dark and quiet house on nights when I have to get to bed early. The idea of him having to try to make himself something to eat in our kitchen, which contains little to no junk food or pre-made anything, is even more sad. Unless there is soup or leftovers, he thinks anything else is too much work. It's all just vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads, sauces and stuff that has to be cooked... So before I went to bed tonight I put this together for him

Salsa, guacamole, homemade refried beans, sour cream, green onion, tomato, cilantro, black olives and I even shredded all that cheddar by hand! How great do I make his life?! :)

Oh yeah, I went to bed after posting this and remembered that anyone who had read about our oven predicament might think I was either cruel, leaving him nacho prep and having no way to heat them, or lying about the oven. The truth is, the broiler still works!

P.S. This entire taco feast cost less than the two 6-packs of Mexican beer.

outside the doors

2009-01-20T12:50:00.003-06:00

I took a few more photos at work last week.

There is a certain high profile Texan with a lot (more) free time on his hands, headed back to central Texas as we speak. He is apparently expected to stop by for a round or two. Stay tuned.

Hanging the Flag

2009-01-20T12:22:00.005-06:00

Our back fence flag post is usually reserved for OSU and USC flags on gameday. The American flag came with the pole when I bought it and has remained folded in the closet ever since. I've never been a flag hanger, or whatever. But after my mani-pedi (which was delightful, by the way. Even "Crystal", my spa lady is pregnant, due May 1. Man, I can't escape pregnancy anywhere)I found myself plopped on the couch watching the Inaguration. All of the sudden it occured to me that today would be an excellent day to hang up our American Flag.

Welcome President Obama, welcome.

Two Great Pasta Dishes

2009-01-19T19:19:00.018-06:00

Last Tuesday we stopped by the local redneck meat market, with a ceiling that looks like this...

to pick up some chicken basil Parmesan sausage. We turned said sausage into this lovely meal. Grilled chicken sausage sliced, tossed with rigatoni, sauteed onions, red & green peppers, spicy marinara, fresh basil and mozzarella pearls. Umm, yes, very delicious. And with jarred marinara, very quick and easy.

**************

Pork Orloff ala Amy

Joseph requested beef stroganoff for dinner tonight, a good choice given our oven less predicament. We both had steaks last night so I chose to change it up a bit, but still give him what he wanted. Here's how it went down.

First, I thinly sliced a pork tenderloin. Then I browned it up in some bacon fat & butter (gross, right? no, so so good). I sprinkled a bit of flour over it and salt and pepper.
Then removed the pork, added a bit more butter and sauteed one white onion, 2 T minced garlic, one sliced green onion and one pint chopped mushrooms. After 10 minutes, deglazed with 1 ounce of Knob Creek whiskey and 1 cup white wine. Then I scraped all the pork goodness bits off the bottom and added 2 cups beef stock. Brought to a boil and simmered for about 20 minutes.
Once sauce was thickened, removed from heat, made a liaison to slowly add in one cup sour cream, 1 T dijon mustard and 1 chopped green onion. Served over egg noodles with sauteed squash, zucchini and carrots.... it was heavenly. I recommend it highly. Joseph does too. Although now that I'm looking at the pictures, it seems to resemble orphanage food.

And we're back!

2009-01-19T11:30:00.012-06:00

Technical difficulties behind us, at least temporarily. Glad to be able to post about our awesome weekend! I got majorly lucky with my schedule at work... Sunday, Monday & Tuesday off!

Sunday we chose to celebrate our "anniversary" (year three down, onto year four) with a special date downtown. Dad & Robin sent us a gift card to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for Christmas, so that's where we went. Thanks, again, it was excellent! We headed to Austin in the afternoon. First we stopped at Joseph's favorite brewhouse, Live Oak Hefeweisen with a lemon for me, Gulden Draak and Duvel for him, a cheese platter (that didn't even try to compete with one I'd serve at our house) and the sickest (that's a very good thing) hot pretzel covered with melted swiss cheese and sliced bratwurst. After a few hours on a leather couch at the Flying Saucer and a disappointing Philly/AZ game we headed to dinner.

It was awesome. We shared a bottle of Paul Hobbs Russian River Chardonnay while we enjoyed a Crab-tini and Ruth's Chopped Salad. With our steaks, petite Filet for me and Cowboy Ribeye for him, we had another bottle from the Russian River, Belle Gloss Pinot Noir. We toasted twice, naturally, once to a good three years and once to actually taking the trip we've been planning to wine country, to finally see the Russian River Valley with our own eyes and tour the vineyards we love most. The service was impeccable, which makes a major difference to us. For dessert we had a molten chocolate cake. Mmm. I slept the whole way home, thanks to Joseph for always getting us home safely.

Today we are going to try to get some housework done and finish up rearranging our living room. Tonight I'm making pork Orloff (basically stroganoff) for dinner, a request from JHig. He even asked me to include the mushrooms, if I cut them really small. No problem, I'm so impressed with his expanding palate. When I met him he wouldn't even allow a mushroom in the kitchen and he hated onions. He's come a really long way! After dinner we've got lots of new dvr'd tv to watch!! What a peaceful day. Our life is pretty sweet, I love it.

Except for two things... first, you see that pretty scarf I'm wearing. I got it for Christmas and was super excited to wear it for the first time. I got a few compliments on it too. Anyone who wants it can have it, it gave me an itchy rash all over my chest and chin. You've got to be kidding me!
Second, as Kate mentioned, our oven is broken. The stovetop still works but the heating element inside the oven is shot. This sucks very much because the oven in our kitchen is not a standard oven and the kitchen was built around it. Yes, in order to replace the oven there has to be construction done to the counter and cabinets. With our landlords in Colorado, things like this tend to take a w h i l e.

Tomorrow I'm getting a mani/pedi and then meeting my friend Susan for lunch, a little bangs trim and some OBAMA celebration! That should make me feel better.

Technical Difficulties

2009-01-16T20:36:00.002-06:00

Kate here. I'm posting to let you know that Amy is having some issues with her computer so I offered to help out and update the blog. It's still having some technical difficulties but hopefully Amy's computer will be up and running soon!

And, oh, her stove broke or something. Weird.

9pm is the new 3am

2009-01-14T20:58:00.003-06:00

It took much less time and struggle than I expected to become adapted to earlier hours. These days, I'm surprised to find myself in bed with the lights out by 10pm almost every night! Sometimes earlier. And getting up is not a problem. After about a week, I was waking up just before my alarm. I continue to hop right up at 7:30am (occasionally 6:00 or 8:30) when the alarm goes off, which gives me 90 minutes to be at work. I go in at 9 or 10 most days and 7:30 rarely. I have been getting home between 6 and 7:30, or about 3 on early days.

The part I have not adapted to my new schedule is running. It's cold and dark when I'm getting ready in the morning, and I'm lying if I say I will even consider running when it's below 50 degrees. It's dark when I get home most nights and there are way too many animals to run up on and not enough street lights to go out at ithe dark. The pool closes at 6pm. I keep meaning to do my yoga video...... It needs to get lighter and warmer earlier in a hurry because my ass is getting fat.

Joseph has been more affected by my new schedule than either of us imagined. Turns out, Joseph has a hard time going back to sleep after I leave. He's been using his extra hours of the day to play more disc golf. Naturally.

I'm pretty sure this computer got hijacked by some virus or similar pain in the ass computer scenario, so if I suddenly become an absent blogger at some point, you know why. I'm tempted to use one of my thrilling weekly paychecks to go buy a new computer. All the other shit we need can wait, I'm tired of this POS laptop that we've never bothered to get wireless for. That's gotta change too. Hmmph.

It's almost 10 and I'm ready for bed. Peace.

Oh yeah...HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL OBAMA TAKES OVER? :)

Orchids?

2009-01-10T19:23:00.007-06:00

I rescued 6 orchids from certain dumpster death yesterday. At AGC there is a constant flow of orchids purchased, enjoyed through one bloom, discarded and replaced. I could not imagine throwing away perfectly alive and healthy plants of any kind, and I was happy to take the orchids in. I do not know anything about orchids, except that they are rather fickle. I learned to water by soaking them in a few inches of room temperature water for 10 minutes. I did that.
Then I jammed them in this big pot and put them in the dining room, which has become quite full of plants because it gets really great direct sun all morning long. Beyond this, I know nothing about orchids. Hints and suggestions welcome. I guess I should do some orchid research online.

Not Much

2009-01-09T23:32:00.010-06:00

There's a lot of Kleenex in the trash at our house these days. I've got Cedar Fever, the ultimate middle finger from the state of Texas, which plagues me with itchy, runny nose and 2,458 sneezes a day for three months at the beginning of each year. And poor Joseph woke up this morning with a sore throat, clogged everything and a swollen neck.

I got off work before 7 tonight and don't have to be in until noon tomorrow, so I was feeling like I needed to do something with my Friday night. The exciting plan I came up with for a wild Horseshoe Bay night: visiting Joseph (even feeling crummy, he's still so handsome) at Lorraine's
And making chicken noodle soup. I used a whole leftover smoked chicken (from Christmas), which cooked down in the broth for a while before I added the noodles. Mmmm, Mmmm good, I do believe that's what those Campbell's people said.

******

This is the (nearly) full moon on the back deck at Austin Golf Club. I'm going to take more pictures of the club, but here's a few. It's pretty amazing out there. A small stone building on 5,000 acres

A grrrrrreat day at work

2009-01-03T18:54:00.004-06:00

A seriously awesome sixth day at a new job! Here's what happened.

Since my arrival I had been noticing several aspects of the food & beverage department that needed to be adjusted or improved. I mentioned a few of them to my boss, she agreed, and then asked for the rest of my suggestions. The next day I presented her with each aspect that I thought needed improving and my suggestion for how to do so.

One of my suggestions required restructuring the entire kitchen and hiring another cook, another would include rearranging the f&b responsibilities amongst the staff in a totally different way. She agreed with each one and she promised to stand behind me about all of them to the staff. The only hurdle before presenting and implementing my changes was to present a summary to the GM and the board of directors for approval.

It took about 45 minutes for them to agree all the way around and approve of each and every one of my suggestions. We are ordering new uniforms, redefining staff job descriptions, training servers on proper table service and changing the employee meal program. The best part though... I got to bring in my friend David, the baker from 909, to be the NEW COOK! He came in and was hired today! It is so AWESOME that I have someone in the kitchen now who is on the same page (culinarily) as me as I'm making these changes at the club. SO KICKASS! Also, he's got a baby and a pregnant wife, and it makes me pretty frickin' happy to have helped him get a great job! And, if you wish to scan back to the days of Cafe 909, you will read that I absolutely adore working with David. And he's my bread tutor, so I can get more sourdough lessons!!!!

I called my dad on my way home to tell him about my day. He was happy/impressed/proud/supportive, you know, all that dad stuff. At the end of the conversation he said, "Make sure you let me know when Ben (Crenshaw) knows your name." I said, "Dad, I'm pretty sure he already does." He laughed and said , "Ben Crenshaw knows your name?" And that is when I knew he was really proud of me. :)

See, it was a great day at work.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T18:36:00.013-06:00

Last night I watched Mama Mia in bed and was asleep before midnight. Joseph worked.

Today we celebrated the beginning of an excellent year! We declared another tradition, a feast of king crab legs on New Years Day. We had them last year on the first for a fantasy football championship party. We never discussed before hand that we wanted to eat crab legs today, be we saw them at Costco on Tuesday it was a done deal. A tradition it is. :)

For lunch we had a staple cheese platter with nuts and fruit, today grapes and blackberries. Joseph had a Chimay and I drank some sparkling Pinot Noir. Notice the new board and cheese knife? It's a gift from Chris & Mandy, which makes me grin because I served them a massive cheese display when they were here in July and they ate the whole thing and loved it so much!!

Now we're watching USC kick Penn State's ass in the Rose Bowl. Joseph says: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

After the game, USC won 38-24!, it was time for dinner. We had caesar salad with croutons made from leftover cloverleaf rolls and this delicious grilled Ribeye. We drank another bottle from Mama Lisa, a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from Rodney Strong Vineyards.

too tired to blog

2008-12-27T19:27:00.004-06:00

Jumping head first into a new job with very long and very early hours has taken it out of me. I'm beat, from head to toe, exhausted. I have seen Joseph for only a matter of minutes since Christmas night when I went to bed. I won't see him for any considerable amount of time until tomorrow night, when I get home from work. That's going to be the biggest adjustment for us, making our lives mesh together when we're on completely opposite work schedules. We'll figure it out and make it work, I guess. He has told me how proud he is several times and has assured me that he'll help me keep it all together, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm really happy with my new job and looking forward to getting comfortable and familiar with the club and my position. I feel really well suited for the job and confident that, once I have a better understanding of how the place runs, I will be very successful there.

I'm slightly overwhelmed in knowing that I will have only 7 days off in January, as I have had the past 67 days off. My priorities are suddenly very different and my free time almost completely non-existent. I can deal with the early mornings, I almost prefer it once my body adjusts, but a sunrise on the way to work and a sunset on the way home seems really emotionally draining to me. It's going to be a change for Joseph too, he is used to having his laundry done, a homemade meal every night and a not-stressed-out me waiting for him at home. Now he's facing an empty house all day and a sleeping me at night when he gets home. He will also have to pick up the slack for a lot of what I simply won't have the time to do anymore. I am anticipating some growing pains for us, as a couple and a household in the next few weeks. We've always been on the same schedule, and actually worked together for quite a while, so this is definitely a brand new challenge. The job is worth it, a step in the right direction for us, so we'll manage somehow.

That's all for now. I have to go do yoga. I couldn't even try to wrap my mind around running when I got home, even though Cooper is begging, in dog-speak, for some much needed exercise (chasing his tail in circles, something he has not done in 6 years, which I know is his way of coping with an abundance of energy). Although I'm totally tired, my body feels too blubbery to not do anything and I know I'll feel better tomorrow if I do even just 25 minutes. So, off I go to my pink yoga mat. Sorry Cooper, you're going to have to wait until Tuesday for a run.

Christmas Day in Photos

2008-12-25T19:57:00.019-06:00

I made this blog and then decided it was too stupid to post. I have since changed my mind, because I will never have the time to do a proper Christmas blog. I may as well post it, since I made it, so here it is.

"Santa Came!"
Just the two of us, year after year, and we've gotten creative with the gift labeling

Ponys and Pumas!

Mimosas with Veuve and Eggnog Coffee Cake for Breakfast

Don't forget to check your stocking for Abba Zabbas and Big Hunks
Merry Christmas from Cooper and Marshall

Two Smoked Chickens! 2004 Taylor Lane Belle Glos, thanks Amaliya & Mike, it was Delicious!

Christmas Eve Wishes from JHig

2008-12-24T18:46:00.014-06:00

Seems to be a thing with him. I gave him fair warning that this blog was going up today when I teased him about always falling asleep early on the couch on Christmas Eve. He blamed it on all the food and wine. I suppose he's right, although I'm still awake...

Christmas Eve 2007

Christmas Eve 2008Somewhere on this computer are photographs of Joseph on Christmas Eve 2006 in an even better couch-sleeping pose. I need to find it.

All the food and wine responsible for Joseph's half consious state:

New wine opener Joseph broke out today, it has a needle instead of a corkscrew and it uses air pressure instead of force to remove the cork.
Merryvale 2001 Sauvignon Blanc
Cheese Board
More of those fat-dream cloverleaf rolls
Romaine salad with almonds, grapes, tomatoes, green onion, bleu cheese, mushrooms & artichoke with honey dijon cream dressing
Simi 2006 Sauvignon Blanc
Scalloped russet and sweet potatoes
Parmesan Crusted Corn Souffle
I have been accused dozens of times of serving way too big portions. This is why, this is a normal Joseph-sized plate.

Pumpkin Cookies & Eggnog Coffee Cake

2008-12-24T13:59:00.005-06:00

I made some cookies last night that were really delicious, definitely worth sharing! They are light and airy, a cakelike texture. So here's the recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Whisk together:
3 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon

Cream together:
1/4 c butter
3/4 c vegetable oil
1 c sugar

Separately, mix together, then add to creamed mixture:
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 t vanilla

Slowly add dry ingredients, scraping the bowl often.
Stir in:
1 c milk chocolate chips

Drop by round 1/3 c scoopful onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, careful not to overbake. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove cookies to wire rack.

Here's the recipe for my new Holiday Favorite, Eggnog Coffee Cake. I took one to our neighbors last night and they came by today with some wine and very RAVE reviews for the cake. I'm making one for us tonight, to eat tomorrow morning with Mimosas!

Night Before Eggnog Coffee Cake
Prepare ahead, mix with fork til crumbly set aside. Streusel topping:
1/3 c sugar
1 T flour
1 T soft butter
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cinnamon

Whisk together, set aside:
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Cream together:
First:
1 c sugar
1/2 c soft butter
Then add:
1 c eggnog
1 c sour cream
1 t rum extract
2 eggs

Add in dry ingredients, mix til just smooth. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan, sprinkle streusel over top, cover, refridgerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes at 350.

Drizzle over cooled cake, Eggnog Glaze:
1/2 c powdered sugar
2 T eggnog

Merry Christmas!

Day Trip to San Antonio

2008-12-22T11:48:00.007-06:00

We took a day trip to San Antonio on Sunday. The trip was pretty unremarkable, just your typical shopping, waiting in Christmas shopper-traffic and eating filled our day. We stopped at a gas station in the lovely, thriving community of Blanco, Texas. We were so tempted by the attention grabbing message board to go enjoy some Chicken... That's Fried, especially considering the napkins for free, but we did not. We got a hearty laugh though and the opportunity to post these photos on our blog.

On the way home we stopped to look at some really awesome lights set up in Johnson City. Every year the power company puts up this crazy lights display. Although it was REALLY FREAKING COLD, we got out a took some good pictures.

We had had some debate about whether or not to have photo cards made this year. We ended up not, mostly because Joseph runs screaming from any request to pose for photos. When Joseph saw this picture he said, "What a great picture. Next year we should use it for our Christmas card!" Okay, that's progress. Unfortunately, despite being really darling of the two of us I do not think this photo will work for our Christmas card. I am unwillling to send this picture, as it includes a horses ass coming out of my head!
Merry Christmas!

More Sweet Goodness

2008-12-20T19:29:00.016-06:00

I'm still baking like a crazy lady. After cooking for two days straight before getting our families packages off, I took one night off in the kitchen. Today, I got back to it and made some GOOD stuff... Key Lime Cookies, Ginger-Molasses Cookies and Eggnog Coffee Cake. We're going to visit someone very special tomorrow in San Antonio. He happens to LOOOOOVE sweets, so I've packages it all up to bring to him. Except the coffee cake, its in the fridge overnight and I'm going to bake it tomorrow morning before we go.
Key Lime CookiesGinger-Molasses CookiesMocha Fudge

We finally have something on top of our tree! We don't have ornaments on our tree, never have. Always just a plain tree with lots of lights. I don't know why, but we like it that way. We did agree that it was a little too Charlie-Brownish without anything on the top, so this is what we came up with

Now I'm settling in on the couch with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a blanket to watch my MOST FAVORITE Christmas movie of all time. I found it on Showtime, and even though I have the dvd somewhere in the house, it's an exciting treat to have it on tv. I watched this movie almost constantly during a really rough Christmas season a few years back, and for whatever reason it was uplifting and comforting. Joseph has watched it dozens of times with me, something he would deny if confronted. After not watching it since last December, I'm giddy to see my old on screen friends again. Hugh Grant, Awesome music, a sweet story, good laughs... a standout movie in my humble opinion.

*** Love Actually IS all around us *** All you need is Love ***

Merry Christmas, from the Marshigleys

2008-12-19T22:37:00.004-06:00

Scroll down to the bottom and turn the volume on the music down so you can hear the music in the video. Very silly, kinda cute. Happy Holidays!!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Birthday, Jack!

2008-12-19T18:53:00.005-06:00

My favorite boy is TWO whole years old today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK!

This is the birthday boy, first this this morning

HELL YYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

2008-12-19T18:15:00.004-06:00

I got the job! THE job that I wanted SO MUCH.

Starting Friday the 26th, I am the new Assistant Food & Beverage Manager at The Austin Golf Club. It's a great position for me and I am very, very excited. Austin Golf Club is an exclusive club with only 300 members owned by Ben Crenshaw. My previous experience at two other golf clubs, as well as FOH management and fine dining kitchen experience make me almost perfect for the position. It feels like, for the first time in my career, all of the different jobs I've had will provide valuable insight and finally be worth something.

I breathed the biggest sigh of relief after I hung up the phone. And then said, Hell Yes! You Rock, Amy! Here I am being happy right after I found out. Yes, look at the sunshine, it was 81 degrees today.

BEST PART:
WE DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE!
AGC is located in Spicewood, only 20 minutes from our house!

WE DO NOT HAVE TO MOVE!
AND I GOT A BADASS JOB!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!
And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

lucky dogs

2008-12-18T23:13:00.014-06:00

Cooper and Marshall have been spoiled lately. It's been kind of cold, and we have been feeling awfully holiday-ish, so we have been letting the dogs come inside much more than usual. Last winter we put them in the garage when it got cold, so the carpet and heat is a vast improvement. They first started coming inside when I was in Florida and wasn't around to counter Joseph's soft-heartedness. I like having them in here, so I didn't put up much of a stuggle and they have been coming inside for part of the day ever since. They are pretty low-energy these days, so it's really just a matter of having to step over them and kicking them out of the kitchen every now and then.
Here they are relaxing in front of the Christmas tree
These are some of the best picture of Marshall ever taken, I think. He doesn't ever let me get a good shot of his face
I will be glad when it starts getting warm again because out they'll go and stay until next winter. Cleaning up after two people is one thing, cleaning up after two people and two hairy dogs is another thing. A thing I had grown very used to not doing any more. My floors are all suddenly completely nasty, filthy and practically furry. Gross! At least I've got the time to clean them.

dare I say... b-o-r-i-n-g?

2008-12-16T20:47:00.014-06:00

I have come to the conclusion that Joseph and I are too young for retirement.

We have been enjoying these lazy winter days of my joblessness and all the free time and quality time together that it provides. Joseph has organized his work week at Lorraine's so that he works four nights a week and one morning. His nights don't start until 6pm and that one morning is done by noon. This means that we are at home together with nothing to do and no place to be... A LOT!

Of course, when I say nothing to do, I mean nothing pressing to do. There is PLENTY to be done, but as far as having anything scheduled, yeah, nothing. I'm thrilled to be home, my kitchen is where I am happiest, and Joseph has no complaints about the baked goods and homemade dinners. I should have used this time to reorganize my closet, which has now exploded its contents into my "closet room", but I haven't. Instead I stay in bed with cozy, cuddly, warm Joseph until noon and then spend the remaining five hours of daylight trying to find something to entertain ourselves.

Last night we watched three movies (all Joseph's picks: Deception, There Will Be Blood & Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) and wrapped over 100 pieces of caramel.

We usually occupy our afternoons with disc golf, running, swimming and picnics, but since it's been so cold we've been holed up in our house hanging out with the dogs. Today Joseph and I wrote Christmas cards (he signed his name 23 times) and then he helped me in the kitchen with some candy making. While I was busy stirring something constantly he did the dishes and even emptied the dishwasher without me having to ask!

Joseph grating 4 ounces of hard chocolate, after he complained that I made him do the "bus boy jobs"
Filling peanutbutter cups
Testing a peanutbutter cup

Joseph just got back from playing basketball and I'm getting my clothes ready for an interview tomorrow. I better get one of these jobs because it's about time for me to have something to do.

For now, it was, as they like to say around here,
Another beautiful day in Horseshoe Bay

goodness

2008-12-15T17:27:00.013-06:00

Yesterday was a lovely 78 degrees, sunny and bright all day.

Today is another story altogether. A wicked cold front blew in last night and ruined our disc golf/swimming/picnic plans for this afternoon. Instead, we decided to treat today like a "Texas Snow Day". I threw a pot of chicken & dumplings together on the stove while Joseph went to rent some movies. Now I've got some sourdough rising, caramels cooling and some other sweet goodness happening in the kitchen. That's all we've got planned for today... some couch snuggling, movie watching, candy wrapping and soup eating. Good day. Good day.

Here is my chicken & dumplings photo play by play. Elizabeth "taught" me how to make dumplings like this. Actually, I misunderstood her instructions completely and ended up with these veggie dumplings by mistake. But they turned out to be so good that I've never made them any other way, and in our house they are called "Elizabeth's Dumplings".

Carrot, celery, onion, garlic in creamy chicken broth
This is the part I misunderstood. Elizabeth said to add some veggies, meaning carrots & celery into the broth. I thought she meant into the dumplings, so that's what I did... removed a few of the cooked veggies from the broth and chopped them up with parsley and thyme and added them to the dumpling batter.

Before adding the dumplings, I added 3 cups chopped grilled chicken breast. Then drop spoonfuls of batter into simmering liquid, cover to steam 10 minutes.

And there you go

Drum roll, please

2008-12-11T18:05:00.011-06:00

We put the Christmas lights up on our fence today. It looks AWESOME! I'm a huge fan!

Our yard backs up to the highway (which sounds really ghetto, but somehow is not), so rather than decorate the front of the house, which has very little traffic, we prefer to decorate the back fence so everyone can see it. The dogs like the lights too, twinkling all the way around their big wooded yard. This year I put a wreath on each of the three stone pillars, which looks so great too!
I'm opening the Christmas candy factory tonight in my kitchen. I'm not going to mention what I'm making, it's a surprise after all!

It's officially Christmastime at our house! Wish we got to share it.

Here we are hard at work. It got quite warm this afternoon and we got a laugh about putting up our Christmas lights in a tank top and t-shirt. Joseph loves the staple gun.

The final result

And us in front of it :)
From across the street

The wreath I made from the scraps Joseph sawed off the bottom of our tree. We were both impressed with my craftiness!
Pretty lights around the front door

holly jolly

2008-12-10T19:54:00.006-06:00

When Joseph came home from disc golfing last night he had a bottle of wine to go with dinner and an armful of flowers. A Pink Poinsettia and a dozen Red Roses.(Funny thing: I had been at the same store earlier that day, seen the same pink poinsettia and wanted to buy it. I didn't buy it, but really thought about how much I would enjoy having it.) I asked why? He said, because I'm glad you're home. Sweet!
We had a lovely Christmas-y day today that put me into a super-cheerful holiday mood. First, we went to pick out our Christmas tree. Even though, to quote Joseph, "We are the only two who are even going to see this tree", it was exciting and fun to pick it together. We decided on a short, fat Fraser Fir, and it was a great choice, it's really cute!
I wrapped all of the gifts I have bought so far. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping, which is awesome so early in the month. I've got a few more things to get before I mail them all off to their various US destinations. I'm going to Austin tomorrow and I may be able to finish my shopping then. Sweet! Since we don't have a fire place or staircase at this house we have gotten creative in hanging our stockings. This suits us, Santa will understand.

could not resist

2008-12-09T15:35:00.004-06:00

From This

To This

Aunt Mamie Loves Jack

DETOX

2008-12-09T12:20:00.006-06:00

No no no, no one has a problem with drugs or alcohol!

I am starting a Detox diet this week, and I'm sort of looking forward to it. I got a new book called Detox: Revitalize, Rejuvenate, Revive and it describes a very thorough cleansing diet that lasts 4 weeks. It is supposed to do amazing things for your body... skin, hair, energy level and purify the toxins out of your organs, among many other benefits that can't be calculated.

I told Joseph briefly about my plan to start this detox program this morning. I fully expected him to call me a "crazy hippie greener", but he never fails to impress me. He actually agreed to do it with me! I didn't even ask, he just offered. We did agree that he would not have to go hungry and he could have grilled chicken (or another simple protein) with any meal he wanted, because the detox plan does not include any meat or cow's milk dairy. It consists mostly of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, some fish and non-wheat grains. We also agreed that we'd do it for two weeks this time instead of four, because we are not trying to be doing a cleanse over the holidays, that would be silly. If it's tolerable and brings nice results, I'll do it again for the full month next year.

Aside from changing what you eat a drink, you are also to follow a daily schedule of exercise, epsom salt baths, skin exfoliating and meditation/relaxation. And a weekly schedule of facials, homemade scalp masks and hot foot massage. All this, apparently is the key to "Optimum Health", which is described as a person having a healthy diet, fresh air, exercise, sufficient rest, relaxation, managed stress levels, a clean environment and a positive mental attitude.

I'm always trying to be healthier, so why not aim for Optimum Health and see how it feels. But not today... Joseph is disc-golfing at a new course right now, which means he will play until its dark. That means he will be starving when he gets home and some millet pilaf or roasted root vegetable stew isn't gonna get it, so we're going to have one last filling Amy-dinner tonight and then begin the detox tomorrow.

I will post as we go about our detox success (or struggles).

****I am secretly predicting that Joseph asks me to quit the detox by day 3. And that he'll be done with it by day 4. Bless him for trying, but I think he won't last. Maybe I'm wrong???****

Cheers to being healthy!

Jack and Ellie

2008-12-09T11:34:00.011-06:00

Are reasons I made the trip in the first place. Of course, it was great to see my sister, mom and Kevin. But those kids....

I don't really have words to express how I feel about them. It's a love I've never known.

A hot shower has never felt so good...

2008-12-06T21:12:00.005-06:00

I just got back from the very longest day of my life. I left Kate's house in Niceville at 7:10 am and drove 834 miles (Mapquest said 796, detours I guess?) all the way back to Horseshoe Bay. It took just over 13 hours, and I only stopped three times. I'm aware that other people makes drives like that all the time, and my mom used to drive twelve hours days with the three of us rotating the front seat by-the-hour all the time on our long summer vacations, but I have got to say.... THAT SUCKED!! All the encouraging texts from Mama Lisa and Joseph along the way, and those venti skinny lattes helped keep me going.

I hope it is a very long time before I make another cross-country drive alone, but it's a gratifying feeling to know that if I have to get someplace, I can totally get myself there. It was also quite rewarding when I totalled up my cost for the trip... LESS THAN $70 on gas, there and back!

a few from today

2008-12-02T22:10:00.006-06:00

Road Trip

2008-11-30T17:40:00.004-06:00

I'm OFF...

796 miles from Horseshoe Bay to Niceville, Florida!

I will post a blog with some pictures of the darling little ones.

Happy December, everybody!

a few photos

2008-11-28T23:55:00.010-06:00

I was pretty busy eating, drinking and being thankful yesterday so I didn't take many pictures. I managed to get a few good ones of our laid back Thanksgiving in Horseshoe Bay.

Before dinner we played a little frisbee

The food was better than ever, simple and delicious. I kept it pretty traditional and made everything totally from scratch...roasted turkey breast, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, green bean casserole, cranberries and the very best cloverleaf butter rolls I have ever had the pleasure of eating. In my fat-dreams I would have eaten the whole batch right out of the oven with a stick of butter.
We drank a lovely bottle of wine with dinner
And had some fabulous pumpkin cheesecake for dessert

The NEXT DAY SANDWICH is what I choose to call this pile of deliciousness. One of those cloverleaf rolls upside down and cut into 3 slices with turkey, crumbled crispy stuffing, cranberry sauce and bleu cheese

Congratulations to the Jones Family!

2008-11-28T11:01:00.004-06:00

On Wednesday, November 26, Elizabeth & Aaron welcomed a beautiful 8 lb 2 oz baby girl into their family.

MADELEINE GRACE got here just in time to be a Thanksgiving Baby, and we are all thankful for her healthy arrival.

Congratulations Elizabeth, Aaron and Big Sister Noelle!!!

For updates and pictures, check out Elizabeth's blog.

ellie jane & amy liz

2008-11-27T01:15:00.008-06:00

Doesn't tiny Elizabeth Jane look quite similar to tiny Amy Elizabeth? It's not just me, right?
Elizabeth, November 2008
Amy, November 1980

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for little girls. I look forward to being an aunt to a few of them and then raising one or two of my own. Boys are awesome and I want a few of those too, but girls are kind of incredible. I am thankful to have little girls to get to know this year.

It smells like Thanksgiving in here

2008-11-26T19:05:00.006-06:00

Because I have been busy in the kitchen all day. I made creamed corn, blanched green beans, mushroom soup for green beans, baked corn bread muffins to crumble and dried bread cubes in the oven to make stuffing, put the turkey in an apple brine, baked a pumpkin cheesecake and made a practice batch of the shrimp recipe I'm doing for my FNS application video. Also, I made a bleu cheese spread because I was considering doing it for the video, but decided on the shrimp so I am eating the bleu cheese dip with grapes, almonds and pita chips right now. It's delicious, I'll give you the recipe if you ask.

My "set" is all situated in the dining room, which is where I'm filming it because I couldn't find a spot or angle I liked in the kitchen. I have a basic script written on a huge dry erase board and all my prep and props laid out. I have to bake a batch of Amy's Honey Garlic Baked Shrimp just ahead of time to use as the "after" shot, it's marinating now. Susan is on her way over now to help me practice and then film it. I'm kind of nervous, I think I heard her car. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept going over what I should say all night long....

Anyway, tomorrow will be awesome. We are going to get up early, drink Mimosas with raspberries, put the turkey in, watch the parade, eat snacks, I'm going to make cloverleaf rolls and we'll finish up cooking dinner together while we drink wine and eat cheese. Joseph might not have to open Lorraine's after all, which would be an awesome unexpected treat. He may decide he should though, which would be okay.

We will thoroughly enjoy our Thanksgiving alone, but today we agreed that this is the last year at home alone for us. Next year for Thanksgiving we will make sure to be someplace with some people we love cooking and eating as a big family. Big, loud family dinners is something we talk about during our delicious quiet dinners together.

We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that each of you is surrounded by the people you love most. Enjoy the delicious food tomorrow and the very special company around you, or in your arms. Both of our families are celebrating the addition of a precious baby girl this November, and we're are as happy as can be for both the Lord and Jones families. We are looking forward to meeting our nieces Elizabeth and Madeleine.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

in my kitchen

2008-11-25T13:18:00.007-06:00

I marinated some tri-tip in my staple kick ass marinade (balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, rosemary sprigs & honey) and then Joseph grilled it. Always delicious.

The next night I made:
fried rice (shrimp, leftover tri-tip, ham, onion, carrot, celery, green pepper, garlic, ginger, broccoli, almond)

We had a guest for dinner. Joseph brought his buddy Clay home after a long day of disc golfing at TPDGCC (that's Twin Parks Disc Golf Country Club) in Dripping Springs. They were very hungry and Clay was a VERY ENTHUSIASTIC fan of my cooking, which was nice. At one point Clay said, "I'm impressed, I'm blown away" and Joseph said, "That means she's happy, she loves to impress." He was the best kind of dinner guest too, the kind who takes the dish you're drying and the rag out of your hand to do it for you and gets a paper towel to clean up the mess you made on the floor and were planning to ignore. We drank some nice wine and started out the night with panko fried shrimp and veggy eggrolls with apricot hoisin sauce and some incredible seared rare tuna (thanks, 909). I didn't get pictures of any of that, but I wish I did because the tuna was so crazy bright reddish purple.

Clay after eating so much he "could only think about taking a nap"

in my kitchen

2008-11-22T23:39:00.012-06:00

I made :

3 meat lasagna (italian sausage, pepperoni, ground beef)

I froze most of this lasagna, in individual portions for Joseph to eat after work.

chocolate almond oatmeal bars

bark:
white chocolate peppermint / white chocolate cookie crumble

and mixed berry coffee cake

Monday I traded Susan a pile of holiday baked goods for a haircut. And then we had lunch. A lovely Horseshoe Bay day.

sad

2008-11-22T00:37:00.004-06:00

Tonight I baked cookies to bring to some friends I had not seen in a while. I was hoping to invite them over this weekend to fix them a nice dinner and catch up on all the latest. I put 7 huge chocolate chip & toffee cookies on a pretty plate, labeled it with a "Made for you with love by Amy" sticker, hopped in the car and drove the 12 seconds down the street to their house. I knocked on the door and stood in the doorway with a big smile on my face, cookies in both hands in front of me.

*****The friends I was there to visit are our neighbors from the condo we lived in before moving to our house. I became friends with Mrs. P, over the course of a few years, while our dogs played on the driving range in front of our condos. She is no less than 50 years older than me, but she laughed at the same things I laughed at, her little white yippy dog (Sissy) loved to run and play with my huge wolf dog (and the wiener, God bless Bosco), and she was always very happy to see me. We would meet out front with the dogs and then I'd walk with her up and down the range while she told me about her grandkids and I told her about Joseph. Eventually, I started to take food to the Ps, and then Mr. P became quite fond of me too. Any time I made soup I took them some and I quickly learned that they LOVED sweets. I enjoyed how happy the food I brought made them, and it was nice to have someone to share extra leftovers with who appreciated it. Mrs. P would wait a few weeks and then bring me back a big pile of clean tupperware containers and lids. Joseph would always see her coming (it took a while) and yell "Sissy's mom is coming to talk to you!" so that I could answer the door and he could avoid a long conversation. They have been the only neighbors I've ever considered friends while living in Texas.*****

Mr. P answered the door and I handed him the cookies. I asked if he had gotten the note I left earlier inviting them to my house for dinner tomorrow. He took the cookies, then looked down at his hands and then back up at me. A knot formed in my gut. He said, "Marilyn isn't here, she's with our daughter. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's this week and she's pretty mad at me right now so she's with our daughter. So I think I better take a rain-check on dinner." He went on to explain that he'd been noticing signs for a while and had made the appointment behind her back because he knew she wouldn't go willingly. Since being diagnosed, she has started medication, but is still too angry to come home, so she's staying with their daughter for a few days. He looked at his hands most of the time but at one point looked up and said, "I knew she'd be mad at me, I knew they'd all be mad at me, but I did the right thing and that will be clear in the end." I said over and over how sad I was to hear that, that I was so sorry.

I am a sucky lazy ass for not going back to see them more after we moved. Their place is literally 4 streets over, a 5 minute walk. I walk my dogs every day and could rarely be bothered to go the other direction, to pay a visit to some friends who would have been very glad to see me. It doesn't do any good to feel bad about things I did or didn't do, but I do. I missed out on a year of being a friend to Mrs. P because I moved 1/2 a mile away, and now it's too late. I don't know a whole lot about Alzheimer's but I know more than I'd care to, and it's all AWFUL. I would wish that on no one, especially not Sissy's mom.

If you pray tonight, say a prayer for my dear friends.

Another boring food blog

2008-11-19T12:19:00.016-06:00

We had a lovely banana pie to enjoy for dessert, a cold bottle of Chardonnay in the fridge and only one more night to have dinner together before Joseph's work week started, so I wanted to make something nice. Joseph was gone in the evening playing church basketball, so I had the house to myself to really go all out. I am on a mission to use a lot of the ingredients taking up space in my freezers, so I decided it was time to use all the shrimp shells I had saved. I also found some giant head-on prawns (what up, 909!?!), perfect. About once a year I make shrimp bisque out of all the shrimp shells I have saved, but to change it up I decided on chicken with shrimp sauce instead. I had never made this before, but it came together like I had been making it for years. Still inspired to be prepared for my fake tv show, I took a few pictures of the long ass process of making Amy's Shrimp Sauce.
Here is the very abbreviated version of steps:

Chicken breasts marinating in white wine and lemon juice, about 3 hours

Frozen shrimp shells

Giant prawns, shells and heads went in the shrimp stock

Heads, shells, carrot, celery, green onion, bay leaf, garlic & water, simmered for about an hour

Pureed in batches, put through chinois, cooked down by half, through chinois again, combined with 2 cups milk that had been reduced down to 3/4 cup to make shrimp milk

Separately, made a small roux, deglazed with whisky, then added shrimp milk, which thickened to make the final sauce. (I opted to reduce down 2% milk, rather than use heavy cream. I usually mount with a lot of butter at the end, which makes it shiny and velvety, but I didn't and the only butter in this sauce was from the roux. It was just as good and WAY less fattening.)

Dredged chicken in seasoned flour, seared, covered with sauce, finished in oven

Final product, chicken with shrimp sauce and prawns on top

White & wild rice and big ass peas went with it

Isn't he so cute?!

Just so it's clear, I'm not trying to impress anyone or make any other home cooks feel inadequate. Occasionally I hear an annoyed, well, I can't make anything like that so I just made blah blah blah, which after a while makes me feel bad. My intentions for posting all the food blogs are not to hear praise or to show off in any way. This blog has become a fun way for me to record the things I create and want to remember and that is why I continue to post food blog after food blog. I realize that very few others have the time, resources or desire to spend most of their free time in the kitchen doing what I do.

Sweet Baby Ellie

2008-11-18T16:53:00.005-06:00

Banana-Berry Cream Pie

2008-11-18T16:02:00.011-06:00

I made pretty incredible pie this afternoon. I had some bananas that were starting to brown so I needed to use them. I had nothing to do this afternoon, except take the recycling tp the recycling center, which is my very least favorite chore on earth. I avoided doing that by making up a new pie. Joseph said he wanted a banana cream pie with Vanilla Wafer crust. I had been leaning toward making a banana cake because I had cooked down a bag of frozen berries from 909 (thanks, again for all the goods!) that would be an awesome filling between layers. But then I found some stale butterscotch brownies that I had frozen a few months ago. I saved then after they were stale because I knew they would make a primo pie crust one day. Today's the day, and I decided to blend the berries and then swirl them into the banana cream. I rule. Here's my creation, using brown bananas, hand-me-down frozen berries and stale brownies:

Banana Berry Cream Pie with Butterscotch Crust

I am really working hard on my Food Network Star application video. I don't want to look like an ass, which I feel I do on camera, so I am practicing a lot. The original deadline for applicants was October 20, which I missed. Apparently, they didn't find the one they want because they've extended the deadline until December 1. When I daydream I pretend like I'll get the call the day after I send in my video: "Amy, you're the one we've been waiting for!" I don't like to even entertain the idea, because I hate to be disappointed. I don't even know if I could host a tv show, I'm kind of a gooberish klutz, but I have a ton of experience and knowledge to share and I absolutely love everything about cooking. I don't want to regret not at least applying, so that's that.

In an effort to prepare myself for pretend my new show, I did something I usually do not do, which is take pictures as I cook. I just take pictures of the end result. But today, I took a few pictures of the steps to making my Banana Berry Cream Pie.
Strawberries, blueberries & raspberries cooking down with just a sprinkle of sugar
Butterscotch brownies in cuisinart

Brownie crumbs, to be mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar and 4 tablespoons melted butter

I pureed 2 ripe bananas, which I added to basic vanilla cream filling.

Butterscotch brownie pie crust

Dessert!

She's HERE!!!!

2008-11-16T11:19:00.012-06:00

ELIZABETH JANE LORD
was born shortly before 10am today. She weighed 6 pounds 11.5 ounces.

See Kate's blog for more info and pictures!

Baby Elizabeth, there are many people who love you so much already. I can't wait to meet you and see your sweet face.

Congratulations Jack, you are going to be a Great BIG BROTHER!

Congratulations Kate & Kevin, your family is perfect now!

Lots of Love to the Lord Family of Four.

Suddenly So Excited

2008-11-14T23:02:00.005-06:00

It's lucky for me that I have extra time on my hands these days because I have created a big project for myself. I'm suddenly VERY excited about the upcoming holidays. I have decided to become a Christmas Candy-maker this year, and my loved ones will reap the rewards. I have been reading cook books and recipes for days trying to come up with a perfect combination of candies and confections to share this winter. Mmm mmm mmm. So far I've practiced up on white chocolate peppermint bark and dark chocolate truffles. I got some darling little "Made with Love by Amy" labels for packaging. I really love Christmas. The process of stocking up on all the ingredients (sugar and chocolate basically), setting up my kitchen to produce large quantities of good quality candy, actually making it all, storing, packaging, decorating, it is all so much fun to me. Maybe I will become a professional candy maker...

I did the very first bit of my Christmas shopping this week, which also piqued my excitement. I have gifts for a few people and ideas for a few more. I think we'll do a bit more shopping this weekend in Austin, although the shopping I do this year will not even compare to what I did last year, so ya know. I'm on a mission, to have all my gifts bought and wrapped, as well as the candy made and packaged, to be mailed by December 1, since I am leaving town that week. I can do it, that's plenty of time.

Sadly, we will not be getting a Christmas tree this year. Since I will be gone for most of December and we won't be at home for the holiday, there is no point. It's only sad for me because I absolutely LOVE decorating our house for Christmas. Joseph is glad to be without the hassle and money spent on "all this Christmas shit". Our tree last year was so sweet and we had such a really lovely awesome Christmas here together. I was looking forward to enjoying the peaceful and quiet Powderhorn Christmas like last year... but plans change, and being with family will be great too. We will still be putting the lights and wreaths up on the back fence, of course, it is way too wonderful to skip.

Thanksgiving will be just the two of us and we'll celebrate on Sunday. Joseph will have to be at Lorraine's on Thanksgiving for a show (that's actually one of the busiest nights of the year) so we'll have a small meal that day and a real all-out holiday the following Sunday.

Getting ready for the holidays means that another year has come and gone. The years seem to disappear faster each year and I hear that it only gets faster. I feel like I didn't achieve enough this year, but I don't think I'll be satisfied with the passing of a year until there are three of us at the end of it. I made a similar comment to Joseph recently, to which he replied: "we traveled, camped at some beautiful lakes, saw both of our families, cooked and ate and drank like royalty, bought a car, lived and loved and were happy, you got into shape and I can count on my fingers how many times all year that we used an alarm clock... what more could you want from twelve months?" I love his happy & content outlook, it's priceless and I'm lucky to spend every day with someone so pleasant, but I am driven by things I cannot control to want more. We're on our way and our life will happen the way it's meant to happen, so I strive to achieve Joseph's level of satisfaction and gratitude in our every day life.

Lentil soup is gross, right?

2008-11-12T15:55:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned before in my baked beans blog, I did not like beans of any kind for most of my life. Only in recent years have I begun to appreciate the bean, that they are not only super-healthy, but when cooked properly, quite delicious. I was never a picky eater at all, in fact my attitude toward new foods was always open, excited and willing to try most anything. I liked most every food I tasted my whole life, and so my love affair with cooking became what it is. Anyway, I liked practically everything, except beans. Even in culinary school I wasn't swayed from my stance against them, apparently SCI students weren't producing anything that great. The point of this entire silly paragraph is to introduce my next bean-venture and newest culinary challenge.

LENTIL SOUP

My sister was a little less excited about food than I was growing up. She wasn't picky so much (that pretty much wasn't an option), but there were definitely more things she did not like to eat than Mike and me. She would also "forget" to eat, which is something that has yet to happen to me, but anyway. The one single thing that Kate liked to eat that I would not touch was lentil soup. I found it completely repulsive and did not understand any one's affection toward it. My mom and grandmother liked it too, the Progresso kind in the blue can. So Gross.

I'm still on my happy-cold-weather kick and excited to be cooking soups and stews again. Always looking to add to my rolodex of food knowledge, I have decided to learn to make awesome lentil soup before I see everybody next month. I will make it as delicious as I can and then I might understand why you all like it. Even if I don't fall in love, I'll make it for all of you. And I can make it without pork, Kate, if that's still your deal.

-5 hours later-

So I made the soup. And it's really good. Much better than I expected it to be. It's not much to look at...
Along with a 16 oz bag of lentils I used 2 oz pancetta, 8oz of chopped ham and a ham bone, as well as onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, half a pale ale for deglazing and 6 cups beef stock. I also added a big handful of chopped spinach at the end.

Check one more thing off my list.

Call me Sandra Lee

2008-11-11T20:28:00.009-06:00

No really, don't. Sandra Lee is the annoying bimbo on the food channel who accompanies every "semi-homemade" meal with a "table scape". I didn't do it intentionally, it just happened. When we sat down for dinner tonight I realized that the entire table matched, place mats, plates, flowers, lemons and limes. I was amused by how domestically darling I am, even on accident.

We had the other marinated pork loin leftover from camping. I boiled down the marinade and made a sauce, which was really good.
I made some veggie couscous and green beans. For dessert we had HEAVEN on a plate. No other title quite captures it. I had a slab of leftover Chocolate Ganache cake from 909. It's melted chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla beans cooked together, then molded into solid cake. It's ridiculous and can only be eaten in single square inch portions, unless you're Joseph. I served it with just a small scoop of vanilla Haagen Dazs and a big ladle of strawberry-orange coulis.
Strawberries boiling with half an orange with 8 cloves stuck in it

Here are recipes for the pork, veg cous cous and strawberry sauce, all of which could fall into my quick, economic, healthy & delicious category. I must clarify that I do not believe all the recipes I write down to be "healthy". I mean wholesome, always containing natural fresh ingredients, though not necessarily always low in calories or fat. As long as it's made with fresh ingredients and isn't fried, you're on the right track.

Honey Mustard Marinated Pork Tenderloin
In a ziploc bag combine with 2 or 3 pork tenderloins: (use the leftover for awesome cuban paninis or in a stir-fry)
1 cup dijon mustard (I used the last inch of 4 separate mustard bottles, any good quality mustard or combo of mustards will work)
2 T minced garlic
1/3 c honey
1/2 c water
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
drizzle olive oil
good squeeze hot chili "rooster" sauce
big pinch salt
Store in fridge overnight or at least 4 hours. Grill and baste with marinade half way through.

Veggie CousCous
I used pearled cous cous, which is larger than traditional cous cous. Either will work, if using regular small cous cous, follow this recipe until adding the pasta, after that follow package instructions.
In 2 T butter in a shallow pan saute 1 stalk celery sm. diced, 1/4 green pepper sm. diced, 3 green onions chopped, 1 carrot sm diced, 2 T garlic minced and 1/4 c pinenuts or slivered almonds for about 5 minutes. S & P. Deglaze with 1/4 c white wine, stir frequently until most liquid absorbed. Add 1 1/4 cup cous cous, stir to coat. Set temp to med-low. Have 2 cups hot vegetable stock nearby. Add stock slowly, stirring often as the pasta absorbs the liquid and swells. Add stock until all liquid is absorbed, the pasta is cooked through and the texture is creamy. I added 1/2 c milk at the end, which made it creamier. Stir in a handful of frozen peas, corn if you want and quartered cherry tomato. Season again and keep on low til tomatoes are wilted. If you wanna be naughty, throw in some butter.

Strawberry Orange Coulis
In small sauce pot combine 2 cups frozen strawberries (or any combo of berries. Fresh works great too, but frozen fruit is always available and affordable), 1/4 c grande marnier, cointreau or OJ for the preggos & kiddos, 2 T sugar, pinch cinnamon or one cinnamon stick, zest of one orange, juice of half an orange, juice of half a lemon and a clove-studded orange half and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool in fridge. You could use it hot too, but I wanted it cold. Once cold, smash as much juice and pulp out of the orange that you can and then remove it. Blend with hand blender or in blender. SO FREAKING GOOD, could be used for cheesecake, chocolate cake, ice cream, layered in parfait with pastry cream, cake and berries, on angel food cake or anything you want to dip into or cover with strawberry lovely-ness.

Happy Campers

2008-11-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

We're back from what can only be called, OUR BEST CAMPING TRIP YET! It was wonderful. We got there around lunch time on Sunday. It was about 80 degrees and the sky was like this.
We set up camp, which was the easiest its ever been. If you've heard horror stories about our first tent, rest assured, we got a nifty new little dome tent that practically sets itself up. Our site had lots of trees, was secluded from other campers and was on the edge of a little cliff, with a path through the woods down to the lake.
After a quick swim and some exploring for Cooper and pretend duck hunting for Marshall in the afternoon it was time for dinner. First we walked down a little hill and watched the sun set.
We had honey-mustard marinated pork tenderloin, roasted baby potatoes with caramelized onion (Joseph thinks they're better than Morton's Lyonnaise potatoes), broccoli and a grilled California peach. Just because we're in the woods doesn't mean we skip anything. We enjoyed an eight year old Sonoma County Chardonnay (Thanks, 909!), which went perfectly with our dinner.
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled next to the fire listening to "camping music", drinking Knob Creek & 7up and occasionally taking pictures of ourselves. Camping Music is a collection of 5 cds that we only listen to in a busted-ass old cd player when camping or near a campfire... Grateful Dead, Graham Wilkinson, Lemma and 2 Bob Marley albums. This compilation became our "camping music" last year and will remain so forever.

The moon was awesome and the sky was clear, we barely needed our flashlights. It got considerably cooler in the evening, but much less so than we had anticipated. All of our extra blankets and fleece hoodies stayed in the car, we slept with the door of the tent unzipped and only one blanket on top of us.

Monday we drove over to the rec center so I could swim and Joseph and the dogs could play a few rounds of disc golf. It rained a little bit while I was swimming, but the guys didn't mind and kept playing. We headed back to our site, did a little more exploring/swimming/duck chasing/picture taking and it was time for dinner again.

We decided that since it was looking like it may rain again and we wanted to end our sweet trip positively, it would be best to pack up our stuff and head home right after dinner. We had barbequed chicken, skillet beans & corn bread muffins (see previous blog), and pasta salad. The dogs had bratwursts. Deliciousness!

We packed everything up and were home by 6:30pm. After showers and pajamas and a few shows on dvr, we were asleep by 11. You can imagine how our happiness continued this morning as we lay in our warm dry king sized bed listening to the POURING rain!

Counting down...

2008-11-08T23:24:00.001-06:00

The count-down has begun! Kate is due with a baby girl on November 28. Elizabeth is due with a baby girl on December 7, but has been told she'll deliver around the 24th.

Is it mean if I pit them against each other and pretend they're racing?!?!

I know they're both pretty much at maximum capacity and ready to no longer be pregnant. And of course, they're completely excited to meet their little girls.

I hope they both come on November 22. 2 is my favorite number and I've always been the only one with a November birthday (til Letty) and they will be two of my favorite people on earth, so it seems perfect. Come on Kate & Elizabeth, don't let me down!

Whenever they do decide to make their entrances, I am hopeful and wishing for two speedy, un-complicated, natural, healthy births. Good luck, Mamas!

-----Oh yeah, in case you can't keep up with reproduction-mania, Mike & Kristin's baby is at 20 weeks right now, due the beginning of April.-----

Kick Ass Baked Beans

2008-11-08T15:42:00.000-06:00

I have to start by saying that for the first 20-some-odd-years of my life, I did not like beans at all. Something about the inside texture really turned me off. Joseph loves beans, and once we got together and I set out on my quest to know how to cook everything well, I have made so much progress with my bean cooking ability.

I had two ham hocks from 909 that I needed to use, that's what prompted me to make beans in the first place. And beans in a skillet over a campfire would make Joseph SO HAPPY! So, this is what I came up with.

One pound bag navy beans soaked overnight, then drained. You can use any kind of bean, or combo of beans that you want. And this recipe is just how I happened to make them this time. I don't write recipes down, unless it was extra delicious or to post it on here. My cooking varies all the time and I am able to incorporate pretty much anything I have laying around into something great. Knowing what role each ingredient plays and what quality it brings or purpose it serves in your dish, the more clear the possibilities become in cooking. I am still working on my Food Network Star application video, in which I have to declare my "theme". I told Joseph today, I have no theme or gimmick. It's just me and this is how I cook. I use what I have and I make it awesome. I can teach people how to buy the proper ingredients to stock their pantries, how to improvise and have confidence in their ability to do so, and how to make simple things that are homemade, cost efficient and mostly healthy. I think baked beans falls into that category. Although, I cannot lead you astray, despite the title, these beans are at no time baked.

In the bottom of a hot pot saute 4 slices chopped bacon. (I used pancetta, which I also had from 909, but I doubt anyone has that laying around, and bacon serves the same purpose.) Once the bacon has rendered some fat, add 1 tsp oil, half 1 chopped onion, 4 cloves minced garlic, two stalks celery chopped, one green pepper chopped, and saute about 10 minutes. Add one can diced tomatoes, beans, 2 bay leaves, 1 or 2 ham hocks, 1 T(ablespoon) paprika, 1 T chili powder, 1 T cumin, 1 t(easpoon) cumin seed, 1 t red chili flakes, one dried anaheim pepper, 1/4 cup bbq sauce, 2 t molasses and 6 cups hot water. Bring to a simmer, set heat on medium low and cook uncovered for 4 to 8 hours. The longer you're going to cook it, the lower the temp should be and you may have to add more water. I cooked mine for 10 hours and it was really thick and hearty. Season with salt at the end.

I also made corn bread muffins. I added a cup of bacon & corn chowder leftover from Tuesday to the batter and used bacon fat instead of oil. I also used coarse ground corn meal, instead of the fine stuff in the cardboard container. They were like corn-crack. Bacony corn-crack. I could sell them for $10 each just by letting people smell them right out of the oven. I will only be enjoying one of these calorie bombs, Joseph will eat the rest this weekend by the fire.

Camping Trip!

2008-11-08T15:01:00.000-06:00

I'm busy packing for our camping trip tomorrow. It's been several months since the last time we camped, and we're both pretty excited to get a few sunny fall days at the lake in before winter. Since we are going to a lake that is nearby, (20 minutes from our house, 5 from the pool/disc golf course and 10 from a grocery store) we don't have to pack as much or be nearly as diligent about not forgetting things. Some of the sights where we stayed during the spring and summer were way too far from everything to get anything that you needed or forgot. This lake, which is a Texas State Park, even has wi-fi at it's campsites, so I may post a blog about our trip from our tent. No, I won't, I'm not taking the computer, that would negate the whole point of camping, which it to get away from all things plugged-in.

The weather is beautiful right now, in the high 70s all day and then it drops quickly into the 50s when the sun goes down. There is a slight chance of rain on Monday, but we're taking our chances. As much as I personally love to be outside in the quiet stillness, far from everything and everyone, situated comfortably on the shore of a huge lake, I get most enjoyment from watching Cooper. He knows what the tents and coolers mean and his excitement is incredible. Marshall loves being with us and relaxing outdoors, but he's more likely to just it park under a tree and nap than anything else. Cooper will run and play and swim from sun up until sun down and love every second of it.

We'll have some fabulous meals, even lakeside and over a fire. I've got some chicken breasts and pork tenderloin marinating. I also made some baked beans last night that amazed even me. I will post the recipe, it's simple and so freakin' good that everyone should have it. We're expecting some friends to stop by, so I'll be ready to feed a crowd. Other than grilling, Joseph will play disc golf and fish and I will read and lay in the sun. I plan to hike around the lake, there is a really awesome trail that I'm looking forward to trying out. Before the sun goes down (at 6pm) we'll drink some margaritas and enjoy the peace and quiet. We have not had a campfire all summer, so I am happy to finally get to use the s'mores ingredients that have been in my pantry for 6 months.

Hope everyone else has a great weekend. I'll post with some pictures when we get back on Tuesday.

Peace. And oh yeah, I can't believe OBAMA actually won. There is hope again.

Lately

2008-11-06T22:47:00.000-06:00

Before I started this blog I used to write a little bit on a blog on Myspace. But Myspace is kind of creepy and full of annoying things, which is why I prefer this lovely blogspot instead. I did really enjoy writing about what I had been doing or thinking or feeling. I've always tried to have a specific topic to write about when posting a blog here, but, as it turns out, our life isn't that interesting or eventful. And as much as I love to write and post about food, I'm beginning to feel a bit one-dimensional, like that's all I can do. So, in an effort to express a little bit more of myself in writing, I am going to begin writing regular LATELY blogs again. Stay tuned.

Here's a start.

Lately...

First and foremost, I am thrilled with our country. This is the first time in my life where any candidate or politician spoke in a way that I felt was directed at me. Like he was speaking to me, about what matters to me, making promises that will effect me positively. I believe he spoke to many many millions of other people in that way too, and that's why he won. He spoke to groups of Americans who have never thought that the men in Washington even knew they existed, and promised them the help they've needed for so long. I am hopeful and optimistic that Barack Obama will be in our country's history, not only as the first black President but as an effective, fair, honest and smart leader, something that our country SO BADLY needs right now. I didn't really grasp the enormity of the face that he is black and we just elected him president until watching Oprah yesterday. I would have voted for a Martian if I thought he was smart and would do a good job, and his being black never even entered my thoughts when deciding for whom I should vote. Oprah showed a clip of Martin Luther King as he spoke of his dream for his children to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Only decades later and we have done just that, while electing the person for the most powerful position on earth. That's awesome.

I am getting ready for all the big changes that are on the horizon for us. I am *patiently* waiting for Kate to have her baby so I can get my road trip started. She's technically full term now, so the sooner the better, little girl, get a move on it! In the mean time, I am trying to find a suitable place for us to live in Austin. There are some issues as far as location, because Joseph will still be working in Marble Falls for a while, so we're limited to the southwest part of Austin, which happens to be one of the newest and most expensive parts of town. Ugh. Also, we are slightly limited because we have so much stuff. And dogs. It's not as simple in Austin as it is in Horseshoe Bay. To get into this house, the owner, my old boss from HSBR called me from Florida and said, "My house is available, do you still need a house? Move in in two weeks." Ahh, small towns do have advantages. I have to be patient and I'm sure I will find a lovely house with a big fenced yard, big kitchen and 2 full bathrooms (we have been spoiled by our separate bathroom situation!)available in January if I just keep looking.

Lately the weather has been really beautiful. I have actually had to break out my fuzzy slippers from last winter a few different times, which is something I dreamt about during the last 2 months of 90+ degrees. There is still a burn ban in our county so we have not been able to have a fire yet, which is one of the best parts of fall. It's cool and breezy, but you don't need a sweater until the sun starts to go down. I think we are going to go camping next week at Inks Lake. We never made it to Lake Travis last weekend, and we're both eager to get in just one more camping trip this year. Inks Lake is close enough to Marble Falls that we can camp for 2 or 3 days and still come into town to take care of whatever needs to be done. Perfect! And since we'll be lakeside, we can totally have a fire. That should be a nice getaway and I'm looking forward to it.

Okay, that's a start. Later.

HE DID IT! WE DID IT!

2008-11-05T00:02:00.000-06:00

It happened.

It really happened.

He won.

He won Florida and Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia!

He actually won.

No scandal or recount. A landslide victory.

It's real.

It's true.

64 million Americans voted for Barack Obama!

No one can take away what our country did.

We did it.

The United States got together and made the right decision.

Make us proud, Barack! We fought hard to have you fight for us.

November 4, 2008 is the day I became proud to be an American again.

January can't come fast enough!

PRESIDENT OBAMA, We're glad to have you!

Dinner, thanks to Cafe 909

2008-11-03T19:55:00.000-06:00

This is what I made for dinner Monday with some of the food I brought home from Cafe 909 on Friday.

Pear & Beet salad with homemade Ricotta

Grilled Tuna, Creamy Polenta, Wilted Escarole & Chickpea Putanesca, with balsamic reduction drizzle

I have been cooking most of the afternoon, getting ready for tomorrow night. I kept being amazed and and getting excited when I found ingredients today that I didn't have before Friday that I was able to use. I have a batch of sourdough rising, which I'm going to bake into little boules (round) to serve as mini sourdough soup bowls. I had forgotten that Mark gave me a huge bowl of yeast. HUGE, like yeast for bread baking for the next 2 years. Awesome!!! I made a big batch of corn chowder, with the two ziploc bags I brought home full of frozen corn that I myself had cut off the cob and blanched. It will be served in my mini bread bowls. Now I am going to make a batch of vanilla pudding, homemade not from the box. It is what I am using (my quick substitution for annoying-to-make pastry cream) to pipe into the center of giant chocolate cupcakes for tomorrow. I got a big cupcake pan yesterday, as well as mini bread loaves and a pan of mini bundt cakes. I got a Cuisinart hand-mixer, too. I have never had one, because I have always had my orange Kitchenaide and never needed one. But I bake a lot more now and it will really come in handy, and Joseph likes to lick the beaters because it makes him think of his mom. I also got a candy thermometer (for making cheese and candy) and pink tongs. That was just at the kitchen store.
For dessert we had:
Goat cheese cheesecake with spiced plum sauce

2006 Food & Wine Magazine Top 10 Best Restaurant Dishes of the Year
Frozen Pistachio Parfait with Burnt Honey Caramel

November 2

2008-11-03T12:55:00.000-06:00

We had a lovely Sunday celebrating number twenty-eight. Our plans to hang out at the lake changed into sushi for lunch, shopping and mojitos at the Hula Hut at sunset. Here are some pictures:

Amy's 25-hour Birthday!

2008-11-01T19:57:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Amy! How special that your 28th birthday happens to coincide with daylight savings, giving you the ultimate gift of more time... the 25-hour birthday!

We don't have much planned, but that's kind of how we like things. We are meeting some friends at their campsite at Lake Travis tomorrow, to spend the afternoon with the dogs at the lake. The weather is completely amazing right now and the dogs will appreciate one more chance to go swimming this year. In the evening we're cooking dinner together at home. Monday, because one (extra long) day of celebrating isn't enough, we are going into Austin for a sushi lunch at my very favorite place on Earth and a little birthday shopping. I think I want the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid and some new cute-butt jeans. I have a cute butt now, I have earned some kick-ass jeans. I may see something else that I want instead, that's what I have come to love about Joseph's gift giving technique (which is to put off shopping and let me shop for myself). I'll let you know what I decide on.

Then, the party will continue on to Tuesday, when we host our Election Day Party. That one won't be about me, hopefully it will be a celebration of the first steps of getting our country to suck less.

Cafe 909... The last days

2008-11-01T15:58:00.001-05:00

I helped close down Cafe 909 last night. I won't tell you again how sad I am that such a delightful restaurant, with spectacular food had to close its doors. We managed to have a great time this past week and make the most of sending each other off to our new adventures. Because Chef is such a great guy (not a jerk, at all!) he sent the three cooks home with hundreds and hundreds, yes, hundreds of dollars worth of goods. I'm serious, I brought our big camping cooler and filled it completely full. Then I filled a milk crate with stuff too. I got tuna steaks, ribeyes, calamari, quail, spices (even saffron!), sauces, oils, orzo, polenta, wine, beer glasses, pounds of local cheddar and aged parmesan cheese, pistacio parfaits and the sauce goes with it, cheesecake, a spice cake and 1/2 gallon of spiced plums, and all the leftover ingredients from the line after service was over. We have so much food that I have decided to skip our traditional fancy dinner date for my birthday tomorrow and stay home and cook for us here. The food will be better than any restaurant in Austin and we have excellent wine, all here, all paid for. I will also use quite a big of the ingredients I brought home to cook for our Election Day Party on Tuesday. Chef is also going to send each of us all of his recipes, that's 25 years worth of culinary genius! and all his menus from the five years that 909 was open. I will keep those recipes for the rest of my life, they are priceless and Mark is very generous and kind to share them with us.

Here are a few photos from the the last night of service at Cafe 909.
My friend, Joe the Waiter

The view from where I stand before we opened for the last time
Shift Beer
Everybody, The End

Cafe 909 Tasting Menu

2008-10-25T00:28:00.000-05:00

This week at Cafe 909, Mark did a Wine Pairing Tasting Menu. I did a little bit to help get it ready and then stood next to him watching, occasionally holding something or getting something. I got to see him really show off his talents, which are among the finest. He's been nationally recognized for a reason and I got to see it first-hand.

It is a true shame that his restaurant is closing next week. Cafe 909 is a gem of a restaurant in a sandy bowl of pebbles. It has been my pleasure to work there and learn from Mark Schmidt. I have only been working there a short nine weeks, and I don't remember it being so awesome when I worked there last year, but I have grown very fond of and close to the people I work with. David is the pantry guy, the professional baker who has been cheerfully guiding me in my sourdough journey. He's also my political tutor, updating me on statistics and answering so, so many questions. Mike is a worldly loner cook, back from 18 months in Ireland, about to go to NYC to cook with the very best, in Marble Falls for only one reason, which is to learn from Mark. I fit in someplace in the middle, inwittingly exposing how truly naive I am, making everyone laugh sometimes, being a chatterbox and keeping pace all the while with the two awesome cooks on either side of me. Mark can be a [jerk], but for the most-part, he is a kind and respectful leader, happy to help in so many ways. I am very sad to see this restaurant close, to be losing my job and to see the friendships that were developing end. I have warned them all that I'm not "Amy the Crying One" for nothing, I never fail to deliver tears in any (even slightly) emotional situation. I have the utmost respect for Mark and his wife Shelly for the way they run their business and the knowledge they have about what they do. It's been a while since I felt that way at work.

These pictures aren't in the right order and I am not smart (patient) enough to put them in the correct order right now. You get the point though. The man for whom the tasting was is the owner of a winery, and he brought some incredible vintage wines (1970-1992). The courses in the order they were served was this:
Japanese Flavors -oyster, escolar & kiwi tartar, eel, tuna sashimi
Seared Foie Gras, candied butternut, ginger
Sturgeon, grilled sardine, blood sausage risotto
Squab breast, carrot puree, most delicious sauce
Smoked lamb, lamb chop, roasted baby leeks, artichokes and cauliflower
Marcona almond stuffed fig, honeycomb, bleu cheese, olive oil

And those are David's cloverleaf Brioche rolls!

Chili

2008-10-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

I'm on a cold weather kick. It's finally gotten to feel like fall around here and our air conditioning has been off for a solid week, the longest stretch since March. It's been in the low 80s during the day and dipping into the 50s at night. I do occasionally feel slightly nostalgic for fall in Ohio... huge piles of leaves in the yard, crisp breeze blowing through the windows at night, apple orchards & pumpkin patches and giant pots of chili on the stove all day...

It was delicious, the best chili I've ever made, we think. Here's the recipe:

In 2 T olive oil saute for 10 minutes: one onion diced, two stalks celery diced & one carrot shredded.

Then, add one tablespoon of each: chili powder, paprika, blackening spice & cumin, as well as one teaspoon of cumin seed, cinnamon & black pepper. Allow this to toast on the bottom of pot, releasing the aroma of the spices quite a bit, about 5 minutes.

Next, add one pound of ground beef and one pound of diced stew meat. Season with kosher salt. Coat meat with spice mixture in pot and brown for several minutes. Add two bay leaves.

Add one small can tomato paste and one cup water. Stir to evenly coat. The add one can crushed tomatoes and two cups beef stock. Simmer one hour, or longer.

Winter Fashion

2008-10-19T20:01:00.001-05:00

I had a semi-drunk fashion show for myself on Saturday night. As I have mentioned before, I like to try on clothes to moniter my size, because I don't like scales. I only got thru two outfits before I wound up on the couch watching SNL, uninterested in finishing the "show" or putting the clothes I'd worn away. I did realize how lame I was and also did laugh at myself the whole time. I only got this picture. I am such a DORK! But really, how cute is this outfit!?

Lucky Me!

2008-10-19T19:35:00.000-05:00

A Girl and her Dog

2008-10-16T22:48:00.000-05:00

This will become much less important when we have human children, but until then, let me tell you all one more time how much I freakin' LOVE my dog. He is the sweetest and nicest dog I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. (Laura was great, Mom, but not quite the same) He would be happy to spend each and every day with me outside, running, hiking, swimming or just relaxing. He's super athletic, patient and gentle with children, protective when necessary and so so loving. Everyone loves him, even though he kind of resembles an 85 pound wolf. At our old condo, he made friends with our older neighbors. It was months before I found out that he had been sneaking out of our place and going to their back door, where they would let him in and give him snacks and treats. He was always back before I knew he was gone.

I'm not sure how I ended up with such a wonderful and well behaved dog, because I had no prior dog-training knowledge before his "adoption", but I did and I am very happy that I did. He's my best buddy and it's hard to believe he's been mine for almost seven years. We've been through alot, several moves, an Ohio winter, a few plane rides in cargo... all worth it. I don't think that any dog will ever compare to my sweet, lovable, obedient companion, Cooper.

Here we are before a run. I take him with me when I'm wearing my Obama shirt, it's a dangerous Republican neighborhood, you know...

Baby Boy Marsh

2008-10-16T22:39:00.000-05:00

There has not been a new Baby Boy Marsh since 1984 when my baby brother, Mike was born. My dad has three brothers and three of the four of them had at least one son. From those sons, there have been three Baby Girl Marshes and to date, no Marsh boys to carry on the name. Well, that's about to change. Mike and his fiancee Kristin are expecting a baby in the spring... and IT'S A BOY! Mike could not be any happier!!! So of course, I am thrilled for them both. Yeah for babies everywhere I look!

Ribeye, Red Wine & the Dodgers

2008-10-13T21:09:00.000-05:00

That's our Monday night in a nutshell. Here are some photos.

Joseph grilled this giant bone-in Prime Ribeye and some jumbo Gulf shrimp. I whipped up mashed potatoes, broccoli, satueed mushrooms and a fabulous rosemary/redwine/butter sauce. We also had some of that terrific sourdough, slightly toasted with butter. We drank an old dusty delicious bottle of wine, a 2000 Margaux, which had to be strained thru a coffee filter into a decanter, because it was full of sediment. Our toast "To the Dodgers and to us!" We ate dinner in the living room while watching the Dodgers come back against the Phillys. It's 3-2 now in the 6th inning and we hope they can pull off a win. I've developed a crush on Andre Ethier, a young, handsome Dodger, whom Joseph now refers to as "your little boyfriend". Ooops, now the game is tied. I hope the boys in blue can make this happen. I know a few Higley Boys who would never ever forget their team finally making it back to the World Series.

****Update***
The Dodgers did not win. Joseph is very sad.

Oliver Stone Quote

2008-10-12T22:36:00.000-05:00

It's as simple as this, if you ask us.

"Whoever wins this election, Bush's impact has changed the world. This man has left us with three wars — in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror — and the legacy of the pre-emptive strike. These are legacies that will haunt his successor for years. It's good for people, before the election, to think about who they elected eight years ago and about where we are as a country right now."

Is it paying off?

2008-10-12T22:00:00.000-05:00

Is what paying off?

The hours I have spent hauling myself around the track and up and down the lanes of the GHRC pool in the last few weeks. I'd like to think so! The scale STILL says I haven't lost much weight, I fluxuate between the same 3 pounds, and Joseph says I look good no matter what. I can't really tell just by looking at myself in the mirror, so I have come to rely on trying on clothes to determine my size. Saturday after work I decided to take photos of my fashion show to study. I may as well post them and get both of your opinions too. :) Is it paying off? Please, don't comment about how crazy and unhealthy this all sounds. I am healthy and of very sound mind, I promise.

Little Miss Baker

2008-10-12T21:39:00.000-05:00

I also made a loaf of sourdough today. If you follow this blog regularly (and I think there are only 4 of you who do), you know that I have had some trouble with the sourdough bread baking. Not real trouble, just some growing pains and getting to know my sourdough starter. Tonight was my night, I GOT IT PERFECT! I adjusted the recipe slightly and the oven temp and baking time by a few degrees and minutes. And it came out so BADASS! Crusty on top, light and airy in the center, sourdough goodness all the way through! We enjoyed hot sourdough with our turkey cannelloni for dinner.

I also made a pineapple upside down cake. I make this dessert fairly often. It's easy and really delicious. I usually follow the recipe in the Joy of Cooking (my bible), only replacing yogurt for buttermilk. Tonight I followed the recipe in the Cake Bible (another gift from JHIG), which called for sour cream, which I replaced with low-fat vanilla yogurt. Lately, I have been trying to capture my own spin on the few recipes I do follow, in case I have to turn in the 30 original recipes that TNFNS calls for upon acceptance to the show. (Really, I know they aren't going to call, I'm just trying to be prepared in case) My recipe is lovely!!!

Turkey Cannelloni

2008-10-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

In the recent weeks economic downturn, Joseph and I have been feeling the pressure. We're wading into new territory together, the poorhouse. Not really, but we are definitely aware of what is happening around us and the certain uncertainty about everything. In an effort to not end up poor and stuck here in this "dustbowl" (JHig) we are trying our best to cut back spending in every way possible. The first luxury to go, eating out. This isn't really a bad thing, because my cooking is better than most restaurants, but the pleasure of ordering and then getting up and leaving the mess is a thing of exciting dates now, and it used to be a regularity.

Anyway, because we're being "thrifty" and trying to make the most of eating at home, we have stocked our freezers and pantry well. Last Monday we shopped at Costco and the Asian Market, just about filling our freezers to the max. We have ribeyes, filets, shrimp, fish, turkey, chicken, bacon, sausage, mini pizzas and some pot pies for Joseph's late nights. That, combined with the bags of stocks, sauces, muffins and breads that I have piled away in there and the pantry FULL of rices, pastas, beans and canned tomatoes I have make it almost impossible for us to go hungry before 2010. We're slowly adjusting the way we live and spend to that of financially responsible adults.... so old, so old.

Left over from the Amy's Late Night Deli days I had a package of three turkey breasts in the bottom of the freezer. I thawed them out in the fridge all week and then baked them off this afternoon. I seasoned all three differently, one spicy blackened, one basil and tomato and one with garlic & Lawry's.
I used the basil tomato one for tonight's dinner, and sliced the leftover for sandwiches. The other two are frozen for another meal. Hence the title, we had Turkey Cannelloni tonight. I sliced the turkey breast longways, filled it with a ricotta/parm/spinach/artichoke filling and rolled it up. Then I covered it with marinara and mozzarella and baked it till it was bubbly and the cheese was melted. Add a bottle of Simi Russian River Chardonnay and it's on! Lucky us. I know it's true, we are lucky to be where we are, doing what we're doing, even if it isn't what I wish we were doing right now. A few days ago, giving in to the stress and pressure of adulthood, I was having a rough afternoon. Joseph sat me down and said, "This isn't even hard. This life we lead, it's a vacation. Babies, houses, a family, that's when it's hard. Enjoy this time, Amy, enjoy it while you can." So smart, so smart, he's right again. This picture isn't awesome, but you can imagine rolls of turkey breast, stuffed with cheese and goodness under all that sauce and cheese.

We're watching the Dodgers game now. They're up 7-2 in the 7th inning right now. If they win this game, they'll be 1 and 2 in the series against Philadelphia. The next two games are in LA, so hopefully they'll win tonight and then the next two. GO DODGERS!

Obama-Rama ... Sarah Falin'

2008-10-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

I was super happy when the Obama stuff I ordered finally came in the mail on Monday. Before I even left the post office, this new bumper sticker was stuck on the car.

This tshirt came too. I wore it yesterday to the pool. An older woman stopped me and said, "Do you feel safe wearing that here in Republican Country?" and I said, "Yes, I'll tell anyone who asks why I think Obama is better." and said said, "Well, good for you, maybe I should start wearing one too." and I said, "Yes, you should."

Out here in Llano/Burnet county it is full-on McCain/Falin land. There are signs everywhere. I've seen several McCain/Falin bumper stickers placed right next to W'04 stickers. Really, you're not completely embarassed to tell people you voted for that mooseknuckle? You should be! You just can't help the stupid, I suppose. Lucky for us, Austin isn't too far away. Austin is the only liberal city in this whole stupid state, and it was very refreshing to finally see some Obama supporters while we were there on Monday. I saw two stickers I really liked... "OBAMANOS, TEJAS!" and "End this Endless War. Vote Democrat"

Our yard sign is coming. It will probably be stolen the first night. My friend Joe and I have decided we're going to use red spray paint and change the P to an F on all the McCain/Palin yard signs around our neighborhood. We will need alot of cans of paint.