Sometimes things don’t quite come together. Tonight was one of those nights… I had plans for this blog post, but Jdubs is not cooperating so I had to redirect. But now maybe it’s going to be something more awesome than I had originally planned.
I looked through my random photographs and there are several I haven’t been able to use elsewhere. So I decided to write this post as random awesomeness in pictures.
A few days ago United Supermarkets had a sale on berries. I LOVE berries, and since it was cold, I made oatmeal and berry awesome in a bowl. And I have serious coffee every day. This is pressed coffee. The French version of Cowboy Coffee; it’s not for sissies.
French Press Coffee. Old fashioned oats, fresh berries, walnuts and a splash of cream.
Supper tonight. I made vegetable soup and chicken salad from a leftover roast chicken. The bread is the awesome country French bread we got at Central Market on Sunday. Oh and those are the little garden tomatoes I picked when they were still green, just before the killing frost. If you leave them out, they will ripen.
Soup and sandwich supper.
I almost peed my pants when I saw this (at Central Market on Sunday). You know how I love Scharffen Berger chocolate. Well here is a giant block of San Francisco chocolaty awesomeness!
OMG. I've died and gone to chocolate heaven.
The UPS man left a great big cat playhouse on the front porch. (That’s what I told the cat, anyway). Awesomeness in a cat toy.
This is awesome until the cat tries to play at 2 a.m., then not so awesome.
Who doesn’t love Sock Monkey? This hat is random awesomeness!
This Sock Monkey hat was a big hit at the supermarket tonight.
We just got in from a wedding where the bride and groom had a flair for the dramatic. There were echoes of tradition—there was a wedding party with girls on one side and boys on the other. But that’s about where tradition ends. There was a groom’s cookie and a bride’s cake made of cookies, no real cake.
The color theme was black and white, which makes for simple elegance. The decorations were very creative yet inexpensive, but somehow really cool and fitting for a winter wedding. There weren’t any fresh flowers. The bridesmaids carried purses.
The groom wore a white suit, black shirt and tie and black and white wingtips. All he needed was a white Fedora to have the “zoot suit.” The bridesmaids wore black and/or white dresses of various sorts, nothing screamed bridesmaid. The men wore black suits and ties.
And the bride said “to hell” with tradition and wore a black dress—no white here. She also wore Corral vintage inlay boots in black and white, of course. LOVE IT! ( I can relate, I wore a black and red flower print dress for my own wedding.)
The bride in a black wedding dress.
I was very impressed with the innovative ways to use sticks and plow discs. Most of the decorations utilized something we have in abundant supply in Arcadia. Mesquite wood– painted black, silver, white and some with a touch of bling.
Mesquite branches used in creative ways.
Antlers, the common ones you find in the back pasture where the carcass is long since decayed, with a black wash on them to accentuate the crevasses. There were shot glasses. I poorly assumed that they were for shots, right? Nope. It’s for a shot of milk to go with your cookie. Jdubs did about 10 milk shooters and wanted to save the glasses for later. It was awesome. The antlers were really cool.
Focus on the awesomeness of this antler--painted silver with a black wash.Pretty bride in black ... tired, fat lady in red.
The bride, in black, looking fresh as a flower and me (gawd, I need a vacation and a binge diet).
The bug in a Rudolf tie.
Jdubs wore his Rudolf tie – he insisted on wearing a tie like his daddy.
Head table with creative decorations of mesquite branches.How many of us have a candelabra in the attic? Whip that bad boy out and spray paint it black and string some bling-- then BOOM.This center piece really was the coolest. None of those typical arches with garland strung on it. No little white lights. Mesquite branches and bling.
The bride and groom exchanged vows in front of this arrangement. It was huge and beautiful. The photo doesn’t do it justice—it was about 10 feet tall and made of …. You guessed it, mesquite branches. There were crystals, beads and sparkles. It was not traditional, but really pretty, classy and most of all, creative.
This is a gem of a cookie recipe. And the best part is that it’s a “light” recipe. I very first found this recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines. Cayenne is the secret ingredient, which adds a great punch of complexity that you can’t place, but know it’s what makes it all work. I don’t know what it is, but chocolate and red pepper go so well together.
The key to making this a wonderfully scrumptious recipe is to use really good chocolate. It needs to be bittersweet with 60% cacao minimum. Good brands that are easily available are Ghirardelli, Lindt and Baker’s. Don’t forget to look in the “candy” aisle for the good chocolate.
If you can get to a luxury grocery store, like Central Market, you can find tons of good chocolate. Scharffenberger is the very best American chocolate (HSO). Valharona is overpriced and overrated (another HSO). (HSO=Hot Sports Opinion).
If chocolate is the star of the recipe, use the good stuff. Life is too short for crappy chocolate regardless. For other recipes with Scharffenberger see Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
Just remember mediocre chocolate = mediocre results.
Very respectable American Chocolate from San Francisco.30-second intervals will keep you from scortching the chocolate.Satin-smooth chocolate.
This is perfectly melted chocolate. Look how shiny and smooth it is.
Cayenne is the perfect complement to chocolate.
You don’t want to pinch cayenne pepper with your fingers. The oils adhere to your skin and God forgive you if you accidentally rub your eye or nose (or any other precious body part with tender skin!). This is the dandiest trick to adding just the right amount of cayenne. Stick your knife into the spice bottle and get a dab on the tip of the knife and add to the dry ingredients. If you would rather use measuring spoons, it will be equivalent to about 1/8 of a tsp.
Butter, sugar and a farm fresh egg.
It’s hard to believe this recipe only has a ¼ stick of butter in it. Just for reference, traditional chocolate chip cookies have 1 cup of butter (4x the butter in this recipe). Believe me, the two greatest flavor-adding ingredients are butter and bacon grease.
Sous chef Jean-Guilliam.
I had my favorite sous chef in the kitchen today. I love cooking with my little boy. Hopefully he will know a few recipes by the time he’s 12 or 13 and can be responsible for cooking a meal a week (totally ripped this trick off from Dr. Jen.)
We drank a keg of this and I still love it. (It took us a few weeks to drink the keg, BTW)
It is Friday night, after all. And the best way to keep from eating all the dough is to drink a beer while you work. Beer and cookie dough is a no go.
Tasting the product. Always a good sign in an aspiring chef.Payoff. Licking the beaters.
If the dough is good the cookie will be even better.
After 10 minutes in the oven, this is the outcome!
The cookies will have a slight crackling to them. This is perfect. When you break them open, the outer shell should be crispy.
Chocolate awesomeness! Crispy on the outside and chewy, moist greatness inside..Powdered sugar makes it pretty.
A little dusting of powdered sugar for a festive look … and voíla. Chocolate cookie awesomeness.
Mexican Chocolate Cookies
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3.4 oz. all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Dash of pepper
Dash of cayenne
1 ¼ c. sugar
¼ c. butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put chocolate in glass bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring in between, until just melted. Set aside to cool.
Weigh or measure the flour and put in a small bowl. Add cinnamon, baking powder, salt, pepper and cayenne. Give all the dry ingredients a stir.
In a separate (and larger bowl), beat the [soft] butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until just combined. Add the cooled chocolate. Beat for a few more seconds, then add the dry ingredients by stirring it in until just mixed. Use a tablespoon or scoop to drop uniform dollops of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until cookies are just set. When cooked, remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
I was sorting through a few photos I’ve taken over the last couple months, and our pets keep coming up as a subject of my photos. Our animals are a large part of our lives, but I also take their photo because I find them funny or picturesque in a particular moment, or I’m trying to learn something with the settings on my camera and they are the most willing subject given my options.
Jack (aka Jack Attack) on a hunt, just waiting for the birds to fly.Pussums the cat with green eyes.Nanny's dog, Sade Mae, the barky dog who is a lover, but hates it when others kiss goodnight in front of her.Good old Ruby on the feed truck. Doesn't get much better than that for a dog.This is what I think of when I think of Jack Attack.
I’ve been thinking about this post for 30 days and there was no way to write this in advance. On November 1st I decided to write a blog a day. Tonight marks the 30th post for the month of November. And I’m proud that I completed the goal. It’s been a struggle, I couldn’t’ have done it without the help of my husband in the evenings. November is a very busy month in general for our family and especially since the end of the month leads up to two of the busiest days in my annual calendar, not counting Thanksgiving.
In order to accomplish a blog a day, I had to really think and plan ahead. There were days when I would sit down at 8 or 9 p.m. wondering what I was going to write about that day. Some days the blog seemed to write itself, especially when I could recognize the gift of that day.
My favorite post was when my son got my camera and secretly took photos (A Photographer in the Making). That also happened to be one of the most viewed posts of the month.
The hardest post to write was about the Penn State child abuse scandal. (Little Lost Boys)
My favorite photo project and title of the month was When Frost Happens. This was one of those that wrote itself.
Writing daily has made me buckle down and be disciplined. The rigor of daily reflection brings perspective. This exercise has literally made me stop and “smell the roses.” Blogging consistently makes me re-frame everyday moments. It also makes me consider things more thoroughly and thoughtfully.
For me, writing is probably my single best skill. I majored in communications with an emphasis on journalism. I’ve been in PR and marketing communications jobs for the whole of my professional career. I’ve been in jobs before where my main function was to write whatever needed to be captured. Since my professional career began technology has gone from typing into a word processing typewriter to micro-blogging on Twitter with my mobile phone. Who could have imagined that?
Writing is a skill; it’s a job; and it’s a gift. Anyone can learn to write well but not everyone is a gifted writer.
Writing is cathartic for me. I’ve kept some form of a journal since I was 12 years old. I’ve been working out my emotional tribulations by writing about it almost since I was able form words into sentences. No matter if writing is a necessary skill in today’s information age or if you are a gifted writer, practice makes you better.
The awesomeness of blogging means that you get “published” every day that you decide to write. With the tools available you become a content generator. The downside is that there is a lot more content out there to sort through. But the main thing is to continue to do it regularly. Consistently producing new content is like major league at-bats. The more you’re up at the plate the more opportunities you have to hit a home run.
Today has been an extraordinarily busy day … so tonight when I came home from a 12-hour work day I put my pajamas on. I figured why bother changing out of my work clothes only to change again later. Part of my nighttime attire includes a pair of slippers because we have tile or stained concrete in the majority of our house. Hard floors = cold floors in winter.
Every year someone in my family gives me slippers, which I love because I always need a new pair by the time Christmas rolls around. My feet are always cold. Seriously, the only thing colder than my feet is me arse. (But that’s another story.)
The Christmas before my son was born my mother-in-law gave me a pink, furry bath robe and matching slippers. The set was like a little piece of cloud wrapped around my very pregnant middle. And of course the slippers were awesome since my feet hurt and were incredibly swollen most of the time. I packed this robe and slippers in my bag to take with me to the hospital when our son was born. What typically is a two-day process ended up being a five-day stay.
While my son was in the NICU, I shuffled down the hospital corridors in my robe and slippers. I looked like a grizzly bear, all grouchy and postpartum puffy. My house slippers were my only footwear, and it was hard to walk, for obvious reasons. And since my hormones were so completely out of whack I could be fearsome to deal with, like the most ferocious of felines.
I still have the slippers and wear them sometimes. But before I left the hospital, my husband dubbed them the pink slippers of fury because of the tangles I found myself in while wearing them.
So now it’s a family joke and all I have to do to “mean business” is to point to my feet in the pink slippers and our little son will say “no momma, not the pink slippers of fury.”
We’re visiting Nanny and Pawpaw this weekend. Pawpaw wanted a new computer so we actually ventured to one of the bigbox stores on Black Friday to find an electronics deal. Remarkably the stores weren’t bad at all – I guess when you go at 6 p.m. all the early birds have gone home to roost.
On our adventure we stopped off at a Mongolian-style grill for dinner. Jdubs has been balking at eating his dinner these days but tonight we had leverage. There was a guy at the restaurant making balloon critters. We threatened Jdubs that if he didn’t eat his dinner then no balloon.
Cute college boy working his way through school just a few balloons at a time.
And this guy was good. He’s a college student at UT-Dallas. Pretty clever part-time job for a college student. Nanny asked if he had to go to a special school to learn how to make balloon animals. He said that he went to the school of You Tube to learn. (A comedian too).
Goldfish on the line.
He made Jdubs a goldfish on a fishing pole.
He told us he was available for birthdays and parties, but occasionally he got invited to bachelorette parties, which could get a little awkward… I guess the single girls wanted something other than a fish on a line 😉
Jdubs did good, ate his broccoli and noodle dinner. Thanks Blue Collar Balloon Guy.
Several people have asked me what we were going to make for Thanksgiving. When I say “nothing” puzzled glances follow with raised eyebrows. When your family is far-flung or out of pocket for whatever reason, it’s hard to justify cooking an 18-pound turkey for four adults and a small child.
My grandmother is recovering from the surgery she had last week. The procedure made her weak and tired. I have a family member going through a divorce and another one with a terrible bacterial infection, etc., etc.
So it was just easier and more convenient (and cheaper) for my immediate family go to Wildcatter for Thanksgiving.
A big pile of food ... Tri tip steak, ham and smoked turkey. Mac n cheese, grits, dressing, green beans, broccoli and sweet potatoes.
It was delicious! And we had a spectacular view of the North Texas Hill Country.
View off the southern bluff at Wildcatter Ranch
We had a stellar French Burgundy and when we were done, we went home. No dishes, no leftovers, no nada.
2003 Santenay was lights-out good!
I don’t think I’ll want to do it every year, but I’m thankful it’s an option. We’ll have traditional Thanksgiving feast with my husband’s family over the weekend – fried turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.
We had a good day, (well other than that fight we had). And it was a beautiful day to be outside in the garden. I worked on long-overdue cleanup and winter planting.
The Christmas tree went up with relative ease. As I write, the Aggies and Longhorns are still battling it out. It’s been the holiday I really needed.
After a bad case of writer’s block I decided to start writing about random things … thus random things.
We went to Walmart tonight to pick up my $4 prescription (love that). There was an incessant beeping. When I asked an employee what it was, she said “what beeping?” Really! It was clearly an alarm but nobody seemed to be alarmed! Three or four other people seemed to be as puzzled/annoyed as I was.
Wonder how much the boys in Bentonville paid for the updated logo with the shinny sun?
Then Walmart goes and redeems itself with Blueberry cordials! The find of the month. It’s the greatest combo!
One of my favorite things ...
I was working on a group of photos of my favorite landscape plants when Jdubs posed. Then he wanted me to take a photo of his favorite stuffed animal, Smooshy.
Posing for the photos.
Smooshy -- close up.
Some of the best $14 wine I’ve had, ever.
To hell with Yellow Tail swill.
The fattest Chihuahua, ever!
Seriously, this is the fattest Chihuahua.
She's like a 20 lb loaf of bread.
The cutest little kid, ever.
Jdubs doing "tricks" for momma.
A poster in my grandmother’s bathroom! They don’t even have a cat!
Today has been a simple day. Church, lunch and an afternoon with family watching movies and reading books. It has been a nice day just the three of us.
It seemed only right for us to have a simple, traditional meal. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Ingredients
2 lbs. of ground beef (chuck or round)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 tbs parsley, chopped (Italian parsley, don’t mess with the curled stuff—it’s bitter)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 1 ½ cups oats
1 bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 egg
1 small can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper
Oats ... that's what I use instead of bread.
Dump all the ingredients in and give it a stir.
Tomato sauce and a stir.
Then add the tomato sauce and egg.
One fresh egg.
I always put my meatloaf in a cast iron skillet. You can use a loaf pan or Pyrex dish.
Everyone should have a well-seasoned iron skillet.
Cast iron is an awesome conductor of heat.
Press the meat into the pan. Next make the topper (this is optional).
A sweet ketchup-based sauce does the trick.
Topping
½ c. ketchup
1 tbs mustard
¼ c. brown sugar
2 tbs. whole grain mustard
Salt and pepper
Top with the sauce.
Pour on top, spread out to the edges. Then place the pan in a 375 degree oven. Bake for 45 min or until done all the way through.
The Arcadian Experience 