Memorial Memories

I spent the long weekend in Houston with my family. We had decided to have a garage sale on Saturday morning, so we spent most of Friday night pricing and getting everything ready. Emily & I slept for 2 hours and then woke-up and got to work by 4AM on Saturday. We had a lot of STUFF. The whole thing was quite a success and we were wrapped up by 1PM. Even though people say clothes are hard to sell, we put them out on wobbly clothes racks and prayed for the best. At one point, Emily said "all clothes are $1" - well, the classy lady below went to town! This was quite the family and she bought 3 of my formals (tear!) and some footed pajamas. Her "son" bought a Mr. Bean VHS. They obviously know fun. And can someone explain to me why she felt the need to wear one of those bra "clips" that draws your straps in for her halter top?

Anna Claire decided the formals that didn't sell would be a great addition to her dress up collection. She was pretty proud of herself for tying this one up at the neck and strutting around in a backless dress.We also tried to sell Big Mama's gold chair. Big Mama was my great-grandmother and yes, her husband was Big Daddy. Anna Claire had my dad make her a sign to try and sell it...the words were all her idea!

 

 

After a long nap, we got cleaned up and went to dinner at Ruggle's in Rice Village. If you've never been there, you're missing out! They have some of the best desserts ever. This has become a family favorite, because we love desserts...obviously. I had a great salad and rounded out the meal with this chocolate mint mousse cake that AC chose & we shared. 

 

 After church on Sunday, we went to lunch at Johnny Tamale's. I was the only one who hadn't been there yet, and I was genuinely surprised that they didn't have that many tamales on the menu. Only one dish, actually. You see, if George is going to eat Mexican food, they better have tamales and he better like them. He is a simple man. Meat and potatoes. Or tamales and chili in this case. Well, George doesn't like their tamales, so he ordered a burrito! This was a pretty big deal in our family. We had to ensure no onions were present, but he ended up liking it. See the elation in his eyes? Maybe it was the sunlight.

 

On Sunday night, AC and I spent the night at my parent's house. I requested Tom's Boat, because it was a place my parents always talked about, but I hadn't been yet. Mom and AC went to Cane's, so Dad and I had a date at Tom's. This was quite the experience. I knew that there weren't tables and you just shouted out your order, but Guy from DDD would love this place. It's made to look like a boat in the middle of this parking lot. You walk in to a big bar and extra stools around the perimeter. We quickly found 2 seats, but the place was packed. Apparently, it's always this way. Dad gave me some suggestions and then went to order at the bar. Our food came out fresh and was really good. My parents are fried catfish lovers. So the fact that they can order whole catfish and crunch on the tails (!) is a real plus for them. Tom's is by no means fancy, but it is tasty! You also don't get a ticket. You tell the cashier by the door what you had and they trust you. My dad did say that if you cheated them, they'd kill you and I really don't doubt it. The patrons of Tom's wouldn't appreciate my picture taking, so I had to be sneaky. Here's the inside, our "view" of oyster shell landscaping and a used car lot, and our food.

 

 

Another goal of the weekend was to go through some old boxes at my parent's house. They have kept every paper, memento, and picture of my whole life. I love them for this, but it is overwhelming. My mom is ready to reclaim the extra bedroom where all this is stored, so I cleaned out and reorganized. We are nowhere near finished, but got a good start. Here is just one treasure that was found: a fake newspaper from our family trip to Colorado years ago. I was quite the pig lover back in the day, hence the choice in headline.

The Tooth Fairy

In an attempt to not only talk about food on this blog, I'm going to share some "exciting" news with you! Now, if you aren't a member of my family, this might not seem that big of a deal, but .....

Anna Claire lost her first tooth!!

I really can't believe she is even old enough to lose teeth! She is growing up so fast & I'm happy to say she is my "mini-me." Sorry, Brad & Emily. Anna Claire is a spittin' image of me at that age and Emily keeps asking why she is having to raise me again. Personally, I think they are the luckiest parents in the world :)

I don't know all the details of the incident, but I know Brad had to do some pulling at one point. They then celebrated in true Texas fashion...Dairy Queen! Anna Claire wasn't too keen on the Tooth Fairy coming into her room while she was sleeping, so she requested that they leave the tooth on the kitchen table. She also wanted to keep the tooth. This is something I will never understand. Teeth are funky, especially out of your mouth. Keeping teeth in a little jar is just the oddest keepsake I can imagine. That and hair. What are you going to do with these except put them in a drawer somewhere? I've never seen a shadow box with teeth and hair in it.

The first tooth I lost? Buried in a landfill somewhere. It got taken out with the trash at C.C.A. back around 1990. I lost my tooth at school and threw it away. My mom was so excited when I got home and told her I lost my first tooth, but then I explained that I trashed the yucky thing. "It was all bloody. Why would I want that?" was my response to her.

Anna Claire did good too...she got $10 from the Tooth Fairy! That's a pretty high standard, but the Tooth Fairy tells me the prize goes down after the first one. We'll see!

Doo Doo Bars

Do I know how to attract readers or what?!

My mom introduced Doo Doo Bars to me years ago and despite the name, they are delicious! She first learned about them in Weight Watchers where they called them WW Snickers. I'm not going to lie, these taste nothing like Snickers. They do, however, look like doo doo, so the name stuck. 

If you are craving something sweet, but trying to watch what you eat, make these lil' bars and follow my beat...Ok, I noticed the first two lines rhymed and had to keep going. My B.

Here is the original recipe with my substitutions in ( ).

Doo Doo Bars:

1 banana, mashed

1 Tb. peanut butter (I use Peter Pan whipped, because I'm obsessed with the texture.)

1 envelope diet cocoa mix (I used half a scoop of choc protein powder instead.)

1/4 c. grape nuts (Any crunchy cereal will do. I used fiber one last night.)

1 Tb. dark chocolate chips (Not part of the original, but a great add-in.)

Mix it all together. Form a "log," "patty," "whatever" and wrap it in saran wrap. Keep in the freezer until ready to eat.

I think the protein powder somehow expanded as I was mixing, so my bar turned out huge last night. I shared half with a coworker. Stop giggling about the thought of sharing a giant doo doo with your coworker. Oh, just me laughing?

I didn't take any pictures, because this recipe is so simple and the bars are not very photogenic.

Crack That Doesn't Kill

I woke up on Saturday morning feeling hungry and lazy. Don't we all? So I lounged in bed for a few more hours and watched The Food Network. This obviously made me more hungry. As I was watching Trisha Yearwood's new show (really hoping for a Garth cameo), she made this dessert called Sweet and Saltines. As she was making it, she referred to it as "crack," so I took that to be a good sign. I then realized I had all the ingredients for this recipe and I didn't care if it was 11AM, I was having this for breakfast! 

I decided to have some self-control and only make an 8x8 of this, rather than the giant sheet pan she used. I know myself and if it's in the house, I will eat it. Here is what happens often:

 

Here is the list of ingredients if you do the full recipe. I just cut these down by half-ish or more and called it good enough. I mean, can you really have too much of any of these ingredients?! No.

 

Ingredients:

    * Cooking spray
    * 35 to 40 saltine crackers
    * 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
    * 1 cup light brown sugar
    * 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Line your pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. This keeps the caramel goodness from sticking to your pan and thus ruining this whole dessert and your life. Arrange the saltines in a single layer. I had to break some into smaller pieces to fit. Perfection isn't necessary here. Eating the too broken saltines is.

 

 

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly. Don't lick the spoon. It's not worth it. You will burn every taste bud off your tongue. Have hot, running water ready to put the pan under once you pour it out. This will prevent the sugar from sticking on the pan and thus ruining your life again.

 

Put the pan into the oven and bake for 2 to 4 minutes, or until just bubbly, watching carefully. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife.

 

Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container, if you have any leftovers! For the record, I didn't eat this whole pan for breakfast. I spread it out over Saturday and Sunday. I kept it in the fridge, because I felt it got too soft on the counter. You can also use graham crackers instead of saltines, but I like the salty/sweet.

Enjoy!

Five Sixty

Through an odd series of events, Keith, Megan, Courtney and I ended up at Five Sixty Friday night. Five Sixty is Wolfgang Puck's restaurant on the top of reunion tower. Even with our almost 10pm arrival, they were unable to seat us, so we found a little couch/seating area in the bar. If you've never been up there, either to the restaurant or the observation deck, you need to go. It's a great view of the city and the restaurant slowly rotates to give a 360 view.

The restaurant is obviously $$$, because you are paying for the view, wolfgang's name, and the excellent service. We are talking host in a tux. In our area, we were able to order small bites and sushi which worked out perfect. Megan & Keith shared a California roll. Courtney & I shared a dragon roll & the mini Kobe sliders, because girl can't survive on 4 bites of sushi alone. The sushi was fresh & nicely presented. The sliders were teeny tiny, but rich in flavor. It was Kobe beef after all.

Overall, I'm so glad I got to try this place! I definitely want to go back for a $16 signature cocktail and their full menu...just waiting on a trust fund baby to find me :) kidding! Thanks to Keith for picking up the tab on Friday!

Here are some pics from the night. For some reason blogger on my phone won't let me put pictures in certain places, only at the end. I'm too lazy to get my laptop downstairs right now.

Yummy recipe & my Rough Rider's cougar moment coming soon...

Food Trucks

I love food trucks. I don't really know why. I don't really care either. There is just something fun & social about them. An apartment complex nearby has been hosting a Bite Night every Thursday this month with different trucks. Megan and I ventured out last night & it was worth it!

There were 4 trucks there last night: The Butcher's Son, Ruthie's, Cup Cakin', and Crazy Fish.

We decided on The Butcher's Son, because the menu looked great and the line was long. I wish we would have arrived earlier, because they were sold out of a few things we wanted (The Dead Elvis & lime tots). That's the thing with food trucks, when they're out, they're out. We ordered 4 sliders and a thing of tots to try & share. And this event was BYOB, so that's exactly what we did! We ordered The Southern Hospitality, The Mac-n-Beefy, The Southern Bell, and The Mamma Mia. We also ordered some tator tots with beef, onions, etc on there. Well, it was all worth the wait! Yum! We finished the night with red velvet and cookies & cream cupcakes. Delicious!

You can find food trucks in your area by doing a quick search. Follow them on Facebook & Twitter for where they are located...they move daily!

Fat Cow Hug

For Tuesday movie night we decided to branch out and try a new restaurant. We used to be really good about this, but then we started repeating a lot. Since our movie didn't start 'til 7:30, we had some extra time so I used my favorite app ever, Yelp, to help us find a place. Megan jokes that I'm the Human Yelp and really, it's true. I'm always on the lookout for new places and then want to try them. It's a rare day when I go to a restaurant without reading reviews or scoping out the menu. For me, a trip out of town is based around which restaurants I want to try...no joke.

The winner last night was: Fat Cow BBQ. I know, I know...what a name!! However, it was DELICIOUS! It's this tiny spot next to a donut shop in a strip mall. You would pass it up without a glance, but thanks to Google maps, we found it without a problem. Oh Google maps, my second favorite app. 

When we arrived there was no one there...not typically a great sign, but we ventured inside. The smell of smoke was STRONG when we walked it, but it helped me get over the fact that I couldn't smell it outside. Someone (probably my dad) once said you should never eat at a BBQ place if you can't smell it outside. For the record, we smelled like this the rest of the night. I somehow still feel like I smell like it...and yes, I showered. Anyways, we walked up and ordered. The three of us (Courtney, Megan, and moi) all got the 2 meat plate, or as Courtney ordered, "The 2 meat, 2 side, and a roll plate." HA - glad there was no confusion as to what you wanted, Courtney :)

Between us we tried: brisket, chicken, spicy sausage, mac & cheese, green beans, potato salad, and coleslaw. Everything was great! I think the coleslaw received the lowest vote. And the mac & cheese won by a landslide! Seriously, so delicious and creamy. The meat was all very well seasoned and moist. I'm usually not a big BBQ fan, but this was top-notch.

**I almost forgot our other favorite: The Fat Japs. Yes, another weird name. These tasty treats were jalapenos stuffed with pulled pork and cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and grilled. Amen.

As we left the restaurant, we parted ways with Courtney and, in our food-induced coma state, decided that a 3-way hug was a good idea. I declared this a Fat Cow Hug.Obviously.

Megan and I then went to see Tyler Perry's Good Deeds. I don't know what I was expecting, but I laughed, I cried, I got scared (homeless people gone crazy!), and I spilled 500 sweet tarts. Yep. It was more like 20, but when I accidentally knocked over our shared box, it sounded like 500 of the loudest possible marbles hitting the floor. I even got a laugh from the man in front of us (who reacted to every scene of the movie) which made us unable to not laugh. I was holding my nose and breathing in my shirt for a good 3 minutes.  

Successful night indeed.

Colleen's Cinco de Mayo

So this past Saturday was one of my favorite holidays - Cinco de Mayo! The only reason I am so fond of this day is the fact that I can wear my Mexican "mumu" in public. A group of us got together for brunch at our favorite place, Taverna, then headed over the Hacienda on Henderson for a block party. Honestly, I was expecting more from the block party or maybe it was just the heat, but it could have been better! The setup was nice - big tent, live music, PHOTO BOOTH, games, and the lovely mariachi cut outs (below). There was even a dunk tank which, surprisingly, none of us got in. And leave it to Dallas girls to try to make the mumu something sexy and attractive. You just can't do that. I don't care how short you hem it or how tall your wedges are, you are still rocking a bright colored sheet. I went authentic, of course. 

 

Our group dwindled by evening, so Megan and I decided to stop in at Louie's to check it out. This restaurant has been on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and I love checking more of these places off my list. Louie's is one of those places you would drive by and think it's a rundown shop. However, it's quite the busy place inside. Oh and they only take cash or American Express. We ordered a pizza and it was HUGE. The crust was super thin and we barely made a dent. They also don't carry ranch, so don't even ask. The rest of their menu looked pretty tasty, so I bet we'll be back soon!

 

If you've made it this far in my thrilling post you are probably wondering about the Colleen reference in the title. Well, while out on Saturday we ran into this guy who we all know through a mutual friend. I would by no means say we are all close, but we definitely know each other.  As we were leaving the block party, we run into said guy and the first thing he says is "Nice watch." He then goes on to say how it's really baby blue. Umm, my watch is more of a light teal and I've gotten lots of compliments on it! AND, how about you say "Nice dress." if you want to make some awkward conversation, because I did have a hot pink mumu on. He then introduces us to his friend and without hesitation calls me "Colleen." If you don't know someone's name, don't confidently make up a different one. Just say, "Oh I'm so sorry your name has slipped my mind." My friends then continued to give me grief and I really couldn't get over the choice "Colleen." I even asked a few randoms if I looked like a Colleen. All said 'no', FYI. 

And guess who was one table away from us at Louie's? Yep, the Colleen-caller. 

That's all the excitement this post can handle! Adios!

Parking

Sorry to all my avid readers -- I don't know where the last week went! I worked, I ate, I slept...it was really nothing exciting.

Had to share the most ridiculous thing  that happened to me yesterday.

I was training at a high school and over our lunch break, the group had to move from one building to another. The coordinator asked me to follow him and he'd show me where to park. So, that's exactly what I did. Keep in mind, he saw where I parked and didn't say a word about it. I went in to get the room setup and after awhile he came in to say, "Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news: I know the teacher who did this and he's a really nice guy so I'll talk to him. Bad news: You parked in his spot." WHAT?!

He then said he'd go talk to him. A few minutes later, I was asked to go and move my car. Let me just say that I wasn't parked in the closest spot to the door or the spot for "teacher of the year" (they didn't even have that option), just a random spot among at least 30+ other available spots. 

As we walked to my car, the coordinator kept telling me what a nice guy this was.I'm still not convinced of this fact. When we got to the lot, there he was, sitting in his car while blocking mine in. So mature, right? He had his window down and said, "I just can't let this happen. I refuse to park in the handicapped spot (sidenote: Are you handicapped? Because if so, then that's a good spot for you.) and if I park in someone's spot, then they park in someone's spot and it snowballs. We can't have that." You would think me parking in his spot was forcing him to park 20 miles away, not immediately across the small grass median. 

I politely smiled, apologized, and moved my car. As we were walking in he hardly even acknowledged me or the fact that I didn't call him out for being ridiculous. I would have been fine with moving if the approach was better. Introduce yourself, thank me, explain "Oh I have a bad knee and this is the closest spot to my classroom," or tell me how you've parked there for 47 years and you have crazy OCD. But please, don't say "Oh, don't sweat. It's not a big deal. Everyone knows I park there." as we walk into the school. 

Sir, it's clearly a big deal. And I'm a VISITOR to your campus. Way to make a good impression.

I really, really, really wanted to leave him a note explaining the poor taste this incident put in my mouth, but in the words of my mother, I chose to "rise above."

Wish I had this sign close by to cement behind his car, blocking him in: