Something new

I bought a couple of new products this week at the grocery store. The first is a creamy Vidalia Onion salad dressing. I have always been curious about these type of dressings so I bought one. I used it on some orzo pasta mixed with sauteed zucchini, squash, onions and garlic. It was a little sweet, but it went well with the pasta/veggie mixture. I might try using it as a marinade with chicken.

I was craving sausage, but I wanted to do it without all of the fat and calories so I found some chicken sausage. It wasn't that much of a difference from beef sausage but it was still something new to try. The sausage had a great Italian flavor and it was nice and juicy. They had some other flavors that we will have to try. Costco had a wonderful chicken sausage that I keep forgetting to buy, but of course it is in bulk so it would take Jim and I forever to finish it. But it was the best tasting chicken sausage I have tried.

4th of July on the Lake

We are soooo very lucky to have 3 friends with boats. That means that our chances of getting out on the lake during holidays is very good. Since Jim and I have been together, summer holidays usually mean being on the lake with friends. I hate to say it, but I have been spoiled. Totally.

This year our friends have been staying on Lake Austin since Lake Travis is so damn low. Our drought has really taken a toll on the area lakes. As of today there is only one public boat ramp open on Travis. I'm not sure how many they have total, but I imagine it is over 15 boat ramps. The water is so low, there are little islands all over the lake where normally there is water. There is also reports of a high staph content in Lake Travis since it isn't moving. Yuck.

Hanging out in a cove on Lake Austin,,, this is across the lake from Hula Hut. I had no idea it was there until this year. The cove was freakin packed with boats and people.

John giving me his best bewildered look

Jim and I

Jim testing out our new floatie. It worked pretty good, but I sunk in more than I wanted to. I needed a booster seat :o)

I have no idea where Charlie got the jelly stars, but thank god he did. What a great photo.

Me, Tammy, Jennifer, and Lindsay.

See my pretty new bathing suit? Would you believe it, that one boat over some bitch had on the same exact bathing suit!?!??! That is what I get for buying it at Target (and on sale!!). Oh well... I was convinced that I looked better in it, so therefore it was okay that she had on the same suit.

:o)

Jim and Jon-- I guess this is their mean guy face

Jennifer and Tish

(I met her for the first time on the boat... I hope her name was Tish and not Trish, cause I called her Tish all day)

Me, Tammy, and Lindsay

Mike and Charlie

I wish I could remember why we were making these faces

Jennifer cracked me up all day. She started the day off with a big ass container Tequila and lemon aid. Jim and I have learned in the past that taking hard alcohol on the lake is a bad bad idea. Jennifer was a bit loopy all day, but she was a trooper. She didn't get sick, pass out, or even start mumbling. Her eyes gave her away... they were only about half open for a couple of hours. She eventually had a few sandwiches and a lot of water and was back to normal

Chris, Tammy, John and Jim

Cheers!

Enjoying the sunset... probably around hour number 6 on the lake

The rope swing. I love the rope swing!!! You have to climb up a rock and grab onto a rope that is frayed and knotted up, but holy shit it is fun! I only went once (not sure why, I really wanted to go again) but I really enjoyed my one time. If I had to guess, I was probably about 20 feet in the air when I let go of the rope. The picture is blurry, not sure why. Tammy may have tried to zoom in to far with my camera, and that can cause it to get fuzzy.

Anywho... after seeing this picture I realized I need a better tan. I look like a ghost!

Jim flying off of the rope swing. You can see the rope in the top right of the picture and get a better idea of how far we fall when we let go of the rope. Jim wasn't so fortunate. We think he slid down the rope instead of letting it go, so he got a huge gash on his ring finger and on his pinkie finger. He is okay, but it was bleeding quite a bit right after it happened.

Before the fireworks, there were 5 or so parachuters that flew down to the golf course that had the fireworks. The American Flag that this guy was carrying was HUGE

Cheers! But with Jello Shots this time. We made the jello shots to take with us. We had 3 gallon size freezer bags full of jello shots. :o) I tried to make red, white and blue jello shots, but it didn't quite work out that way. I had strawberry for red, a raspberry/blackberry for the blue (which turned out more of a purple), and peach for white.

Chris looks like an Australian cheering on America. I think it is the hat

John, Jim, Chris and Charlie

Jennifer feeding Tish a jello shot... I love the look on Lindsay's face...

I wonder what she is thinking

Pretty view of the 360 bridge. I only had my crappy point and shoot camera so I'm pretty happy this picture came out. Taking low light pictures with a crappy camera on a boat is hard! (I tried like 20 times to get this shot... it kept coming out blurry)

Fireworks!! They were spectacular! We were able to get the boat fairly close to the golf course.

After about 9 hours on the lake, we headed home!!!! What a great 4th of July!

4th of July Neighborhood Parade

Every year our neighborhood has a 4th of July parade. Nothing huge... some cool older cars, some local business cars/floats, and ends with a bunch of kids that are dressed up in red, white and blue walking behind the cars. It probably only lasts about 20 minutes but it is kind of cool to see a lot of the neighborhood show up to cheer them on.

The truck was pulling the trailer that had a blow up pool in the back that the kids are riding in.

This was called "Jeep dog". This dog would chase the remote control jeep around the street... Hilarious. The jeep would stop, and the dog would almost lay down to wait for it to move.

Amy's Ice Cream Truck.... to bad they weren't giving out free ice cream :o)

Lots of dogs at the parade and in the parade!

Taco Shack truck... they had little chicks in a cage.

Senator, and former Mayor, Kirk Watson

Austin's newest Mayor, Lee Leffingwell

This girl was so darn cute! She was handing out beads and the medals.

Impressive. She walked quite aways using the stilts.

I was going for a different toe nail polish.... but I think this is a little to much for me. I kept the color through the weekend, but I changed to a toned down color.

Celery Salad

We had a bunch of celery that I didn't know what to do with, so I searched the interwebs and came up with the celery salad. I tweaked it by also adding the cucumber, onion and dill since I had it on hand. It was light and crunchy exactly what I wanted! Jim wasn't in love with it, but I thought it would make a nice summer salad (and one that isn't heavy with mayo or calories!)


Celery Salad
(Salade de Céleri)
SERVES 6
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 tsp. dijon mustard

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 bunch celery

1 cucumber, cut in cubes

1/2 of a med size onion, sliced thin

1 Tablespoon of fresh dill


1. Whisk together vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste in a large salad bowl. Drizzle in olive oil while whisking constantly, to form a smooth and tart dressing. Set aside.
2. Pluck all the leaves from celery; set aside. Remove the outer ribs of the celery. (Save the innermost ribs from the core of the bunch for another use.) Roughly chop the celery ribs into 1⁄2"–3⁄4" pieces. Add celery, cucumber, onion and dill to bowl with dressing and toss well to coat. Adjust the seasonings.

I have found a new place to enjoy my iced coffees and bagels... Pacha! They are a locally run coffee shop on Burnet road. I originally went there because they have Rockstar bagels. Rockstar bagels is run buy a New Yorker (transplanted to Austin) that uses a recipe he used in New York to make bagels. Austin has been lacking in good bagels, so having Rockstar bagels here has been nice. The lattes are quite tasty, and they are good size for the money. Pacha also has other food, but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure one day I'll get around to it :o) Pacha also has free Wifi, so I have gone in to play around on the computer while I was enjoying my latte and bagel!

Barton Springs

Jim and I realized that we have not been to Barton Springs together. I used to go when I first moved to Austin, but Jim has never been. The experience is a little different than I remember... now you have to pay for parking ($3), parking was packed (it was over 100 degrees yesterday so I understand the draw to the water for people), and there was a line of about 30 people to get in. When we first walked up we were surprised at the line and worried that there wouldn't be enough space. But the line moved at a decent rate and there was plenty of space for us.

We found a nice little spot that was kind of shaded because Jim didn't want to be in the sun. I wanted a little sun so once I applied my 30SPF, I sat in the sun to roast a bit while reading a book. My stomach needed a little color to match my farmers tan... 4th of July weekend is coming up and I didn't want to blind everybody on the boat :o). We ventured over to the water to get in but we didn't exactly stay in the water... it was COLD! I knew it would be but it was still a shock. We hung out in an area that was fairly shallow but then got out after about 10 minutes. We had a nice relaxing few hours at the natural pool. Good choice for such a hot day!

This area is just to the North of the pool. It is an open area where you don't have to pay to get in and you can take your dogs to swim! This is where Taylor learned how to swim many many years ago.

Another batch of good cookies!!

I saw this recipe and I knew I had to try it. I haven't had a cookie before with dried apricots and pine nuts. The cookie is fairly easy to make, the dough just takes a bit to chill before you bake it. I left the dough over night, and it came out okay! Thanks Giada for another wonderful recipe!

Apricot and Nut Cookies with Amaretto Icing
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis, 2008

Prep Time:
4 min

Inactive Prep Time:
2 hr 30 min

Cook Time:
15 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
Cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
Icing:
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
5 to 7 tablespoons almond flavored liqueur (recommended: Amaretto)

Directions

For the Cookies: In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg. Stir in the flour until just blended. Mix in the apricots, almonds, and pine nuts.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a log, about 12-inches long and 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Wrap the dough in the plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/4 to 1/2 inch-thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the Icing: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Gradually whisk in the almond flavored liqueur, until the mixture is of drizzling consistency.

Place the wire rack over a baking sheet. Using a spoon or fork, drizzle the cookies with the icing, allowing any excess icing to drip onto the baking sheet. Allow the icing to set before serving, about 30 minutes.

Toasting nuts

Dried apricots... yummy by themselves but super yummy in cookies

Slicing the chilled dough

This icing really made the cookies... I'll have to try this icing over cinnamon buns

Taylor doing her best to try to charm a cookie away from me

Cherries are in season!! YUM! Stop what you are doing, run out and spend way to much on some fruit to enjoy :o)

Grilled Tuna

Yesterday while I was at Central Market buying trout for dinner I noticed that they had a small piece of yellow fin tuna hanging out in their fish display. I decided to get it to try it out. I haven't made it before and I think I have only really had cooked tuna once before. So I didn't know what to expect. I used the Bobby Flay marinade below for the tuna, but I didn't think it had much flavor. I marinated it for at least 20 minutes, but I guess next time I'll either up the spices or just marinade it for longer. I'm also not a pro at cooking tuna because I know it is better when it is practically rare, and you can see from the pictures mine was more of a medium rare. While this time wasn't a total success, I will be trying it again!

Marinated Tuna Steaks

Ingredients
2 ancho chilies, soaked, seeded and pureed (I didn't have ancho chilies so I used jalapenos that were in adobe sauce)
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, toasted- didn't use, I don't care for fennel
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 sprigs Mexican oregano -- store didn't have Mexican Oregano, so I used regular organic oregano
4 tuna steaks, 6 ounces each -- just had our tiny tuna steak
Salt and pepper

Directions
Whisk together ancho puree, garlic, fennel, orange juice, honey, olive oil, and oregano in a medium-baking dish. Add the tuna and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, covered.
Heat grill pan over high heat. Remove tuna from marinade and season with salt and pepper to taste on both sides. Sear on 1 side until golden brown, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Turn over and cook for 1 minute for medium-rare doneness.

I love this time of the year because we are visited by frogs!! We haven't seen as many as we have in the past, not sure if that has to do with the lack of rain or I just haven't seen them. I hear them almost every night croaking away in the back yard. I should check my potted plants because they usually like to create a home in the dirt.

Chewie is very interested in the frogs. He can't figure them out and is always surprised when they try to jump away. He tries to paw at them, but he doesn't realize that with one swipe he could potentially smoosh the little guys.

He slowly put his paw out and scratched at the ground around the frog. I think he probably would have tried more if I hadn't told him just to look. I'm sure he had no clue what I said but he understood the tone.

A couple of years ago our next door neighbor dogs got a frog and attempted to eat it, but he started to foam at the mouth. I guess the frogs have some type of defense mechanism that makes them taste really bad and makes the dogs (or whatever tries to eat it) foam at the mouth. Poor little Oscar had continuous foam coming out of his mouth for at least 5 minutes. Looked sooooooo gross, but my neighbor (who witnessed everything) didn't seem to think it was a big deal. I would have been FREAKING out. :o)

Charlie and Jens Wedding

Last night a couple of our friends were married at the Oasis. The Oasis is a beautiful venue for a wedding since it overlooks Lake Travis. There were quite a few people (a little over 200 peeps) at the wedding, and we were able to hang out with some friends that we only see once or twice a year since they don't live in Austin. Of course, then we hung with our friends and probably embarrassed each other quite a few times. Ahh.... good times!

Jennifer and her dad walking down the isle. I didn't get many pictures of the ceremony because the sun was shining right into our eyes and there was a pole in my way. I feel really bad for the entire wedding party because it was around 100 degrees and they were in the sun during the ceremony. Jennifer and her bridesmaids

The hubster and I. My dress is actually dark green, but because the layer below the green fabric is gold it shined through in all of the pictures

Lindsey, Ashley and I

Sunset over Lake Travis

John, Tammy and JimAshley, me, Lindsey and Vanessa

You'll notice that the photos all start to look the same... couples with the lake and the sunset behind them. I ended up taking peoples pictures right and left, directing them and making them look pretty :o)

Ashley and Jason

Matt and Vanessa

Jim and greasy face... I mean, me.

Joe, Nick, John, Jason, Jim and Chris

Vanessa and I

Our dear friends... the normal picture

Our friends.... the freaky picture. As you can see the ladies new how to jazz up a photo, but the boys didn't really know what to do.

Seriously... this is the most women I have seen go for the bouquet. You know they are all freakin young and giddy to get the bouquet. I know I had some friends who were standing to the side hoping that they would not catch it.

Hanging out around the bar


us with the happy couple



Jen and Charlie's farewell