Arizona

I'm in the big AZ visiting my mom, brother and grandfather. I had a little time this morning, so I thought I would update my blog. The pictures below are from my camera phone and are only a few of what I have taken! I've been here 48 hrs and I have already hung out with my family, met up with my good friends Angie and Angela, ate at Some Burros, watched football with my brother, his girlfriend and his friend, drove around some of my old "stomping grounds", got lost in Phoenix at 10pm, slept really well, watched Phillies clinch the NL East, went to the casino, found TWO purses (I never find anything I like, I'm that picky, but I am amazed that I found TWO purses!!), found shoes at Nordy's Rack, and just having a nice relaxing time with everybody!!!


Enjoying my coffee, my book, and a surprisingly nice temperature morning on my mom's porch

Pop Pop, Mom and I went grocery shopping for dinner

Lee and I at the sports bar off of Mill in Tempe
This might be my favorite dish on earth. A very simple shredded beef chimichanga from Some Burros. I was about 5 bites away from finishing and I totally felt like a pig but I didn't want it to go to waste! :)

The casino's in AZ are run by the Indian Reservations and are VERY nice! We went on a day where it was 55 years and older day so you can imagine that I was the youngest person there playing the slots. So if a older lady is a cougar, would I be considered a kitten? Hmmmmmm..

Austin has been getting a lot of rain this month, it has been wonderful. Mostly I'm happy that the lower temperatures that the rain brought. This summer wasn't as bad as last year, but it was still pretty gross when you factor in the high temps and even higher humidity.

The clouds were very ominous as they floated over Austin

These clouds almost look like they are smoke from a fire, the way they appear to touch down on the ground then float into the air

This was one of the best rainbows that I have seen in a really long time. The color was vibrant, and you could see each band of color clearly. I had to move quickly to get the picture because that black cloud was moving towards the rainbow.

Austin Restaurant Week

Austin Restaurant Week happens twice a year and we always try to participate. I love eating out because it gives me the opportunity to try new foods and restaurants. This time around we decided on Lamberts. Laberts has a great menu with upscale BBQ foods with side dishes that sounded really good.

Picture of the kitchen from the bar area using my blackberry... waiting for our table.

We started off with the Baby Bibb Lettuce and Avocado Salad ( toasted pine nuts, tarragon, watercress, Dijon and sherry vinaigrette) and the Beer Battered Florida Rock Shrimp. The salad was good and the dressing had a nice flavor but didn't over take the salad. I'll admit it took this salad to realize that I really don't like tarragon. So after I found all of the tarragon slivers, the salad was edible. The fried shrimp was excellent! They were small bites that were crispy on the outside but not a heavy coating and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. There were quite a few little pieces of shrimp, enough for 2 people to think they were eating to much before their entrees :)

For our entrees Jim ordered the Brown Sugar and Coffee Rubbed Beef Brisket. When it came out I was a little worried because the slices were cut thick. But the brisket was very tender and had a good smoke ring along with the flavors of brown sugar and coffee. I tasted more of the brown sugar than the coffee, but I only had a few bites. I ordered the Citrus Brined & Maple Glazed Pork Ribs. Oh mama... these were good! You receive 4 large ribs that were full of fall off the bone meat. I tasted hints of the citrus and hints of the maple in each bite. These ribs were DAMN good and I'll be back for another round! We also ordered a side dish of the Brussels sprouts with brown butter and bacon, and I thought they could have used a little salt and pepper but over all they were tender and had a great taste.

We had a good time at dinner... we liked the ambiance, the building itself, our servers were really nice and of course the good food. And next time I'll take more pictures! :) I can't believe i forgot to get a picture of our appetizers!

The last few weeks has been pretty wet for Austin. We expect rain once a day but each day rains at a different time. So one day last week Jim attempted to mow the lawn before the rain came but he was quite unlucky and got poured on. Of course I was inside, so I went to the back window and took a picture. I didn't really want to get Jim's attention but his Spidey sense caught on to his wife taking a picture on him. I'm pretty sure his look he is giving me isn't one of a loving husband. LOL :)

Home Slice Pizza

A few weeks ago we met up with friends for a night of pizza, beer, and good conversation. We went on a Saturday night, so we had about an hour wait until we were able to be seated. It wasn't terrible because we snagged a little table and had a waitress bring us some frosty beverages. The heat was almost unbearable, and the sweat that was accumulating down my back was down right gross. But right when I was at my breaking point, our name was called and we ventured inside to gouge ourselves on pizza.

Supawn, Steven, and John... assuming the position

Jim, me and Nicole... assuming the position

We started off with the house salad, which was fresh and had a nice dressing to it. For the table we ordered:

#6- Sausage, ricotta cheese, and roasted red pepper

#2- White pie with spinach (olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, ricotta, provolone and romano)

#4- Spinach, roasted red pepper, green olives and onions

Those pizzas are MEDIUMS! When they started to deliver the pizza's we had no idea how they were going to fit on the table! I had already decided that I would sample all pizza's, which meant I would have to unbutton my top button on my pants to make room for all of the pizza in my belly. I started off with a slice of the #4 pizza, and really liked the flavors. The green olives gave a nice salty bite to the pizza and worked well with the other veggies and cheese. Next I moved on to the #2 White Pie pizza. Looking at the pizza I thought, this is going to be a fantastic cheesy experience. But I was disappointed, it lacked flavor. I think the ricotta was overpowering to the rest of the flavors, with the large globs on the pizza. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if they were smaller globs? Or maybe I'm just not a fan of ricotta?

I eyeballed the last pizza and all of the ricotta cheese debating on if I really wanted to try it or not. The other obstacle is that i don't care for sausage. I decided to give it a go just to see if I liked it. I didn't mind the ricotta as much on this pizza as the white pizza, and maybe it was because the toppings on this pizza had stronger flavors?

Overall I thought Homeslice was a good pizza joint, and one of the better ones in Austin, but I can't say that it would compete with back east pizza. I thought the crust was to thick and seemed to be missing some magic spice that NY pizza's have. I'll go back to give it another try because the pizza was good.... well, the pizza without the globs of ricotta was good! But I won't be going back because it reminds me of pizza when I go back east to visit family.

Our Pups!

I think this was after a day of play at a park. They look so sleepy!


When she sleeps on the couch, this is typically how she lays. It cracks me up every time I see her lay like this.

Happy Pups!

Look at that sweet face and tongue! Love it!

Vannessa's Bachelorette Party

On Saturday the girls got together to have a little fun for Vannessa's Bachelorette party. We started our night at the house with some snacks, a decent amount of wine, and a lingerie party! I made roasted red bell pepper hummus, crackers with goat cheese and pesto and a tomato chutney, and a flatbread pizza with caramelized onions, pancetta and Gorgonzola cheese. You know I won't turn down an opportunity to host a party and cook for people! :) I'll eventually get some of those recipes loaded onto the blog.

From left to right... Vannessa, Whitney, Jennifer, Erin, Lindsay and Tammy

We had a blinky light sash and tiara... we had one blinged out Bachelorette!

Lick the pee pee pop, lick it!

Vannessa got some good loot at the lingerie party!
Of course Chewie and Abby were in the middle of everything. Here they are play fighting, and not 2 minutes after that Abby walked around and licked every bodies legs and toes.

Me and my ding ding sticker


Lindsay rocking out the ding ding sticker

Erin and her ding ding sticker

Tammy

Tiffany

Jenn and Lindsay

A toast to the soon to be bride

The party crew

Getting ready to go see some ding ding's swing!!! The whole La Bare experience was a blast. I can't say that any one of us looked at these guys wearing their banana hammocks shaking their bon bon's and thought "this is soooo hawt!". Instead we laughed a lot, our jaws dropped at some of the acrobatic moves, and then our jaws dropped even more when Vannessa decided to start smacking the dancers ass. He seemed to enjoy it (well, I guess that is part of his job) so we cheered even louder. Going to La Bare will never be a weekly, monthly or even a yearly thing, but it is a must for every lady to go at least once in their life!! (I've been to some type of ding ding club 3 times in my life).

Here we are with the cowboy dancer. Me, Ash, Tammy, Jenn, Lindsay, Whitney, Tiffany, Erin and Vannessa

Soooo... there were signs all over the place saying no pictures allowed or you would get kicked out. Hmpft. I had to try... and I got his photo and a few others :) But they were taken with my phone so quality isn't exactly there but you get the idea. This is the Cowboy (as seen above in the group photo) doing a well executed handstand on stage. He had great balance :)
Lindsay, Erin, Vannessa and I... it was a totally fun night!

Labor Day at the Lake



Dawn and Matt rented a house out at Lake Buchanan for Labor Day weekend. They stayed all weekend but we just headed out for a day. I loved being able to sit in the lake, catch up with friends, ride jet skis and relax! We opted not to take the dogs because we weren't sure how easy it would be to keep them around us.

I wish I could hang out at the lake like this every weekend.

Jim and I on the jet skis. I had SOOOO much fun using the jet skis, they were a blast! I was totally sore the next day but it was worth it


Matt and Dawn on the jet ski

Miss Dawn on the jet ski

The boys decided to stay on the jet skis after they were pulled out of the water

After drying off, the guys played washers while the food was cooking

The guys watching the meat grill... and Jake... well, Jake is adding a little excitement to his night by pretending to yank on his chain


The end result.... a fun day in the sun, great conversation, and a wonderful meal with friends!




Once we got home, Jim jumped on the floor and wrestled around with the dogs. They loved every minute of it