Tonight's Photo's





Thanks to Dawn, I know what was happening in the sky tonight. Our beautiful moon was at a 10% crescent while gliding by Venus, which is at maximum brightness. Pretty damn cool.

Wait that isn't the moon :o) Since I already had the camera in the backyard on the ti-pod I thought I would play for a bit. I got out a Christmas decoration that lights up when you push a button and used it to take some photos. I left the apeture open on the camera, then I went running around the yard with the decoration.

Enough with running around... I'm going to attempt letters!


So when you do this, you have to write it backwards,,,, I forgot to switch around the N. Tee hee hee....what fun!

Ahhh..... my little heart

This was the little decoration that I used to create the last pictures!!!

A very early morning

This morning I did a super duper nice wifey type thing and I took Jim and 2 of his friends to the airport at 6:00am. In case you didn't see that,,, I was driving boys to the airport AT SIX AM. I am slightly bitter about their trip because it is a bachelor party in Playa Del Carmen. I don't care that they are going to be doing boy things together (that sounds dirty, but not what I mean) I'm jealous as all fuck that they are going to be in Playa, drinking, hanging with friends, relaxing, swimming, scuba diving, drinking, and having fun. I want to be on the beach right now with a pina colada!!! Is that to much to ask? Apparently so.

Okay,,,, I'm off my little pity soap box now. This was my first very time seeing the International terminal at ABIA. So now that I have seen it (and it is a completely different way to get to the airport than the normal way off of 71) I wouldn't exactly call it a terminal... more like a large converted warehouse building. I didn't go in but I was curious to check it out. I'll have to wait for Jim to come back to tell me all about it.

3 of the 8 guys going to Mexico... Jason, Chris and Jim

On my way back from the airport, I decided that I would keep with the theme of the morning (Mexico) and I would find me a little food cart for some breakfast tacos. I passed a couple, but then I found this little gem. I didn't see a name on the truck, but it is off of North Loop and Burnet.

My two egg and potato tacos... totally full of fillings but not exactly spiced up. As in no salt or no pepper.... nada. They were darn bland and it is upsetting because these two huge freshly made tacos were $1.50 a piece. They gave me two salsas.. one green and one red. Normally I don't care for green salsas but this green salsa was the best of the two and gave it some flavor. Because this stand is near my house, I think that I'll give them a second try but they better have some flavor next time!!

SXSW

In all of my years living in Austin, I have not attended a SXSW show. I don't really have a good reason except that I have good intentions on going, but then the festival comes and goes and I don't go see a show. I have also been curious to see some of the films, but I am going to stick to music this year.

This year Jim and I took a day off to go see some shows that are hopefully free. We are limited with our show times because we have a wedding rehearsal at 6pm and we don't to be late or too tipsy. :o) I know free shows are out there, now we just have to find them. The Austinist.com ( http://austinist.com/) has been a good resource as well as the SXSW website (sxsw.com/music. ).

Is anybody planning on going or do you have any recommendations?

If I was smarter, I would be able to figure out how to embed this You Tube video, but I'm not so you'll have to click the link. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZlhpfCdyS4&eurl=http://anacphotography.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded

2009 Oscars



So far, I'm a fan of the Oscars this year. I thought the opening number was pretty damn funny and they don't seem to be the typical boring award show. I haven't seen much of Hugh Jackman since the beginning of the show so I can't really comment on how he did. I didn't know he could sing... did you? But what I can comment on is the dresses that were worn this year. There were a bunch of great dresses (although, it seemed like half of the dresses I liked could double as a wedding dress)

Before we get to the dresses, I just have to say FUCK YEAH!!! I'm happy that Heath Ledger won the Oscar. I thought that he deserved it because he was the Joker, he just didn't play a role, but he truly embodied that role and made it into his own. I know there are people out there that will say he won it because he passed away, but if they saw the movie then they should know that he gave a great performance. Cheers to you Heath!

Work it funny lady!!

Chick from Benjamin Button... I loved her dress, but it reminds me of a wedding dress

I think Kate is so polished and beautiful. I'm not 100% I am in love with her dress... good not great (but I love the color)

I really liked her dress (another wedding dress) but I hated her hair. It just seems that if you are going to have a huge puffy dress, you could do a little something with your hair.

Classic elegance! This dress was 60 years old.. that is what I call true fashion

Natalie was lookin good. There were mixed reviews on this dress on the various websites I went to to "borrow" these pictures, but mostly it had to do with the color. I like it enough, and I like that it was unique on the red carpet

Anne Hathaway was rockin this dress. What was with white dresses this year?

WTF. This lady has seen more plastic surgery than Micheal Jackson... okay, so maybe no Jacko, but she needs to give it a rest, she is scary



Beyonce, Beyonce Beyonce. You look like shit. Sorry.

pictures taken from Getty Images, perezhilton.com, justjared.com and from gawker.com

A new salad

Jim has recently been on a salad kick, so I have to hurry up and make lots more salads for dinner before he doesn't want them any more. He likes salads, but he usually doesn't want them for dinner.

So for my first dinner salad, I made a salad that has some components of a Waldorf Salad but not all of them. I bought the spring mix from HEB and added walnuts, Gorgonzola cheese, apples (honey crisp), shredded chicken, cucumbers, and red onions. And to add another twist, I made a honey mustard vinaigrette. I haven't made a salad dressing before, but I have always wanted to. They are surprisingly easy to make!


Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

3 Tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
Squirt of Honey (I guess about a teaspoon and half)
1 garlic clove, minced
dash of salt
dash of pepper
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Mix everything together but the olive oil. Once it is mixed, grab your whisk, flex your muscles and get ready :) To fully mix (emulsify) the dressing, you must stream in the olive oil while whisking the ingredients together. If you don't, then the vinaigrette will separate. I'll just say that I had to stop in the middle of adding in the olive oil because my forearms were burning.

MMMMMpanada's


I have been stalking this food trailer for a month or so now. They are only downtown Tuesday through Thursday, during lunch time hours. I think they are also on this corner on Friday and Saturday nights but I haven't remembered to check on that when I'm downtown at night. I have managed to miss them 2 other times (first time I went on a day they weren't downtown, and I think I went to late the second time). So when I was driving down the street and I saw the red trailer, I got really excited... I was FINALLY going to get to eat a god damn empanada

On to the food.... They have a lunch special that is decent but not great, 2 empanada and a drink for $7.50 (tax is included). I went with one savory and one sweet empanada to try them out. My savory choice was the chicken with green chilis..... the empanada was full of tasty chicken, slightly spicy (remember, I'm a wimp with spicy food so in reality it might be more "normal" spicy). The crust was good, not great. Some bites were "thick".... hmmmm... kind of like a piece of pizza that you reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds to long. Not bad, but you could tell it was reheated. Other parts of the crust were just fine. Go Figure. I got two of the sauces... one was salsa and the other was a chiptole mayo. They were both good toppings that added a nice flavor.

The sweet empanada was peach. It was okay. Kind of sweet a little tart and a very little cinnamon. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would have done wonders for this little guy. I love peaches but I don't think I would get this again.

So if you are downtown (during the right time and days) and need a quick bite to eat, I would suggest the Mmmmpanada truck.

mmmpanadas.com

size of the empanada's

a Mexican Coke in a glass bottle... snazzy!

This has nothing to do with the empanada truck but this guy was hauling ass down the street. I didn't notice what pizza place he worked for but I was impressed with his skills

Kickin up our steaks

If you add equal parts of......

Gorgonzola cheese

and softened butter



And you mix it very well... add a little salt.... a little pepper.... and a little garlic powder then you come up with a perfect addition for a grilled steak!

This mixture melted after sitting on the steak for a minute or so. The Gorgonzola cheese flavor was light, and did not over power the steak. YUMMMMM!!!

Stuffed Baked Onions

I was looking for a new way to cook onions. I love onions, and I put them on everything that I can. I found a couple of recipes that only put fresh herbs in the onions or some type of sausage mixture. I decided to go with the spinach mixture because I was pairing the onions with steak. This was a tasty recipe, but next time I will look for a way to get the spinach mixture to be more creamy or have more moisture. The spinach at the top of the onion was kind of crispy, so perhaps if I added some type of cheese, it would stay moist and not dry out.

Adapted from Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver (Hyperion, 2002). Copyright 2002 by Jamie Oliver.



2 tennis-ball-sized white onions, peeled
1 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup of spinach
1/4 cup of feta cheese
2 pieces of bacon crumbled up
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 slices of pancetta or bacon, chopped and cooked



Boil the onions in plenty of water for 15 minutes until slightly tender. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Then, with a sharp knife, remove the top inch of each onion, finely chop and place to one side. If need be, slightly trim the stalk end of the onions so that they will sit flat on a roasting tray. Cut about a heaping tablespoon out from the inside of each onion, keeping the outside intact.

Mix the spinach, garlic, feta, bacon, salt and pepper. Fill the hole in the onion with the spinach mixture.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bake in the preheated oven for around 25 minutes until soft and tender, depending on the size of the onions.

26.2 miles of Hell

I am assuming that running/walking 26.2 miles would be hell. I didn't actually run in this race,, I just stepped outside of our house, walked to the street and took some pictures. Every year the AT&T Marathon goes by our house. I love watching all of the runners go by, and all of their fans. It makes me feel like a total lazy ass as I'm drinking my coffee (and during one race a couple of years ago, it was a bloody mary) watching them run by. This year I walked along the street taking pictures of the runners.

I loved her hat and sign.

These are my kind of people... sitting down, sipping champagne out of some nice looking glasses, watching people run by

The race wouldn't be complete without a bumble bee

At this point, the runners have been going for 15 miles. 15 miles of running.... I can't even imagine running for that far. My knees would blow up and fall off

Look, even Santa can run in marathons!! This guy runs by our house on a weekly basis. I wonder how many kids think this is Santa during his off season

Who is that guy in the back ground?? The guy in blue?? Hmmm.... huh... looks like the hubby :) He was running for exercise... damn him.