Around Austin

I had today off so I thought I would travel around town and take some pictures. I didn't want to go to far because I had other things I wanted to do, but I did drive around East Austin for a bit. I didn't really find much except the train cars with graffiti. Perhaps another day I'll spend more time finding unique areas of town. Once I didn't find anything interesting on the East side, I headed downtown. I walked up and down Congress and then moved over to the 2nd street shopping district (or whatever they are calling it). I really wanted to get more practice taking pictures of strangers. But I am a bit cautious since not everybody would be cool with their picture being taken. So I was working on my "stealth" moves :) I can't say I love all of the pictures below, but I am pleased! :)

Do you want to be a simpsons character?


D'OH! Of course you do!The 'simpsons movie' website has added a featureto make your very own 'Simpsons' charactercomplete with skin color, hair and other cool features.Click here to make your character.(Button is on the top of their page)

Mourning a life I didn't know

Today a person that I didn't really know a lot about passed away. But in the reporting of her life, I realized that this person did a lot for Austin and America. Lady Bird Johnson passed a way at the ripe old age of 94. Living in Austin, I have heard about Ms. Johnson, but at most I knew about her wildflower park and that she lived near Austin. I know, I'm quite up to date on my political information :) Anywho, while I am watching the report on Ms Johnson's passing I learned that she had a key role in keeping Austin and America beautiful. She had quite the legacy and it appeared that she was modest the entire time. I fully admit that I am learning about her through the media and what they are reporting, so I am assuming that they are reporting the truth (I know that might be a stretch!). Here are some things that I learned:

In 1965 Ms Johnson helped pass an Act called the Highway Beautification Act, which removed excess billboards and added plants to rest stops. I think it is an excellent idea, and can appreciate the lack of commercialism along highways. Personally I would rather see nature than advertisements.

In 1971 she started the Town Lake Beautification project which added trees and revitalized the area around Town Lake. Town Lake is an awesome area for people and critters of all ages to go to enjoy the outdoors and (or) exercise. Since the day I moved to Austin, I have loved to go to Austin. Taylor has especially loved to go since it gives her the opportunity to swim in Town Lake.

In 1977 she received the Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian award, for all of her environmental work.

in 1982 she founded the National Wildflower Research Center, which is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and reestablishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes (news8austin.com). I haven't been to the Wildflower center, but I have wanted to check it out for a couple of years.

I guess I am feeling as if I am just learning of a lady who spent a lot of her life trying to improve the lives of Americans. Based on the coverage that she is receiving I think that she will always be known as a person who made a huge difference during her life.

Thanks to news8austin.com for the information!

Creamy Orzo pasta side dish


Creamy Orzo
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian


1 pound orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, juices drained (I chopped up two fresh tomato's)
1 1/4 cups whipping cream
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring a heavy large saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the orzo and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic, and saute until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the cream and peas. Add the orzo and toss to coat. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the Parmesan to the pasta mixture and toss to coat. Stir the pasta mixture until the sauce coats the pasta thickly, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to maintain a creamy consistency. Season the orzo with salt and pepper, and serve.

I actually made half of this recipe since it is just the two of us and even half of the recipe was enough for dinner and left overs! This was a tasty recipe, but I would probably add a bit more salt. I paired the side dish with roasted pork loin, but I bet this would be just as good with chicken!! Or you could omit the meat and add more veggies and turn it into a main dish!

Weekend Fun


This weekend was mostly about the kitchen. We made some really good progress and I am happy with our work. Friday we spent most of our time taking down everything down to the nails in the studs. On Saturday we went over to Lowes and picked up some supplies including dry wall. On to a new adventure in our kitchen remodel.... dry wall :) We managed to get 1/3 of a wall put up before we were to exhausted to keep on going. I think we worked out the kinks, and have a better idea on how we put up the dry wall. Unfortunately we just can't throw it up due to the space and amount of cuts we have to make. this will be a lot easier to work on during the week after work, since there isn't a lot of tools and it isn't as messy as it was during the removal of the previous walls. I soooo can't wait until we are done but I know that we have a lot more work to do!

Before

After

A weekend post wouldn't be complete without pictures of my kids!

Friday Night Dinner

We decided to try out a new place on Friday night. Jim found an article in a local magazine that highlighted a restaurant that had good Southern cooking. Okay, I'm game! After a bit of searching on the internet, I found some information on Tony's Southern Comfort Restaurant. They are located on the East side (which isn't a great area, but it is slowing becoming known for little diamond in the rough restaurants.) and they are BYOB (bring your own beer).

We found Tony's right away and walked in to a fairly empty restaurant. Hmmmm, not always a good sign but we are here and it smells terrific! We seat ourselves and checked out the restaurant. Which there really isn't much to take in, minimal decorations, small restaurant, and not a lot of people to check out. :) I ordered the fried chicken and Jim ordered the fried catfish. They came with two sides and cornbread. Once we got our food, we realized that we made an excellent choice. My chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. My chicken was very flavorful and not greasy. Jim thought his catfish was pretty damn good too! The cornbread was excellent, but the sides were just okay. Mashed potato's and gravy with a side of spinach were my sides. The mashed potato's were a bit dry but the gravy made up for it.

The service was pretty bad. As far as we could tell there was only one waitress for 5-6 tables. Which, we aren't hard asses when it comes to being served but once our food was delivered we didn't see our waitress for 20 minutes. Normally that isn't terrible, but she forgot one of Jim's sides and promised that she would be right back with them. He didn't get the side until we were done with our meal.

Aside from the service it was a very enjoyable experience. Certainly better than waiting for 30 min to an hour at a more popular restaurant! I would give Tony's Southern Comfort Restaurant 2.9 out of 4 stars! Overall I would recommend to friends, but I would let them know their menu is somewhat limited, but the food was excellent!

My food... I had the flash blocked, so it isn't a great photo

Icky, Gross, Ewwwwwwwwwwwww

I was walking by the front door when I saw Jim standing outside near the front door looking down at the ground. He saw me and while taking one eye off of the ground to look at me, he said "snake". Mother Fucker, it was right near the front door!!! Now, this wasn't as big as the first snaked that we have killed near the house but it was still a snake. And it wasn't a normal garden snake looking for some bugs to eat. Jim grabbed a piece of wood and killed the snake. I'm not sure what type it was, but we didn't want to take any chances it was another poisonous snake (like the last one).

The snake was hiding under the little edge... see him? I'm not sure how big he was, but if I had to guess I would say at least 1.5 feet long. He had some unusual markings, tan with black marks and it looked like he had a yellow stripe going down his back. I took this picture from inside the house. No way I would be this close to a snake. ICK! I do feel bad that we had to kill him, but we didn't want to take a chance of him growing up and biting either us or the dogs.

4th of July

We had a wet 4th of July so we spent a lot of time hanging out talking with friends, drinking beer and playing Wii. We went to our friends house, Joe, along with 10-15 friends since he had a pool and frankly, he offered. :) We never made it to the pool because of the rain, but we had a really good time!!!

Have you heard of the game machine, Wii? I had, and I heard they are fun, but holy shit, once you play one you'll get hooked!! I played tennis, home run derby and bowling! It was so much fun!! It took a little bit to get used to, but once you did it was totally addicting. Tennis was the hardest, which sucked because I was playing Jim and I wanted to beat him :) Home run derby was kind of hard too. It is a very interactive game, and we all looked like freaks playing the games. I woke up the next day really sore. Hmmmm, a new way to exercise????

We took hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner. I tried something new with our burgers, I added the cheese in the middle of the patties. I used fresh mozzarella, and it was yummy! I think next time I will use more cheese so it will have more of a gooey goodness oozing out!

Hanging out on the porch

Vanessa, Lindsey and I

John, Jim and Nick

The back of Joe's house. He just bought it, and it has the best views of a green belt

Matt and Vanessa

My hilarious husband and I

Jim and Tomhave

Tammy, Lindsey, me and Vanessa

Tomhave and Lindsey on the couch, Tiffany standing up

Jim playing home run derby on the Wii

Nick "bowling" on the Wii

Tomhave playing Home Run Derby

I hope everybody has a wonderful 4th of July!!!

My Kids

Laying on the floor can be a little daring. Once you are on the floor Chewie has full access to your face so he will lick it with his big wet tongue. He gets right above you and just stares, then goes in for the kill. He is very sweet, but it is kind of gross when you face is glistening from his kiss. I WISH I could take a picture of him when he is looking down at me. His face gets scrunched like a Shar-Pei...SOOOO cute! I managed to take this "self portrait" picture while laying on the ground.

Rooftop Bars are my Favorite

On Saturday night we went out with friends to celebrate Kelli's birthday. We went downtown to a bar called One 2 One. I have been there once, but it was before they had the rooftop seating done. The night started out a little humid but the breeze kicked in and it was very nice!!! We all decided that we prefer "chill" type places so we can sit around and talk rather than base thumping music clubs where random dudes try to rub up against you :) We don't get everybody together as much as we would like (we have been trying to set up a wine tasting tour in the Hill Country for months!!!) so nights like Saturday night are awesome! Kelli and George will be moving to Oklahoma at the end of this month so he can attend Law School. We will miss those guys!!!

My mother made some WONDERFUL fried tomato's while she was in town. We picked up some fresh tomato's from the Farmers Market. I think this is the recipe below, but I'll have to double check with my mama!! Fried tomato's aren't exactly healthy, but DAMN they are good!!! :)

FRIED TOMATOES

1 1/2 lb. med. to lg.tomatoes (about 3)
1 1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2-3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 c. all-purpose flour
Butter for frying

Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. Place slices on a flat surface in a single layer. Combine flour, salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, melt butter until hot. Just before frying, dredge each tomato slice thoroughly in the flour. Shake off excess and fry slices in a single layer in the butter until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Once tomato's are done, layer them in a dish. Keep one last slice of tomato cooking, when it is done put a couple of pats of butter into the pan, once melted sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour into the butter and cook through. Once the butter and flour has cooked through, add two cups of milk and mix. Scrape up the little yummy tomato bits and continue to stir the gravy. It will be done once it has thickened up. Serve immediately.