Family Visit

We had a fantastic time with my mom and grandfather! We always have a fun filled time when they come to visit us. We typically do they same type of stuff.... drink lots of Starbucks.... visit thrift shops.... garage sales....clean up around house..... plant flowers that I'll eventually kill..... and lots and lots of laughing!

Check out my new shades.... the men in the retirement home are going to be all over me!

Jim looking for a mint plant at the farmers market

Mom and Jim

B*I*N*G*O Nobody won, but mom and I had fun (the boys didn't have that much fun)

Me, Pop Pop, Jim and Mum

Me, Pop Pop and Jim

Jim showing Po-po-jee-bo some luvin

New flowers for the front yard

Relaxing with the kids and mom

Jim thought the "girls" needed some support

Camp Mabry had a "Hero Celebration". They opened the base for everybody to come to their festival. We watched a demonstration of what happens when a helicopter drops off soldiers in a "hot zone" and also watched a World War 2 reenactment. We had a really great time!

World War 2 reenactment

yes, that is a real tank... if I was at war and I had one of those things pointed at me, I would soil myself while running as fast as I could

Playing with the camera and the self timer

Our new motto in life

Look ma! Flowers!!!

My mom and I planted some flowers around the house during their visit. She is convinced that I am going to kill them... and she is probably right :o) But I am going to try my hardest to keep all flowers alive for at least a few months! And since I was outside taking pictures... the kids wanted their pictures taken.

Summer Cooler

We went out to eat a couple of weeks ago to an Indian restaurant for a friends birthday. While I was there I tried a Bombay Breeze! It was a little sweet, a little tart and very satisfying. I tried making it at home, and I think I came close. I dont' have exact measurements but here is what I used:

about 1.5 oz of vodka (I used citrus flavor)

a couple splashes of cranberry juice

a couple splashes of Sprite

one splash of sweet and sour (I just used lime juice)

add ice, stir and enjoy!!

Quick, Easy, and uses your leftovers!!

I love making pot roast, but I also love using the leftover pot roast to make shredded beef burritos!!! It is very simple! Shred the leftover pot roast... put on a tortilla, add whatever you want (we added cheese, green chilies, Jim added jalapenos, diced onions). Then I folded it up and fried it up (to give the outside a nice crisp)! You don't have to fry it, you can also bake it like an enchilada. These are sooooo good, very quick to make as well as easily adaptable for any picky eater!! :)

Austin City Limits Announcement

We decided to get 3 day passes for the Austin City Limit concert in September. We have lots of friends going this year and we haven't gone in the past 2 years. We bought our tickets before we knew who was going to play at the concert because I was worried that the 3 day passes would sell out (like they do every year). I'm pretty happy with the lineup. I would have preferred a couple of other bands that I like would play but you never know who is going to drop out and be replaced :) Now comes the fun part of trying to figure out who we want to see! I'll be using Myspace to research the bands we don't know about. When the concert gets closer, ACL will release the times and stages the bands are going to play on. After that comes out, people try to plan to their day to catch all of the concerts that appeal to them! The last time we went to ACL we pussed out on Sunday because we were over the sun, the people and the dust. Hopefully it won't be so hot this time around!!

Pictures from the last time we went to ACL... in 2005

2008 Artists Scheduled to Appear

Foo Fighters

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Beck

Manu Chao

John Fogerty

David Byrne

The Raconteurs

The Mars Volta

Gnarls Barkley

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

N.E.R.D.

Erykah Badu

Robert Earl Keen

Patty Griffin

Tegan and Sara

Iron & Wine

G. Love & Special Sauce

Neko Case

Band of Horses

The Swell Season

Siversun Pickups

Gogol Bordello

Gillian Welch

Eli Young BandThe BlackKeys

Against Me!

Jakob Dylan and the Gold Mountain Rebels

Okkervil River

Galactic

Kevin Fowler

Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Hot Chip

Vampire Weekend

Slightly Stoopid

DuffyFlyleafRoky

EricksonYonder

Mountain String Band

Spiritualized

Drive-By Truckers

Ingrid Michaelson

Stars

Alejandro Escovedo

Jose Gonzales

CSSDel the Funky HomosapienMan

Jamie Lidell

MGMT

What Made Milwaukee Famous

Jenny Lewis

M. Ward

Asleep at the Wheel

Mason Jennings

Heartless Bastards

Antibalas

The Nachito Herrera All StarsShooter

Jennings

Xavier Rudd

Yeasayer

Octopus Project

Joe Bonamassa

The Kills

White Denim

Louis XIV

Delta

SpiritMates of State

Nicole Atkins & the Sea

Electric Touch

Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears

Back Door Slam

Tristan Prettyman

The Strange Boys

Ryan Bingham

Scott Biram

The Freddy Jones Band

Colour Revolt

Five Times August

Langhorne Slim

SybrisEli “Paper Boy” Reed & the True Loves

Bavu Blakes & the Extra Plairs

AA Bondy

Christopher Denny

Mike Farris

The Lee Boys

South Austin Jug Band

American Bang

Bobby Bare, Jr.

Massacoustics

Belleville

Outfit

We Go to 11

Band of Heathens

City and Colour

Sunny Sweeney

Elizabeth Wills

Automata

Bonnie Bishop

Ben Sollee

Ben Cylus

The Concert Supremes

River City Christionettes

Shields of Faith

The Jones Family Singers

Nakia & His Southern Cousins

Brotherly Luv

The Hensley Ensemble

School of Rock

Jambo Q Brothers

Buck Howdy with BB

Uncle Rock

Big Donmr.

RAYThe Jimmies

You never know what you'll see.....

Soooo… since it is my duty to my blog fans (all two or three of you) to make sure you aren’t working to hard, I thought I would send you a couple of pictures that I took. I was walking by a store in the mall when I saw what I thought was a hand grabbing a mannequins ass, but it turned out to be a sales person changing a mannequin and didn’t realize what it looked like when she put the mannequin arm in-between her legs to hold it :o)

Tractor Sprinkler

Tractor Sprinkler
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

Our little tractor sprinkler does a great job of watering our yard. Jim had already started it when I got home, and the sun was starting to go down. I tried to get closer to the sprinkler, but it has a huge "wet" span :)

Bluebonnets

Bluebonnets
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

Another picture of the bluebonnets. This was actually near a road, so I had to wait for cars to drive by before I could get this shot. Luckily, it wasn't a very busy road. :)

Bluebonnets

Bluebonnets
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

I drove out to the Hill Country on Thursday looking for bluebonnets. This was not an easy task, because there aren't many out there. I did a little research on the internet to find out where people have gone in the past. I used the same roads as well as took a few extra roads around Burnet and Marble Falls. I didn't really find what I wanted, but I was able to take a few pictures.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Taste of Home magazine

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 t onion powder
2 t ground cumin
½ t salt
¼ pepper
5 cups cooked chicken, diced (I used 3 chicken breasts)
10 flour tortillas (I think I only used 7,, I must have made them to big because that is all that fit in my pan.. I used burrito size tortillas, should have used fajita)
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used reduced fat)
1 cup of sour cream (I used light sour cream)
½ cup milk
1 can of green chilies (I used a can of Rotel)
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese


In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, ½ can of the Rotel, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, until smooth. Stir in chicken

Place ¼ cup of mixture down the center of each tortilla (go nuts, and add however much chicken mixture you want! I used a few spoonfuls per tortilla). Roll up and place seam side down in greased 13x9 pan.

In a separate bowl, combine soup, sour cream, rest of the Rotel, ½ cup milk, and then pour over the enchiladas. Sprinkle cheese over enchiladas. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

These were really good!!! I tried to just mix the cream cheese mixture by hand, but you really need to beat it with a hand mixture. It got slightly fluffy and combined once I mixed it. I will use slightly smaller tortilla's next time so they fit in the pan better. I will also chop up some small onions to put in with the chicken mixture next time. Otherwise, this is a recipe that will be used a lot at our house!

Waterfall

Waterfall
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

Here is the other side of the stream above... it was so much fun taking pictures of it... lots of angles for photos if you were willing to kneel down in mud :)

Creek

Creek
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

This stream goes over the hill and turns into a great waterfall. I'll post the waterfall picture after this one. I took this at sunset so the sun was bouncing off of the water. I'll have to get back there when the sun is lower and offering a nice glow instead of the glare.

A view outside the tent

A view outside the tent
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

I have neglected my poor little blog over the past couple of weeks! It seems that we have been so busy ever since we got back from Mexico! But I do have entries that I have been thinking about.... now I just need to find the time to post them!!!

We went camping last weekend with a bunch of friends. It was so much fun, and we had perfect weather. I'll post more pictures later, but here is one that I kind of liked. I took this while sitting in our humongous tent (more on that later) looking out to the campfire.

Hope everybody is doing well!

Taylor

Taylor
Originally uploaded by chunkychewie1

Taylor was quite pooped after we took a walk the other day. I opened the blinds in the bedroom so she could look outside. I think this might be her favorite place to lay.

Grab your blender... I have a drink for you!

We found this recipe online and knew we had to try it! It is a creamy yummy treat for any adult! :)

Kahlua Colada

makes one drink:

1 ounce Coco Lopez Real Cream of Coconut® (don't use any other cream of coconut... we tried and we can tell a difference... Coco Lopez is the shit)
2 ounces Pineapple Juice
1 ounce Kahlua
½ ounce Rum
1 cup ice

Mix in blender until smooth, pour into a frosty glass, sit back and ENJOY! :)

Movies

I didn't think I would be excited for the Sex and The City movie, but after seeing a trailer for it, I'm a bit excited. Okay, I am probably a little more than a little excited. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it because it seems so "popular" to want to see that movie. I won't be there for opening weekend, but I'll probably see it soon after it opens!

We watched a movie tonight that was pleasantly different. Broken English is a movie about a girl that is getting older and looking for love. The movie follows her through life, and in my opinion a realistic look for every day women!! If you get a chance, check it out.

Cauli-blah-flower

In my attempt to broaden our food horizons, I thought I would give cauliflower a try. I have probably had cauliflower once or twice before, but I have never made it. The last time I had it, it was a great texture as well as great flavor (it would really help if I could remember exactly where I had it). I thought I would go the simple route, just to test it out. Well,,,, simple was not the way to go. The cauliflower was edible, but not tasty. I'm not giving up on cauliflower, but I really need to find a different recipe. I think I may have found it.... a mac n'cheese with cauliflower (will try to make within a couple of weeks and report back).


Recipe

1 head of cauliflower, cut in pieces
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 small onion, in slices
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese (how ever much you want to add)

Combine all ingredients, making sure oil and spices are evenly distributed, in a casserole dish. Cook for 15-20 minutes in 400 degrees. Once the cauliflower is done, pull it out of the oven and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.

Cool new TV

We found a cool new show that encompasses one of my favorite aspects of going to the movies....PREVIEWS!! A whole hour of movie trailers... totally freakin awesome. It so neat to see all of the movies that are about to come out. There are all different types of movies.... big blockbusters to small independent movies. I highly suggest checking with your cable provider to see if you have access to it :) (FYI- we have Direct TV)

BAVARIAN APPLE TORTE

I came across this recipe the other night and I knew I had to make it soon!! It is soooo damn easy and it was fantastic! The next time I make this, I will be making it with peaches instead of apples. I loved the apples, but I am also a huge peach fan.


for the crust

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 t vanilla
1 cup flour

Cream the butter and sugar and vanilla. blend in the flour until everything is combined. Flatten to a disc and put it in a 9” springform pan. Working with your fingers, spread the dough onto the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of the pan. It should have a rustic look. Put in the fridge while you make the fillings.

for the filling

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
Combine the cheese and sugar and mix well- i use an electric stand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until very smooth. Set aside.

for the topping

4 cups very thin sliced tart apples that have been peeled
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Toss the sliced apples with the cinnamon and sugar. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the pastry lined pan. Place the apples in layers over the mixture. Sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake another 25 minutes or so until the crust is a rich dark golden brown and the almonds look toasted.
Let cool completely before removing the springform sides. Place in the fridge so the cheese filling can firm up some. You can serve this room temp or cold. Warning:the cheese will run if you serve it while it’s still warm- but it’s still yummy.