Taste of Louisiana

I finally got to visit Lake Charles, where Jarrod grew up, for a Fais Do Do which I learned a while back is basically a Cajun dance with zydeco music & lots of good cajun food & fun! This particular one was to raise money for Mitochondrial research. Many of you know our good friend's child named Jude has this disease. You can find out more on his website at http://www.judesmitojourney.com/. The fundraiser brought in about $25k toward Jude's fund for research for his disease. This year he will present a check at the symposium to researchers who will begin researching cures for his specific type of Mitochondrial disease.

I finally got to see Jarrod's stomping grounds. We toured around town and saw all his old hang out spots, where he went to middle school & high school, where he lived and of course ate at all the favorite spots which proved to be as good as he had described them. Friday night we went out to eat with his college buddies at Pat's of Henderson to celebrate Bryan Manley's birthday, Saturday we at breakfast at Delicious Donuts & lunch at Leonards. And of course that night we had some amazing cajun cookin' at the Fai Do Do!

Pictures of our Cajun weekend

Valentine Breakfast for Dinner

This year we stayed in and had pancakes for Valentines Day. It was relaxing & definitely better than fighting the crowds at all the restaurants. We went out the night before to one of our favorite sushi places in Austin called Tomo. We have sort of made it a tradition of staying in on Valentines Day & have had heart-shaped pancakes for dinner both times that we have celebrated in town. On the other years, we have traveled to Napa Valley so I told Jarrod that next year is our Napa Valley year if we want to keep to this tradition. We'll see if he goes for it! ;)

The middle one is supposed to be a heart

Cooking School

Last Wednesday, I went to my 2nd cooking class at Faraday's Kitchen Store in Lakeway. Jarrod had given me two classes for my birthday & went with me to the first one a few weeks ago where we learned to make Cream of Mushroom Soup, Chicken Cacciatore with white corn polenta, & Poached Pears with Zabaglione (pronounced za-ba-yon) ;). Faraday's brings in chefs from area restaurants & such to lead the classes. It is really fun. There are about 15 seats around a horseshoe shaped bar that faces the kitchen where you sit and watch the chefs do their magic. The second class I went to this past Wednesday taught me how to make all different kinds of sauces like hollandaise, beurre blanc and caramel. I think my favorite was the beurre blanc sauce, although we did make a caramel using red wine which was quite interesting. We made about 9 or so different sauces and I'm sure my husband is hoping that I will put all I have learned from these classes to use!! LOL

Gobble, Gobble

Our Thanksgiving was filled with food, football and card games. As usual, Patsy's house (my grandmother for those that don't know) was the gathering place for lots of eating & chatting on Thanksgiving. It was an all day affair with family members stopping in throughout the day. We were grateful to have family members in from Lufkin & Grapevine in addition to all those local. Jarrod made his families sweet potato casserole recipe to take & I made my dad's pumpkin gooey butter bars.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 Cups sweet potatoes (4) – peel before boiling
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Topping:
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans

Boil & mash potatoes. Mix in sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla & milk. Put in 13x9 baking dish.
Topping: melt butter and mix in remaining ingredients. Sprinkle on top of potato mixture.
Bake 25 minutes @ 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Bars (recipe by Paula Deen)

Ingredients
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

One of our cousin's from Lufkin taught my brother & I how to play Bridge, which I had thought was only an "old people's" game, but boy was I wrong. Jarrod already knew somewhat how to play b/c his parents had taught him so the game was on! I learned that Bridge is sort of like Spades on steroids. Anyway, I am proud to say that the girls, Josie & I, beat up on the boys, Jarrod & Jim. I have a feeling a rematch will be called at some point so they can redeem themselves. It was lots of fun, but the competitive juices were definitely flowing! We also had some entertainment featuring Mary Grace Polk and her dance routine.

The guys watching football

Our teams didn't fair so well in football, both the Aggies (not surprising) & the LSU Tigers were defeated. But, I guess it is about time that the Longhorns pull one off. I know the Ags haven't had a great reputation over the past few years, but as I recall, we have managed to beat those Longhorns for the past 2 years! This year was just too much of a long shot & even though they are a rival & I'll never like them, in a way I do feel kind of bad for the Horns since they beat the Sooners, but got beat by the system and were left in the shadows. I was actually pulling for the Red Raiders to win out over both if you can believe that! And I dislike them about as much as the Horns! Anyway, moving on, we also had a mean game of Hearts during the weekend and Jarrod managed to pull out the victory there. I also got some gravy making lessons from mom, which hopefully Jarrod will reap the benefits of on our next dish that requires gravy. I have made it a few times, and have been successful a couple, but I'm not consistent so I called on my mom to give me some pointers. Good call too b/c we got to enjoy some really good chicken fried steak for dinner one night so she could help me make some gravy. All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving -- restful, relaxing & good times with family all of whom I am very thankful for!

Aggieland is close, but Corpus is Home...

Although we got to visit my surrogate home, Aggieland, last weekend, this weekend we made the first drive home to Corpus from Austin. It was such a relaxing drive. Especially b/c it was 3 1/2 hours less than we are accustomed to from Dallas!! We took a back route to miss Friday afternoon traffic, but also with ulterior motives to go through Lockhart and stop for some BBQ at yet another talked about joint! This one is called Kreuz. We decided that they have the best brisket that we have ever tasted! Jarrod and I have differing views on the pork ribs. I liked them better than several of the places we have tried (although, all have been wonderful!), but Jarrod wasn't to keen on the seasoning. Nevertheless, we left there with very full stomachs!! And on to Corpus we went. It was a great time visiting family and friends. We went to a wedding of a friend of mine, Licia Dodson, from grade school who also went to business school at A&M with me.

I caught up with quite a few familiar faces whom I hadn't seen in years so that was fun, but also got to see Amber for the second weekend in a row! That never happens these days!

We were also able to celebrate with my mom on her actual birthday, which has probably not happened in quite some time -- usually it is a card sent in the mail & a phone call. Love you Mom! And I am thankful for the ## years (I won't tell) that God has blessed you with & the almost 29 years of it (getting close to the big one!) that I have been blessed by having you as my mother! Wish I had taken a picture to put here from the weekend, but these older ones will have to do.

Spirit of Aggieland Never Changes...

Our lives are ever changing, but it never ceases to amaze me that the same spirit I knew while I was at A&M, is still there & is felt the moment I drive into College Station. It is also that feeling like you get when you go back to your hometown to visit family -- it was so exciting to be home in Aggieland this past weekend! And if you are reading this and thinking, "what is she talking about?", I guess it is like they say, "those inside cannot explain it & those outside don't understand it (my husband included in this bunch)". It was a great time of visiting friends and being a part of the 12th Man (fans) at Kyle Field! Army was the opponent so it was fitting that special tributes were done in honor of those men who proudly serve our country.

There is usually a fly over at all the games, but I had never seen paratroopers dropped from helicopters to drift down to Kyle Field...

The band played a piece for each branch of the military,

And of course, the standard block "T"...

God Bless America! And God Bless our Troops.

The singing cadets sing as the flag covers Kyle Field.

The guys were focused on the game,

Jarrod & Brad


While Emily & I chatted & caught the highlights...

After the game we met up with friends.

Amber, Me, Rachel, Emily

To bring the weekend to a close, on our way back to Austin Sunday we stopped through Elgin to check out 2 BBQ places we keep hearing people rave about. We got BBQ at both & taste tested that night. And the winner is.....

Southside Market! Their pork ribs are tasty!

Our First Visitor...

My brother came to visit us this weekend & we toured him around Austin. Friday night we introduced him to our favorite sushi place here called Tomo Sushi. This was also Jim's first time to try any sushi that wasn't at least partially cooked. I was glad that he embraced the experience! We had a great time! Saturday, I went and picked up donuts from Roundrock's World Famous Donut shop so Jim could try them. http://www.roundrockdonuts.com/ We live just a few blocks from it, but Jarrod & I don't really get what the fuss is about. The donuts are a little different b/c they have an orange based batter, but we aren't that impressed. However, typically the line is out the door! After having our donuts & laying around a bit, we headed out to drive around the city, to the area where we will be living & on down to the lake before making our way to have some small town, good eatin' Texas BBQ in Lockhart, Texas. We went to a place called Smitty's that has been filmed and shown on Food Network.

There was an open fire at the end of the pit where they were smoking the BBQ right there where you placed your order.

We (the boys) ordered a total of like 5 lbs of meat!! We did at least have a few left overs, but we definitely did not need dinner that night!

On our way back into Austin we drove by Barton Springs area where Town Lake is & there were a ton of people out swimming, canoing, kayaking, etc. It looks like a fun area that we'll definitely have to go back to. We brought our suits, but the line to get into the swimming hole was way too long! So we headed back toward Round Rock, but we didn't get too far before Jarrod spotted a snow cone stand & I knew we would be stopping & finding some room in our tummy's. Jarrod tried to get out of standing in the hot sun by saying he would watch the car to which I quickly responded, "oh, I'll be glad to watch the car". So he & Jim braved the heat for some unbelievable snow cones! Thanks guys! The cones were yummy & definitley worth the stop!

After church on Sunday we went and ate at Z Tejas in the Arboretum area. Another of our faves! What a great view! And it was such a pleasant day to sit outside on the deck.

It was a great visit! Glad you got to come Jim!

A little slice of Heaven...

I had a great night on my last night in Dallas, I got to have dinner and watch movies with a great friend of mine Stacey and we had so much fun. But the highlight of the night was when we had a little taste of heaven for dessert at Cantino Laredo! If you haven't had their Mexican Apple Pie, you must try it!! All I can say is "Too die for". It was the best dessert I have had in a while & I eat lots of desserts -- I'll blame that on my husband's sweet tooth. ;) I have one too, but Jarrod always caves to his so of course I cave with him. Anyhow, back to the Mexican Apple Pie...it is brought out on a skillet, Mexican Brandy Butter poured all around it until the whole plate is sizzling goodness! It is topped with your choice of cinnamon or vanilla ice cream. We had the cinnamon & it was yummy. So if you are having a craving for an awesome dessert, head over to Cantina Laredo. You won't be sorry! I wish I had a picture of the heavenly slice for you, but I don't so you'll just have to check it out yourself. :) Oh ya, & there food is really great too! http://www.cantinalaredo.com/