Christmas in Austin

We're back from another great visit.

My first attempt making tamales. Good thing there weren't any abuelitas watching me. I used shortening and butter instead of manteca.

Two dozen black bean. Two dozen chicken verde. Without the lard, they came out dry. I learned my lesson.

If only Callie was two inches taller...

Olivia showing me how to properly undress a dolly.

Erinn cooks

Well, this first one is just kind of cooking. These pigs-in-a-blanket are Pillsbury breadsticks wrapped around a mini sausage. She made 150 of these for treat day at school.


She made these sugar cookies from scratch and iced them herself. I helped by eating them.

Deck the Halls

Here are some holiday decor pics in case you are tired of Andrew's food. As I strung the lights, Andrew tried to capture "light movement" as he put it.

Winter's here (at night anyways)

We're getting some lows in the lower 40s at night so that means it's time for chili, soups and Erinn's favorite: Chicken Pot Pie.

This recipe comes from epicurious and can be found here.

One reason why I take so many pictures of food is because I need something to do while things cook, reduce, simmer, come to a boil. Plus, I always have the camera handy.

It's mirepoix, y'all. Carrots aren't in the recipe, but I like em. So in they go.


Fast forward 30 minutes and a couple more steps and you've got this.


Delicious, flaky pastry crust. So buttery and so good. I should've just baked up a second sheet and eaten it separately.


It did not cooperate coming out of the pyrex.

Still eating those chiles

Our freezer is slowly emptying of all the chiles. While we're eating mostly enchiladas out of em, I found a recipe that uses them in Crab Cakes. I'm sure science would claim eating one a day would keep the doctor away, until you had a heart attack.

pre-sauteed

pre-in-my-belly

Nearby South Pas

Sign from a dry cleaner in Pasadena.

I'm guessing the owners have never been to the White House... or seen a picture of the White House. Or maybe they just think the President lives in the Capitol building.

Callie's summer cut... in winter

Yesterday, I thought we should feed her less. Now she just looks malnourished.

Last of the Big Bear

Just wanted to get a few more pictures from Big Bear up before it became irrelevant.

Our cabin. Not much to say but small.

I wanted to put this up since Callie's getting groomed later. Here's the "Before." We'll get an "After" up later.


Yeah, I know. I already put pictures of Thanksgiving dinner up, but they lacked the keynote speaker, the turkey.

Making turkey in a 5x8 kitchen

We're in Big Bear right now, which is a small ski town two hours northeast of LA. Actually, it's about four hours northeast of LA when you leave the day before Thanksgiving. Even though we weren't having any guests for Thanksgiving, we still wanted to make the whole spread. Even though the kitchen was small, we managed to make our normal dinner.

Friday night: Walt Disney Concert Hall

We went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday to see Neko Case. The venue was absolutely amazing for a singer like her.



It was also my first time to be inside the Hall. The acoustics are amazing. I don't have a good enough ear to notice "acoustics" but in a place like the WDCH, it's so good, it's obvious.

Take this view, imagine it from 20 feet higher, and that's where our seats were. Even in the "cheap" seats, there isn't a bad seat in the place, except maybe the ones behind the stage.

What kind of dorks go to the Grand Opening of a grocery store?

We do.

The 77,000 sq. foot SoCal Flagship Whole Foods opened just up the road from us today, so of course I wanted to go see all the expensive grass-fed, organic stuff. I was also hoping for free stuff. I saw a lot of the former, but didn't get a lot of the latter.

I didn't get a picture of the outside, because it seems like it gets dark at lunchtime nowadays. But I did sketch this rendering, complete with a potential auto-pedestrian accident:

I won't tell you what happened next.


I hope that pig was cage free.


Is JJ Walker from "Good Times" making his own post-menopausal supplements? GY-NO-VITE!


Hey look, that tea is from Austin! And we're from Austin! Oh wait, so is the store we're standing in.


Hot chocolate for Erinn, coffee for me.

To all the ladies on my Christmas list

Look away now, unless you don't want your Christmas present to be a surprise...









Saw these at a street fair near us the other day. The label says "One Size Fits All" but I'm thinking "One Size Fits at least Two."



What a goldmine I found. There isn't a bad one in the bunch. To the guys reading this, let me know how many you want me to get your significant other. Truly, there is no greater joy than finding that perfect something and applying it to all your loved ones.

Back from Austin

We always wish we stayed "one day longer" when we go to Austin. We've got too many friends, family and food that want to spend more time with. This trip was no exception. The camera stayed in the bag most of this trip, but here's what I did get:

Erinn and Leslie at the tailgate.


Sarah, Will and Erinn.


This is how big every Texas flag should be.


Callie making herself at home on a pile of dirty clothes after we got back home.

South Pas is not on fire

But it does smell like there's always a barbecue going on somewhere, so that's a bonus.

Rise and Shine

One of my favorite things about the weekend is being woken by Callie. Unfortunately, during the week I get up before her.

The ch'i in our bedroom is, like, totally off man...

Apparently the energy in our room isn't balanced. According to Ellen Whitehurst, a feng shui consultant, the location of your bed is extremely important in getting a good night's rest. I found this in Natural Health:

The goal is to balance the energy in your bedroom so you can relax - to do this, start by placing the head of your bed against a wall, which will give you the feeling of stability. But don't put your bed in a corner. "Leave space on both sides of your bed so energy can circle freely around you," says Whitehurst.

As you can see, we've got a gaping area in the middle of our room where all the energy has no where to go.


But wait, there's more:

If possible, move your bed so you can see your door without being directly across from it- or in front of a window. This arrangement, called "The Command Position," will subconsciously make you feel more secure by allowing you to see who is coming into your room without being startled.

Honestly, if anyone other than Erinn is coming into our bedroom, door position really won't make that much of a difference as to how "startled" I am.

OU Game: Epilogue

Back from Dallas. The game, while not in our favor, was a classic. Unfortunately, I couldn't properly chronicle the pregame since it was raining. Here's what I did get.


Texas Pom: "Hey, where'd you get that poncho?"
Me: "My Mom."


The loneliest belle of the ball: The Scheppes Milk Booth. I never saw more than ten people go here.


Dripping with goodness.


Sooners learning about useless gadgets to fill their mobile home with.


OU's Allen Patrick taking a siesta.


Until next year...

Cotton Bowl, I'll see you in...

Two Days.

Narrow corridors. Awful ingress/ egress. Seats too close to your knees. Not enough bathrooms, and when you find a bathroom, it's flooded. The place is a dump... and I wouldn't have it any other way.

While it's named "The House That Doak Built," I don't think Doak Walker actually built it. They probably had construction workers build it. But still, it's an art deco classic and if the game got moved to Jerry World, I'm not sure I'd be as eager to attend.

The place is split right down the 50 yard line. On one side, you've got handsome, well-read Longhorns in burnt orange. On the other, you've got your dirty, unwashed Oklahomans in crimson.


Fortunately, the stadium staff has put up rules for attending the game:


And what has become a tradition in the past couple of years, the losing team exits the stadium so they can scoop up all the good corn dogs before the victors can get there.


Let's just hope we get leftovers on Saturday.