Coconut Cake

I'm back, sort of. Sadly, life in the lone star state is not exciting by any means. It certainly doesn't help when we are on day 57 of triple digit heat and it's only mid-August. - apparently, we've already set a record. :/

Being a lady-of-leisure (aka temporarily unemployed) has allowed me to try some new recipes. I'm proud to say most have been winners, such as homemade pizza dough, chicken & summer vegetable tostadas (this calls for using the broiler, yeah right. I warmed the tortillas in the micro), and my new favorite salad because it requires 0 cooking. ZERO! I cheated and used defrosted corn, but hey - can you blame me? Lemon mint granitas and watermelon lemonade are really refreshing, especially when vodka is added.

Sadly, some of the recipes have been duds. Do yourself a favor and don't bother trying these, they aren't worth it. Eggplant pizza? No. Way too much eggplant and just a weird flavor. Peanut butter world peace cookies? Sound great in theory, choc + p.b., even the dough was tasty. The final product? No thanks. I'm thinking adding eggs would make the cookies chewy, these were rather hard - and I not blaming it on my crappy oven that may, or may not, have overbaked them (I need a new oven, Steven!!!). The chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies were edible, but even with cutting the recipe in half, it was way too much. And the entire process was fairly time-consuming.

We celebrated a neighbor's birthday this past weekend and I went back to an old standby that I knew was good - a coconut bundt cake. And instead of using the glaze, I decided to drizzled with the chocolate sauce from this recipe. I was also channeling my friend Jocelyn since it was her birthday Saturday and she loves coconut; sadly she lives in VA so no cake for her.

Because Steven is the biggest.football.fan.EVER, I had bought a football stadium cake pan to make a birthday cake for him a few years ago. It's been sitting on the shelf ever since. :/ In honor of football season starting (already, really?), I thought I'd dust it off. And because Texans are absolute freaks about their football, I made a little University of Texas flag and a little Ohio State flag (our neighbors love OSU).

The final product:





I'm hoping this means I might be a little more motivated to blog. Don't be too optimistic, this lady-of-leisure is going back to work soon.

A few pictures...finally!

I know, I know - I'm lagging in a big way. Here are a few before/after pictures of our living room.

Before - I really, really wish the camera could have captured the nasty carpet. Please trust me when I say it was stained with all sorts of, uh, interesting shades and was nicely matted down. And the wall color was some kind of bland eggshell color with many more shades of nasty stains. This is what happens when builders install the cheapest carpet possible and you have 4 owners. All in about a 7 year span.

After - new paint + new flooring makes a world of difference! The furniture looked better in the CA house, but I'm not about to buy new stuff.

More to come...eventually.

Sausage Fingers...

...are what happen when your hands get attacked by fire ants. Not good!

Warning: crappy photos ahead. It's the best I could do without having Photoshop.












My fingers are so swollen I can no longer put on my wedding rings.:(





Reason # 7482947389274932 why I want to go back to California. And I haven't even shared photos of my mosquito-ridden legs.

Although I suppose I should be grateful my hands don't look like this (another warning: graphic image).

The Alamo

No, not that Alamo, the Alamo movie theater that is apparently a Texas staple. We actually ventured out of our little bubble last night and went to check out the new Will Ferrell flick, Step Brothers last night. And because I'm lame and never have a camera, words will have to suffice - there aren't even decent pictures to steal from the web.

While the movie was your typical Will Ferrell fare, this is not the point. The Alamo is awesome, I don't know why this concept is not more popular. You enter the theater, find a seat, and write down your food and drink order. A server comes by, takes your order and you have food and drinks while you watch a movie. Genius, I say. The extensive menu is pretty decent and includes a huge beer/wine selection - bonus. I had the Turkey & Red Pepper Sub, Steven ordered the Grilled Chicken Club, and we shared a pitcher of Hefeweizen.

Although there is a steady stream of servers running around during the movie, it wasn't overly obnoxious in my opinion. Steven had mentioned, however, that he wouldn't want to watch a serious movie at the Alamo since he was distracted. I guess we won't be seeing many serious movies in the near future?