Andy was assigned to a 3 week business trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina this month. To wish him a safe journey, we spent some time with our good friends Friday night. It will be a decent amount of time before we’re all together again.

Last week also happened to be Miss Syndi's birthday! Wishing her the best!!

Carrie and Tatjana showing off just how awesome they are! Love the pose!

The boys refusing to let me take a decent picture, so they're being their usual silly selves. Trust me, I took several pictures...and this is the best one.

Brittany and me still groggy from a late night at the Taylor Swift concert, but trying to put on our best smiles and attitudes to wish Andy bon voyage!

I suppose 3 weeks isn’t really that long, but it does make for a large period of time that I have to spend by myself. Though it’s not a thought that I like to dwell on, I’m not particularly good at being alone. It’s not just the deafening silence that now seems to fill the house, but also the feeling of being isolated from the rest of the world I suppose. (Apparently being by myself also increases my need to be melodramatic) Yes, going out with friends in Andy’s absence helps…but they certainly can’t babysit me 24 hours a day!

To add to the strange lonely melancholy…I also have a cursed over-active imagination. In the middle of the night, I’ll sit peering anxiously over the edge of my blankets unable to close my eyes long enough to sleep and wonder if the sound outside was too similar to a screeching banshee or perhaps if Bloody Mary will appear next to me in the bathroom mirror. All particularly frightening ideas left over from my elementary school days that I apparently haven’t yet banished.

I was a terribly wimpy child, afraid of practically everything (ghosts, robbers, aliens, monsters, the police, jail, showers, tornado sirens, thunderstorms, fire, earthquakes, computer games, ticking clocks, the wood paneling in the downstairs bathroom that looked like it had eyes…etc). And somehow being a 27 year old by herself at 2 in the morning seems to have brought back a lot of unsettling nightmares.

So, yes…I’m a ninny. A ninny that will probably sleep on the couch with her pets close by and the lights on for several nights, though I haven’t any clue why the couch feels safer. Sigh…I confuse even myself! No worries though, I’m sure I’ll be just fine in the end. I suspect the next three weeks will probably make me face some old fears. And that’s a good thing, right?

For Christmas Andy bought me two tickets to the impossibly sold out Taylor Swift concert in Dallas. Now, you may not think this is particularly cool…but I thought this was fantastic!! I love Taylor Swift! I think she’s absolutely adorable and I have no qualms about supporting her!

Now…I’m sure you’re thinking, two tickets? Would Andy actually go with me to a pre-teen infested pop country music concert? The answer is yes, yes he would…but since he already did good by purchasing the tickets, I let him off the hook. So, on a glorious (though slightly chilly) Thursday evening, my friend Brittany and I ventured into the American Airlines Center (which for one night was turned into a little girl heaven) to see Miss Swift perform.

Though I may have suffered permanent  hearing loss due to all the screaming girls, I had a wonderful time! I love that Swift is a fantastic performer without the over choreographed dance routines and elaborate pyrotechnics. She sang, played her instruments, and let the back-up dancers do their thing. If she felt the need to dance, she would simply flail around the stage…an action I can understand all too well. Perhaps that’s why I admire her, she’s a little awkward, wonderfully flail-tastic, cute as all get out, and still able to perform true to her own style.

Was I a little ashamed to be jamming with the pre-teens? I admit, it was definitely a little odd to see hoards of 8 year olds dressed in their fluffy pink tutus with ribbons in their hair and sparkles on their face. But in the end, I wouldn’t have missed this experience in the name of being cool. After all, I wasn’t particularly cool when I actually was a pre-teen, why start now?

Though the screaming crowds were close to unbearable when Taylor Swift's name appears on the screen, the anticipation and excitement was fairly intoxicating! (as was the necessary but ridiculously expensive frozen margarita by my side)

Brittany and me getting ready to rock it, Taylor Swift style!

Yes, we were in the nosebleed section of the arena. But even those were extremely pricey, and the view was still good. This was the best photo of Taylor Swift that I took all night...(and a beautiful shot of the guy in front's arm)

Please click here for more tiny and slightly fuzzy pictures from the concert.

Every week for almost six months, our little group of friends have come over once a week for dinner, beer brewing (if you’re Andy, Rick or Ethan) and Doctor Who watching (if you’re me or Brittany). Sometimes I have absolutely no problems coming up with recipes to try on our guests, and sometimes I’m just completely stumped. For those drawing a blank kind of weeks, I’m very thankful for foodnetwork.com and allrecipes.com!

Last week, I attempted a gumbo recipe. I’ve never tried anything like it. It was rated at an intermediate level, and took a long time to cook with lots of steps. But in the end, I think the work payed off with a delicious pot of simmering sausage, shrimp, chicken, and veggies. There certainly wasn’t very much leftover at the end of the night! That’s always a sign of a successful dinner! So, if you’ve got a little extra time on your hands and are in need of some comfort food, I would definitely give it a try! (picture to come)

Gumbo

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

(though I’ve tweaked it a little bit to my tastes, view the original here)

Ingredients

3 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves

extra virgin olive oil (I prefer the taste of EVOO to plain vegetable oil)

1 pound smoked pork sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons butter (Really? Paula Deen calls for margarine?)

1 large onion, chopped

8 cloves garlic minced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

(I omitted the despised celery and green onions, surprise surprise!)

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Dried parsley, freshly ground black pepper, and kosher salt

4 cups hot water

3 beef bouillon cubes (I was concerned 5 cubes would make it too salty)

1 (14-ounce can) stewed tomatoes with juice

2 cups frozen sliced okra

1/2 pound small shrimp, peeled, deveined (I bought the raw variety and just threw them in at the end)

Directions

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned on both sides and remove. Add the sausage and cook until browned, then remove. Sprinkle the flour over the oil, add 2 tablespoons of butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until brown, about 10 minutes. Let the roux cool.

Return the Dutch oven to low heat and melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Add the onion, garlic, green pepper and cook for 10 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, to taste and the 1/4 bunch parsley. Cook, while stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Add 4 cups hot water and bouillon cubes, whisking constantly. Add the chicken and sausage. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Add tomatoes and okra. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Just before serving, add the shrimp, letting it cook until just pink and cut/shred the chicken breasts.

I am extremely lucky to have an amazing schedule. One where I work 10 hour days and get a four day weekend every other week. However, I’ve noticed that at the end of a 10 hour day, I have very little energy remaining to do anything besides go to the gym, eat, and head to bed before another hectic day starts all over again. So, a lot of my chores get pushed and stacked on to my four day weekends. Which unfortunately, doesn’t make for a particularly relaxing set of days.

In fact, since I LOVE lists so much, I usually have a list a mile long for every four days I get to myself. What goes on these lists? Everything that gets neglected in between long weekends…grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, making appointments, fixing things, dusting, vacuuming, dropping things off, picking things up, taking care of any pet needs (brushing, walking, vet appointments, baths, buying food…etc), and any number of other chores that I’m sure everyone else also complains about. I always intend to take time for myself, but the panic I feel to get everything accomplished before I have to head back to work tends to be too overwhelming.

Today, I say no to the never ending chore list! It’s storming outside, and I’m happily snuggled up next to my pets on the couch with a good book. It’s nice to ignore the imperfection that is my house for a day, and just be lazy. However, I did not mean to mislead you, dear readers. Lest you think my life is all work and no play, I didn’t mean to give that impression!

We participated in the first ever Kickball Association pub crawl in Fort Worth. What is a pub crawl? It’s five bars in five hours, each bar setting specials for our group. The important part? Pace yourself! No need to get crazy drunk, it’s just nice to wander around the unique atmospheres of several venues. Sadly, I only remembered to take pictures at the second (7th Haven) and last locations (the Pourhouse). Sorry! (but you can see a few more pictures by clicking here)

Lacretia, Tatjana, and Carrie enjoying a nice evening out on the porch of 7th Haven.

A group shot of our group at the Pourhouse. They may be silly, but we love them just the same!

Andy with Brittany and Tatjana. It's unusual that Andy's the only one with a normal smile...he's typically the one making faces.

My lazy Monday is about to come to a close. Sigh…here goes another crazy work week!

I have been blogging for a little over four years now, can you believe it? Who knew I would have so much to write about! I thought it was really about time I tried a new look for my site. The problem with this is that I’ve yet to find a background that I love. I settled for this pink and black patterned deal for the time being. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do!

It’s been a fairly productive day. We dropped Andy’s car off for a fairly expensive set of brake fixes, stopped by the gym for a painful run on the treadmill, took Miss Jabberwocky for a nice walk at the park (it’s a gorgeous day outside, we couldn’t bear staying inside), and now we’re hunkered down on the couch watching the KU versus Oklahoma State basketball game.

I am not at all a huge fan of sports, I know you’re probably shocked to hear that. But thanks to Andy’s love of KU basketball, I’ve also gotten the hang of watching the games. However, I really truly don’t have the nerves to watch sports. I want my team (KU of course) to win by a huge number of points! I don’t like all this back and forth nonsense! Andy says this is what makes watching games fun. I say this is what gives me panic attacks.

Right now Oklahoma State is beating KU by 16 points at halftime, and I want to hide under my covers. I like that a Kansas team is in first place! I want my team to stay there after this game! So, come on KU! Work a little harder, jump a little higher, and don’t lose to an Oklahoma team! Rock Chalk!!

People have a very different opinion on what can be considered comfort food. If you’re a true southerner, you’d probably reply that chicken fried chicken with a side of mac & cheese and freshly baked biscuits are the way to go. Or perhaps you’re a junk food junkie that craves a big juicy burger and side of crispy deep fried potatoes of some sort? If you grew up in Texas, I’ve noticed that they simply cannot resist the call of Tex/Mex anything! Give Andy a big bowl of chips and dip (and plenty of napkins) as he waits for his sizzling fajita meats & vegetables and I promise that he’ll be a happy boy!

Though I do love all of these items (and much more), when it comes to true comfort foods for me, there can only be my family’s cooking. That of course, would be referring to true everyday Chinese cuisine. Forget your lo mein, cashew chicken, and fried rice. These are dishes you’re not likely to find in an American style Chinese restaurant. The problem? I have absolutely no idea how to make the foods that I love. I can’t even recognize most of the ingredients I would need! Back when I lived with my parents, this was never an issue. Want something? Just ask mom! Now that I’m living, working, and cooking on my own…I haven’t had some of my favorites in years!

Since my parents were in town last weekend, they took us to our favorite Chinese supermarket (Asia World Market) in Frisco. I was lucky enough that they had the time to show me around the confusing and almost completely written in Chinese aisles (Imagine that! A Chinese grocery store that has products that have little to no English? Crazy talk!) . They helped me pick out the sauces, dried and canned goods, meats, veggies, and spices I would need to recreate some of their easier recipes.

Though I went into this whole process fairly confident that I would succeed, I greatly overestimated the amount of information that I missed! My parents have been cooking for so long, that their directions have no real measure. It’s not a 1/2 cup or 2 tablespoons of something, it’s just add some liquid to about 3/4 of a pot. What size pot? A big one, though not a huge one. It’s not cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, it’s boil for a few minutes until the sound changes. (In case you’ve ever wondered why I always put my ear up to the skillet when I’m cooking pot stickers, that’s why…I’m waiting for the sound to change) Cook the eggplant until soft…how soft is soft? Squishy soft would just be gross! Boil the rice noodles in plenty of water, but be careful because rice noodles tend to soak up a lot of liquid. So don’t use too much liquid and don’t leave them in there for too long. But it’s rice noodle soup!!! If I don’t leave the rice noodles in the soup, where would they go??? I know that the procedure gets easier as I repeat them, but that first trial run can be bewildering!

Sigh…thankfully, I managed to pull off what I deem a successful first try of one of my most favorite dishes, baby pork rib soup with rice noodles. There’s nothing quite like this nice hot soup to warm you up on a chilly night. Plus, it’s extra fun to slurp all those delectable noodles! Yes, it’s considered okay to slurp in Chinese cuisine! So slurp away my friends! (I did go through a few “Oh my gosh, I have no idea what I’m doing!!” moments…but that was to be expected)

The pork, noodles, and soup are topped with freshly cut scallions and my favorite sweet red chili sauce (which incidentally is also very tasty on tamales)

Seeing as how there’s not a drop remaining, I’d say it was a hit and will be adding this recipe to my repertoire. Another long term goal in addition to learning more Chinese dishes? I’d really like to figure out a better way to document my food through photographs. No worries, this isn’t turning into a food blog (though I do love food, I’m not ready to write exclusively about it). But when I’m particularly proud of something I’ve made, I’d like to capture it in a more interesting manner than just me taking an above my plate shot. For inspiration, I’ve been given a few recommendations from a friend that I already love! (101 Cookbooks, Tea and Cookies, and Cannelle et Vanille). Tell me, what dish is it that you wish for when you’ve had a stressful day and just need to unwind?

For yet another crazy weekend, we headed back to Austin with my parents in tow to help Cathy start moving into her new townhouse. That’s right, she’s got a townhouse all to herself! Lucky girl! To say the least, it was a hectic couple of days where we drove all over Austin in a rush to get to the walk through, the closing, meals (without food our bunch tends to get very cranky…FYI: Trulucks is absolutely amazing as far as seafood is concerned!), IKEA, and various other locations.

The townhouse is absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait to see everything moved and fully completed. Thanks to the generosity of the parents, Andy and I now have a bedroom to call our own whenever we visit the city of Austin. It’s nice to know you’ve got a comfy bed waiting for you at the end of the day, even when you’re away from home.

Introducing the lovely and shiny new home of Cathy!

And some nice natural light so you can enjoy the view as you wash your dishes...

The pretty little townhouse on the corner...

We headed back up to DFW after a nice meal with Dad Trommer in Georgetown at the Monument Cafe. After a good night’s rest in our own bed, we got up this morning to a disgustingly muggy Texas day. But on the up side, my parents took us out for a delicious Szechwan lunch in Frisco, yum! Sadly, the parents left after lunch for an engineering conference in Norman, OK. And the rest of today was spent catching up on all of our chores and trying our best to relax before another crazy work week begins. Yay for massive amounts of laundry!