My Favorite Meal

Only the best secret gift ever made for my coffee pumping heart

I’m not ashamed of the fact that I enjoy a cup of coffee every morning.  My grandmother, Goggle, taught me to drink coffee at a young age.  She would pour 3/4 a mug full of milk and splash some coffee in there and I was hooked.  I was also wired.  But you know, Goggle’s been drinking it all her life and she is 86 years old and sharp as a tack so you just try judging us!

Yes, there are days that I would really like to have some coffee pretty badly because I am not quite awake yet.  And yes, there are times when we are driving 2 hours to the lake house and I am begging for coffee at a Valero and DC shouts NO! because he does not find a gas station acceptable to get my coffee.  Funny, he seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable for our first date.

[awkward pause]

DC would call my delight for java an addiction.  We have different definitions of addiction Mr. eleventy billion bicycles.

[another awkward pause]

[side-eye]

I love you?

So, when I married into DC’s family (in fact, the first night that I met most of them), when coffee was offered, I pounced on it.  Like, I was ready to clothesline all of his cousins and maybe his grandmother if it came down to it to get some before the pot was out.  And yes, I can take ALL of his Aggie loving cousins.  Anyway, I guess that’s where they all learned that I sort of like to have some, you know, if someone is making a pot, because from then on, at every event, they have just poured me some and stood back.

We went to have dinner at DC’s aunt’s house, and she had the most amazing contraption I have ever seen in my entire existence.  I swooned over it while she made me some brew.

Then, we went down for her wedding, and in the midst of all of her planning and stress, she had purchased said contraption for me.  That’s when she became my favorite relative on DC’s side.  What?  I am easily bought.  That’s what she…never mind.

Here she is (the contraption, not the aunt)

I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!  SO AMAZING!

You put the dadgum thing over your mug, put the filter in with coffee…

Pour the water…and watch the miracle.

Do you understand that I stopped drinking coffee at home because I dreaded brewing a pot for one cup?  Do you understand what this means for my life?!

Aunt Eileen, you are the bees knees.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Amanda won yesterday’s giveaway!

Amanda said...

I started a blog last year that you happened to randomly comment on. I have stopped blogging because apparently I can't keep focused for too long. Anyways, I have been reading your blog since then and I enjoy reading it. Happy Birthday to your blog!

April 28, 2010 12:15 PM

Amanda, email me your choice and your address!

Happy Birthday Bloggity Blog

I started Life Shiny Side Up a year ago today with full intentions of it being all about race reports for DC.  And then the crazy part of my brain took over…which is the majority of my brain.

To celebrate, let’s do a giveaway.

Leave a comment…say anything (anything appropriate, mmk?)…and I will pick a winner tomorrow morning.

The winner can have their choice between any of these:

Jillian Michaels’ new cookbook.  I think it was released on Monday.  I’ve used her recipes – they’re always delicious.

A pair of Mellow Johnny’s Socks (Mellow Johnny’s is Lance Armstrong’s bike shop in Austin.  It is a crazy fun place and they have a coffee bar too.  I am sort of thinking of pressing charges for stealing my bike shop / coffee bar / book store / nap area / bad ass sandwiches place idea, but I think Lance may win…unless Lieutenant Lauren Hugel will defend me…anyway…if you’re in Austin, you should stop by.  And these socks are cool.  DC has some.  You could wear them for running too.  Moving on.  Still in parenthesis.  Geez.)

or

some garden markers

go by their shop.  I love their mugs too.  If you want one of those instead, I understand.

A batch of Fattycakes of your choice

delivered straight to your door.  The red velvet is delicious.  Just sayin’

or

these tumblers…

reasons I love them:

1. I like owls

2. They are recycled wine bottles (see the bottom?) and I love wine

  3. No one else would ever have them.  Except you.  If you choose them.

or

a print of your choice from the vol25 shop

I like this one

and this one

but you can choose whichever you want.

So that’s it!  Leave a comment- contest ends tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading for a whole year…if you have.  That’s pretty ridiculous that you still like me, but thank you!

I would like to live in Anthropologie's Sale Room

I would say 9 times out of 10, when I go into Anthropologie with a mission to find some jewelry for an outfit or a skirt for an upcoming shower or a hot little number that resembles what my grandma would call a hot little number 50 years ago, I just end up buying dishes.  And I usually get them in the sale room.  This time was no different and I came back with these.

I got the table all set and lookin' good, and then the next mornig DC was all, "Uh, where can I eat?"

I told him to hold his plate standing up.

Duke it out. Knuckle Sandwich.

 

This blog and our laptop and myself…we’re all in a fight.

I wrote some posts this weekend and scheduled one for bright and early today.

Low and behold, it didn’t publish.

Blast you, Windows Live Writer, and your false claims to being amazing.

I am also fighting with the following:

The bike room for being awesome and full of space leaving me to be forced to make a decision about what to put in there

The pictures from posts dating February 1- last week

My hair for being in that awkward length stage

The amount of time in one day

Massage Heights for being cheap (good thing) but lame (bad thing) and not having any openings

Our apartment office for not emailing me back at my convenience

The online career assessment that I took only to be told I had to pay for the results

The traffic that I know I will encounter trying to drive to Dallas on Friday after work.  Oh, the horror.

My left hamstring for not being as flexible as my right in yoga today.

Welcome to Monday.

Gliche

Lovely readers,

When I moved the blog back to it's original home, my pictures did not transfer from the posts I wrote from February until this week. I will work this weekend to get them up!

Have a good weekend!!

I didn’t have much for today…

 

I was going to give you guys some links to some articles I like…

like this

and this

and some blogs I am loving

like this (I am just getting into this show…but I love this character so much)

and this (she is brand new to blogging- and she is going to do great!)

but then I also saw this today.

And it’s exciting.  I love the print.  I love the comment I left for it.

Meg is fantastic.  She is wise, and serves others (in Africa.  You can give to the Water foundation on her site too), and she is an amazing wife and mom.  She is creative and confident.  A true Proverbs 31.

Thanks so much, Meg!

A Manwich, Light. If there is such a thing. Maybe it’s a girlymanwich. Moving on.

 

Remember this?

My mom used to make us Sloppy Joes when I was a kid. 

Lately I’ve been thinking.  I love Sloppy Joes.

I wanted to know what was going into my Joe, though, so I made some from scratch, if you will, in the crock pot.  I based it on a recipe from Fix It And Forget It: Lightly and added my own stuff too.

1/2 Onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. Ground Turkey

Tiny sprinkle from a package of Dry Onion Soup Mix

some Cumin

1 can black beans, drained

1 can fat free refried beans

Some BBQ sauce

Sauté the onion, pepper, garlic, and turkey until the turkey is slightly browned.  Add it into the crock with the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Toast some small hamburger buns and plop some of this hodgepodge on there.

DC had 2.  And kept saying, “That was so friggin good”.  It’s always a good sign when he goes back for more.

Any Guesses What This Is?

You can eat 4 of these cookies, think about a 5th, and not feel guilty….unless you’re someone who never feels guilty about eating 4 cookies…DC.

 

I try to make these cookies about once a month. 

They are from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters.  If you haven’t picked this up yet, you should.  Very interesting with tons of good recipes- Everything we have made from this book has been fantastic.

These cookies go great with coffee, they’ll satisfy your sweet tooth, and you can put whatever you want in them.  With this batch, DC is averaging 5 a day.  1 before breakfast, 1 after, 2 at lunch, 1 at night.  It would be more, but my mom brought cupcakes over this weekend.  He has to space it all out.

Anyway, the recipe!

1/2 c. peanut oil or vegetable oil, or 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (I use Land of the Lakes light butter- it’s still not fantastic, but it’s about 1/3 everything of regular butter)

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. applesauce, or 2 eggs

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

2 c. rolled oats (it says not instant but I use instant and they’re still amaze)

1 c. dried fruit- This is pretty much where I say forget the recipe and add so much deliciousness in the bowl that I think I could make 64 dozen cookies with one batch.

I do tons of raisins or craisins or both because DC says he can never have too many in a cookie

1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I do walnuts and I do waaaaay more than 1/2 a cup)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (more, please)

pinch of salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I just realized I forgot this for this batch- my mom is rolling her eyes and laughing at me, but guess what!  The cookies are still delish)

Hokay, so, mix the softened butter and sugars together, then add the applesauce or eggs and mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the next 6 ingreeds together

Alternating between the flour mixture and the milk, add them to the sugar mixture until mixed well

Add the vanilla, mix

Spoon onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes (I did mine for 14 because our apartment oven is bunk).

Cool 1 minute on the pan, then completely cool on a cooling rack.

Hide 1/2 the batch for yourself.

Devour.

Monday makes my brain write posts full of randomness

Monday is here.

My brain is not.

Some random things...

1. Why haven't you joined bookmooch? Make a wish list of books you want but don't want to pay for, make an inventory of books you would get rid of, earn points when you list books, earn points when you send books, get books fo free. Again. Why haven't you joined bookmooch? I need to snag some of your books.

2. This weekend DC was out of town. Lu came down for some shopping.

I am going to buy this for Jellie as a wedding gift. It's missing a few, but I think I can fix that. I know you always wanted a wine cork headboard.

I bought something I have never, ever purchased in all my life. It is beautiful and I adore it.

Check it. I dig it. I never buy expensive purses. In fact when we first walked by the store, Lu and I both said, "Look at all of those crazy people paying way too much for a purse". Then a guy at the door handed us a coupon.

We each bought one.

DC's response? "You needed it". Points for him.

Also, I am counting this as number 19 on my list. I bought it at the outlet malls, so it was far from full price, and I got a coupon, but it is more than I would pay for something just for me. It counts. Score.

3. If you have not checked out dropbox.com, please do. It's an online 'drive' that you can access from any computer. So, say I want to save a picture on my work computer and access it at home- I save it to my dropbox, sign in from home, badabing badaboom. If you're interested, let me know. I get more space for referring.

4. #14 and #27 on my list are blank. It bothers me. Think I'll get to work on the one that says new job.

5. When DC is out of town, I forget to eat. I think I nearly starved Lu this weekend. I also clean constantly, make cookies (healthier ones! recipe coming this week), and spend money. When he is gone, I am not myself.

6. Speaking of him, DC is sick. Yet he went to work. Let's all email him and tell him to go home.

7. Has anyone seen Zombieland? DC tells me it's hilarious. I don't buy it.

8. If you gave to The Voeltners a couple of weeks ago, THANK YOU!!! They have raised ALL of their money 2 months before their trip. You can read their "Thank You" here.

The Front of our Fridge...

Rule #76: No excuses, play like a champion.

It's wedding season, kid!

Feed me your ideas

If you check out my list, #14 and #27 are blank.

I need some ideas to fill them in.

Anyone?

Opening Day at the Ballpark

It was opening day at Minute Maid Park

And we were there

pay no attention to my fluorescent arms.

Or the fact that I cut off the top part of our heads.

The Astros may be the worst team in baseball right now...

as in if they lose their next game, they will match their worst losing streak from opening day ever, which was in 1983.

Ack.  We need a miracle.

Welcome to baseball season!

Small Space Garden, Stage 2

Short and sweet

We planted our seedlings in their permanent homes

and cleaned up our patio in the process, so we might actually want to hang out there this summer

The little onions in the small can...I grab one and munch on it every day.  Best snack ever.

The leeks are amazing to me.  I just shoved those bulbs in there from a couple of weeks ago, and they took off.

We got some Peony bulbs, some strawberries we'll experiment with, and we planted our Basil in a window planter thingy.  We're mostly excited for the Basil.  We love it, use it all the time, and can never buy enough.

Jillian's Dressing of Deliciousness

I was thinking.  For as much as I post about Jillian Michaels, everyone who reads this must think I am obsessed.

I'm not.  But I do think she knows what she is talking about.  Food-wise.  Exercise-wise.  Psychologically when it comes to eating addiction.

She really is a smart little pistol.

source

Anyway, we made a salad dressing from her Master Your Metabolism book and I needed to share it with you guys because

1. It is delicious

2. It is light

I don't know if I would put it on every salad, but it was great on the southwestern one we had (chicken, black beans, tomatoes, etc)

I'll zip it; here's the dressing recipe

1/2 c lime juice

2 Tbs Olive Oil

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

8 Tbs chopped cilantro

1-2 Tsp chile powder (I think I did 3)

1-2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tsp salt (optional...I opted not to)

Throw it all in a jar, screw on the lid, shake it up for a minute, pour onto a salad, thou shalt not feel guilty for good dressing.

Lovefest 2010 Part 2

The campsite had a brand new bath house where I took the coldest shower of my life.  So cold my body was convulsing and gasping.  I had to be clean for zip-lining.  Or if not for zip-lining, I had to be clean for others.  Actually, I figured out that I didn't because one of our guides smelled like he rolled in hot wet garbage and then laid in the sun to dry.  But, I mean, he was really nice.

40 feet up swinging between those gorgeous trees I saw at the campsite.

I thought DC would really like this- something he's never done, something fun, something outdoors.  Turns out he liked their rope swing way more than he liked the zip lining.

Pay no attention to the fact that I sound like a grizzly man with a sinus infection.  Or that I had to ask what he landed on because I wasn't really watching...

After DC dried off, we headed here for the best BBQ you will ever taste.  When we got there around 2, there was an hour wait, so we brought some beers in and enjoyed the live music.  Then we chowed.

We headed into the ATX to check in to our hotel and rest before dinner.  The iPhone got us lost and we walked about 6 blocks the wrong way.  I was in heels.  Not fun.

We ended up having to take a pedicab to get to the restaurant in time.  Ironic?

On Easter Sunday, we went to San Marcos where I went to college to eat at one of my favorite places.  It was a beautiful day- everyone was dressed up for church and the wildflowers were EVERYWHERE.

Of course I didn't get a picture of them.  Not one bluebonnet.

Lovefest 2010 Part 1

DC and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary on Easter Sunday, so we took advantage of our long weekend and got the heck out of dodge.  I took the liberty of planning the entire thing without him having any idea of what we were doing...which means...I get to cross it off of my list.

We headed West, past Austin, and ended up here to set up camp.

We threw on our Chacos (man it's good to wear flip flops and sandals and shorts again) for some exploring.

I was a smidge obsessed with these trees.  Amazing.  For anyone who loves all things Lord of the Rings / Harry Potter / not Twilight / movies with massive trees, this was heaven.  I felt like a hobbit.  I promise I'm not one of those weirdos with airbrushed unicorn tshirts though.

When the sun started to set, we started building our fire.

We didn't bring lighter fluid.  Don't judge us for being hard core.

I asked DC how he knew how to do that.

He said, "Bear Grylls".

 source

Well, too bad we didn't have a camera crew with us to help us light our fire with their gasoline and torch.

So, I stepped in with my Camp Fire Girls knowledge.  Don't laugh, I'm legit.  And I got that dadgum fire started while D started cooking dinner.  And then he got so excited about it, he rushed over, tripped, and stepped on the fire putting it out.

You can't make this stuff up, people.

We finally got our fire ablaze.  Good thing.  It got rather cold that night.  So cold that DC literally put me in another sleeping bag in the wee hours of the morning like a papoose.

DC let me sleep in- our tent is actually quite comfortable when it's cool.  We've camped in the heat and by 6am I am running around the woods screaming "IM SO HOT" and "DONT TOUCH ME" and "WHO SAYS THIS IS A TWO PERSON TENT BECAUSE IT IS NOTTTTTTUH!"

I woke up and found him doing this.

Coffee was on before I got up.  Just like home.

Turkey breakfast sausage and eggs...

Breakfast was served.  Holy cow.  Delicious.

It was right when I finished my breakfast burrito that I asked for a time check and we realized we had about an hour to pack up, clean up, and get on the road for part 2, so we did what I always do when there is a time crunch.  We got distracted, took more pictures, I stepped on something sharp, and we watched some cardinals.  Duh.

Dan's Amazingly Delicious Sweet & Spicy Black Beans

Dan is DC's boyfriend friend.  Dan makes good beans.  And he sent me his recipe.  And now I make good beans.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 Med Onion, finely chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped

3 - 15oz cans of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 - 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, undrained with basil & herbs if you can find it

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

Heat up some oil

Chop up some jalapeno, onion, garlic...throw the garlic in when the oil is hot, then the others

Cook it up until the onions caramelize

because I can't follow instructions, the crushed tomatoes I bought weren't enough.  But, I had the right amount in whole ones...so this is our version of crushed tomatoes.  Whatever.  We do what we want.

Throw everything else in, then simmer for 30 minutes or so.  Next time I will add Srirachi sauce.  I needed a little more spice.  We were way too hungry for this 30 minute simmering, so I think we let ours sit for 15.

Then we stuffed it in a pepper and hoovered.  DC had a tortilla.  And extra beans.  And then seconds.

We heart Dan's beans...and Dan...but mostly the beans.  Kidding.  Sort of.

The Voeltners!

This is Matt and Emily Voeltner. They have been married since July, are in our Newlywed class at church, and are amazing God-seeking people.

If you've been reading a while, you know I have a heart for missions, particularly those involving children or medical needs, and I am a sucker for anyone who needs our money more than we do.

Matt and Emily are planning to leave this summer for a mission trip in Lebanon and Syria.

Matt and Emily will be working with H.O.M.E. providing medical care to the men, women, and children of the particular areas they visit.

In Lebanon, H.O.M.E. operates a mobile clinic providing dental, opthamology, and other much needed care to about 80 people a day. Do you know how many patients that is? I worked for a very busy Dr. while I was in college. He saw maybe 20 people a day with a 20 minute lunch. 80 patients a day. No wonder they need people like Emily and Matt to come help.

In Syria, Matt, Emily, and their team will be working at the Taballeh clinic that was purchased by the BECA. I love the description of what they do. People who have fled from Damascus because of the war in Iraq are given food, health care, and spiritual support through this clinic. I can't imagine how busy it must be. The Voeltners will be hard at work for sure.

So here is the deal. Matt and Emily need some support to go on this trip.

For one, please pray for them. For safety, for preparation, for finances. If you are going to pray for them before and during their trip, they would love to hear from you and send you something to remind you. Contact me via the contact form (up top) and I will get you connected with the Voeltners.

They would also love words of encouragement- letters, emails, postcards, packages...whatever. A trip of this magnitude as a newlywed couple is sure to hold some stresses, some emotion, some transparency, some growth, maybe some fights. I'm just being real. Send them some boxing gloves. Kidding. Let's do pray for no fighting. If you would like to send them something, again, hit me up and I'll get you the info you need.

But the real deal holyfield truth is that Matt and Emily need financial support to go on this trip. This is a huge trip, but it is also the one they feel God has called them to go on, and he has sent confirmation after confirmation their way. This trip is $3000 per person. Oof. And they leave in 69 days!

If you would like to give $50, $20, $1, $100, $5, $1000, $6.43, $10, $13.22, or the change in your pocket, they will gladly accept it. It really does not matter how much. If you would like to give, please go here and enter either Matt Voeltner or Emily Voeltner in the field for who you would like to give to. It doesn't matter which you put. You will enter the Lebanon/Syria trip in the field required. Your donation will be tax deductible.

I totally realize that a lot of you are thinking that the U.S. has enough health care problems by themselves...that maybe you are one of the ones who is in need of some care and can't get it or afford it right now... but I bet you have a bed to sleep in and food to eat and I know you're not leaving everything you know to get away from a war. Maybe you think that you don't feel like these people need your help. But, the way I look at it is if I don't help send Matt and Emily over to provide health care and share what they know about Jesus, then who is going to go tell those people? We live in a very fortunate country. We are a blessed people.

I really thought about doing a giveaway for anyone who donates to their trip...but I really think that I have a good group of readers who don't necessarily need an incentive to give to someone else.

Oh happy day

Today we celebrate a conquered year of marriage and Jesus has conquered the world.

The Bayou City Art Festival Stole My Wallet

My favorite Houston event was during a gorgeous Spring weekend.  I had one of those days with Lu where her sole purpose was to help me spend some money.  Those are the BEST days!

Just a few highlights and a little game of find the bike parts

This is a painting!  I still can't get over it.

This!  Is the train I talked about on My List

I got DC some of this guy's stuff.  And 2 prints.  And some glass thingies.

Then DC asked me how much I spent and all of the sudden, I didn't really feel like talking.