I know, I know it’s been a long time. . .sorry for my absence I really will try and be good about blogging on a regular basis again. . .I know you’ve been missing hearing what I’ve been reading and what I’ve been drinking. . .rather than try and get you all caught up I’m just going to start here and move forward. . .

I successfully survived my first attempt at roasting a turkey. I have never been so nervous. I mentioned to my mom that I wanted to try roasting a turkey but not on Thanksgiving. I get an email from her a few minutes later that I am hosting Thanksgiving and I’m responsible for the turkey. . .what the. . .?????

As we got closer and closer to the big day, the number of people coming to my house kept growing and next thing I knew I was responsible for feeding turkey to 11 people. . .no pressure right? On Monday I went to the store and bought a 20 pound turkey at the suggestion of mom, yeap 20 pounds, it was one freakin’ huge bird!

Attempting to brine that monstrous sucker was no easy task. Let’s just say I’m not sure there is enough antibacterial cleanser in the world to rid my kitchen of all the ecoli growing in there thanks to all the brine and turkey juice that went all over. Anyone want to come over for dinner?

Luckily the turkey went off without a hitch and apparently I have a new job every Thanksgiving, lucky me!

Instead of getting right to the Christmas decorating on Friday I waited until today, but the tree is now up. Sparkling and glistening!

Happy Holidays!

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Today is my Mom’s birthday, but we won’t discuss which birthday it is. Instead of taking her to her favorite restaurant, because there is now way we could get Scott there, we took her to a new restaurant. She has what we thought was a huge love of chicken fried steak, but surprised at least me if no one else when she ordered the pot roast . . .go figure?

We took her to none other than Babe’s Chicken up in Frisco. I think it became her favorite new restaurant, well. . .that was until our waitress figured out it was her birthday (I’m sure the presents under the table didn’t give it away.)

She gathered up a few of the waitresses and placed a crunched up and scrunched up cowboy hat on her head. Then asked her to stand up. . .which she obediently did until she realized there was “dancing” involved. Mom happily received the funnel shaped cup before she realized she was supposed to bite the bottom of the cup so that it rested over her nose forming a beak. . .

“You want me to do what?” She asked horrified. “I’m sure my son could do this much better.”

“I don’t think so,” Scott said as he sunk in his chair and scooted away.

“Are you sure I really need to do this?” Mom asked, desperately trying to figure a way out of this definite embarrassment.

“Just go ahead and do it and you’ll end this awkward situation a lot faster,” I tried to encourage her.

Eventually she did what she was supposed to do, but never got up from sitting in her chair. . .

Talk about a great photo! Now, if you read this blog and you know my Mom, DO NOT tell her you saw this picture. She will kill me!

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Now, remember I’m an Aggie, so I’m big into traditions. . .and maybe it is early to call this a tradition but it sure is fun!

Last year, when I went to Napa, I was greeted with this warm welcome home:

So, this year to welcome Beth back to the mainland after her week long journey to Hawaii, Brice came over (hence the reason there was no wine o. Wednesday yesterday, sorry!) and we made signs for Beth. She got home around lunch time today so I didn’t want to leave the signs on the front door, you know for safety reasons. . .happy mom?

Instead we put her signs on the door to her room. . .I think we did a good job. . .and I know she liked them:

I think this could be a fun tradition to carry on. . .watch out Brice, you’re next!

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I’ll admit it has been quite some time since I’ve been to Bene Bene, so Beth and I decided to head over there after work and visit our favorite Italian family. Plus, I had forgotten just how good the food is there. So, here’s my plug for Bene Bene if you live in the Dallas area, go by and check them out you will thoroughly enjoy it!

Tonight, I persuaded Beth to even give white wine a try and we had a few glasses of Chardonnay at the bar. I know this makes me look like a complete and total slacker for tonight, but I’m not 100% sure what the wine was we had. I thought it was Le Terre Chardonnay, but the only wine close to it I can find is La Terre Chardonnay. . .so I was probably remembering it incorrectly.

It wasn’t too bad. . .in fact, I even think Beth liked it. Next time I’m in I’ll have to double check the exact name of the winery but it was definitely a refreshing fruity wine. And it was nice to have to wash down the Grappa we were given to try. . .while I recommend the wine I do NOT recommend the Grappa.

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For as long as I can remember, every summer we have watched “Gidget.” We had been limited to VHS until a few years ago when the Gidget collection movies were released on DVD.

Today, we watched it. . .and despite being 50 years old this year, I still think this is the ultimate summer movie.

Out of the three Gidget movies, Sandra Dee is my favorite actress to watch; too bad they couldn’t get her for all three of them!

If you haven’t watched it I recommend checking it out, oh and “Moondoggie” ain’t that bad to stare at either.

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This weekend was super busy and next weekend promises to be just as busy. But I wanted to share a recipe that is always a winner and for me it is only one I make on the weekends because to be honest I just don’t get up early enough before work to bake.

I am not sure where this recipe originally came from but my mom has been making it for years. Every time I make it is a hit and doesn’t last too long.

Graham Streusel Coffee Cake

1 Pkg. SuperMoist Yellow Cake
1/3 C Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs

Streusel Crumb Mixture:
28 squares of Graham crackers, crushed into crumbs
¾ C Packed Brown Sugar
1 ¼ t Ground Cinnamon
¾ C chopped nuts (optional)
¾ C margarine or butter (melted)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:
1 C powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon water
Stir in water 1 tablespoon at a time or until desired consistency.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cake mix, water, oil and eggs in large mixer bowl on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, until moistened. Pour about half the batter into the greased 13x9x2 dish, and top with about 2 cups (or a good covering) of the crumb mixture. Pour remaining batter into dish and cover with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake about 45 to 50 minutes or until fully cooked, cool and drizzle with powdered sugar glaze.

Enjoy!

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I love St. Patty’s day. . .if only green were my favorite color, I would probably love it more! Since I don’t really own any green, I just wore a few of my favorite beads from the parade on Saturday, so I wouldn’t get pinched!

After lunch Brett brought Beth and I a green velvet cupcake from Sprinkles. It was both tasty and creepy at the same time. . .should a cupcake really be that green? (I hope you can see how green it was in the picture.)

I saved up my lunch break for the end of the day and Beth and I headed to BlackFinn in Addison for some green beer and were hoping to score a table outside on the patio since the weather was finally nice. But, apparently you needed to be on spring break and arrive in the morning to secure a table out there. So, we settled for a table inside.

Green beer cracks me up and fascinates me but really just entertains me. . .we all got really sad at the thought that they had run out of green beer. Fortunately another and another one were delivered, but my favorite part was that Brett got served a pea green color beer. . .see Drew and I with normal green beers and Brett with the awkward color green beer.

Before heading home for the night, Lacee suggested Irish car bombs. Not being a Guinness fan I had never heard of these. Still not quite sure what I think of them, the after taste wasn’t so good. . .

Happy Saint Patty’s day to you. . .hope you had a fun one!! (I’ve got to figure out my brackets. . .this is such a guessing game this year!)

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