Lemongrass and Mirin!!

So apparently no one in Abilene uses lemongrass. While unemployed I've been having fun cooking in the kitchen. I figure while embracing my domestic-ness (I'm making up my own words too) I should have some fun with my cookbooks. It also has an added bonus of saving us money because it's always cheaper to cook at home rather than eating out. Well last Christmas my sister in law Connie gave me a cookbook called Cook Yourself Thin and I'm loving cooking out of it. Last night I made a healthy chicken parmesan with thin zucchini strips as 'pappardelle' pasta rather than eating it with regular pasta. All I can say is amazing! Well another dish I choose to make from this book is a dinner of fresh homemade spring rolls and sesame peanut noodles. This is actually what I'm making tonight. Well, for this dish I needed some fun ingredients like rice paper, lemongrass and fresh ginger. I don't think that lots of people know how to use fresh ginger and having only worked with it once before I'm one of those people. I do have to say though that I think it sounds cool that I'm cooking with it! Well to make this dish I also needed something call mirin and lemongrass. So after not finding it at my local Albertson's I set out on a mission to find them (I also needed to find the rice paper). After 3 more grocery stores around town I did find the rice paper but apparently no one sells lemongrass or mirin. I guess this is just going to be part of living in a smaller town. In Houston I think I would be able to find most of the ingredients at the local stores but here, not so much! Oh well, I do need to say thanks to Connie though for the fun dinners we've been having thanks to her getting us this cookbook. Love you!

Happy November

I can't believe that it's already November! This year couldn't be zooming by any faster. We are now living in Abilene. We haven't done a whole lot here yet, mostly I've been getting us moved in and job hunting while Dillon gets settled into his job. Their aren't alot of prospects here but I'm sure I'll find something eventually. Our apartment is nice which is a big help and I've been having fun making lots of dinners in the kitchen. Isn't that what I'm suppose to do as the house-

girlfriend I am right now? I should be on the show Real Housewives of Abilene, wait, no one would watch that! Well for now, I'm trying to enjoy playing around with this whole domestic woman thing until I'm back in the working world. I have even started doing yoga in my living room. Really I think that I might need a personal trainer to qualify for one of those TV shows. Oh, and lots of velour track suits that have been bejeweled and money to shop for lots of things that I don't need. I think that I'll be able to do without.

Well, that's it for now. I thought I'd share a photo that I love from my cousin Charlotte's wedding...

Finalizing Details

Happy Wednesday! Things here have been going so fast! I can't believe at this point I'm about to move to Abilene, Texas in less than a week! I really thought that 3 months in DFW at my parent's house was going to feel like a long time. No, it's not because it's me living with my parents again, I'm have a blast getting to hang out with my Dad and playing an endless amount of games of Monopoly City with my Mom. I have to note here that I am the champion of Monopoly City!! Back to real life though...I guess all of the traveling I've been doing has made this go by super fast.

Well last Thursday (I'm skipping over a whole trip to Chicago but that post will come later with pictures) Mom and I went to Abilene to find Dillon and I a place to live. Dillon and I had gone once before but had no success. After putting Mom through hours of house hunting and endless miles of driving around with me, we were unsuccessful in finding a house to rent. I should say we did find a cute home for only $800 a month but they wouldn't rent to us because we're not married and I am unemployed. Can't help but the the bible belt did approve of us living in sin together but whatever! So we switched our efforts to apartments. We found a great apartment called The Reserve at Abilene. It was built in 2008 so it brand new, has granite countertops, a washer and dryer and the complex has a sand volleyball court! The one sad thing is that now that we're in an apartment that dogs will have to stay in Houston with Dillon's Dad. :-( I'm really sad to not have our babies but it would be cruel to take them to an apartment when they are use to a house with a big backyard they can play in.

So now Dillon and I have made our plans and it looks like we'll be headed to Abilene on Tuesday (10/19). Today he takes the first part of his PV followed by the second part tomorrow and after that he'll be an air traffic controller! On Friday he and Evan will head back down to Texas (they are very excited about this) and my parents are throwing them a small party to celebrate their graduation. My parents are the best! We'll be down to Houston on Saturday to pack up the final things and headed out Monday night. Dillon will be driving the massive 24 foot budget rental truck, can't say I'm sad that Dillon will be driving this instead of me.

I'll follow soon with more!

The Great Grapevine/Colleyville Flood

Well I thought by moving away from Houston I was getting away from tropical storms and hurricanes. Apparently this is not the case though, they are chasing me. Yesterday and today we had a huge amount of rainfall from Tropical Store Hermine (pronounced "her mine" not "her mine e" like Harry Potter). As I learned from Tropical Storm Allison and a few others in Houston, tropicalstorms drop a HUGE amount of rain. Between all of these bands of storms we got around 6.25 and 6.5 inches of rain in less than 36 hours! This means huge flooding in the area and it was really cool to see so close. I should say it's cool for me because all of my stuff is fine but that's not the same for everyone. The pool in my parents' backyard almost overflowed!

I thought I would share some pictures take by Dad and I. These are right by our house along Pool Road.

America's Favorite Food Truck Giveaway

America's Favorite Food Truck Giveaway

So Matt and Melina are up to it again! Their food truck, The Gaztro-Wagon has been nominated. You can vote up to 10 times a day for them so help support. Voting ends September 10th. Please help me support them, Matt's food is awesome!

Changes!

Well it's been awhile since I've posted anything on here and I would say it's because I've been so busy with everything but as we all know I am pretty bad about keeping up with this blog. So now it's time to update everything.

I'll start with I don't live in Houston anymore! Dillon's job as an air traffic controller finally started! He will be in training for 3 months in Oklahoma City and I am up here for the week to help get him and his brother settled in their house. It's been funny. I've never been the housewife (maybe housegirlfriend is better) but I'm having fun. I've been unpacking things for them, making lunches for them to take to the academy and making dinner at night. Don't worry, this is not a permanent thing for me, I'm going to get bored really fast with it but it's fun for the week. On Sunday I'm heading back to Colleyville where I will be living for the next three months with my parents. Back in the nest! I think much of the time will be spent drinking wine and playing Wii with my Mom when she's town. In October we'll be moving to the lovely Abilene, Texas. It's a smaller town, about 130,000 people which will be a big change for two city mice! It's a new adventure though and should be fun for the 2-3 years we will be there. After that we can apply to move anywhere in the country we want to! That includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands so who knows where we will end up.

As for my business, I will be moving it to Abilene. For the next three months I'm going to try and work on drumming up business in the metroplex suburbs and trying to learn the market there and in Abilene. So if you know anyone getting married in any of those places let me know!

At restaurant show, street food is cause du jour :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Food

I can't begin to talk about how proud I am of my friends Matt and Melina in Chicago. Matt's created a movement for mobile cuisine in the city and it's

being recognized all over town! Below is a link to the article in today's Chicago Sun Times all about Matt and his company. Check it out!! Below that is my favorite picture from their wedding! Can you find me????

At restaurant show, street food is cause du jour :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Food