Book 11 - The Man Who Ate Everything

I was doing really well the first half of the year, then just stopped reading apparently! But I do have one more book to add to my empty shelf for 2017 - The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. I found out about this book because the author is a frequent judge on Chopped, & I love cooking competition shows!
This book started out with him saying he had to start learning to eat anything, he did not want to be a picky eater. So he learned to cook anything! Then each chapter is a diary entry of sorts talking about learning to make a type of food. It was interesting! I would recommend it to a foodie!

I do want to continue the empty shelf in 2018! I want to read more!! If you want to join, just clear off a shelf and then fill it with books as you read them!!
Happy New Year! Be safe!

Roar I'm 4

My Nephew is 4!!

He's not a baby anymore as he told me when I called him Baby Luke :( He's a "Big Boy"

He wanted a Dinosaur party with decorations, cupcakes, & his neighbors (any other Daniel Tiger fans out there?)

His mommy & Aunt Jen made such cute decorations for him!

I made a Dinosaur egg cheeseball :) Use your favorite cheeseball recipe & form it into an egg instead of a ball, then cover it in whipped cream cheese & surround it in pretzel sticks to make a nest! The nest was my sister's idea, it definitely made the cheeseball complete!

They had a dino dig! Plastic dinosaurs, 150lbs of sand, rocks, & digging tools :)

Roar!

They also used paint brushes to brush the sand off their discoveries.

And a magnifying glass to get a better look.

Next they made lava!

A pan of baking soda with dinosaurs and trees, a cup of vinegar with red food coloring, and a dropper to add the vinegar to the pan. The vinegar makes the baking soda bubble up into lava around the dinosaurs!

Or you can pour the whole cup in :)

Hungry Dinosaur

You could use this to throw beanbags in, or you can take pictures with it ;)

The sleepy dinosaur :)

He was very excited about the birthday song!

Happy family!

Yum!

There were paper mache dino eggs for the kids!

With bubbles, fossil stickers, and glowsticks inside!

Present time! His cousin wrapped up a hat he left at her house ;)

Walkie-Talkies!

Transformers!

Legos!

A Dancing Dinosaur card!

And a kit to make a googly-eyed car! Him & Uncle Patrick opened this one & got to work!

He had such a great time at his Dinosaur party! Luke, I know you are no longer a baby! I have really enjoyed watching you grow up! We love you very much!!!

Slow Burn Fudge

For the 3rd year in a row the Grand Prairie Farmer's Market had their Fudge Competition & I entered!

This year I decided to come up with a sweet & spicy fudge :)

Slow Burn

Ancho Jalapeno Fudge

3 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Tbsp Mexican Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Ancho Chili Powder

1 tsp Ground Jalapeno Powder

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

Put one inch of water in a medium saucepan and put on the stove over medium heat. Put a glass bowl on the saucepan that sits above the water. Add all ingredients to the glass bowl & continuously stir. Once the chocolate is melted and smooth pour it into a parchment lined baking dish & put in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Now have fun licking the spoon, you deserve it for all that stirring!

This fudge is sweet at first, but then has a slow burn once the chiles hit your tongue :)

The judges are trying my fudge! I did not place this year, but had a great time! I love this new recipe & so does everyone I had taste test it :)

My cheering section ;) Thanks for coming out ya'll! It was very special that ya'll came to see the competition!

& my Mommy, the only person who thought the fudge was actually spicy ;) and my 2 year old niece & 3 year old nephew tried it before her!!

Now excuse me, I need to come up with a recipe for next year! :)

Eating in Arlington

A couple weeks ago we decided to try out Orchid City Fusion Cafe based on several recommendations of people who live in Arlington. Those recommendations were correct!

I got the Crawfish Fusion, fried crawfish over spicy fried rice with jalapenos & crispy onions mixed in. This was some of the best fried rice I have ever had! There were several yummy sounding things on the menu, but I will have a hard time not getting this every visit!

We also got rolled ice cream! Mine was mango ice cream with fresh fruit & mochi on top. The ice cream tasted like fresh mango, it was sweet & creamy. Sister made an even better choice, she got macha ice cream! The macha flavor was so strong! Anytime i've had green tea ice cream in the past it has been good, but not very strong flavor. This flavor was so strong & wonderful! We will be back!

Today Hubby & I decided to have a lunch date :) We wanted to try Tom's based on recommendations & the owner, Tom's, super nice presence on BookFace ;)! This guy is the real deal y'all & his personality rubs off on the people in his restaurant! Hubby told me while we were eating that this was the nicest restaurant he had ever been to as far as customer service is concerned :)

I got a bacon cheese burger with jalapeno bacon, fries, & their new (as in today was the first day) Bacon Gravy to dip my fries in. The burger had fresh veggies on top, & the jalapeno bacon had great flavor. That gravy though, next time I will be trying the chicken fried steak just so I can have more of the gravy! Hubby got the Bacon Bleu Burger, and he really enjoyed the mild bleu cheese flavor. However, he said next time he would get the half pound burger because his third pound came out well done. So if you like your burger medium, keep that in mind.

We will be back Tom! & thanks Chad & Kristen for the wonderful service!!

Very First Flower Bed

When we bought our home we had grass (ahem, weeds) going from the sidewalk to the house. It did not appear that there had ever been a flowerbed & I was OK with that because we are not what you would call outdoorsy :)

However, in April, with the encouragement of some green thumbed friends, I decided to dig up the yard & make myself a flower bed! Mistake #1 was thinking I could do this with a hand trowel. This is all I accomplished day 1...

I then borrowed a shovel from Hubby's mom & productivity picked up!

Everything planted!

There are some gaps I have since filled, which you will see in pictures to come, but here are my first plants! Lambs Ear, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Kaleidoscope, Black & Blue Salvia, Purple Sage, Day Lily, & on the very end Prostrate Rosemary

2 bags of woodchips was not enough, but it is a start :) & I added a tiny Lantana behind the Mexican Bird of Paradise.

I was saving the very center of my flower bed for a White Rose of Sharon. Hubby's mom has one & it is beautiful! They were very popular this year, everyone was out of them! Finally, a friend called to tell me she found them over the Memorial Day holiday!  I couldn't wait until I had beautiful white blooms!

Also, newly planted front & center is Moss Rose donated to our church's Women's Retreat from The Greenery! All my original Plants also came from The Greenery, for this newbie they were a blessing! They showed me what plants would work for my yard (full sun) & how to care for them!

Beautiful blooms!

Beautiful flowers on the Mexican Bird of Paradise!

The Rose of Sharon bloomed!!! I was told not to expect blooms because it was planted so late in the year, so this was a wonderful surprise!

And here are pictures from this morning. It is fun to see how everything is filling in & full of color! I don't think the Kaleidoscopes are doing well, but other than those I was blessed with a ton of growth!

The Mexican Bird of Paradise has gotten so tall!!

The Black & Blue Salvia have really filled in & I've seen several blooms from the Rose of Sharon! The Moss Roses have gotten much bigger & have had lots of blooms, but this morning they were being shy ;)

This Prostrate Rosemary is actually 2 plants, but they are creeping together & growing nicely. I need to start cooking with it! Let me tell you, rosemary smells amazing when you water in the morning!

I have been very fortunate that this has been our wettest summer ever! This process has been hot & tiring, but I absolutely love going out & seeing new growth, new buds, & new blooms!