Happy Halloween

So I totally blew that last post with the poll in it (trick!). Some of you saw the poll, some of you didn't (and, family, thanks to all of you for writing to me and pointing out all my typos! Love you!). I think I've fixed the issue, so we'll try a new poll in a few weeks.

Some Texas updates: It actually got near freezing here last week. So we had to pull in all the plants from the balcony and nestle them next to the bike of great injury.Also, Texas has earthquakes. Who knew?

Here is some Halloween cheer for you (treat!).[the robot costumes were supposed to read "robot love", but whatever. . . .]

Happy Halloween!

Houston

Last week I had a small work event in Houston, and Mike tagged along. We left on Thursday and came back on Saturday.

The drive down there was surprisingly pretty and somewhat pastoral - trees, gentle hills, and creeks. It was also greener than I expected. Also, there was a giant statue of Sam Houston. You know, just 'cuz.Houston itself was, um, kind of, well, exactly what I expected. Which is to say: not good. There was much sprawl and many freeways.

Here is a picture of Mike at the conference dinner and a picture of the city itself.


It wasn't quite *that* bad. Mike actually found a cute street that had a little crepe place with very delicious crepes.

But we were glad to get back to Fort Worth. There might be strip malls and freeways here, but they're familiar strip malls and freeways.

On Sunday, we went on a little picnic with our new friends Alex and Ariane. And by picnic, I mean we went to this outdoor place to eat food and play with our iphones.(please be a sport and try to think of this last one as artsy, not, um, poorly lit and me as too lazy to fix it with the photo editor)

It's a zoo out there!

On Saturday we went to the zoo with Mike's colleague and his kids. The Fort Worth Zoo, is - unlike the San Diego Zoo - totally manageable. You can see everything in a day without having to rush off to ten zillion animal shows, ride the sky train, and take in the latest special exhibit (you also didn't have to walk fifty billion miles to your car in the parking lot or pay amusement park rates to see the animals).

There were lots of great animals.Here are some pics of our friends:And then on Sunday we had a homestudy visit from the Lab adoption group. We passed! The next step is for us to start meeting some dogs. Hooray!

This weekend

We accomplished a couple of things this weekend.

First, on Friday, we found a really good Thai restaurant: Thai Tina's. We went on whim, and we were totally surprised. The tofu was delicious, and there were lots of fish entrees. It was a lot of food - so much that Mike ate the rest for lunch on Saturday. We'll totally go back there!

Second, on Saturday night, I finally finished the penguin I started as my Olympics knitting project. The goal was to cast on during the opening ceremonies and cast off during the closing ceremonies. Although the Olympics ended a bit ago, I still had Olympics coverage on the DVR recorder. So I wasn't really late. In fact, I finished my recorded Olympics coverage the same day I finished the penguin. So I was right on time! Here's a picture of it, posed on the "iceberg" and "permafrost" of our clean sheets (albedo effect, anyone?).Third, we finally framed and hung the last pictures in the living room. This was a bit of a tricky hanging job, since this was a set of four pictures that had to be spaced exactly right on the wall and in relationship to each other. Mike did a super job!Fourth, I ran across the remainder of the cream cheese from last week's apple cake. It was exactly the right amount to make a small batch of sugar cookies. So I did. We intended to share some of them with our friends who shared their organic veggies with us, but then we forgot. Hopefully, Mike can track them down on campus tomorrow.What we didn't do this weekend was adopt a dog. We'd found a dog we liked, but she was adopted before we had a chance to get to the shelter to get her. I'm feeling a little dog-disappointed and a little dog-burned. I want a dog, I just don't want the heartache of the process of adopting a dog. We've also filled out an application with a lab rescue organization. This is a good deal since the dogs from the rescue group come house-broken, crate-trained, spayed/neutered, with all their shots, and have been living in foster families with other dogs and kids. But the wait can be as long as five months. So we'll see.

Also, check out these beautiful roses:

Texas updates

We had a good weekend. For me it was pretty baking-intensive, as I had set myself up with three different projects.

My first project was making Chocolate-Chocolate cupcakes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking cookbook. The un-critical me says: "these were yummy, and the recipe is a total keeper." The critical me says: "you fool! You slightly overcooked these because you couldn't believe that they would be that squishy when it was time to come out. Follow the directions next time." Here's a picture that some other enterprising baker took of her cupcakes. Taking pictures, um, didn't occur to me with a plateful of cupcakes before me.My second project was a cake for a co-worker that had a baby recently. Since this person isn't a very adventurous eater, I went with a plain pound cake. This cake, though, had a twist: it was leavened with 7-Up. The link there is to something similar, but I actually used a recipe from Mike's family that someone gave us at our wedding shower. The cake was sweet and citrus-y. I glazed it with a little lemon glaze. Pretty good for a pound cake. Again, no time for images of my own, but here's a picture of a similar-looking item.My third project was an apple cake. I struggled with the skill known as "following the directions" on this one. As it turns out, it is not a good idea to add one more apple and 2 more ounces of cream cheese than the recipe calls for. This will make your cake dense and doughy. Luckily, Mike was able hop in and make a second apple cake (this one more closely guided by the convention known as a recipe). His cake was a total hit! Again, we didn't do the picture thing, but here's really, truly exactly what it looked like (even though this comes from a magazine).[And now for those that might worry about our waistlines: the cupcakes were made for an event on Saturday, and we shared them. There were no lingering leftovers. 95% of the pound cake was given away. And the apple cake went to dinner at someone's house, but didn't make it home, so no potential snacks there. we're doing just fine, thankyouverymuch]

In other Texas news, it was finally cool enough that we slept with the a/c off and the windows open last night. All this because of a cool front that has our temperatures down to 85 during the day.

Also, we saw a snake tonight. It was small and harmless. But slithery.

New Items

Not so much new here: things just chug along. It's cooled down a bit - now the days are only in the 80s and 90s. I understand that it's been 55 and raining in Seattle.

I took my first run outside since I ran the half marathon in June. It was, um, different. I think running outside here will be an acquired skill. I suppose I am theoretically training for this race, but we'll see....

Anyway, two new additions to our house - we finally have some new dining chairs. Our other ones were the $19 ones that SYL and I built ourselves after buying the flat-packs from Ikea. They were incredibly uncomfortable and very wobbly. Our new chairs did not require us to build them, and they actually have a built-in, padded cushion. The wood darker than our table, but the cushion is the same color as our oak table - hopefully, this is sort of shabby chic.Second, I made a German apple pancake for breakfast on Sunday. I adjusted the recipe by using four eggs in place of the egg substitute. I think it was a little egg-y; next time I'd use three eggs. But this recipe is definitely a keeper for yummy brunches. (The picture below is from the magazine, mine didn't look quite so pretty)

Weather Report

The big hurricane seems to have mostly missed Fort Worth. We had a gray, rainy, windy day with some occasional big gusts of wind. But we were spared the damage that hit southeast of here.

Here are some pictures of the damage, courtesy of the NYT.Donations to the Red Cross, if you are so inclined.

Cooking update

This is a post I've been meaning to put up for a while...

Mike and I have been trying out a fair number of new recipes. Here are a few of our favorites (all pictures from the original publications, not our kitchen!):

Southwestern salad (vegan!)
[Sorry, no picture. But this is seriously good - we've added it to our permanent rotation!]

Soba salad with Wasabe vinaigrette (also vegan!)
Blue Elephant Pad ThaiWhite Bean and Tuna PanzenellaCherry Ripple Sour Cream CoffeecakeAs an aside, Mike told me that he read that the chicken-friend bacon had won the state fair recipe contest. I think we'll pass on making that recipe.

Saturday night lights

Last night we went a football game at Mike's school.
To say it wasn't much of a game is an understatement: the score ended up being 67-7, in our favor. But, hey, it's always more fun when the home team wins! (of course, if there's actually a football game, I hear it's more fun, too. But we'll be playing Stanford next week, so that might be a different story)

We also had great company. Here's a shot of the canine half of our friends from last night.

For a vegetarian

I think I still managed to have a true Texas breakfast this morning:

scrambled eggs
two really outstanding biscuits
drip coffee
cheese grits

For the record, I strongly recommend the Paris Coffee Shop. (it is a coffee shop in the Texas sense of the word, rather than the Seattle sense). Although I have never been to Paris, France, I am going to assume that the city is full of outstanding diners with great biscuits and grits.

Labor Day in San Diego

Last weekend I headed to San Diego for a quick visit.

The main goal of my trip was to get my grandmother on the internet. And, as impossible as it seems, I (think) I (may have) succeeded! This was a total team effort. Mike built (or, really, un-built) the computer for her. We gave her an apple laptop with a very small set of functions and targeted bookmark buttons. I wrote the documentation (complete with many, many screen captures) for the computer. And Mitchell and Polly ordered the internet service. Saturday morning, I hooked up the internet service, and voila!

Kind of blows your mind, no?

It's like a total adjustment, having internet in La Jolla. My grandmother wanted to know something about growing okra. So we looked that up. And then she wanted to know about geraniums. So we read about that. And then I showed her how to read foreign newspapers online. And, like, if you want to check if your flight is on time, you can just look it up. Same with the TV listings..... It's like discovering the ease of the internet all over again.

As an aside, I also ordered a new office chair for her to sit in. A chair that doesn't weigh ten tons and isn't hideously uncomfortable to sit in. Shocking, no?

Saturday night our friend Harriet hosted a little garden party. It was great to see old friends again. I also got to meet baby William for the first time. William is Emma's brother; they are the children of my friend Alex and his lovely wife, Kat. Here's William and Harriet:

William and Brooke:And Emma and Kat:And Emma and William:Aren't they adorable!

The rest of the weekend I just kind of hung out. Here's the view from the front deck:Here the chickens my grandmother's neighbor is keeping. Unfortunately, there's also a rooster in the bunch, which made for less than restful mornings.And here are some obligatory plant shots.

Toto, I don't think we're in Seattle anymore. . . .

-- That that place I've been thinking is a drive-thru espresso stand is actually a drive-thru liquor stand.

--This article was in the paper this morning.

-- It is, of course, a bazillion degrees. And what's this I hear about a hurricane?

[All this is also to say that I'll be in San Diego this weekend]