White Christmas

Yes it is that time of year again. When you are walking by houses or a shopping center you might see those twinkling lights, with their beautiful color and get a warm feeling. That feeling is Christmas.. My favorite holiday. It is a time to think about others and not yourself. Even if you were a terd earlier this year and cut people off in your car or skippped people in line at the movie theater, this time is to do good deads. The other day I saw on the tv that you don't have to have a christmas tree for it to represent christmas.. It could be a branch or a picture to remind you of Jesus and this chritmas time. It reminds me of a time that I went to my uncle's house I saw that he only has a single branch on the mantle and my first thought was y in the world did he have a branch in stead of a christmas tree. I thought he had gone nuts but it turns out it doesn't matter what you do it is all in your heart. It was just my "traditional way of thinking" (screw that). My decorations this year are not really big, just my tree. Here are some of my favorite orniments.

Last week Houston had a big surprise. It was perfect and got us in the spirit. (Well some people were complaining and I just wanted to say SMACCKK!! It's christmas season you dork!!)
Take a look at this picture... Is that rain??........

No It's snow.....Yes fokes it snowed in houston. One hot place but not this day...It snowed on cars

On roof tops....

It snowed everywhere for 5 hours. It was great. We all got to go home early that day and I nuked a cup of hot coco and put on my comfortable socks as you can see. I found the movie home alone and after I was done watching it i took a nap. It was great and the best thing about the day was that it was on Friday!!!! That means I didn't have to work for the next two days. YAHOO

Well if you want leave a comment about what you did that cold day, I look forward to seeing it. Just curious to hear.

Birthday Day 2-Fogo De Chao!! Yippee

This is day 2 of the birthday celebration. I went to dinner with my aunt Peggy, uncle Dewayne, uncle Richard and my boyfriend. It was so good.

Here is the lovely people now.

So when you get to the restaurant everything was really fast pace. They give you a menu of the meat that they serve. There is a salad bar that they have and it is filled with good stuff.

Here are the items that I got. There was salad and nice rolls and mozzarella ( the really fresh kind), cheese, salami and a couple of other things at the bar.

Then there are these men that rush around serving meat on a stick. It was the best meat that I have ever had. There was chicken, beef, pork and lamb. I liked everything except for the lamb. When ever someone talks about gamey taste I didn't know what they were talking about but now I know. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. Just different.

This year I really made out great. Here are some of the items that I got from the Lucas clan.

A mixer

Salt and pepper (the good kind)

Cheese grinder

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Pizza cutter

Place mats: they look very Christmas to me. Love it.

A cookbook from The Pioneer Woman. I read her blog about food. She is one of my favorites because she puts pictures with everything she cooks.

It was a great birthday and a shout of to my aunt for making it great. Also shout out to my uncle rich!! Thanks for the 50. I spent it on new dishes and mugs to match. You totally surprised me. Thanks

Happy Birthday to me!! Day 1

Hey there people. I have been extremely busy with all of the birthday stuff and thanksgiving stuff that I haven't posted in such a long time so I wanted to apologize. Now that that is over let get on with the birthday stuff. I turned 24 on November 17th. It was really weird because I realized that I wanted to get married at 24 and I don't think that is going to happen. I also planned to start having children at the age of 27 so we shall see how the plan is carried out. On the day of my birthday I had to work. It was very sucky but I had the next two days off.

The day started out great actually. One of my coworkers brought breakfast and it was the good kind too. Koaches and the bread was like eating a croissant. Very yummy!

Then out of no where I get flowers and guess who they are from.....RACHEL!! Oh it made me cry and I was so happy that she sent me something. Aren't they beautiful??

She also sent this really nice note to go with it.

After all of that excitement my friend and I went to The Hubcap grill to eat some burgers.

This is my friend who owns the joint. She is really awesome...

The meal started out with an old fashion bottle of Dr. Pepper. When I was little my grandma used to have old glass bottles of coca-cola and she would only let us have it if we begged her. It was such a treat to us kids.

I had the bacon cheese burger for lunch. Hey people it was my birthday and I can eat what I want OK?! Boy was it good.

When I got back one of my other coworkers gave me this card and it was so cute and the message was so nice.

After a little while another package came and it was this...Let see what is in this thing

Bathroom goodies.... Everything a girl needs to relax. Oh and yes it is from my sister again. It was great.

Then my work buddies got a cake for me and my other coworker. It was great and chocolate

Thanks everyone.

My friend and work buddy Joyce. Her birthday is just a few days before mine.

After the fun day at work I went with my boyfriend to the Rocket's game. It was a lot of fun but he had my presents to open before we went. I got these very cute shoes that I love.

Also a gift card to my favorite trendy cloths store.

After the game we went to a Greek place to eat. It was very good, just take a look for yourself and see what we ate.

After that I had to take a nap. It was a great birthday and there are sure to be more celebration to come. Stay tuned.

Mac and cheese- Thanksgiving recipe round 1

While I was talking to my aunt about Thanksgiving this year I asked her if I could cook for everyone this time around and she of course said yes. Lately I have been on a cooking spree and everyone says it good so I plan on making this Thanksgiving really good. One of the things that she suggested is try out a couple of recipe's before the big day and so I did. Here is my round 1 of sides for the big day- Mac and Cheese (not the typical box kind either)

What do we always start out with?...Ingredients...

Gruyere- I had never tries this cheese before but it was a lot different from what I expected. It was a bit nutty but very settle. I liked it but not loved it.

I wanted to keep the Mac and Cheese white so I wanted some white cheddar. I used Vermont white cheddar. I had it sliced at the deli because I didn't want to have to shred all of that cheese.

I also added some nutmeg and of course salt and pepper.

Start shredding that cheese girl...

Cook the pasta- used the directions on the package.

While the pasta is cooking you need to make your white sauce. It is really simple to make and this was my first time. Start with a 3 tablespoons of butter and mix in a couple of (small) hand fulls of flour and cook for a bit to let the flour flavor cook out. Then add 2 cups of milk to the mixture and continue to stir until it is thick enough to coat the spoon just a little.

After the sauce is made throw in the nutmeg (1 teaspoon) and the salt and pepper. Oh and don't forget the cheese... All of it baby!

After the cheese is mixed and it's nice and melted put in in the pot with the mac and cheese. Stir it until it is combined...

After it is mixed put into a baking dish and throw some bread crumbs on top. I used Italian flavor and bake it for 30 minutes @ 350. It turned out ok.

It comes out nice and bubbly.

After I tried it for the first time here are some things that I was thinking about changing for the big day:

1. Don't cook the pasta all the way. Leave some room for it to cook in the oven.

2. Maybe add some panchetta diced up in the mixture.

3. Use smaller macaroni for creamier appeal.

4. Add a little bit of cheese mixed into the bread crumbs instead of just the crumbs ( it was a but dry)

5. Maybe mix the cheese up instead of using regular cheddar I could use pepper jack. I love a good bite.

Tell me what your think of these ideas and if you have any other suggestions to make this dish better let me know. Well until the next try I am thinking about glazed carrots. We shall see.