If You Blog ... They Will Give

I've finally come to the true purpose of my blog... getting free stuff! No not really, although receiving that 2 gallon tin of Garrett Cheese and Caramel Popcorn was a very nice surprise. And well worth any of the teasing I got from DH about turning into a corporate shill. Hey, if it involves free Garrett Popcorn, sign me up! I was after all a corporate fundraiser at one point in my career.

No, starting the blog probably had more to do with all the pent up energy I had after reading the Twilight series (for the first and then second time with in about 2 weeks). So much to say with really only my little one and DH to hear it and eventually even they got a little tired of my ramblings ... thank goodness for the internet!

Never the less I was recently surprised by some faaaabulous birthday presents that were somehow exactly what I wanted. Gosh, it's like I'd written an ode to what I wanted over the last few months. Where ever did they come up with these ideas?

Sure enough they read right through some of my recent blog posts and picked up on exactly what I wanted! Mamere sent me those fabulous Uggs, I'd been eyeing and wrote about here. Then as if that wasn't enough she also sent along her favorite night cream, Lancome's Bienfait Multi-Vital. And ladies, I tried it last night, its' faaabulous! Thick and creamy but not too heavy or greasy. And I don't want to say I'm disappointed in my readers (I LOVE YOU!) but since no one shared any suggestions I assume you need some of your own so here's a link where you can buy your own jar.

And DH, sweet sweet DH upgraded my sad little Ipod shuffle which has been on the fritz lately with a new fancy Apple Nano. Did you know it has a screen and everything?! I feel so very high tech. Oh and I LOVE the color-- UT Burnt Orange. How perfect is that?!

So with all this gift giving lovin it got me thinking that Christmas is right around the corner. Oh this reminds me, I noticed yesterday that our grocery store is selling Egg Nog already! What tha!? Halloween isn't even here yet. And before you ask, no I didn't buy any but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being tempted. I'm holding out for my father-in-law's version. Thank goodness I'll no longer be pregnant at that point as it's got quite the "punch" as any good holiday beverage should.

Where was I? Oh yes, gifts. Anyway, I must start strategically planning what I want for Christmas and then sporadically post how fabulous I think this or that is. Of course now that both Mamere and DH have read this the gig is up. But for you dear reader there is plenty of time to start your own online gift registry... err I mean blog, that's right blog.

How about some more Garrett Popcorn? Anyone... anyone???

Cheers,
Ouiser

Restaurant Review ~ Komi

Komi
DuPont ~ Washington, DC


DH and I have always enjoyed treating ourselves to a really nice meal for special occasions... birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. So although I didn't know where he was taking me for dinner last night I knew it would be delicious!

As we wound around the congested rainy streets of DC amidst rush hour traffic that was well past rush "hour" I was giddy with anticipating of figuring out our destination. I had a few guesses but once we started circling 17th street in Du Pont I was fairly sure I knew where we were headed. What surprised me even more is that DH didn't realize that the annual DC Drag Queen High Heal Race was on the same evening and the finish line was literally in front of the restaurant. What luck!

Alas, we missed the actual race which I'm guessing was a little shorter this year because of all the rain, but as we walked back to our car after dinner we did see two fabulous drag queens with enormous Afro wigs, mini-dresses and thigh-high patton platform boots. One in white patton and one in black patton. I so wanted to befriend the "ladies" and probably would have had I had more than my pregnancy allotted champagne. But I digress...

Komi's owner and head chef, Johnny Monis is what I would describe as a culinary artist. While I consider myself an amateur food aficionado and absolutely love to cook, play in my kitchen and create new dishes, last night's experience is a vivid reminder of the difference between cooking and creating.

Both DH and I love tasting menus, and we especially love chef's choice tasting menus. When you are at a restaurant like Komi or a handful of others in the area that really stand out I can hardly see how I could do a better job of picking a menu that the chef. It may be going too far to say that it's insulting not to go with the chef's recommendation but in some cases I feel like that. I mean if you are sitting at the bar as Sushi Master Kaz makes a suggestion of what to eat are you really going to say, no I think I'd like that with out the wasabi please. I don't think so!

So back to Komi. There is no way I am going to remember all the details of what we had so I'm just to talk about my absolutely favorites. Of course last night with this review in mind I seriously considered whipping out a pen and notebook to take notes. I feel self conscience when I do that but frankly am always happy once I'm home. Perhaps another time.

As I'm very very pregnant ~12 days to go~ they were kind enough to forgo serving me anything raw. Generally I'm okay with that but when I saw one of DH's courses- ceviche, oyster and sea scallop carpaccio - I think I might have drooled just a little bit.

I really can't even recall how many dishes we had, but it was at least 6 or 7 single bite plates, followed by suckling pig and finished with 4 dessert bites. All accompanied by a heavenly Greek sparkling wine of DH's choosing. I'm a sucker for anything sparkling be it water, wine or even a certain vampire! (tee hee hee, see how well I snuck in a nod to Twilight!)

Okay so my favorites are ...

Savory: the small dish of gnocchi with Chinese black mushrooms, cauliflower and a sauce that was divine! But I can't go on without talking about the suckling pig. They first bring out literally a side cut of the pig to show you before carving it. The skin was a beautiful golden color and crispier than I could have imagined possible while keeping the meat so juicy. They served it with pita although it was so doughy and delicious I hate to even call it pita and a tray of condiments. Seasoned salt, habanero sauce, eggplant, coleslaw and taziki, all of which were outstanding.

Sweet: Ugh, this is a hard one. If I had to pick I'd go with the single bite-- Chocolate, peanut butter crispy pastry. It was like a grown up reese's pieces mixed with a kit kat bar. Mmmmm. DH had a cayenne infused cappuccino milkshake with three perfect mini beignets. I almost felt like we were in New Orleans when I took a bite. They were perfect!

There wasn't one thing I had (or tasted of DH's) that I didn't absolutely love. Which is unusual for both of us. Usually there is at least one course that I'm less than fond of, but not last night. It was course after course of deliciousness.

Oh and I failed to mention how great the staff was. They were courteous, friendly, easy to talk with, present with out hovering and very very accommodating!

Cheers to you Chef Johnny and your outstanding restaurant. And congratulations on being one of only 5 restaurants in the area to receive 4 stars from Tom Sietsema in the 2009 WP restaurant Guide! It is well deserved!

Happy Dinning (or just drooling)!

Cheers,
Ouiser

The Gift of the Vampire

Na na na na na na... they say it's your birthday... na na na na na na... well it's my birthday too! Yes that's right, Mamma Ouiser turns another year younger today!

You know, for at least one year (although I still claim it was two) I was able to convince DH that I was getting younger. Well not actually getting younger but I swore up and down I was turning 28 not 29 then 27 not 28. It was that second year that did me in. All of a sudden he realized that he was getting positively too old for me and with some quick math realized my innocent fibs. Since then he's been very good at keeping track of exactly how old I am. This year is no different, but he is sweet enough at this point not to bring it up.

So, in honor of my birthday I'm doing whatever I want today! Well, that is aside from my (now) weekly doctors appointments to check on our rapidly growing baby deux and of course Tuesday is also the day I take our little one to his gym class. So okay, after those two things its all about me. Oh wait, I really do need to go to the grocery store to at least get some more milk. mmm this is sounding an awful lot like any other day.

To counter balance I've decided I'm going to break my recently imposed rule of not buying any new books so that I can pick up volumes 5-8 (I've just been told vol. 9 isn't out yet) of The Southern Vampire Series. You can read my review of vol 1. Dead Until Dark here.

I should explain, I'm not anti-buying books its just that I have no where to put them in our new house. Our previous home had some wonderfully large built in bookshelves but for all the things I love about our new house, it is lacking built in book shelves. Sadly, we have too many book boxes filled and sitting in our storage shed longing to come in out of the cold. I'm still looking for just the right shelves but haven't yet found them. So, I keep telling myself that I can't buy any more books until I find refuge for the ones we currently own. And of course the computer system is down for the next two days at our library so they can't seem to find the volumes I need.

Well thank goodness I am able to justify said purchase. See how easy that was? In fact what do you think about these shelves from Ballard Designs, natch? I'm kinda smitten with them.

Back to the books... Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead & Dead to the World. Are you sensing a theme here? hee hee

I'm not going to go into a long review of each book, instead I thought I'd give you a brief overall review of the series at what is almost the midpoint.

I will say that the books aren't particularly complicated or deeply thoughtful but they don't seem to need to be in order to have the desired effect of completely sucking you into a whole wide world of supernatural beings each with their own fascinating plot lines and back stories. As the books progress you find that characters you once adored turn out to not be so wonderful. And in the same light you realize others are really likable and actually for me, totally lovable. I'm completely smitten with one devastatingly handsome vampire. He's totally delish and I'm just dying to know what happens to him in book 5!

I guess the best recommendation I can give is that I've gone from somewhat interested in this series to totally ravenous for the next one. What more can you ask? And frankly the speed with which one can read these means I'm buying any of them that I can get my hands on!

If you like romance, danger, mystery and did I mention romance? Please give this series a shot, I don't think you'll be disappointed!! And if you are, please feel free to blame me.

Happy Reading!

Cheers,
Ouiser

P.S. Incase you can't read the text on the top photo, it says... "I feel a sin coming on". Isn't that what birthdays are for?

Tigers, Radishes and Apples ~ oh my!

DH, the little one and I had one of those weekends you really don't want to end. Alas, Monday morning has arrived along with a cold blast of wind, thankfully we have the better part of a delicious apple pie in the kitchen... mmm, can I have pie for lunch? I'm getting ahead of myself.

Sunday afternoon we took the little one to the Del Ray Halloween Parade. We had planned to watch but somehow got caught up in the excitement and found ourselves marching along with the hundreds of other families in costume. I think I've mentioned that we recently bought our first home in a neighborhood that I would describe as being one part Austin circa the 1980's -- small, eclectic and artsy-- mixed with one part Norman Rockwell painting. We have kids and dogs everywhere. On our very tiny block alone there are three family's expecting a baby this winter.

I'm not one for exposing photos of DH or our son online but I couldn't help but add this one picture. He's dressed up as a tiger. The costume, which is on loan from a friend is absolutely precious and when you squeeze the paw, it raaarrrs. How cute is that? Yes, I think both DH and the little one were tired of mommy squeezing the paw every 5 minutes but thankfully they are both pretty patient with me.

We had a great time at the parade and party afterwards. I was shocked by how many adults got into the spirit as well. There were strollers, wagons and dogs all dressed up. It was quite a site. We even ran into friends whose daughter was dressed up as a frog and they'd constructed a lily pad platform on top of (I'm guessing) a wagon complete with a pink floral chair on top for her to sit. I mean wow! That's dedication. I hope they won for best decoration!

Once we got home, it was time for me to get cooking! I think by now you know how much I love to cook, especially when I can play around in the kitchen with new ingredients. This weekend's "experiment" turned out to be a very tasty success so I thought I'd share it with you.

While I mostly stick to family favorites or things I can whip together in under 30 mins during the week, I love to take some time on Sunday to make dishes requiring a little more focus, effort and time. We'll see how this goes once baby deux arrives ~ 2 weeks to go ~ but I'm sure once we get back to a semi-normal routine with him we can resume our Sunday night dinners.

During our weekly trip to the neighborhood farmers' market I picked up some of our regular favorites-- green beans and apples but I also grabbed a bunch of Diakon Radishes. I didn't even know what they were and had to ask the farmer what they were called and how he'd recommend using them. While he was very friendly I didn't get a good idea of how to use them other than pickled or in a slaw, neither of which I particularly like.

I looked around in my cook books and online for suggestions. I found one recipe for Korean short ribs with diacon radishes and there was my inspiration. Now, I didn't have a tenth of the Korean ingredients needed nor did I have the 8 hours needed to prepare the dish. Well I guess technically I had the time, but realistically that was never going to happen.

Come Sunday I started playing around with my favorite Braised Short Ribs recipe from the Joy of Cooking and came up with the one I'm sharing with you today. It was delish! (hat tip to Tia for my new favorite word-delish).

And to top it off, since I had about 8 lbs of apples --- yes yes I sometimes get a bit carried away at the farmers market-- I decided to make an apple pie. I'm sharing this recipe with you too because it's soooooooo easy.

I would like to note for the record I'm a horrible baker! Seriously, awful! Baking requires mathematics, exact measurements and following directions. Frankly, none of these are skills I possess. I much prefer cooking where I can play around with a recipe or forgo it altogether in lieu of tasty ingredients I find in my pantry. So when it comes to baking I need all the shortcuts and "easy" recipes I can find. This one DEFINITELY fits into the easy category. And yes, this is an actual picture of my pie from last night!

I hope you are able to try either one or both of these recipe's this fall.

Braised Short Ribs with Diakon Radishes

Serves 2-4

3lbs Bone-in Short Ribs, trimmed of excess fat

2 TBS Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Dried herb of choice (I used sage)

3 medium Diakon Radishes, peeled and chopped into bite size cubes

2 medium sweet onions, sliced thin

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

3/4 C red wine

1-2 Cups water

Season Ribs with salt & pepper and a dash of herb. Heat dutch oven over medium high heat, add olive oil. Once hot, brown ribs on each side till they get a nice crust. Brown in batches if necessary to avoid over crowding the pan.

Remove ribs and set aside. Add onions, garlic, diakon radishes, dash of salt & pepper and herb to the dutch oven. Cook over medium for about 10 mins or until onions are translucent and begin to brown. Add wine, water, bay leaves and ribs to pot. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer for 2 - 2 1/2 hours till the meat is falling off the bone.

Once cooked, set aside ribs to let cool for a few minutes. Return pot to a boil and let sauce thicken for about 10-15 mins. Remove visible fat and connective tissue from meat and then return to pot once sauce is desired consistency. Serve over orzo, mashed potatoes, grits or rice.

Super Simple Apple Pie

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Pie Pan (9-9 1/2 inches)

Pie crusts (I bought mine at Trader Joe's - 1 pkg has two pie crusts)

3 lbs apples, peeled cored and sliced (I used granny smith and honey crisps)

1 C Sugar, plus extra

3 TBS flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBS butter

2 TBS milk or cream

Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt together and sprinkle over apples, mixing well.

Place one pie crust on the bottom of pie dish. Add Apple filling and dot with small pieces of butter. Top with second pie crust, crimping edges the top and bottom pie crusts together along the rim of the pie dish. Brush the top of crust with milk/cream and sprinkle with a couple of TBS of sugar. Using a small knife, make 5 or 6 slits along the top center of the pie crust to allow steam during cooking.

Cook for 15 minutes on bottom rack. Remove pie and cover edges with aluminum foil. Lower oven temp to 350 degrees and return pie to oven, cooking for about another hour or until crust is evenly golden brown and apples are tender. Cool before serving.

Happy Cooking!

Cheers,

Ouiser

New Moon ~ Volturi Fight Scene

Maybe it's because I went to my first Twilight party last night or maybe it's because I'm rereading New Moon in preparation for the movie but either way I just can't get enough....

Check out the newest clip of Edward taking on the Volturi in the upcoming film, New Moon. I think New Moon is going to kick Twilight's arse... don't you?

If for some reason you've been living under a rock, in a cave or a nuclear fall out shelter and are not familiar with or more to the point obsessed with Twilight I will explain. New Moon is the second book in the four book series about Edward Cullen, angst vampire extraordinaire and his girl, Bella Swan.

The movie adaptation is arriving in theaters next month. I'm determined to see it opening weekend although since I will have a 10 day old newborn in the house I'm not sure the midnight screening is my best option. Matinee anyone???

I've got chills, they're multiplying and I'm loooosing control.... Seriously yall, doesn't it give you goosebumps and make you tingly all over????

Cheers,
Ouiser

Deliciously Darling Dolly!

As a good Southern Girl I love me some Dolly Parton!

You too? I thought so.... I mean how can you not love this lady? She's completely self made, perky (in every imaginable way), charming, smart, independent, successful, talented, smart, kind, insanely positive... oh and did I mention she's been married to the same man for 43 years? Yeah, she's pretty awesome.

My all time favorite Dolly story comes from a few years ago when I saw an interview with Julia Roberts about her role in Steel Magnolias. As you might have guessed this is my all time favorite movie... hence my pseudonym. Anyway, in the interview Julia mentions that she was complaining to Dolly about the heat during filming... mmm take hot and muggy Shreveport and add movie lights, I can only imagine how sweaty, err scratch that, how glistening I'd be. (made me think of that great old phrase...Horses sweat, men perspire and ladies glisten) Anyway, Dolly replied with something like, Darlin' I've dreamt about doing this since I was a baby. I don't ever complain. What a good reminder of how blessed we all are.

Sooooo, imagine how happy I was when DH got me two tickets to her concert. I must admit that I've never been a huge concert fan... probably because growing up in Austin I was so spoiled by seeing some great bands in really really small venues. Therefore I've never really appreciated the mega stadiums where you either shell out hundreds to sit front row, mooch off a lobbyist to watch from their sky box or least fun bring your binoculars and watch from the nosebleed section with the other 20 somethings.

The Dolly concert was a totally different experience. I took one of my girlfriends... come on... DH loves me and is committed to spending the rest of his life with me but a Dolly concert? I don't think so. She and I got into the hall and were both surprised how intimate if felt. Dolly had already started when we arrived so we grabbed our drinks and found our seats.

After each song she sat on a stool and just chatted with the audience as if we were old friend sitting around catching up. She answered questions and told stories... all self-effacing of course. She's really very funny, natch. If I wasn't a devotee before that night I certainly was afterwards.

Mmm, now what got me started on today's post? oooh right, she has a new album coming out! Well new isn't exactly the right word although there are several songs that hadn't previously been released. Dolly is a 4 disk box set coming out next week-- Tuesday to be exact... I know this because it's my birthday! Yep, Dolly is releasing this awesome box set on my birthday. Coincidence? I think not.

As I was looking over the list of songs on the albums I was hard pressed to pick a favorite so I'm not. It's a fabulous catalogue of old and new songs. SOME of my personal favorites include Jolene, Island in the Stream, Time for me to Fly and Silver & Gold.

Okay okay, one more Dolly story then its off to refill my coffee cup and check into my twitter account. It's already been several hours since I logged on this morning who knows what I've missed! Anyone else following the Chuck Todd Goatee-gate? Reminds me of presidential campaign season when everyone is all giddy with campaign silliness. Whose ready for 2012? I know I am!

So back to Dolly one last time... Did you know that Elvis offered to record a version of her song "I Will Always Love You" in the early 60's. She turned him down, shocking the music world. Yes she turned Elvis down because he would only do it if he could buy the rights to the song. While I think he would have done a fantastic job with the song, I'm so impressed with her integrity. And financially it wasn't so bad a decision either since I'm sure she made a whole lot more money when Whitney Houston performed her own version 25 years later.

Please go check out her website and take a listen to some of your favorite Dolly tunes and maybe discover a few new favorites.

And because it's friday I thought I'd throw in one of my favorite scenes from Steel Magnolias...



Truvy: "Well, in a good shoe I wear a size 6 but a 7 feels so good I buy a size 8" Clairee: "They're a size 8 1/2"
Truvy: "Perrrrfect"
What a true statement... for this shoe lovin' woman at least!

Happy Friday!

Cheers,
Ouiser

Football Friday ~ UT vs. Missouri

I honestly don't have too much to say about this week's game, other than to remind you about it in the first place. This week the Longhorns are away from home playing Missouri.

And although it may seem like I'm obsessed with college football I'm not really, other than flipping through the week's games a little every Saturday. And since I don't really harbor any like or dislike of Missouri I haven't bothered to learn much about their team this year... okay, really any year.

Never the less I hope that Mack Brown and the team play better than they did last week. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch that we beat Oklahoma (and attempting to be a respectful daughter I didn't rub it in at all when I talked to Mamere) but it wasn't a pretty game.

So in short -- don't forget to tune in on Saturday for the game. Kick off is at 7pm in Columbia, MO and is being aired on ABC.

Texas Fight!

Cheers,
Ousier

This Season's Perfect Black Dress

Okay readers, this is a BIG feat for me.... as you likely already know I'm horribly untalented when it comes to all things tech related and managing images on this blog is no different. I have absolutely no idea how this will look when it actually gets posted so please be kind and accept me for all my limitations!

So here goes...

As we near the end of October you know what is just around the corner... Holiday Parties! Whether you look forward to them as an excuse to shop and primp or dread them because you have to shop and primp (I just don't understand the latter but that's me) they are quickly approaching. And so this is the perfect opportunity to get a jump on your party circuit wardrobe!

I love getting all dressed up and hitting the town, now more than ever since I hardly ever get out of jeans or kackis. So I've gone searching through my recent round of catalogues and favorite online shops to share with you my favorite little black dresses for the season. Oh and I just had to throw in a few of my faaaaaavorite shoes. There is never a moment where I don't have a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes on my own personal wish list although I hardly have use for them these day.

I've tried to post the dresses by group. I think the first few are more suitable for weekend personal socializing and the last ones are better for work related parties but of course this all depends on where and what type of industry you work and socialize in. There are only a handful of women that I can imagine wearing some of these dresses to a work function. DC and the world of politics tends to be a bit more... well I'd say conservative but I think others would say stuffy.

I know there is no way I can try to add information under the photos due to my lack of any formatting knowledge. But you can find all of these dresses at either Neiman Marcus or Nordstroms. I must say the dresses from Nordstroms are all under $200. WOW! The Neiman Marcus ones, not so much but at least two of them are under $400. So hey, at least there is a range.

And although I'll be out and about most of today with errands please don't hesitate to email or post a comment if you need help finding one of the dresses or shoes. Oh and all the shoes are from Neimans as well. Aren't those Manolos gorgeous?! mmm, I'm drooling again just a little bit, sorry.


Happy shopping!

Cheers,

Ouiser

Recipe of the week ~ Lobster Bites

Last week I hosted some of my very best girlfriends for a girls night at my home. I'd been looking forward to this evening since last month's girls supper and had really been counting down the days for way too long.

Don't get me wrong there wasn't anything particularly special about this evening, it's just being a wife and mom I find that I appreciate my time with my girls oh so much more than I ever thought possible. Long gone are the days of every night being a girls night... but then again so are the mornings kicked off with Tylenol and a trip to McDonald's drive thru. Thank goodness!

Of course we do still know how to enjoy a good glass (or bottle) of wine. And as I surveyed the number of empty bottles of wine and champagne after everyone had gone home I began to wonder if at some point my wine glasses had been replaced with something a bit more like the ones in this photo...

But this post isn't about our wine consumption (yes I stuck with my pregnancy required 5ish oz. of champagne) or even what a wonderful, hilarious evening we had. No, today's post is about a fun, easy and extremely tasty appetizer that I sincerely hope you'll try!

As I began planning the evening's menu early that week I wanted to offer a few light appetizers as the other girls were bringing cheese and dessert. I have several appetizers that I routinely make for evenings such as this but frankly they all seemed a little stale and boring. This offered a great opportunity to try something new!

As I was going through my file of appetizer ideas I stumbled upon a small little recipe booklet that I'd received in a guest gift bag given to me by a long time friend at her wedding. She and her husband, like so many of my early DC friends, have long since moved away. And, although I hardly ever see them I think about her and her hilarious husband and their precious little boy often. So a BIG thank you for your friendship and for this fun new find!

I will most certainly return to this recipe often as it would be great year round and in only my first attempt it was a huge hit! In fact I ended up emailing the recipe to the girls the next morning after so many of them asked for it.

Lobster Bites
Makes about 20

1 8oz. tube crescent rolls, sliced into 2 inch squares
4 TBS Salted butter, melted
10 oz. lobster meat, cooked and cut into small bites
Sherry
Paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease 2 12-hole mini-muffin pans with cooking spray.

Once you've cooked the lobster meat let cool in the melted butter.

Press a crescent roll square into bottom and up sides of each hole. Baste with butter and put one lobster cube in each hole. Baste with sherry and again with butter. Sprinkle tops with paprika. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

I hope you'll give this a try at your next party! It's super easy and quick but tastes so rich, buttery and utterly scrumptious.

Cheers,
Ouiser

Book Review ~ Dead Until Dark

I just finished Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris upon the suggestion of a wonderful friend of mine who also fell for Edward Cullen and the Twilight series. Actually it was a bit more of a suggestion... my sweet friend actually mailed me the book, along with the next three. That's right readers I'm into another book series!

So far there are nine books in the Southern Vampire series and while I can already tell that this most certainly will be no Twilight, it is fast paced, exciting, mysterious and most importantly... a heady romance.

If you are a fan of the series TrueBlood on HBO you're already well aware of this book series because it is what the show is based upon. I sat down to watch a summary of season one on HBO OnDemand the other night and was not impressed at all. And I'm pretty sure it had to do with more than just the fact that Anna Paquin, who plays the main character, Sookie Stackhouse bugs me. I wish I had a good reason for my dislike of Ms. Paquin like I once saw her kick a dog or be mean to a little kid but I can't even think of a movie I've seen her in. I am sure she's a completely lovely person and as I read in my US Weekly she's recently engaged to her co-star. That's really sweet! I do love weddings! Somehow even that isn't helping me... I'm just irked by her demeanor. So, I've tried pretty hard not to imagine her as I'm reading. So far so good, although I'm hoping it gets easier as I get further along in the series.

To me the book series (at least so far) seems so much more fascinating and complex than the show does. Of course I can't think of a book I didn't like more than the movie it was eventually made into. Thinking.... thinking... still thinking, okay several minutes of pondering and I still can't come up with one. Any ideas? Would love to know if you came up with one.

So, as you can see I won't be watching the TrueBlood series but by all means check it out yourself. I believe HBO On Demand has season one and two but if not, surely the good people at Netflix offer both.

Do actual physical video stores even exist anymore? Our neighborhood Blockbuster closed earlier this year and the space was taken over to expand the next door Trader Joe's. Oh the wonderfulness of Trader Joe's. That really could be it's own post. I'm so sorry for those of you that don't have this specialty grocery market in your area. This is actually one of the very few things that Texas doesn't have. Although, if it does ever come to Texas, Houston specifically I know that it will be due to the persistence of my mother-in-law. She's been emailing with the company and even suggested a particular location. Until then we'll just have to send them home with wine and gingersnaps and they can bring us red beans and rice. Seems like a good trade to me, although I do wish they could bring up some Bluebell Homemade Vanilla ice cream. mmmmmm.

But I'm way way off topic again... shocker I know.

Dead Until Dark is the story of Sookie Stackhouse, a smart and sassy waitress who lives in small town northern Louisiana. She is blessed (or perhaps cursed) with a special gift that keeps her pretty well removed from most intimate relationships -- friendships included. That is until she meets Bill Compton, a sweet, strong and sexy vampire who is new in town. Yes, in this series vampires are newly accepted into society and although most people are still very suspicious of them (and rightly so in some cases) Bill is trying his best to fit in.

While trying to meander the difficult avenues of their unconventional relationship they encounter a number of problems from other characters along the way -- jealousy, lust, ignorance, distrust, vengeance, and more than a few dead bodies.

As I said before this is no Twilight but it's funny and entertaining-- over all a good read. And as my friend told me, "once you get through the first two books you'll be hooked." I just started the second this morning and if I can keep myself away from my fan fiction stories I should finish the book this week... we'll see!

Happy Reading

Cheers,

Ouiser

Football, Family & Shopping

It has been cold and rainy for the past week here in DC and although I'd already planned to stay in with the family and watch the TX / OU game Saturday afternoon (note: this year's game is certainly not going to go into the books as one of the best played by either team but at least the Longhorns pulled out a win in the end) that was about all we did and by Sunday the family was going a little stir crazy.

Well that and my eye sight was beginning to blur from spending countless hours reading Twilight fan fiction. I've really gotta stop... errr, that might be asking too much to go cold turkey... I've really got to cut down, that at least sounds more reasonable. right? Did I mention I'm actually attending a Twilight book party this week? A friend of mine is hosting so it's not some weird group I found online, never the less DH just laughs at me and I hope doesn't think I'm too crazy.

Anyway, by Sunday we were itching to do something-- anything-- so off we went to Mt. Vernon's Fall Harvest Family Days. We packed up the diaper bag with only the absolute necessities for the afternoon outing- diapers, wipes and ziplock bags-check, water & sippycup- check, plenty of toys-check and the most important- goldfish!

Other than attending a friend's wedding last year at the Mt. Vernon Inn, it had been years since I'd been to the property. And although the walk down (and worse back up) the hill was quite a work out for this super pregnant mamma ~3 weeks to go~ it was nice to get a little exercise even if I had to stop every once in a while to catch my breath, adjust my pants and pull up my wool socks. But DH was a trooper and pushed our little one along the muddy, rocky path in our Macclaren umbrella stroller, not exactly meant for off roading but neither are the legs of a 16 month old.

All joking aside, we had a great time and I loved watching how much our son enjoyed the hay bale maze even if he was a little scared of the man in colonial costume trying to give him a high five afterwards. And he was mesmerized by the two horses running in circles around us... something about separating the grain from the wheat... but I digress.

Once we made our way home and I was able to get the kiddo down for a late nap I realized DH and I are officially parents. Never in my wildest dreams would I have the thought about attending such an event when I was single or frankly even as a newlywed but now its looking like these weekends are going to be our future for the next -- well a lot of years! And that's okay.

Did I mention shopping in today's topic? Well here it is... Even before we left the house I realized I really had no appropriate shoes/boots for this outing. Of course DH suggested tennis shoes but I'm really no fan unless I'm actually working out. I have no need for them in any other situation. Instead I wore wool argyle socks and my black patton flats. You may recall me detailing how they saved my life in this older post.

As you might expect they weren't the best shoe choice. I was thinking more about a nice pair of warm and fuzzy uggs. I never really jumped on the ugg bandwagon when they were "new" because I never seemed to have a need but now that I'm home and in a more casual dress setting I'm thinking the Mayfaire boot in cement brown (awful name by the way) would be perfect for the upcoming winter. (I tried to post a picture but frankly I'm still having trouble with bloggers updated posting format. I honestly don't even know how to spell check in this new format... sorry!)

I especially like that these have a back zipper as my feet can get warm pretty quickly. Who am I kidding, I get warm pretty quickly. I always joke that I'm "heating for two" because for some reason when pregnant I'm always hot, I even had the windows open last night in the 40 degree weather to cool off after making dinner.

And speaking of dinner, last night I made one of DH's favorite, Cracker Barrel's Chicken & Dumplings. It does take a bit of commitment~ several hours and more pots, pans and dishes than I like but that's what makes it a good weekend recipe and there are always plenty of left overs! Perfect, since I'm going to be out this week for the aforementioned Twilight party! (snicker snicker)

Oh and totally off topic but quite serious nonetheless, I'm in need of your help and am putting out a call for any and all suggestions!!! I'm in real need of new night cream-- see the seriousness of this issue? If you're over 30 you do!

Any ideas? Do you love yours? Please share! I just used the last of mine last night. I'm not wild about it but it's not awful either. And I should mention I'm not looking for something in the Creme de La Mer category but other than that I'm open to all suggestions. Thank you thank you thank you!

Happy Monday!

Cheers,

Ouiser

Friday Football Fever ~ Texas vs OU Weekend

If you are a Texas Football fan this is the most exciting weekend of the year... and the most unpredictable. I'm just about equal parts excited and nervous.

For those that haven't been counting down the months weeks and days for this game, I'll explain. Every October Texas and Oklahoma meet in Dallas for the Red River Shootout. Yes, I know the image above says rivalry but that's only because they changed the name a few years ago. I guess "shootout" seemed too violent. Sorta like the DC Basketball team went from being the Bullets to the Wizards. Mmm, yes yes I feel much safer now don't you?

Back to Texas. This is the biggest rivalry game for both teams and over the many many years of the match up there is one thing I can say for certain, there is no way to predict the outcome. I've seen years were Oklahoma was the #1 team in the nation and Texas was .... how shall I put this... in a rebuilding phase and yet somehow managed to whoop the Sooners. And sadly I've seen the reverse as well.

As if the game wasn't a big enough draw it's always held during the State Fair of Texas... oh yeah are you thinking about Big Tex and the best corn dogs ever? No? Well you should be they are faaaanastic. One of these days I'm going to get my boys down to Texas for the game but until then we'll just have to watch from a far.

Although I was born in Texas and grew up in Austin, I feel compelled to mention that both my parents are from Oklahoma and Mamere attended OU (although for the record she also attended UT but I don't want to start an online tiff with my mother, that's just tacky). So we are as you might say, "a house divided". In fact the first year my mother was forced to miss the game (by her doctor's orders) was the year I was born as she was more than 9 months pregnant and was told she couldn't travel to Dallas. Thankfully I was so adorable that she forgot all about missing the game once I arrived. (yes, I'm an only child and suffer from all the misgivings that come along with that status.)

I can assure you that our house will be tuned in for the BIG game, the pre-show, post-show and anything else we can find to watch being so far away from Texas.

If you regularly follow my blog I'll be making my Southwestern Corn Dip for DH and I and will have our son decked out in his UT finest. I've mentioned these overalls before but I don't think I ever posted a picture. They were given to us by a good friend of mine from my early days in DC who has now returned to the promise land (that's Austin if you didn't already guess) with her husband and little boy. I love these overalls and we always get so many compliments when my son is out and about in them.

So if you are a fan I don't need to tell you to watch, but even if you aren't tune in at 11AM (Austin time) to watch some down home good 'ol college football!

Happy Football Friday!

Cheers,

Ouiser

New Blog Find ~ Amalah.com

I stumbled upon this blog months and months ago after hearing something about it. I still don't remember who mentioned it but sadly like so many online sites I lost track of it and stopped checking it altogether. Thanks to a tip from DH yesterday I found my way back to Amalah.com and have been laughing so hard I've had tears ever since.

Are you a mom with an active little one (or two or three) running around the house climbing into the dishwasher, toilet, sink... really anything the little angel can get into? Have you been terrified by the lack of sufficient noise coming from the next room only to find your little one has climbed over the sofa and onto the end table to play with the remote control? Basically, do you have a good sense of humor and appreciate the foibles of other moms? If so, Amalah.com is the blog for you.

I was on the phone with Mamere yesterday when I pulled up the blog and we were both in tears as I read this particular post about her son's mischievous activities around the house. The fact that she actually has pictures of her son climbing into the dishwasher makes it even funnier, especially because I can completely relate to this and a number of other things her son gets into or onto.

Her most recent post details an attempt to make a microwave cheese and spinach souffle. Yes, you heard me correctly I said microwave souffle. As you might expect this is an utter failure but it is also absolutely hilarious. And best of all, she's not afraid to document her experiment with many many pictures. I don't even know this woman but I'm sure we'd be great friends. Is that weird to say? Yay, kinda I know.

If you are sitting at your desk avoiding the work piling up in your in box and bored with all the other websites you check out on a daily basis please give this one a try. You certainly don't have to be a parent to find her posts amusing but if you are her posts will either make you laugh till you cry because you've gone through the same thing or it will make you want to get down on your hands and knees and thank the good Lord that your child is so well behaved. My guess is, if your anything like me it will be somewhere in the middle. And yes if you're wondering I've caught our precious little angel sitting on our end table playing happily with the tv remote on more than one occasion.

Happy Surfing!

Cheers,
Ouiser