ICKY IKE

I'll be posting updates as often as I can about the hurricane. So far, in the downtown area of Houston, not much has happened. We've had a little rain on and off and some wind of 20-30 mph. I took the first two pictures last night as we were clearing off the patio and deck.

The third picture was taken this afternoon around 2:30. It looks like the eye of the storm is going to pass over us in the Heights, but that might not be such a bad thing. They are saying that the eye of IKE is 50 miles wide and that those outer bands will really pack a punch.
So, we hunker down and we wait. More later. Oh, and thanks for all the well wishes and text messages. They mean a lot!

Art and Concrete

One of the cool things about moving to a new area is finding out all the quirky stuff. Well, in my book, this falls under the quirky category. We have a great friend, Michelle, that has lived in this area for quite some time and she knows all the skinny on art galleries, museums, restaurants, garden stores, gift shops. You name it, she knows about it. One of the wonderful things she offered when we moved in to our new neighborhood was Saturday Morning Breakfast. It has become a fantastic ritual, one that she says is cheaper than therapy. Ha! So on one of these ritualistic, cheaper-than-therapy breakfast sessions, she says to me, "Hey! Have you seen the President Heads?" Now, I don't know about you, but I've never been asked such a thing, so I thought she was just joking around. And when I didn't aswer, she said it again. "Have you ever seen the President Heads??" I squeaked out a "i don't think so..." to which she eagerly replied, "They are behind Target. Let's go." Behind Target? Heads of Presidents? I completely didn't follow and had NO idea what I was going to see in the ally behind my beloved find-everything-you-need-and-then-some retail store.
One the drive over, she explained to me that there was an artist in Houston that does concrete artwork and that his warehouse slash studio was in a building behind Target. (I should have known it would be something cool like art and not gross like some csi show.) She went on to tell me that he was the one that sculpted the ginormous Sam Houston on I-45. If you've ever made that drive between Houston and Dallas, you've seen it. If you would like to read more about the artist, you can look here.

And then we drove up to this:

If you look closely, you can see a pick-up truck on the right side of the photo. That will give you a little perspective on just how huge the President Heads are and I've gotta tell ya: they are a little creepy. But cool definitely out-weighs the creepy. The fun part is walking around trying to identify each of the heads. My mom came to visit not long ago and I had to show her. Part of the fun is watching everyone's faces when you ask the question, "Do you want to go see the President Heads???" It's classic... Any way, my mom and I were going around making all the identifications when we came to one that completely stumped her. She made a few guesses under her breath and then said, "Well, my mercy. I'm just not sure." Turns out it was Bill Clinton. A very young Bill Clinton. It made me laugh.
And here's where the quirky part comes in: behind all the President Heads? You'll never guess.



The Beatles.

Random Biscuit Facts

Biscuit is our 5 pound Yorkie. There is an earlier post on my blog that fills you in, but I haven't figured out how to link to previous posts yet. Maybe next week.
But today, I'd like to share a few random facts about our little pooch.
Here is the back of her head, which you probably have never seen.
I like it because you can see her bangs poofing out.

Here are some very important must-haves to live the life of a Biscuit. The green thing is Bongo. I think he's a vest wearing ape.
There is a Milk Bone "cookie." (We can't call them "biscuits." That would be too weird. "Biscuit---would you like a biscuit?" See. Too weird.) And the other item there is a chewy. Or chew stick. Or rawhide thing-a-ma-jig.

And on certain days, when her eyebrows are super bushy, we call her Andy.

As in Rooney.

Cameras vs. Editing

I've been asked recently what kind of camera I use to take the pictures that I put up on this blog. I am a serious amateur, so I only have two cameras. One is a point and shoot Nikon that I bought in 2005. It is very small, so I carry it with me just about any place I go. It takes great shots and is extremely easy to use.
I also have a Canon Rebel xti that Stacey bought for me in 2006.
She surprised me at Christmas and it is one of the best gifts I have ever received. She was so proud of herself for the big surprise factor and I have to give her credit---she got me.
Any way, the Rebel is an SLR camera which essentially means that you have more control over the settings. It takes some getting used to (and some reading of the owner's manual-ick) but can really help you take your photography up a notch. I only have two lenses for now: the one that came with the Rebel, and a little non-zoom lens that takes terrific close-up shots.
I won't bog you down with the details. If you want to know more, send in a comment.
The photography tool I just can't live without though, is Picasa by Google.
It is a FREE editing tool and is really easy to use. Some folks don't like it because it doesn't do as much as say, Photoshop; but for my amateur self, it works great.
Here are a few examples of what Picasa can do.
I took this photo at Mission Tejas on a camping trip. I used my Nikon.
It's a decent shot. Nice reflection in the water and some good fall color in the trees.

And here is the same shot edited in Picasa. You can see how the colors are more intense, the highlights are increased and there is an overall "glow."

Now here is a shot I took with my Canon Rebel. This is across the highway from my parents place oustide my hometown. I was trying to get a shot that I could give as a framed gift to one of my best friends that was getting married. The Rebel captured what I needed: the windmill, the sunset and some clouds that give that big, open sky some interest. But, I didn't get the lighting just right and it could use a little "pop."

Depending on the look you need, you can adjust the colors and make them bright and bold or more subdued with a glow. Now that I'm looking at this one, I lost a bit of the drama of the clouds behind the windmill and would probably continue to adjust it.

Picasa just launched a new version this week and it has some great new tools. It has a retouching tool so that you can remove blemishes and such. It also gives you the ability to type over your photos which can really come in handy. Now get off my blog and go try it.

My "Next House" Meal

These are the items that I want to grow myself in the backyard of our next house.
Right now we live close to downtown and we love it, but I really want to be able to grow some basic produce.
So, I'm stating to all of you, right now...today, that I have a new goal of growing a garden when we move into our next house. But, in the mean time, we cook. And, tonight, we cook steak.

Consider this a fair warning: these two simple ingredients will make you the designated steak cooker with all of your friends, family and neighbors. It's dy-no-mite. Wash your steak with water, pat dry with a paper towel, and rub in the lemon pepper. Put them in a plastic bag and pour in the Allegro marinade. Tonight we're using the spicy creole, but the original is great, too. Let them soak in the goodness for about 30 minutes. It tenderizes the meat unlike anything else I've tried. You will barely have to chew. Seriously.

This is garlic in some EVOO (that's Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those of you that have never watched Rachel Ray).

I added these onions and my trusty Lawry's Season Salt to the garlic. Yum.

I usually cut my steaks in half to help them cook faster. Still trying to perfect that fancy criss-cross business.

And, finally...the corn on the cob. I sprayed the foil with that fancy canola oil in a can and added some salt and pepper. I put them on the grill ahead of the steaks ( a bit too far ahead, but they were still good.)

Okay, this concludes my Pioneer Woman Wannabe section of my blog. Now, go cook something delicious.

The Pioneer Woman and Her Lasagna

So my addiction of the week is a fantastic website called www.thepioneerwoman.com

I have a feeling that it started out as a blog, but the author, Ree, was so terrific, that it grew into a full-blown site. She is everything I dream to be as a blogger: consistent, funny, articulate, interesting. We have a lot in common like cooking and taking pictures and in many cases, taking pictures of what we are cooking. Which leads me to this post.
If you have some time, you should go to Ree's site and look at her post on The Best Lasagna Ever. Then come back.
She motivated me so much, that I had to try it tonight. In doing so, I discovered two things: the lasagna IS delicious and I REALLY need to get better at Photoshop!
If you did go see The Pioneer Woman's amazing post, you are going to think mine is a parody of hers. Just know that I gave it my best shot.
So here we go.

Before:


During:

That's my Mario Batali pot. Thanks, Paul! It's the best.



After:



So, I would encourage you to make this big pan of cheesy deliciousness (you can print the recipe off of Ree's site) and go read about how Ree and her hunky cowboy husband fell in love. But make sure you have plenty of time--you won't want to put your computer down.

Rusty Ferris Wheel

Stacey and I, with our friends Kevin and Rebecca, have instituted good old fashioned game night. You know, the kind of Saturday night fun our parents used to have in the 70's: Good Food, Fun Games, Lots of Laughter. I'm pretty proud of how consistant we have been because with most friends, the intention is there (Let's get together soon! It would be so much fun!) but the follow-through isn't.
Well, we typically alternate houses and sometimes we cook and sometimes we go out, but we ALWAYS play games and we ALWAYS laugh. It's become one of my favorite things and sometimes THE thing that gets me through the week.
So this week, it was our house and we chose to go out. We live very close to The Aquarium downtown and we thought it would be fun for their five year old. I had no idea there would be so much to do! You can see the ferris wheel from the interstate, and I've been to an Aquarium restaurant before, but I didn't know there would be other rides, games, face painting, cartoon sketches. You get the idea.
After dinner, the five year old wanted to ride the ferris wheel, of course, and Kevin and I had already made it quite clear that we don't do heights. We would be in charge of holding down benches, taking pictures and have purse duty. So Stacey, Rebecca and the five year old get in line and I get out my camera. After a few minutes, I popped down to the line to see how they were doing and to snap a photo or two. Stacey leans over and says, "I don't think I can do this. I see some rust on that ferris wheel." To which Rebecca leans over and says, "The five year old is okay with it. You're going to do just fine." And, she did. They all did. I didn't even see any rust fall off while they were riding. And believe me, I was watching.
Did we play games? Of course! Scattergories and Mahjong. Two of my faves. If you don't already have a game night of your own, I highly recommend it. But I'm not sure you'll have as much fun as our crew. But you should try.