Live Band and Fire Show - What's not to Like

Wednesday night we headed over to The Continental Club to here the DarDans. My husband works with Darden one of the band members. It was my first time at The Continental Club and I have to say I enjoyed it. The atmosphere was nice and the band was great. We called it a night around nine because it is a school night. When we started to leave we realized there was a whole other show in the back.

The Zion's Flame was in the back doing their flame eating show. It was very random to stumble onto but a nice surprise. If you have a Wednesday free you should check it out. The flame show itself is enough to pull you off the couch.

25 Random Things About Me

1. I have been in 8 car accidents, two the car flipped, but none were my fault and no one was hurt.

2. If I completed student teaching I would have a second degree in Education.

3. I met my husband 3 years before we started to date but did not realize until I saw pictures of us together in my photo album.

4. I changed my alternator, belts, oil and gave my car a tune up while in high school because my dad made me. I appreciate it now because I did learn some things about cars.

5. I have an adopted sister that left home when I was born and she has only contacted my parents 3 times since.

6. My favorite flowers are the Parrot Tulip and Orchid.

7. My graduating class in high school was 52 people.

8. My mom taught me how to make lye soap, can vegetables, sew, garden, knit and cook because these are useful skills to have. I might cook once a week now.

9. I have had 9 dogs since I was a little girl. Don't ask.

10. In college I worked at a career center, a credit union, law firm and cable company.

11. At the cable company my two bosses had a fist fight in the parking lot and the cops blocked me in. I had to ask them to move so I could go to class.

12. My first job was a dish washer at the Top Half which was a truck stop. One day they forced me to be a waitress and I cried in the walk in cooler and tried to get my mom to pick me up. If you are shy it is guaranteed that truck drivers will bring you out of your shell.

13. My parents did not use an air conditioner at home until I was in high school.

14. I never used a clothes dryer or a dish washer until I was 25 years old.

15. I accidently burned down 5 acres of our property in high school. Luckly, it did not spread any further.

16. I used to be able to play a mean game of chess.

17. In 6th grade I was in band. I played the clarinet and was first chair every week.

18. My mom always made my Halloween costumes. She still does if I ask her. She even made my Oktoberfest costume.

19. My eyes change colors depending on what I wear. They are grey, blue, green and aqua on any given day.

20. My parents only knew each other 5 days before marrying. They will celebrate their 45th anniversary on April 5th.

21. My hair has been dyed once because the chorine in the pool turned it green.

22. A snake crawled into the engine area of my car while in high school. The fire department came out to assist and the story was in the Kountze newspaper the next day. (It was pretty exciting for Kountze)

23. I cannot stand people chewing their nails.

24. I was named after Laura Ingles on Little House on the Prairie.

25. I dislike all melons – watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew

The Whole 'Beef' Enchilada

Now I do enjoy cooking BUT it always seems that when ever I try to cook on the weekdays I become a little stressed out. So keeping that in mind I might make a full meal from scratch once a week. The rest are meals consisting of sauce in a jar, breaded and cooked chicken, pizza or takeout.

I did, however, make these beef enchiladas last night and I have to say they were really good. I think making the red sauce from scratch made all the difference. They did not take too long to make so I was able to enjoy some couch time before bed. I am only cooking for two people so keep that in mind when recreating this recipe.

Beef Enchiladas

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 white onion diced

3/4 cup shredded cheese - I used a Mexican blend

5 freshly made tortillas - Mission tortillas are not allowed in our house

1 cup pico de galo - bought at Kroger

1 Serrano pepper - diced and seeds removed

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Red Sauce

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon oregano

2 cups water/broth

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

I made the sauce first while the ground beef was cooking and preheated the oven to 375. Just add all ingredients to a sauce pan and let simmer. I added 1 cup beef broth and 1 cup water. It made enough for this meal plus I was able to freeze the rest for later.

Cook the ground beef until almost done on the stove top and add the onions and the pepper. Cook until the onions are transparent. Add some of the sauce you made to the ground beef mixture. Just enough to add flavor and moisture. Next take out an 8x8 pan and coat with non-stick spray. Dip the tortillas in the sauce and place in pan one at a time adding some beef mixture and a little cheese. Roll the enchiladas and place the cease face down. Once you have filled all tortillas pour the red sauce over the enchiladas. Until 1/2 inch of the pan is filled with the sauce. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the enchiladas and place in the oven.

Cook until the cheese is melted and slightly crisp on the edges. Once you remove it, sprinkle the pico de galo and cilantro on top and serve.

JENGA - The Game of Life

Take turns removing the three-inch blocks one at time, using caution to keep the structure intact while stacking the removed pieces back on the top of the tower. As the tower rises, its base begins to teeter--one wrong move and it collapses in a heap! Game over.

This is how I view life for the most part. I always feel that one wrong move and all the hard work will be for nothing and everything will come crashing down. I know they say that out of adversity comes opportunity but I have not been able to embrace this philosophy. My husband says that if I have nothing to worry about I make things up to worry about. My parents have said the same thing. So maybe it is just who I am. I worry things may go wrong or I will take the wrong path while in reality my life is good and there is no reason to waste time thinking of what might happen. Instead, I should enjoy the calm and stop thinking of the potential storm on the horizon. Getting there is the problem though.

Inaugural Speech

I always vote in the presidential race but this time around I was very excited about the process and followed the coverage more than I ever have before including the inaugural speech. I never bothered before to tune in and watch this process but this time was different. As I watched I, like many other people, knew that this is a moment that will go down in the history books. I had to wonder if President Obama would be quoted years from now like Kennedy, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us,grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

Maybe, I was listening to an audio stream that would be replayed 50 years from now.

I enjoyed the inaugural speech immensely and I can only hope to be apart of more inspirational moments in history.

New Year Goals

I try to set goals for myself each year. Some people call it their life list but I view my list as something that will grow with me and as a result my goals will change. Last year it was to skydive which I did in September. This year I am going to try to accomplish a bit more. I do not want to list to get to an unmanageable size though because that would defeat the purpose of setting goals. maybe if they are written down I will be more likely to do them. We will see.

1. Compete in a Sprint triathlon - Signed up for the Silverlake Sprint Triathlon

2. Buy a Digital SRL camera

3. Start revisiting my passion of photography

4. Be more proactive when it comes to socializing/making friends - Working on it

5. Take a knife skills training class - Hubby and I took class April 14th

6. Take a cooking class - something Greek or Thai

7. Try a new recipe once a month -January/Beef enchiladas, February/potstickers, July/macaroni and cheese bites

8. Learn Spanish

9. Try to post 2-3 entries in my blog a month

10. Get a group together for a paintball game - I have always wanted to do this

11. Learn more about web analytics - blogs, books, something

12. Take a wine tasting class

13. Go to the gym at least 2x a week - Took bootcamp March 23rd - S.C.O.P.E. 5k 29:32

14. Try Indian food - Completed 2/2/09 Also tried Persian & Turkish

15. Travel somewhere new - Miami and Cancun

16. Focus on myself more

17. Clean the house more often - Why not get a maid already

18. Go to an art gallery once a month

19. Go on a girls trip - no boys allowed

20. Become better at tennis

I think this is a good list for 2009. I am going to think of it as a work in progress. Hopefully I will be adding to it and not taking away from it. I wish now that I had started a blog earlier because it would help me see what I accomplished in 2008. The only things that really stand out are:

1. Traveled to London, Norway, Denver, New York, San Antonio, New Orleans, Austin, Las Vegas, South Padre and Dallas

2. Completed 2 Houston Adventure boot camps - warm weather only for me

3. Started a new job in February 2008

4. Went skydiving for the first time.

5. Susan G. Komen 5K - 31:24 time

6. Learned NetTracker, ExactTarget, EpiServer and Sharepoint

Hubcap Grill

I have been reading excellent reviews about Hubcap Grill and decided I wanted to try it out. With people saying that it has the BEST burger in town I came with big expectation. So last Saturday the weather was perfect and with my husband and a friend joining me we headed over to the Hubcap Grill.

Now there are a few things you need to keep in mind before going to the Hubcap Grill. The first is that they have very little inside seating and the second is they only accept cash. When we arrived we saw that they have quite a few speciality burgers but since this was our first visit we wanted to stick to the basics. I ordered the cheeseburger with fries and then found a place to sit outside. Our orders were delivered to our table promptly and the food looked great. The bun they use seems like a ciabatta bun - I could be wrong. The patty was cooked perfectly and had just enough seasoning. The only thing that I can say that could be improved on is the fries. They are good do not get me wrong but there just is nothing special about them.

Entertainment while dining

While we were enjoying our meal we heard some commotion behind us. We look across the street and there are two girls fighting with a group of guys around them. Most of the guys are trying to break them up while another guy takes pictures. The girls kept following one another and starting back where they left off. Hair pulling, punching, bear hugs you name it we saw it. They did stop long enough to get a free Christian rap CD that someone was giving away downtown. Now where can you get a great burger and street entertainment! My overall impression of Hubcap is good and the entertainment we saw just guarantees that I will not forget my experience anytime soon. If you get a chance you should check the place out. It lives up to the rave reviews and who can pass up on an great burger.