Steph's Halloween Dinner Party

My buddy (& neighbor), Stephanie, hosted a fabulous Thursday night Halloween girl dinner. Behold..

2 Lasagna: one eggplant, one turkey

Stir those beans Lisa!

Hostess with the mostess.

Spider web cookies AND worms!

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Lap Dog

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Julia Childs came for dinner?

From the looks of my pictures, my blog is turning into a FOOD blog :) During the week, cooking is what we do when we get home from work, so that's what I write about... and everybody likes to eat, right?!
  We had some superb French Onion soup at a little French restaurant while we were in Berlin. We decided to give it a go ourselves because neither Ross nor I had ever made it before. We found Julia Childs French Onion Soup recipe online and that's what we made. We used store bought beef broth and it lacked the richeness and robost color of the one in Germany. Next time we will try to use homemade broth. The lightly toasted french bread and the shredded Gruyere on top more than made up for the broth though! We also had some left over chicken pot pie with the soup because we couldn't possibly have a meal without meat! The pot pie was from Ellie Krieger's cookbook and we especially enjoyed the use of phyllo dough instead of a thick pie crust.

French Onion Soup

Chicken Pot Pie

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Grab a Steak Knife

Ross cooked some venison steaks last night. mmm, mmm, good. He didn't even use a recipe because it was one of those throw together what you got type meals to avoid the grocery store. We had a venison backstrap rolled up with goat cheese and shrimp inside, accompanied by a white wine/onion cream sauce with shrimp, AND caramelized sage carrots. yum^2.

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Sunny Skies

We have had such a great weekend so far, in part because the Houston weather has been abnormally wonderful.  Ross & I went to dinner & a show with Andrea & Clay on Friday night. We ate at a place downtown called REEF. We will definitely go back :)

Amberjack.

Crusted Redfish with Fried Mac'N'Cheese Block.

After dinner we went to go see the comedian Brian Regan at Verizon Theater. If you haven't heard of him you should definitely look him up on YouTube. He is known for having clean jokes, with no profanity, but that definitely doesn't hinder the laughs.

Today we took Roma to the "Fall Hoe Down" at Waggin Tails Pet Ranch (where we board her sometimes). Ross & I had fun watching her run around/swim with the other dogs. We also picked out a big ole fat pumpkin while we were there. I'm hoping to do some carving tomorrow... After the pup ranch, Ross & I headed to a Texas Country Music concert. We saw one of our favorites, Ryan Bingham, and we were able to meet up with Adam, Ross's brother, will we were there. As an Air Force pilot they occassionally get to select where they are going to fly to and Adam flew a jet to Houston for the concert-- how cool is that??!

The pool was shaped like a dog bone.

The Pumpkin Patch

Ryan Bingham Concert

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Just call me Marble Slab

Is there anything better than vanilla ice cream with your choice of mix-in? Perhaps it will be a homemade cookie, hmm chocolate chunk or oatmeal raisin pecan? Or maybe graham crackers, cinnamon, & pecans? I crave crunched up dark chocolate peanut M&M's most evenings.... I just finished my bowl, can you tell?

Monday is officially the first day of my new assignment! I will be working Gulf of Mexico, which really just means oil instead of gas. I'll be located in a new building and everything... a mere 10 floors away from Ross!

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MRS. Albright!

Ross & I went to Will & Juli's wedding (~20 min outside Austin) on Saturday night. It was a small backyard ceremony, held outside in the beautiful Texas hill country. The weather couldn't have been better. Saltlick BBQ, an Austin favorite, was located just down the street from the house and catered some delicious food for the occasion. The best part of the whole night was how happy Will & Juli both looked. I'm pretty sure Juli didn't stop smiling once...

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Cough Cough

I'm sick yet again! Houston weather can't decide weather to be hot & muggy or cool and it's taking my sinuses right along on the ride. Went to the doctor and got some medicines, so hopefully will shake this cough soon. We had a delicious mid-week dinner last night. I am slowly but surely cooking through Ellie Krieger's cookbook, which I so adore. Last night was wild mushroom green beans and chicken cacciatore over whole wheat penne. Two thumbs up!

We are heading to Austin this weekend to attend my friend Juli's wedding. I had dinner with her on Tuesday and she was so CALM :) !! I'm really looking forward to her BIG day.

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Rain Rain Go Away

Ross & Adam had their FIRST hunt at the ranch this weekend!! They are going to try and stick with bow hunting, which is much more difficult than using a rifle, etc.... It sounded like they had a great weekend. There is one less deer roaming the ranch...

While Ross was gone, I made a quick trip to Austin to rendezvous with my cousin, Courtney, who was visiting a friend in Dallas.  We had such a nice day of catching up before she headed back to Dallas. Wheew!

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Home Sweet Home

We got home from our trip on Sunday, but I think part of me is still on vacation :) It was a truly amazing trip, with surprisingly very little hiccups.  Trains are the primary mode of transportation there and it just makes getting around so easy.  Ross took German in college and it was really useful in some of the small, local restaurants and shops we went to. I think my german vocabulary was up to about 15 words by the time we left. The important phrases I learned were:

"Ich möchte einen Kaffee mit mager Milch." 
(I want a coffee with skim milk)
"Es ist mein Geburtstag!" 
(It is my birthday!)

Overall, Munich and Nurnberg were our favorite cities. Both are large cities, but they have managed to retain an Old-World feel with lots of character. Every city we visited had it's own royal Residenz or Schloss (palace), with an equally impressive garden. One of our favorite activities was walking and reading in the beautiful palace gardens. For the most part, there was little to no evidence of damage caused during WWII, which surprised us. Most of the historical buildings have been restored to their original splendor. Some of the palaces were hit harder than others, with many of the ceiling frescos missing and a plaque stating "lost in WWII bombing."  Some of the most moving experiences of the trip were visiting the Nazi Party Rally Ground in Nurnberg, the Dachau concentration camp outside Munich, and the Jewish Museum in Berlin. I really enjoyed going to an opera, Don Carlo, in Vienna. Yes, I did say OPERA! We snagged cheap standing room tickets and stayed for 4 acts, which is all we needed, but it was a great experience. I never could understand how an audience could be enraptured by songs in a different language, but there are little translator machines at every seat!

I was skeptical of German food before we left, but that notion was dispelled pretty quickly. I stuck with fresh fish and turkey, while across the table Ross was eating every kind of weiner schnitzel and bratwurst he could get his hands on. :) They serve up sauerkraut with most traditional dishes and that stuff is so good when it's done right. Mmmm. Now, onto the bakeries, oh, the bakeries! There is a bakery on every street, each serving up the most delicious breads, pretzels, and pastries imaginable!! I ate a pretzel EVERY morning we were there. Pretzels were topped with your choice of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, gouda cheese, and the classic sea salt. MMM. It is my mission to try my hand at making these at home. We shall see...

We decided on the plane ride home that we could definitely live in Germany if the opportunity ever presented itself!

We took definitely took lots of pictures. ALL the pictures are posted here. Beware! There are quite a few! If you want a brief summary check out this album, Part 1 and Part 2. Hope you enjoy!

Love,
E&R

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We're Home!

We arrived home last night, safe and sound! We had a great trip. Details and pictures will follow soon... stay tuned!

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