Limes Are Scarce

I really like tequila. I usually drink margaritas. My favorite recipe is with fresh limes. Limes are scarce. Really-there was a news story where drug cartels are now in the business of hijacking lime shipments and ransoming them back. Limes. Really? The ones at the grocery store are getting punier and punier, so I decided I needed a new way to drink my tequila. OK, besides just straight up drinking it. Anyway, here is my solution for when I don't feel like juicing the mini-limes. ?Drug cartels?

The Limes are Scarce
3oz tequila
2oz cranberry cocktail
2oz Orange Juice
1oz peach schnapps

It's sweet and fruity and would be good frozen, too. It also turns out a nice happy coral color.

I was at the local Spec's (soooo much wine, beer and liquor) and struck up a conversation about tequila with the rep. He told me the best tequila is 100% blue agave. That's what I'm drinking now. It's really good andI chose the one with a pretty bottle.

Aha Toro Tequila

In related news, the new keg is tapped and while awaiting return for deposit the empty keg is sitting out in the living room. Enter Bo. He knows there's beer in there- even if it's just a couple drops. So he licks the keg. And licks. And licks. 

Empty Shiner Bock Keg

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. No plans, both kids spent the night at different friends houses. Correction, I plan to sleep in. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's!

Catch up!

Whew!! It's been busy here in Houston the last couple of weeks. After the last installment we had visitors -not the scary outer-space kind- the friends form Boston kind! That's right the Cohens came down April 19th- 24th. It was so great to see them! We took them to some of our favorite restaurants and they explored Houston on their own some, too. The Easter Armadillo visited the girls and we dyed eggs. It was sad to see them go but the Herrin Hacienda had to quickly ready itself for the next guests- my parents! Mimi and Beep-Beep drove down from North Carolina to check out the new homestead in person. We fed them well, introduced our new friends and took them to a crawfish festival. Mimi even wore her cowboy boots! They were here from April 24th-29th. Chuck and I celebrated our 17 year anniversary while there were here- we all went to Taste of Texas. So yummy!

With all that going on, plus the regular stuff it's hard to keep track of what happened when so here's a random brain dump of whats been going on… and then some follow up pictures.

Tomball Crawfish Festival- very small, Chuck like the crawfish OK, I had beer and fried pickle and Chuck bought a chair that should be delivered tomorrow.

W got 2 tortoises. They're redfoots- should be 8-10 pounds when fully grown. They're supposed to be females, and are about 3 months old. Their names are Shelly and Gloria. When they're a year they can live outside here especially in the summer, but for now they're in W's room.

Chuck finally finished off the keg of Shiner Bock and we hooked up the Dos Equis Amber 1/6 barrel this evening. A big thank you to all that helped drain that Shiner keg, and a big hugs to Matthew Cohen from Chuck for getting the coordinating Dos Equis Amber tap handle.

Mom and Dad helped me plant some more in the back yard. I've added a kiwi, a pomegranate, 3 more hibiscus and 4 more foxtail ferns. I also discovered that I have a bumper crop of volunteer passion flowers! I always wanted to plant them in NC but you have to get the one that are cold hardy. Here I have them as weeds! I'm letting some of them grow now that I know what they are, but left unattended they would totally take over my garden.

I've been getting a few cherry tomatoes and even picked 5 blueberries the other day. Then zucchini is not far behind and there are a few peppers forming. It's crazy how much earlier things are here.

Our shower is done! Glass and all. I also added a bench with guest linens, a Mickey curtain and some Mickey art to W's bathroom.

Sewing was on hold while the visitors were here since the sewing room is the guest room. I have since finished some mothers day gifts that are currently on their way to NC. No pictures- its a surprise!

Best margarita recipe- 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice, 2 oz blue agave tequila, 1 oz grand marnier, 1/2 oz light agave nectar.

The girls have 4 weeks of school left.

Chuck's parents are visiting soon and taking the kids back to NC for an extended visit.

And now assorted supporting photos.

Not the haul we're accustomed to- but ours.

Fresh margarita! The ice cubes are Texas shaped! 

Gloria and Shelly enjoying a banana slice

W's bath

Best weed ever

Tapping the Dos Equis- see the awesome tap handle?

Ok, now that we're back to a normal schedule, I'll try not to lag behind again.

Birthday, Shower, Crawfish and Some Sewing

Ok, running a bit behind- oops. Last Tuesday was my birthday. Chuck took the day off and we went to a Texas gun store, and when the kids got home we went to Taste of Texas. Yum! Happy Birthday to me!

My apple dumpling dessert

Chuck's Tomahawk Steak

The guys finished our shower - we're only waiting for the glass to be installed but that's a different group and they come on the 29th.

There's another shower head and handheld on the other wall,too. 

Last weekend, our neighbors had a crawfish boil to celebrate their anniversary. Chuck wheeled over the kegorator and had good food, cold beer, fun times with friends. For their anniversary gift, I appliquéd a couple of personalized kitchen towels.

Crawfish kitchen towels

Chucks plate of crawfish and bowl of butter

This week has been spent getting ready for our visitors- the Cohen's and my parents will be visiting the great state of Texas soon. Yay! In addition to the towels I was able to get some other stuff made- some is a secret still. So glad to have some time to be creative!

For my Mom's birthday - a Texas potholder

Texas quilted placemats for me

More after this weekend with Easter stuff happening. I'm making a Peeps Trifle that I found a recipe for on pinterest. Should be fun. Plus all the other Easter goodies. Have a great weekend!

Armadillos!! Real ones this time!!

Finally! Armadillos! That's this weeks big news- for me anyway.  Today, we went to the Pearland Crawfish Festival.  I bought a Groupon for it, knowing that Chuck is really excited about the start of crawfish season, and on the website they listed Armadillo Racing as some of the entertainment-bonus! We headed out this morning in spite of the wet weather and drove the 45 minutes southeast to Pearland. On the way, Chuck read some reviews and actually decided not to get any crawfish- instead he ate all kinds of other cajun food- alligator, boudin, and shrimp meat pie and I had the jambalaya. 

Then it was time for the races! The kids were finishing up a bungee bounce ride so I headed on over. I met the dillos and got to pet Van Gogh, and watched the other racer wander around the track. The kids and Chuck made it over and enjoyed the company of the critters just before race time. They are so freaking cute! At race time- they asked for volunteers. Yes, I did! W did, too. We got to go in with the armadillos, hold them by the tail and then herd them to the finish line. My race buddy, Quesa-dillo, won! Bean was racing Speed Bump and the other volunteer had H. Ross Burrow. Then, I petted all the armadillos. I really love those little guys! Totally worth the time, money and rain to go see them. 

The company that does the armadillo racing, The Sparks Agency, also does other Texas themed events for parties. I think I need a whopper of a 40th birthday party complete with armadillos and longhorn. Got that honey? You have a year to prepare. Friends and family- you have a year to make your travel arrangements. There will be armadillos. Now for the pictures...

W and M pet Van Gogh

Seriously- How cute is that?

He peeked in my boot

On your mark..

Get set

Go! Ok, so Quesa-Dillo got a little turned around. 

Van Gogh officiating

 In more mundane news the shower is coming along slowly- hopefully it will be done Tuesday. Most of the wall tile is up- just a few trim pieces left and they still need to do the floor tile. We tried a new Italian restaurant, La Parmigana, the food was really good and fresh, service could have been better. We also had some Chinese delivery, Hunan River Bistro. Our neighbor recommended this one and it was very good. We had some neighbors over to the patio for beverages, Chinese food and we even roasted marshmallows on the fire pit. The kids played out in the yard and on the playset till the wee hours. It was a good night.

This week is my birthday week! We're going to Taste of Texas for my birthday dinner, YUM! Chuck is getting me big tires for the Jeep on Wednesday. The shower should be done, and we're going to Collectors Firearms one day! Woot! Now that I have my license…. YAY!

It's not long before Casa Herrin will have visitors! We're really looking forward to showing everyone around and sharing Houston with you- and we MISS you!

I'll leave you this week with a picture of naughty Butter, caught in the act. Nope, not getting food, but balls. The kids got balls for their birthday and Butter needed them. Silly bulldog.

April Already?

Time flies- we've been Texans for 3 months now. I am documented- I have my Texas drivers license! Now we can file for homestead exemption on our property taxes and get our Texas CHL. Yay!

This last work week was more on maintenance than adding new. I did get a low fence added to the back yard to keep the dogs on their side to do their business. Makes scooping easier and Great Danes poop a lot.  All the plants are doing well, the weather has been great- spring is here! Hopefully it will stick around for a while before letting summer in.

I did find a couple of garden shops with yard art- this time I went with concrete. I added a grumpy frog, an armadillo, an alligator, an otter and a Texas shape. I need to get some landscaping fabric down, some mulch and a few more plants- maybe this weekend.

Texas

Otter and my blooming peach hibiscus

Frog sitting by the lemon tree

Over the weekend, the kids had their birthday party at IT'Z. It went very well. There are rides and arcade games and bowling and a buffet -and on and on. The kids have already said they want to do the same thing next year. Soooo much easier than the parties I throw them myself.

After the party, we went to the German Heritage Festival in Tomball. It was a very large event with rides, games, vendors, musicians, food and of course BEER!  We didn't stay very long, but had a good time. Chuck and I got our beer boots, he had sausages, I had strudel. The girls had ice-cream, root beer and got their faces painted. They even tried to ride a bull. 

Oh, no! An empty boot!

M's design

W's fire breathing dragon and a root beer

Sunday we tried a another Mexican restaurant recommended by our neighbor called Gringos. We got an appetizer sampler- the southwest rolls were my favorite and the empanadas were really yummy, too. Chuck got fish tacos that he really enjoyed, the kids got nachos and I got a combination with an enchilada, nachos, and a taquito. It was really good, I think Lupe Tortilla is still my favorite, though.

On Monday, Chuck got his present of a kegerator.  While set up was a little more involved than I had planned for, we now have fresh beer on tap-woot! Currently, it's a super frothy pour but hopefully after getting the pressure set right it'll be more liquid and less foam.  It was later than expected when we went to get the C02 tank filled so we stopped at another Mexican restaurant, Chuy's- since I was starving and we had heard good things and there was no wait.  First, they have really good sweet tea- not all that easy to come by here, next their salsa fresca is amazing, and they have a jalapeño sauce to dip in thats great as well. The enchiladas I had were good, Chuck got a giant steak burrito, M got mini tacos and W got a hamburger. Everybody was happy with their meal.  We'll definitely go back- just the chips and dip assure that!

Ready to go!

Today is an exciting day, too! It's shower remodel day! The guys from Statewide Remodeling are here and currently they are demolishing the old shower/tub. Hopefully, they'll be done in time for the plumbers to get in today, too, so we can keep this along. The dogs are doing pretty well with the intrusion- some noises get them barking, and Butter is a bit scared of the trashcan they keep rolling in and out. 

Bye-bye, tiny shower!

On another interior decorating note- I got my birthday present from my parents in the mail last weekend- 4 bulldog pillows. They go great in the round chair! 

Best chair ever-complete with bulldog pillows and real bulldog!

This week is pretty much reserved for babysitting the workers, but this weekend we have a Groupon to the Pearland Crawfish Festival. Yum! I'll be back to share...

Rodeo Houston and Lazy Danes Farm is back!

Sort of.  More of a mini-farm now but more on that shortly.

First, our new restaurants…

Sassafrass Cajun - it's crawfish season here in Houston. Chuck got a pound and some boudin balls. Madison had the shrimp and I had a shrimp po'boy.  Willow just had the kids burger. It was good. Chuck enjoyed his crawfish. Willow tried a little bit of one and then played with another.

Willow playing with dinner

Backyard Smokehouse and Ranch Bakery- I had the redneck nachos-homemade chips which BBQ, jalapeños, black beans, corn, sour cream and tomatoes- yum. Chuck had the snakebite burger- jalapeños and jalapeño sauce- he says it was quite good. Madison and Willow both enjoyed their burgers. Chuck also had some Texas kolaches for an appetizer- venison, jalapeño sausage and brisket. Those were enjoyed by all 3 of them. I tried the pie fries- they tasted like home made brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts. We also got some bakery to go.  A cinnamon roll, a strawberry fried pie and a cupcake. The cinnamon roll was great. I'll report on the others later. Will definitely return! 

The big event this week was the Houston Rodeo! Since it was our first time, we just chose a Saturday, got 150 carnival tickets and headed out. We definitely made some mistakes, but we had a good time and will be returning next year wiser. We parked at the West Loop park and ride and took  Metro bus to the arena. First, we went to the livestock and shopping area. Sooooo much cuteness!! Sheep, donkeys, chicks, pigs, cows, goats, horses and on and on. We found some custom western furniture that we will likely replace our great room sectional with at some point. Saw a bunch of Texas -y stuff but I refrained so I wouldn't have to carry it around and there's always the internet. Chuck and I ask got our boots shined, and the girls and I got our picture taken with a longhorn!

Boot shine

Cow

Next, we grabbed some lunch and headed to the carnival part. It was the kids favorite. It was fine- more rides and games than the Dixie Classic Fair. They rode and played out their 150 tickets very quickly. Chuck was almost miserable, he sat in the shade while they rode. The only thing he wanted to do was play the shooting game- and he almost got it. I'm not sure how we would've gotten a bicycle home if he had won, though. 

Coaster

Something whirly

Chuck shooting

Our last stop was the actual Rodeo event. We headed into the arena and found our seats. We were way up but in the center so we could see fine and they put everything on the jumbotron. It was the finals, and we saw calf roping, bareback bronc, saddle bronc, steer wrestling, barrel racing, team roping and bull riding. Then a shootout for the $50,000 winners. Then they had chuck wagon racing and the 4H calf scramble- where 28 kids chased 22 calves, and if they caught them and haltered them they get to keep the, raise them and show them at next years rodeo. Chuck and I really enjoyed the rodeo events- the girls liked some of them but got bored and we left before the concert. The Band Perry played following the rodeo, but we're just not big country fans so we packed it in- it had been a long day.

What I learned- if you're going to do it all, don't try to do it in one day. Leave Chuck at home when we do the carnival, and leave the kids at home for the rodeo/concert. We'll have a better idea of the layout next year- but getting back to the park'n ride was kinda a cluster fuck. Saturday is crazy crowded, so we'll try during the week next year. 

Calf roping

Chuck Wagon Races

And now- the return of Lazy Danes Farm. We really can't do livestock here at the house. If the kids do 4H or FFA there are barns around, but for now we'll have to settle for crops. I went on a planting spree this weekend with more planned. So far- tomatoes, peppers, lime, grapefruit, avocado, blueberries and banana. I threw in 2 hibiscus for the pretty, also.  Yay!

banana

3 hibiscus- blue, red and peach

avocado

lime

raised bed with tomatoes and peppers, blueberries in containers

grapefruit

Butter helping clean up the pots

Butter and Bo with the pot

 My last find for the week was Gramen Dairy. In Texas it is legal to sell raw milk!!! It's not goat- their website had goat milk but they had stopped selling it already. I did bring home some cows milk, raw local honey and some grass fed beef. It's pricey and out of the way so it won't be an all the time thing but it's nice to know its there and available. They also had some Pyrenees or Pyrenees mix puppies and I DID NOT leave with one. Extra credit for me!

For the coming week- I'll be adding some more plants, mulch, and general yard maintenance. We're also going to get an estimate on a sprinkler system so I can keep all this stuff alive when it heats up here this summer. Then, next weekend is the kids birthday party.

New York, NY? Why not?

The Herrins went on a spring break trip to New York City! Well, us girls did anyway- Chuck was there on work and we tagged along. We headed out on Monday afternoon and returned today. We had a great time and the Cohen girls came down to hang out with us, too!

We stayed in the financial district since that's where Chuck's meeting were. Our hotel was the Hilton Millennium- right across the street from 9/11 ground zero. The room was small and  had 2 double beds- we ended up getting a rollaway after the 2nd night of no one sleeping because they were hanging off the bed.

While Chuck was in meetings we did the touristy thing. This was my first time in the big apple and we did as much as we could- Central Park, The MET, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, The Lion King on Broadway, The Merrill Lynch Bull, St. Paul's Cathedral, and general sightseeing. The girls and I learned to navigate the subway and crowded streets and it was AWESOME! They did so well and we had a ton of fun.

Tuesday we got up and picked up a subway map and directions from the concierge and headed out. It was a rocky start- having never taken mass transit before, but a couple texts to Lisa and instructions from locals had us with a metro card and we were on our way.

Central Park was our first stop since we had a really pretty day. We just walked around, watched some street performers, played on playgrounds- it was a lot of walking and we still didn't see half of it. We even got to ride the carousel.

There was still huge snow pile- the kids were excited.

Belvedere Castle

Our next stop Tuesday was to the Empire State Building.  We stopped at the 86th observation deck and looked around and then decided to go on up to the 102nd floor. I'm glad we went up- but the view isn't noticeably better and instead of open air views it's glassed in.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from the 86th

Downtown Manhattan from the 86th- The tallest building is the new World Trade Center Building

Our hotel window overlooked this really cool old church and graveyard. Really old. On our way to the subway the day before I had looked through the gates at the tombstones and most were so thin  and weathered you couldn't even read them. Wednesday, while we waited for the Cohen's to arrive from Boston we looked around in the church.

The church is St. Paul's Chapel. It was built in 1764 and is the oldest standing church in Manhattan. It is still in service as a church, and it also houses a 9/11 memorial- they opened their doors as refuge from the recovery workers during the aftermath of the WTC collapse. Inside they have maintained the box that George Washington used 230 some years ago. The history there is palpable. After looking through the inside we wandered through the grave stones a bit.

Grave stones at St. Paul's Chapel

When we got the call from the Cohens we jumped in their car and headed uptown to get them into their hotel, next it was lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square and then we were off to The MET. So here are my thoughts on The MET- I was very excited to go and see works of art in person that I have seen on T.V., or read about but from now on I will just look them up on the internet. It is not an enjoyable place to walk around for me- it's very pretentious and breakable things are sitting out every where. It was not fun for the kids- they liked some of the stuff but for the most part were bored. Just not our thing.

All the girls with Van Gogh's self portrait

Best part of the museum? Feeding pigeons pretzels on the front stairs. 

After The MET, we headed back downtown to Battery Park to try to get a water taxi to the Statue of Liberty. The scheduling didn't work so we walked around on Wall Street a bit and took our picture with the Merrill Lynch bull.

Yay, Bull!

We went back to the Millennium to wait for Chuck, then we all went up to Times Square for diner at Planet Hollywood. We also went in the giant Toy's R Us and rode their indoor ferris wheel. Then the Disney Store. I love that the Disney Store had Disney/New York stuff. W got a stuffed Mickey in an I love NY shirt and M got a Minnie dressed as the Statue of Liberty.

Peeps Display at Toy's R Us

NY Mickey and Minnie

On Thursday the weather turned bitterly cold. It was 19 with a wind chill of 4. We bundled up and kept going. We met the Cohen party and went to breakfast at Burger Heaven, then to see Rockefeller Center, the NBC store, the M&M store and then back down to Battery Park to pick up a Statue of Liberty ferry. It was SO COLD!! The wind made it miserable to be outside.

At Rockefeller Center

Disco M at the M&M store

I ran outside on the ferry to get pictures

The kids came out briefly, too.

After that it was time for the Cohen's to head back to Boston. The girls and I enjoyed some downtime in the hotel waiting for Chuck to get back, then we all headed uptown to catch The Lion King on Broadway. It was excellent! We all enjoyed it immensely!

Headed into the theatre

This morning we had an early start to get to the airport, and we were on the ground in Houston by1:20. The trip was a lot of fun- I'm glad we decided to tag along with Chuck. We left so much undone but we'll go back. It was great to see the Cohen's- just wish it had been longer, and we can't wait until they come visit us here!

And I added 4 shot glasses to the collection

Now back to regularly scheduled Houston programing...