BIGGER

looks like they are closing in on her... 

no where to run...

no escape...

BIG

choreographed by michelle thompson (red dress above)

blanton museum musician-in-residence, steve parker, tromboned a soundscape in this dark nook.

large band with fun sounds and instruments, guy held up different symbols towards the musicians.

we also watched a great jazz band.  they did their own version of Nuclear War by Sun Ra.   

"what you gonna do? without your ass?  it's a muther-f..."

(found that yo la tengo also cover nuclear war)

Mission/Missions (How to build a Cathedral) by Cildo Meireles

this room was going wild, kids were playing with all those pennies.  we usually tell the kids not to touch...  but we got a bit out of hand. 

the museum docent came over and made it clear "the kids are NOT allowed to lay on the pennies".  now we know, you can pick them up and drop them, but not lay on them.  now we know where our limit is. 

we enjoyed this event!  thanks to all who helped make it happen. 

there was talk about blazer-tag, but then we also heard about this game called "stacker" over at gatti-town, and the fantastic prizes to be won.  the chance to win a nintendo 3d or sony ps3 made his eyes bright with gamer enthusiasm.  then one morning he announced, "I think blazer-tag will be too scary, we should go to gatti-town".  he's been going to blazer-tag for years, this is the first we'd heard of any fear....

we arrived at gatti-town before 11.  it was funny how all four became immobilized as we walked by the theater-dining room.  they just stood there silently till I reminded them about all the games yet to be played.

I had given them each a card loaded with money to play games.  but they didn't want to use their credits to do the bumper cars, so I got a 5th card so I could pay separate.  they had other plans for their credits, BIG PLANS.

there it is!  STACKER!  just look at those prizes on display!  a ps3, a wii, apple tv!  WOW.  and only $2 per try....  HA!  I watched as boys lined up to quickly loose.  I'd remind them, "that was $2, you really want to play again?"  the stacker enthusiasm evaporated pretty quickly.  #1 son actually did pretty good, most kids didn't make it past three stacks.  but the end result was the same, a loss of $ for kids/parents.  the stacker machine retained its tight grip on the electronic bounty behind its plexiglass barrier.   

he had a few attempts at the claw game... at $1 per.  there was even a big giant wheel of chance, called the "BIG BASS WHEEL", another quick way to get rid of excess dollars-credits.  there was not much "game playing".  the arcade has become the kid version of a casino. 

I finally convinced them to play skee-ball.  at least that took up a bit more time and some hand-eye coordination. 

#1 son found the shortcut to high scores and token wealth. 

yeah, he plugged the 10,000 point hole with balls till they had enough to redeem for a real prize.  take that games of chance!

haha, yes, we got him pickle bandages and pickle mints.  he showed us he had an ouchie just waiting for a pickle application. 

funny, one of the other boys has nearly the same birth date.  as #1 opened a gift, this other boy said to me...

boy: that present was to me, but I didn't open it yet so I gave it to him

me: awesome.  re-gift!  hey?  aren't we coming to your house tomorrow?  for your birthday party?

boy: nods with enthusiasm

me: so.... maybe we can also re-gift?  you just might see that again... right?

boy: (uncomfortable grin)

kat made him an apricot crumb cake, topped with fresh strawberries.  she used the leftover fresh apricots to make preserves.  she's been busy with winter weather weekend kitchen projects. 

kat had taken  note that several of our forks have bent tines.  I had also noticed that we seldom have matching silverware.  we host dinner, and serve mismatched silver on plastic plates...  we dug out the real adult plates and bought new matching silverware service for 8!  it's almost like we are real grown-ups now?

I toss tomato, onion, garlic and rosemary with olive oil and a bit of salt and then into a warm oven for 3-4 hours.  the toms reduce, the garlic roasts and the onions turn brown and sugary.  I then put it into the blender and it's DELICIOUS.  I often use this mixture for a pasta or pizza sauce.  for the ravioli stuffing I mix it with ricotta and parmesan.

western party at cotillion:

the kids love the western dance themed cotillion party.  it gets a bit rowdy when they line dance around the room.

the older kids learned to "pretzel".  they spin and arms fly so fast... 

vegetarian pub grub:

billy's on burnett has a great beer selection and all the usual pub-grub food.  except almost everything they have has a vegetarian version; avocado reuben, vegetarian frito-pie and vegetarian philly cheese steak.  it was all pretty good, as was the live oak hefeweizen.  all pitchers of beer are $12 on wednesday. 

first yelp elite party of the year was at gibson.  free vodka drinks from three olives, free beer from real ale brewing (love that fireman's #4)...  yes, it was good.  very very good...

me and a couple of sweet-cakes... I'm like a king!

yummy food from Luke's inside out.  the savory cheesecake was delicious, kat said the pork thing was good as well (I'm not eating meat so I just doubled up on the liquids).  we also enjoyed cake balls from SugaPlump, rich smooth and decadent. 

a friend returned a stainless steel ladle we’d left at her house.  I tucked it into my jacket pocket, went on about enjoying the party.  I used my iphone to check in and was rewarded with a high five to be redeemed from kelly s. (yelp community manager for austin).  I found kelly, got my high five and just as we made contact, the big ladle fell out from the bottom of my jacket, onto the floor between us, with a loud clang.  I just scooped up my ladle and left kelly s. slack-jawed.  I figured it was best to keep my ladle with its shroud of mystery in tact. 

our friend amber affixed this name tag to the back of her driver for the evening "amber's bitch".  good clean fun and free vodka go together like peanut butter and jelly.... or like mulder and scully

happy good times as usual.  so we left to meet up with the kids at imperia, downtown austin.  sat in the Buddha ultra lounge and enjoyed happy hour half priced food.

it was good.

he loved the pad thai. 

the area we occupied is more like a casual living room.  two couches face each other with a low coffee table between.  it's perfect for us.  kat was queen of the place.

CAESARSTONE:

BIG

caesarstone and dwell are having a photo contest.  I took a pic of our apple martini island for an entry.

CHAPLIN COTILLIONS:

some kids get the idea that the cotillion dances wouldn't be fun.  a few kids don't enjoy it, but the overwhelming majority do.  and some are having a great deal of fun.  it makes me happy to see them enjoying themselves.

EQUISETUM BE GONE!

our once proud and tall horsetail plant (equisetum) has been sort of sad.  its job is to provide a bit of a privacy screen between the front door and the street.  we have decided to replace it with bamboo.  we recently received a much needed 5.65 inches of rain in one night.  the dirt was nice and soft.  made easy work for the removal.

then we moved in to make tri-colored ravioli.

the daughter harvested some greek oregano from our garden.

I baked some mushrooms in olive oil and garlic.  they get a bit crunchy and so flavorful.  #1 son says he loves them as much as bacon. 

I roasted a red pepper to add to some of the pasta, red pasta...

angel hair pasta/noodles!

fresh spinach provided the green pasta tint

I had been explaining to kat how I planned to make the tri-color pasta.  she's comfortable with complicated technical writing, but sometimes I can't easily explain verbally.  but once she saw what I was talking about, she was all set.  kat had a firm grasp of the operation and sent me away so she could finish by herself (she works best that way).  I had to go shower for our evening plans anyway. 

pretty pasta!

WHIP IN!

celebrating yet another birthday, I didn't tell anybody where I was taking them.  just that it would be casual.  the whip in started life as a convenience store on the i35 frontage road.  over years the indian family that owned it added indian food, and then they added draft beer and wine.... they even have a stage in there.

a total of 72 (yes, SEVENTY TWO) taps of beer with a very impressive assortment of belgian beers.  one of the signs read "finish your beer, there are sober kids in india" 

inside was very comfortable and inviting.  the table next to us enjoyed their beers and played games, and we all enjoyed the music and talked to strangers.... 

the indian food was good too, chana masala ($8) was good as were the samosas

three belgians and a texan (guess which one is from tx).  then back to austin modhouse for dinner.

sockeye salmon!  ok, I'm the sort of vegetarian that doesn't eat land animals.  salmon makes up a good part of my diet... a real good part indeed. 

the ravioli were stuffed with ricotta and parmesan along with the mushroom crisps and oregano.  I also made a salad with roasted red pepper, cayenne candied pecans, shrimp and a bleu cheese, honey and lemon dressing.  it was another good meal. 

some kids play with dolls or action figures.  he has decided this robot is his "baby"  he carries it around and cares for it.  it's fitting in some way, makes sense for today's tech saturated modern family.  at some point in the future it'll be the robots taking care of us, and yes, they will eventually turn on us and hack us all to pieces.... but for now, it's a cute baby he has.  at least he doesn't want a snake or a spider. 

we usually go to chinatown shopping center up north for chinese new years.  it gets bigger every year.  we had to park quite a distance and then fight the crowds.  the firecrackers were LOUD.  we ate some noodles while lions danced all over the center and the air became thick from firecracker smoke.

I think this lion is trying to intimidate me...

slightly less intimidating now...

TC noodle co. staff fed the lions lettuce and oranges, #1 son fed them dollars. 

BEHIND THE SCENES:

each dance crew has a support person that follows with a shopping cart filled with bottled water and bananas.  this guy ran over like it was an emergency.  he SLAMMED TWO bottles of water in seconds, squishing the bottles to get the water out faster.  then he ran back in for more lion actions. 

then a big truck pulled in with the next group of lions, dragons and drums.  this young man was very enthusiastic about his dragon waving.  they brought a lot of energy with them. 

this young man was so happy to get some time on the drums, they made him stop so they could unload.  he looked like he could keep drumming all day. 

lions all organized and lined up, lots of stretching to be done. 

stretch.... and....

I think this young man above is the lion tamer or Buddha

and IT'S ON!!  that lion tamer guy was going wild with that fan!

they made their way to the front of the MT market. 

we got our own lion!

we'd read about this, became curious and decided to give it a view.  it wasn't that easy.  we first tried to go on MLK day, only to find it was sold out.  sold out at $8 per person for a 20 minute viewing...  so we thought some more and doubled our effort.  I went early one morning and bought tickets.  the ticket lady advised me to show op before 3PM to avoid a long line, kids won't be all be out of school till 4PM, the last admission is 5PM...  this was getting complicated.  kat left work early to meet us, I went to p/u the daughter from school, but she forgot and got on the bus anyhow. 

the boys and I drove back home and waited the 30 minutes for the bus.  kat went ahead and got in line back at the long center.  we arrived at 4:45!  I paid $7 for parking, this was now nearly a $50 20 minute event.  but we got in.

I've noticed a lot of people got new DSLR cameras for christmas.  good for them.  unfortunately many of these people have NO idea what they have.  they find the auto modes, point, and click.  that works MOST of the time.  I've grown impatient with these dslr slingers who are ignorant of basic light knowledge.  like when we were at the dallas aquarium and people were trying to use the flash, in a dark space, up against a giant wall of glass, that reflects the flash back at the camera.  or at live shows when I see people using the flash for a subject that is WELL BEYOND the reach of their flash.  they preview the result on the back of the camera, lift it up and try again, and again.  we saw this once at the one world theatre.  the girl was blasting us all with her flash and not getting the band on stage at all.  she finally told us "it's not my camera, somebody gave it to me and asked me to take pictures"

anyhow, there are really only about 4 adjustments you should learn about your dslr:

shutter speed: length of time the sensor is exposed to light, faster to stop fast moving objects and slower to allow more light in

f-stop: size of the hole through the lens that adjusts depth of field (focus from shallow to infinite) and also how much light comes through (shutter speed and f-stop are the two main adjustments to set the pic)

digital cameras have brought two new manual in camera adjustments not present on film cameras

ISO: this is the sensitivity of your sensor to light.  lower numbers offer less noise and more detail, but need more light.  newer cameras have a huge iso range and if the pics are going to be sized down for web posting, high iso settings can still yield plenty of clarity and work in low light settings.

WB (white balance):  this is an adjustment for light source.  this is usually left to auto, but there are times when you need to change it to record the light as you see it.  super saturated color situations can really throw the AWB into messing up the color

for the pics above, I first bumped up the ISO to 1600, slowed my shutter down to 1/25 of a second and an F-stop of 7.1.  the blue color was WAY off in my test shots so I turned the white balance to Daylight.  a wide angle lens at 10mm was used to get the most of the small-ish spaces.  regular focal length lens would have captured bits and pieces. 

I try to avoid using a flash unless for fill-flash, as seen below.  yes, you can shoot directly into the sun and use fill flash to light your subject if you don't want them to appear as silhouettes.

if you can't wrap your head around all that, just use your iphone.  it's pretty damn good for a point and shoot with enough light. 

BIG

BIG

on the way to the mirazozo luminarium, I saw a guy riding a bike that was about 12 ft tall.  he was at a red light, working hard not to tip over and land on the roof of the car next to him.  he managed to keep it up and slowly advanced when the light turned green.  at the next red light I saw a guy riding his bike, shirtless, with his cat on his shoulders...  it's good to live in austin. 

the chocolate fountain is the stuff dreams are made of. 

I have spent SO MUCH TIME working on removing body damage and repainting the wife's "72 bmw 2002.  it used to be mine, but she started driving it regularly and fell in love with it so...  the paint and bodywork are not perfect, but I've reached the point of "it's good enough" and I'm putting it back together.  bit by bit and piece by piece, another vehicular puzzle.

temps have been in the mid to high 70's!  went for a neighborhood walk, this is the downtown view from our street. 

I've told kat that all decisions about fixing up her barn/cabin on the blanco river near wimberley were up to her.  there are a few things that have to be done FIRST.  I've learned when she starts off with "I had an idea" I should not respond with "another one?".  she has ideas for shelves and flooring and walls...  I am more about what needs to be done first and I'm trying to not help (lead) any decisions.  I did offer that "a window that swings out from one side" is called a casement window.  they are not that common, and certainly not cheap.  she found some on craigslist, but they are MUCH too big for her cabin.  but after she saw how much they cost new, I was dispatched to go get them anyhow.  so now I have to build a home around two jeld wen 2'x7' casement windows.  we gotta start somewhere.  at $130 each, it was a bargain.  but now we have more stuff to store and the garage is about to burst. 

]]> tag:austinmodhouse.com,2012:/blog//1.567 2012-01-16T16:41:54Z 2012-01-16T17:20:42Z

after a fantastic lunch at the leaning pear.  we have started our annual vegetarian schedule. 

we found that somebody had come to look at the off-grid property and got stuck in the mud!

it's always the river, blanco river where we really relax. 

it's january but temps have been in the high 60's and low 70's all week.  the boys had to get their feet wet.

kat hatched an idea to make pasta, I reminded her we have a pasta making machine deep in the pantry.  I also suggested ravioli.  and so we did....

the daughter made beer bread.

I osterized some fresh spinach to add to the pasta.  watch out kat!  that spinach pasta is trying to get into your grapefruit juice mixture!

I mixed up some goat cheese with sun dried tomato and a bunch of fresh oregano from the garden.  we sealed it up with egg wash.

some fresh basil that we brought inside before the freeze and a bottle of brazin.  I had some leftover leek stock from soup I took to a party on new years day, combined that with a cream of sun dried tomato for the sauce and it all made for a great sunday night meal at home.

daughter's beer bread was the best I ever had.  my dad had sent us home with a bunch of the shiner holiday beer "cheer".  he didn't like it, and we found we didn't like it either.  has peach and pecan in it and ....  just doesn't work.  however, it makes GREAT beer bread. 

while driving down fischer store road, between wimberley property #1 and #2, we saw this....  we had to pull over.  my long term plan is for kat and I to have something like this to pull behind a vintage van.  these "canned ham" trailers are light enough for most vehicles and plenty room for two adults.  I noticed an old man giving us an eagle eye from the porch of an old house up the hill.  I waved but got no return signal.  then I heard "clip-clop, clip-clp, clip-clop"  he was hobbling down the driveway fast as he could scoot those boots.  his bright blue eyes all shiny with enthusiasm.

our three kids patiently sat in the car as he told us all about his life.  the beauty of eastern tenessee, his years working for dolly parton, his wife that passed away a few years ago and the fun they had camping in their 30 ft allumalite. 

I hope that if I get to his age, I'm still as enthusiastic about the life I've led.  he didn't know much about these trailers or how much his grandson was asking for them, but he was happy to have guests.  I now know all about eastern tennessee and the blizzard of '93, he'd start over every five minutes or so. 

odd river house find:

the property we bought on the blanco river has an old house on it.  it needs to be torn down.  the place was never cleaned out.  it's full of old books, clothes and misc junk (including the two hole bowling ball I tried to use).  I sift through the debris every visit, hoping to find burried treasure. 

walking around the back yard, I spotted this...  a small casket lid.  looks like (hoping) it was never used. 

the placque says:

NAME

DATE

same stand, new year.  I had to make all the selections, the kids were completely uninterested in looking at and picking out fireworks, except #2 son who wanted to hold "bombs" in the car.

the weather was to nice too let the kids sit indoors playing video games and watching dr who.  the daughter has a dr who marathon each day.  #1 son made it clear he was disinterested.

lunch at the blanton cafe was pretty cheap with my member's discount.

further expression of disinterest from #1 son.

"this is where they store all their money!"   the daughter enjoyed the museum, #1 son and I left on bad terms.  lost his gaming privileges that day, he did.

NEW YEARS EVE:

back in the early 80's, my dad went to japan a few times, as guest of the sony corporation.  one of the things he came home talking about was this "shabu-shabu" dish.  for years, I have imagined this exotic and foreign food.  recently there has been talk of making it ourselves and this seemed like a good opportunity to try something new.  our friends acquired the devices and the food stuffs to make nabemono, or nabe.  shabu shabu is a variety of nabe.

I set the studio light on a boom over the table.  the table top burner and nabemono/shabu shabu pot in place.

pretty to look at and nibble on, just like the ladies. 

then it hit us!  we combined our love of the ruby red grapefruit from the rio grand valley and our love of the french 75 cocktail and it was born!  the french rio grand 803!, grapefuit juice, plymouth gin, a bit of organic agave nectar, shake and pour over ice, top with champagne.  MAN I'M TELLIN YA!  that was GOOD STUFF!

it was fun, not the kind of meal you enjoy in a hurry.  I like it.  sort of like an asian version of fondue.

using spoons to make chicken balls to cook in the broth.

happy/pretty girls

we used fireworks to frighten away the evil spirits.

fun with sparklers and slow shutter times.

and while I had the light out... 

it may not be the two thousand dollar dress from neiman marcus, but the wife filled out a new dress for new years eve.  and as the hour came closer...  I showed my true self.  a man-squirrel hybrid. 

I had mentioned how much I used to enjoy window shopping at stanley korshack at the crescent court... kat asked that I take her this trip.

I knew there would be a charge to park in their underground garage, the rate was posted.  what we did not know is that they were closed on monday 12-26, the day after christmas (when every other store in dallas is open and packed with customers).  so we walked around the fountain, got back in the vehicle and was prepared to pay my $1.50 for thirty minutes (the posted rate). 

I was surprised when the machine said I owed $5, real surprised.  so much so that I turned the engine off and pressed the help button on the machine.  the security guy explained that $5 was the weekend rate.  I explained that MONDAY is not the weekend.  he was unimpressed with my knowledge and countered with "today is a HOLIDAY SIR!  holiday rate is the same as weekend rate, but I'll open the gate for you".  I hadn't prepared our trip to the nice pretty store to result in debate, but I had grown impatient.  "had I known you were having a HOLIDAY today, I would not have ENTERED your parking garage, there is no need for me to visit a store that is closed and I don't see why anybody should have to pay MORE for your HOLIDAY".  it went back and forth like this a few times until there was silence, and the gate opened.  the kids asked "dada?  are you angry?" 

and that is how it went.  things were MUCH better at the highland park village.  easy free parking and all the stores were open.

our last trip to dallas had us loving der scharfe maxx cheese from scardello's, can’t find it in austin.  we found ourselves outside molto formaggio at highland park village and checked to see if they had some.  they were amused by our request, said der scharfe maxx had been rejected by their customers as being "too strong".  we were laughed at the ides of DSM being too strong, this seemed to be a challenge to them.  samples of several cheeses were promptly issued. 

we loved the challerhocker (32.95 per lb) and got a big chunk of it.  they drafted #1 son to be a temporary employee, without employee discount benefits.  also enjoyed were Grayson and Mont des Cats (both 29.95 per lb)

#2 son started to throw a fit.  his mood was swiftly corrected by a scoop of free jellybelly beans by the shop owner.  they have made long term customers of us!

I used to work in men's retail fashion, at norhthpark mall.  1987, I wore designer clothes and I took designer.... ah never mind.  it's a nice mall with nice stores and I thought maybe, just maybe there was a slim chance I could find a new jacket on sale.  my thrift store purchased armani jacket has finally failed.  barney's is a beautiful store with beautiful items and I found a sales associate with her lovely head of purple hair and we found some beautiful jackets marked 50% off.  at that price there were still about a thousand dollars, or about 10x my jacket budget.  we moved on.

we found some beautiful dresses at neiman marcus, kat could have filled them nicely.  but when #2 son ran straight into the dress display, only to find there was a shelf corner behind the pretty $2,000 dress...  a bruised face he did receive.

all the regular stores were PACKED.  often thirty people waiting in line just to purchase.  and #2 son was not cooperating...  this was not fun.  I asked kat and the kids if there was ANYTHING they wanted to shop for, anything they wanted or any store.  they wanted nothing.  I should be thankful, but it made the whole being at the mall thing sort of silly.  so we looked at the art.

Jonathan Borofsky (American, born 1942)
Five Hammering Men, 1982

northpark center has a fantastic modern art collection including several works by andy warhol and frank stella. 

the anatole has 1606 guest rooms.  I'll bet no more than 20 were occupied the day after christmas.  we took the opportunity to explore the huge spaces by ourself.

the anatole also hosts a large private art collection, over 1,000 pieces with an emphasis on asian art.  the hand painted plate above is one of ten that have survived the firing process.

what?  roll down the stairs?  sure, nobody else is here.  go for it.  they rolled all over that hotel.

two huge atrium allowed for some running, rolling and relaxing.

I had read up on the hotel restaurants and such.  I figured the family would like Media bar+grill and their interactive bar.  but it wasn't that impressive, my iphone is more impressive.  an ipad is MUCH more impressive.  it took 30 mins to come out of sleep mode.  and when it did wake up, it didn't recognize my touch. #2 son had the best response, it followed his touch.  just more proof that I'm a hollow soul-less shell of a man.  thanks ibar.

meddlesome moth:

you can see the kids were excited to be there.  I'd asked them what they want to eat and the answer I got was "enchiladas" (not on their menu).  I let the two older kids each order something.  they got brussel sprout salad and an organic green leaf salad; good for them.

the service, food and beer were all excellent (fennel meat balls above were really good).  I was quickly worn down by dealing with uncooperative kids.  #2 son threw a fit because they didn't give any crayons.  I asked the hostess to find us some, she did, and then he threw them.  #1 son was laying down or putting his napkin over his head...  I was about to explode.  had to take #2 son outside for a talk. 

their attitudes changed when the dessert came.  should have ordered that first!

two sections of the berlin wall at the anatole.

a portrait of mao and a plaque that noted that it was part of history and the anatole does not support mao or his communist party cohorts.

we searched for something to interest the kids, dallas world aquarium.

there must have been something of interest over my shoulder.  but #1 son's attention span did quickly dissolve.  about fifteen minutes into the $85 aquarium trip, he started to indicate every exit.  "is this the end?  it says exit, can we exit now?" and so on he went.

shark tube under the water.

shark tank from above, you can see the people walking through the tube. 

the flamingos had the correct color balance and composition. 

A FEW BEFORE CHRISTMAS PICS:

kat's dome cake was a HUGE success.  congratulations to my wife for a baking success!

went to our best local korean bbq place, cook it ourself, we did.  requested the lettuce leaves too!  better than last time, but not the best korean bbq we've had.  but the best option in austin we've found.

we visited the twin sisters winery more than two years ago.  cellared these two bottles and finally opened them up for a tasting.  the reserve bottle was my favorite, very oaky, not bad!

had Christmas at my dad's house.  some things remain constant and some things have changed (same fancy table setting, new wife and house).

his fried turkey was as good as ever.  we realized how my thanksgiving turkey was not nearly as good as it should have been.

the kids enjoyed running in his big flat back yard, he did not enjoy the dirt they tracked all over his new flooring.

with his new wife, we get new step family.  we are all grown and have family of our own, so nobody used the "step" word.  it's great  having some fresh faces around the christmas tree, after a brief time to get adjusted to looking at the new people/family over a good meal.  we've all done it before, no big deal. 

you know he had to get some pickles.

#1 son got sidetracked by a game of strategy with someone new.  he completely forgot about his stack of presents yet to be opened. 

then he walked away from the whole present opening event... left his stack there on the floor.  he only opened half of them.  that is how much power the game has over him. 

this was the first christmas #2 son had a good handle on the situation.  he really enjoyed every gift and all the people/family around

all three kids received portal 2 related shirts.  he had to put his on right away, and he requested it every day since. 

everybody got what they asked for and more.  they've been good kids.

they put a lot of work into this layered peppermint cheesecake recipe found from southern living.  I'd say they did a great job recreating it.

there is a new xbox and kinect at my dad's house for christmas.  we spent 36 hours oscillating between burning calories by jumping over virtual logs in a virtual raft so we could return to the real buffet and intake more calories. 

kat and I braved the cold to go check out the neighborhood.

as the sun set, the champagne cocktails started to flow.  that first bottle went fast, what?  you have a second, well if you insist.

and #2 son had a blast with a remote controlled hand.  it even climbs the wall.

CLICK HERE FOR BIGGER, SO YOU CAN SEE ALL THE SEE THE BEAUTIFUL PICKLEY DETAILS

we've noticed the two boys have an odd phrase they drop at random moments, often followed with laughs and giggles; "yum, yum, yum, PICKLES!"

then, about a month ago, the wife and I were going through school papers.  kat appreciates checking in on their assignments this way, she struck gold.  we found that #1 son had chosen a pickle theme to his work...  (below)  "get me some pickles now!"

(click here for full size version)

"hey Joe buy me a pickle cannon!  This food is horrible!  but look at that pickle!"

it was a rather serendipitous moment, we knew then and there what this year's holiday portrait theme should be.  pickles. 

so, merry christmas, xmas, Hanukka, kwanza, festivus or whatever you choose to celebrate this holiday season.  we have christmas, if you don't, that's ok by me.  I'm not one for telling other people what to think, follow or believe.  I expect other people to respect the beliefs or non-beliefs of others.  that is what this country was really founded on.

go be merry, do good deeds and don't have your pleasure/joy come at the expense of others.  after all, that is what Jesus would have wanted for his birthday. 

kids are out of school this week.  we had a mad rush this past week to get the christmas shopping done and presents wrapped.  kat was happy with her ribbons, pretty paper and such. 

12 years ago, kat worked at the PTO in northern virginia during the day.  she commuted by train/metro; two hours in each direction.  all while finishing her last year of law school, evenings classes at UB.  we had one car and one infant.  I stayed home with the infant and served as driver for the mad dashes to catch the train etc.  I had a lot of time between train station/school runs to cook, while the daughter napped (wich was not frequent enough).  I made elaborate meals for the weekends and big pots of food to serve as her weekly packed lunches. 

kat remembered the chocolate dome cake I used to make.  she decided to attempt to make it herself.  they often say that cooking is an art and baking is a science.  kat loves science.  she is the scientist, I am the artist.

the perfectionist understands that if the directions are followed exactly, the results should be predictable.  but, without much real baking experience, some things that may be intuitive for one baker are not so to her.  I'm always surprised when she finds unexpected challenges from the recipe that seem clear to me.

the perfectionist follows a recipe and directions differently than how I would work it.  she works each item to completion before advancing to the next instruction.  experience teaches you that the double boiler required for a future step, should be started ahead of time.  the recipe often doesn't spell it out.  a recipe that might normally take an hour to complete often requires longer in the perfectionist's kitchen.  it was a slow weekend, we had the time.  it was fun.

there were a few speed bumps.  I carefully lobbied the kitchenaid mixer to be a better option than the her breakfast bowl and hand whisk whipped cream method, the freshly melted chocolate setting up all the while. 

end result looks delicious.  can't wait to bust into that dome!

I love chocolate!

we enlisted the help of the daughter.  SUCCESS!  installed the split windshield in the dodge a100 hotrod van ourself. 

we met kat at cuatro's friday evening.  they now have touch screen computers embedded into the tables. 

we sampled what the waitress described as a "cucumber gin margarita".  I realize it's not a margarita at all having no tequila, but it was tasty and I will be experimenting on making a better (no high fructose corn syrup) version at home.  stay tuned thirsty reader. 

texas grown rio star ruby red gf!  I hear the local HEB has 18lb bags on sale for $4.98!  well known to annihilate cold and flu bugs, I'm heading to pick up a bag(s) soon as I hit this here publish buton.

this is my GF squisher (GF=grapefruit, not girlfriend)  we get half a pint from each GF.

took the kids to Afin for the all day sunday happy hour.  $2 kirin draft beer and half price sushi!  sunday-funday just became cheap eats sushi good times day. 

daughter performed with the hill country middle school orchestra. 

the westlake performing arts center is a great venue. 

rachel horwitz does a great job with these young musicians.

warm weather (high of 61) this weekend afforded us a leisurely stroll and shopping trip down south congress/soco.  marvin wore his holiday best.  he also graced the barton creek farmer's market with his canine charisma.

kat's firm had their annual holiday party at Highball.  real 1950's vintage bowling lanes and private karaoke rooms.  lane number 3 is not exactly flat, but it was fun. 

I noticed kat was a bit perplexed when the whole karaoke room busted into a sing along with Bohemian Rhapsody.  it was a new song to her.  imagine her confusion to see her colleagues shouting in unison...

"I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?
Thunderbolts and lightning - very very frightening me
Galileo, galileo,
Galileo, galileo,
Galileo Figaro"

the amazing mutli-tasking attorney can bowl and manage a cocktail/martini at the same time.  he didn't spill a drop.

we have an early christmas gift exchange with my mom.  she goes back to nebraska to spend the holiday with my sister. 

his sour mood improved after he received a hand me down iphone.  now, #2 son gets the itouch and we are a complete i-family. 

it was also kat's birthday.  she enjoyed a free meal from pluckers, and a big #4.  then a fancy dinner at carillon that eve. 

Carillon has quickly become our favorite fine dining option.  we arrived early to enjoy happy hour and fried oysters (above) at the bar. 

we don't enjoy large portions.  the three course menu was perfect for us to share, a real bargain!  we really enjoyed the fun to look at, and delicious to eat white asparagus caesar salad. 

they have an open kitchen at carillon.  I requested a table as close as possible, I love watching the action.  the chef did not hesitate to gather his staff to note any imbalance in the presentation.  he carefully corrected their implementation using tweezers.  the endless pursuit of perfection. 

they split the olive oil poached tenderloin for us.  what you see above is half of one entree.  it was plenty for us and VERY good.

I don't normally order a dessert at dinner, too much sugar.  but, I did enjoy this petite gift from the chef (above).  a perfect ending to a perfect meal.  chef also gifted us a nice amuse bouche at the beginning of our meal, a citrus glazed salmon tartare (not shown), delicious. 

#1 son performed for the whole school this past friday.  (video below)

so I'd known about this van...  sounded like a an opportunity for somebody who would enjoy a puzzle.  it had been take apart for paint but never reassembled.  price was fair, and then the seller lowered that price.  I went for a look, I was prepared to walk away.  then.... the seller made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  so I went back this morning and drug it home. 

those wide rear tires hint at what makes them roll (spin)

this engine is a real beast.  sounds like a rabid grizzly bear who was prematurely disturbed from hybernation. 

texas winter weather and rain were lingering about, but we stuck to our plans and went to the capitol.  A Cappella Texas was having a holiday singing event.  we know one of the singers in that group; gary, he makes good jelly/jam. 

we've lived here for years, but this was our first time in the capitol.  many ornate details that you'd expect of an important municipal building, sort of like being inside a wedding cake. 

I did not like it up there at the top.  grabbed a pic and ran back from the edge I did.

found a christmas tree in the house of representatives.

"uh, hey!  get back here.  you're not supposed be in there"...  does he look like he cares? 

only portrait of Jim Bowie

I'm very opinionated about chili.  several years back I had a REAL chili, real chili flavor, from actual chilies, and chunks of fork tender meat (not ground) and a real spicy kick to it (no beans).  I worked on my technique until I was no longer happy with any other chili.  until....  texas chili parlor.  GO THERE!  it's right by the capitol and cheap too!  their gumbo was also good.

BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART B-SCENE DECEMBER 2011:

we did enjoy the exhibit of works by El Anatsui, but then something caught our attention.... the tall skinny white girl on high heels was doing karaoke to sexy back (justin timberlake).  we were amused... 

and what followed...  could only happen when you have a bar, inside an art museum in austin texas  (examples at the bottom)

nutcracker at the blanton

one of our favorite stops near the blanton, carillon at the att conference center.  duck liver pate' with house made fig mustard.

more rain and cold weather....  it was inevitable... guinness time

we've concluded that the BEST place for a proper english/irish beer is the dog/duck pub. 

I warned the daughter, "that chip you have has at least twenty jalapeno slices on it".  her reply, "yeah?"  she easily gobbled it up.  her brother was a bit more reactive when he accidentally got jalapeno juice in his eye. 

kat is back at the tarts.  a work in progress. 

sunday at the bowling alley.  kat's dream of us getting better at bowling is coming true.  it takes three consecutive sunday trips to the bowling alley.  I finally gave up trying to use my "found" ball that has only two holes that are way too big for my fingers.  I switched balls and tried to break into triple digit scores.  and then it all came together, STRIIIIIKE!  on my final frame I even got back to back strikes.  everybody saw a good jump in their ability to get the ball to make contact with the pins.  I finished at 117 and I was happy with that. 

kids also played some air hockey.

hot korean soup sounded great after all that bowling, but the place we landed at sort of sucked.  so we went to the dog and duck pub, again.

#1 son claimed this was the first time in his life he saw a "real" pinball machine.  he'd only known the virtual type.... so we stuffed some quarters in it.  or as they say at the korean cafeteria "ONE-FOURTH!"

the spicy fried green beans at dog and duck were good, as was the fish and chips.

I'd spent small chunks of time removing what I could, trim, bumpers etc.

I needed a block of time to sand and prime the steel before it started to rust.  a few hours a day would've taken me a long time.  once we had bare steel, it is a race to get the primer on.  we sanded half a car per day (took two days for the two of us to strip it down to bare metal)

bare steel!

and by sunday afternoon we had the primer sprayed. 

kat did get to enjoy her turkey leftovers for lunch friday and saturday.  I enjoyed the dressing.  I start making the stock a week before the holiday and I collect many baguettes etc to make the bread crumbs/chunks myself.  I used about a lb of fresh shitake mushrooms, golden raisins and bartlet pear and a bit of duck prosciutto.  the earthiness of the mushrooms, richness of the stock soaked bread and brightness of the fruit is a real pleasure to eat.  YUM!  my favorite part of thanksgiving. 

we finally made a successful chinese radish cake!  it was delicious!  we substituted fresh shitake for dried and used a bit of the duck prosciutto.

also called law bock gow.  recipes vary greatly so we improvised.  here is a link for an example of the work involved

kat wants us to start bowling.  sunday morning at highland lanes is our new routine.  they have a deal from 7AM-noon, $7 all you can bowl includes shoe rental.  and since I have my own ball (and my name is Wes when I use it)... we roll.

my ball has only two holes, is 16 lb but I'm gonna make it work.  or wes will... I bowled an 86, that is an improvement.

sunday was cold and windy, we enjoyed a cheap ($18) lunch at new oriental market, a korean cafeteria and grocery.

so far, the kimchi and scallion pancake (top) is our favorite item they offer, $8.  the other two dishes are $5 each, including tax and each comes with soup that was hot, spicy and sour. 

we enjoyed the leftover thanksgiving wine sunday eve with indian food.  the 2008 Portal (pronounced poor-tall) spanish wine was showing better on sunday than on thursday.  this wine benefits greatly from a lengthy breathing period or decanting.  learned something new!

we had ordred this 18 ft double lane diecast-car racing track for thanksgiving.  we thought it would be fun to race while the turkey fried...  it didn't show up on time.  after ten days in transit, it arrived saturday.  we ran out and each bought a hotwheels car.  sunday eve we raced!