Another burger try

The night before we make a car trip for the weekend, we tend to have errands to run and a quick dinner to catch along the way.

We found that a perfect time to introduce Ellie to LA Burger.  My friend, Charlie introduced me to it and I took Bill there a few times since.  I've recommended it to many of my co-workers who all come back raving of the place.

Its really a Korean burger place - where you can get KimChi on your burger if you choose.  I choose not.  Although everything else I've tried has been awesome.  I particularly like the Psychedelic Burger with Mushrooms and Cheese.  Bill likes the Eye-Opener with a fried egg on top.  

This trip Jeremy recommended I try the TX Burger with amazing chili, diced onions and mustard.  It was really good too.  Since he is the one who originally recommended both Kenny's Burger Joint and Liberty Burger I tend to take his recommendations .. and they work out really well!

Here is Ellie enjoying her very first LA Burger - dry, no cheese.  Yes, she needs a little culture.  But I'll take it one step at a time!  Truth be told she liked it here.  But not at much as Liberty Burger, which still ranks #1 for her!

The roll makes all the difference.
Its solid and sweet - grilled to perfection!

Burger Time

Maple and Motor Cheeseburger - hold the onions

Happy girl with her burger 

Another round at Maple and Motor in Dallas.  This is the one from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives from Food Network.  It is the burger that stuck in Bill's mind.  Since we've experienced so many burgers since the last visit.  We tried it out again ... and we still like it.

It remains number one on Bill's list.  But Ellie is holding tough with Liberty Burger.

Soccer Season

Ellie's soccer season has been spotty at best with finding fields that are not flooded and games when it's not a downpour!  We've managed 4 games and truth be told the season should be over by now.  And yet they persevere!

Last night they tied 1-1.  This team was a tougher one, having beat one of the teams that beat us.  And yet these girls played together and played hard.

They also passed out the soccer pictures from the season.  You can sea from the photo that Ellie is #2 and her team is so proud to be playing together by the looks on their faces!  Coach Tony and Coach Mario in the back keep them together, while Tony's wife Shaonda in the upper right corner is really the person that keeps things together!

Although we didn't get in all our games, I'm still so glad she loves to play and loves being part of the team!

Sundays are surrounded by family!

Happy girl with her dolls!

Grammy sent a package to Ellie that arrived on Saturday.  It was filled with new friends for Ellie to enjoy!  She had the pleasure of reading each note that was wrapped with each of them.  And then got down to business naming her new friends.

Mary is in the center.  She has dark hair and dark eyes.  She's appears solid and sensible.  Ellie loves her best she told me.  I told her unless you only have one child, you cannot say that you love one more than another. She just rolled her eyes.

Just above Mary, on Ellie's left is Anna, formerly known as Ice Cream Girl.  She is cheerful looking with bright greenish eyes and curly blond hair.

Below Anna is Baby Bobby ... I asked if I could call him, BB for short, but that was shot down ... get it?  Shot down, BB ... no one around here ever gets my jokes :) Ellie didn't like it either .. go figure!

To Mary's right is Maya.  She is adorable with dark skin and dark eyes.  She has the very sweetest face.  And Ellie liked the name she arrived with ... she considered Mia as her friend CJ just had a new baby sister named Mia, but she decided to keep Maya, 'because it just fits her, Mommy."

And the very last doll, just above Maya, has curly light brown hair and blue eyes appears calm and is a good partner for Mary.  Her name is Susan.

And in case anyone is wondering.  She chose the new names all by herself.  She didn't ask, she just named them.  When she named Anna I told her how interesting that was since Bill's grandmother was Anna, and my grandmother was Mary.  And well, you know where Susan came from in her mind!

And when they go to sleep for the night she makes a little bed up along side her own bed with pillows and baby blankets.  She lines them up side by side and tucks them each in before she climbs into bed herself.

She certainly does love her new doll family!

We do love to eat ...

Ellie helped make waffles with bacon in the batter, sliced strawberries and maple syrup!

After another full week of rain and two cancelled soccer games we've found ourselves finding lots of other things to do around here.

Yes, work and school have kept us plenty busy this week.  Ellie got the second to last report card for the year, with final grades due in just three weeks!

Social Studies - 93
Citizenship - 100
Language Arts - 90
Writing - 88
Math - 91
Science - 96
Art - Pass
Music - Pass
Technology - Pass
Phys Ed. - Pass

So then we'll have an average of her overall grades for the year!

Friday night Bill and I met friends from Bloomington, Lyndsey and Grant out for something to eat while Lydia came over to watch Ellie for a couple hours.  Lyndsey and I worked together in Bloomington on the same project and she moved to Sachse to become a State Farm agent!  Grant works in my department and ironically they bought a house in the next neighborhood over!

We had fun catching up with them and finding a new hopping dinner area at Firewheel Plaza, where we normally go for shopping!  We enjoyed an outdoor table and split nachos at Gloria's Latin Cuisine.

Ellie was still up at 10:30 playing LIFE with Lydia when we got home.  She was happy for the 'girl time' with her while we were gone.

Mother's Day 2015

On my very first Mother's Day, Ellie was baptized.  It was 9 years ago.  This photo captured an amazing connection that I felt with her.  We just looked into each other's eyes and we knew we'd changed each others lives.  I remember thinking, "I got you..." and feeling her right back, "I got you too."

That feeling has never diminished.   Nine years later we're still celebrating Mother's Day - different than in years past.  But celebrating none-the-less.

Today we had powerful storms plow through North Texas.  Lots and lots of rain, wind, thunder and lightening.  And for the first time since we've been here - we lost power.  On a Sunday morning for just a couple hours.  And the three of us lounged on the couch, Ellie reading to us by the light of her flashlight.

They filled my day with lots of celebrating - flowers, gifts, chocolate covered strawberries, and beef tenderloin with baked potatoes and grilled portobellos for dinner!  What a wonderful day that we never left the house!

And, yes, it is still raining!  But it doesn't matter to us.  We have each other and we're together!

Texas Storms!

Just a few shots of the severe storms that we're experiencing this weekend!  Seems that we're under severe thunderstorm, flash flooding and tornado watches constantly the past couple weeks.  We always know where the closest storm shelter is .. and we're getting very used to lightening and thunder in the background!

We're enjoying quality time at home together, rather than venturing out into the storms.  And we've been very fortunate to not lose power or DirecTV either ... to be able to track the storms!

Friday Fiesta

Bill and I had a bonus day off on Friday together.  When I looked at my calendar earlier in the week I found I had no meetings whatsoever on Friday - this was a great opportunity to mark myself as 'out of office' and enjoy a day off!  With Ellie being sick the week before and weekends that go by too quickly, I took advantage of it.

And when Bill saw he didn't have anything either, he joined me!  So we spent the morning puttering around in our own area of the house.  We decided we'd head out together to take care of a couple errands and enjoy a quiet lunch together too!

We got my car inspected and the oil changed, a quick trip to Best Buy and enjoyed Potbelly sandwiches for lunch.  On our way back home to stopped for steaks and potatoes to have for dinner.  We picked up Ellie together and headed back home to enjoy homemade guac, chips and mango margaritas to celebrate the week coming to an end!

Muffins with Moms

Muffins with Moms at Ellie's Elementary School this week.

Ellie and I had breakfast together on Wednesday morning in honor of Mother's Day this weekend.  I remember it being one of the very first things I did with her at school last year.  Can you believe we've lived in Dallas an entire year!?

We sat with her friend Addison and her family and it felt so much different than last year.  We knew many more faces and I knew to bring coffee with me in a travel mug rather than rely on the tiny little styrofoam cups available at the huge urn.

As you can see from the photo, Ellie's feeling a lot better than she was last week.  Its taken some time for her to get her energy back .. and she is sure looking happy in this shot!

Just 4 more weeks until the end of school!  And then she'll be a 4th grader!  Why didn't anyone tell me how quickly these years fly by.  As a wise mom once shared, 'the days may seem to drag, but the years fly by!"  And that's the truth.

Derby Day Recap

Pork Carnitas

Looking over the Racing Form online

What an amazing weather day in Dallas!  Temps in the low 80's and not the least bit humid.  I could have spent the day outdoors.  Except I didn't.  Our plans were inside - with Ellie recovering and the big race on in the afternoon.

With Cinco de Mayo around the corner I wanted to prepare a grab and go Mexican treat.  I shopped Saturday morning for all the supplies to make Pork Carnitas!  That worked great for our indoors plans as I slow-cooked a pork shoulder all day, and prepared all the 'colors' to complete the dish - guacamole, limes, cilantro, tomatoes and shredded cheese.  They were a hit!

We did not do so well picking horses for the Derby!  Of course Bill had American Pharaoh and Dortmund in the mix ... but he also had Carpe Diem.  I, on the other had got laughed at with my pick of Danzig Moon ... which was just edged out in the end ... for fifth!  Oh well, we had luck earlier in the day ... And fun routing for Dame Dorothy knowing the Bobby Flay connection!

And the best part was that Ellie felt better!  She even found solstice in her game room playing Barbies and playing Monopoly!  So great to see her back to herself again ... and boy, am I looking forward to her heading back to school on Monday for a real dose of reality!

Bee Well Soon!

Ellie has been down and out with a virus that turned into pneumonia this week. Began last Saturday night when she went to bed she wasn't feeling well.  A bit warm and achey.  By Monday the pediatrician diagnosed a virus to treat with a rotation of Motrin and Tylenol, plenty of rest and fluids. So she stayed home on the couch.

By Wednesday we decided she needed another doctor visit because she was still suffering from a fever and lethargy.  This pediatrician listened to her lungs and sent her off for a chest x-ray that diagnosed pneumonia!  Followed by an breathing inhaler and two antibiotics and a few more days rest, she's doing MUCH better this Saturday!

Today she got a "Bee Well Soon" cookie bouquet from Aunt Di and Uncle Bruce.  She said, "Mommy, a lot of people sure do love me!"  I assured her that she is exactly right!

Brownies

Anyone who's worked in an office knows how people who come together love to eat.  And they invent reasons to bring in food and order out.  Since many of our representatives are grouped by teams, and the Supervisors of those teams comprise my team I get invited to participate to in gatherings for each of those five teams!

I'm certainly in the habit of baking often for them - and they eat anything!  Cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and of course cherry pie!  Many times I arrive at their desks just in time for their shift to start at 3 or 4pm with a container to take and pass.  It's bonded me with them, that's for sure!

We've also had several pot luck-type gatherings for the department as a whole lately too.  One was a going away lunch for one of the administrative assistants, Hilda.  And another was a multi-area recognition for Administrative Assistants Day.

Truth be told I believe that the baking must get old for folks to anticipate.  So for the first gathering I made crockpot queso - smooth white cheese with ro-tel tomatoes and beef to smother over tortilla chips.  Yes, I only learned to make that AFTER moving to Texas!  I have one team that will ask for it special - "and Miss Jude will you make it with sausage this time?"

And during the festivities several people said, "where's Jude's brownies?"  Well I'll be darned - I couldn't imagine that they'd go looking for baked goods!  And now they are asking for the recipe .. so when I was sharing it with them, I thought it best to post it here as well!

Annie's Eats Triple Chocolate Brownies

photo courtesy of Annie's Eats

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies

Yield: about 12-16 servings

INGREDIENTS

5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1¼ cups (8¾ oz.) sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (5 oz.) all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

• Place an oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
• In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.  Set aside to cool.
• In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.  Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until incorporated.  Then stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined.  (It took me a while to get the flour evenly incorporated and I was worried it would affect the texture of the brownies, but they turned out fabulously – no need to worry.)  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer.  Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35-40 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
• Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board.  Cut into squares as desired.  Store in an air-tight container.

The Key Jar

Here's our Key Jar.

What is a Key Jar, you ask?  I'll tell you.

My friend, Glennon Doyle Melton, sharing it on her blog Monastery this week.  Okay, so Glennon is not really my friend in sense you're thinking.  We don't call, text or even write.  But over the past several years I've bought 18 copies of her book to give to friends, moms, co-workers, just about anyone who is married and has kids and sometimes has a bad day.  A hard day.

Glennon is the one who reminded me that although life is hard, we can do hard things!  Every. Day.

Back to the Key Jar.  It is filled with questions to 'unlock' kids.  Conversations with kids.  It is the solution to the following situation:  "What did you do at school today?"  followed by, "Nothing."  And then, "really? nothing?  you had to have done something."  and finally, "I don't remember."

Here's where the Key Jar comes in.  It's filled with questions - random, thought-provoking questions to start the conversation.

Today's question:  If you had to choose one food to eat the rest of your life, what would it be?

Ellie's answer: "Scallops.  I was going to say shrimp, but I really like scallops more."  This led to a question about when she first remembered eating scallops, does she remember the ocean, does she want to go back to the ocean .. and so on and so on.

Now doesn't that make you want more answers!  Just you wait, I'm sure there will be plenty more where that came from!

Profound Pizza Place

Pizza in Texas is not like in New York or even the mid-west for that matter.  We loved our pizza in NY, and grew to love the deep-dish style of Chicago.  Just thinking of how long ago I had Lou Malnati's pizza makes me want to go back ....

So on Friday, after a very long week we tried Brooklyn's Pizza in Garland.  No, it wasn't like back home.  It was just okay.  But we wouldn't know unless we tried. It was a nicely decorated place with cool signs all over the place.  And it didn't require any clean up after dinner.  I'll consider that a success.

This picture hung on the wall.  It made us laugh so I'm sharing it with you!

Bring on the rain

We've had our fair share of storms this spring in Texas.  Lots of rain, thunder, lightening and even hail.  Storms are a metaphor for life.  They come, they go, they're unpredictable and often unforgiving in the damage they leave in their path.

And yet, sometimes with the release of the storm, a rainbow emerges.

That rainbow reminds us that beauty, wonder and awe still exist.  The colors show us that when we're smart enough to look for it after the storm, miracles happen.

These photos are not of the best quality, although they reminded me after a particularly difficult ending with an employee today, life goes on.  Sometimes more beautiful and more peaceful than before.  The storms pass.  They always do.  The sunshine returns.

The sky changed from purple ...

to golden ...

and even a double rainbow appeared.
In fact I showed Ellie it was a FULL rainbow, rarely seen!

The Hail With It

Tuesday brought a hail storm - lots of thunder, lightening and even the wind.  Those are pea-sized hail.  Perhaps not more than an afterthought.  Except when they are hitting the roof and the car.  They are small, but mighty.

Hail, hail go away ... come again another day!

Comes the Dawn

Dallas sunrise

The days in our life aren't always easy.  And somehow we get through.  Here's what I've learned.

Kindness matters.

People care.

A phone call to a good friend makes everything better.

A text from someone checking on you means they care.

Coffee really is good for you.  Seriously.  Just ask me.

The smell of Ellie's hair is a wonderful thing.

Holding Bill's hand often cures everything.

Being in my kitchen is like a sanctuary.

Ending a good book is like a painful goodbye.

Knitting is my meditation.

Color makes me smile.

The rain really does stop.  Eventually.

Karma is an amazing force.

The sun always rises.  Even after the darkest night.

Finding a treasure looks different to everyone.

Today I found a treasure.  It came in the form of a website with wonderful words and pictures.  Its written by a woman just a year older than me.  Just that much closer to fifty.  Which is what led me to her.  

She's broken and somehow fixed with crazy glue, good coffee and her amazing three kids.  She reminded me that kindness matter, love is eternal and as challenging as some days are - be grateful that you recognize the difference.  

She lives in Vermont, which makes me envy her surroundings.  Even the cold that she is dreadfully tired of this time of year.  I still remember a first breath of cold air on a winter morning.  Texas doesn't provide that reality.  Just storms,  heat and the occasional ice storm.

This is my reality.  And today I recognize that I love it.  All of it.  And when today is done, tomorrow will being a new chance and a new challenge.  Both are mine to accept.

It's always about the food

Today was a trip to Williams Sonoma.  At Bill's suggestion.  Whodda thought, huh?

I'll back up.

We invited the Schuler's for dinner on Saturday night.  Bill wanted to perfect his brisket smoking technique and they were the best guinea pigs we could find!  No, not really.  We really wanted to have them over so the kids could play and the grown ups could laugh and eat.  Good thing for us is that we discovered they love a good smoked meat too!

So Bill smoked an 8 lb. brisket and a much smaller boneless turkey breast during the day.  We added cowboy baked beans, cornbread and cole slaw to round out our offering.  I even found all the supplies to make s'mores with the kids.  Not sure if you're all aware but they actually make square marshmallows now specifically for s'mores.  We're so lucky!

In any event, we had a wonderful time.  We laughed and the kids played.  We shared margaritas and enjoyed BBQ like really old friends.

Which led Bill on Sunday to say, "we should go to Williams Sonoma for a new meat thermometer."  And I actually stopped listening after 'we should go to Williams Sonoma .....' because it didn't matter what we we're going to find.  We were going.  That's what mattered.  And in the end I knew this would result in something new and exciting for my kitchen.

Family Meal

On a Saturday when the rain overnight causes the morning soccer game to be cancelled.  We need a Plan B.  Good thing is, we have experience with this.  Plans change.  Life becomes a series of choices that lead us down paths uncharted.

Today was one of those days.

Last Friday we had our next family room furniture delivered.  And new furniture always has a way of revealing what else needs to be done.  Perhaps paint a wall.  Maybe replace a rug.  In our case it was to find new end tables.

Off to Plano we go.

Our favorite warehouse furniture distributor Weir's has a showroom of markdowns on the second floor.  And this is where we found our wonderful new end tables.  And then the other table didn't match.  So more furniture movement ensued.

A side table was moved to my reading area in the master bedroom.  And it revealed that a comfy cushion chair might just be what is needed in that corner instead of the rocker.  But that's for another day.

The other thing about our plans is that we like to include a family meal.  Cooking together at home, or dining out is a treat for us.  And our go-to burger place in Plano is Kenny's Burger Joint.  Wonderfully on the same road as Weir's ....

We enjoyed an Oreo Shake while waiting for our burgers.  And then experienced the new grilled-cheese-for-a-roll burger.  Wow, it was really something!  Bill shared his meal with each of us and Ellie's eyes lit up with just one bite.  It was enormous!

Shining the Way Award

At Ellie's school assembly on Friday morning Ellie received four awards:  A/B Honor Roll for all her final grades in the last 9 weeks being 85 and higher, "Just in Time" for arriving at school on time for every day she was in school, Perfect Attendance for being at school every day in the last 9 weeks and the last award ....

Shining the Way Award - Outstanding Character

presented to Ellie Fricano

for shining the way and being an example to others at Whitt Elementary

Third grade teachers pick one boy and one girl to present this award to every nine weeks.  Ellie was chosen by her teacher this time.  She was very excited for the exclusivity of the award!

Easter Sunday

Ellie's Easter Basket
complete with new toothbrush and toothpaste!

Easter Breakfast treat from Williams Sonoma
Peter Rabbit Waffle Mix

Traditional Easter Morning fruit salad
with vanilla syrup courtesy of the Pioneer Woman's recipe!

Saturday Soccer

After game congratulatory handshake line!
Coach Tony and Coach Mario join the line too.

After game snacks and Gatorade put a smile on her face!

With the all the unseasonal chilly days and rain this spring, the girls' soccer team has been unable to practice, and missed their first scheduled game.  They played last Saturday and lost 1-0 in the final 3 minutes of the game.  Which was disappointing as they didn't suffer a loss the entire regular season last year - not until the Finals!

Now that loss is out of the way, they've practiced twice and Saturday's weather was beautiful for a soccer game!  Sunny and 73 at game time - 1:15pm!  Today they were victorious - 3-2 WIN, with several great clearing kicks from Ellie playing 'sweeper' on defense!

Sleeping beauties!

And the game took a lot of out of our girl.  She's been up sick the night before so I wasn't quite sure she'd last the game .. but she did!  She showered and after dinner she caught a quick snooze ... and of course, her Daddy couldn't let her nap solo!

Friday Fun

Ellie and I both had Friday off - so we made a Girls' Day Out of it .. we kissed Daddy goodbye and got ourselves busy around the house and ready to have an adventure!

First, we made our way to Trader Joe's!  She loves the chocolate covered blueberries and we found some Easter candy for Bill.  Best part was that since it wasn't Saturday, it wasn't crowded!  What a bonus.  Second stop was in the plaza a block away in Plano at Williams Sonoma.  I didn't realize how much Ellie would love it there!  It didn't hurt that they were serving blueberry waffles as an enticement to buy the waffle mix .. which we did!

Next time you talk to Ellie, ask her what she picked out in the gadget section.  She was disappointed when she found something she wanted and said, 'Oh it's more than the $5 I have!"  Not to worry, we put it in our cart!

From Williams Sonoma we went to Kenny's Burger Joint for lunch - and since it was right at noon it filled up all around us ... and for the highlight of the day we went to the theatre to see Cinderella.

Kenny's Burger Joint for lunch

Awaiting the arrival of Cinderella ....

For our special day we'd also made dinner plans with the Schuler's too!  We met up with them at the Chiloso around the corner.  We didn't realize we had one so close to home as we've only been to the one close to work!  What a find!

We enjoyed our Tex-Mex with the grown-ups at one table, and the kids at another.  Great way to end the week.  Robin and Ellie, although both in 3rd grade are in different classes, while Lincoln is in 4th grade at Whitt too.

After dinner we went back to their house for dessert.  As we were arriving I received a photo from my mom with Dawn's mom together, as they were all in Pennsylvania together to celebrate Easter. The two Grammys!  So now as Robin and Ellie call each other cousins, Dawn has started to refer to me as her, 'almost-cousin'!

So our group quickly snapped a picture of the families together and sent that back.  We shared a Face Time call so that we could all laugh at the irony of it all.  Too funny to be together on the same night!

Dawn and I in the back.
Lincoln, Robin and Ellie in the front!

Best of the Happy Couple

Ellie loved to take our picture too!

Dinner at the Yachtsman

After dinner at Bama (Animal Kingdom)

Love this one at California Grille

"You two should kiss ..."
"thanks Ellie.."

One of our very favorite place at Disney - Via Napoli

Breakfast in a French cafe ...

Best of Bill & Ellie

This is our gorgeous bus stop to all the sights!

Daddy and his girl all dressed up for dinner!

Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe.
Check out Bill's t-shirt, "I'm So Goofy!"

Now that's a big beer - and that's what happens in Germany!

The beach at our hotel