Houston, We Have…. Food!

There is a really good reason I haven’t posted any updates about my resolutions for the new year… I haven’t really been keeping up with them. I know, January isn’t even over, but we’ve been busy! We joined a softball team and went to Houston for a long weekend.

As for softball, I can only say that I don’t suck as much as I thought I would. I’ve managed to hit the ball every time I’ve gone up to bat, I just haven’t quite made it safely to first. I’m getting some coaching from the Hubby and one of our friends, and I’m already starting to see some improvement. I’m also pretty decent when it comes to playing right field, as long as there aren’t a lot of lefties on the other team. I’m a good cheerleader, if nothing else!

As mentioned above, we also got a quick trip in to Houston last weekend. The hubby and FIL were there on business, so why not join them for a weekend of shopping, wine and, of course, FOOD! I had so much food. (I’m not good at remembering to take pictures until after I’ve eaten most of my dish, so I don’t really have anything to show on here… I’m a bad photographer.)

We ate dinner Friday night at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse (“churrascaria”), where they walk around with different types of meat on skewers and serve you as much and as many different types as you wish. I’m pretty sure I tried almost everything. I made the unfortunate mistake of trying out the salad bar first, so I did not have quite as much room for all the delicious meat that I wanted. By far, my favorite was the Parmesan Pork Loin. O.M.G.

Because the hubby doesn’t eat meat (they had bacon, but he didn’t want to pay full price for a plate full of bacon), we got dessert and after dinner drinks. He had an old, delicious, Grand Marnier, and I had (what else?) limoncello, to help the food go down. And chocolate mousse cake. You can’t not get the chocolate mousse cake.

For brunch on Saturday, we went to Kenny and Ziggy’s. SOMUCHFOOD. The menu is 3 days long (it’s a Jewish deli so it had a lot of fun words), and I had about five things picked out until we decided to stick to breakfast. I had delicious Eggs Benedict with potatoes. I’m generally not a huge fan of poached eggs, but the hollandaise sauce… The In-Laws shared a giant plate of corned beef hash and some type of Eggs Benedict. It was a lot.

We had to go shopping in the Galleria after, to walk off some of the food. Purely for exercise purposes, of course. The fact that we bought stuff is irrelevant. On a side note – I ordered some adorable and on-sale shoes from Johnston & Murphy because they were out of my size, but the shoes that I got in yesterday were not them. I was greatly disappointed. I did get a dress for a wedding we’re going to next summer!

Of course, no trip would be complete without hitting up a nice Italian restaurant. This time, it was to Maggiano’s Little Italy. Four-Cheese Ravioli in a Pesto Alfredo Sauce. Heaven. I’ve been in a pesto-mood as of late, so this was perfect for me. PLUS, this restaurant had some sort of special thing where they give you a free entree to take home if you order off a certain section of the menu. Free food? Yes, please! And creme brulee for dessert (not as good as the Grand Marnier Creme Brulee we had a few weeks ago at a small restaurant near the house, but still awesome!).

We went to the Tasting Room after dinner for wine. I love wine almost as much as I love food. It’s close. We used to get this wine from a restaurant in Baton Rouge while we were in college – a Pinot Meunier. We found one on the menu, and it was fantastic. I highly, highly recommend The Tasting Room, and wish they would open something like it here.

By Sunday, I was almost fooded-out. Almost. I wanted a burger, and no one else had any preference as to where to eat, so we went to Pappas Burgers. It was my first Pappas restaurant. The burger was huge, but really good. And I got a giant glass bottle of coke. I was happy.

We had a few hours to kill before we had to be at the airport, so I finally got my wish – to go to a Dave and Buster’s! The Hubby said it was smaller than the one he went to, but it was still a lot of fun. We shot things, we raced, I almost got sick in some airplane game. I kicked butt at skee-ball (and some horse-racing game that involved skee-ball). I lost miserably at 4-person pac-man. And the shooting games. Especially the ones involving zombies.

I’ve honestly been afraid to get on a scale since we’ve gotten back. It’s diet time! Or at least, it’s not-eat-quite-so-much-in-one-sitting time.

My next for-sure trip is to the beach in May with with my mom and sister. Hopefully, we’ll be able to plan something before then! We’ve been throwing around ideas for Mardi Gras (yes, we do actually try to leave New Orleans for Mardi Gras), but nothing has stuck yet. There are just too many places to go!

One Week Down, Fifty-One to Go!

Made it through the first full week of 2015! Whoo! I seriously questioned whether 2015 should be a year of staying in bed, many times last week.

I did manage to use my elliptical once, and cook a new meal for myself once. Go me! The recipe really wasn’t that difficult, just some Ranchy Chicken and Potatoes, but it came out ok. The potatoes were a little undercooked, and I probably used too much ranch, but the chicken itself was delicious! And I didn’t give myself food poisoning!

Speaking of food poisoning, the hubby and I started watching the newest season Worst Cooks in America. It makes me feel much better about my (lack of) cooking skills. I have neither set the kitchen or fire, or made anyone go to the hospital (knock on wood). There is one girl on this season that the hubby said reminds him of me – she drinks half a bottle of wine, then pretends to be Julia Child. No comment.

I’m going to edit one of my resolutions from my last post (I’ve decided I can do that). Rather than just cook something new every week, I’m going to add an alternative of trying a new restaurant. One of my FILs is planning on taking me and the hubby out to a new place for our Christmas present later this week. I am very excited! What’s the point of living in the New Orleans area if you aren’t going to take advantage of all the great food and restaurants?? The plan is to go to Ristorante Filippo. It’s one of the places we’ve heard about, so hopefully it will be good!

We’ve also gotten one short trip in since the beginning of the year. Nothing very exciting – just a long weekend to Shreveport, LA, for the hubby’s job and to relax a little over the New Year’s holiday. For those of you who don’t know, there isn’t really much to do except casino’s. They supposedly have a nice boardwalk area, but it was raining and cold the ENTIRE time, so we just bought some wine and watched football/movies in the hotel room. It was much needed and actually pretty enjoyable!

Finally, we managed to get all of the Christmas decorations put up this weekend, which was both satisfying and depressing. I love having my house all decorated for Christmas, but I hate actually putting everything up or taking everything down. My calves are killing me from bringing everything up the stairs and then helping load it into the attic. Luckily, the hubby managed the heavier stuff, but still. BUT, since it has to go eventually, I’m glad everything looks back to normal.

Maybe our schedule can get back to normal as well.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Does it still feel like 2014 to anyone else? Maybe because it went by so quickly. For as fast as it went by, We did a good bit in 2014.

We traveled. We went to Los Angeles and San Diego for my birthday/Mardi Gras, where we got to be in the audience for a day of the NA LCS tournament (League of Legends for all you non-nerds out there), visit the Warner Brothers Studio Lot (unfortunately no live studio audience there), and go to the SAN DIEGO ZOO (bucket list item checked off). We also went to Europe for the Hubby’s birthday ( London , Rome , and Paris ). We checked off an EPL football match while in London.

We fished in Grand Isle. I went to the Schlitterbahn Water Park. I held a penguin for my birthday (another bucket list item!). We celebrated weddings and engagements. We worked (and worked and worked and worked). The hubby re-did my closet. We got a new car. I’m sure I’m forgetting so many things, but I think you get the idea. It was a great year, but now it’s over.

Now it’s time to look forward to 2015. I’m not very good at keeping up with my resolutions, but this year, I’ve talked to the hubby about some of them, and he is on board with helping me.

Resolution No. 1 – The hubby and I will try to cook something new/different once a week/every other week (I’m not sure if once a week is realistic yet, but we’ll try). We received all kinds of cool stuff that we have yet to use. Did I mention I got casserole dishes for Christmas from my mom and nanny, which I’m way too excited about? I also got a few cookbooks for the crock pot from my sister. After watching Worst Cooks in America, I kind of want to take some cooking classes as well. So I need to get on that.

Resolution No. 2 – I will keep up with the laundry. I’m failing in this wifely duty. I told the hubby to keep on me about it – not just complain when it hasn’t been done in… a week, we’ll say.

Resolution No. 3 – Use my camera more. I bought a beginner book to kind of help me, but my best chance of getting better is to go out and actually use it. I’m sure the hubby and Lou won’t mind me using them as test subjects, right?

Resolution No. 4 – Keep up with this blog more. I enjoy it when I actually keep up, so I’m going to try to do better.

Resolution No. 5 – A constant one that I never keep up with: actually use my elliptical. I feel so much better about myself when I actually exercise. Plus, it’s guilty-pleasure Netflix time without feeling quite as guilty.

Resolution No. 6 – This isn’t actually a resolution, but more of a promise to myself. I will get on the hubby about making some repairs to the backyard and house. There are things we’ve been putting off that really, really need to be done. So, yes. And, finally,

Resolution No. 7 – pay off a bigger chunk of my student loan. I don’t have much, so we’ve been focusing on the hubby’s massive loans first. However, I would feel better if I didn’t still have mine hanging over our heads.

I  wonder how many of the above I will actually keep? Here’s to a great 2015, everyone!