Happy Easter!

I wish everyone a wonderful Easter, what a wonderful day it is!  Andrew and I are thrilled to have his brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Cate, here with us for Easter.

Since we will be at St. Andrew's in the morning, I figured it would be easier to do the "big meal" today...so we had pork tenderloin, green beans, mac and cheese, corn, and biscuits for dinner with chocolate cake for dinner.  The pork was a "Gray creation," the beans were fresh/frozen from the Farmer's Market that I made "country style," I made PW's mac and cheese, the silver queen was from the Farmer's Market, and I whipped up some bisquick biscuits.  The chocolate cake was PW's.  From the look of our plates when we finished it was delicious!!

Told you we didn't hold back...

And this was supposed to feed 8 - 12...yeah right...maybe 6.

We took them to Kiefer's last night, which of course was a big hit.  And we are going to Julep for brunch tomorrow before they head back to Georgia.  They are getting a chance to have the yummy local foods.

I had great plans to take pictures of our dinner since I set the table and used all kinds of serving pieces, but I forgot (heck I nearly forgot the corn)!  Sorry all you get are those that I took of the "leftovers."

Special

This comes via Taylor (Soap) Sandusky's facebook.  I can't stop laughing at the paint colors.  Here are some of the comments that this pictures has generated.

"Sweet. I want one.  What do you call this?"
"Looks like a 91 nissan sentra with a bed"
"How do you say "Camino" in Japanese?"

Folks - never be surprised by what you will see in Atlanta.

A Day of Rest and NASCAR

To Granddaddy:

Thank you for teaching me at a very young age that Sundays are reserved for Church, rest, good food, and NASCAR.  Oh and one more thing...thank you for teaching me that you watch the first 20 laps of a the race before sleeping for the next 2 hours and waking up in time to watch the last 20 laps.

To Everyone Else:

Try it some Sunday (I suggest one that you have finished your weekend chores), it makes facing Monday a whole lot easier.  Oh and if you plan on calling me - check to make sure the race is over first - otherwise you will likely wake Tucker and I up.

Recipe for Strawberry Muffins

Here is the link to the Strawberry Muffins.  And yes, I followed it except I used my usual margarine (only use butter when it calls for unsalted butter) and "Break Free Eggs" rather than eggs (because that was all I had).

http://nancysrecipes.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/fresh-strawberry-muffins/

Storms

First, we are all okay.  No damage here.  It seems that just before hit the Rez it lifted, then dropped over the water, then lift again over land.  I can tell you that the strong thunderstorm that came through after lunch tossed more leaves, small limbs, etc than the tornado.  I drove up the Rankin County side of the Rez for a while last night and never spotted anything more than a single tree on a fence.

That said - here are some links to videos, pictures, etc...

"Jackson man says Tornado pull his burger from his hand."  He is also known as "Jackson's finest."  If you can figure out what he means by, "I was supposed to be gone 30 minutes ago," let me know.

Storm Chaser footage This is one of the those real-life Twister movie people...he is also the only midwest chaser that will come to the south.

Newspaper pictures

Local News Station Footage

Homemade Strawberry Muffins

Kroger had 2 for $4 containers of strawberries over the weekend so I bought two of course.  They were starting to get a little soft and I was wanting strawberry cupcakes, but I settled for muffins (they are slightly healthier without frosting).

And let me tell you - I don't think I will ever by the muffin mix again.  It is kinda like cinnamon rolls...once you have gone homemade, you can't go back.

Suggestions

Need some suggestions...

I wanted to use up some "break-free" egg stuff yesterday so I made a batch of my Heart Association Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I couldn't find an equivalent measure on the container other than "for fluffier cakes, muffins, etc use 1/3 cup instead of 1 large egg."  So I figured...1/3 cup it is.  Turns out - my dough was more like batter so I poured it in a stone baking sheet with a small lip thinking I would get a fluffy-sorta cookie cake (think Great American Cookie Company).  Wrong - I ended up with chocolate chip cookie flavored thin cake.  It had the texture of a cake, not cookie.

After eating on it for about 12 hours and letting Andrew having a piece, we decided it would be awesome as a bread pudding.  So after lunch I created a vanilla custard to make the bread pudding.  Baked it up and served it.  And although it was awesome - we decided it needs a topping, a sauce, a little something...

This is where I need suggestions - what should I try?  To get you started - white chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, coffee cream, vanilla cream sauce...

Thoughts

1) I love the Masters.  It is by far my favorite tournament - thank goodness for HDTV coverage.

2) Thanks Anna and Zeb for giving me a reason to "detail" the interior of my car...maybe it will stay clean for 24 hours - guess that means I can't take Tucker for a ride for 24 hours since that is how it gets nasty.

3) I love unexpected visits from friends - Kim surprised us at work yesterday and it was a wonderful visit.

4) Our dog is spoiled...and I am not sure how it happened...I blame his grandparents and his father...not me

5) Why the heck is it 89 degrees in April??

6) I think it is nap time now...

Tucker, A Box, and A Door...

Andrew won a new wedge from a custom wedge shop last week - and his new toy showed up today.  The box it arrived in was sitting on our bed and a certain someone pulled some of the packing paper out of the box...so Andrew took it away from him and picked up the box and pretended to hit Tucker with it.  Well wise little one bit the box and of course Drew let him have it.  And this is what happened....

And yes - he backed from the kitchen to the bedroom...only one problem...the box is too wide at that angle for the doorway.  When the box hit the doorway, Tucker dropped the box and immediately growled at it for not going back in the bedroom with him...

And in case you are wondering - yes, we are very proud parents.

Thanks Grumps!

Tucker got a present in the mail this past week.  It was made especially for him by his Grumps...

Tucker says he will share his table when we have company...how sweet of him!

Happy Birthday Tucker

Tuck-man, Butter-Bean, Whinny-Pants, Oreo Cookie, Wild Man...Today is your first birthday.  We are so glad you came to live with us - we love you and all your craziness.  Just a few pictures from today so we can compare in future years and laugh about how you have changed.

Brilliant One...

Go ahead and flip your monitor sideways because we can't flip the video, but here is Tucker showing off his IQ...

Rain is a Good Thing

Right?  Rain is a good thing for farmers, for drinking water supplies, etc...but rain is a very bad thing in the middle of a Friday night when you had committed to cutting the backyard grass for the first time this season around 10am.  On the flip side of it, maybe it is a good thing - get the house cleaned then make all sorts of (healthy, ignore previous post) yummy things for dinner this coming week.  Cook rather than exercise, why not?  Excuse me while I finish my second cup of coffee so I can begin cleaning and then maybe I will take the dog for a walk before going to Kroger....

Yummmy

Have I mentioned I have "sweet teeth" not a tooth, and it is a daily issue.  Anyway, banana pudding is one of my (many) favorite desserts.  So I HAD (read: life would not be the same if I didn't before time ran out) to try the new, limited-time only, banana pudding milkshake at Chick-Fil-A.  And, whoa doggie...it is awesome! Tastes just like banana pudding!  Go try one, you can tell them to hold the cherry - but do yourself a favor, keep the whipped cream...