#12 only 89 to go .....Painting with a Twist

Ok so I have painted ceramics for a long long time but I actually went to a 3 hour painting class and completed this masterpiece by the end of it. Will definitely go again. Laura wants to try it too.This is suppose to be a Everglade Sunset however I know for a fact that the water in the everglases do not look anything like this.

#11 YEE HA

Finally a post that is not related to food in anyway. We went to a friends birthday party at Gunslingers Saloon(Happy Birthday Jason Manning) and I actually attempted to ride the electronic bull. Yee Ha, I didn't stay on very long but I did get back on twice(.There is a video somewhere......) That is something I always wanted to do. My aunt Bernie rode the Bull at Gilleys in Texas when she was a groupie for the Oakridge Boys.

Homemade Italian Sausage

A couple of weekends ago, I made my own sausage. Like bulk Italian Pork Sausage that you would put in spaghetti etc. Besides using turkey instead of pork I followed the recipe to a T, including crushing fennel seeds. Why I had whole fennel seeds to start with it beyond me but I love the smell of fennel seeds. Licorice...........yummmmmmmmmmmmm, although I don't really like licorice. Once you add your spice mix you refrigerate the sausage overnight for the flavors to meld. You can't taste test raw meat so you can't tweak the recipe the first time. However I thought it needed more garlic and maybe just a hint of crushed red pepper. I will try it again and next time will use it in spaghetti and add a touch of steak sauce to make it meatier tasty, as you could taste the sweetness of the turkey. I might actually use this spice combination next time I make meatloaf too as it would be like making meatloaf using sausage which most recipes call for but I have never done.

# 6, 7, 8 and 9 ....More Restaurants

Ok, Ok I must apologize to my loyal fan; Courtney, she and Shelly were very excited when I told them about my Blog. Shelly even became my 1st and only Follower, ( hint hint ...I need more followers) Well over a month ago, Courtney went with me to try a new restaurant and was looking forward to me blogging about it. Unfortunately with Focus on Females the 1st three months of every year is very hectic and I have little time to do more then work and home stuff. So it was only today after trying another new restaurant with Courtney that I decided I needed to blog about it because I have tried 4 new restaurants and have not blogged about them, part of that is because I did not want this blog to be all about food but sadly it appears it may end up being all about food.................
# 6 - Frankies - this is like a yuppie Coney Island that specializes in hot dogs, onion rings, burgers and such. Just a hop skip and jump from work on the way downtown on Kennedy. I was looking forward to trying the deep fried veggie basket..I love fried Zucchini....however they were out of Zucchini and could substitute it with other veggies however if I am going to splurge on deep fried veggies ....zucchini has to be included. I settled for a kids meal coney dog meal and chose sweet potato fries as my side. The chili was very unique, you could really taste the allspice and there were no beans. The sweet potato french fries were very bland and lacked flavor. They specialized in foot long dogs but opting for the kids meal gave me a smaller then normal dog. Just enough to fill me up. Courtney chose the cheese curds which were orange cheddar cheese and quite tasty. They have some really good deals and I would go again to try something different although I wouldn't do anymore hot dogs. I just not that into hot dogs and one or two a year is more then enough for me.
#7 - Cheddars - A few weeks ago, Scott and I had a chance to go to dinner and the timing was right that we had just enough time to go to Cheddars (normally Scott would say he didn't want to drive that far out of his way, but we had to pick up Becca at 9 and it was after 7 and Cheddars was in the direction of picking up Becca so the timing was right.) Great food, reasonably priced but loud atmosphere and the wait for the food was a little long.
#8 - BJ's - Becca being the working woman now took me out to lunch for my Birthday she said I could pick anywhere I wanted to go. She said Laura could go but she would have to pay for herself. Well I looked around for places offering a Birthday special and at BJ's you get a free PZOOKIE on your Bday and I have been wanting to try BJ's for a few months now. Well we got homemade garlic Parmesan potato chips to share, then I got an appetizer chicken quesadilla, Becca got chicken strips and fries, Laura got a turkey California club and we spilt the Pzookie, the girls drank soda while I opted for water. The food was awesome, I want to go back and try their pizzas, the total was only $28 so Becca was generous and paid for Laura and Laura was only responsible for the tip. Thank you Becca and Laura ! I had a really great Birthday this year. We went to lunch before 12 because I wanted to eat early to be prepared for Texas Cattle Company.

Scott laughed at me because he wanted to take me somewhere different but I had been jonesing for my Cowgirl. Then I only ate 2 bites of salad to save room for my steak and still only ate about a 1/4 of my steak. But I enjoyed that steak and made some kick ass quesadilla with the leftover steak a couple days later.
# 9 - Chihuahuas- Ok, took Courtney out for lunch per the Doctors orders. This was a little hole in the wall I pass on my way to work but have never talked to anyone who at there. Sorry Shelly, Courtney made it in my blog twice already but our time tables never mesh. Well when we walked in it was completely full, a good sign, police and military just a mile or so off the base and it was very clean. They had good sweet tea and the food was good but I think they have forgottten our order because it took forever for the food. At least 15 minutes after we had order a table of 3 sat down and they were eating 5 minutes before we got our food. I will go back and try different thing, I did not try their guacamole, big surprise, had a lunch combo that had an enchilada, a sope and the usual beans and rice. Only at 1/2 of the enchilada, sope and beans, didn't try the rice and only had a few chips and salsa waiting for the food. Salsa was pretty good, almost like Carmelita's.

#5 Qdoba

Don't really know what my opinion is of this place. Not turned off nor really impressed either. Similar to all the other TexMex chains out there. I ordered the chicken nachos the way they came off the menu. That means with Queso which I am not really a fan of. The queso reminded me of evaporated milk. I will never suggest to go back but I would go back with someone if they wanted to try it. Guacamole was ok, not as good as mine or even Mo's. Sweet tea was pretty good.

Left, Right, Center - #3

I found a kewl game thanxs to my brother in law Jason. Will definately buy it for myself. It is called Left, Right, Center. It comes with 3 dice and plastic tokens which we replaced with quarters. We had so much fun, I won twice then bought Laura in and she won. As soon as I find it I will be playing with eveyone I can it is so much fun and very interactive. So much fun to be out in the very beginning and come back and win it all.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier # 4

My father in law Leroy Junior Wagner Junior was buried at Arlington National Cemetary on January 4, 2010. We visited Arlington in 2004 but it was the last stop of a very long day of sight seeing in DC and we never got off the tram. There was about 40 people who attended, it was a very cold day but the traditional ceremony was soul stirring. He is buried in one of the oldest parts of the cemetary. Afterward the immediate family all went to visit Grandpa Wagner, Leroy Junior Wagner Senior who was buried there in October, then the whole group went up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a first for almost everyone there. It was so awesome but we had just missed the changing of the guard and it was too cold to wait the 30 minutes for the next changing of the guard. On the way back to the car we were able to witness the funeral procession of a General, which is quite a site. It is lead by a single drummer, then flags and the casket is carried in by horses, another remarkable site.

Road Trip- Left home at 11:30 am on December 31st, arived in Williamsport PA on the 1st before 7 am. Ate at one new resteraunt but it was just out of necessity, we wanted to eat breakfast before waking up the family and there was no where to chose from. So we ate at the one resteraunt we found open on New Years Day in Williamsport and it sucked. Since I didn't choose to eat there I am not putting it on my list. It was expensive too for breakfast. Laura ordered Scrapple and I tried a bite but it tasted like Funnel Cakes and I don't think it is suppose to so I'm not putting that on my list either. They actually messed up the homefries wich beyond under cooking them I didn't think was possible. Williamsport was by far the most enjoyable part of our trip. The girls played in the snow, built a snowwoman complete w/ "hooters", went sledding and got to play pool and bond w/ cousins (third) their own age. I got to meet and bond with Scott's awesome cousins, Joyce, Shelly and Beth. Spent time w/ Grm, Aunt Fran and Uncle Charles . Had the best steak hoagies I have ever eaten since the last trip to Williamsport, Thanks Beth. Newberry Subs Rocks !!! Wish we had spent more time there. On the 2nd we went to Lexingotn Park MD where Scott's Stepmom and 2 brothers live, we had just a little drama there. (will be my last trip to Maryland). Then to DC on the 4th and home from there.