Juniper Hills Farm Cooking Class

I do not think I could come up with the words to describe what an amazing experience we had at the Onion Creek Kitchens at Juniper Hills Farm but I am going to give it a shot. We booked this trip six months in advance after reading Charity's rave review, who had gone on a recommendation by the DMN, and now we know why both so highly recommended the trip. Sibby is in fact fabulous!

We stayed in Casita Verde, not our first choice, but we were pleasantly surprised by house nice the room was. It even had an indoor/outdoor shower that I didn’t plan on making use of but just had to try, more on that later.

When we arrived our room was filled with treats from local farmers markets, chocolate covered pecans, homemade granola, local honey, milk and juice in little glass jars with a paper lid and candles and soaps too! All locally made. I thought this was a very nice touch. The room was very quaint and had a nice view of the surrounding ranch.

When we arrived at the main house for the "Random Acts of Cooking" class we were greeted by Sibby and her two beautiful weimaraners. Sibby offered us wine (local, of course) and led us to her kitchen which is set up perfect for it’s purpose. There were portable islands with fresh produce, peppers, cheeses, chickens, and a loaf of seven grain bread made that day that Sibby had picked out for the adventure we were about to partake in. The kitchen smelled so good, and we hadn't even started cooking yet.

After everyone had arrived Sibby tells us how the evening will go. All of the cooking class attendees call out ideas and she makes suggestions for what we can make with the ingredients in front of us. She assures us that almost miraculously everything will come together. Sibby read off the menu which was comprised of almost everything that we called out, then we get to working on our designated projects.

Our menu for the evening: broccoli cheese soup, grilled bruschetta topped with a tapenade made with tomatoes, eggplant, squash and fresh mozzarella, roasted chicken with peach salsa (me!!), stuffed bell and poblano peppers with chevre and stilton cheese, roasted corn soufflé, succotash, and for desert watermelon sorbet. The kitchen smelled amazing and I was so excited the whole time we were cooking.

After everything was done in the miraculous timing we were promised, the group sat down and enjoyed our meal. It was all delectable! I couldn’t believe that we had made all of the incredible food. When I was eating the sorbet I said “I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE OVER” then invited all of our new friends over to cook at our house any time!

We spent the rest of the evening visiting with our other chefs while relaxing by the infinity pool.

When we got back to our room I decided to take advantage of the unique shower situation. It was so cool showering in the cool open air with the hot water pouring down, such a play on sensations.
When we woke up we were surprised with a warm blueberry and walnut coffee cake of sorts at our doorstep.

As hard as it was to say good bye, I know we will return again. Hopefully very soon!

Floatin Down the River

Every year my business fraternity alumni group plans a camping trip where we go to New Braunsfel and float down the Guadalupe River. Little factoid for all ya'll, this is where tc and I started getting to know each other and basically when we celebrate our dating anniversary!

We were so excited to go back again this year. We bought a tent, an air mattress, and all of the other camping gear we were going to need for the weekend. When we got down there on Friday afternoon our campsite was wide open, awaiting our tent. We set it up pretty easily, so we got to enjoy the rest of the evening sitting out with our friends and catching up.

a crappy picture of our tent

Saturday morning tc and I took a hike to get our tubes. When we got back we made pancakes on the grill (yum!) then got ready to get on the water. It is so nice just relaxing in the sun all day!

you have to look at this picture sideways because I am too lazy to turn it!The float trip always starts out really fun inevitably ends in disaster for me. Okay disaster is probably a huge overstatement, but I can't hang out in the water for too long. For some reason I just get so cold I get uncontrollably shaky.

Usually this ends up not being such a terrible thing because I get to enjoy the showers and campsite to myself, and I enjoy reading out in the sun and quiet. This year it was also a good thing I got out of the water early, with tc's paddling us faster to get out sooner. As soon as we got back to the campsite it started to POUR down rain and some of our fellow campers did not put their rain guards on their tents. We were able to go around and protect at least some of their possessions!

Because all of our chairs were soaking wet, with not much of a chance of being dry, we decided to pack up and head home a day early. Because of our change in plans we got to eat at the much talked about Gristmill and we got to spend the night with tc's parents, meaning we got to eat at my favorite mexican breakfast place, Jaliscos!!

It was another fantastic weekend!

4th of July Weekend

I am so behind with all of the stuff we have been up to this summer. So I am going to start from this weekend and work my way backward. Hopefully readers can make sense of it all.

Thursday morning we left for our trip to Michigan. We were visiting my friend Betsy at her family's house. I have been for two fourth of July's in the past and it always proves to be an amazing trip, this year was no different.

TC and I flew into Milwaukee then got on a plane that seats 26 people and had a 20 minute flight over Lake Michigan to Muskegon which has an airport about the size of a Sonic restaurant. When we arrived we sat down with the family and ate some darn good lasagna. After enjoying each other's accents for awhile we went to the beach to see the sunset and The Badger, a boat that carries about 200 cars plus people across the lake to Wisconsin.

After The Badger was out of sight we went to House of Flavor to get some freaking awesome ice cream. They had all sorts of flavors like burnt marshmallow, raspberry chocolate cheesecake, blue moon (with nutmeg flavor), they even had a flavor of ice cream with chocolate covered potato chips!! Of course they had all of your regular run of the mill flavors as well. I got a cranberry, mandarin orange, and white grape sherbet that was DELICIOUS!

(good ice cream is worth the wait!)

Friday morning as soon as everyone got moving we went kayaking. I had never been before but have always wanted to go. I am so glad we decided to go for it. It was a blast! I was a little slow at first because I had such a hard time steering but eventually I got it. It was super fun but definitely made me sore!

After kayaking we came home to Mama S making some fajitas. Come to find out she had bought some avocados at the store because she thought it would be fun to have some guacamole, even though she had know idea how to make it. She just figured I was Texan, so I probably knew how. I was so glad I didn't disappoint! During lunch her whole family went on about how much they enjoyed the real Texan guacamole. It was good we were able to earn our keep a little bit!


After the awesome meal, we went to ride on a big truck with no top on the sand dunes. They take you for a ride with lots of hills and splash you through the water. Definitely a good time.

(excuse the dorky backwards hat. I needed the hat to hold my hair down from the wind, but had to have it backwards so it didn't fly off)

We ate dinner on the way home at Bubba Qs and got to meet the hilarious Bubba himself, who would only tell you his ingredients or who he was if you were willing to buy the business!

When we got back to the house we headed off to the beach to watch the sunset and the fireworks. I still have trouble deciding which one wins the award for most beautiful display, but I'll go ahead and chalk that one up to God and his sunset over the lake.

Saturday was dedicated to Betsy's party. We made decorations to hang from the shaded areas. We made a display for some of her pictures and gear from graduation, and we set everything up. The weather ended up being beautiful, everything went smoothly and everyone had a great time.

Saturday night we had a campfire. I had my annual shot gunned beer with Betsy's awesome brother in law, who taught me how to shot gun a beer three years ago on my second visit to MI. We had plenty of smores, plenty of laughs, and some fireworks. Aahhhh good times!

Sunday we got up to go to church and hear Pappa S preach. At church Betsy's awesome 2 year old niece told me YOU STINK, peeeeee uuuuuuuuuu. Uh, thanks Mimi! I had to check with tc to make sure I didn't have terrible breath, but apparently she just likes telling everyone that.

After church we headed straight over to the art festival, got some good photographs and some kettle corn.

Then it was time to go home :( The plane ride home was spent planning our next visit :)

Emily Cooks - Adobo

My sister in law Emily was so nice to teach me how to make some Filipino cuisine before she went home. We made Adobo, a pork dish and Pancit Bihon, a rice noodle dish. Both are excellent and full of flavor.

First, the Adobo.
4 pounds pork (you can use however much you need, this served 6 with left overs for about 4 more)
vegetable oil
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
Banana sauce
soy sauce
sugar cane vinegar (Sukang Maasing)
black pepper

Coat skillet on high with oil.
Add garlic, brown then add onion until soft. Add pork and sprinkle with black pepper.
Add soy sauce and make sure you hit all the meat. Add 2c water. Bring to boil, cover and simmer on med high for 40 minutes, stirring as necessary. Add about 1/4 cup of banana sauce, continue to simmer until the sauce is reduced to be thick. Just before serving add 1 cap full of vinegar.

Pancit Bihon

This is entree #2. It is the reason why I wanted to learn to cook from Emily. It is really healthy and SO delicious. Turns out it is also easy to make.




Pancit Bihon
1 whole chicken
2 bullion cubes
12 oz fresh green beans- sliced into thin diagonal slices
2 large carrots - peel and slice julienne
1 onion - chopped fine
4 oz celery (3 stalks) - sliced thin
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 small head of cabbage - cut into bite size pieces
Soy Sauce
12oz Rice vermicelli (Hsin Chu)

To make this dish

Cut a whole chicken into pieces, put into a large pot of water with a bullion cube and a few pinches of salt. Boil the chicken until done. When cool debone the chicken and tear into very small pieces. Reserve the broth

Coat a large skillet with oil. Add garlic until brown. Add in onion until clear.
Add chicken and two tablespoons of oil, stir until coated and hot. Add two cups of reserved chicken broth, stir. Add carrots and green beans. Cook for a few minutes. Add three tablespoons of soy sauce, stir. Add celery. Stir and cook a few minutes. Add 1/2 bullion cube. Cook and stir until veggies are al dente.

Put cabbage into big bowl. Add chicken mixture, and set to the side.

With skillet still on high heat add 1/2 of remaining broth until boiling. Add noodles until wet, be sure to keep noodles separated. Add soy sauce to taste. Lower heat to medium low until broth is completely absorbed and noodles are soft. Add chicken and cabbage mixture and fold in until cabbage is cooked.

Save some and eat it for breakfast ya'll

About the weekend

We had a busy but fun weekend.

Friday night, wine and tapas celebrating my cousin taking his first vows to be a priest. Also an announcement that my other cousin is going to have a baby! Two brothers are both going to be fathers (ha! the joke of the night!) Lots of family and friends and some good food and wine.

Saturday, woke up at 5:48 am. Yuck! The night before I had heard about a group nearby that meets at 7am by the lake to get some exercise. Since I was up so early I decided to go check it out. I walked to the first water stop (1.5 miles) then on the way back I did the couch to 5k program I have been doing for the last several weeks. It was HOT! but felt really good to get out there and get some exercise. I look forward to making this part of my weekly routine. After the exercise I went to ww, didn't do so good this week. I had had a ton of water and weighed in with my tennis shoes on so I am blaming it on that but back to the grind again this week

Almost as soon as I got home and showered my brother called and he was on his way. Our washer has been broken for a while now and that is what he does when he is not Navying. What do you call it when you are at work and you are in the Navy? I guess Navying will do. It was fun to visit with him and my sil. She is from the Philippines and is shy to have a conversation but she speaks just fine and is very funny when she will actually talk to me.

TC and I went to lunch, picked out father's day cards and went to check out an area of grapevine we would love to live in. We even went to an open house, but the house was so 80's I couldn't get past it. We decided it was time to actually start discussing what are must haves, would like to have, and dislikes. Such an exiting adventure to start. Then home for a nap

As we woke up from our nap we realized it was about time for tc's parents to arrive and sure enough before I was out of bed they were calling to say they were outside. We ended up going to iFratelli, showed them our church, then went to see Indian Jones. Cute movie, stupid ending.

Sunday, we woke up bright and early again. For some reason I told my dad we would go to church with them at 8am! After church we went to brunch at The Culinary School of Ft Worth. It was excellent! I can't wait to go back and try one of their other events. The food was set up in stations so you could try whatever you wanted. They had a fruit/veggie/cheese, pasta, omelet, pancake, ham, dinner, and dessert stations. It was BYOB so my mom and I had plenty of mimosas!!

Too soon after that was over tc and I went to see the Drowsy Chaperone. It was a great show, very funny, best musical we have seen together so far. I think I would like to take in some plays now. We have seen three musicals in the last 4 months and I really prefer the play part of the show to the singing. If anyone has any recommendations let me know.

After all of the driving around we did in all the heat tc and I promised to go home and stay home the rest of the day. Mission Accomplished. About 8:30 I decided to make Bruschetta Chicken Rolls for lunch the next day, I haven't tried them yet but OMG they look so good and the filling was excellent! Recipe and pictures to follow.

Going away party

Our good friends Zach and Leigh are moving to Pensacola. We are sad to see them go but we are very excited to have friends that live on the beach. We can't wait to come and visit.

Here is a picture of the girls that were there to say goodbye and send them off.