My sweet mom...and her camera phone.

I don't know if it's because there are no kids in the house or what, but my mom got a dog. Let me rephrase. She adopted a dog from the Deaf Smith County pound. I guess it belongs to both my parents, but my mom talks about it the most. Except my dad talked about it a lot when it fell out of his pickup window when he let it sit on his lap as he was driving his pickup to get it washed. I'm super glad it lived, because most of our pets die. I'll address this in my next post.

Ruthie is her name. She is some kind of mutt. She's cute though. I actually like her which is more than I can say more most animals. See...


I know I don't look very excited, but I am. I love this dog. It doesn't bark or jump. It just eats and like attention. I can handle that. That's my dad in the background. I know he's thinking, "I wonder how long this dog's gonna last..."

So my mom just got a phone with a camera for Christmas. And she loves it (and you're about to find out why). These are the last few texts I've gotten from her:

Text from mom: "Good morning! Yes this is my life."

Text from mom: "Ruthie just came home from the beauty shop with major electricity!"

Text from mom: "Ruthie taking a nap while you and dad are on the phone."

Text from mom: "This is the last one I'll send tonight. You might want to use this as your desktop wallpaper."

Text from mom: "She looks like she misses you."

Text from mom: "It's snowing again!"

Text from mom: "Ruthie likes to look out the window and watch cars go by in the morning."

I warned my mom that I was going to feature her texts on my blog so she sent me this:

Text from mom: "Since Ruthie is going to be a blog topic soon, I thought I'd get serious about my photography. :)"

So, I know I'm a little late. Mother's day was last like a week and half ago, but I want to say I love my mom. I love her so much more than I can express on this blog entry. And I love when she texts me with her new highfalutin camera phone. Happy super-late mother's day, mom. I love you...and I want you to move to California as soon as possible! Texas is too far away.

Photo courtesy of Josh Elliott. One of the best photographers I know.

I love my parents so much. This is my favorite picture of them ever. (again, courtesy of Josh.)

Filet Mignon

If I was in on death row, filet mignon and potatoes would be my final meal, hands down. I've only have filet mignon at restaurants, so I was a little more than skeptical to try cooking one myself on the stove.

It didn't disappoint. I mean it was no Ruth's Chris, but it was good. We made a goat cheese and fig jam appetizer. The main course was a bacon-wrapped filet with roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans, garlic focaccia bread, goat cheese and dried cranberry spinach salad, followed by bananas foster for dessert. All of the ingredients for tonight's meal were from Trader Joe's. I didn't take pics of everything, but here's the main course and salad.




I'm finally getting to the point where I feel comfortable in the kitchen. If I see a recipe, I'm confident that I can pull it off. My next step is to make a meal for myself BY myself during the week. We'll see how that goes.

The last 5 things I have bought...

I'm 100% sure that you couldn't care less about what the last 5 things I bought were but here they are...not including fast food purchases which seriously make up 90% of my purchases. (In case you're wondering, my most recent purchases were: Chick-fil-A, Elephant Bar, Chick-fil-A, Pick Up Stix, Angels Stadium, Henrys, Chick-fil-A)

RileyHallDesign.com: $10.49
I'm finally getting serious about getting some of the work I have slaved over the past few year online. Buying the domain was the first of many steps in getting my work online. There's nothing up at this point so don't waste your time going there yet. I'll keep you posted.



Haircut: $30.00
I got 75% of my hair cut off tonight. Courtney (at Salon One on Lake Mission Viejo...she's great) gave me a trim tonight. With summer around the corner, it was time for the shag to go. I tossed around the idea of buzzing it all off, but I don't want Courtney to go without my $30 a month so I decided to keep a little on the top.



Cooking Tongs and mixing bowls: $24.73

Allie, my personal cooking coach, and I went to World Market because I needed kitchen stuff badly. She was tired of having to flip pork chops with those crappy little spatula spoon things. They really suck and they melt, which REALLY sucks. Who wants melted rubber in their pork chops? So a good pair of OXO tongs were in order as well as a nice set of white mixing bowls, which will nicely double as a bowl to catch the leaking water under my bathroom sink if need be. (Don't tell Allie though)



Flight to Napa Valley: $21.40

Here's the deal. When I flew back to California from Texas at Christmas I took a later flight and got a flight voucher. That's why this trip only cost be 20 bucks. Several friends and I are flying to Napa for a few days next month to get away and relax. Allie, the aforementioned personal cooking coach, has grandparents who own a a vineyard in Napa so that is where we are headed for a weekend of relaxation. I haven't been north of Bakersfield, which is a hole, so I'm stoked.



Hoodie: $36.81

I'm not a fan of shopping for clothes, but I when I do buy clothes it's usually some kind of jacket. Ask my mom. She refuses to buy me anything that resembles a jacket or hoodie or anything like that. That's all I seem to buy. Well, this is an oxford shirt with a hood. It's the perfect blend of preppy Southern boy and lazy Laguna Beach Saturdays. I think I'll wear it come summer. We'll see. You might see it on e-Bay.

Tapenade and Pork Chops

It was meal #3 with Allie. I couldn't even pronounce most of the ingredients we used this week. Roquefort cheese? Kalamata olives? I'm sure these are foods that most people know, but not this guy. Velveeta? Yes. Roquefort? Huh?

I'm finding out that the hardest thing about cooking is making sure that everything for the meal is ready at the same time. If you cook vegetables, you have to make sure that they are ready to be served when the meat is ready. Ugh...that's when I'm like, "Screw it. Throw it in the microwave."

This was the most challenging of all the meals Allie and I had attempted, but it was also the best overall meal.






The photos are courtesy of Tim Moore.

I'll post pics from this past weekend's meal very soon...filet mignon!

My 2nd Cooking Lesson

It's week #2 of my cooking lessons with Allie. I'll admit I was little less involved in the prep of this meal. I kept getting distracted and would wander out of the kitchen. Nonetheless, the meal got main with about 20% of my involvement and 80% from Allie. (photos courtesy of my roommate, Tim Moore.)

We did our shopping for this meal at Henry's. I love Henry's. It's healthy and oatsy and their produce is good, but it's tough to find some ingredients because it's such a small grocery. I think we are going to stick with Whole Foods from here on out.


MENU

Appetizer:
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo

Main dish:
Chicken Tacos

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bar

Confession: The peanut butter chocolate granola bars were completely inedible! We put one on a plate just to take a picture of it, but the peanut butter I had expired 2 years ago. We didn't realize it until we started cutting it. We couldn't get rid of the fast enough.

Top 5 shows filling up my TiVo...

I am rarely home in the evenings which has really cramped my TV-watching addiction. So usually on Saturday mornings this is what is what I am catching up on:

• Modern Family
Dare I say it? This is the best comedy to ever be on TV. You know on most shows there are characters that you could do without or you kinda ignore their story line? Not the case with MF. Once of the subtly smartest shows ever. Favorite characters: Cameron and Phil

• Lost
It's the last season. I can't say it's the best season, but it's the last season. I have a consistent group of people I watch it that constantly have to explain to me what the crap is going on in this show, but I am still hooked on it and can't wait for Tuesday nights to roll around. Favorite characters: Kate and Sawyer

The Soup
The highlight to my week is watching Joel McHale mock VH1 reality idiots, LA morning show and Laguna Beach pricks. Favorite character: Joel closely followed by the chihuahua

Parks & Recreation
• Amy Poehler is brilliant. Diverse cast which makes the show appeal to a wide audience. I love style of the opening credits too. Favorite character: April and Andy

24
• Sure, this show has been on forever and every season it's basically the same plot, but it's still good. It's the last season and, like a dying dog, even though I'm fine to see it go, I'll stick with it till the end. Favorite character: Cloe

I (really) cooked for the first time

For real. I mean I've cooked a grilled cheese here and there. I've even thrown a few patties on my George Foreman, but REALLY cook? I don't know the first thing about it.

The kitchen is the place that I go to microwave things. I know it has many other uses, but like I use my bedroom to sleep in, my bathroom to shower in, my laundry room to clean clothes in, I use my kitchen to microwave in.

My friend and self-taught chef, Allie, agree to trade Photoshop lessons for cooking classes. So last Friday we spent a few hours at Whole Foods getting everything we needed to make my first 3-course meal. She taught me that using the best ingredients is key. We smelled all the cheeses, sifted through the stacks of vegetables, and conversed with the butcher about the best choice in chicken. It was the best 2 hours I've spent in a grocery store and I didn't even leave with bags full of Eggo waffles, Coke, little smokies, and tortilla chips.



The menu included an appetizer of an green apple & brie bruschetta on pumpernickel. The main course was homemade fettucine alfredo with grilled asparagus. For dessert, we had an baked apple crisp thing. It had a fancy name but I can't remember it. We shared the meal with Tim and Jake and it was a hit! I mean they have had my specialty "Pigs in a Blanket" but this blew that out of the water.

Here are the top things I learned after my first night of cooking with Allie.

• The most important item you should have when cooking is a great knife and a great cutting board.
• Always taste every ingredient before using it.
• Clean up as you go.
• People eat with their eyes before they eat with their mouths. Presentation is everything.
• Everything looks better on a white plate.
• Great food requires great ingredients. Don't be a tightwad.
• When it comes to cheese, the stinkier the better.
• When possible, use chicken with the bone in and the skin still on it. Not quite as healthy, but the taste is so much better.
• Cook for and with fun people.