Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Jack Frost On A Hot Day

 After a walk through the zoo on a weekday, we had lunch at Pappas Burgers in Fort Worth.  Their signature drink is a Jack Frost - imagine a Jack and Coke slushie.  It was goooood, too, especially in the hundred degree heat.  We also had nachos (loaded with everything, but nothing special) and burgers - huge and excellent.  The place as a 1950's feel to it, and most of the wait staff goes to Texas Christian University.  Tips go toward college students.




Putting In The Bricks

Bricks and bits of house led to more than usual progress this week.  Maybe if I can keep working on this on the side, I can have a finish soon!

Monday, July 30, 2012

One More Row

Only one more row to go to finish part five on the third corner.  I'm also almost done with part six on this corner too.

Yay, Finally!

I finally made it through my second square! Looking at the diagram, I think this was the largest piece of the whole sampler.  And now, it's done.  Off to catch up on the rest.

Barbecue!

 On our last evening in Louisiana in May, we went to Silver Star Barbecue.  I'm always up for barbecue, and, even though they weren't photographed, we had fried pickles too.  If you haven't tried fried pickles dipped in ranch dressing, I recommend you do so!  Both Andreas' parents had ribs.  I had sliced beef with onion rings, and Andreas had sausage.


The sliced beef was well smoked, if a little dry, so I just used more sauce.  It wasn't too peppery and had a slightly spicy flavor.  Onion rings were on the sweet side, which is the way I like them.



Sunday, July 29, 2012

Second Ornament Started

I started my second ornament of the Winter In July challenge.  This one is from the 2002 JCS ornament issue and is by Catherine Strickler of Indigo Rose and is called Peace On Earth.  I'm using Bijoux for the sparkle and Needle Necessities variegated.  I like how it's coming out so far.

Dark Blue

The last session was spent stitching in more green and blue, including the very dark blue at the left.  The lake is filling up.

Sandwiches For Lunch

 Andreas' parents really like this new salad and sandwich chain called Newk's, so when I said I had a craving for sub sandwiches, we went there for lunch.  Granted, they were good, but they weren't subs.  I never did get that craving satisfied last visit to the US.  Maybe next summer.  


What Andreas' parents really like about the place is the huge salads.  They shared the one pictured at bottom.  I liked my sandwich; it was well made and not understuffed.  On top of that, they had a bar of pickles, olives, and peppers that you could put on your sandwich.  It just wasn't a sub.


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Japanese in Shreveport

 After driving back to Shreveport from Florida, we had dinner with Andreas' parents at Yokohama, a strip mall restaurant on Youree street.  This is possibly the least upscale-looking Japanese restaurant I've ever been in.  Looking at the actual food  presentation, though, you can see they don't skip on the portion sizes or plate look.  The foo was very good tasting; I had one of the two hibachi dishes at the bottom - the steak one.  The meat was not overdone, and the sauce had a little bit of tang in the sweet.  Veggies were al dente and fresh.  


Andreas' parents had the plates that came in divided boxes.  They're combinations of sushi and other things.  Since I don't like fish, I skipped that.  They do get extra points from me, though, on their presentation.



Seeing Red

I'm not getting into a rage about this, but I am pretty bored...

My Dragonflies Are Back

 Back in January, I sent this block out for the butterflies and dragonflies round robin. I use a bunch of rectangles because I like the structure better than a more random look.  The picture below is how it came back - lots of dragonflies!  I love dragonflies.  The seam treatments are also wonderful, and I'm happy to have it.  Now I need to incorporate it into something bigger!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Teaching Kiku Done

 This was the first pattern I taught to my students last month.  I picked what I thought would be a bit wilder colors, especially the Havana (green/purple combination) Watercolours, but the teal ball toned them down quite a bit.  The two poles are different versions of kikus for my own amusement.  The ball itself was given as a gift to Liuba, the host mom of a peace corps volunteer here in Moldova.  Once the weather cools and the pace of village life slows some, I'll be teaching her how to make them too!


"Mexican" In Fort Walton Beach

I was raised on TexMex food.  This means I find other regional Mexican foods to be unhomelike.  The food may be very good, as this was, but it's not what I consider Mexican food to be.  My mother's saying is, "Never have Mexican food outside of Texas."  She's often been proven right.


In this case, though, the food was excellent, if a bit on the California side of Mexican.  I had the tacos, which weren't too spicy.  The sangria was very fruity tasting, as sangria should be, and served nearly ice cold.  Andreas had the huge burrito at the bottom.  He wasn't able to finish it.  Living overseas, one forgets how large American portions are.




Last Of The Round Robins

I have completed the last round robin I've signed up for now.  This is Cathy L's block for the midnight fantasy garden.  It was pretty full when I got it, with the mushrooms on the lower right the only large unstitched space.  I find high contrast figural fabrics like that one hard to embellish.  They've already got a story!  What I ended up doing was highlighting some of the mushrooms and then doing the same for the flowers on the bottom.  It's on its way home to her now.  I hope she likes it.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

White And Yellow

I'm getting this done slowly.  Still working on the white background, and also on the yellow vine and leaves on the lower left.

Last Of The Butterflies

This is the last of the butterflies and dragonflies blocks in the round robin.  It's Arlene's, and I think she picked lovely colors for her block.  There wasn't much room left, so I ended up filling in little odds and ends.

One caterpillar, one butterfly, and one dragonfly later, the piece is on its way home.

Dinner In Destin

We visited Florine, Saint, and their daughter Alexandra during home leave.  It was such a hardship, as they live in Destin, Florida.  Surprisingly, this was my first visit to the state.

Second night there, we walked to McGuire's Irish Pub.  The place was packed and noisy, but the food was delicious.  They had a loaf of dark wheat bread with honey butter for the table.  My plate and some others came with unremarkable salad.  Andreas had the sausage plate, which had four different kinds of sausage.  He couldn't finish it all, but each had a distinct flavor.  I had prime rib, a huge slab of meat which I shared around.  The asparagus was mine, too.  Asparagus was well cooked but not overcooked, and obviously steamed, as it should be.  Prime rib was flavorful, juicy, and not very fatty.  Saint had the barbecued ribs.  Normally, I don't like pork ribs, but these were an exception.  They have a smoker that they use to cook them, and the difference was noticeable.  Florine had the chicken pot pie.  We walked around Destin's small harbor afterwards to let dinner digest and to look at the water.  A very wonderful ending to a wonderful day.






Wednesday, July 25, 2012

One More Hurdle Crossed

Fourteen parts done, and only a few more left to go!

Lackluster Lunch

 On our way to Florida, we stopped for lunch at a McAlister's Deli just past Jackson, Mississippi.  It'd been ten years or so since we'd stepped foot in one, and I believe that's a pretty good amount of time between.  This is a chain throughout at least the southern US, and, frankly, it's not very good.  The food is obviously precooked and nothing seems fresh.  Andreas had soup in a bread bowl and half an Italian sandwich.  I had a French dip.  Not even the pickle spears were crisp!  It'll be another ten years before we stop in at another one of these...

Need Moar Green

I've got the house well underway, but there needs to be more green for the yard.  Time to get more work done!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Un-Whitework All Done

One more challenge piece done!  I think it came out well, and I'll be making it into an ornament soon.

Last Of The Flowers

 These are the last of the flowers from the American Rose Center.  Yes, the roses in the pictures are beautiful, but we had to look hard for them.  The plants were not well pruned, dead headed, or watered regularly, from the looks of it.  The  grounds are unkempt (notice the lack of landscapes in these sets) and the place has the general look of falling into dishabille.  Thank you to Andreas for being able to find the golden flakes in the dross.