Sharing A Snow Cone - True Sisterly Love

Landrie is so sweet and a great big sister. Last night, they stopped by our house with their snow cones. Landrie was so good about sharing with Karsyn. Karsyn has never had a snow cone, but once she tasted it, there was no turning back. They had a "green one" and not only did Landrie share, she fed Karsyn.

Food, Glorious Food

This past week, I have had some of the best food that I have had in a long time. If I lived in California, I would be in trouble. One of my favorite foods is crab. I went to San Francisco for the first time about 13 years ago. The first restaurant we went to after we arrived was Scoma's. I had the Dungeness Crab Louis Salad. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was the best crab I have ever had. There was so much crab, that I couldn't finish it all. That has never happened to me before.

Two years ago, we went back to Scoma's. The salad was just as large and every bit as good as the first time. This week, when Pops picked me up from the airport, the first place we went to was Scoma's. He had a seafood pasta dish that was just okay, but of course I ordered my $30 salad. It was so good! So good in fact, we went back again just before we headed home and both had the salad. I have definitely had my fill of crab for awhile. There was over a pound of crab on the salad.

One of the neatest cities outside of San Francisco/San Jose is Los Gatos. It is street after street filled with old buildings and shops. A one bedroom small house goes for about $2 million.

When we went to Los Gatos a couple of years ago, we went to Forbes Mill Steakhouse. We had one of the best meals we have ever had, so Forbes was on our agenda this time. The only bad part was that with the traffic, it took us 2 hours from San Francisco. I was a little irate from the drive, but it was well worth it.

We were greeted at the door by one of the owners, Dean. He could not have been any nicer. He quickly engaged in conversation with us and called us by name like we were old friends. Several times during our meal, he sat at the table with us and we talked like we had known each other for years.

When I saw the menu, I quickly remembered what I had the last time I was at Forbes and ordered the same thing. I had the Blue Cheese Wedge Salad and the Braised Asian Pear Short Ribs with Teriyaki Barbeque Marinade. It was SO good. Pops had the Blackened Ribeye with Caramelized Onions over Blue Cheese Compound Butter with Cabernet Demi-Glace. It had been marinated in the spices for 36 hours. It was great. The bread was also good. There were two different types, one being a dark sweet bread which is my favorite.

For dessert, we had the Kona Coffee Creme Brulee. They also have a dessert sampler with four different desserts. We have had that in the past, but were too full to try it again. Just before we left, I visited the bathroom. I am not fond of public bathrooms. When I am out of town I do not drink so that I can avoid them. This was so nice, I went twice. They had everything in there from mouthwash to hairspray and even deoderant.

When we left, Dean was not at the front door. We headed down the street to shop and as we were going back to our car, we saw Dean walking down the street. He was looking for us to say goodbye. We exchanged handshakes and hugs. I gave him my blog website and told him to check it out. Dean, if you are out there, thanks for the great meal and conversation. We really enjoyed it!

Heaven On The West Coast

It doesn't get much better than this. Although I do not like traveling by car, I spent a lot of time in the car last week, but I was looking out the window at this. When we turned the rental car back in, we had gone almost 600 miles. Besides the driving in town, we drove from San Francisco to Santa Cruz with the view much like the picture all the way there. I would love to retire in California if it wasn't so expensive. Great views and great food.

And You Think Gas In Texas Is Expensive?

It has been quite painful lately to fill my car up with gas. When you get 14 miles to the gallon, it does not go very far and it costs a fortune.

After seeing the prices of gas in San Francisco this week, it doesn't hurt quite so bad to be in Texas.

Travel Time Tuesday - My First Post

Annie over at "My Life as Annie" has started "Travel Times Tuesday," where bloggers dig into the past. Her charge this week is to go back to your first post and post it again, and tell how you started blogging.

Here is my first post about one of my favorite restaurants:

Since we were going to be alone for dinner (for the first time in a while), we decided to make it a special night and go to Pops new favorite restaurant Hibiscus. Diego was our waiter. He was funny and not stuffy and waiters at these restaurants sometimes are. We started out with an appetizer of "Baked Dungeness Crab Dip with Wood Oven Fried Crackers. This was my favorite part of the meal. The dip was full of crabmeat. You can eat the homemade crackers by themselves. They are so good. For anyone who has been to New York, it reminds me of the flatbread served there.Next we had salads. I had a dinner salad with ranch and Pops had the Caesar. Of course, I tasted his. It was very good. Next time I will order the Caesar. For our entree, I had the "Crispy Cracklin' Shrimp" and he had the "Three Pepper Crusted Prime Ribeye." The shrimp were huge. Pops said that his steak was one of the best he has ever had. We had "Pt. Reyes Bleu Cheese Glazed Spuds" and "Bourbon Creamed Corn." Pops loved the potatoes. I thought they were very good, but you need to love bleu cheese because it is very strong. The corn was sweet and had a good flavor.Those of you who know me well, know I love anything that is sweet.We finished the meal off with the special dessert of the day, Peach Cobbler with Lavender Vanilla Ice Cream. It was served straight from the oven. The ice cream had an interesting flavor, but it was delicious. I would definitely order it again.Writing this is making me hungry!! I am ready to decide where we will eat tonight.

Here is my post on why I started blogging:

I can't believe I hit 100 today. A year ago, I didn't even know what a blog was.Justin was looking for a Home Team for our church and he saw that one of them that he had been invited to had a website. He told me to look at it. I started wondering if other Home Teams had websites, so I googled "Fellowship Church" "Home Teams." Lots of hits came up and I started reading them. Several of them were blogs. That is when I got hooked.I started reading blogs of people I knew, and then one let to another and another and another. . . and I was hooked, and I am still hooked. You feel like you know these people after reading their stories. Some are just everyday life, but others are blogging about their tough times with tragic events and illnesses. I find myself praying for these people, and although I have never met them or even corresponded with them, I feel like I know them.I thought I would blog about restaurants because that is something that I know well, but it has turned into a family blog with a little bit about restaurants. I started my blog on July 30, 2006. I love looking back at the pictures of my little girls. If this is still going 20 years from now, I hope they will have a great time looking back at their lives.Thanks for reading.


Although she doesn't know it, Sarah at "In The Midst of It" was my first real inspiration to blog. I started reading her blog in May of 2006 and quickly came upon the blogs of her mother and aunt. They are all phenomenal writers and I have continued to follow their life stories. I am constantly amazed how I can read a new blog by someone hundreds of miles away and then realize that they are somehow connected to another blog I have read for months.

TV Land Update - Holding My Breath for Tonight

Well, two down and one to go. Andy ended up picking Tessa and I was happy with that. I do think he seemed to have more chemistry and fun with Bevin, but Tessa is more wife material for someone who has a structured medical career in the military.

I was happy with Apollo winning DWTS. He is a great dancer and they definitely have chemistry. I am willing to bet that it is off screen as well as on. You can't be that close to someone for hours and hours each week and dance like that and "just be good friends."

I thought Blake performed well in his first song, but if you had your back to the TV, or were listening to his songs on the radio, you would be saying, "Who in the world is that?" He just did not sound that great and was a little flat at times.

Jordin did a great job and if she is this good at 17, can you imagine what she will be like with all of the writers, producers and coaches? She is definitely my choice for the next American Idol.

Celebrities At Celebration

As I posted a while back, Celebration in Dallas is one of our favorite restaurants. It is not fancy at all, just good old down home cooking. Celebration had a location in Ft. Worth several years back, but closed it and kept the original Dallas location open. We make it over there every couple of months.

I was just doing my daily reading (People magazine of course) and read that on May 6th, Luke Wilson took Kate Hudson to Celebration to introduce her to his parents. I wonder what she ate? Probably not chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy or hot biscuits with butter and honey.