Taking the Focus to the shop

As you know my car is getting up in age and miles so I am trying to take care of her and make sure that she sees the doctor often. I have been really good about getting the oil changed when needed and just keeping up to date on regular maintenance. There was a Firestone that I liked in St. Louis and for the most part it worked well for me to take my car in when it needed something. Now that we are here in texas and driving substantially more the Focus needs a little more TLC.

One Saturday my dad was on his way out of town and was coming to spend the morning with me so I hopped on the chance to take my car to get the oil changed since I wouldn't have to sit there and wait the whole time. I dropped the car off and headed out with my father. My dad and I hung around the apartment for a while before we went off to play. While we were deciding what we should do for the day and having our typical discussion of my finances (I used to loath these talks but as I get older and have slightly more money I am loving that I can talk to my dad and hear his experience with money and get his take on how I should treat my finances) the shop called.

My note trying to write down everything that he said... see the price $1647.44?!?!?! 

Now I figured this was the typical your car is ready phone call so I wasn't really paying attention in the beginning but as it went on and on he kept listing things that were wrong with my car... to a final tune of roughly $1600. Thank goodness my father was there and he told me to tell the mechanic that I would think about it. As I look at my father with terror in my eyes and try not to panic (I was pretty unsuccessful on that front), he talks me off the ledge and we start making a plan. For the most part what the mechanic wanted to fix were things that were beginning to go bad like my breaks, shocks, plugs and wires, wipers, air filter, etc etc. I am often of the opinion that if it is bad fix it and since I don't know how to do much on my car I just let them do it. As we talked about this I realized that many of these things were not bad and probably didn't need to fixed at this point. The mechanic called back twice to try and talk me into getting this stuff done and kept giving me different discounts... that was a little strange.

As I stood looking at the non-existant corrosion on the battery and the air filter container that hadn't been touched I realized that he was trying to take advantage of a single female. So I decided that I am going to hang on to the Focus for a little bit longer and not panic but start to make plans for a new car. I am not sure what I am going to get next but I am making tracks toward figuring that out. Sometimes having a car and being single sucks but then again I have a great family that helps me out in these moments.

Why I will never bring watermelon to a party again...

So for my families father's day get together I was tasked with bringing a watermelon for both a side and as something to munch on out by the pool. I was pretty excited because I wanted to see if the cool way they show to cut it up on pinterest works and this would be an easy task.

So while I am at Target on Saturday I look through their melons and find the best one they have. It is very heavy and has a pretty good creamy spot on the bottom. It doesn't thump just right but you know maybe I am out of practice, who knows. I snap this bad boy up and head for the house. Once I get to the house I decide to go ahead and chop this up so that I don't have to do it later.

This looks strange

Imagine my surprise when I slice it open and it is yellow inside... I panic just a bit and text my Aunt Judy since she will know what to do. Since I am not sure what to do and google says that the yellow melon is the sweetest of the melons I go ahead and chop it up. I also eat a bit of it to see if it was good, it wasn't terrible but it tasted like a watermelon.

Looking for help

As my stomach becomes very angry I realize that this melon is bad. I put everything in the trash and just move on with my life. I don't really have tome to grab another melon on Saturday and I decide to run to Kroger and get one after church.

I get to Kroger and don't see any melons so I kindly ask one of the floor guys who tells me they just got off the truck so he grabs one for me. Since that was all I needed I don't have a buggy so I just carry it out like a boss. Once I get to the house I open the door and say hello to Lily and then turn around to lock the door.

As I turn back into the living room I don't see the jug of water sitting on the floor that I chose not to put away yesterday since I didn't know where to put it and I promptly trip over the water with the melon still in my arms. In what seems like a million seconds I go from standing upright to laying on the floor sobbing because my knees are killing me. Yes, you did read that right, I took a facer in my apartment while carrying a watermelon. After several moments, maybe a whole minute, of crying in self pity trying to determine if I have to call someone to take me to a hospital I realize that there is a second terrible thing that could have happened... the watermelon could be broken in a million parts on my carpet?!?! Luckily for my it managed to stay intact so that was good.

I eventually get off the floor and realize that I am not dying and I don't think I have irreparably damaged my legs so I must continue on my tasks. I will admit that I was a little slower than before but not totally broken.

Look at that melon... so good

Once in the kitchen I cut open the melon and realize it is red!! WooHoo I have a good one, it was so sweet. I followed the method here to cut up half of the melon. Well, this didn't really work well for me. I would guess that part of that is that my melon was cracked in the center (perhaps from the fall or it was just that ripe). So I found that the peeling and then dicing the melon was a great idea but I don't know that I saved anytime over a different method. But I do think I might try it again should I get a seedless melon since they are smaller and might be a little easier to use this method on.

As I am sitting here with ice on my knees I realized a few different things:
-Most likely I won't be bring watermelon anywhere ever again.
-Target probably isn't the best place to buy produce.
-Falling while you live alone is pretty terrifying for the first few seconds.
-Don't eat unripened fruit.

I still cannot believe that this happened in many ways this is a great story however I am a little anxious about how I am going to feel tomorrow.

Shrimp and Grits

When I went to Charleston the best thing I had to eat was the Shrimp and Grits from Hominy Grill. You should have this if you get a chance, it was incredible. As you know I really like to cook so I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes to try and if I can recreate a meal at the house I am probably going to try it.

After some pretty clever google searching, OK that is a lie I just typed it in, I found a recipe that said it was from Hominy Grill so why not right. I will admit that I didn't do too much to change the recipe except to cut it down for a large single serving or a good meal for two. I didn't really need to make 8 cups of grits... seriously that would be gross. You can find the originals here for the Shrimp and here for the grits.

Shrimp and Grits

Shrimp
8 shrimp, thawed and peeled
1/2 Tbsp flour
2 slices of bacon diced
2 oz sliced mushrooms (about 6 button mushrooms)
1 garlic clove minced
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp water (should have been lemon juice but I didn't have any)
6-8 drops of Louisiana Hot Sauce

1- Toss the shrimp in the flour. You should probably pat them dry first or they will have gooey flour all over them like mine did.
2- Cook the bacon in a skillet, you can leave yours as strips if you like and crumble it after but I find that dicing it before it a tad easier. Remove the bacon and leave the drippings
3- Sauté the mushrooms in the bacon fat about 4 minutes, add the shrimp and sauté until pink. Add the garlic for about a minute (don't let it brown). Add the lemon juice (or water), salt, and hot sauce.
4- Serve over Creamy Cheddar Cheese Grits

Cheddar Cheese Grits
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c instant grits
1 c + 1 Tbsp milk
1 c + 1 Tbsp water
7 drops Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 garlic clove pressed
2.5 oz sharp white cheddar grated

1- Bring 1/2 tbsp butter, milk, water, salt, hot sauce, and garlic to a boil. Add the grits and simmer for about 14 minutes until all of the water is absorbed.
2- Stir in the cheese and remaining butter.
3- Serve immediately.

Helpful hints
1- Start the grits first
2- This is not going to reheat well so I wouldn't have it for lunch again.
3- This is good with frozen shrimp but if you can get your hands on fresh ones it will be fabulous.
4- the original recipe does give instructions for traditional grits, I just didn't want to cook them for 90 minutes but you could.

I throughly enjoyed this, I am going to make sure that I have the lemon juice next time because it was missing a little acidity. I am looking forward to making this for my parents the next time I see them. It was wonderful. Let me know if you try it.

Garden Update

If you remember several weeks ago I planted a patio garden and I was slightly optimistic about the ability of it to really do anything but I felt like I should give it a chance. Well I am happy to report that things are growing well and they even seem to be producing some fruit!?!? I know I was shocked when I realized what was happening.

My cherry tomato plant is doing really really well. It has lots of tomatoes on it and I am anxiously waiting for the ripening of the tomatoes. At the moment I am content to wait for them to get ready but I have lots of recipes that I am waiting to try with them.

The patio tomato plant is significantly smaller than I had anticipated but to be honest maybe that is why it is a patio plant. Who knows but even though it seems to grow super super slow it does have several tomatoes on it and they look to be about palm sized when they are finished growing. I will of course update you when one finally turns red and I can eat it.

My pansies were doing well until a few weeks ago but I think they are going to have to come out soon. They seem to be infected with some type of bug, they look kinda like mites. I am going to spray them and see if it kills the bugs but not the plants... we shall see.

My basil and parsley are both doing great. I have used the basil several different times and I am trying to be a good herb grower and not allow it to just turn into a really long stalk of crazy basil. The parsley is also doing fine and I have a pasta recipe to try with that pretty soon. I will be sure to let you know how that goes.

The green bell pepper is actually in the process of giving me the first pepper of the season. It doesn't look like much yet but it will get there eventually. To be honest if I get 4 pepper off of the plant it will have made money for me so I am just enjoying keeping it alive. I am not sure it will make the summer but I might get a good fall crop out of it, if I can keep it alive.

Last but not least the flowers: I think they are really doing well. I like that I have several different varieties and colors running around on my patio.

I am excited to see how this little garden pans out over the summer. So far I have enjoyed watching my plants get bigger every single day. I am ready to be able to eat out of my garden one of these days. Are you growing anything this summer?

Spring Bible Study: Romans

One of my goals this year was to attempt to make more friends in Dallas. I have so many great friends that live all over the country from different parts of my life and that is good but sometimes you need a girl to have a beer with. There are many different ways to meet the man of your dreams but what about a good friend, not so many. I decided to attend the women's bible study on Thursday nights at church in hopes that I would meet some really nice girls that hopefully have something in common with me.

The study this semester was on the book of Romans, apparently it was a two semester class but I still got so much out of the spring semester. At some point I hope to go back and do the first half but who knows.

This was one of the first organized bible studies that I have ever done so I will admit that I was a little horrified in the beginning... I leap whole heartedly into the worst case scenarios: singing up front, being made to talk, filled with only crazy christians, being asked to leave because I wasn't good enough, I mean you name it I was thinking it. At one point my mom, I think, said well give it a few weeks and if it is that horrible don't go back. At first I was like, what?!?!?! then I realized that she had a valid point (yes I am now old enough to admit that sometimes my mom is right :) ) so I let some of my anxiety go. I was still very nervous about going to a bible study where I knew no one and they served dinner before. As I am single eating alone isn't that big of a deal it doesn't really bother me, but I don't really love eating alone when the whole place is filled with women who know each other. God provided some of the sweetest women over the different weeks to sit with me.

This bible study was two hours the first was a speaker that spoke about the chapter that we read and then there was a small group discussion after. I admit that most weeks I filled every ounce of space in the workbook with notes that the speaker gave. It was so neat to hear someone talk about what they have learned about a passage that I had just read.

Lots of notes

A good reminder: God is the promise keeper and the promise maker

This was so good for me, I made several new friends and I now feel much more comfortable going to church every Sunday. It is nice to know other Godly women, even if they were only for a season it was still nice to know them. I am actually doing the summer study at the church and I think I might to the full year next year when they study Genesis. I would totally recommend getting into a study if you move to a new town and don't know where to start with meeting people. I don't guarantee that you won't meet some crazies but for the most part you will find women that are nice.

Single serving cupcakes

If you have been around my blog for a while you know that I am obsessed with finding recipes that make small amounts of desserts. I will literally try anything that says for one. I have however learned my lesson that nothing can be made in the microwave and not taste terrible. This recipe uses the oven so I was pretty sure that it would work.

White cupcakes for two (or one)

1 egg white
2 tbsp sugar (white)
2 tbsp butter melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c flour
1/4 heaping tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tbsp milk

1- Whisk together first two ingredients, add the next two and keep stirring.
2- Add the remaining ingredients and stir until mixed up (in my hands this was pretty runny, just so you know).
3- Divide the batter between two lined muffin tins
4- Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. In the original post she indicated 12 minutes would work but it took about twice as long for me.


A quick buttercream

1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tbsp butter (softened)
drop of vanilla
milk

1- Stir together the butter and powdered sugar add vanilla
2- Add milk until desired consistency
3- I added chopped strawberries to see if I could make strawberry buttercream

I wish I was lying to you when I admit that these are going to be apart of my regular dessert rotation. They were incredible, for a moment I considered no eating both of them and then realized that I didn't care I live alone so I can eat two cupcakes without sharing. They were sooo good. The buttercream was just a tad runny but still good. I will probably work on that recipe eventually but it was good. These are a little different in texture than a boxed cake mix but they did remind me a bit of the vanilla cupcake that I got in Charleston. So overall a win. I think this is the first single serving dessert that was not terrible, I think it is the fact that it is made in the oven and the ingredients have time to really work together. I have a recipe for chocolate cupcakes for two and I am looking forward to trying that one pretty soon and letting you know how it turns out!

Festival International

When I went home several weeks ago to hangout with my mom while she recovered I got a chance to spend a few hours with one of my BFFs Mimi and her family. We headed to one of my favorite events in Lafayette, Festival International. This is a French Heritage festival and you can read more about it here. I remember going when I was in high school and loving it. I haven't been able to go for at least 10 years as it typically falls during finals week, so I couldn't get away from school or it was just too far.

This was wonderful, it was so fun to hear people speaking french and just having a great time with one another. I love south Louisiana so much, the people and the food are truly something special. I think it was almost more special to get to go with some of my great friends.

Once we got there we headed toward the children's area since they had their kiddos with them. It was pretty cute, there was a mariachi band playing. Which I admit I was surprised by but they were really good.

After the kiddo tent it was time to get something to eat and as you know I love to eat. It was almost hard to figure out what to get, I walked around for a bit looking at all there was to offer. I opted for Alligator Balls. Now in lafayette this means that it is similar to boudin balls and not like mountain oysters, so this is more like alligator meat with rice and seasonings that has been fried and not the manly parts. This was probably the best thing I had put in my mouth in a long, long time. At the table, this was a pretty popular thing to taste. I really like it.

After that we went to listen to some music. I don't know about other festivals but this one tends to have lots of bands playing at the same time surrounded by food and crafts. We went to listen to some band that I have no idea what the name is now. They were pretty good, they sounded like African Tribal Music and it was really good. I happen to love some good Zydeco but that didn't happen this year, maybe next year when my mom is feeling better.

It was so much fun to get a chance to spend a little time doing things that I really loved when I was younger but did not fully appreciate until I moved away while I was home. I wish I had taken a picture of me and Mimi but in typical Hannah fashion I took pics of lots of things but none of the people I have got to get better about that. All in all it was a great Saturday afternoon and I loved every single second of it.