Home for the Holidays!

I am not sure if I announced it or not, but Josh and I are coming home for the holidays!!!

We are so excited! We did not expect such a generous gift of plane tickets, so are even more excited at the surprise of it all! We are SO happy to get to see everyone, meet out new niece, meet baby Schinzler, see Catherine's baby bump, have a cold Christmas, see Christmas lights, go to WILCREST!!!, order a drink from Starbucks, eat some authentic tex-mex and all the other joys of coming home for the holidays!

I have begun doing Christmas crafts here, to get myself geared up for Christmas music, which will officially be played in my house (non-stop) after December 1st. (unofficially they have been playing here and there for about a week now)...

Have I mentioned I am excited and so happy?

Perspective

I was recently introduced to a South African saying that has been ringing in my mind and heart recently. Please allow me to share:

"You complain with a loaf of white bread under your arm."

A loaf of white bread cost approximately 5 rand (or 70 US cents). The idea is, if you can afford a loaf of white bread, you have no reason to complain, because a majority of your neighbors have less.

This thanksgiving, I want my heart to overflow with thankfulness. I have 10 days to go before turkey day, perhaps I should extend my concerted effort at thankfulness to Christmas this year? Yes, I think so.

Blog Recommendation

My friendly google reader "suggestion" column introduced me to perhaps one of my favorite blogs ever, Balanced Health and Nutrition: Food, nutrition and exercise informations blended with a dash of opinion.

The author is a registered dietitian, a credentialed nutrition therapy professional and American College of Sports Medicine certified Health and Fitness Specialist. She knows her stuff and has lots of useful information to share- for free!

Can She Do It???

Ladies and gentleman, can she do it?

Who am I talking about? Myself, of course.

What is "it"? THANKSGIVING.

Traditional Thanksgiving is not observed here in SA, go figure. So, I have had friends volunteer to participate in an "American Thanksgiving" in order to fill the Thanksgiving void.

Here is where the problem pops up- I have never made a Thanksgiving meal on my own. I have always been assistant chef to my aunt and my mom. Never head chef before!

I am torn, should I shy away from the challenge and make a less intimidating dinner, or, do I dive in and collect recipes from you, my loyal friends.

Thoughts?

Home Made Tortillas

About three months ago Josh and I had a bit of a melt down regarding tortillas. The store bought ones didn't taste like home and were too expensive for our budget. But, being good Texans, couldn't imagine life without tortillas. So, with the help of my friend google, I found some recipes and tried my hand at making flour tortillas at home.

We found one recipe that we have made just about weekly since we first tried it. I do the batter mixing and Josh takes care of the rolling of the dough and cooking aspect. While he is cooking the tortillas I get the "insides" ready. The team effort makes it much more manageable and actually turns it into a fun evening activity for us to do together. Plus, if you wrap these bad boys in foil as you cook them, they stay warm and it is just like Escalantes' tortillas!

So if you want a cheap date night, or even a fun family activity, I strongly recommend giving these a try!

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

-2 cups all-purpose flour (or cake flour if you are in South Africa)

-1 teaspoon salt

-2 teaspoons vegetable oil

-3/4 cup lukewarm milk (I use skim, but the recipe calls for 2% or higher)

Stir together the ingredients in the order listed above. When adding the milk gradually pour it in using a fork to incorporate it well. The dough will be stick.

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with flour and knead vigorously for 2 minutes. The kneading will take care of the stickiness. Return dough to bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes. (the dough will not rise, but it needs a rest)

Divide the dough into 8 balls of equal size, cover them again and then let rest again or 20 minutes. I use a muffin pan to hold the dough at this point so the balls don't stick together.

Dust your work surface with flour and roll out the balls until they are a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Put the tortilla onto a hot, DRY skillet or griddle until it begins to blister and flip until cooked to desired chewiness and enjoy!

*note: these do tend to be chewy and tough if microwaved, so for reheating use a skillet or oven.

I am not a runner.

I repeat, I am NOT a runner.

Now, ask me what I am doing at the end of November, "A HALF MARATHON!"

I have been working towards fitness with my friend Gilian, I mean Amy, and it has been really fun! I never would have thought I would be able to run 1 mile, but we are already tackling 5 mile runs!

Of course, we are not running the whole time. We have found that running 8 minutes and then walking 2 minutes allows us to go farther and still keep a good time. Our goal for the half marathon is to use that system (8:2) and run the first 10k, then for the remaining distance (12k I think) take a 10 minute walk break, and run 7:3 for the rest until we need to walk.

With all of this running in my life now, I decided to educate myself and purchase a "Runner's World" magazine. There is SO much helpful information in this bugger, even for those walkers out there!

Here is my favorite tip that I am going to utilize Friday (long run day):

"Put an elastic band on your wrist and flick it to induce a little pain to distract you from any negative thoughts- it's momentary, but it gets you through."

I have a feeling my wrist will be black and blue this weekend...

If any of you are runners (or non runners who like to punish themselves like me) and have tips, please pass them on!

This one's for you, Drea!

Drea, this one is for you!

Yesterday at Spice Group we all learned how to do flower arrangements. I had a lot of fun making mine, although my design might not be the "mainstream" style...(It was lovingly referred to as "the forest" at my table).

Everyone else's arrangements at my table were so lovely, and nice and symmetrical. And, er, as you can obviously see, mine was not. I was going for more a twiggy/modern/wild look. Did it work? I will see if I can't get a picture of what is suppose to look like (wink, wink, nudge, nudge Tonya H.).

*side note, all of the flowers are from ladies backyards, spring is in the air!*

Josh's commentary on my arrangement "it looks like someone just picked up a piece of field".