Breakfast for dinner

When I got home from work yesterday, I was craving breakfast for dinner. Banana pancakes, specifically. So I did what any hungry person would do and immediately looked up a recipe.

Banana Oat Pancakes

[adapted from Taste of Home]

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg

1-1/3 cups milk

1 cup mashed ripe banana

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla

 

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

Combine wet ingredients in another bowl

Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just moistened

Pour batter onto a hot skillet

Voila! Pancakes!

Pancakes + pretty flowers = lovely dinner

*Since I was cooking for one, I halved this recipe. Because I made my pankes large, it made three of them*

And maybe Henry liked them too.



Vino

This weekend I had the pleasure of partaking in a wine tour and tasting at a vineyard in Bryan, TX [neighboring community to College Station].

I will be the first to admit that I HATE wine. Champagne and Moscato= happy place. Traditional wine (especially red)= SAD PLACE. I had lofty plans of really embracing the drink and forcing myself to like it, but no such luck.

 However, it was a fun and different way to spend a Saturday morning, and the company was excellent. Oh yeah, and there was LOTS OF FREE CHEESE.

Snapshot of the vineyard.

This is a baby cluster of grapes!

Caroline LOVES wine. Lucky girl was sitting next to me, so she got all my reject wine.

Notice that my plate of cheese and fruit has been annihilated. The wine, not so much.

Our tour guide was hilarious and informational. He got points from me for saying that I have the best grape stomping feet he's ever seen. Why thank you. Also, did you know that Texas is the fifth [about to be fourth] largest wine producing state? Neat!

I'd recommend some wine for you, but I am clearly no wine authority. But if you are a wine enthusiast, go pick up a bottle of Messina Hoff.

St. Patrick's Day might be my new favorite thing

Until this year, I had never celebrated St. Patrick's Day before.

So I guess I was making up for the years I missed out.

PLUS, Ronnie and Marshal were in town! [and a HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to my life partner!]

It was definitely quite the night.

Life Partners since 2003!

I love bringing together friends from different parts of my life. Don't know what I'd do without either of them!

My favorite engaged couple!

We took ourselves on a date to get green margaritas and beer.

Partners in crime always.

I want the world to see how good Courtney is at creeping on pictures. It is a talent unlike any other!



Coming up on the blog:

Jumping over a fire while holding hands with Caroline and getting covered in mud.

A Saturday pedal party.

That time I lied to you and said I was going to post about stuff and then didn't

About that.

Sorry!

I have been a hot mess of emotions lately, and it has muddled my brain.

I'd tell you the story, but maybe I'll save that for another day.

But today is St. Patrick's day, so celebrate all things green! And gingers!

Ronnie and Marshal, the newly engaged couple, will be in town tonight and I am excited to show them a good time.

That's about all I can handle for now. Seriously y'all, this is bad. My brain took a vacation and decided not to tell me. I'll be back when it decides to check in again!

Yeehaw

I feel most stereotypically Texan when I'm at the rodeo. The boots I never wear suddenly make an appearance, and I feel the strong urge to speak as if I grew up on a ranch.

But aside from the whole actual rodeo part making me sad [I'm thinking those broncos and bulls don't enjoy being ridden], it's a pretty damn good time. Especially when you're with friends who make ANYTHING fun.

In a suite [i.e. awesome seats with free food and drinks] for Keith Urban.

The ginger's first rodeo!

The girls at Lady Antebellum.



Caroline was very pleased with this rodeo corn dog.





Lent update

FAIL.

[shocker]

Well, mostly. I have to give myself some credit.

I am proud to say that I have NOT had dessert! Yes, the sky is falling.

I made some scones yesterday [courtesy of a recipe Celeste posted a while back], but I wouldn't count that as a dessert since they are more of a breakfast item and aren't terribly sweet. But oh my, were they good!

Due to Rodeo season, the drinking once a week gig didn't last long. Plus, a margarita with friends is terribly hard to resist. I know, I know, it's all about sacrifice. So sue me.

The going out to eat part isn't something I blatantly tried to fail at. It's just hard to avoid when people specifically ask you to go to lunch or dinner with them.

So yes, I lose. Womp womp.

A shout out to any of you who are on Spring Break: JEALOUSY.

The ginger is frolicking around Panama City Beach, FL right now, and I am so upset that I can't be there. Real life is silly.

I'm thinking that since nothing of terrible importance/excitement is happening right now, I may do some posts this week on times in my life when I WAS doing fun things.

Stay tuned.

The one time a year when I try to stop eating cookies and cakes and chocolate and everything else I love

I am not good at Lent. Never have been. Probably because Lent is most often associated with giving up some sort of food, and we all know how I feel about food. It's not something I enjoy sacrificing.

In years past I have attempted to give up more "substantial" things, such as a behavior or bad habbit. Not being critical lasted for a while, but inevitably flopped when I couldn't keep the thoughts out of my head about how horrendously some people dress.

One of my successes was the year I gave up the word "whore." This is a random word, I know. But at that point in my life, there was a particular person who I was regularly targetting that word at. There was a break up involved in all of this, of course. So we can blame that guy for my overzealous use of the word [he was super Catholic and I took Lent pretty seriously the two years I was with him...which I find ironic in all of this]. Anyway, I gave it up for Lent and substituted the word "blank" for it instead. On a daily basis I'd run to Caroline's room and start yelling about the "blanky blank blank" and how "blanky" she was. We had a good time with it, and it was one of my few Lenten successes.

Last year I gave up nothing because I knew I was bound to fail. Pretty terrible way to look at it, huh?

I'm not the go-to-church-every-Sunday type, but I do appreciate Lent and what it symoblizes. So this year I'll give it another shot. I can't promise that I'll be 100% successful, but it's the thought that counts, right?

For 40 days I will attempt the following. Emphasis on attempt:

1. Eat dessert only once a week.

2. Go out to eat only once a week [if at all].

3. Drink only once a week [if at all].

4. No chocolate [this is the one that will most likely bomb because if I'm already cutting down to dessert once a week, I can't do without chocolate too!].

We'll see how this goes.

Happy [belated] Birthday, Courtney!

A week ago, we celebrated the birth of the one and only Courtney. Her birthday was actually on the 4th, but that lucky girl was off skiing in Colorado.

The early celebration was held at a beautiful restaurant in downtown Houston called Hearsay. The drinks were tasty and the food was DELICIOUS. It was a lovely evening with great friends!!



Happy birthday lovely!!

Mardi Gras madness

I will start off by saying that Mardi Gras is everything you ever heard about it...then some.

Having a 6 hour drive turn into 12 because of traffic filled with Mardi Gras-goers: Check.

Party in the car in said traffic: Check.

The HUGE mass of drunken people: Check.

Large novelty drinks: Check.

Boobies: Check. [though not as many as I was expecting, and I certainly didn't show mine]

Filthy street: Check.

Loud music: Check.

Pizza at 4 am: Check.

A party that goes throughout the night and into the next day: Check.

Beads EVERYWHERE: Check.

Awesome view from balconies and throwing beads to people who will do ANYTHING to get them: Check.

Getting hit in the face several times by said beads: Check.

Dancing our asses off everywhere we went: Check.

Going to bed, fully clothed, at 4:30 am: Check.

Delicious cajun food: Check.

Male appendages [this was unexpected for me, though I don't know why I was surprised]: Check.

Flooded streets due to sudden rain storm: Check.

Not letting rain keep us out of the streets: Check.

Meeting crazy old people who are obviously alcoholics: Check.

Being asked if I was sure I'd go to Heaven if I died that night [there were many Christian groups out letting us all know that we were surely going to Hell for partaking in Mardi Gras]: Check.

Hot tub party in the Ritz Carlton: Check.

Finding one of our friends laying on the hotel room floor with mysterious cuts and bruises: Check.

One of the best times I have ever had: Check check check check!

I know this celebration is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm sure by now you are all aware that I am a fan of good times [though I swear that more often than not, I stay at home watching TV and petting my cats]. Mardi Gras has always been on my bucket lists of things to do in life, so I'm glad I was able to cross it off.

Now, with the risk of making some of you think I'm crazy, here are some pictures.

And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go next year...



Walking through that crowd was quite the experience.



Our outrageously fun group!

The girls.

Ginger boyfraaaan.

Boy bff.

Some French friends we made.

Don't mind my hot mess face.

Flooded streets Saturday morning.

Showing off Captain Morgan tattoos.

On a balcony giving beads to crazies.

Gator!

Gypsy, the police horse. She was so sweet.



 

Now back to DVR, cats, and trying to keep myself from eating too many desserts.