Food, I love you.

Before I show you where I ended up....let's see where it all began. Our second-night seder was a success if I can say so. We had 9 guests and lots of food--brisket, charoset, matzah, gefilte fish, tsimmes, chicken, matzo ball soup, etc. Last week was absolutely crazy and not being able to eat bread made it even more insane.

Yasi brought some beautiful flowers that added some color to the table and I've been enjoying their scent ever since.


Last night we checked out a restaurant that was recommended by our classmate, Sheridan. SoGo is advertised as, "Market, Cafe and Takeout." I unfairly assumed it would be like Luby's or something, but it was so so good. I only got two pictures before Ben's iPhone died, so we'll just have to use our imagination here.

First off, the market has lots of little goodies you can buy to take home. I got some lavender soda water and banana butter--plus that delicious red velvet cake you can barely see in the carry out container. SoGo claims to use organic and sustainable products when possible, but bla bla bla, let's talk about the food! I ordered the PELT--a prosciutto, fried egg, lettuce and tomato sandwich on sourdough bread. It was so tasty! It was hearty and juicy, but somehow felt light. Ben got the braised pork loin with creamy polenta and cabbage. I'm not into mixing sweet with savory, but his dish was straight up good. The hummus we had as an appetizer was spot on as well--just the right kick of salty and zingy. It was quite the hike to get up to this Stone Oak cafe, but we'll definitely be making the trek again.

While I'm on the subject, we visited another Stone Oak eatery a few weeks ago. Cielito Lindo has a decent atmosphere with both a dining area and a lounge. The food and clientele were definitely authentic Mexican. I don't know enough about Mexican geography or Spanish language, but I know this food was more serious than the border area tex-mex food I'm used to eating and the Spanglish I'm used to hearing. I had chilaquiles and I think Ben ordered chicken fajitas (big surprise there). The food had an abundance of flavor and the temperature and textures were on point.

Here's another place I visited where the jury is still out---Green. This place is structurally and theoretically ideal, but I am not sure the final product really works. I brought my sister and dad to this place when they were in town because they are vegetarians. The boisterous manager greeted us and wouldn't stop chatting us up. My dad loves this kind of stuff and was egging the guy on, fist bumping and laughing/joking back and forth. Alyssa and I decided to get a "green machine" vegetable drink to start off. It straight up tasted like a burp. I mean I know it was our own fault for thinking a drink made of kale would taste delicious, but I know it's possible (hello Naked juices). I really wanted to get the Quinoa burrito, but I let that crazy manager talk me into getting the Carne Guisada, made with something called, "TVP". That's textured vegetable protein and it's weird.

I think Alyssa liked her fake meat Philly and my dad enjoyed his Portabella burger, but that carne guisada was NOT good. My dad ate up all that I couldn't stomach, but I think that stuff was only good to someone who hasn't eaten meat in a very long time. I can say with confidence, however, that the onion rings were delightful and the vegan cupcake (made from an outside bakery) was one of the best I've ever had. (And I'm very serious about my desserts).

The final straw with this manager (or maybe owner?) guy was what he was saying when an Orthodox Jewish family came in. We watched the people go wash their hands in the wash bins that were set out as part of the accouterments that make this place legally "kosher," and my dad started asking questions about the "koshering" process. Although my dad isn't Jewish, he obviously knows his stuff, being married to our Jewish mom for thirty-something years and raising us, but this guy didn't know that. He started saying, "oh boy are those people hard to please! I mean, I can please my mother-in-law and can't please them!" I guess he thinks all Jews are strict Orthodox Jews. All I have to say is, a guy who's trying to build a business catering to Kosher Vegetarians shouldn't be customer bashing while wearing an Arkansas Razorback embroidered on his shirt pocket. (If you are unaware, a razorback is a big ugly pig).

Parties, Weddings and Holidays!

For some reason, school is sucking even more than usual lately. It's crunch time and patients keep canceling! Thankfully--my network of friends here in Dental School and my loved ones back home are getting me through this. I've been working on so many non-school related craft projects and it's helping to reduce stress and focus on the things in life that really matter.

Two weeks ago, our friend and basically only blog fan, Tom, made the ladies at PLSB a crazy proposal. He wanted to PAY us to throw him a birthday party. This was obviously nonsense, and he didn't know that we already had his birthday party planning in the works. You can read his re-cap of the party here. Tom didn't want any part in the planning because he thought it was too stressful, so we had to do a lot of guess work. Our inspiration, oddly enough, was his tattoos! (see that first picture). From there we made an invitation and made decorations crafted with pictures of his actual tattoos. We told people to dress dark and edgy as we were planning a biker gourmet/west coast choppers/nouveau americana/amy weinhouse theme. Really, I just wanted an excuse to wear my new lipstick, but the guests had fun with it and I think Tom was thrilled.

The invitation.


Some of the decorations. I've seen so many of these pendant banner things on blogs, so I decided to try my hand.
That's Tom, Will, Erin and Tyler digging in. They are eating steak kabobs, risotto, Persian dish (don't know the name, sorry), salad, Indian dish, etc.

This picture makes no sense here, but I just want the world out there to realize how amazing of a chef Yasi is. This was salmon nicoise. Prepared for Brigid and myself on a RANDOM WEEK NIGHT. Again, my friends are seriously getting me through this. Even on the most basic level of nourishment. I wish I had a picture of the Thai dish Yasi made the week before last that completely resolved my sour post-waiting-at-the-car-dealership-for-three hours mood.

Back to Tom's party. Yasi, Brigid and Erin preparing the food.


Catching up on some big news. Brigid just tasted something bad I guess.

Standing proudly in front of her handiwork. That's a lemon trifle and our watermelon/balsalmic/feta/candied nuts salad in the background.



The above two photos don't make a lot of sense here either, but I stole them from Tom from our St. Patrick's day feast. I just like how he took a picture of me taking a picture of B & Y. As he always says, "in ten years....this picture will be priceless!!"

Also getting me through these rough few weeks--comfort food. These ended up tasting not-so-hot, but after a long hard day, pancakes with extra granola and banana (intend to) hit the spot.


Friday afternoon I scheduled a cleaning so I could get out of clinic early and make it to my friend Patti's wedding rehearsal. I've known Patti and her family since I was six weeks old, so needless to say, her wedding this weekend was a wonderful event! This may not mean anything to anybody, but I made it from the dental school in San Antonio to the Kemah boardwalk in three hours and forty five minutes! I never thought I'd make it to the rehearsal, but I arrived just in time to change from scrubs to a dress in the back of my car and run down the hill to the boat (yes the wedding was on a boat!) The windows on the boat were tinted in such a way that I didn't realize that the whole wedding party was watching me run (so not graciously) on a down slope to the dock in heels.

The wedding was intimate and so much fun. I was really nervous about my speech and MOH duties, but everything worked out. My sister Leah, on the far left in the picture was asked to do a reading, and my other sister, Alyssa, on the right side of the bride, sang a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria. I was proud of them both.

Saturday night at 4 am, after catching up with my old friend Kendall at Baytown's newest, hottest (only) bar, we booked tickets to the Duke vs Baylor game. We ate at Goode Company BBQ before the game then grabbed some drinks at the Armadillo Palace. You can't tell but that's Chrissy, Leah, and Ben sitting on saddles.




View of Htown from Reliant.
Chrissy & Leah claimed they didn't plan these matching outfits.


Of all 40 thousand fans, our seats were right next to our classmate, Alex!

I was actually cheering against both teams. I was rooting for my ice cream!

Last night was our Passover seder! I got invited to my Aunt Dolly's in Austin. We had a great time and the food was so delicious. Tonight a classmate and I are hosting a second night seder at my house. I've got to race to Central Market right NOW and get some of the food.

St Patty's Party Recap

But first...here are the pictures we finally got from Brigid's birthday party. What a fun night!

We stayed up so late!

Brigid and I have the same boots!

We made smores! (just realized I went a little crazy with the exclamation points, but it was really fun)

Okay--now on to St Patrick's Day. Brigid cooked corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots--the works. It was delicious again this year and I helped myself to about 5 slices of Irish soda bread and butter.





Super cute, right? Can you see the precious little flowers on Brigid's shirt? And by the way, there were other party guests besides the three of us.

The girls here at PLSB are pretty busy right now with dental exams, Persian new year celebrations, trying out a new lipstick shades (see below), ordering Papa John's online and planning our friend Tom's birthday party. We are excited and will be posting pictures...but for now the theme is kind of secret.

It's called "Funny Face."

"Irish"

Some pretty paper cutouts...

from here

Today I'm reminiscing of my childhood celebrations of St. Patrick's day. My family really seems to hold on tightly to our Irish roots and so this day always was a production. I'm talking green milk all day long, a big meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish soda bread (my FAVORITE), I'm sure there were probably some green eggs in there, green cookies, what else can you die green?

The way my family, and much of America, have latched on to this holiday as a way of celebrating Irish heritage (or good friends and beer) has me thinking. I think it is so interesting how in our melting pot of a country some (many?) of us hold on to a specific part of our cultural/ethnic background as a big part of our identity. What I think is funny is how people chose to loudly proclaim some cultural identities and keep others much more muted.

When I was younger I always got the impression that my mom's side of the family were the loud Irish-Catholics and my dad's side German. I just assumed that's all there was to it based on what I always heard in family gatherings. The Irish side was always played up so much more that if it weren't for my last name, you could almost forget about the German heritage (not to mention the first names in my family: Molly, Kieran, Patrick, Megan, Evan...I could go on and on). Oh, and my name? Well, St. Brigid is only like the second patron saint of Ireland after St. Patrick, so yeah...

So, imagine my surprise working on a genealogy project sometime in middle/high school and finding out about that crazy, 'we're so Irish' side of the family? Yeah, there were some from Ireland, but what about the French-Canadian, German, a Swiss mixed in there, plus the part of the family that's been in America long enough to be around signing the Constitution? Hmm, what about them...

I guess the Irish were the more recent immigrations and therefore the culture seems more relevant and convenient to hold on to. The thing is, you see this so often but you rarely hear someone just say "I'm American". I never really thought about this until a couple years back when B and I were talking about our family's and he said just that. What's different is that his grandmother actually grew up in Europe and immigrated here as an adult so the cultural ties are so much stronger, but instead he self-described as American instead of being picky about one European country over another. How awesome is that?

Maybe that's just what we need in our country...to quit nitpicking over each specific ethnicity and just celebrate that we are here, in America. I think a lot of what divides people could be resolved if we tried not to compare quite as much. Jamie was just telling me recently how she never knows what to mark on demographic papers; should she mark Hispanic, or if it isn't an option then Caucasian, or the two or more races category? Cultural sensitivity is always important and their are times where race or ethnicity does come into play; but does anyone feel that maybe it comes up a little too often? We are all still people!

Of course, I don't expect everyone to loose their cultural identity, nor would I ever encourage it. I think it is so lovely and special for those families that genuinely keep a hold to cultural ties and practices. I also think these cultural traditions are a great way to grow up realizing where one's family might have come from, to learn about how they came to where they are today and how important history can be; affecting both people and families as well as the country's development.

This was totally not supposed to be a downer...so, with that: Eat, Drink, Be Merry today! I still plan on celebrating like any good Irish would!

Valentine's in Photos

Big plans of throwing a Valentine's party to rival the Channukah party, turned into just making these dark chocolate brownie cupcakes with cream cheese icing. They were made from a Ghiradelli box, so can't really give you a recipe. Just a suggestion that these are the best box brownies ever.

Brownies packaged and ready to be delivered.

Got some sweet cards from my family.


Made some Valentine's cards for the girls and a birthday card for another friend.

Ben's card didn't get made until Sunday morning while packing for our mystery trip. I actually secretly knew all along what we were doing because it was my suggestion in the first place. We've done the romantic home-cooked meal and the fancy Valentine's dinner out, so this year I thought it'd be nice to get away, become one with nature and relax in a cabin in the Texas Hill Country. Ben acted like he wasn't feeling the idea and we didn't talk about it again. A couple days before the trip though, I caught him checking an email confirmation about a "reservation." Hmmm. I was only told to pack my Uggs (his are seen above with the essential tupperware of brownie cupcakes and Vanity Fair).

I got really into this wilderness thing and used my big camping backpack to hold all my rugged gear. *Notice the new shoes and running pants I mentioned in the previous post.* Nevermind that Ben picked me up wearing designer jeans and sandals, we were going to the wilderness!

Happy driver leading us West.

We stopped in Hondo, TX for some Barbeque at McBee's. This place so rocked, unlike this terrible place we found in Luling a couple weeks back when the place we wanted to visit was closed. Can't remember the name right now and assuming most of you guys aren't hanging out in Luling, Texas.
That cow did not stand a chance. It's a good thing my copy of Omnivore's Dilemma is still in the mail. I can definitely survive without meat every day and pretty much dislike Chicken, but gosh--steak, brisket and bacon have my heart.


We arrived at our lodgings around 3pm. I've stayed at a few places in Concan and Leakey, but I liked these property owners the best. The couple runs the office out of their home and told us a lot about the history of the cabins and the area. Also there were TWO bathrooms and a newly remodeled kitchen in our cottage--yeah we were really roughing it.

Some of our supplies.

After putting our stuff away in the living quarters we walked down to the Frio River, which was only about a five minute walk through the woods. The river was freezing, that's why they call it the "Frio," but we enjoyed playing with rocks, splashing around, hiking and talking.

Texas Hills!

Sun starting to go down and a cool front blowing in...brrr.

This is as far as we got on a puzzle before realizing we are not puzzle people and should go back to magazine reading.
Having no hair dryer gives me wilderness hair!

Our amazing, amazing steak dinner. The meat was so delectable! I ate every morsel and immediately zonked out while claiming I was just going to "rest my eyes." I am getting so old. It was only 10:00 and we hadn't had time to make our s'mores and gaze up at the stars!

Next thing I knew it was breakfast time. Ben forced me to try "Biscuits 'n' Gravy" since we were in the country. Not a fan. It's like someone hocked a loogey on your yummy biscuit.

I was determined to get this s'more thing happening so we made a fire to roast the marshmallows right before we left the camp grounds. We used my favorite chocolate.

This trip was really great and just what I needed. I encourage all of you to visit the area and get your nature on. Thanks to my loving Valentine!