JAMSquared

As most of my faithful blog readers know, James and I play World of Warcraft, a massively multi-player online game. Our small guild consists mostly of friends here in Austin, but we have a small number of guildies who live elsewhere. Back at the beginning of May, Mona and Dean, who both live in the San Francisco area, and Eric, who lives in Atlanta, came to visit. We had a lot of fun visiting, doing touristy Austin stuff, and of course talking about WoW.

Friday night, we went to Salt Lick so our visitors could experience true Texas barbecue. Then we played pool and hung out at Aric’s house. I think we had enough non-WoW conversation that my friend Kristy, Aric’s wife and lone non-WoW player, wasn’t bored with us.

Saturday started off pretty early (well early for me who typically sleeps until 10 or noon Saturdays) with Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake followed by visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was too late for bluebonnets and a tad too early for the cacti blossoms, but it was beautiful and the weather was really nice.

For lunch, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse, an Austin movie theater original that serves food and beverages (what other theater can you buy and drink beer at?) and saw X-Men Origins: Wolvervine, an excellent movie. Then we visited the Texas Capitol. I totally think no visitor to Austin should skip this attraction. The Capitol is a beautiful building constructed of Texas granite and completed in 1888. I especially love the dome: outside with the lady liberty at the top, inside from the ground floor looking up or inside from the 2nd or 3rd floors looking down at the five different Texan crests in the marble floor.

Afterward, we went back to our house where I put Dean and Ranger to work (they offered) helping me prepare the food for the guild party, which was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin (which isn’t saying much). You do have some nice views of the Austin downtown skyline and Lake Austin, but the views weren’t quite as good as I remembered. Of course, since the last time I was there was almost 6 years ago when James proposed, tree growth and euphoric romantic feelings could bias my memories.

We then had lunch at Texadelphia, another Austin original that serves a Texas version of the Philly cheesesteak. We then checked out the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was the first time James and I had gone there even though it opened in 2001. I really enjoyed the museum, especially the special exhibit about immigration through the port of Galveston (ya’ll know my love of genealogy). It is definitely a museum that I would enjoy spending some more time visiting. Keep in mind photography is not allowed. It is also home to Austin’s only IMAX theater.

After dropping Eric off at the airport, we went to Chuy’s, another Austin original (we can’t take guests to any old restaurant) where we chowed down on excellent Tex-Mex and chatted with current and former guildies (it is sad to say, but people do come and go in the land of WoW).

James dropped Mona and Dean off at the airport Monday morning before work and our weekend came to a close. It was a great weekend and it is safe to say that Mona, Dean and Eric enjoyed their trip to Austin.

Our friends Aric and Ranger have birthdays one day apart at the end of June. We finally celebrated last Saturday (first Aric and Kristy were out of town, then Ranger and Clarisse). We went to eat dinner at the downtown location of Mongolian Grille, which serves decent Mongolian barbecue. For those who don’t know what Mongolian barbecue is, you fill a bowl with a wide selection of veggies (or only carrots if you’re my husband), meats, and noodles; top it with a sauce you make (a ladle of soy sauce, a ladle of this, a ladle of that) and maybe an egg or two. Then you hand it to a chef and he cooks it up on a big round grill/griddle.

After dinner, we went back to our house and ate cake and of course sang to Ranger and Aric.

Near the beginning of April, I went with my friend Kristy and her mom, Diane, to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for their annual plant sale. I didn’t buy much as I don’t really have any bare spots in my yard. After checking out the plants for sale, we wandered the grounds and I got some good photos of April flowers, especially the bluebonnets.

The weekend before Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. My parents drove in from Midland and my sister Sarah and her little family drove in from the DFW metroplex to stay at my house and of course my brother and his wife, who live in Austin, came over to celebrate also.

Sarah, my Mom, and I prepared a big lunch Saturday that I had planned out the week before. The pinnacle of lunch was the Stuffed Crown Roast of Pork with sides of Candied Pecan Pear Salad, Apple Butternut Squash, the standard Green Bean Casserole, and rolls. The pork crown roast and stuffing was a breeze for me to make and turned out so impressive. The salad prepared by my Mom and Sarah was delicious. The apple butternut squash was tasty, but I don’t think it is something we will make again. I had planned to make Whole Wheat Rolls, but as I didn’t time it very well, we ended up going with these quick tasty rolls my Mom knew how to make.

Stuffed Crown Roast of Pork

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2005

Ingredients:

• 1 pork crown roast (16 ribs and about 10 pounds)
• 2 garlic cloves, slivered
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups apple juice or cider
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ¾ cup butter
• 5 cups soft bread crumbs
• 3 cups chopped peeled tart apples
• ¼ cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

Directions:

Cut slits in the bottom of each rib; insert garlic slivers. Rub oil over entire roast; sprinle with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow roasting pan. Cover rib ends with foil. Pour apple juice into pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 1 hour, basting occasionaly.

Meanwhile, for stuffing, place the raisins in a small bowl.; pour boiling water over raisins. Let stand for 2 minutes; drain and set aside. In a skillet, saute the onion, celery, and garlic in butter until tender. Add the bread crumbs, apples, parsley, salt, paprika, and raisins; mix well.

Carefully spoon stuffing into center of roast. Bake 1 to 1.5 hours more or until a meat thermometer reads 160°-170°F and juices run clear. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove foil and stuffing. Cut between ribs.

Yield: 12-16 servings

Candied Pecan Pear Salad

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon butter
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 1¼ teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds, divided
• ½ cup raspberry vinegar (we used red wine vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (we used honey Dijon mustard)
• 1 tablespoon honey (we used raspberry honey)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 large pear
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (we used lime juice)
• 3 packages (5 ounces each) spring mix salad greens
• ½ cup crumbled bleu cheese

Directions:

In a small heavy skillet, melt butter. Add pecans; cook over medium heat until toasted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon; cook and stir for 2-4 minutes or until sugar is melted. Spread on foil to cool.

For dressing, in a blender, combine ½ cup pomegranate seeds, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper; cover and process until smooth. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream.

Cut pear into thin slices; sprinkle with lemon juice. In a salad bowl, combine the greens, pears, bleu cheese, and candied pecans. Drizzle with dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately.

Yield: 12 servings (1 cup each)

Apple Butternut Squash

Source: Taste of Home Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
• ¼ cup apple butter
• 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Place squash in a large saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain.

In a large mixing bowl, mash squash with apple butter, cream, salt and cinnamon until blended.

Yield: 5 servings

Opening Presents

After lunch, we exchanged gifts. My family has the best tradition for opening presents. We start with the youngest, who this year was my sweet baby nephew, and then work our way to the oldest before repeating the cycle until there are no more gifts under the tree. This way, we get to see everyone open their gifts. And to me, watching people open the gifts you give them is almost better than getting gifts yourself. The only bad part of this tradition is when one or two people get more gifts than other people. That is why I always get each member of my family the same number of gifts, usually two, so even if one gift is minor, they have something to open up. Growing up, this event occurred Christmas Eve after going to mass or as we got older before midnight mass. Now, that my siblings and I are all married and starting to have families of our own, the when is bound to change often.

Trail of Lights

Saturday night, we visited the Trail of Lights. I’ve lived in Austin for six years now and this was the first time I’ve visited this free Austin tradition. The Trail of Lights is a 1.25 mile trail in Zilker Park decorated on each side with displays containing hundreds of lights. Each display has a theme, such as Disney characters, and is sponsored by local companies like Dell. There are concession stands, a little house where the kids can visit Santa, the Zilker Zephyr miniature train decked out with lights and the big Zilker Christmas tree, which consists of a tall center pole and strands of lights along wires radiating outward from the center pole to form a cone shaped tree. The Trail of Lights usually opens mid-December and continues through Dec. 23rd. It was quite crowded while we were there, so I would suggest going on a weeknight. All the lights were beautiful, but I especially enjoyed the nativity scene with the lighted camels.