India Grill

Since we had to go to Arlington to get the oil changed this morning, we figured we may as well take advantage of being near near The India Grill at lunchtime, which is when they have their buffet.  My favorite is the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is at the front right of my plate.  I also got a little bit of beef (just to the left-but I cannot remember what it is called), and also piled on the vegetables (the entire back of the plate), and a slice of naan.  I love Indian food!

Nagoya

For date night tonight, my hubby took me to Nagoya, a Japanese Hibachi restaurant.  It is so fun to go to Hibachi restaurants and watch the chef do some entertaining.  The food was tasty, too!

Wordless Wednesday: Red Hair This Week

Christmas Lights

This week we are working on getting our outdoor Christmas lights up.  Tonight I worked on the net lights while my hubby worked on the lights that go around the perimeter of the yard.  The net lights are relatively easy to put up, but I learned very quickly that you have got to watch the thorns on the bushes.

We are getting there!  I will post more pictures when they are complete.

Sea Salt Scrub

When we were on vacation, we saw some salt scrubs, and thought they would make a great gift-until we saw the price tag.  We figured we could make it much cheaper, and have more choice in the scents we wanted to create.  So when we got home, I picked up the necessary ingredients:  grape seed oil, fine sea salt, fragrance oils, and some canning jars.

I mixed together about equal parts salt and oil, and a capful for fragrance oil, and poured it into the jar.  So simple-I am glad we thought of this gift idea!

I Tried Frog Legs!

It is no secret that I love trying new foods.  That said, I am not always adventurous in trying new foods.  Tonight we tried a new Chinese restaurant, and they happened to have fried frog legs on their buffet.  Might as well try it, right?

It was tasty-it had a similar flavor to alligator, or if you have never tasted that, kind of like a fishy chicken.  This particular frog leg was in a pan with a bunch of jalapeno, so it was a little spicy for my taste, but I would definitely eat it again if given the opportunity.

Gingerbread and Sugar Ninjas

My oldest son is have a "feast" at school tomorrow, and is supposed to bring food to share with 20 classmates.  He decided to make sugar cookies, but we were only able to locate one cookie cutter which was in the shape of a leaf, so we made a quick trip to Big Lots to pick up some cookie cutters.  On the shelf, they had a big bucket of 100 cookie cutters-certainly way more than we needed!  And then my hubby spotted this Ninjabread Cookie Kit, which included 4 cookie cutters.  That was more like it!  

My son also made the gingerbread cookies in the kit since there weren't quite enough sugar cookies.

As the cookies were cooling, I helped frost the cookies while my son added the sprinkles.  I told him he would have had better help from a Kindergartner, since I did such a sloppy job.

Cajun Pumpkin Seeds

Isn't this a nice looking pie pumpkin?  I bought it about a month ago in hopes we would bake something yummy with it, and that I could eat the seeds.  Unfortunately, baking the tasty treat never happened.  Thankfully, I did get to enjoy the seeds.  Making pumpkin seeds is so simple!

Just cut the pumpkin open, and scrape the seeds out.

Once they are all out, they have got to be rinsed-they are pretty slimy and gross. 

After that just put them on a greased cookie sheet, 

This year I sprinkled some Cajun seasoning on them, but any kind of seasoning, or nothing at all will do.  Bake them for maybe 5 to 10 minutes at 350.

And this is what they turn out looking like!  Yum!  So tasty!

Zocolo

On my hubby's last trip to Haiti, he met a fellow chef that lives in Shreveport.  Since we were traveling through, we planned to meet him and his wife for dinner.  They suggested Zocolo.

My hubby ordered one of his favorite foods-Bulgogi, which is Korean barbecued beef.  His chef friend had the same.

I had the Chipotle Pork Cecil.  The sauce was so tasty! My hubby's friend's wife ordered this as well-she said she ate it here the last time she came. 

The boys dug into the pizza that they ordered so quickly that I didn't get a chance to take a picture.  They said it was good.

For dessert my hubby ordered bread pudding, which came with ice cream.  Since he didn't want the ice cream, we had it brought out separately for the boys.  Of course, I got a bite of the bread pudding myself, and I have to say it was pretty good.

This stop in Shreveport was wonderful!  It was welcomed by a family who desperately needed a break from the car!  It was also great to meet some new friends.  I hope they can make it out to Dallas sometime so we can do this again sometime.

Driving Home

Today was driving day.  We woke up really early (5AM) to head home.  We made one last stop at Hardee's for breakfast so I could enjoy country ham one last time before leaving South Carolina.

When we crossed into Alabama, we stopped at their welcome center.  I was impressed with their areas to sit and relax.

Alabama had some great views in general.

For lunch we stopped at Zaxby's-a chicken fast food restaurant I had never tried.  Since I have been eating way too much this whole vacation, I chose the salad, which was quite good.

After a stop in Shreveport to meet with some friends, we will finally be home!

Vacation-The Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park

After eating dinner at Hyman's, my sister-in-law told us that no visit to Charleston would be complete without a visit to the Pineapple Fountain which is located at Waterfront Park, which happened to be just a few blocks away, so we decided to walk off our dinner to visit this landmark.

It was a cool walk, and my niece asked to stop and get some hot chocolate.  They had some at Kilwin's-a candy store. I waited outside and watched them making pralines.

We also passed an ice cream shop.  Of course, on top of the fact that I had already eaten too much, it was too cold to enjoy ice cream, but I still wanted a picture of the giant ice cream cone that graced the sidewalk.

We finally made it to the pineapple fountain.  It was so pretty!  I do regret not having made it out here during the day to have gotten a better picture.

Here is my family in front of the fountain!

We passed this building on the way back to our car.

In case you can't tell, that is gum stuck to the bottom of the face plate.  Too funny!

It has been such a great vacation, so enjoyable!  What a great last evening in Charleston.  Tomorrow morning we travel back home.

Vacation-Hyman's Seafood

On vacation we try to visit famous restaurants;  Hyman's Seafood fits the bill!  While we waited to get inside there was a lady that walked around handing out hush puppies, which were delicious!

This restaurant regularly has famous people eating here.  Here is just one of the nameplates at our table.  While we were there a rapper named DJ Drama was eating there-although I never heard of him.

After we ordered our food, the waitress brought us some boiled peanuts and more hush puppies to enjoy.  Later, the owner (a 4th generation Hyman) stopped by to say hello, and brought the boys certificates for some free ice cream.

The kitchen even sent us some complimentary fried green tomatoes and grits.  They were particularly good!

Right before our food came out, our cole slaw delivered.  It was typical east coast slaw-made with apple cider vinegar and celery seed, although it had more mayo than I cared for despite the flavor being so good.

The boys both ordered Po Boys-my oldest had the calamari, and my youngest had the shrimp.

Of course, I was not going to let an opportunity to enjoy more seafood pass me by-I ordered steamed shrimp with grits.  After tasting it I can tell you why this place has lasted so long, and why it is famous.  SO great! If you find yourself in Charleston-definitely make this one of your stops!

I thought you might enjoy this picture, which was posted in the restaurant:

Vacation-Boiled Peanuts

Another east coast treat I enjoy but don't get often is boiled peanuts.  If you have never tried them, you really must!  To get this batch, I stopped by Sonny's gas station where they had them warming in a peanut warmer-which is just a soup warmer with a boiled peanuts label.  I got the cajun variety.  Tasty!

Vacation-Thanksgiving

Can I just say I love Thanksgiving?  This year I did not cook one thing.  My sister-in-law helped my hubby.  Looks like she doesn't have enough hands here.

My hubby was in the kitchen all morning.  Here he is making the giblet gravy.

The turkey was so big it barely fit into the roaster pan!  My sister-in-law bought a big turkey (23 pounds if I remember correctly) because she wanted leftovers.  She definitely got them!

Here is my hubby carving the turkey.

And here is my plate-yep, a little bit of everything!

To finish the evening out right, we are going Black Friday shopping at the Tanger Outlets.  They actually open at 10 PM tonight, so we don't have to wait until midnight. It is going to be so much fun! 

Vacation-Easterby's

Whenever we are by the coast (whether it be the gulf or the ocean), I always want seafood because I know I can get it fresh.  My sister-in-law and her family knew just the place to take us-Easterby's.  Here are my niece and nephew while waiting for our food.

My sister-in-law ordered fried green tomatoes as an appetizer.  I have never tried any, so I did.  I had low expectations since tomatoes aren't one of my favorite things, but I was surprisingly pleased-they were quite tasty!

For my meal I ordered a combo-fried crabcake (on the top right of my plate), and bacon wrapped stuffed shrimp (top left) which were highly recommended by my brother-in-law.  I also had fried okra.  Hush puppies were brought to the table just like we would get bread at an Italian restaurant or chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant.  It was all so good, and we were pleasantly surprised by the prices!  I would recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Charleston.