Really?? Texas Girls??

Three guys are lucky enough to get married all in the same month.

They recount their experiences here:

The first man married a woman from OHIO . He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from MICHIGAN . He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from TEXAS. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

While I am absolutely against family violence, I think this is a good representation of many of us…

Duck... Duck... Yuck...!

One of Slick's favorite things to get when we go out to dinner is DUCK. Almost regardless of where we go, if there is duck on the menu, he orders it. If it is a special for the night- look out- he is definitely getting it. I know this about him. I was served duck at his parents house on one of our early dates. I thought it was super cool. Made a big mess but was really cool with the sour cherry sauce and wild rice... I mean, my mother in law is a masterful cook and if she can serve Uncle Ben's Wild Rice then dang it I can to!

Over the vacation last week Slick had duck at dinner one night and the Peep was super curious. This curiosity was partly fueled, I think, by Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who have recently flown in and are vacationing at my parents pool, but who am I to speculate on the thoughts of a 5 year old...

So over dinner I mentioned that we had a duck in the freezer at home and Slick- who is really the one in charge of our larder- was genuinely surprised. I decided then that when we returned home I would thaw and prepare the duck with cherry sauce that Slick so likes.

Thursday was the big day.

I checked in with Slick early in the day to see when I could expect him home for dinner and put the duck into the K2 sink with cool water to thaw.

Then I went looking for my duck and cherry sauce recipe. It is really Slick’s mom’s recipe. According to the recipe card, she shared this information with me in June 1999. For those of you keeping score at home, that was Slick’s first birthday after we were married. I went all out, duck, champagne, strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. And Slick was sick and ate and went directly to bed. That was the last time I remember making duck.

So armed with my 10 year old recipe, I gathered the ingredients- all of which were in stock in the house. I must have purchased the cherries when I got the duck knowing they went together. Man am I a planner or what?

So duck thawed, rinsed, dried, cleaned, quacking at the Peep who was not as amused I thought she would be, the duck went into the oven. Look at those orange slices. Look into the cavity of the bird to see it is stuffed with onion and oranges. Notice the scoring of the fat laden skin. I was on a roll!

Then to the cherry sauce. Pretty easy. Look at the full plump cherries! I am a natural! The Peep tried the sauce. Again fairly unimpressed but I assure her that it will be tasty on the duck at dinner. She is such a trooper that she agrees and starts playing computer games at the kitchen counter to keep me company while the duck roasts.

The recipe says cook for 30 minutes then 20 minutes per pound and the last 20 minutes apply a little of the glaze to the duck. I follow al of these directions. Then I check my favorite yellow cookbook and it says cool 45 minutes then 30 minutes… so apparently I need to cook the bird somewhere between 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes… After 2 hours in the oven, it still is not reaching the needed 180 degrees! We decide to take it out anyway. Man it is lovely. Brown and sparkly in the way that only food cooked in animal fat can be. Gross, I know, but seriously.

I plate the quarters and Slick and I head into the dining room to eat… the Peep had given up a while before and eaten cheerios…

We sit down. We say a blessing. It went something like “Dear Lord, please don’t let the duck kill us.” But I can’t remember it word for word.

Then Slick begins a lovely dinner of duck, wild rice spiked with cherry sauce, sautéed zucchini with garlic and steamed broccoli. I have one bite of the duck and remember why it must have been that I never made it again.

I can't stand duck. One bite. I had one bite.

The wild rice was right on. Thanks Uncle Ben.

Happy Spring... Happy List

Welcome back friend.

We have missed you.

I see that you have brought little green buds to the trees and crape myrtles.

I love that about you.

Welcome Spring.

Things to be Happy About this week:

1. Clearing your head
2. sharing
3. being barefoot in the grass (soon!)
4. baby leaves
5. tulips
6. organizing your goals, closets and life
7. a tan people notice
8. looking forward to Easter ham
9. pink stuff
10. preparing to make egg shaped cake balls!!

It may be funny today

It may be funny today. I thought it was funny yesterday. And Sunday. Slick not so much. but it might be funny today.

Last week Slick got his new crackberry for work. The Blackberry 8830 or something. It is pretty cool.

While on vacation last week in sunny Florida we turned on the navigator and went all around the Tampa/ St. Pete area and had a great time. Until we tried to go to the Tampa Children's Museum. Apparently whoever posted all of the exciting reviews on line that we looked at Sunday morning neglected to mention that it was closed. And demolished.

We arrived there just in time to see the dump truck out front and it was lovely. New plan. Let's go to the Dali museum and then the pool at the hotel. Great. Change the location on the navigationized fancy phone. Uh-o. Phone slipped into Slick's vat of diet Pepsi from the bagel shop. I immediately started laughing. I couldn't help it. It was funny. Slick was NOT amused. So neither was the Peep. Then I was in trouble. Jeez.

Back to the hotel to try to dry out the fancy phone. Turns out it eventually worked, but the guy at the Verizon Wireless store told Slick it would not last long- that since we were already there- on a Sunday afternoon- go ahead and get the new one for a small fee.

Check. Slick needs to sync to the computer system at the broadband company before meetings the following morning. USB cord into the bag.

We get back to the hotel with a couple of hours of sun left and hit the pool.

It is really funny how the Peep is just as happy in the pool of the hotel as she was on the beach the day earlier. I am thinking we should just go to a hotel next year and stay there the whole time...

Any way. We head into the hotel to sync the phone and computer... to discover that the Verizon Wireless guy put the wrong USB cord into the bag!! It is now 6:00 on a Sunday night.

We head out and find wal-mart across the street form a Target. The Peep vetoes wal-mart and we head for Target. The guy in the electronics department says they don't sell USB cables. They just don't have any demand for them. Really?

Slick and I look around and find a nice Wii accessory that plugs into the computer with the right connectors. $10.83 and we are in business, we hope.

By this time the Peep is pretty tired- and she is not the only one. We grab a nice Italian dinner and head back to the hotel- I think for the fifth time that day- by now it is after 9. Slick and the Peep work on the computer while I packed and at 10:00 I heard him tell the Peep to cross her fingers... Happily it worked- but not before we lost the whole day to a Clark Griswold inspired day of antics.

Thankfully the rest o the trip was calm and relaxing!

The Peep goes Country

Here is the Peep a few weeks ago at the Big City Stock Show. Now you Houston/ Woodlands/ Spring Folk- I know it is nothing like the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo and all of the fancy singers and such that you have... but in the big city... it is what we do for fun in January.

Posing so beautifully with the Peep are no doubt two Junior League members- possibly ones I know- but maybe not. The Junior League of the Big City is paid for dressing up as Hoss and Elwood and walking around all year getting kids and parents excited about the Big City Stock Show.

Thanks friends, this is a keeper!