After our Daughter was informed that she had a real job I said I would take us all to dinner and asked where she would like to go. She decided that she wanted to go to the T.E.A. Cafe on Campus Corner which is located just across from the University on Asp Ave. We said fine and proceed to go about putting up the gates to keep the dogs out of the kitchen while we are gone. Big boy likes to get up on the counter and nose around.
We headed off to Campus corner, Dave dropped us off at the cafe so we could get a table and he went to find a parking spot. We had never been to this particular place and were in for a treat. This place specializes in Asian food and teas of all types. After getting a menu, Christie got the Sweet and Sour Chicken, Dave and I tried their rice box meal which is quite clever, you get to choose your meal and what you would like to have. You get soup, spring roll, rice, choice of steamed egg or fried cream cheese wanton. Dave got the wanton I got the steamed egg which was delicious . He got beef, I got chicken with all the vegetables offered. We both got the brown rice. Christie ordered a Boba tea, which is an iced, milked, black tea with boba or more commonly known as large tapioca balls (that taste like chocolate gummy bears) layering the bottom of the glass, Yum! So I got one as well. Dave never gets hot tea but decided that he wanted some Earl Grey. The price was not too bad. It came to about $10.00 a person and we ended up taking food home. We will go back.
The next day I read about a new little Mexican restaurant in Norman in our student run campus newspaper. Los Vaqueros located in Robinson Crossing at Robinson and I-35. It was a basic little hole in the wall with no frills decor, but the service was great, food was good, muy bueno, less denaro than the night before, we will return.
We started off with very fresh chips, salsa, cheese queso and a very spicy salsa, not for the faint of heart. Warm flour and corn tortillas. Our dinner was out on our table in less than 10 minutes.
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| El Burro Dinner |
Dave never varies from a shredded beef burrito. On the other hand, I always try to have something new so I can broaden my food tastes. I'd like to introduce the Bottana Loca, which is grilled jalapeno peppers ( which I tried the tip of one), onions, beef and chicken fajita meat, sliced potatoes with avocados and tomatoes on a bed of lettuce accompanied with a half of a lime. Yum!
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| Guisos Special |
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| Bottana Loca |
Christie had the Guisos Special with her choice of beef or pork chunks cooked in red or green spicy sauce served with rice and beans with avocado slices on top. We enjoyed the food at both of these restaurants. If you like simple but good, like us, you will enjoy them as well.
Happy trails...
As a rule of thumb the wheels of bureaucracy moves oh so ever slow when it comes to public institutions of higher learning. But in the case of our daughter Christie it was faster than the speed of light. I posted she was home after striking out at finding a job up in the Northern states in her field.
She applied for a job on Thursday the 30th of August with her old Alma mater, on the following Monday September the 3rd she got an email from a recruiter out of Dallas wanting to set up a call for the next day. Tuesday came and by the end of the conversation the recruiter wanted to do a more formal telephone interview with her on Monday the 10th of September at 2pm. Her daddy and I waited to hear the news. At 3:15pm I texted her and asked how it went to which she replied "It went very well. She told me she wants to hire me and just wants to get the okay from her boss."So a luncheon interview is set up for the next day September 11th.
The luncheon goes well and they spend an hour and a half talking, another interview this time with the Interim Executive Director for Prospective Students. At 2:00pm I text her and ask "Well???" she texts me back with " I don't know. Kimberly will get a hold of me soon to let me know." At 3:10pm she texts "GOT IT!!!!!" The job...a National Recruiter for Prospective Students for the University of Oklahoma. Apparently they had lots of applicants but Recruiting Services was interested in the fact that she was from Norman, knew the University since both her parent worked here, knew the culture and was willing to relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. Apparently the other applicants didn't want to relocated to Kansas City.
She starts training Friday September 14th. For the next two weeks she is here training and then we will move her sometime mid October. Her first real professional paying job! Yea!
Prayers were answered...many thanks to all of you.
Happy trails...
I got good news Wednesday and my Doctor was ecstatic. Last week I had my quarterly blood draw for my hA1c diabetes check.
The results are as follows:
May August
hA1c 6.9 6.3 need to get it under 5.7
Cholesterol 186 181
Triglycerides 180 170
Blood sugar 130 118
I'm still working to get my blood sugar under 100 but doing much better. One year ago my hA1c was 8.3 and my blood sugar was 192.
To celebrate I made a knock out dinner of roasted chicken, a Quinoa (pronounced keenwa) pilaf with, onions, red, orange, yellow peppers, garlic, baby Portabello mushrooms, cherub tomatoes, almonds and chicken stock. A tomato salad that had diced cherub tomatoes, fresh basil, diced avocado, chopped green onions, roasted on the charcoal corn cut off the cob, salt, pepper, lime juice, olive oil and feta cheese. I was really surprised as to how good everything was as there were no recipes involved.
I'm in training to walk a mile course next weekend. My daughter is running a 5K. A year ago I could not have done that. Today I walked a 1.5 mile in 30 minutes. It's been awhile since I've done that and it felt good.
Happy trails...
Christie our daughter loved her year in Cleveland, but her internship was up as was her apartment lease. She extended her stay for a month by staying with her boss while she continued to hunt for a job in the area. She thought she had a good bite on one job as she had a face to face interview with a school in Michigan. She wants to work in Athletic Compliance. The job market for Compliance Officers has pretty much dried up for this year. So she headed home.
She had never driven a box truck and towed a car hauler before. With the help of the husband of her boss she was able to get her truck loaded and her car on the on the car hauler and be on her way two weeks ago today. She left Cleveland, OH around 1:00p.m. and drove until 2:00a.m. the next morning stopping in Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Was up by 7:30a.m. and on the road again and arrived here in Norman around 2:30p.m.
Her daddy went with her to U-Haul to get the car off the trailer and drop the trailer returning home with the truck. They checked into getting a storage locker for her. With her truck rental and such she was eligible for a month of free storage. Sweet!
Last Thursday she had to turn the truck back in a get her stuff put into storage. She kept her couch, computer table and TV and put those items in her room along with the 3 dog beds. They love to sleep with her.
She is still searching for a job. We will see what happens. Keep her in your prayers that she is able to find employment as she has another nibble.
Happy trails...
I'm always in the kitchen piddling with recipes. There have been times when I thought of having a recipe blog. I sorta have that on a back burner. Still thinking about it. Changing the subject, I am so excited! Here is a big shout out to my new follower, a BIG OKIE WELCOME to SM KLINGER who is on a long vacation touring the National Parks this summer.
Anyways, this past Sunday I was going through some emails when one of my cooking emails brought forth a recipe that sounded like fun. Homemade Potato Chips. Hmmmm...just a few days before I saw a commercial for Lay's Potato Chips and how they were looking for the next big flavor where there would be a million dollar prize award for the best original flavor. Who am I to not go for a million dollar prize...I'm in!
One of the items that the recipe called for was a mandoline slicer. "Well that lets me out...hold on there Nellie" I thought to myself. "You have been cooking for a long time now and you have practically every piece of equipment you might need. Hand slice those suckers, you have the knife!"
When I had my little food trailer, The Food Basket, that I hauled around central Oklahoma to provide food to auction crowds, I had a machine that was a converted drill and would make a continuous string of very thinly sliced potatoes like potato chips. We called them Butterfly Fries. Boy were they ever good. I had a special ingredient that I sprinkled on them and the crowd loved them along with my Cajun Onion Burger. I knew I could hand cut them that thin.
I digress, into the kitchen I went looking to see what I had available. The only potatoes in the house were little red new potatoes. I thought about what else I needed and pulled all the equipment and ingredients together. Slice, slice, slice, soak, soak, soak, dry, brush, dab,spray, salt and cook in the Microwave for 2 minutes. Ha...Ha! You thought I was going to give away my secret didn't you! No, No, No! As I wag my finger in playfulness.
The first batch I brought out to Dave were great. He fell in love with them right away. I fixed 5 more different flavors and he voted the first flavor as the best of the lot.
I was amazed as to how easy it was to fix the chips and how low cal. they were as there was practically no grease involved. Why would I do them in the microwave? Being a diabetic, grease is not a good companion. By microwaving them, it cooks them to a great crunch and your hands don't get greasy and your less likely to eat a whole bag, if you fix just one #10 russet potato. I can live with that.
So if you have time on your hands and a do nothing Sunday afternoon, try making up a batch of homemade potato chips. You never know, a million dollars may be waiting around the corner.
Happy trails...
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