robirdstx

I'm so glad and thanks!

Hi Karlos. I agree, eating out of doors always takes me back to picnics in the park. We purchased this house nine years ago so, sadly, only one of the dogs is still with us. But she is a treasure! Every morning after she has her breakfast she enjoys her jerky treat. Her snood helps to keep her ear feathers clean while she eats.

Galveston Island Part II - Katie's Seafood Market. After finishing our sit down at Benno's, we crossed the Island to the harbor side. Katie's, at pier 19, is where I took the snapper teaser photo. Today we were in search of a whole fresh fish to cook on the grill for dinner tonight. And we found it at Katie's. We chose a 2 lb red snapper. Gutting and scaling our fish of choice. (Sorry about the blur.) While we waited, I took some more photos to share with you. Condiments and Sauces for your fish. Our fish is ready. (Not shown, but the fish went into our cooler and was topped off with lots of ice to keep it cold until we got back home.) Behind the scenes - go out and around and behind Katie's to where the boats pull up and you may see this: Local Fishermen! And if you look towards the harbor you may see this:

Galveston Island Part I - Seawall Blvd. After crossing the causeway to the Island, we made our way over to Seawall Blvd at 61st and cruised down to 12th, with stops for photo ops and shopping at Murdochs. The Spot Fish Tales Benno's We stopped at Benno's for a brew and some fries and had a sit down to listen to and watch the waves. Beautiful day - lovely breeze, low humidity, and temps in the low 70s.

Thanks Anna. Yes, that is one of my DH's toys. The breakfast bar is where we have most of our meals but we also have the option to use our dining room (it faces east and is nice in the morning). And when the weather is nice we like to eat out on the patio by the pool.

Okay, we are back from our trip down to Galveston but I have a lot of photo processing to do before I can post about it, so here are some more in depth photos from my kitchen. The open cabinets and pantry!

Thank you.

I guess it was a pretty popular model. Thanks! Let me know if you get the chance.

Darienne and Kim Thanks! I didn't know how good I had it with this kitchen when we bought this house. My priority at the time was a good backyard for the dogs (we had four at that time). My mom says she doesn't remember exactly when she got her toaster but she thinks it was a wedding gift when she and my dad got married in 1953.

Just a light breakfast today - want to leave lots of room for lunch! I love my "new" old Toastmaster toaster that I found in an antique shop last month. My mom says its just like the one we had when I was growing up and it turns out my sister got one at a yard sale a few years back. And my avatar doggie, Morgan, had her usual this morning - some moistened Innova kibble and part of a thawed frozen raw food chicken patty. Time to get ready to roll on down to Galveston. See you when we get back later this afternoon!

Thanks Chris. I live less than 25 miles from the Island but always feel like I'm on vacation when I go down there. We'll be having lunch there today and we'll be sure to take photos to share. My rice cooker model is the NS-VC05. I haven't made a bad batch of rice since getting this around Christmas last year. I particularly like the keep warm feature.

Hi all. Time has sprung forward, so its time for My Spring Break Blog to begin. Today, DH and I will be going down to Galveston Island, but first let me welcome you to our home and show you around a bit. Please take a seat and I'll show you my kitchen. We are fortunate to have a good sized kitchen with lots of counter space and lots of cabinets and drawers. See my new rice cooker. Love it! The double ovens come in handy. The top one has a broiler and is self-cleaning. Time to make some breakfast. I'll be back soon.

New traditions have to start somewhere!

Great blog! Thank you for all your hard work, wonderful dialogue and great photos.

Yes, I used the oven method the last time I made gumbo. The tip came from this recipe. No need to stir at all! Great color!

I had some St. Louis-style pork spare ribs in the freezer that I had purchased when on sale last month. It was time to cook them! After thawing them out over night in the fridge and pulling off the silver skin this morning, I put on a Montreal steak rub and put them back into the fridge to rest for four hours. This afternoon, I added some pork stock and soy sauce to the pan, covered the ribs with foil, and put them into a 450F oven for about 75 minutes. Then out of the oven, slathered with bbq sauce, wrapped in fresh foil, and back into a 225F oven for about an hour and a half. I planned to give them a final sear on the grill but when I opened the foil and tried to lift them, they literally fell off the bone. We turned off the grill and called them done!

I hadn't thought of it either until your teaser photo from Signal Hill - just looked like the LA coastline to me. Must be in the DNA - being a native Californian, Santa Monica born. My father's parents were long time residents of Long Beach and I still have family in Huntington Beach and surrounds. Loving your blog!

It has been a long time, but finally Chicken Wings!

When I was 10, my parents travelled from St. Louis to the World's Fair in New York and we had a babysitter we called Grandma Shoalmeyer take care of the four of us kids. Up until that time, the only fish I had ever been offered were fish sticks (which I hated), fillet o'fish sandwiches (which I hated) and canned tuna (which I liked in tuna salad sandwiches). Grandma Shoalmeyer made broiled rainbow trout. I can still see it, smell it and taste it.

Could the angels theme suggest a Los Angeles location?

For crispy pastry over a moist filling, bake the pastry separately and put on the pastry strips or caps right before service. I once saw Joyce Goldstein illustrate this method. She made chicken pot pies in ramekins, only the filling (no bottom crust), and baked little circles of pastry separately on a sheet pan. Before service she topped each ramekin with a crisp pastry circle. She specifically said she followed this method because she doesn't like soggy pastry. Another cooking teacher once told me to brush a raw pastry shell with egg white, then bake it. The egg white forms a veneer on the pastry that repels moisture. You don't taste the egg white. I've never tried this method myself. I did taste a quiche made by this method, and I thought the crust was pretty crisp. Yes, I even thought about Carla's pot pie from this season's Top Chef after I made the quiche. I think I'll use that method next time I make a pot pie.

Kim and Dejah - thanks for the suggestions. Turned out hubby did not care for the puff pastry. He prefers regular pie crust and since he is the crust lover in the family, that's what I'll use next time and just forget about the decorations.

Everything everyone is making is looking so good! Today I did something new for me. I made a Quiche! Bacon, kale and puff pastry. And another thing new for me, I added some of the trimmings from the crust for decoration. They didn't bake up as well as the crust. What should I have done to have them match the crust in crispy-ness?

Michiru - my bento tab was $11 plus $2 for iced tea; after tax and $3 tip total was $17 plus change. Well worth it! Click here for reviews and menu with prices on urbanspoon.com.

A friend and I re-committed to getting together once a month for lunch last November. Our objective is to try a new place each time and we trade off who gets to choose the restaurant. But in February we upped it to every two weeks as there are just so many places we want to try. Today we visited Michiru in Webster. We each ordered a Bento Lunch Special. My friend chose the Teriyaki Salmon and Tempura Shrimp, while I had the Teriyaki Chicken and Tempura Shrimp. The Bento comes with a bowl of soup, rice, lightly fried spring roll and four pieces of California roll. The Teriyaki was served on very tasty sauteed onions and mushrooms. The Tempura Shrimp came with three Tempura Vegetables. Everything was wonderful. Service was great as well.