Texas Lou

A couple weeks ago, I joined my dad, brother, and sister for an impromptu trip to New York City to see the Houston Texans play the New York Jets for Monday Night Football.  It was an amazing trip and I absolutely loved getting to spend a weekend with my family.  The only way it could have been better was if my mom and husband were there but mom had to work and Ben was on a fishing trip in North Carolina.

We all met up at the airport on a Saturday afternoon.  Mikey flew in from Columbia, South Carolina, I flew in from Charlottesville, and Dad and Carrie flew in from Houston.  After a wild goose chase around Laguardia Airport and bumping into some other Texan fans in town for the game, we made it by taxi to our hotel in New York City.  We got settled in and then sat down at the hotel bar to discuss the evening’s plans over drinks.

The fam and I at the Doubletree bar. We are so excited for the weekend ahead of us!

Since the Longhorns were playing West Virginia, we decided to find a pub to watch the game.  Mikey had heard about a place in New York called Hill Country Barbecue Market that Texas Exes go to watch the games so we headed that way.  Let me tell you, BEST.DECISION.EVER!  This place was straight outta Texas, complete with Shiner and Lone Star beer, Blue Bell ice cream, tons of Texas decor, and authentic Texas barbecue!  Mikey and I, having not lived in our dear home state for years, were in HEAVEN!  They even had their own Texas flag, a Pearl Brewery sign (located in San Antonio where I went to college, I attended one of the most amazing parties of my college career there), and the waiters all wore Longhorn shirts for the game.

Deep in the heart of Texas right smack dab in the middle of New York!

Texas themed cocktails! AMAZING!

First time I’ve ever seen mention of the Pearl Brewery outside of Texas.

Lone Star beer! It’s impossible to get this stuff in Virginia. The taste took me back to my days of playing caps in college!

We stuffed ourselves with barbecue and cheered on the Longhorns over 4 buckets of Lone Star beer!  Unfortunately the Longhorns lost, but man was it a good game and you never would have known you were in New York by the inside of that bar.  Almost every person was sporting burnt orange and after each touch down, the entire bar was yelling the University of Texas Fight Song at the top of their lungs.  Mikey swore we could have won had he thrown more chairs!

Cat and Dad watching the game

Hook ’em Horns!

LOVING the Texas memorabilia!

Shock ’em Cougs!

Lone Star is famous for having picture puzzles on their beer caps!

The next day, it was raining so we picked up some cheap, broken umbrellas.  Of course we didn’t know they were broken when we bought them.  Mikey found a disgusting green paperclip on the streets of New York City that was just what he needed to MacGuyver his green umbrella to stay open.  Since it matched the umbrella perfectly, we dubbed it the “Green pooperclip of destiny”.  Pooperclip was the appropriate term since that’s probably what it had on it after laying in the streets of New York.

After standing in like in Time Square, we bought tickets to Chaplin on Broadway.  It was our last choice (if you ever go to New York, make sure to buy your Broadway musical tickets well in advance), but the play was spectacular and we learned alot about Charlie Chaplin that we hadn’t known.  We had time to kill before the play, so we headed to an Irish pub near Time Square called the Pig ‘n Whistle where we dined on appetizers, drank beer served by an authentic Irish bartender, and watched NFL.  We then headed to see Chaplin at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre which was amazing and I’d highly recommend to anyone looking to see a Broadway musical.  Afterward, we found McGee’s Restaurant and Pub which is the bar that MacLaren’s Pub in the show How I Met Your Mother was based on.  There we had more drinks and then headed to Stand Up NY, a famous comedy club where tons of comedic actors got their start doing stand up.  There was a 2 drink minimum so we drank cocktails and laughed until we cried.

The next day we all put on our Texans gear to represent our home team.  Carrie wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building, so we navigated our way through the subway to get to Manhattan.  I hadn’t been to the site of the World Trade Center 9/11 terrorist attacks since 2005 when they were still cleaning up debris so I was blown away by the memorial that now sits in its place.  Although it is still not complete, the memorial and north and south pools were quite a site.  It was humbling to see the spot where thousands of innocent Americans died and I was thankful for the opportunity to honor them.

After that, we headed to the Empire State Building where we did what my dad would describe as a lot of standing in line.

Dad, Carrie, and Mikey standing in line to go to the top of the Empire State Building (all sporting their Texans gear for game day of course)

We finally made it to the 86th floor after all of that waiting and it was definitely worth it.  I went to the top of the Empire State Building back in 2005, but that was at night time so it was cool to go up during the day and see the city from so high!  We splurged and joined the 102 club, going all the way to the 102nd floor!

View from the 86th floor

The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building

The new World Trade Center Tower

Panoramic view from the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building

After all of that elevator riding, we were famished, so we walked to Keens Steakhouse for lunch.  Keens has the largest collection of churchwarden pipes in the world and their ceiling and walls were lined with them!  The food was amazing too and we were stuffed after dining on steak and a fine Cabernet Sauvignon.  After that, dad needed a rest before the game, so we headed back to the Doubletree to relax for a while.  I took advantage of the downtime to enjoy a Saint Arnold’s Oktoberfest that my awesome sister brought me all the way from Houston (you can’t get Saint Arnold’s beer outside of Texas or Louisiana).  I also attempted to help my dad log into his iPad, but he forgot the password and I have to say it was quite comical watching him try to remember it!

Saint Arnold’s Oktoberfest!

Soon it was time to head to see our Texans beat the New York Jets at Met Life Stadium.  First, we headed to Stout to pre-game where we met some fellow Texans fans going to the game.  After seeing some other patrons doing Irish Car Bomb shots, we decided to do one as a family and convinced my dad it was a good idea.  Then we headed to Penn Station where we took the train to New Jersey where Met Life Stadium is located.  We met more Texans fans from Houston on the train and had a great time talking football with them!

When we got to the stadium, everyone was pumped.  There were alot more Texans fans there than we expected so there was lots of cheering and shouting of “Go Texans!” every time we passed other fans in their Texans jerseys!  The game was great and the Texans beat the Jets 23 to 17.  It was a pretty close game, but our undefeated Texans pulled through!

Met Life Stadium in New Jersey

Panoramic view of the stadium

It was an amazing weekend and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to make such great memories with my loved ones.  A special shout out goes to my dad for footing the bill!  I can’t wait for the next Elsaifi adventure!

This weekend, Ben and I went to the Charlottesville City Market to buy some fresh veggies and enjoy the local vendors.  We bumped into this car as we were walking to the market.  I said that “Murse” stands for Male Nurse, like Gaylord Focker in the movie “Meet the Parents”.  Ben however said that it stood for Man purse, as in the man bag that Joey carries in an episode of Friends. According to Urban Dictionary, the word murse can be used to describe both a male nurse and a male purse, but I think someone is much more likely to display pride of being a male nurse than pride of owning a male purse on the bumper of their Saturn.  What do you think?

My wedding video is done!  It was really amazing to see some of the wonderful events of the day played back for the first time.  It brought tears to my eyes.  Aaron Watson and Exist N Motion Films did a spectacular job!

Leslie and Ben’s Wedding Highlight Film from Aaron Watson on Vimeo.

I found this quote today and really liked it.

“More often than not, a hero’s most epic battle is the one you never see; it’s the battle that goes on within him or herself.” – Kevin Smith

The things that go on in my head have the ability to do so much damage to my spirit and outlook but they also have the ability to do so much good.  It really is a constant battle.

You know what really drives me nuts?

People who have last names that sounds like first names.  For example, John Robert or Lisa Leslie.

Why does this drive me crazy?  Because I’m an idiot and get their names fixed up.  Then I end up calling John, Robert, and Lisa, Leslie and everything turns into a big ole I’m an idiot fest!  This happened to me the other day at work and after a coworker pointed it out to me, I felt terrible and HAD to apologize to the person right away.  Now, whenever I see that person, all I can think about is how I butchered their name and I just keep reminding myself in my head of what his actual first name is!

Thank goodness my kids’ last name will be Davidson.  Although I’m sure there are people out there whose first names are Davidson, I don’t think it’s very common.

This photo from our wedding reception describes exactly how I felt that night.  Happy, in love, and having the time of my life surrounded by the people I love the most!

Well Texas IS my #1 passion and the blog IS called Texas Lou!

A couple of weeks ago, Ben, my mother-in-law, and I attended the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello and I spotted these two gems:

Texas Blue Bonnet Seeds…Ben’s mom bought some

A Texas Bird Pepper plant…I wonder if any of my Texan friends and family have one of these?

Texas is everywhere I look folks!  I must have Texas On My Mind!

Have you ever heard of the Homesick Texan?  The other one, not me…haha!

The Homesick Texan is a blog written by fellow Texan, Lisa Fain, who now lives in New York.  Like me, I’m sure she had a hard time finding good Tex-Mex food outside of our beloved Texas, so she decided to make it herself and document it on her blog.  She even wrote a cookbook, The Homesick Texan Cookbook, that my Aunt Connie and Uncle Mike gave to me as a wedding gift!  It was such a surprise since I don’t think I’d mentioned to anyone that I read her blog.  However, I’m sure it wasn’t difficult for anyone who knows me to see that I would love and identify with the theme!  I mean I LOVE food, I LOVE  Texas, and I’m constantly homesick for the great state and all of the wonderful people in it!

So, why am I bringing up the Homesick Texan all of a sudden?  Well, besides the fact that she is awesome, right?  My friend Cara is having a birthday party/cookout tonight and she asked all of her guests to contribute something edible for the evening.  I  announced that I’d bring chicken for the grill, but I also wanted to make some sort of appetizer or dessert that was new, exciting, unique, and personal.  Well for me, what’s more personal than a Texas themed recipe?  I headed over to my Pinterest “Cooking and Food” board to get some ideas for recipes I’ve found on the interwebz in the past that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.  As soon as I saw the Homesick Texan’s Bacon-Jalapeño Cheese Ball, I knew I had to make it.

The recipe was really easy to make, the ingredients weren’t complicated at all, and it didn’t take me long to create the masterpiece.  The finished product also looks very pretty and festive.  I haven’t tasted it yet, as I’m saving it for the birthday party tonight, but I did lick the bowl when I was finished and it was quite tasty!

If you are looking for something AMAZING to make, head on over to the Homesick Texan’s blog and check out the recipe.  The main ingredients are jalapeños, bacon, pecans, and cheese so it can’t be anything but awesome!  If I remember, I’ll snap a picture of it before it’s all gobbled up tonight and post it here tomorrow.

Saturday, Ben and I went to the Top of the Hops Beer Festival downtown.  It was a beautiful day to be outside and we enjoyed it while bumping into friends and tasting lots of new and different beers.  Some of the more unique brews we tried were Fish Paralyzer BPA of RJ Rockers Brewing Company (BPA stands for Belgian-Style Pale Ale), Chipotle Ale from Rogue Ale which had a very smokey taste to it, and Jacques Au Lantern of Evolution Craft Brewing Co. which is a seasonal pumpkin ale that Ben described as being very nutmeggy!  We also tried several ciders and cask ales.

Chris (Ben’s best bud) and Ben…check out Chris’ awesome pretzel necklace!

The ladies: Caitlin (Cara’s sister), Cara, and I

Ben and I after lots of beers!

After all that beer, we desperately needed some food, so we headed to the Whiskey Jar for some southern style cookin’!  Ben and I both had the Courthouse Sandwhich “Hicory Smoked Pork with a spicy Pepper and Onion blend topped with Housemade Cheese Sauce on a Po Boy Roll and served with Fries”.  It was delicious and we washed it down with a famous Moonshine Punch!

Afterward we spent some time sobering up while playing cornhole at Chris and Cara’s house.   It was the perfect Saturday spent with good friends!

And by “Winter Is Coming”, I’m not just referring to one of my favorite shows, Game of Thrones, which I am really excited to see the third season of beginning in March.

Today is the last full day of summer and tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox, or official beginning of fall.  And as fall leads to winter, I started thinking about my first winter here in Virginia.  It was my first real winter and my first real snow storm I had experienced.  We received 6 inches of snow in Charlottesville in early 2006 and the next day, I was like a kid on Christmas.  I headed outside with my camera to view the landscape covered in white powdery snow.  I think it was pretty obvious to others that I’d grown up someplace far away that never experiences such phenomenon.

I wanted to showcase one of my favorite photos from that day.  I lived in an apartment complex that had a lake, really a large pond, that often provided a sanctuary to local ducks, geese, and swans.  The reflection coming from the sun on the water as the geese basked in the sunlight after a long night of cold and cloudy snow really lets you feel the calm after the storm.

I’m hoping we get some snow this winter, especially after the uneventful winter we had last season.  I’m not a huge fan of winter time, but if it’s going to be cold and dark and dreary, I’d rather had some beautiful snow to go with it.  After all, when everything’s white, the world looks a little bit brighter!