first time's a charm

so over the past week or so i made pizza for the first time, a frittata (see his birthday post below), and truffle mac 'n cheese. and i completed all with rather spectacular results if i do say so myself. the truffle mac 'n cheese was about the best thing ever.. but that's pretty much anything with truffles.. black or white... and i pretty much winged it.. but for those curious it was super easy.. so here's an approximate on the recipe for 2 people.

2 tbs nonsalted butter
1 chopped shallot
2 tsp flour
1/2 cup heavy cream (i totally free poured this)
1/4 cup milk (this too)
1.5 cup swiss/monterrey jack/aged cheddar cheese (whatever your preference.. and i just grabbed like 2 handfuls)
1/2 pkg macaroni (cooked and drained)
2 tsp truffle oil* (i didn't measure this either)
salt/pepper

melt the butter in a pan on low-med heat. then add the chopped shallots.. after a couple minutes add the flour and cook for about a minute. Slowly add the heavy cream and milk, stir and once it starts to boil lightly add the cheese. stir and add more milk or cream if sauce is too thick. once the cheese is melted through turn off the heat and stir in some truffle oil. finally mix in the macaroni, salt and pepper to taste and serve while hot.

* we actually got our truffle oil from italy but you should be able to find black or white truffle oil from oil&vinegar (woodlands mall) or places like central market, whole foods, william sonoma or sur la table... though this is not verified. oh and black truffle oil is less expensive. i used black truffle oil and it turned out deliciousness.


antipasti pizza | bbq chicken pizza

this was a super easy and delicious dinner. i used the pillsbury pizza dough and whatever else i had in my fridge to come up with this 2-sided pizza.

first, spray cookie sheet with cooking oil, then spread out dough. i spread freshly chopped garlic across the dough along with 1/2 cup of italian mix cheese and some red chili flakes. then i cooked the dough for like 7 min or until the cheese looked cooked in. after that i let it cool slightly then on one 1/2 i spread bbq sauce and lined cooked chicken over it and topped it with cheese. on the other 1/2 i spread sliced roma tomatoes, artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, and topped it with cheese and dried basil. i put it back in the oven for about 10 min or until the cheese looked good and melted. overall the antipasti side was our favorite, although the crust could have been crisper.. probably cook the crust longer before adding the toppings. next time i'll do anchovies and capers.

his birthday weekend.

mr. rocks bday celebration started on Friday evening in rice village at the gingerman.. he had enough beer to actually request that this photo be taken.

after sleeping in saturday morning, i made a tomato and garlic frittata for brunch.




saturday night we ate dinner in bellaire then hung out at Y&P's for a bit and dru brought over a homemade fruit tart for dessert. dru is pointing to his extra special filled strawberry.



on his actual birthday, i made congee for lunch (he can never get enough of that) and he wanted to forego the usual fancy restaurant and have dinner at home.. and he requested indian food. so i whipped up 2 different types of curry (chicken curry, and lamb vindaloo) and some riata.. and picked up some naan. we also skipped the birthday cake for some delicious but expensive french macarons.. a little reminder of our recent vacation. hopefully he had a wonderful birthday... it seemed like he did. :)

spur the economy.

we spurred the economy by purchasing a new coffee table.. and a coat rack/umbrella stand (i've always wanted one). sorry for the craptacular photos.. terrible lighting.

i'm sorta feeling vacation withdrawl.... yann tiersen and craving macarons is not helping.

dr. horrible

josh whedon's private project during teh writer's strike...

and neil patrick harris sings!

dr. horrible's sing-along blog

watch while it's still free. *no longer free... too bad.

BFF [canadian edition]

last week T's bff and his wife came down to visit. it was a jam packed 7 days of shopping and eating.. and a bit of drinking. it was great hanging out with them.. and hearing the stories of the apparently mischievous duo back in their younger years. and we can't wait to get together again.


after arrival we immediately head to downtown for an astro's game.. which we left slightly early to check out discovery green and have a drink at the grove.


the next day was dedicated to shopping at the galleria.. and dinner at chuy's for some tex-mex and their "texas martini's"... the night ended with lots of mario kart.

i celebrated independence day with a bunch of canadians, on a roadtrip to austin. we shopped to the limit at the san marcos outlets.. and spent the remainder of the evening on 6th street for more drinking and catching up. the next day we headed to UT campus to get some longhorn gear on the drag.. and for some tower photo ops.


we headed back to houston on saturday in time for dinner at texadelphia, more shopping at a nearby mall, some winebar action.. and bw3 to catch the forrest/rampage fight.


sunday we still ended up doing a bit of shopping.. and then had a bbq in the backyard... took a stroll around the neighborhood.. and the boys played more wii while the girls sat in the patio with wine and cheese.


and on their last night in houston we finally took a group photo after dinner at grand lux cafe.

more photos.

lazy.

i've been lazy.. with blogging... here. what with the new blog and being busy playing the hostess with the mostest.

actual update coming eventually.