Going back to San Diego for a Visit

The family is going back to San Diego for a visit in a few weeks. I can't say that I'm really looking forward to it. I rather like it here. I don't really miss much from San Diego. OK, I miss good Mexican food and Trader Joe's. But really, I'm looking forward to coming back to Austin. Crazy drivers and all.

Ahhh-Chooo!

I'm sick. My allergies have given me a nasty case of bronchitis that I can't shake.

If you move here, find yourself a good Allergist...FAST

Serious Partying

Since we're getting ready to head into party season I thought I'd post one of my favorite adult beverage recipes.

I created this recipe a couple of years back and have kept it my special secret up until now. It gets it's name from its beautiful burnt orange color:

Longhorn Hooch:

1 Large can of frozen orange juice concentrate
1 can frozen strawberry daquiri mix
the juice of 3 large lemons
3 large over-ripe bananas - mashed
1 1/2 liters ginger ale
1 5th bottle of Southern Comfort 100 proof (more to taste if you like)

Combine first 4 ingredients well in a large punch bowl. Slowly add the ginger ale. Remove excess foam. Stir in Southern Comfort. Add a lemonade ice ring and some maraschino cherries if you like. Enjoy!

Sweet Tea oh how I love thee

Let's get something straight Sweet Tea is NOT just iced tea. OK, well maybe it is but don't tell a Texan that. If you plan on doing any entertaining while living here get yourself a plastic pitcher at the Dollar Store and write on it "SWEET TEA". And if you really plan on being a gracious host (as all good Texas women are) you will buy a second plastic pitcher and write on it "UNSWEET TEA" (I kid you not). These are now your dedicated Sweet & Unsweet Tea pitchers and should never be used for anything else under penalty of death.

A few brief lessons in sweet tea:

Lesson #1: You can NOT make Sweet Tea from a powdered mix. It must be brewed.
Lession #2: You must use REAL sugar. If you call it "sugar free sweet tea" because you used Splenda instead of real sugar, people will laugh at you (please learn from my mistakes).
Lesson #3: If anyone asks you what kind of tea you use tell them "Luzianne, of course!"

How to make good Sweet Tea:

Boil Water
Put 1 Cup of real sugar into plastic pitcher with "Sweet Tea" written on the side.
Place 2 to 3 Luzianne tea bags into pitcher with sugar
pour the hot water over it until the pitcher is full
let it steep for about 5 minutes & remove the tea bags
Place in refrigerator. If you need to serve it promptly simply place ice in the pitcher. Good sweet tea always seems to be warm with ice in it anyway.

Enjoy your sweet tea and then quickly develop an addiction to sweet tea.

Cardinals - Beautiful but Dumb

Cardinals are truly beautiful birds. But they are all foam no beer if you know what I mean. They love to fly into windows, repeatedly. I counted one day. 53 times Mr. Beautiful-But-Stupid-Cardinal flew into my window before he finally learned that it was glass & he wasn't getting into my house. Smart one.

Battle Fire Ant 2008

It's ON!!!

I was out planting in my front yard a few days ago and was stung by fire ants. First of the season.

Last year I lost the fire ant battle. They built a house in the lot next to ours and that drove over all the fire ants to our yard towards the end of summer. Well, this year all the lots in my subdivision are already built so I'm sending those fire ants back to the lot in which they came.

So I drove down to Home Depot (I am going to be very happy when Lowe's opens up here at the end of March, so much closer) and bought a big ol' bag of fire ant stuff. Enough to treat 25,000 sq ft lot. Never mind that our lot is only like 16,000 sq ft. I filled my spreader with the fire ant stuff and started spreading. I spread every single last morsel of that fire ant stuff on my lawn.

I WILL win this year. It's personal.

Fall in Central Texas

Ahhhh-Chooo! That is the sound of Autumn in Central Texas. If you don't have allergies before moving here, you will soon enough. Austin is the Fall Allergy Capital of the US. Isn't that fantastic news? It is for Kleenex. Just prepared to be miserable until Winter finally sets in. And remember, you'll be in good company because everyone around you is suffering from allergies too. If you are allergic to Cedar (it seems most around here are) it might be wise not to move to Cedar Park. "They didn't name it Cedar Park because of the Oak trees" (that was what my doctor told me...ha ha).

Luckily for you, Fall in Texas is short. Very short. Sometimes it feels like Summer on Tuesday and by Wednesday night you're smack dab in the middle of Winter. For example, this week. Wednesday it was 89. Yesterday it was 44. As I write this it is 42. By Wednesday we're supposed to be back in the 70's. Is it any wonder your body is confused and doesn't know how to react to the seasonal change?