The Perfect DIY Tomato Basil Soup

Hi hi! Happy Wednesday! How's the week so far? It's moving fast enough, I wish I didn't feel crumby. A few days ago I thought the ol' allergies were acting up, sneezing, stuffy...but last night the coughing settled in. Neat-o. And what do you crave when you're feeling a little under the weather? SOUP! I had a hankerin' for La Madeleine tomato basil soup for a few weeks (if you've had it, you understand...) and last night I scratched that itch. If you buy the soup at the restaurant in the jar, it costs about 8$ and serves...2.. maybe 3 as a meal. I spent under 10$ on the ingredients and made enough for 8-10 servings! I saved $30 bucks! It's super easy, albeit a smidge messy... I sort of had tomato sauce all over the place...and it tastes so good, y'all. Ok, it's not like.. low cal or anything what with the.. heavy cream and butter... but it is vegetarian! Woo! I bought a little sourdough baguette for .50 cents, popped it in the oven for a few minutes until the outside was crispy and served on the side/dipped in the soup. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Here's the recipe I used!

Bon Appétit!

[soup photo: the googles]

Summa Summa Summatimeeeee - Will Smith

Weekend, thank you. Thank you for being there for me when I want to pig out, lay in the sun, get a little culture, and sleep in. Friday Ryan and I went on a movie date! We saw Splice, which was creepy, gross, funny and weird. You could probably wait for it on DVD/On Demand. I was entertained... I'm just sayin'. After the movie, we met up with some pals for a few cocktails at Boheme and since we missed dinner that night, wailed on some late night Vietnamese cuisine: pot stickers, crab rangoon and spring rolls. Thank you Hollywood for being open until 4am on weekends.

Saturday, we were supposed to go to Galveston for the sand castle competition, but opted to sleep in and read in the sun. The ol' allergies were acting up later on so under the influence of benadryl, Saturday ended pretty early.

Sunday was great! We went to 11am mass at St. Ann's, had a fantastic brunch at Mia Bella, one of our faves! I always get the eggs and crab meat, 2 poached eggs topped with lump crap meat and jalapeno hollandaise over a grilled polenta cake (kinda like a cheesy grits biscuit thing...). You also get homefries and fresh fruit with your dish all for under 10$. It's a steal, ladies and gentlemen. Have I mentioned the 10$ bottomless mimosas, champagne, bellini's and bloody marys? Yeah, there's that too. (Excuse me, sir? Can you just leave the champagne bottle on our table? You'll really just be saving yourself the hassle...)

After brunch we went down to the museum district for free 1st Sunday! Thanks to Target, all of the museums are free the 1st Sunday of each month. I had never been to the Contemporary Arts Museum- it was great! I'm such a sucker for museum gift shops... maybe it's the kitchy things you come across, maybe I just love paying 200% over what products are worth, but I picked up a few little things.
[below, gift shop]

We moseyed on over to the Fine arts Museum to catch the Alice Neel exhibit.

She's famous for her oil on canvas portrait work, but Ryan and I loved her city-scapes the best.

Nothing like a visit to a museum to inspire you to break out the art supplies.

I'm excited about a new embroidery project I started this weekend! More to come!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you're not as stuffed up as I am. (damn tree pollen.)

Done-ski!

Remember her from this post a couple of weeks ago?

Today I finished my stitchy interpretation! I think she's cute! I loooovee the original so this was fun to do.

Her name is Tilly.

ESSEN!

Last night was German night! I snagged 2 Franziskaners from Specs after work and cooked up Käsespätzle with sausage! Even had horseradish and brown mustard for dipping (which I ate lots of in the Czech Republic..). The Käsespätzle turned out soooo good and it was so easy to make! Sauteed some finely diced onion, lots of Swiss cheese all melty and gooey... I guess it's German mac and cheese. Will def make again.

Oh hay! It's friday! What are you doing this weekend? I'll be finishing up a project, starting a new one, catching some rays and relaxing! Happy weekending!

crazy cat lady inspired craft

last weekend, this happened. irl.

Memorial weekending!

With this new assignment/new schedule I'm doing a 9/80, which means that I have every other Friday off. This past Friday was my first so I had an EXTRA long memorial weekend.. 4 whole days! Friday morning started early ( a little too early after an evening of trivia and a few beers...) with breakfast at Baby Barnaby's! For someone who's been living behind it for over a year, and for how good it really is, it's a little weird that this was my second time to have breakfast here. Absolutely fantastic. I had the classic with apple wood chicken bacon, biscuits, buttery grits and scrambled jalapeno eggs (ugh, it's 8:30 am and I'm starving...) and Ryan had the green eggs with spinach, hash browns, toast and turkey sausage. YES. PLEASE. ALL THE TIME.

Then off to the Houston Zoo we went! We attempted once before, but were committed this day. It's very well organized and such a nice zoo. We had so much fun talking to all the animals (I can't talk to an animal without using this really high pitched, squeaky little voice...) and playing, petting the goats, enjoying the trees and shade...We happened upon the elephant area when the zookeepers we're answering questions, talking to the guests... I was so jealous that they got to play with Elephants when they went to work... that baby (400 lb baby) elephant Baylor is the cutest thing on this earth.

Playing with the P-dogs.

Oh hai. Dis my nest.

Sifaka Monkey- Their arms are too short for them to walk on all fours so they hop around on their legs... they were so funny!

Funny little owl, lookin' like a pirate with one eye open.

You know.. just brushin' goatz.

Baby Baylor!

After the Zoo, as if that weren't enough for the day, we walked around the Hermann Park Garden Center for a while. The flowers were in bloom and so colorful.

So that was Friday! Saturday we packed up the grill and headed to West Beach, Galveston for some sun and relaxing. Like a nerd, I forgot my camera... NEXT TIME!

Sunday we went to Mom and Dad's, Peter came into town, and enjoyed a sack of crawfish.

Monday we took it very easy, after a very busy few days. Hung out by the pool, made mojitos, had some friends over and topped off the holiday weekend with a little trivia. I think I've just now recovered from those 4 days.

Hope your memorial weekend was wonderful!

Summer in Texas = BBQ

Actually, summer everywhere = BBQ...and we've been doing it a lot. So we're sitting outside 2 weekends ago, near a flaming grill, sweating profusely thinking... damn. It's hot. We don't live in a large apartment complex, it's a small group of town homes (4 units). Just because we don't live in a mega-complex doesn't mean we can't get a little respite from the warmth! OH HAYYYYY Target run! And Lo! The Intex Family Swim center for $29.99. Dimensions? 6 ft X 10 ft. Back patio? 7 ft. X 12 ft. SHAZZAM! We've had so much fun with it, aside from a few close calls (like almost falling in when leaving for work in the morning) and a little bit of maintenance (blowing the thing up with your lungs takes a really long time and makes you feel like you're gonna pass out) it's been perfect. We sit outside, grill, get some sun while sitting in our little patio chairs and hop in when we feel like our skin may be cookin'. Comfortably fits 5 adults! Sure it looks a little ghetto, and the water bill may be a bit more this month... and we get a few giggles from Barnaby's patrons going to or coming from lunch... but I think they may be jealous.

There's an owl in my beer!

Steak kabobsssss mmmmm

Ryan was in charge of the corn... get it..? Cuz he's from Nebraska.. aha... (cough)

Continuing with the BBQ theme, this past Tuesday we went to dinner at Goode Co. BBQ and this giant guy was sitting outside. Perfect.