fried pies

i've been thinking a lot lately how much i miss my grandmother Allison's fried pies. no one, and i mean NO ONE could make them like her. the apricot ones were the best. flaky crust with a hot sugary fruit center. melt. in. your. mouth. the sad part about it is, no one has the recipe. thats how it was with all the good things my grandmother made. she knew them all by heart and never used a recipe. fried pies, mini blueberry muffins, fried catfish... oh wait that was Nick's BBQ in Carlisle, AR. she took me there everyday when i was left to spend a week with her. shhh! don't tell my mom.

anyways... i can remember making them with her. she would always let me be the one to press the seams together with a fork. ugh, my mouth is watering. i think i'm going to have to go on a mission to figure out how to make them. there are tons of recipes out there, and my mother and i have tried to make them before. but, its all in the crust. no one makes crust like my g-ma did. so, i might just have to develop a little test kitchen of my own, and try to find the closest thing to it.

i know my Gram would be so proud if i made these delicious pieces of heaven in her honor. miss and love you Gram!

15th Annual Metroplex Sprint Triathlon

first, i want to apologize to my wonderful, hardworking husband, because i have neglected to share with our faithful readers that Bill has been training for a triathlon! the big one he is training for is a half-ironman in October. so, this past sunday he raced in his first triathlon.

This was a sprint distance triathlon. a quick race, but a good place to start. There were 150 competitors in the race. Bill finished with a time of 1:03:00, 49th overall, and 7th in his age division. I am so proud of him!

Bill after the race.

Beginning of the race: Swimming.
Second leg: Cycling.

Third leg: Running.

Crossing the finish line!

I am SO proud of him! He has been working so hard and to finish his first race is such an accomplishment. There will be many more to come!

my thoughts on USC...

Dear Mitch Mustain & Damien Williams,

You leave Arkansas full of drama and what do you get at USC? More drama. You're coaches and administration have failed you. Actually you failed yourself. Mitch, you could of had a bright career as a quarterback at Arkansas and quite possibly could have had a slim shot at going pro. At least make a practice squad. Instead you keep the bench warm and watch your dreams pass you by. Maybe the AFL needs a quarterback?

Damien, you excelled at USC and you might still have a shot at stardom, but who looks at teams that don't make a bowl game? And that's sad, considering how many bowl games there are now. Too bad. It wouldn't surprise me if your family was living rent free though.

And Pete Carroll. Pete, Pete, Pete... Way to jump ship and abandon your team just before you know it's all gonna hit the fan. Looks like you and USC are full of liers and cheaters. What a great example to set for future students. And those poor recruits, if they only knew.

Karma sucks doesn't it?

Oh, and Layne Kiffin, you should have stayed in Gods conference a little longer. The SEC will always be the best!

Best of luck at the bottom,
Allison

chicken tamale casserole

tonight i made a chicken tamale casserole for dinner and boy was it T to A to the S.T.Y. now, i've never made real tamale's before, but i've heard they can be a little tricky and time consuming. this recipe puts a good spin on the original, and its super quick and easy. this recipe would be good for a potluck, or if you're trying to make dinner for a large crowd.

Chicken Tamale Casserole

i ate 2 big pieces of it! i sure hope it makes good leftovers!

coconut cream cake

i'm not much of a baker. i seem to burn the slice and bake cookies every time. maybe i just don't have enough practice? none the less, i tried my hand at it this week by making a coconut cream cake. bill loves coconut cream pie, but i'm not too big on the coconut and meringue, so i thought maybe this would be a compromise. i found a recipe for coconut cream cake on foodnetwork.com from emeril lagasse. wowza, was it a hit! yes, it was a process making homemade cake batter and frosting, but sooo worth it. this cake embodies just about everything bill loves in a dessert: cake, sweets, coconut, and pecans.

i'm bad at remembering to be all "pioneer woman" when i'm cooking and taking pictures of each step. so, i don't have a picture of the finished product, but trust me when i saw its awesome!

here's the link to the recipe: Coconut Cream Cake. so, if you like coconut, but not an overwhelming amount of it, this cake is for you. the pecans add a little extra to the cake as well. it would probably be tasty to toast the coconut before putting it into the cake too. look at me getting all fancy! the only change i would make is in the icing. it calls for pecan pieces, but i would probably omit or chop them up next time.

i'm gonna go get me a slice....

state of mine

Bill and I live in Texas now, but when people ask me where I'm from, I'll always say Arkansas. Being that I was born and raised, and lived my first 22 years there, I'm pretty loyal to my home state. I recently stumbled across a website that sells "state" jewelry. I particularly like the necklaces that come in your state, and you can designate your hometown, and they will put a diamond where that city/town is on the charm. Here is a picture of a Texas charm.

www.stateofmine.com

How cute is that? I would love to have an Arkansas one and a Texas one. It would be fun to wear them together, and if God ever moves us anywhere else, I could get one of that state as well. Sort of a fun way to represent where you came from and where you've been. What a good conversation starter they would be, right?

The website I found only offers 14k gold ones, and I think I would prefer a sterling silver. None the less, they are cute and sorta quirky at the same time.

lets go boot scootin'

May has seriously been the busiest month! We've had something to do every weekend of this month. A trip to College Station, Bill's first bike race, Mother's Day, birthdays, weddings, and to cap it all off, Memorial Day! Our friends Lori and Trevor came to visit and stay with us this past weekend, and we had a blast! They arrived Friday evening, and we drove out to Fort Worth to eat at Joe T. Garcia's. After some yummy mexican food, we drove over to Billy Bobs. Everyone needs to go to Billy Bobs once in their life. It is the worlds largest honky tonk and I believe it. They have a casino, pool tables, two dance floors, two stages, a BBQ restaurant, AND live bull riding every Friday and Saturday night! Doesn't get better than that, huh?

Billy Bobs Texas

Sign says it all...

Saturday some other friends arrived from LR, and we had a cookout at our house that afternoon. Burgers, potato salad, baked beans, and strawberry pie of course. It was a good ole fashioned lawn party. Then we headed to superpages.com center for the Brooks & Dunn/Jason Aldean concert. The concert was so good!

Lori and I in front of the Brooks and Dunn truck

The whole gang at the concert

Sunday we all went to Six Flags. Bill and I are not really big on roller coasters, but I sucked it up and rode a few. Bill wouldn't give in. It was super hot, but we had a lot of fun. I didn't get any pics unfortunately. That night we all went to dinner, then Lori and Trevor left us for the Four Seasons Hotel. The next day was their anniversary, so they decided to spend one night there. The rest of us went to a little bar in uptown called Stonleigh P's.

We had a wonderful weekend! It was busy and non-stop, but very enjoyable. Oh, and on top of all of that, Bill sold his motorcycle! I couldn't believe he did it, but he was having to choose between the motorcycle and the bicycle, so he chose to sell it. I'm so proud of him, I know it was a hard decision.

Up next for us: my birthday and vacation!