Adventures in renting

This loveliness. Came home from work yesterday to the sinks being about half full of some really amazing water that was gurgling up from the pipes. Put it a service request, they told us since it wasn't an emergency (what?) that they wouldn't be able to get to it until Monday. Whatever, what do you need your sinks for anyway (everything when you cook ALL THE TIME). So an hour or so later I'm chillin' on the couch and I hear water splashing from the kitchen. Yes, the sinks were overflowing. Fortunately not from the front, the water was leaking down through the faucet into the back of the cabinet underneath. STILL leaking stinky nastyness. So I freak out and tell Brendon, who is at work, and I begin carting pitchers full of this muck to the bathroom. All the while getting it all over my hands/legs/etc. Sophie is watching me much amused. Brendon calls our apartment complex again while I'm doing this and they say they'll TRY to get to it today. WHAT? This is an emergency, nasty ass water is flowing forth from my sinks! So after Brendon told them that it would get moldy and gross and probably made some sort of threat there was a lovely man at my door in no time. He opened a drainage pipe outside our apartment to let all the nasty water out. Why it wasn't open before, I don't know. Bottom line is it took like 3 seconds for him to do something they were telling me could wait until Monday, I got covered in nasty water, and our apartment smells like poo and garbage mixed together. Still. Have I told you how much I love this apartment? Endless charm y'all.

Flour tortillas

Yesterday was my big cooking day. For some reason I got into into my head that I wanted to make tortillas. I remember making them in elementary school so it couldn't be too hard right? Correct! I used this super helpful recipe, and they came out great. They take a little time but they are easy peasy and really fun to make. Plus they're delicious and way better than anything that comes in a plastic bag. They're thicker than average tortillas, which I like, something like a tortilla/pita hybrid.

All you need is:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup lukewarm milk (2% is fine)

These are things that we always have so I can just throw them together whenever. Love that because I am the queen of not having all my ingredients. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately first and then mix them together.

After you've got some dough, knead it for a couple minutes. My dough was super sticky so I had to add quite a bit of flour to my board to make it managable. Then you cover it with a damp towel and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Then separate them into 8 balls of future tortilla-ness and let them hang out under the towel for another 20 minutes.

Then comes the fun! Roll those babies out, one at a time. It helps if you flour your rolling pin and board after each tortilla, the dough is still pretty sticky. I made mine as thin as I could, they kinda reached a certain point where they wouldn't stretch anymore. Don't worry they're magical and thicken up like crazy when you cook them. And perfect circles are for squares (you like that shape pun?). Wonky is the way to go.

Then throw that baby on a dry griddle or whatever flat heating device you have. I had mine on medium high. And they cook fast! The recipe says to cook it for 30 seconds on each side but I just eyeballed it. When they reached the above pictured point of bubbliness, I flipped them. The bubbly part is the coolest, it looks like a swamp.

 

The other side cooks super fast so watch it closely. Because those raised bubbles are touching the pan first they'll get burned if you don't watch them. Maybe 20 seconds or so, you kinda get a feel for it as you go. I'm sure this all also depends on what you're cooking them on and how hot.

And viola! You've got some fantastic tortillas. We had ours last night with chicken fajitas and it was aaaaamazing. Favorite meal in a long time and I don't even like chicken. I made them ahead of time and reheated them in the oven like the recipe suggests. I don't think we'll ever buy tortillas again, these are far too yummy. Now I just need to learn how to make regular bread and we'll be in business.

And thus completes what I think is my first official food blog post! Many more to come I'm sure, as cooking is slowly taking over my life. I even have battle scars, I burned my arm yesterday and am now sporting a super cute red thumbprint sized mark on my forearm. 

Oh Austin

One of the odd things about Austin that I can't get used to is the massive amount of homeless/down on their luck folk asking for money everywhere; at intersections, while you're walking, etc. Since I've stopped waiting tables I don't carry cash, so I don't have anything to give them. And I'm not really in a position to be giving away money anyway, but believe me if I was loaded I'd help them out. I'm all for giving to the needy, but I feel like the situation here is a little out of control.

For instance, while waiting at a light I had a man step in front of my car, and start making the motions with his hands of eating. As usual I didn't have cash so I smiled and mouthed I'm sorry and shook my head. He then proceeded to start blowing me kisses. All while standing IN FRONT of my car. Luckily he moved before the light turned green, but jeeze! And then the other day Brendon and I were out and a guy was asking for money, making signs etc pretty persistently next to our car, we smiled and tried to make it clear that we weren't going to be able to give him any cash, and then I guess at some point he ran into the guard rail and cut his knee. He then proceeded to get really mad at us. Like pointing at his knee and yelling at us. I was honestly scared, like what would have been the right thing to do there? Brendon wanted to give him napkins but I was terrified of this raging man so I told him to just keep the window shut. He flicked us off as we drove by. I mean whaaaaat? This is totally not the norm, there's a very nice man near our place with the coolest beard that is always waving and smiling regardless of whether you give him anything and plenty more like him I'm sure. But the persistent scary moments I could really do without. Especially when I'm alone. Is that me being paranoid?

On another brighter note, Brendon's mom and his little bro are coming up tonight! It's so nice to have family visit! Aaaaand I think Sophie is sleeping with one eye open. Like wide open. Creepy cat.

Keeping that chin up

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, I'm sure you're aware that lately life has been a little less than perfect lately. We moved to Austin weeks after returning from our honeymoon, and basically exhausted all our resources between the honeymoon, moving, and paying deposits on the new place. Then I had the hardest time ever finding a job. I decided to not transfer to Hooters down here in Austin because I badly wanted to depart from the company. Now, I see that as something kind of selfish and reckless of me. Although I was very ready to be done working there, it would have been a good income right away and we would not be in the situation we're in now (although Hooters is a black hole and I know I'd get sucked in for a while which is exactly why I didn't transfer). So I was unemployed for a month that I like to think of as my month of housewifery. And then I got pneumonia, which was stupid expensive. Thankfully I got the job at Coffee Bean, which has helped, but I'm not getting the hours I need and the pay is significantly less than what I was making at the hoot. Now that our new store is open I am hoping to get more hours.

Through all this Brendon has been unbelievably supportive and wonderful and just the best ever. He is amazing and I am so thankful for him. He is behind me no matter what, telling me it will be okay. And it will, I know it will. This is just a rough spot, we'll get through it and be stronger for it. And smarter.

We had it made in Denton, we just didn't know it. We blew money like crazy, going out all the time, shopping, doing god knows what else but definitely not saving. This was a reality check for sure. We've had to make major changes. We basically don't go out if it requires spending money. And if we do, we're smart about it. A matinee movie is our favorite date. We've found free things to do around Austin, unfortunately many of them are outside and it's hot as hades out there, but they're fun and help us to get to know our new city. We've gotten creative with cooking, and in the process have found some pretty dang good recipes to add to our repertoire. We spend a lot of time watching movies, hanging out on the couch, playing domino's or cards, etc. It's definitely not an exciting lifestyle, but I don't care. It's me, Brendon, and the cats. And we have fun. Sometimes we get down, but not for long. We're good at cheering each other up, if one of us is especially pouty the other will set them straight. We really have no room to gripe. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table, jobs, and each other. That's a lot more than so many people have. These past months have been eye opening and I think we're infinitely better for it. Live and learn y'all.

And since that was a little on the down side, I'll leave you with this photo that always makes me smile and laugh and be so grateful for this amazing life we lead.

Yep. Bringing it back. Dancing with Brendon is my favorite. We're both terrible dancers (if you were at the wedding, you know and I apologize for sorrily busted moves), but we have a blast doing it. I am thankful for this. Thankful for Brendon. Thankful for this crazy good life we have together and everyone who is a part of it. And thankful for the fantastic Led Zeppelin that I am listening to.

Dream schemin'

I'm itching to paint. After a 6 month or so hiatus from art, I'm ready to get this party started. After I graduated I was very burnt out. My last semester was rough; I had artists block, wasn't happy with what I was making, plus I was dealing with health issues (when will my body get with the program?). But I obviously had to crank the art out for school, so I did. And like I said I wasn't happy with it and kind of had a negative attitude towards my work. I was getting a lot of conflicting feedback from teachers/students, and was listening to it all far too much (oh the woes of art school). So after I graduated I needed a break, and I took one. Haven't painted or drawn, aside from doodles in the ol' sketchbook, since then. Now I'm ready for the break to be over. I am ready to paint for me, what I want to paint, regardless if it turns out to be a giant flop. And I'm very interested to see how I function outside of school and the pressures it provides.

But to do all this, I need a few things first. An easel for starters. And of course we don't really have the extra cash to buy an easel (or art supplies for that matter, but we'll get there) as they are insanely expensive. So, when we do have a little extra moola, I am thinking of building my own easel with help from my Daddio. I haven't talked to him yet, but he's a big fan of projects (I wonder where I get it from), so I'm sure he'll be game. I've found these plans that this kind man, Benjamin Grosser, has put online for all of us starving artists to use.

This is the desired outcome. I'm hoping we can achieve something similar.

The plans look a little complicated to me. But I'm not really familiar with carpentry. My skills go as far as building canvas stretchers, but I think we can do it especially since my Dad is a construction pro. And I guess we'll let Brendon help. I think he took wood shop in high school, but I've watched him hammer nails and it's a little scary. Maybe he can just watch.

So that's my next big project. And if it were up to me I'd start it tonight, I love making things! There's been a creative void in my life and I'm ready to fill it. Eventually I'll get this studio at home thing down, just need to figure out how to keep the cats out of paint.