June 12, 2009

When I say “40-Something Butt”, I’m talking about a butt that’s 40+ years old, but I could also be talking about a butt that’s 40+ inches around.  Either way, shopping for jeans can be as stressful as shopping for a swimsuit, and you know why?  For me, it’s because I’m too stingy!  And cheap jeans usually means poor fit + crummy fabric = yukky looking bum.

I’ve realized that spending a little bit more for jeans is SO worth it.  Scrimp and save money on other things, but don’t be cheap like the old me when it comes to jeans.  A well-made and perfectly-fitting pair of jeans will do MIRACLES for your rear view.  Trust me.  Go to a store that has a wide selection of quality jeans, and just try them on, even if you think you will absolutely not ever buy one single pair.  I promise that you will see an enormous difference, and will be sold as I was when I spent a couple of hours at Nordstrom’s last year.  Did I think I would ever ever ever spend over $100 on a pair of ding dang blue jeans?  Oh, HELL no!  I’m way too cheap for that.  But I only had to look in the 360 degree mirror to see what that price tag brought to my bod.

An excellent pair of jeans will enhance your heinie, lengthen your legs, smooth out the line of your thighs, and flatter your hips.  No, I’m not smoking crack…these things can be achieved via a wise choice in jeans worn with a great pair of heels.  I think that when you’re 20 years old and have never experienced pregnancy, decades of gravity, hormones and/or metabolism issues, you can get away with cheaper clothes.   Am I right?  Am I right? But when you’re 40-something, you owe it to your wonderful body to clothe it strategically.  That means good jeans!  Wearing crappy old I-don’t-care-what-my-butt-looks-like-cuz-I’ve-given-up jeans will age you as fast as the sun on your face!!  Don’t do it!

I have a butt and a small waist, so most jeans will gape at the waist if they fit in the hips.  These are the jeans that I’m thrilled about wearing now.  Note that I had them hemmed a bit, even though I’m 5’7″ with pretty long legs (good jeans give you a very generous length), but no other alterations whatsoever were necessary.  They even fit in the waist!

• Joe’s Jeans:  Rocker lean flare fit…my absolute favorites!  They’re dark dark dark wash, and fit like they were made for me.  These are my dressiest jeans.  And mine don’t have the bleachy light spots on them that you see in the photo below.  Oh, and that’s not me in the photo, just in case you thought it was.  😉

Joe's Rocker Jeans

• Citizens of Humanity:  Ingrid #2 low waist flare style.  These are slightly more casual than my Joe’s and are a tad lower in the rise.

Citizens of Humanity Ingrid Jeans

Keep in mind that the key is that you try on a BUNCH of brands and styles and colors til you find the perfect fit for you!  I promise it’s out there.  And once you find it, your butt will do a little happy dance!

LilSis, you were my motivation to get my butt into a fabulous pair of jeans, so I have to ask you. What are your favorite jeans right now?  Do you have any tips for choosing the right pair, other than trying on everything and then examining the rear view?

~BigSis

June 11, 2009

BigSis, I haven’t had Joe T’s Salsa Picante in so long; I think I forgot how much I used to like it. For quite some time now, my favorite has been the Trader Joe’s Double Roasted Salsa.

Sometimes when I really, really love something so much that I know I won’t be able to resist it, I don’t let myself buy it.

Well, this salsa is one of those things, like Crunchy Cheetos. (I absolutely cannot have those in my house.) I usually only buy this when we have guests. I got it out yesterday after school for HayHay and some of his friends. There won’t be any left for me, so I had myself ‘one perfect chip’.

Doesn't get much better than this!

Not that the salsa itself has any fat or is bad for you at all! It isn’t! It’s actually quite healthy! Here are the ingredients:

Tomatoes, water, double roasted anaheim peppers, onions, cilantro, cider vinegar, jalapenos, lime juice, sea salt, garlic, cumin, black pepper.

The green chilis are roasted peeled and roasted again. The double roasting process give this salsa such a smoky flavor.

For two teaspoons, there are only 10 calories, no fat, and 140 mg. of sodium.  It’s so hard for me to describe the flavor of this salsa. It’s very unique! I think it is the smoky flavor that I like so much. I can’t even taste the cumin or the cilantro, which makes me happy because sometimes those can be overpowering.

I love the texture because there are no large chunks. And yes, I still buy Pace Picante Mild Extra Chunky for SirHoney! Ick!  I prefer a smoother consistency, so this is just perfect. This salsa would be so good on eggs or veggies.

So, why do I not buy it more often?

Because I have no willpower, that’s why! When I have this salsa, I must eat it with these! The best darn tortilla chips ever! We said adios to Tostitos when we discovered these.

What a Perfect Pair!

Unfortunately, there are no Trader Joe’s in Texas, as most Texans probably already know. Sorry, BigSis! I’ve heard that there are some Texans that load up their cars and trucks with coolers and drive on over to Arizona for their favorite Trader Joe’s products. I’ve come to believe that’s probably true.

That could be your next outing with SisMama, BDot and Aunt C!  Here’s a cool map showing all of the current Trader Joe’s locations and locations coming soon!

So, BigSis, I guess when you’re in my ‘neck of the woods’, I’ll share some of the TJ’s Salsa with you and when I come to ‘Big D’, you can have some Joe T’s ready for me.

Or maybe on my next trip, I’ll bring a jar with me and we’ll have a real live Salsa Showdown!

~LilSis

June 10, 2009

Do you remember that episode of Seinfeld when George and Jerry were sitting at the diner, talking about how salsa had replaced ketchup as the #1 condiment, and they mentioned how fun it is to say “salsaaahhh”?  So funny.  I think about that every time I say salsa.  And here in Texas, I say salsa a lot!  My favorite salsa has always been Joe T Garcia’s, from the cult-favorite restaurant in Fort Worth.  I was at Central Market today, and it occurred to me that maybe…just maybe…there is a better salsa out there?  I’m so fickle!  I decided to conduct a little informal research to see if my favorite is indeed the best of the best, or if I’m just stuck in a closed-minded salsa rut.

First up is our challenger, Central Market’s All Natural Hatch Green Chile Salsa Roja.

• Ingredients:  Tomatoes, green chiles, diced onions, tomato paste, lime juice, fresh garlic, fresh serrano peppers, vinegar, cumin, salt, black pepper, cilantro.
• Appearance:  Brownish brick red.  I see some dark flecks that indicate some of the ingredients were fire-roasted.  Nice!  The consistency is pretty thick, but not quite a puree.  You can still see some bits of onion throughout.
• Flavor:  Delicious and slightly complex.  The top note I get is cumin.  The salsa is smoky and spicy, but I was expecting it to be hotter with the two chiles.  I could have used a little more heat.
• Overall impression:  I love that there are no preservatives, chemicals or ingredients other than those I could find in my own kitchen.  It tastes fresh, and I do like it.  But would I buy it again?  Mmmm, probably not.  I think I’d like to try the green verde version of this salsa to see if  it has less cumin flavor since I’m not a huge cumin fan.  To me cumin is like cilantro or goat cheese.  Either you love it or you hate it; not many people are ambivalent about it.

And now the defender: Joe T Garcia’s Salsa Picante in Mild (there are Medium and Hot varieties, but I know they’re too hot for me).

• Ingredients:  Tomatoes, onions, green sweet peppers, green chile peppers, salt, vinegar, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cilantro and spices.
• Appearance:  Bright red, and very chunky with visible pieces of tomato, onion and peppers.  When you open the jar, the salsa needs to be stirred to get the juice married back with the chunks.
• Flavor:  Wow!  A burst of fresh tomato, garlic and peppers with a tangy background from the vinegar.  Even the mild has a fair amount of pepper heat.  I love it.
• Overall Impression:  Somebody get this jar away from me!  I can’t stop eating it!

The Verdict:

Get in your car right now and drive to a store that carries this salsa!  If you can’t do that, direct your fingers over to Joe T’s web site and order yourself a case of his Salsa Picante.  You can get 12 jars for $30 plus $15 shipping, which is a bargain in my book, folks!  That’ s less than $4 per jar, shipped!  You WILL thank me!  This stuff is awesome in queso instead of Rotel, or poured over a soft brick of cream cheese, or just gobbled up with chips.

Hey, LilSis, you’re a fan of Joe T’s Salsa, right?  Can you get any good salsa out there in Califor-knee-yah?  I know SirHoney doesn’t like too much heat, so I’m wondering if you’re still buying Pace brand? Now you can order from Joe T himself!  Viva la Salsa!

~BigSis

June 9, 2009

(Warning: If you are a vegetarian, you may not want to scroll down. You might find the photo a little disturbing. I’m not promoting these so please don’t send me a mean email.)

I make beer can chicken quite a bit at our house. All I do is put a dry rub all over the outside and sprinkle a little inside the chicken and inside the beer. Sometimes, I’ll add fresh herbs for something a little different. But, it’s extremely easy and I’ve found that it turns out even better than an oven roasted chicken.  (I used to make a pretty awesome roasted chicken, but it was a lot more work.)

I was making a beer can chicken for us almost every week and HayHay finally got burnt out on it and requested that I not make one for a while.  So, I haven’t made one in two or three weeks.

I have to admit, I always feel a little bad after I season the chicken and sit it up on the beer can. It’s just a little disturbing to me seeing the chicken all perched up there with it’s legs propped up and it’s little wings tucked back. It really makes it resemble the once walking, talking little animal that was.  And, when you stick the little ‘thingamajig’ in the top to cork it up so it can steam, I feel even worse.

I’ve considered never cooking one again.  And, if I stuck a ceramic drunk head on top of the poor dead chicken, it would probably put me over the edge.

Could you put a ceramic chicken head on your beer can chicken?

BigSis ran across this “Making Chicken Seem More Lifelike” post on Serious Eats and sent me the link to check it out. Why would I want to make a dead chicken that I’m about to eat seem more lifelike?

They sell these ceramic drunk chicken heads on Amazon! Here are their close-ups.

Bug-eyed

Southwestern

Malibu

I could actually be a vegetarian if I didn’t have to cook ‘critters’ for anyone else in my house. And, I don’t think that idea would be very well received by either SirHoney or HayHay since last night they each put down an entire slab of ribs.  I don’t eat ribs. Something about that bothers me, too.  Now, I can definitely eat me some bacon and ham, but I just don’t want to chomp on the pig’s ribs.

BigSis, I bet BDot might think these are funny.

Does this bother anyone else? Or do you think they’re funny?

~LilSis

June 8, 2009

From time to time, MAC will weed out it’s inventory and a bunch of products will disappear forever.  I got an email from MAC the other day, and the weeding out is happening right now!

I noticed some of my eyeshadows on the list: French Cuff, Bold and Brazen, and Flip. Flip is a color (bronze gold frost) that would look really good on you, LilSis, so if you don’t have it, make sure you grab yourself one before it’s too late.  Besides lots of eyeshadows, MAC is also retiring lipsticks, lipglasses, lipliners, blush, eyelashes, eye liners, you name it!  These way cool tri-color lipglasses are going too.  I have one in Just Dessert and I love it.

MAC Just Dessert Lipglass

If you’re a MAC girl like LilSis and me, be sure to check the list at MAC’s Going, Going, Gone page for your favorites before they’re history!

~BigSis

June 7, 2009

If you’re like us, we grill outside almost every single day in the summer. Actually, here in CA, we use our grill year round. If I have the choice of whether to cook inside or do something up outside on the grill, I’m always outside.

I love this idea! I haven’t tried it yet, but it makes perfect sense.  You simply thread your veggies on a skewer, brush lightly with oil and cook alongside the meat. While the meat rests, you puree the sauce ingredients in a blender.

Veggies for Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

These three sauces were the ones shown in the June 2009 Food & Wine issue.

Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

Creamy Green Chile and Avocado Sauce

1 firm Hass avocado—quartered, pitted and skin left on for grilling; remove skin when blending
1 small onion, quartered
2 tomatillos—husked, cored and halved
4 peeled garlic cloves
1 jalapeño—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1 poblano chile—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Thread the avocado, onion, tomatillos, garlic, jalapeño and chile onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the cilantro, water, and lime juice. Puree until smooth and season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled chicken.

Pineapple and Red Chile Salsa

Pineapple and Red Chile Salsa

1/2 pound plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
4 peeled garlic cloves
1/2 pound fresh pineapple, cut into 8 pieces
1 red bell pepper—stemmed, seeded and quartered
1 fresh long red chile, such as a cayenne or Holland chile—stemmed, seeded and quartered
12 mint leaves
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Thread the ingredients onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the mint leaves, water, and lime juice and puree until smooth. Season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled pork chops.

Smoky Steak Sauce

Smoky Steak Sauce

2 thick slices of bacon, halved crosswise and rolled into cylinders
1 small onion, quartered
1 portobello mushroom, stemmed and cap quartered
2 plum tomatoes, cored and halved lengthwise
4 pitted prunes
4 peeled garlic cloves
1 large supple ancho chile, seeded and quartered
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 cup water

Thread the ingredients onto skewers. Brush the kebabs with oil and grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are charred in spots, about 15 minutes; let cool slightly. Remove the ingredients from the skewers and transfer them to a blender.

Add the wine vinegar, light brown sugar, and water and puree until smooth. Season with salt.

Recommended to serve with grilled steak.

I can’t wait to try some of these sauces. When you think about it, the possibilities are endless. Happy grilling!  🙂

~LilSis

June 6, 2009

When I was about 10 years old, a peach almost killed me.  Yep, a sweet, juicy, fuzzy little peach was nearly the end of me!  I was spending part of the summer in West Texas with my grandparents as usual, and had been eating juicy fresh peaches as usual.  My grandmother made awesome peach fried pies and incredible spiced pickled peaches with cloves.  She had peach trees in the backyard and made great use of them.

So, one nice summer day, I went to my cousins’ house for a visit.  I can remember sitting on a swing in their backyard, eating a fresh peach.  I can remember getting itchy, then starting to wheeze, and then getting swollen all over.  By the time I got into the house, I passed out, and then drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like hours before they took me to the emergency room to be pumped full of benadryl and adrenalin.

Since I grew up to be BigSis, clearly I survived that attack of anaphylactic shock.  My body just had enough of peaches, and said it wished to have no more of them, please.  When I heard that this month’s You Want Pies with That event would have a Childhood Memories theme, those peachy memories came back to me.  My whole family has mouth-watering and sentimental memories of Grandmama’s fried pies, although I obviously can’t make her peach ones.  In her honor, I decided to make cherry fried pies, for my first time ever.

I don’t have my own recipe for these little jewels, so I found recipes online for pie pastry and cherry pie filling that both sounded delicious and got 5 star reviews.  And being a bake-from-scratch snob, I was definitely not interested in using flattened biscuits with canned pie filling.  I did have one little complication right off the bat, which was that the filling was surprisingly too juicy for little fried pies, so I revised my plan a bit and made a whole pie.  No biggie, just a little adjustment.

Looks pretty good, right?  I was kind of happy with the golden brownness, and was feeling a little proud of myself since I love to bake, but I’m not a pie maker.  It intimidates me and intrigues me at the same time.  But so far, so good.  I cut into the pie, and still found more juice than I really wanted, but no worries!  It’s yummy cherry juice, so it’s all good!  And I thought the slice on the plate looked pretty tasty!  What do you think?  Not so bad for a novice pie girl.

The next test…take a bite!  I took a bite, and took another bite, and took another bite.  Guess what?  It was HORRIBLE!!  Not just bad.  Not just “oh, you’re so overly critical of your own baking”.  No.  It was DISGUSTING!  It’s actually in my sink at this moment, crumpled in bits and pieces, awaiting it’s little trip down the garbage disposal.  THAT bad.

What could be so bad, you say?  Well, the pastry was not flaky and light.  It was the polar opposite: heavy and soggy on the top and bottom.  The juice soaked into it and just made yukky mush.  Even though I baked it the recommended amount of time, I don’t think the bottom crust was even done.  Bleh.  On top of that, the pastry’s flavor was just off and weird.  The tiny bit of almond extract in the filling was grossly overwhelming and the filling was WAY too liquidy.  Altogether, it was so nasty that not even HayHay-the-15-Year-Old-Eating-Machine would touch it.  I would be ashamed to offer it to him or anyone else.

So, why do I bother posting on this disaster?  Cause it’s pretty damn funny to me!  It’s hilarious, in fact.  I make such a big ding dang deal out of baking from scratch, and then I have a catastrophe of Titanic proportions like this, and it just cracks me up.  One thing I don’t do is take myself too seriously, and it’s a good thing!  Plus, you can’t try anything new if you’re too afraid to fail.  Chances are I’ll have lots more beautiful disasters on my way to successful pastry baking!

Next time, I’ll try to do you proud, Grandmama!  I’m not giving up!  Meanwhile, please visit You Want Pies With That on June 8th to see the work of successful pie bakers!  I’m off to the grocery store for biscuits and canned pie filling.

~BigSis

June 5, 2009

Summertime Fruit Salad

How can anyone resist the beautiful fresh fruit at the market these days? We are so fortunate to have a Trader Joe’s nearby. We always have a great selection of fruit and the icing on the cake is that it’s reasonably priced. We don’t pay an arm and a leg for a small container of raspberries or blueberries.

I buy my berries at Trader Joe’s every week, but most of the time no one helps me eat them, so I’m careful not to buy more than I can eat by myself. Since I’m trying to help SirHoney eat more fruit, I bought more on my last shopping trip so I could make a nice fruit salad.

When I got home, I decided to browse through Cooking Light’s website for some ideas for a light fruit salad recipe. I was inspired by this Summertime Fruit Salad recipe, but I omitted so many things, it’s really not even the same recipe anymore. If I were to make this fruit salad for a dessert, I would have included the simple syrup and the whipped cream topping which both include Chambord.

On this particular day, I was just making a nice fruit salad for breakfast, so I didn’t want the sugar, cream or Chambord.  (It’s basically just a big bowl of fruit, so I almost feel bad calling it a recipe.) Here’s what I came up with.

Summertime Fruit Salad

1 c. blueberries
1 c. sliced strawberries
1 c. red, purple & green grapes
1 c. diced pineapple
1 c. raspberries
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Combine first four ingredients in a medium size bowl, then gently toss in the raspberries. Serve in individual bowls and top with the walnuts.

I really wanted to include blackberries in this fruit salad, but for some reason, the guys don’t like them, so I left them out.  I did add blackberries to my serving and then poured it all on top of a bowl of nonfat vanilla yogurt and sprinkled with a few chopped walnuts. If serving immediately, I would also add some sliced banana.

I loved this fruit salad, and guess what, so did the guys! What an easy way to get them both to eat more fruit!

~LilSis

June 4, 2009

If you’re from Texas, you’ve no doubt heard of Canton First Monday Trade Days.  It’s a once-a-month ginormous flea market that pretty much dominates the whole town.  I’ve been a bunch of times, but SisMama had never been so BDot and I took SisMama and her sister C to the spectacle last weekend.  We were really pushing it weather-wise though.  The temp got up into the low 90s so we were literally sweating our butts off since we were there for 6 hours!  PS, the butts grew back.  Rats!

We did find some cool things, as is always the case with Canton!  C and I each bought a really pretty hummingbird feeder from Sweet B & B Hummingbird Feeders.  They’re a super-nice couple who make these feeders out of copper, and sell them through their web site and at markets.  I love being able to support what folks like B & B (Beau and Becky) are doing, rather than running to the WallyMart to buy every little thing.  I bought this cute feeder that I have sucked onto my patio window, so that hopefully the kitties can see some birds up close!

So far, no diners have come to eat, but it’s only been a few days. I have a long red ribbon dangling from the feeder, and I’m going to get a pot of brightly colored flowers for the patio this weekend.  If any of you have suggestions on how to attract hummingbirds, please let me know!

BDot and I got something else unusual, that I totally DID NOT need. It’s all BDot’s fault since he tempted me with this product that he’s gotten before at Canton.  It’s called Pecan Honey Butter, and it’s so wicked delicious!  It came from East Texas Gourmet Foods, and I’m happy to see that they have online ordering too.  Just for gift ordering, you know.  😀

I never said this stuff was healthy…it’s totally a naughty treat, but we all need a touch of that from time to time!  Besides the Pecan Honey Butter, they also have Cinnamon, Praline, Apple Spice, Amaretto Pecan, Apricot Orange, Raspberry Pecan, and Cranberry Orange Pecan flavors.  I tried the Praline and Cinnamon varieties and loved them both too.  I SO want to spread a blob of this on a hot biscuit.  Do you think that would be bad for my cellulite?  Surely not!

If you get the chance, check out this Texas extravaganza.  But take my advice, and don’t go in the heat of the summer.  You’ll be miserable!  Go in the spring or the fall, and enjoy the mad fun!  Meanwhile, check out the hummingbird feeders and the honey butters online.

~BigSis

June 3, 2009

Alert the media! Oh, wait, no need to do that, they’re already in a crazy frenzy, because, guess what? I know you’re on pins and needles right now…drum-roll, please…(okay, now it’s just going to be anti-climatic!)

It hailed in Cal-ee-forn-ee-ah today!

Oh my!

Yep, and it rained, too!

Oh my!

And, a palm tree got hit by lightning and caught on fire!

Oh my!

Okay, most of you are going to think this is really lame! I’ll take it! It is lame! We just think that it’s hilarious.  Coming from Texas where hail can be bigger than a baseball to California where they actually consider a sprinkle a thunderstorm, it just makes us laugh. And, if it makes us laugh, it’s all good! 🙂

When HayHay was in elementary school, they actually had early release days when it sprinkled. (I’m not lying!) This is how it went down on ‘early release days’.

• The moms had to drive up in line in front of the school where principal had a walkie talkie.
• Principal approached the car to ask the name of your child.
• She would convey to the office, via walkie talkie,  the childs’ name letting them know that their parent had arrived.
• The office would call the childs’ name over the loud speaker so the teacher could release them!
• One at a time!
• HayHay gets in car and we both laugh hysterically!

Seriously!

So, if it makes us laugh, we just have to roll with it.

If you think that’s lame, then you will really think this is lame! TomTom has never seen rain. (I can count on two hands the number of times that it’s rained here in the seven years that we’ve lived here.)

Today, during the five minute shower, TomTom was running all over the house, jumping from window to window, trying to figure out what was going on. I wish I could have caught a picture of him all ‘puffed up’ with the ridge down his back. I did put him outside so he could check it out close-up and this is all I got.

What the Hell? I can't get my little paws wet!

Believe it or not, it was actually raining when I took this! You can’t even tell that the patio is wet. (Oh, and the sun was out at the same time it was raining.)

So, this was the best part of the day… Right after this photo, I ran to the store for some much needed food in the house. When I came out, for some reason, I looked up and there was a gorgeous circular rainbow around the sun.

I went straight home and grabbed my camera and, of course, it was gone. I took a photo for the hell of it and this is what I got. If you look really close, you can see the faint last little bit of the rainbow.

This is what it looked like when I first saw it.

Flickr photo by natureluv

Such a nice treat after such a ferocious storm!

~LilSis