Ruler of the Elves

This morning, Chris boarded a plane for San Antonio and left the girls at home to fend for themselves. Although we do miss him, we had some girly plans in place to occupy our time.

Pedicures: Pinky chose a bright red polish, while I opted for a more sultry dark red.

Movie Night: Although we probably won’t get through all of these tonight, we sure have a good line up that will go well with some buttery popcorn and fizzy drinks.

Sidewalk Runway Dancing: Ipods are perfect for a catwalk shimmy.

So far, we are keeping ourselves busy and enjoying every minute of it. Stay tuned…

Warning: If you have a snake phobia, please proceed with caution through the following photos.

One of the things I love the most about living where we do is our amazing local zoo. It practically has every animal you can think of, minus giraffes and zebras. I guess the even/odd-toed ungulates just are not as glamorous as elephants, gorillas, lions, tigers and bears. Oh my! We have been lucky enough to score annual zoo passes again, so after an hour or so, if we decide we’ve had enough, we can guiltlessly head home and come back ANY other day that we like.

Take this hot day, for example, when we spent most of our time in the air conditioned buildings to shield ourselves from the scorching sun. It seemed like a great idea to head to the zoo and check out the new baby elephant, but a long line and gallons of sweat draining out of every pore on our bodies had us wishing we were at the water park next door. Most of the commonly sought after animals were hiding in their shelters, so we had to settle for the nice, but not very exciting substitutes.

Can you find the markhor?

The reptile building was the highlight of our trip. We all have a passion for the cold blooded creatures (and air conditioning,) so even though we missed out on some of our other favorites, we definitely enjoyed visiting the dinosaur descendants.

I know I’ve left you hanging the past couple of weeks with my scant number of blog posts… I have been burning the candle at both ends and finally I am a little rested up.

Last night, we had the most amazing dinner. We chose to make a new kabob recipe, which was actually quite similar to the one we usually make, but with more of a kick. And what better name for it than Jerk Shrimp Kabobs. I had been craving some shrimp and some spice and these puppies sure did the trick. Succulent, flavorful and delicious. I think they may have made my top 10 favorite foods of all time!

While I covered the ingredients in this tasty jerk seasoning (from ATM and uncle A)…

And shoved everything onto the appropriate pre-soaked wooden skewers…

Pinky enjoyed the warm weather we were having by splish-splashing around in her pool. There’s nothing like 85 degree weather to make you want to take a dip.

Once the kabobs were all assembled, we started up the grill and strategically placed them on for some supreme heating.

After about 4 minutes, it was time for a flip, so Chris did the duties while I watched from the sidelines with a glass of wine and my handy dandy camera in tow. Then, it was time to brush our crustaceans with some pineapple preserves and lime juice. Yummm.

A few minutes later, our mouth-watering dinner was finished and we all dug in. Even though the kabobs were a little bit spicy (watch out if you are spice sensitive!) Pinky loved every minute of it. She did, however, keep a nice little grip on her cup of milk just in case.

So, if you are up for the challenge, give it a try and let me know what you think! (You can leave me a nice comment right down there, below this post. Hint, hint.) It says that the recipe is only for 4 kabobs, but we ended up doing around 10 and they turned out perfect, using the same amount of spice and preserves mixture. This recipe would also work great for chicken or steak. Oh, and if you end up using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes.

Jerk Shrimp Kabobs

By The Betty Crocker Kitchens

4 Kabobs

Prep Time: 20 min
Start to Finish: 35 min

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons Caribbean jerk seasoning (dry)
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ lb uncooked peeled deveined large shrimp (21 to 30) or extra-large shrimp (16 to 20), thawed if frozen, tail shells removed
16 chunks (about 1 inch) fresh pineapple
1 red bell pepper, cut into 16 pieces
¼ cup pineapple preserves
2 tablespoons lime juice

1. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat. In large bowl, mix oil, jerk seasoning and salt. Add shrimp, pineapple and bell pepper; toss to coat. Thread shrimp, pineapple and bell pepper alternately on each of four 12- to 15-inch metal skewers, leaving ¼-inch space between each piece. Mix preserves and lime juice; set aside.

2. Cover and grill kabobs 4 to 6 inches from medium heat 4 minutes. Turn kabobs; brush with preserves mixture. Cover and grill 4 to 8 minutes longer or until shrimp are pink and firm.

Delicious!

In between homework, marriage, parenting, and all of the other duties of a person with 7 million responsibilities, I have been attempting to make our back patio into a relaxing, welcoming and functional outdoor space that the whole family can enjoy. And even though, we have such a limited space (approximately 15′ x 15′, minus several square feet for a huge a/c unit,) the location is slowly coming together. We have jazzed it up with some homemade green pillows, potted plants, a few cans of paint and one sweet sandbox which gets a lot of use by a certain 4 year old. The only downsides are that it is taking forever for me to get it just how I want it, which is usual, and there is a small beach that is slowly forming in my dining room from all that tracked in sand, which is unusual and would be more widely accepted if it came with free ocean.

The best part is that while Chris is grilling up something yummy for dinner, Pinky can play not too far away and I can relax with a glass of wine and a physiology book. Quality time at its best.

Yesterday, I spotted this awesome table tent at Ohdeedoh and it brought me back to the days when my sister and I would set up elaborate tents to play in at our own house using blankets, clothespins and tv tables. Obviously, they weren’t very sturdy and many times we would end up at the bottom of a collapse. They were still fun, nonetheless. This one however is so much cuter than anything we ever made and it even has windows! (Our windows were just the spaces where the blankets weren’t perfectly aligned and our scenic view was the edge of a recliner and usually the dog’s backside.) I can just imagine Pinky and I having a tea party in there, with scones and the whole sha-bang.

(Photo via otrasventanas)