Last week, one of our good college friends called us up and asked 'How much advanced notice would you need in order to have a visitor?' I told her, 48 hours if you didn't mind that we had to work -- 2 weeks if you wanted exclusive time. And she said, how about I visit you next week? And thus began our impromptu visit with Stephanie!
With our new visitor in tow, we finally had an excuse to do all of theTexas touristy attractions we have been wanting to see. Our first stop, The Dallas World Aquarium! As you can see, they have a pretty snazzy Aquarium mascot. The aquarium was built in a huge refurbish warehouse in downtown Dallas. Though I must say, calling it an aquarium is a little misleading -- a better description may be a terrarium with some fish.. When you walk in, you are completely surrounded by trees, birds, and rain forest plants. The best part is their central tanks with manatees and arapaima (South American fish that are nearly AS BIG as manatees).
We found a cute Italian place for lunch in the warehouse district before heading to Dealy plaza to see where JFK was assassinated. It street corner looks exactly the same as the 1963 footage. It was very surreal seeing the white X in the road, and being able to look up at the 6th floor Book Depository window. I've never been one for conspiracy theories -- but seeing the place in person definitely made us all a little doubtful of Oswald's sole involvement.
One our walk back to the car, Dan was trying to lighten the mood and took to playfully posing with sculptures. His finest attempt -- a little abstract waterslide demo.
Our last touristy adventure was the Dr. Pepper museum here in Waco. A strange place for the museum, perhaps.. but Dr. Pepper was actually invented here. Without our college student discount, I must say the museum is probably not worth the trip. Mainly because you don't need to go through the museum to eat at the soda foundation. Our culinary adventures included: Vanilla sundaes with Dr. Pepper syrup (amazing!) and Hot Dr. Pepper. Why hot Dr. Pepper? Well, the 1970's advertisement we saw in themuseum was intriguing and it was only 75 cents. Okay, I know this sounds strange.. but it is the best hot drink we have ever had. The flavor is so incredibly smooth and complex. Seriously. We loved it so much that we bought 2, 2 Liter bottles of Dr. Pepper to heat up when we got home for our game night. TRY IT! (Note: make sure all the carbonation is gone before you drink it hot -- otherwise it is just plain strange).
After several late nights of Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride (our two favorite boardgames), Stephanie and I got down to our weekend culinary challenge. Our assigned mission, to create desserts out of peas. (I'm not quite sure why we were assigned peas, but I believe it was some
sort of bet Steph had made with friends back home -- that somehow, pea desserts could be delicious. I don't ask questions, I just cook). Dan's role in this creative process -- the official taste-taster. (A true measure of how much he loves me!). Our first attempt: Pea loaf. A fruity, dense cake with goldenraisins, nuts and cinnamon. And of course, dried peas cooked into a paste as a oil substitute.
The (skeptical) taste test..
And the verdict...
He likes it!
Actually, we all did! A little cream cheese frosting, and we practically ate the whole pan over the next few days. The peas were subtle, but gave a nice earthy flavor to the fruity cake. Not bad!
Our second culinary creation: Pea and chive ice cream -- not so successful. More like.. pea puree. Not bad, but not dessert. Unfortunately, we were unable to take a good taste tester picture because we were laughing too hard at the faces of sheer terror that Dan was making as the spoon inched closer to his mouth. Dan, you are such a good sport!
To make up for our unorthodox cooking recipes of the afternoon, we decided to treat ourselves with a classic-favorite -- one sure to make Dan's taste buds happy. French Onion soup with grilled mozzarella and herb sammies. To date, probably one of the most delicious meals I have ever created. Looking for a reason to make it again soon!
We really enjoyed having company for a few days. And by we, I am definitely including Loki. He made an absolutely fool of himself in an attempt to get Stephanie to constantly play with him. And now that she is gone, we have a very needy kitty on our hands! We can keep him busy when we are home just fine -- it's when we leave for work that the terror begins. You see, Loki loves his toys. Every few days, we have to fish out 3-6 of them from the stove or refrigerator. What happens when he can't find something to play with? He resorts to removing poo from his litter box and bats it around the kitchen. Charming.
This week, while fighting his arch nemesis (ie, string), Loki discovered his tail. The next 10 minutes were spent spinning around in circles trying to catch it. Followed by a big bite, a yowl, and the continual tail chase. I was only able to take one picture before I was laughing to hard to stand up.
He has also decided, in typical cat fashion, that the sink needs to be left running so he can drink in it. Lately, this means that he stakes out the sink.. lest it be used and him miss an opportunity! Our little kitty is "special".
Other updates: The new semester just started this week -- and holy cow will I be busy! But from the sounds of things, this may be my last semester taking courses full-time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Dan's job is going great. Everyone loves him, and he is really starting to carve out a niche for himself. His awesome Microsoft Office skills have already given him special status in the department. Go Dan go!
And lastly, this week we are going to see our favorite comic, Eddie Izzard in Dallas! Merry Christmas to us! But that's another blog entry entirely ;)
