Chocolate Photoshop Lessons

So I love photography, always have.  It turns out I love photographers too, but that's another story.  When I was in high school I worked at a camera store.  I even did a business project on starting my own camera and photography business.  Yep.   I still have the project board to prove it.  It's at my mom's house in the guest bedroom.  It's not on display of course, that would be weird.  ANYWAY.   So I love photography.  That means I like taking the photos.  Now, that love kinda got pushed to the back burner when I MARRIED A PRO .  Yeah.  Carrying around your little point and shoot while the boy carries around the heaviest camera I've ever seen and talks about foreign lingo like "f-stop" and "raw"... well it makes you feel like you really don't need to carry that point and shoot anymore, after all, you have your own personal photographer now.  Needless to say, it's been a few years since I've uploaded hundreds of photos to my computer at one time.  It's sad I know, but I'm coming back!  I've recently taken over one of Shane's cameras... hehe.  I'm excited about reclaiming an old hobby.

I'm learning a few things.  In my old life, "photoshop" wasn't anything I'd ever heard of.  Sure, I would lighten pictures and fix some contrast here and there with the uploader, but it was nothing serious.  Now I've become a Mac convert.  Why not keep packing in the knowledge.  Overload?  Who cares!  My interest is peaked.  I want to know everything about making all pictures beautiful.  I learned a little about layers, opacity and the command+j function through some research tonight but I couldn't really make any of my stuff look cool. I decided to get serious and ask my in-house teacher a little about this thing called Photoshop.  I was going to blog about the above photo's subject, chocolate covered pretzels, but I'll save that for another day.... this is about the photo itself.  This photo hasn't been cropped.  I like it like it is, as far as it's border goes.  It is a little dark though.  That's where the boy came in and showed me some ropes....

Whether I remember those ropes tomorrow.... well we'll see.  I think a Photoshop for Dummies book is in my future.  Do any of you use Photoshop?  How did you learn?  This may take a while, as I'm still trying to master the PowerBook!

~Fran

Hats & Jammies

I have two subjects to discuss:

I.  Hats
First I have to say that it's freaking cold right now.  Second I have to say that before today, neither of us owned a winter hat.  Yes, that's right.  Now while one of us sits in an office all day long, the other of us makes a living by NOT sitting in an office all day long.  Sooooo, Shane had two goals for himself today... 1. turn in an envelope for free cigars and 2. buy a warm hat for his head.  To justify the fact that he bought a hat for himself, he also bought a hat for moi.  Hey, I like surprise gifts as much as the next girl... especially when they come in my favorite color.  He's good like that.  So the second thing I did when I got home from work today (I'll discuss the first thing I did later) was try on our new hats.  Yes, it's the little things in life that entertain us.  So, we put on our own hats, then took a picture of ourselves with the mac (pictured on the above left).  Then, we swapped each other's hats and took the picture on the right.  Yes, we are dorks... but we are fine with this.  It keeps us laughing.  It keeps us entertained.  It keeps us happy.  So, after establishing the fact that we are dorks, we swapped hats a couple more times and then I began making dinner.

II.  Jammies
My second subject is jammies, aka pajamas, aka p.j.'s.   Again, please take note of the pictures above.  Okay, so today I had quite the conversation with some coworkers at lunch about what we wear when we get home from work.  Outfits ranged from flannel pj's to sweat pants to loungewear.  I was so glad I was not the only one to change into her "jammies" right after work.  Yes, I have been know to run to the back of the house when the doorbell rings at 6pm because I'm already in my pajamas.  Whatev.  So about a year ago with Christmas gift cards to the Gap, I purchased some loungewear consisting of a supersoft crossover hoodie and a pare of supersoft lounge pants ("the pant that has it all: comfort, style, and a slimming silhouette.") in camel color.  This was my feeble attempt to appear as if I had NOT come home from work and immediately put my jammies on, when in fact I actually had.   They are pajamas, but they are not pajamas.... they are loungewear.  :)  ANYWAY.

So when Shane asked me to try on my new hat when I got home from work today, I said, "Hold on a minute, I'll be right back."  Guess what I had to do.  That's right.  So at 5:00pm when the above pictures were taken and we were goofing off before dinner... I was in my jammies... Comfortable, WARM, and Happy.

~Fran

T-Bone from Santa?

Santa left us goodies at 3 different places this year.  Needless to say we had a pretty special Christmas.  Santa normally leaves the usual:  marshmallow chocolate santas, oranges, chocolate coins and the like....  this year Santa left us individual t-bone steaks at one of our 3 Christmas stops.  We thought this was very clever of him to toss it up a bit.

This photo is courtesy of yours truly (me), but this dinner is courtesy of mine truly (Shane ).   What you are looking at is a t-bone steak covered in sauteed mushrooms with a side of mashed potatoes.  As you may be catching on by now, we like some meat and taters.  :)

To prepare the steaks, Shane salted and peppered each side, and put a bit of olive oil in a pyrex pan (if you have a broiler pan you should use that, but we didn't so...).  He then turned on the broiler in the oven and placed the steaks 4 inches under the broiler.  He browned the steaks on the top, flipped them and browned them on the other side.  It's just like grilling, but you're broiling.  He would have grilled, but it's like 2 degrees outside.  The taters, well how hard are mashed potatoes really?  2 large potatoes, washed and diced.  We like to leave the skin on them.  Boil the potatoes until they are tender.  Throw 'em in a bowl, add 1/2 stick of butter/ margarine, some salt and pepper to taste, and some milk.  We don't really measure that much lol.  Mash those bad boys with a wooden spoon (that's how I like to) or with a fork (which is how Shane likes to).  Bam!  Oh, I almost forgot the mushrooms!  Sautee those babies in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.... mmmmm....

Shane plated the food like above.  I then pushed the mushrooms off the meat, proceeded to cut the meat and eat one mushroom with each bight of meat, yes, a tad o.c.d. but I don't care.  The boy thinks I'm crazy anyway.  And he likes it.


~Fran

Sushi & Western Swing? YES.

YES.  We like sushi.  We like Western Swing.  Why not combine them both into one night of awesome?  That's right.  So when our friends, Mike & Morgen, invited us out... we jumped at it.  Where and who and where you may ask...  In The Raw & Hot Club of Cowtown at Cain's Ballroom .

I'll start with the sushi.  It was pretty good.  While we haven't found sushi as good as our favorite Ichiban in Shreveport, In The Raw is at the top of our list in Tulsa.  I think.  I've only eaten at In The Raw for lunch, and it's a great atmosphere with lots of windows and LIGHT.  Dinner was a different experience.  And by different experience I mean sitting at a table in the DARK.  For a second we seriously considered going out to the truck and getting Shane 's maglight just to read the menu.  We discussed how people would ask us to borrow it all around the restaurant if we did retrieve it.  We decided we didn't want to be that popular.  I'm not complaining, I mean we could see our food and all.  Mike ordered something not on the sushi menu and they made it happen, which was great.  There was also good conversation of course and the service was great.

Next stop.... Cain's!  I love Cain's Ballroom and the history that surrounds it.  My first experience with Cain's didn't exactly resemble the likes of Bob Wills.  lol.  Some friends of mine drove up to see Tegan & Sara .  While I love Tegan & Sarah, the Hot Club of Cowtown made you feel like you were at the "Home of Bob Wills"... which we were.  They played music from that era with an amp from that era.  Some of the fans were even wearing cowboy hats from that era :).    It was great.  While our friends did a little two-stepping, Shane and I are going to have to practice a little at the homefront before we bust a move the next time.  :)  I'm not so coordinated if I don't know what's going on.  What does that mean exactly?  Well I'm all about the shaking it and waving my hands around, but when it comes to the two-steppin' and the walzin'... I need practice, man, and maybe some new cowboy boots....

After we left we made a quick stop at QuikTrip for some tequitos and corn dogs cuz let's face it... I've become a meat and potatoes kinda girl since the boy came along and sushi just doesn't keep me full for more than an hour.

It's my fave about moving here really. :)  Cheap gas, great vanilla cappuccino, and snacks 24/7.

Woops, I hope all my posts don't end with our deep love for QT.

What a great night!

~Fran

COLD & Determined

Today the high is supposed to be 27degrees.  Burrrr!  Earlier Shane was talking to a friend and at that moment the wind chill was 7 degrees.  That's what I said... BUUURRRRRRR!  So needless to say I haven't left the inside of my warm little house all day.  In fact I wouldn't be leaving my warm little house at all today if we didn't have dinner and concert plans with friends.  It's downright COLD outside, no way around it.

COLD.

So cold that I had Shane go outside and take this picture of our house.  As most of you know, there was quite the blizzard on Christmas Eve here.  This is what our front yard STILL looks like!  I've never lived in a place where the snow doesn't melt the day, if not the hour, after it has fallen.  And as I told Shane this morning, "I'm in love!!"  Yep.  I love the snow!  So. Much.  At this rate, our yard will probably look like this til Spring, and I'm totally loving it!

There's another one of our family members who loves it too.  It's probably because he can stay outside longer than 15 minutes without feeling like he's going to pass out from exasperation... that's right: Brownie.

I looked out the back door window this morning and this is what I saw.  Ol' Brown Dog sitting completely still on the deck.  This is an occurrence that happens very rarely... have I told you he's on O.C.D. meds? Yep.  

And this is what he was gazing at, umm, I mean hunting.  "The Fat Squirrel."  We normally insert an expletive in that title somewhere.  He's fat and he taunts my dogs.  One day Brownie and Belle will catch him.  OR one day Shane will shoot him.  I'm kind of rooting for the latter so that I don't have to come home to a beheaded gift from the dogs one day.  Ewwwww...  

It all starts with brownie looking out the window of the office.  He spots the damn squirrel and trots to the back door, begging to go outside.  I open the door and Brownie waits.  He doesn't want to alert the thing that he's on his way too quickly.  And at the right moment, Brownie darts out the door, down the deck steps, through the gate and points at the tree.  While Brownie is going through these steps, the squirrel scatters his way from where ever he was to the top of one of the pecan trees (as seen above).  

Then the squirrel jumps from the pecan to the red tipped photenias (sp?) and rustles around.  Meanwhile Brownie (and Belle if she is awake and alert) run back and forth along the fence line barking, pointing, and jumping.  We hate this fat squirrel.

Don't we Brown Dog?

This goes on for quite some time.  Then Brownie returns to the deck and turns circles, looking  up in the trees.  Look at that speed.  LOL.  

Determined.

Brownie was outside in this arctic cold for over an hour this morning.  He doesn't like to give up without a fight.  Damn squirrel.

~Fran

So I made this...

Braised beef short ribs...

This was the result of my touching them with my fork.  Can we say OMGTENDER!  They literally fell off the bones.

So those naked bones in the pot?  Yep, the meat fell smooth off 'em.

I served them with mashed yellow potatoes and the gravy from the pot.  mmmmmmmmm!

We bought some beef short ribs with my intention to use an awesome recipe by Sean Shannon, the Assistant Director of Culinary Services at the Food Bank.  By the time I finally decided to cook them, I didn't have the recipe cards at home so I googled any recipe that included reducing a bottle of red wine.  And this is what I found: Braised Beef Short Ribs.  Wowza!!  Let's just say I almost made Shane cry, and I almost cried in return when he said it was the best meal I'd ever made him.  That's what I'm talking about!  This was a 2 day process.  Sean's recipe is not.  Which recipe will I probably make in the future? Sean's of course.  I don't think I can take being up until 2 am again waiting for the ribs to cool off so I can marinate them in the fridge over night.

~Fran

Cast

This is my life and the characters in it.

Happy New Year!  Shane and I went to Brookside last night with Tom and Karen.  This is us after the ball drop.  I would post a pic of us with the ball drop, but it wasn't that great nor was it impressive.  This picture however, is one

of the best of us since our wedding day lol.

See, not too impressive.  (The ball dropping is the green thing on the left.)

This is Belle, our English Setter #1.  This is what she does all day, and I was apparently disrupting her while taking this photo.  Yep..... that's our Belle.  She's pretty.  She also claims to be allergic to the country.

This is Brownie, aka Brown Dog.  Brownie is usually blurry because he does NOT stop moving... EVER.  He is our English Setter #2, and unlike his sister, he lives his life to run full force in the country to find birds for his daddy.  Since we don't live in the country, Brownie spends his days pacing the house and brainstorming the demise of the fat squirrel who lives in the backyard and eats all our pecans.

For the most part I will be taking the pictures that appear in my blog posts.  If I didn't take 'em, I'll tell you who did.  If you want to see some awesome pics go here.  :)

Ciao,

Fran