I once again have to brag on my husband. He was contacted a while back by the national magazine, Parks and Recreation, and they featured four up and coming professionals in the field. He was one of the four and here is the link to the article. The article starts on page 43 and his feature is on page 44.
www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nrpa/201005
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Texas Steak Cookoff 2010
We have long enjoyed Big Terry's (Shane's stepdad) steaks. He makes one of the best steaks I have ever had. In fact, we don't even need to go to a fancy steak place, we just head over there and enjoy a steak and the pool. We are big fans of the Food Network, and last summer they aired one of their Challenge programs that just happened to be the Texas Steak Cookoff in Hico, TX. We watched the program, everything looked fun and delicious, and Shane had the idea to partner with the rest of the siblings and enter Big Terry into the competition as a Christmas present. None of us had ever been to this event in real life, or any other event like it, for that matter, but we decided to jump in with both feet.
For the competition, they had eighty teams enter and everyone was given two steaks after the cooks meeting first thing in the morning. Then, everyone had two hours before the first round of steaks had to be turned in to be judged. The steaks could be marinated or treated to the cooks' delight. After the first round of judging, the top thirty teams were chosen to advance to the final round of judging. Those teams were given two steaks again, and twenty minutes to prepare and present their meat. Then the top ten places were announced. There was also an appetizer competition that we entered as well.
The public is, of course, encouraged to attend and there were booths and live music as well as a wine tasting and obviously, a steak dinner. Only a select few of the contestants were invited to cook for the public. Some were chosen because of their past performance at the cookoff and some were chosen from a lottery. We just happened to be one of the chosen from the lottery.
Most of the teams arrived the night before to set up their area. Because of bad weather, we didn't arrive until the morning of and we were a little nervous.
We came prepared with coolers, chairs, extension cords and what we hoped, was everything else that we needed.
This was our set up. You can see from the sky that it was threatening rain all day.
Here is our little niece, Kailynn. She was holding the cord for us.
After we got our area set up, we were just kind of waiting to see what would happen next. The other contestants around us had really elaborate tables set up with all kinds of produce and pretty garnishes and decorations. We just had a couple of tables with nothing on them. We felt a little inadequate. Soon after, the other contestants started cooking food for all of the public that were wandering around and handing out samples. We had no idea that this was going to happen. We had brought food for our little group that we were planning to eat for lunch, but nothing else. As we were watching all of these people get goodies and treats from all the other tables, our competitive nature took over and we started dragging out everything that we had brought and cooking it.
Shane cooked up a batch of these jalapeno "poppers" that we entered for the appetizer competition. We set out a few of those and within minutes they were completely demolished. For one brief second, we had a line like the other tables, and that feeling of having something that everyone wanted was very addictive and we spent the next little bit churning out food as fast as we could go. We were not at all prepared to share our food and Shane said that it was a little like Jesus feeding the five thousand, but with no Jesus. I had brought enough corn for our whole group and we started shucking corn and throwing it on the grill. Then, we cut it in small pieces so that it would last a little longer. We also had avocados for guacamole and one bag of chips. We fixed the guac and then spooned a little bit onto each chip. Shane cooked up the rest of the sausage links that we had and cut those up and set them out. It was a meager offering, but was very well received.
Little Terry and Shane were hard at work fixing the rest of those poppers.
Shane, Eric and Little Terry
This was a view of people on the street.
Here is our little stand. I should have taken pictures of some of the other contestants, so that you could see how sad our little stand was.
My brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Betty.
Of course, Shane.
Big Terry was hard at work cooking the steak entry while Shane was cooking sausages.
Here was the steak that went to the judges.
Right before they took off to deliver it.
After the steak was entered, we had some down time waiting for the first awards announcements. We ended up not making it to the top thirty, but it was fun. After the announcement, the public started showing up waiting for dinner. Some of the more well known contestants around us had a line started beside their tables an hour before we even got the steaks to cook for them. That was a little deflating, but we developed our own little following from earlier that morning and we had people coming back to us because they liked our food.
Here was our line. We ended up cooking about thirty steaks.
They would come through the line and Betty and Jaimi would collect their ticket for dinner and then pass on the number to us in the back. We would set out the order and start seasoning the meat to go on the grill.
Shane was in charge of finding out how everyone wanted their meat cooked and then helping Big Terry keep track of what was what on the grill.
We had a lot of fun, but thank goodness we only cooked thirty, because I don't know that we could have handled many more than that.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and we all had a blast!
For the competition, they had eighty teams enter and everyone was given two steaks after the cooks meeting first thing in the morning. Then, everyone had two hours before the first round of steaks had to be turned in to be judged. The steaks could be marinated or treated to the cooks' delight. After the first round of judging, the top thirty teams were chosen to advance to the final round of judging. Those teams were given two steaks again, and twenty minutes to prepare and present their meat. Then the top ten places were announced. There was also an appetizer competition that we entered as well.
The public is, of course, encouraged to attend and there were booths and live music as well as a wine tasting and obviously, a steak dinner. Only a select few of the contestants were invited to cook for the public. Some were chosen because of their past performance at the cookoff and some were chosen from a lottery. We just happened to be one of the chosen from the lottery.
Most of the teams arrived the night before to set up their area. Because of bad weather, we didn't arrive until the morning of and we were a little nervous.
We came prepared with coolers, chairs, extension cords and what we hoped, was everything else that we needed.
This was our set up. You can see from the sky that it was threatening rain all day.
Here is our little niece, Kailynn. She was holding the cord for us.
After we got our area set up, we were just kind of waiting to see what would happen next. The other contestants around us had really elaborate tables set up with all kinds of produce and pretty garnishes and decorations. We just had a couple of tables with nothing on them. We felt a little inadequate. Soon after, the other contestants started cooking food for all of the public that were wandering around and handing out samples. We had no idea that this was going to happen. We had brought food for our little group that we were planning to eat for lunch, but nothing else. As we were watching all of these people get goodies and treats from all the other tables, our competitive nature took over and we started dragging out everything that we had brought and cooking it.
Shane cooked up a batch of these jalapeno "poppers" that we entered for the appetizer competition. We set out a few of those and within minutes they were completely demolished. For one brief second, we had a line like the other tables, and that feeling of having something that everyone wanted was very addictive and we spent the next little bit churning out food as fast as we could go. We were not at all prepared to share our food and Shane said that it was a little like Jesus feeding the five thousand, but with no Jesus. I had brought enough corn for our whole group and we started shucking corn and throwing it on the grill. Then, we cut it in small pieces so that it would last a little longer. We also had avocados for guacamole and one bag of chips. We fixed the guac and then spooned a little bit onto each chip. Shane cooked up the rest of the sausage links that we had and cut those up and set them out. It was a meager offering, but was very well received.
Little Terry and Shane were hard at work fixing the rest of those poppers.
Shane, Eric and Little Terry
This was a view of people on the street.
Here is our little stand. I should have taken pictures of some of the other contestants, so that you could see how sad our little stand was.
My brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Betty.
Of course, Shane.
Big Terry was hard at work cooking the steak entry while Shane was cooking sausages.
Here was the steak that went to the judges.
Right before they took off to deliver it.
After the steak was entered, we had some down time waiting for the first awards announcements. We ended up not making it to the top thirty, but it was fun. After the announcement, the public started showing up waiting for dinner. Some of the more well known contestants around us had a line started beside their tables an hour before we even got the steaks to cook for them. That was a little deflating, but we developed our own little following from earlier that morning and we had people coming back to us because they liked our food.
Here was our line. We ended up cooking about thirty steaks.
They would come through the line and Betty and Jaimi would collect their ticket for dinner and then pass on the number to us in the back. We would set out the order and start seasoning the meat to go on the grill.
Shane was in charge of finding out how everyone wanted their meat cooked and then helping Big Terry keep track of what was what on the grill.
We had a lot of fun, but thank goodness we only cooked thirty, because I don't know that we could have handled many more than that.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, and we all had a blast!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Best buds
These two boys make my heart melt!
We have recently switched the kids rooms all around again. The three younger children are all in the same room and Grace now has her own room. She is loving a little privacy and being able to get her arts and crafts stuff out without little hands destroying everything. Gibson went through a small period of mourning. Since he and Grace had shared a room for the last two years, the change was a little traumatic for him and he was missing having her with him. On the flip side of that, Gib and Hayden have become even better friends than they were before and are playing together constantly. It has been fun to see the "sharing" get easier and for them to enjoy each others company. This morning they were watching a cartoon together and singing along with the song. When the song was over Gib turned to Hayden and said:
"High five!" They slapped hands.
"Up high!" They slapped up high.
"Down low!" They slapped down low.
"Through the pole!" Gib put both fingers together. Hayden just looked at him.
"Through the pole!" Still just looking.
"Through the pole, Hayden." Hayden starred. Gibson gave a big sigh, and broke his "pole" over Hayden's leg. Then they both started to laugh.
They are sweet brothers and I am excited to see their relationship grow stronger as they get older.
Gibson is 6!
Gibson has turned six and he got to drag it out a little to make it more fun! His birthday was Monday, but we came home on Friday afternoon to a HUGE box on the front step with his name on it. He opened it up and was thrilled to find a guitar from Grandma and Grandpa! He has really had fun learning how to strum with his pick and do his best to play. We took it to church with us on Sunday and met up with Sam (his man crush) to help us figure out how to play a couple of chords.
He has really enjoyed it!
On Monday, Dad brought pizza and juice boxes for his class and they had a little snack/party for Gib. When we got home that night, we had our family party. Gib has asked for everything to have a snake, so he got a cookie cake with a snake. (He had no idea what was coming later...)
Then he opened some presents...
After the presents, we told him that we had to go get his last present. We jumped in the car and went to a snake breeder's house (yes, there are such things) and picked up his last gift.
Meet Buttercup. She is the newest addition to our family. Her lid does not come off unless Dad is right there!
I think that she is just as thrilled with Gib as he is with her.
He has really enjoyed it!
On Monday, Dad brought pizza and juice boxes for his class and they had a little snack/party for Gib. When we got home that night, we had our family party. Gib has asked for everything to have a snake, so he got a cookie cake with a snake. (He had no idea what was coming later...)
Then he opened some presents...
After the presents, we told him that we had to go get his last present. We jumped in the car and went to a snake breeder's house (yes, there are such things) and picked up his last gift.
Meet Buttercup. She is the newest addition to our family. Her lid does not come off unless Dad is right there!
I think that she is just as thrilled with Gib as he is with her.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
We have a big kid!
This big boy is potty trained! I can't believe it! I was beginning to think that we might be sending him to college in diapers, but he has switched to underwear. We have made it a full week in big boy underwear with only one accident (he was playing outside and waited too long to come in.) I am overjoyed and am beginning to see the end of diapers for our family. Just one more to go!
My singer...
Gibson has long been our child most in love with music. He has a man crush on the lead guitar in the church band. We have to sit on the front row so that he can watch Sam and groove out to his riffs. He is in love with Switchfoot and knows all the words. He and Shane have already taken in a concert and it was the most awesome ever.
I have been told on more than one occasion that Gib practices his singing in the bathroom at school. Makes sense, great acoustics. He has been known to sing everything from Pink (so what...I'm still a rockstar...I've got my rock moves...), to Journey (don't stop believin'...), to Black Eyed Peas (I gotta feelin'...that tonight's gonna be a good night...). You get the idea.
Lately, he has been in love with the new song from Train: Hey, Soul Sister. We have listened to it quite a bit. I was listening to him sing it this morning and cracked up laughing. When the chorus comes up they sing:
Hey, soul sister...hey that mister, mister... on the radio...
He was singing:
Hey some blister... hey some sister, sister...
So much for accuracy. We'll get that later.
I have been told on more than one occasion that Gib practices his singing in the bathroom at school. Makes sense, great acoustics. He has been known to sing everything from Pink (so what...I'm still a rockstar...I've got my rock moves...), to Journey (don't stop believin'...), to Black Eyed Peas (I gotta feelin'...that tonight's gonna be a good night...). You get the idea.
Lately, he has been in love with the new song from Train: Hey, Soul Sister. We have listened to it quite a bit. I was listening to him sing it this morning and cracked up laughing. When the chorus comes up they sing:
Hey, soul sister...hey that mister, mister... on the radio...
He was singing:
Hey some blister... hey some sister, sister...
So much for accuracy. We'll get that later.
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