Not Cereal!

Yesterday was an unexpected blast. I slept in Sunday morning and got up around 8:00. Tony had already fed our dogs their homemade breakfast, so our dogs were already outside, leaving calling cards and watering the weeds for us.

But before I go any further, I want to explain about "our dogs homemade breakfast." Since early August, I decided to quit feeding our dogs—name-brand, manufactured dog food. So after spending several hours researching (Googling) high quality dog foods, it dawned on me that I could, and would love to, cook healthy meals for our dogs instead of feeding them bags of dog food that are full of fillers, etc.

The good news is it is not anymore expensive than buying name brand dog food, our dogs love it and I know exactly what they are being fed.

So every evening, while sipping my one glass of Franzia Chillable Red Wine, I precook breakfast for our dogs and I really enjoy doing it.

And thank goodness I have my faithful Instant Pot, because every evening I use it to cook 3 cups of long grain brown rice, in just a matter of minutes. And while the rice is being pressured cooked, I drink a few more sips of delicious, cheap, boxed wine, while listening to some of my favorite music.

After the rice is cooked, and my wine is doing its thing, our dogs become my personal audience, with their eyes glued on me as I add either raw meat or chicken or fish or scrambled eggs or diced up hot dogs with some raw, home grown, organic spinach leaves. Then they really start drooling as I dump in a can of Veg-All, Parmesan cheese, that comes in the green jar, and I top it off with Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. So now you know and I hope that you will try doing this.

Now back to my story. As I was sipping my coffee, Tony comes into the big room and says, "I've got great news. Jim Keaveny and Rachel are coming to see us today. They just got back to Austin yesterday, from Jim's Netherlands tour and they will be here later this afternoon...."

Tony and I were thrilled about Jim & Rachel coming to see us and spending the night with us, before they headed back home, to Terlingua.

Around noon, Tony and I took off for Kerrville to run a few errands. He dropped me off at the Country Clean laundry, so I could wash and dry a load of dirty clothes, while he went to Walmart to get a slow-leaking tire fixed.

We normally only use Wagoner's Tires, on Sidney Baker, to buy tires or to fix a tire leak, but because it is family owned. And because we love the family, because they are good people and because years ago, on November 12, 2013, they adopted sweet Bee Spears from us.

But because it was Sunday our only option was Walmart. Here is the link to my April 5, 2015 post, about Bee Spears' fabulous adoption. And here is a picture of this magnificent dog that once lived, at our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. And lastly, here is the link my blog post on the day Bee Spears came to the rescue ranch.

Rachel & Jim arrived around 5:00, and we enjoyed a happy hour with them, while I cooked up our dog's breakfast. We talked about Jim's tour and how much fun they had, we caught up with each other's news and we did a lot of laughing, too. They also told us about them getting a Vita-Mix machine and loving it as much as we love Jaws (our Vita-Mix machine). So we started trading smoothie and soup recipes, etc.

Then Jim excused himself and he went out to his truck and came back inside with presents that he & Rachel had bought for us and Kinky. And he was wearing these beautiful, hand-carved, wooden shoes (clogs) that he had bought while touring, in Holland.

After admiring Jim's awesome, wooden shoes, he & Rachel gave us this cute pair of miniature clogs, made in Holland.

And before I put them on the window sill, I put them on Little Debbie's front paws and she loved them even though they were a size or two too big for her dainty feet.

Then there was more. Jim got out his pocket knife and cut open a bag of tulip bulbs, from Holland and he gave us four (pink, yellow, blue and red) bulbs and one yellow bulb for us to give to Kinky.

Because Jim & Rachel were tired last night and dealing with jet-lag, we didn't stay up late like we usually do when they visit. And I had a hard time falling to sleep, because I kept laughing about the fun time that we had had earlier.

This morning, I got up at 8:00 and Rachel & Jim were already up, drinking coffee and packing up their things. When I was making a cup of coffee for myself, I noticed two bowls of delicious cereal, sitting on the counter top, so I said, "Your cereal looks delicious. What's in it?"

They started laughing with Tony, and Tone said, "Nance, it's our dog's breakfast—not cereal. I haven't fed the dogs, yet." And that made me laugh, too.

Around 9:00 this morning, we sadly adios-ed our dear friends and bid them a safe trip back home. And that is about it for today, because I plan to spend the rest of my day writing up a storm, until it starts thundering, because I will have to unplug everything.

Y'all have a great day/evening and keep on laughing!

Gumbo—Dumbo!

Yesterday afternoon, while I was outside, John came up to me, and told me that he had something to give to me from his mother, Mary. He handed me a heavy plastic sack. I opened it, and was shocked at what I saw inside!

“I told Mom about you wanting a good gumbo recipe,” John said. “And, she sent me this—to give to you—along with her secret family recipe.”

“Good grief, John—that is so sweet of her,” I said. “I just love her. I will e-mail her a thank you note, later today. In fact, tomorrow morning, I’ve got to go to Kerrville and I’ll fix Mary’s Gumbo recipe for lunch tomorrow.”

This morning, Ben and John decided to join Tony and me for some coffee, before going to work outside. “Ben,” I said. “Look what John’s mom sent to me. She sent me two big shaker’s of ‘Tony Chachere’s Instant Roux,’ and a shaker of ‘Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning’—along with her family’s secret recipe for gumbo!” I picked them up, and handed them to Ben. Then I picked up a small shaker of Gumbo File that Mary had also sent in her care package to me.

“John,” I said. “In your mom’s note, she wrote that some family members like Gumbo File, and some don’t. What do...”

John burst out laughing! “Filet,” John said. “It’s not file, like in file cabinet. It’s pronounced— filet.” Then he, Tony and Ben started laughing!

“John,” Ben said. “She pronounced Merlot as Mer-Lot, as in parking lot.” We all started laughing, again.

“In Fort Worth,” I said, in my defense, “the word ‘file’—is pronounced file. There’s no accent mark—or ‘t’ added here on this label—it just simply reads— file. You're telling me that people in Louisiana say things like: ‘Go filet this in the filet cabinet? It says file, John. No ‘t’. Sorry, I’m not buying it.”

“Nancy, you mispronounce everything. It’s because you’re from Fort Worth,” Tony chimed in. “You call pliers—plowers!” Another wave of laughter went around the kitchen.

“Okay, okay guys,” I said. “John do you like file in your gumbo?” I purposefully pronounced it like— file cabinet.

“Not really,” John said. Then they went outside to go to work, and I took off in Buttermilk—headed for Kerrville.

When I returned from Kerrville a few hours later, with all of the ingredients needed for Mary’s gumbo—I got busy in the kitchen. An hour or so later, I went out to the porch, and clanged the dinner bell, and the guys came running! They were hungry!

After everyone had served themselves, and had started eating, I asked them what they thought of my first gumbo attempt. Ben and Tony told me that it was great! That made me so happy!

“Nancy,” John said. “This is soooooo much better than my mom’s! I’m not kidding!”

(LOL, Mary, just kidding. I know that you’re reading this, and John really didn’t say that! It was Ben’s idea for me to write that—and so I did. We got you!)

I was thrilled with the gumbo being such a success, and seeing the four empty bowls—proved it! After putting the dishes into the sink—to soak, I opened a card addressed to Tony and me —from Mari Bailey, our good friend, and member of The NoMads!

I opened the card and read out loud to the guys—what Mari had written. “What a hoot your blog is! We NoMads have had a blast reading it, and we (with we underlined twice) have a copy of ‘Velma, the Vomiting Vulture’ coming, too! We wanted to let you know that...”

“What?” John said. “They bought a copy of my book, too? I don’t believe it. Let me see that card.”

I handed the card to John. He read, what I have just written above, of what Mari wrote a few days ago, and then he handed the card back to me. “They must have bought the expensive ‘Velma,’” John said, scratching his chin. “That’s amazing.”

“You’re famous, John,” Ben said. “Deal with it. You’re another famous author on this ranch.”

“That’s true John,” I said. “I just hope that I get my copy first! I was hoping that it would come today. I wish that I had FedEx’d it.”

“Nance, thanks for the delicious meal, but before I go,” John said, in a serious tone. “You pronounced Tony's seasonings last name as Cha-cha-heiress—the correct Cajun pronunciation sounds like this: Sha-she-airs. I just thought you would like to know.” Everyone laughed, including me.

“Thanks, John,” I laughed, and then quickly quipped. “I’m just going to call it ‘Tony’s!’”

P.S. Mary, thank you so much for sending me the great gumbo recipe, and the ‘Tony’s’—and you can go filet this with your other correspondence! Peace and Love to you and Richard, cousin nancy