Weekend re-cap: Empty Nest Halloween, 12 Fox, Rising Sun

It was a very different Halloween {Scout's birthday}.

I wanted to stay a little closer to Rustown this past weekend, but around lunchtime on Saturday we decided to head over to 12 Fox in Dripping Springs for lunch.

The crispy pork tenderloin tacos (schnitzel!!) were the bomb.  We might also have eaten a warm cheese-topped soft pretzel too quickly for me to snap a pic of it.

And their pumpkin dark beer was so good.  The weather was perfect and the place was busy but quiet and just an all-around pleasant place to be.

We only stayed a couple of hours and we made a note to come back soon. We enjoyed a firepit and a bottle of wine at Rustown, then watched Nightmare Before Christmas.  What a weird Halloween.

The next day I worked on a few putsey things around the house.  I am deep into holiday planning!  I want to have Christmas gifts purchased and made and wrapped by the end of November. In the afternoon we headed over to Rising Sun Vineyards in McDade.

The weather was just as perfect as the day before.  We enjoyed their first estate wine - a sparkling rose -  and Hubby bought a couple of cigars to enjoy.  They had live music, wood-fired pizza, and are generally the friendliest people ever - they remembered me from writing an article about them for the Texas Wine Lover website and we chatted them up for a bit.  We will definitely return later in the fall.  Back at home I fixed dinner and POOF the weekend disappeared like it always does.  But this coming weekend we will leave for Highlands on Friday and hopefully it won't be full of to-do lists and chores - just relaxing.  

Gina

Empty Nest Menu #63

Monday - Buffalo Chicken, green beans, side salad* with bleu cheese

Tuesday - Tuna and White Bean Bowls with tomato, green onion, feta, avocado

Wednesday - Lentil Soup, corn muffins or biscuits

Thursday - Tater Tot Casserole (use ground turkey, mushroom, carrot, peas, onion, and homemade stock!)

Friday - No cooking today - heat up two leftovers meals from freezer

Saturday - Free choice all day

Sunday - Salmon, baked sweet potato, chopped salad

*I don't know what possessed me to buy lettuce last week - I would so rather have chard or kale

Gina

These chairs are done for the final time...

I think I did a more thorough job on those chairs this time around.  I sanded, then spray painted them, 

sanded and painted the wood seats, added new quilt batting, stapled the fabric down as neatly as I could,

and I even replaced the rubber stops on the feet.

And now they are all stacked up, ready to be used for extra seating for Thanksgiving. No more storing them outside!

Gina

Chicken and Biscuits

One of the perks of the Empty Nest is that I only cook for two people and we get to have exactly what we want.  This week called for comfort food.  Why?

*it has turned colder

*The Girl hurt herself and cannot visit

*I am taking Bubbie to an ortho doc to look at his wrist 

*I'm working late on Thursday

*I am driving to Brenham on Friday

*Scout's birthday is on Saturday and he is still "socially distancing" from all of us

Sounds like a perfect time to bake up some comfort food -  I kind of made this one up as I went along.

Chicken and Biscuits

2 C. shredded rotisserie chicken

1/2 c. homemade chicken stock

1 can cream of chicken soup

salt, pepper, dash of poultry seasoning

Splash of heavy cream

1 can french-fried onions

frozen biscuits

I mixed up everything but the biscuits and poured it into a buttered casserole dish.  Topped it with frozen biscuits and set it into the fridge while I ran off to my happy little day job.  Around 7 p.m., Hubby popped it into the oven, set oven temp to 350, cook timer to 30 minutes, and heated up a veggie to go with.

It was so good I had to put the leftovers away as soon as we ate so we wouldn't finish the whole thing!  What are your favorite comfort foods in time of stress?

Gina

Shared with:

Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Full Plate Thursday

Empty Nest Menu #62

I am adding some comfort-style foods into the menus this week while still trying to use as many veggies as possible.  The Girl was going to be visiting, but then sprained her ankle, and now I am comfort eating.  Don't judge!

Monday - Chicken with gravy and biscuits, green beans

Tuesday - Mexican Tilapia, sauteed brussels sprouts, small twice baked potato

Wednesday - Pork Chop, Hash Brown Casserole (freeze half), turnip greens

Thursday - Slow Cooker Steak Soup, Mexican cornbread

Friday - Taco Night, seasoned pintos {off - going to Brenham for the day}

Saturday - Dinner is charcuterie from here {its Scout's birthday}

Sunday - Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken, rice, broccoli/cauliflower

Gina

How yesterday went

On Wednesday evening Hubby informed me that Bubbie had "sprained his wrist".  It was hurting, bruised, and very swollen. {Incidentally, he had fallen off his skateboard about 10 minutes after we had hung up about a completely different problem he was having with buying groceries after paying a huge utility bill.}

Some helpful person at our insurance company told us that not only could he not go to the student health center on campus, because of our insurance, but then sent us a referral list of Internal Medicine and Cardiology docs for him to call to make an appointment.  For a wrist injury.

When I called him the next morning and learned that his wrist was hurting more, I drove down to San Marcos, scooped him up, and took him to the hospital ER in Kyle.  Six x-rays later we got the expected answer: fractured bone in his wrist.  I'm not really complaining - it was less than a 3 hour ER visit and he is splinted now, with instructions to follow up with a hand and wrist doc who regularly works at the hospital I work at.  So its all good.  And I know its only a small hiccup in life.  But it seemed bigger to me as I drove home to Austin, so many a tear was shed.  I can keep my composure with Bubbie, but I still feel for him.  Hopefully today will be better than yesterday.

Gina

Weekend re-cap: STW, Fiesta, Highlands, Perissos

 It was a laid-back weekend for sure - no big projects at Highlands!  We were up reasonably early on Saturday so we headed to a favorite Mexican restaurant for breakfast.  After putseying around Highlands a bit, we headed to Save the World in Marble Falls.

We enjoyed a beer they brew with the grape skins from harvest at one of our favorite wineries.  We met a couple of colorful characters that kept us entertained for a while, including the chef of the food truck who treated Hubby to some chili cheese nachos, and an older gentleman who shared our table and admired our beer glass decals.

Then we headed to Fiesta in Lometa to listen to some rocking harp music (wait, what?) and help them celebrate their 10 year winery anniversary. 

{in Lampasas we saw these cool 50's cars!} 

We enjoyed some cream cheese with raspberry chipotle sauce along with our gold medal winning 2018 Sangiovese.  We chatted with the owner, listened to music, and headed home shortly before sunset.  Both of us were worn out and while we know it wasn't a great idea, we had a cheeseburger for dinner and split some onion rings.  Free choice Saturdays - yes, please.

The next morning I parked myself in the yard with my coffee while Hubby made Mountain Man in the Dutch oven.

The morning views were sweet.

The only critters I saw was one lone female deer, and someone's black cat who regularly visits the top of our hill.  All was quiet and very peaceful.

Mountain Man is ground pork sausage, hash browns, cheddar cheese, and eggs. {apparently the weekend theme was cheese} There was enough leftover to take home for dinner.  After breakfast we hung some tiny white lights under the barn roof, and did some laying around in chairs until around 2 p.m. then showered and headed to Perissos for the wine club pick-up.

The food (BBQ Pulled Pork sammies, potato salad, beans, and cookies) and music (Spicy Loops) were delightful, not to mention all of the wine we sampled and a 2017 Racker's Blend as we sat amongst the vines.  What a gorgeous afternoon!

We have never had a bad experience at this winery and the pick-up parties are fabulous!  They have the whole process down to an art from the time you check in, to each station in the "sip and stroll", to the final pick up of your wines. We headed back to Highlands for the afternoon and left for Austin just after sunset.  And *BLINK*,  the weekend ended.

Gina