Pumpkin Carving Day 2

I convinced Jimi to join me in my pumpkin carving madness. He opted for a traditional theme, but I continued with my "alternative" designs. Here are the tools of the trade, a pumpkin carver from HEB and a cheap wood working tool from Hobby Lobby. I also used a large nail for the eye pupils.


Michelle's before...

Michelle's after...

Jimi's before...

Jimi's after...

All in a row before...

All in a row after!

Jimi's Birthday & Pumpkin Carving Day 1

For Jimi's birthday, we had a crab boil. Got some live dungeness crab & Kirin from the chinese market down the street and boiled them out back.



Chocolate mousse birthday cake from Central Market.


I found some pumpkin carving stencils on this cool web site and decided to do a non Halloween themed design. I hadn't carved a pumpkin since I was about 12 years old, but this one turned out really well. I didn't go to art school for nothin'!

Livestrong Challenge

My brother, sister-in-law & nephew came into town for the Lance Armstrong Foundation Livestrong Challenge on Saturday morning. The weather was fabulous, and I think around 3-4,000 people showed up. A lot of people wore "in memory" and "survivor" cards, and some of the stories were really heartbreaking. Some of the sick kids who were unable to walk were carted around in rickshaws, and the crowd threw up a big cheer when they passed.








For the rest of today's pics, go to our Flickr site.

Banh Duc

I am continuing my experimentation with asian desserts from the chinese market. The ingredients in this so called Vietnamese "jello cake" were tapioca starch, sugar, hulled sesame seeds and green food coloring. It had the consistency of bubble tea pearls, and the sauce tasted like coconut. Interesting, but not really my thing.