I am going to do something different tonite. This is for my Mama...

I used my phone camera so the pictures aren't great but I wanted to share the recipe with her.

Tonite I made Smothered Pork Chops. I started with two thick cut, bone in chops. I dredged them in a thin coat of flour, Lawry's, Garlic salt, and pepper. Then fried them up in oil just til the outside was brown, the meat is still raw. Then I pulled them off.

In the oil, add a whole onion sliced very thin and cut into half-rings. Cook til brown but not transparent.

Then I added the remaining flour I had from my dredge and stirred to make a roux.

I added about 4 cups of beef broth. I make my own using Better Than Bouillon paste.

You want it thin but well blended. Now throw the pork chops on top and don't stir.

Put a lid on it and turn the heat down to a simmer for an hour. Don't touch it, don't stir it, leave it alone.

We got so excited and were so hungry I forgot to take a final picture but they were soooo delicious!!!

Here's a bunch of pictures from around our neighborhood. I really love the beautiful landscape. There are so many trees up here, it's like East Texas with bigger trees. 

This is in the backyard out our bathroom window in the morning. That is why there is a blue tint.
 

 These are big, beautiful pines behind the church around the corner from the house.
 

Coming into the neighborhood. The plows come through willy, nilly, unannounced and cover the driveways, sidewalk paths, mailboxes, everything. Then we have to go out and dig everything out AND there's a law against shoveling it into the street. Hmmpft. 

Here's our mailbox. It sits over 4 feet off the ground. Now to be fair it has been plowed onto several times but the yards are 3-5 feet deep as well.

See, Scott is standing in the driveway and our yard is DEEEEP!!! I cannot believe the snow. I never knew people lived like this.

I just love watching the Poopers in the snow. Here's Mandy heading up the path on our back porch. She's got snow on her back because it is snowing today! Poor baby, she loved staying outside all day in Texas and it's too cold for her here. She doesn't stay out long.

Here's Maggie heading in. Scott is convinced she has a dead squirrel under the porch. She heads out, potties in the yard then runs under the porch and will stay there 5-10 minutes at a time. I'm doubtful about the squirrel, she doesn't stink when she comes in and her breath doesn't smell any worse than usual. There is a reason she does this, but I'm not digging under the porch to figure it out until Spring.

I should have uploaded these last two several days ago. These are the pictures we took Sunday before Brandi left. Here she is standing in front of a gigantic snow mound in Kohl's parking lot. They pile these mounds up in the parking lots and then when the mounds encroach on valuable parking spaces (One row around the businesses perimeter seems to be acceptable) the front loader shows up after hours and they load the snow mound into a dump truck and take it somewhere.

 
This will be completely flat once all the snow lets off. I told her when she comes back this summer we'll have to bring her back to the same spot and shoot an after photo.

This is where we go most Friday nights. Magillycuddy's is a cute small Irish themed pub in Anoka across the parking lot from the river. They have great fish and chips, Guinness cheese fries, and corned beef pot pie. Yum! And their tap is always buy one~get one. Seriously, they bring you two at a time. They drink so much more beer in Minne than the South.

Sweet Short Visit from Texas

Brandi came up this weekend to visit us. We took advantage of timing and celebrated Valentines and birthdays while she was here. Yesterday we headed over to Stillwater, MN. It's a cute border town on the St Croix river, one side is Minnesota and the other is Wisconsin.

 Here we are in front of the river posing so sweetly.

And here they are pointing at the frozen river they're standing on. Scott had to dig at least a foot down through the snow to get to the ice. 

Brandi was excited and was running up and down the river.

The bridge is a Lift Bridge and only one portion raises to allow the boats through.

It's amazing that a river this wide and so deep can freeze solid enough for people, snowboards, and ice houses to be safe on it. You can't see them but the ice houses they have here look like those 12x12 loft backyard storage sheds. They insulate them and stay days out on the ice. A generator helps bring enough comfort to live there.

Back in Stillwater, we admired these beautiful homes. They were everywhere, not just a few. I was inspired for our next home.

Not sure what this is but those metal doors were neat!

And we found another really huge icicle. It's short because the store owners have been knocking down the points as they get closer to the ground.

In one of the antiques shops I found a kitchen set similar to the one I had when I was a little girl. Lots of delicious things were prepared in that cute little metal kitchen. And since my bedroom was next to the bathroom, I used real water to wash my dishes and drink in my teacups.

The inside of the fridge.

At the end of the day, we met up with Mark and Sarah to have birthday dinner at Tavern on Grand. They are famous for serving delicious, fresh, local walleye. Grilled, fried, blackened, cakes, ceviche, tacos, on a stick, with eggs for breakfast...yep, if you can think it, they serve it.

Sweet girls

Funny faces

 

Mark loved his Caribou gift card and quickly told Sarah he wasn't sharing!

Sarah didn't care, she got two bottles of Cruzan rum: Mango and Vanilla!

 

Luke takes toys every time he goes out. He knows all about these Planes. He's a smart kid!

So I'm going to compile some pictures of the Poopers. I never want to become "one of those people" but when you're learning how to take great pictures with a new camera, you use what you got. Hence, I have the Poopers and a husband who never smiles. So, here we go... 

Mandy is the dark 100% dachshund and 

Maggie is the lighter 1/4 chihuahua, 3/4 dachshund.

THE MONSTEROUS ICICLE ! ! !

This thing has taken residency on our back porch and it just keeps growing. 

Now do please note that those who live "up north" will inform me that the reason I have deep ice dams all along my roof and monsterous icicles hanging down every which way is because my home does not have enough insulation and the attic is getting too much warmth from the inside of my house. BUT, I rent and they don't care. The ultimate Mama Bouche consequence is the roof will cave in. But I'll be moved out by then. 

That is the ice dam you see. It's around a foot deep. Short science lesson: Because our attic has inadequate insulation, the attic stays warmer than it should. On warmer attic days, the snow will melt from the bottom and begin to run off the roof but freezes as it hits the eve of the house. So all along the eves of the house, a "dam" has formed. This could potentially build up so deep and so high towards the pitch of the roof that the roof caves in from the weight. Because this is a rent house whose owners don't care enough to come add insulation, let's hope this doesn't happen this winter. Just in case you're wondering, we have around two feet of snow on the roof. Very heavy stuff.

So I totally have not picked up my camera in a week. No excuses, just didn't do it. This week was the most normal week we've had since we moved. I do have a few pictures from the phone so I'll post those.

I am cooking more and we are, therefore, eating out less. Dina, my trainer, should be happy about that when she sees my food journal. Speaking of training, I am down 7 pounds. Mmm hmmmm, I can do a full on plank with only my toes and forearms touching the ground for 45 solid seconds. Oh yeah. If you think that's nothing then poo on you. That's HUGE!!! I also can do 3 sets of 15 push ups. AND....Drum roll please......

I have not chewed my nails in 9 days!!! 9 whole days straight! Aren'tcha so incredibly proud!?!

We took Grace and Luke to Pizza Ranch this week. It was fun spending time with them, they are a couple of characters. Luke is having a serious discussion with Scott about Disney's Cars and Planes.

 Which of course, with a sweet four year old, ended in a snuggle.

And since all of the attention was focused on the other side of the table, Grace felt a photo bomb was in order.

 I love these sweet kids!