Houston

Hello fellow readers! We just got back from a weekend in Houston with my family. It is the last weekend of vacation (for me, Edwin)! My mom is always working when we come into town, so because she was free this weekend she wanted us to come so she could make pupusas for us, which is a traditional dish from El Salvador. We arrived on Friday and went out to eat at Cafe Express with my mom and my little sister Keren. Afterwards we came home and my dad arrived to fix the sink, which was leaking, and stayed to chat for a bit.

As it turns out, my grandpa, my dad's dad, is sick in El Salvador and went through a pretty serious surgery this weekend. I was not aware of this until my mom told me on Friday. My grandfather has been sick for about 5 years. He's had trouble walking and recently had some serious pains in his foot. That pain turned out to be a viral infection that began wearing away bone and tissue and could easily spread to his leg. So unfortunately, he had to have his foot amputated. Because he's 84 years old, we were all a bit concerned about the procedure. Luckily, he survived the surgery and will heading home soon.

Friday night Chel and I stayed up chatting with my mom and playing the Nintendo Wii with my sister Keren. Saturday was the day my mom made pupusas. Pupusas are little pies that are traditionally fried on an iron skillet. They are made from corn flour and can be stuffed with almost anything, especially with a ground meat mixture made from pork, red and green peppers, onions, and spices. It's something that my grandma has made since she was a little girl and it's something that reminds me of childhood, when my grandma would give us jobs as she prepared the dish. The most coveted job: grating the cheese! My mom's pupusas were stuffed with the ground meat mixture, others with Zucchini and cheese, refried red beans and cheese, and plain ol' cheese. We decided to take my dad some lunch (he was working) and he showed us around the apartment complex where he works. It's a really nice property with a lot of really nice amenities (4 pools, a swanky fitness center and 2 COFFEE BARS).

After lunch we headed back home where my brother and his wife were joining us for their lunch. And shortly afterwards the babies arrived! Adai, my niece, has a rash on her cheeks and was a little fussy at first but after we applied the ointment her doctor prescribed she was a cheerful baby. Jafet, or JJ, was roaming all over the house asking us if we could put the "Cars" movie on for him (it's currently his favorite). He made very good friends with his tia Chelsea. In fact Chelsea changed his **very messy** diaper, chased him around the house, and helped him count his blocks. I was helping my mom look over Adai and tried rocking her to sleep. It was a nice afternoon that ended with a trip to Target! My mom was aware that we did not have a microwave so she wanted to buy us one (thanks mom). This morning we had breakfast at IHOP with my mom and my sister Keren. Keren was a little sad last night because Chelsea and I were leaving. She really enjoys spending time with all of her siblings and it's always a little hard for her when we or my brother and sister go. But she knows that we love her very much and that we will come visit soon.

This week is my first week of work and Chelsea's trip to Wisconsin. I will miss her dearly, as we have not been apart for 3 weeks since we first began dating! However, I am really happy that she will get to spend a lot of time with the family and wish that I was coming with. Stay tuned as we blog from various locations on family time in Wisco, first days of work at KIPP, and the wonderful life that we're living. Love you all.

Edwin's mom and Adai (pronounced A-Da-ee)

Edwin and Jafet (pronounced Ha-Fet)

Chel and Adai

Curtains

Edwin mentioned in his last post that I have finished the curtains! They have actually been up for a little over a week, but I'm just getting around to posting now. We started with fabric that was about 90 inches long and 3-4 feet wide (I can't remember the width). To figure out those measurements, we just measured the height and width we wanted them to be. The width of the curtains is more than the width of the window.

I used iron on hem tape to make the hems. This was the hardest part (should be easy) and if I had a sewing machine I would definitely have gone that route. It was easy enough to measure the hem (I did 1" on top and 2" on the other 3 sides). My problem was that the hem tape didn't stick super well in some parts. I'm not sure why.... but it stuck in enough spots to make the curtains work.


Here is the hem.

To hang the curtains, it was really simple. Edwin installed the curtain rod at the height we wanted. Instead of using curtain rings we used curtain rings with clips. This meant I didn't have to sew/cut holes at the top to allow for curtain rings. All I did was clip the clips to the top of the curtain, and then the ring went on the rod.



We really like how they turned out! We like them even better because they are homemade! Also, if you are interested in making curtains of your own there is a much better tutorial here.

4th of July Food!!

Hello fellow viewers, it's Edwin here. So a recap of what's been going on in the Chedwo household: Chelsea has made some really awesome curtains which make our bedroom feel like a paradise. Chelsea and I have both done A LOT of reading this summer. Chelsea has read "Medium Raw" by Anthony Bourdain and just finished "Spousanomics" a book that looks at marriage through the lens of two reasonable and loving economists. I am currently reading "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn who passed away not too long ago. It's an interesting book that tells the story of the US rise to a super power through the lens of the poor, the slaves, Native Americans, immigrants, and women. We've accomplished a lot for our upcoming wedding and have watched a lot of television. Currently the household favorites are: The Bachelorette, America's Got Talent, PBS, Extreme Makeover (where people lose a lot of weight), Love in the Wild, and Love Bytes. We've played a lot of Boggle (Chelsea blew me out of the water yesterday!) and as of Tuesday we are committed to riding more bikes (i.e. I'm learning how to ride a bike!). So far I have not wiped out on Chelsea's mountain bike, but the road bike has been a challenge to ride.

One of my interests is barbecuing and grilling. I think it's because when I smell the scent of wood chips burning or charcoal burning it takes me back to when I was about 9 years old when we would attend my dad's company picnics near Lake Conroe. The menu was always the same (smoked fajitas) and it never got old. It also reminds me of spending time with my dad and my uncles during high school and college, and all the joking, laughing, and stories that occurred. So it's no surprise that any chance we get, I try to make something related to barbecue or grilling. In the RGV, with the help of Ted, we made some excellent ribs that I hope to one day share with you all. Unfortunately, I cannot use my grill in our apartment because it's too small and the risk of starting a fire is big.

So this 4th of July, because Chelsea and I both really enjoy barbecued meats and because we like celebrating the 4th of July, we tried to have an All-American Meal. We could not grill so instead we made the next best thing: Barbecue Baked Beans. We made them in a crockpot, although the recipe (from BBQ U) has them baked on a grill. We paired them with Turkey Sloppy Joes. For dessert I made Blueberry Crisp and we bought mustard potato salad. Here are the recipes:

1 pound smoked brisket or bacon cut into 1/4-inch slivers
1 can (15 ounces) black beans
1 can (15 ounces) dark red kidney beans
3 cans (each 15 ounces) baked beans or pork and beans
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
1/8 cup of Cayenne Pepper (optional, it counteracts the sweetness of the brown sugar and bbq sauce)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
1 poblano pepper or green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 to 6 jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced (for hotter beans, leave the seeds in)
2 cups sweet red barbecue sauce (your favorite commercial brand)
1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar, or more to taste
1/2 cup Dijon mustard, or more to taste
Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly ground black pepper

1. If using bacon instead of brisket, place it in a large skillet over medium heat and fry until crisp and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Pour off all the bacon fat, saving a few tablespoons for the beans, if desired.

2. Empty the cans of black and kidney beans into a colander and drain. Rinse the beans under cold running water and drain again. Place all the beans (including the baked beans or pork and beans) in a large nonreactive mixing bowl and add the onion, bell and poblano peppers, garlic, and jalapenos and stir to mix. Add the barbecue sauce, brown sugar, mustard, and brisket or fried bacon and stir to mix. Taste for seasoning, adding more brown sugar and/or mustard as necessary, and salt and black pepper to taste; the beans should be very flavorful. IF GRILLING: Transfer the bean mixture to the aluminum foil pan or pans. (If you used bacon, you can drizzle a few tablespoons of bacon fat over the beans for extra flavor.) IF COOKING IN A CROCKPOT: Transfer the mixture to the crockpot and set on low for about 5 to 6 hours.

3. If grilling them, set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium-low. If using a gas grill, place all of the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch and run the grill on high until you see smoke, then reduce the heat to medium-low. If using a charcoal grill, preheat it to medium-low, then toss all of the wood chips or chunks on the coals.

4. When ready to cook, place the pan of beans in the center of the hot grate, away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook the beans until they are thick and richly flavored, about 1 hour. If the beans start to dry out, cover them loosely with aluminum foil. Remove the beans from the grill and let them rest for 15 minutes, then serve.

For the Turkey Sloppy Joes:

2 large garlic cloves
1 small yellow onion
1 small green pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks
Nonstick cooking spray
Salt and Pepper
12 ounces of ground Turkey Breast or just 93/7 ground Turkey
3/4 cup of ketchup
2/3 cup of water
2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp of Chili powder
Hamburger Buns

1. Heat a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat
2. While pan is heating, combine the garlic, onion, and bell pepper in a bowl of a food processor, and pulse until finely chopped. We don't have a food processor so we just chopped them by hand.
3. When the pan is hot, spray with cooking spray. Add the chopped vegetables. and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is fragrant and the vegetables are tender, about 4 minutes.
4. Add turkey to the pan and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break it up. Season with salt and pepper, continuing to break it up with a spoon as it cooks. When turkey is cooked through (about 4 minutes), drain any fat if desired and add ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, and chili powder. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
5. Toast hamburger buns. Divide mixture over the buns and enjoy!





The beans looked like a very thick Chili, but tasted really great.



Here's the blueberry crisp. Blueberries have been on sale here in Austin, so we took advantage of that. The only thing I would have changed about the crisp was maybe to add more lemon juice. It didn't have the slightly tart taste that frozen blueberries have. Then again, these blueberries were very sweet!



The one and only Chelsea Barnes!



A close-up of the Turkey Sloppy Joes.

Today we are getting Library Cards! We hope to rent some audiobooks for our trip to Houston next weekend. Also, next week is my last week of vacation! So at some point next week we are hoping to go to Schlitterbahn, the best waterpark in Texas. Today we also want to go to the movies to see "Horrible Bosses". For dinner we are going out! We're having french fries at "Parkside", a restaurant on 6th St., and then head over to "Iron Cactus", a Mexican restaurant right across the street from "Parkside". Until next time, we love you all!

Fourth of July

First off, nice work on Boggle!! I think 6 comments is a record. I'm back for a recap of our 4th of July weekend. On Friday we drove out to Lake Travis (near Austin) to meet one of Edwin's good college friends and her boyfriend's friends/family. They were renting a great VRBO house for the week. We were lucky enough to go out on their boat for the day. I found a google image of a similar boat for Adam to see:

On Saturday Edwin and I celebrated our country's independence by eating meat. Lots of meat. In the afternoon we went to a German draft house that had FREE brats! They were delicious. We went to see Larry Crowne later, which we would give 3 stars. It was funny and pretty cheesy. For the record, I would rather watch Julia Roberts in a happy role than in an angry, moody role. Her smile and laugh are what made her famous! I digress. After the movie we got dinner at Mighty Fine Burger Co., a local burger chain. They use really good beef, etc. It was delicious and we won some points for supporting local businesses (ie Austin's "Keep Austin Weird" campaign).

On Sunday we got to see Kieley and Jack! Kieley is our friend from the Valley, and Jack is her adorable Australian Shepherd. See their adventures here.

Jack was especially happy to see Edwin since he doesn't have a lot of male role models. Kieley is teaching another year in the Valley (God bless her) which is great for us since she (and Hannah) can visit!

Unfortunately Austin (and most of Texas) is under severe drought conditions and all fireworks were canceled, so we didn't see any live fireworks on Monday. Luckily for us the Macy's NYC fireworks were on. Sadly the holiday ousted the Bachelorette from airing on Monday night. Sigh. We made an awesome meal on Monday which Edwin will be back to report sometime soon!

Edwin on a bike!

Edwin is on a bike!!! For those of you who know his history with bicycles, this is a big deal. We are practicing in a nearby church parking lot. Look for him soon on a street near you!