Food Blips from Texas

A long overdue and unfortunately truncated post, this is a picture recap of some food-related things I pursued during my internship in Texas.

Sundried tomato risotto (Lundberg) with Blue Baker Olive Focaccia,
made for an intern dinner I planned.

Bourbon Bread Pudding from Bell Ranch Steakhouse,
in the Hilton Hotel.  Very very sweet and very large portion.

Pho Bo Tai - rare sliced beef pho - from Rosie's pho. This was so good.
I never realized pho could rival or exceed my mom's homemade pho.

Japan vs US cake made for the Women's FIFA Final game.

Cream cheese frosting....Japan or US. Who would win?....

Hard to celebrate after, since most of my friends were rooting for
America, so they didn't feel like eating cake. Cake was like a cinnamon
muffin texture and flavor.

Failed attempt at beer bread (made it bland this time around), and
surprisingly delectable cornmeal cookies. Easy to snack on.

Like crisper, but still light and airy, corn bread in bite sized pieces,
lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

Secret menu item at McDonalds: Strawberry Pie McFlurry.
Only $1 in Texas. So good! Not overtly sweet like DQ Blizzards.

La Bodega crab enchiladas. Decent. Their tomato sauce is like
a strange pasta sauce.

Fish burrito. Green sauce is okay. Too much creamy topping. Red
sauce also like pasta sauce. Innards do not have enough fish >:(

Potbelly's Berry Smoothie. So many seeds, so you know
it's real fruit. Good taste, good price. So cute with the
cookies on top!

My last baking in Texas. Had to make Texas "chicken in a chive biscuit"
with my Texas cookie cutter. ^_^

That pretty much recaps my food adventures in Texas. Sorry for the lack of recipes of some of the things I made. The result of these recipes I think were only all right, not anything spectacular. I was mostly proud of the presentation for my FIFA cake and my Texas-shaped biscuits. And I had to share the Pie McFlurry with you all. Everyone has to definitely try this at least once. The saltiness of the pie crust complements the sweetness of the filling and the sweet milkiness of the ice cream.

Hope you have enjoyed my (partial) itinerary of Texas!

Quick Soccer Check In

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th weekend! I know I did. It was quite a tiring but fun adventure. My friends and I drove down to San Antonio and New Braunfels, slept over at cousins' houses, and explored. More on that later. I am quickly giving a check-in on today.

So, I've been trying to keep up with the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. It's difficult because the games are on at 7 am, 11 am, or 1 pm daily, but I am often in lab so I cannot watch. I go to the FIFA Women's World Cup page where I catch up on the highlights. Here's a quick run-down on what the matches have been like:

What's crazy is that Japan scored four goals against Mexico. Germany beat France today; if you didn't know, Germany and France have a rivalry rooted deep in their history. For me, I say "Deutschland Vor!!!!!" North Korea has lost all of its games so far. USA won all except against Germany, so I'm a bit torn on who to root for. Tomorrow, we have Equatorial Guinea vs Brazil, Sweden vs USA, North Korea vs Colombia, and Australia vs Norway. US and Germany has been super strong so far. We'll have to see who comes out on top.

What's awesome is that I played a pick-up game of soccer today with some REU interns and their Civil Engineering grad students. It was pretty awesome. We played on the field by ISLB at 7:30 till close to 9ish, when the sun was almost completely set. I have not played soccer since...maybe elementary or middle school. I was super surprised when I found myself running back and forth across the field, trying to steal the ball, blocking, shooting. I somehow managed to keep running and hustling despite never playing before.

Best of all, I got two goals.

Boo-yah.

It was crazy. Many times I was by the other goal, tussling with the other team to try and get the ball in. We were kicking back and forth right in front of the goal for a good minute. Twice I was on the ground in some weird position, kicking in an even weirder position to try and get it in.

My star quality is being the small and swift one. They said I had good positioning, and I really tried to book it to get the ball from others and block. Only thing, small is not good for goalie, haha.

Anyhow, today was the perfect summer day. We played soccer through the sunset, with a good breeze, and some intense players. Ozzi was a little squat, but man does he have bursts of speed. He's a real star player. Him and Berto were awesome. Ozzi was great with his speed and head and passing. Berto was all crazy footwork. He was a real powerhouse. Then there were the two intense girls, Liz and Mara. They kept cheering me on, "Keep on it!" They were real supportive in that sporty way.

This was such an awesome day. I made about 15 hydrogels during the day, made 2 goals in the evening, and am watching "How the States Got their Shapes" on History Channel as I blog (awesome show. Check it out). I will definitely play soccer with everyone again on Thursday.

Updates on July 4th weekend to come up soon too! I've got lots of fun pictures of the Riverwalk and such. Till then, enjoy the night!