Tracy comes to town

Mom came for a visit this weekend. Dad is gone on a mission trip and she is making the rounds visiting some of her peps. She started the tour in Alabama. We had no plans for this weekend and just hung out. Saturday we all slept in and then woke up and put together a pancake breakfast. Then Mom and I headed to Columbus for some shopping. I went to Old Navy to hit up the Memorial Day sale and got several things I have been hunting for. Last night, Stephen grilled and his parents came over for supper. (Sorry, no food pics. We ate everything up too quickly). This morning, we let Mom experience our typical Sunday. We headed to church and then went to lunch with the Blakes. Then we loaded up and went for a bike ride down to the river and around downtown Columbus. While we were on the MUW campus, we walked around the new gym. It was amazing! I was so jealous that we did not have that when I was there on campus. Then we watched the SEC baseball championship. LSU beat Bama in the 11 inning! Then more eating and now home to chill in front of the tv and computer. Mom is heading back to Louisiana tomorrow and we are going to spend time with the Richards then head to T-town for a little more shopping!

Riding the Riverwalk:

Taking a tour of MUW:

We took photos here at my graduation so we stopped for another quick photo:

Taste of Home

(Photo from Deep South Dish)

So tonight I made Natchitoches meat pies for supper. I found a new food blog that I love!! I pretty much want to make every single recipe on it. I have looked at it dozens of times and still have not read them all yet. But dont worry, I will get through them soon. I know! I am weird! I read recipes like some people read books.
I forget that people not from Lousisiana don't know what Natchitoches meat pies are. I guess its like nabs. We got into that discussion Sunday when our resident Yankee looked totally confused when we were talking about eating nabs for lunch. Ha ha! Anyway, I have had this recipe bookmarked for a couple weeks and decided to make it tonight. My mom always made corn on the cob to go with it but I wanted to change it up so I also made the corn salad from this blog. I loved it! But Stephen was not a huge fan. Well, back to the meat pies. These are from a place called Natchitoches, La which is famous for three things- Christmas lights, the movie Steel Magnolias, and of course meat pies! Stephen had never had them before but I knew he would love them. And guess what, he did! I did not take a picture because the process took longer than I had thought and we were STARVING!! We usually eat about 5:30 and it was 7 before we sat down tonight. But the pictures above looked just like mine so you get the idea. If you would like to give them a try and have a little taste of Louisiana just click here and get to cookin'

Our weekend

So we actually had no plans this weekend. I know that is shocking. Stephen was so excited to stay home! I was totally bored after 2 hours. Friday night we stayed at home. It rained ALL day and I was soaking wet when I got off work. No fun! I was so ready for a shower and my pjs. We cooked supper and watched some movies. Saturday I made a cake, last minute, for Tara's grandmother:

After I finished the cake. I pulled out all the many colors of buttercream that were in the freezer and made a ton of cupcakes. Our lifegroup got to eat them last night. After I cleaned up all my mess, we actually got out of our pjs and got dressed and headed to the Vernon City Celebration. Its our spring festival. My cousin's band was supposed to be playing so we went to listen for awhile. Must have missed them though. It took about 15 minutes to walk from our house, walk around the whole festival, get some snowcones and walk back to our house. Ha ha! Not exactly like when we went to Market Street a couple weeks ago.
We spent yesterday in Columbus-church, lunch, shopping, and lifegroup. We made the mistake of wasting time in Walmart and there went $100. The highlight for me was finding one of the new Dr. Scholl's foot mapping machines. I was soooo excited. I hopped on and then made my wonderful husband try it out too. I was going to get a picture of him on there for the blog but realized I had embarrassed him enough already since he was standing in the feminine products areas watching my purse while I played on the machine. Ha ha! That is his least favorite aisle in the whole store. I did get the recommended insoles. Ill have to let you know if they are worth it. So far, I really like them. I have 30 day so to decide or get my money back. So stay posted!
We also got to go see Jim's sister's new house that is almost finished. They had just gotten a new puppy. Stephen and I both fell in love with it and wanted to take it home. Meet Lady Belle:

I guess we were pretty busy for two people with no plans. Haha! This week, Stephen starts back to school. One more year left! Yea! I am working as usual. Mom is coming to visit us this weekend. Guess we should start clearing a path to the guest bed sometime soon. That room as become our junk room. Our bikes are even parked in there right now. Oops!

Goo Goo Cluster

Setting the scene: Wearing my bright red scrubs, pink/blue/green/orange rain boots and navy rain coat.

C: I look like a goo goo cluster

S: (looking totally confused) What did you say?

C: I said I look like a goo goo cluster!

S: Is that another one of those Pourciau made up words?

C: I guess. It means I don't match.

S: How have we been married 3 years and I'm still learning things like this?

Got to keep a little mystery :)

Hey Mom!

Made this collage for you to print out. Know how much you like them. Enjoy!

Quick Trip to Canton

We went to Canton this weekend to see my parents and sister. Of course we had to take the bikes:

We drove over to the Natchez Trace this morning to ride. The back seat was so full that Mom could not get to her seat belt so she wore her bike helmet just in case.

Told you the back seat was full. Two adults and three dogs!

Dad drove out "team car". He dropped us off and then kept the dogs occupied while we rode. He was also a phone call away if we got tired and didn't make it to the meeting spot:
Ready for our ride:

Me and Stephen:

Mom and Leigh:

The End: Made it to the Pearl River

Market Street 2010

We went to Market Street Festival yesterday in Columbus. The weather was perfect even though we did get a little sun. They had some great crafts this year. Makes me want to get in my craft supplies and make things for my house. I did get a couple birthday gifts for upcoming birthdays. It was nice to walk and browse and visit with friends. Guess this means summer is officially here even though its cool outside today. Ready for it go get warm enough so we can jump in the pool.

There was a booth with Greek food. I love Greek food and it is very hard to find around Vernon :). Stephen and I each had a lamb gyro. I was so excited because they had a spicy sauce that I love, and I have not had since I was in Berlin. I got really excited about it and probably embarrassed my husband. Made him take a picture of me because I was so happy. Hey, its good to enjoy the small stuff in life! By the way, it was VERY good! Think I'm going to do some research and figure out how to make it. Who needs a Greek restaurant when you can make your own?

Pourciau Chefs

So I come from a long line of "foodies". We love to cook and create new recipes. I love making family recipes and feel like its one way to carry on the Pourciau legacy. My grandparents put together a family cookbook for me and gave it to me on my wedding day. It is the most used cookbook in my kitchen! I cherish it! I also have the need to cook like an old lady. I have several things on my list that I would like to make and Im working hard to accomplish my goal. My great grandparents were avid cooks. I remember them even making the Wednesday night supper at one our churches. They had a restaurant at one time. I would love to be able to go back in time and visit it for just one day and sit at the counter and soak up their knowledge:

I was trying to decide what to make for Mother's Day. My dad used to always make our family recipe for spaghetti which is great but just a little different than the usual (just like a Pourciau). He would be in the kitchen all day making it. You had to watch and constantly stir and taste and add this and that. My mom recently updated the recipe so that you could make it in the crock-pot. Now, that is more my style! I even used one of the bowls from my great grandparents' kitchen to mix up the meatballs. I love this bowl. You can even see the marks from where they stirred things in it as they made countless things. As I was mixing up the meatballs, I thought of this. I got all nostalgic thinking about it and wondering what new recipes they came up with using this exact bowl.
I think I called my mom at least 3 times to make sure the meatballs were right as they baked.
Pretty sure that Paw Paw Pourciau did not look up the recipe on his iPhone while making things in his kitchen:
And, I know he did not use the crock-pot to get the perfect "cooked all day" flavor:
The finished product. It turned out great. I tasted just like last time Dad made it. So glad that I now have this added to my list and that I can make it for my family and pass down this tradition:

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in my life!

I heart my kitchenaide

I love my kitchen aide ALOT but maybe not this much.
Check these out:

Happy Nurses Day!

So today is Nurses Day! I forgot all about it until I saw it posted on facebook this morning. I had already made an appointment to get a massage today. I took off work early and headed to Eden. It was AMAZING! One of the best massages ever!!! I will definitely go back and soon!

While I was getting my massage, Stephen was walking around Lowe's to pass the time. While he was there he pick this up for me. Its a kitchen aide spatula that is made to scrape out my kitchen aide mixer bowl. I was so excited! Now I want to make some buttercream.

We headed over to Peking for supper. I have not had many things on the menu and have not wanted to try too much due to my ginger allergy. I asked the waiter today about the sesame chicken. He asked the manager if it had ginger in it. She said it typically does but they would make a special order for me without it. This made me sooo happy. The manager double checked with me before they made it to make sure nothing else in the dish would bother me. That was so nice. I ate every bite!!!

Happy Birthday Tara

Happy Birthday to my friend, Tara!!! We celebrated last night. Dinner at Harveys and then cake and ice cream at the Blakes house. Followed by a couple rounds of the Newlywed Game. Stephen and I did horrible last night. We didn't score at all on the first round. Ha ha!

Made this for Tara, my favorite artist:

Time for presents: