Tag! I'm it! (And maybe you too!)

Jess at It's a Big Deal, it is to Me! tagged me in this fun little question game! I thought I would participate since it is Saturday and what else could I possibly be doing?!

So, Jess gave me and seven others a list of 8 questions. I'm supposed to answer her questions, and then tag 8 bloggers with 8 questions of my own.

Here are her questions and my answers!

{ one }  If you could spend one entire day (24 hours) with anyone (dead or alive), who would it be and what would you do? 

Geeeeez. What a hard question. It'd be cliche to say someone like Jesus or a dead President or something, although that would be amazing and interesting and I would like to spend some time with Jesus. For the sake of being different, I'm going to say a fictional character in a fictional world. Dexter Morgan in Dexter.

It would be an interesting time, wouldn't it?
And... anyone as excited as I am about the season premiere tomorrow night?

{ two } If you could only listen to ONE song for the rest of your life, which song would it be and why?

"Mad Rush" by Philip Glass. He's pretty much my favorite composer. Incredible. I literally have listened to this song about a million times and I notice something different each time.

  

{ three }  What did you want to be when you were a child? 

An actress or a lawyer. I know, I'm so original. Greg wanted to be a flight attendant when he was little. I think that's funny. Can you imagine him as a flight attendant?

He frequently dresses up as Marc Antony, btw.

{ four }  If you were yogurt, would you be fruit at the bottom, or stirred? 

Neither! Plain Greek yogurt, yo! It's a staple here in the O. household (even though Greg likes the Chobani Vanilla)! Even Dexter is crazy about it.

This one be my fave. Nom nom nom.

{ five }  What's one show you wish they would bring back? OR What's a film you wish would have a sequel made or a film you wish would be remade? 

Is it just me, or does anyone else miss Full House? 

{ six }  If you could come visit me and spend a weekend in New Orleans, would you want to?  Why or why not? (This is completely hypothetical, of course.) 

I love NOLA! I especially love how close it is to us (6 hour drive, 45 minute flight). I would love to definitely see you if we go there again! I love beignets. Heck, I love all the food in N'awlins. Can you feed me?

Powdered sugary fried goodness complete with a Cafe au Lait

{ seven }  Do you think Ross and Rachel made a great couple?  If not, give me three reasons why I should still consider you a blogging buddy.

Don't hate me, but I wasn't a huge avid Friends fan. I loved the show when I saw it on TV, but yeah... not something I obsessed over. I also think Jennifer Aniston plays the same exact character in every single thing she's been in. It annoys me, although she's a cutie pie and very likeable. As far as the relationship between the characters Ross and Rachel, I thought they were a cute couple. And I wanted her haircut. I mean, who didn't want "The Rachel"? 

 

{ eight } You rub a lamp and a genie (voiced by Robin Williams) pops out and grants you three wishes.  The same rules apply as in Aladdin.  What do you wish for?

1. The ability to pause time and travel the world with Greg.

2. An unlimited amount of money to live comfortably (and to do fabulous things!) and help others with it, but always being humble and generous.

3. A magic button. When I press it, I can bring all of my family together. It can also complete redundant school work (i.e. paperwork, grades, etc.). Paint my nails. Give me a massage. Bring me Nonfat Pumpkin Spice Lattes in the fall, Nonfat Gingerbread Lattes in December, Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Lattes in the spring, and Skinny Iced Lattes (or Passion Fruit Iced Tea) in the summer. Eradicate stress. Give me fashion advice.

It's Greg's dream to go to Bora Bora...  I'm taking him there first!

So now I get to tag 8 bloggers and give them 8 questions!


So.... I tag...

The Nerdy Katie 

Life's Journey With a Smile

Poodleism

Thanks for That Info Aimee!

Diary of a Dreamer

Ramblings and Photos

Midnight in Love 

The Amateur Wife

Here are your questions!

{ one } Are you capable of any stupid human tricks (you know, like my Seagull Impersonation, or weird elbows)? Describe, take a picture, or vlog it! 

{ two } What is one thing you are absolutely friggin' OCD about that everyone else thinks is ridiculous? Details! 

{ three }  If you could have any talent or ability, what do you wish it could be (not to be confused with superpowers) and why? 

{ four }  Who was your celebrity pre-teen/teenage crush? You know you had one! 

{ five }  Honestly, how much do you sing in the car? And do you care if people are watching? Furthermore, what do you like to sing in the car? 

{ six } How long have you gone without a shower/bath? And what was your reason? You're gross. 

{ seven } Name one food that you could literally eat every single day for the rest of your life. 

{ eight } It's exactly three months until Christmas! What is your favorite Christmas TV special or movie?

Have fun!

Happy Saturday!

100th Post Celebratory Vlog!

Yay! It's post number:

Eek! I've been so busy! I finally had some free time to set aside to do a 100th post vlog! Sorry it sucks so much! But, like I said at the beginning of the video, you should skip to the end to watch Dexter and his shenanigans! Enjoy!






I'm kind of already regretting this (singing on my blog).... but oh well. What the heck. I told you to skip that part, anyway.

Mmmmmmmm! Truffle Mac & Cheese

In case you missed it, I guest posted this recipe over at Jumble Mash. And because I love this recipe so much, I'm posting it again. Yep, that's right.



I have the best friggin Mac & Cheese recipe of all time. I recently blogged about Restaurant Week. My hubby and I dined at a swanky restaurant who was known for this mac & cheese and upon eating it, we knew we had to make it. Particularly for Thanksgiving. So we did some research on recipes, put one together we thought would be the best, and did a test run.

It was incredible. No, outrageously awesome. THE Truffle Mac & Cheese of a lifetime.

What is a truffle, you ask? Well, it's basically a fungus that grows from trees that is very similar to a mushroom, but waaaaaaay more expensive and tastier. There are different types of truffles with different flavors, but the most popular are white and black truffles. There are specially trained pigs that hunt these babies down and dig them up! They're like... special Piggie Truffle Hunters! Truffles are very highly esteemed and a huge delicacy. Far better than any mushroom you'll consume. In fact, I really don't like mushrooms, but I love truffles. However, I cannot afford truffles, seeing as how they can cost up to $1,000 per pound.

They aren't the prettiest looking devils, and do in fact resemble poop, but I assure you they are delicious.

The next best thing? Truffle oil. We got this small jar for about $13. It's black truffle oil, which is stronger and you do not have to use much to get the flavor into your cooking!

If you don't have access to buying the truffle oil in your city/town, you can purchase it on amazon here. Truffle oil can be pretty reasonable. If you have no idea what you're looking for, be sure to ask a professional at a gourmet food store or you can e-mail me if you plan to buy online. Another somewhat exotic ingredient for this recipe is Japanese (panko) bread crumbs. We used a Japanese brand, but it looks like Progresso makes them and could be accessed at most grocery stores.

Anyway, here's the recipe! It is based off of one we found on FoodNetwork.com and another one here.

O. Family Outrageously Awesome Truffle Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

1 lb cavatappi pasta (it's way prettier than macaroni)

1 and ¼ sticks of butter

¾  cup chopped red onion

2 Tbsp minced garlic

½ cup flour

16 oz. block white aged cheddar, shredded

½ cup parmesean cheese, shredded

1 cup skim milk

½ cup half & half

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

¼ cup chopped fresh basil, thyme and rosemary

cracked black pepper (to taste)

1 Tbsp and 1 tsp black truffle oil (this is to your preference - start with 1 Tbsp and if that's enough for you, stop there. We were feeling a bit adventurous so I added one more teaspoon. You may have to use more oil if you are using white truffle oil and the taste is a little milder. I suggest black. It's stronger and you use less of it, so the dish doesn't become too oily.)

Splash white wine (about ¼ cup)

½ cup (or more) Japanese panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Add butter to pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and garlic until they turn slightly brown. Add the flour and whisk together for 3 minutes to make a blonde roux (What's a "roux"? Click on the link for more info). Whisk in the milk and a splash of white wine and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent the roux from burning. You may have to keep adding in skim milk if you think it's looking a little too "flour-y". Just eyeball it. Cook until the roux has dissolved completely and you can no longer taste the flour. Add the fresh herbs, the truffle oil, the cheddar, and half of the parmesean until dissolved. Season with cracked black pepper (to taste). Put ingredients into a baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs and remaining parmesean cheese on top evenly. Place under a broiler until top becomes golden brown.

Photos from our recipe:

The ingredients we used

Greg and I with our ingredients. I like to take pictures with food, too.

What our blonde roux looked like

Before the broiler

After the broiler

yuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmzzzzzzzzzzzz
nom nom nom

Bon Appétit!

Happy Friday, my darlings!

Peek a boo!

If you click........

HERE

........then you'll find me guest posting over at Jumble Mash!


Woo!

You know you like me.

Yes, I got design ADD... again. You know you like it.

Between the million things I do, such as teaching, directing a play, fulfilling my civilian responsibility by going to jury duty, teaching my cat how to play fetch, and laughing at my husband who's laughing at Judge Judy, blog design ranks high on my list.

I sit and ponder at night what will look good on my blog and how I can make it simplified, yet modern, yet girly, yet clean, yet not too froo-froo.

I usually look like this when I ponder.

I'm a stinking perfectionist. It's crazy. And I'm organized. My students even know not to mess with my desk because I'll know when something is unorganized and out of place. I must have my stapler next to the hole punch on the right top corner. As a little almost-joke one time, some of my kids left a note saying, "Dear Mrs. O., We were going to move everything around on your desk, but here's a note instead."

But anyway, back to my gorgeous blog.

What you're looking at is a result of my creative ponderings, musings, and hours of me hunched over the computer. My goal is to keep it this way until the end of the year. I will not change the design. Think I can do it? I think I can....!

So, while you're staring at my beauty (or my blog's), why don't you go ahead and grab that smoking hot button to the left of this post? Yeah, that one right there. Grab it. Put it on your page somewhere. If you do, I'll for sure link you on my "Blog Love" page here. Pinky promise.

Random Recent Things to Report

Wow, I've gone a whole four days without posting an entry! I am so sorry and I know you have been on pins and needles waiting for me to post!

So, what's going on in the fabulously exciting life of Meg O.? 

Lots!

We had auditions, cast, and started rehearsal for my fall play, The Marriage of Figaro by  Beaumarchais. I'm super excited. The Marriage of Figaro was actually a play, written in French, before Mozart composed the opera. We're doing this modern adaptation: The Marriage of Figaro. I'm currently torturing educating the kiddos by watching the opera to understand why this story is so popular. Fun times so far!

I bought a Scentsy recently. One for home and one for my classroom. My students are obsessed with it. They say they can even smell it down the hall. This is particularly nice because this old building I teach in can randomly smell like sewage. No joke. Thankfully, my Cutiepie Cupcake scent has made my classroom a delicious place to be! I don't know if any of you ladies in the blogosphere sell Scentsy stuff.... if you do, let me know so I can support you next time I make a purchase! 

Speaking of cupcakes, my sister stopped by Sprinkles the other day for me!! What a good sister! I was able to try two new flavors to add to my checklist. Pumpkin and Almond Chocolate (seasonal flavor). Pumpkin and Carrot are my official cupcake choices for this fall. As many of you might know, I've been working my way through the Sprinkles Menu. Well, my friends, I have tried every single regularly offered flavor on the Sprinkles Menu, except for three! And, along with that, I have tried at least four or five of the seasonal flavors! That is some cupcake dedication if I've ever heard it. Once I have tried every single one, I should have a celebration. Maybe I'll do some sort of cupcake themed giveaway? Haha! Who knows!

Dexter's favorite part of Sprinkles is being able to play in the bags!

That's how many games I have going right know on Words With Friends. It's slightly ridiculous. Greg got an iPhone, and so did Katie and her man J. And my mom and sister have iPhones. So... we're spending some quality time together, playing Words With Friends on our iPhones. In fact, we got together with Katie and J last night and we were all, literally, sitting together on the couches on our iPhones playing this game. What's the point in talking to each other when you have Words With Friends?! (Btw, anyone have it? Send me your screen name and we'll play!)

Speaking of phones, Greg's 11-year-old cousin, the famous Andrea, got a cell phone. She enjoys texting everyone who gave her their phone number. The above photo was a text message I recently received from this ham.

College football started. We went and supported Greg's alma mater, Baylor University! They won and I guess they have a pretty good team this year! I'm learning more about football and I'm getting really good at understanding it! You guys should be proud! (My explanation for football used to be, while pointing to the end zone in the direction the offensive team was going, "I know they're supposed to go that way.")

I used my bread maker for the first time! I made home made French bread! No premade mixes! It turned out aweeeeeeeeesome.

Lastly, but the best part of this whole post.... we accomplished making Truffle Mac & Cheese that I talked about last post. Yes. It was incredible. I'm talking some of the best stuff I've ever made in my life. And this recipe is actually a recipe we came up with based on other ones so it is an original recipe! WOO HOO! The recipe is going to be posted this week. Don't you fret!!

I hope you all have a fantastically wonderful week!

I have jury duty tomorrow, so if you have any tips to help me get out of it, pass it along! I'm thinking about showing up in a wife beater with stains all over it and talking about how I think the death penalty should be by firing squad. Maybe that'll convince them not to pick me so I can go home and just have the day off!


p.s. I got blog design ADD again and re-vamped/simplified my design a bit! Be sure to grab my new button over to the left and I'll make sure to grab yours and post in on my "Blog Love" page!!

Restaurant Week - yumz.

Recently, Mr. Greg O. and I had the pleasure of partaking in Houston's Restaurant Week. Basically, it's a chance to sample some of the city's finest restaurants for a fraction of the price, and proceeds are donated to a local food bank. Three course meal for $35? Yes! Helping a local food bank? Double yes!


The first restaurant we sampled was Smith & Wollensky. Second was Benjy's. Third was Brenner's on the Bayou.

Here are some photos of our restaurant week experiences. I love taking pictures of food. The foodie in me rejoices at this documentation.

My Split Pea soup at Smith & Wollensky. Definitely not your normal bland Split Pea soup. Yummy, creamy, puree. I could definitely taste bacon. And parmesean croutons. It was fantastic!

The star of the entire show - Truffle Mac & Cheese. ZOMG. AMAZING. And rich. And artery clogging. So incredible that we decided we had to find a recipe to make for Thanksgiving. We did a test run on Monday night and our version turned out just as good! I will most definitely post the recipe!

Fine Moments with Greg O. and his filet mignon

I had salmon. It was good. Not as good as the truffle mac & cheese. It was also nice to have Sprinkles Cupcakes behind me out the window and across the street, although it was closed. At least I got to marvel at its beauty.

Parmesean crusted asparagus at Brenner's on the Bayou

Brenner's on the Bayou. Lovely location!! It's facing the bayou (go figure) and has some pretty landscaping

Us on the bayou. Greg tried to ruin the picture by looking off to the side, but I  think it's still cute.... ish.

We will be doing this again next year, for sure! In the meantime, I'm off to eat some Sprinkles Cupcakes (speak of the devil) which were graciously delivered to me by my sister. It's dinner tonight. By the way, Sprinkles Cupcakes don't have any calories. Just so you know.

Peace out!

My Labor of Love

Happy Labor Day, everyone! I am so glad to have the day off! You know... I don't really dread going to work tomorrow. Yeah, it's going to be a crazy week because I start rehearsal for my fall show amongst other things, but it's all worth it. I am happy to serve in my career. It's my labor of love.

You see, I love theatre.

Me playing Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret (college)

Theatre gave me a place to belong to. It kept me out of trouble in high school and it pushed me to keep me at my very best. It is a disciplined art that has kept me humble and wanting to share my love of it with others, particularly young ones.

I love my job. People always raise an eyebrow and say, "You teach high school? Wow..." like it's a bad thing.

It's not.

I get to see teenagers grow from awkward, babbling freshmen into confident, aware, and creative adults. I get to create art. I get to let kids express themselves in ways they can't in their other classes. I get to be their second mom. The theatre and rehearsal is a second home for these kids, mostly because we spend so much time together putting a play together. By the time rehearsal is over and it's opening night, we get to feel a sense of accomplishment together. It becomes their show. It's not an easy job, but it's a rewarding one.

Instead of dreading work tomorrow, I'm going to celebrate my work today.

Here's some photos from the plays I've directed since I started teaching four years ago.

Medea by Euripides

As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Dearly Departed by David Bottrell and Jesse Jones

Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman (yes, that is a pool)

Big Love by Charles Mee

I hope this Labor Day finds you happy, healthy, and full of love. Celebrate what's great about it, even if it is a small thing, and don't dread going back tomorrow morning!

Dexter's Quest For Yogurt

I just had to share this.

I've been meaning to post but realized I didn't finish editing this in iMovie. I have no idea why my cat is this obsessed with yogurt. Enjoy.




Happy Friday, my darlings!