Hankering for Home

I think that I officially know what retirement might be like, I am not so sure I like it. Granted I am sure it will grow on me, but this not going mach fifty all day everyday, is hard! Call me crazy, but I am a doer and shaker and some days I really am struggling with the current leisure aspect of my life. I honestly miss working and this not having to get up every morning with a plan of attack is tough for me, I don't like to be still and I sometimes feel like I am lacking that purpose that I had before we embarked on this journey. I know, first world problems and I really am grateful for the awesome experience of getting to see this country, its just some days, I really miss home; our family, our friends, work, my clients and today is one of those days, it was a day that I seriously considered loading up the car and driving home!

We are just over two months into our trek, and it seems like this week, the loneliness has kind of hit me like a brick. I don't know if is the adjusting to having Tom traveling for work again after having him all to myself for nearly two months, or the fact that when you have a dog in a new place, especially one that suffers separation anxiety, it really limits what you can and can't do with your free time. For the most part I try to take Ethel with us on our adventures, she doesn't tend to do so well when left to her own devices; in fact yesterday when I left Ethel to go to the market I came back to partially torn apart foam dog ramp and a lovely gift in the middle of the floor to let me know she was less than pleased with me; it's these things that either make it easier to take her with me or just stay home with her, instead of going out on my own. It's not like I can get mad at her either, I have completely taken her out of her element and she now has a new place that she must acclimate to every month, and Tom and I are her only steadiness right now, so being left alone in a place she doesn't know, is tough and like I said getting mad at her for a situation I've put her in isn't fair to her. So we make due and sometimes our adventures just constitute a walk down a new street for the day, a drive to see something new and/or a run for me in the park while Miss Ethel goes for a ride in the dog stroller; which by the way, gets a lot of stares, but is awesome and is saving my sanity right now, the being able to exercise and being able to take her with me to do so!

I don't think we realize how much we value those friendships and relationships until you can't just call them up and say, "hey, meet me for a drink after work" or "lets go get a pedicure on Tuesday." I am missing those moments with my girlfriends and the torturing my classes and clients and my bonkers work schedule! I know, most would relish to get to do what we are doing, and I am not discounting the awesomeness of our adventures at all, I just miss those kick ass people in my life and I had to share it!

And I really, really miss not having a doggie door! Like really miss it!

Creole Cooking

Creole and Cajun cooking are a way of life in New Orleans, and they love their unique cuisine down here and if the Compagno's are to truly know this place, we needed to understand the food and its roots; so Saturday we took to the stove in order to immerse ourselves into true New Orleans food culture. If we are going to discover what being local is all about, we had better learn to cook the part, some may say a daunting task, but Tom and I say fun, we both love to cook, so this was a real treat for us.

We spent the morning at the New Orleans School of Cooking, learning to make Gumbo, Jambalaya, Bread Pudding and Pralines! All delicious, well what I ate anyway; Tom would be able to tell you about the meat aspects much better than I could, but it looked really good and he said it was spectacular! Which with me being a vegetarian, the chef, Kevin, was awesome at giving recommendations on what to add and/or change as far as making a vegetarian version of these Nola classics, you know for us crazy non-meating eating folk! I can't wait to give them a go in the kitchen!

I am including the Jambalaya recipe here that we got at the cooking school, I've had a few people ask for it; word to the wise we loosely followed it, so I would recommend adding your own flare to it, but it gives a great baseline as to the basics.

 JAMBALAYA

Makes 12 Serving

INGREDIENTS:
¼ C. oil
1 cooked chicken, cut up or de-boned
1½ lbs. sausage

 TRINITY:
2 heaping tsp. Joe’s Stuff or Creole seasoning
4 C. chopped onions
2 C. chopped celery
2 C. chopped green pepper
2 C. chopped green onions or tomatoes (optional)
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
4 C. long grain rice
5 C. stock or flavored water
For brown jambalaya: 1 – 2 tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet
For red jambalaya*: 1/4 cup paprika (*You may also use 2.5 cups stock and 2.5 cups tomato juice instead of 5 cups stock/flavored water.)

PROCEDURE:
Season and brown the chicken in oil, lard or bacon drippings over medium to high heat. Add sausage to pot and sauté with chicken. Remove the chicken and sausage from pot, leaving the drippings in the pot.
Sauté onions, celery, green pepper and garlic in the drippings until tender. Return chicken and sausage to pot. Add stock and Creole seasoning and bring the mixture to a boil. (If using Kitchen Bouquet for brown jambalaya, add 1 – 2 tbsp. For red jambalaya, add approximately 1/4 cup paprika, stock and tomato juice.)
Add rice. Stir and return to rapid boil. Stir again and remove the pot from the heat. Cover and let the jambalaya rest for 25 minutes. Remove cover and quickly turn rice from top to bottom completely. Add green onions and chopped tomatoes if desired.

For seafood jambalaya, add cooked seafood when rice is turned.

So there it is, I highly recommend you give it try, it won't disappoint!  Bon appetit!

An Almost Infestation

Ethel got fleas, and we aren't talking Red Hot Chili Peppers here, we are talking the pesky, disgusting things that bite and lay eggs on poor little doggies! Imagine my freak out when I discovered one while I was giving her love scratches behind the ear, now take this freak out and trap me in a car in this situation for eight of the longest hours of my life! I was beside my self with panic and trying so hard not to vomit; this isn't an ideal situation for anyone, especially a clean freak! The discovery was made on the drive from San Antonio to New Orleans, trapped inside a moving vehicle with a dog that had fleas and me with nowhere to go! My first reaction, was to wrap her in a plastic bag, but how would she breath? Needless to say, I was somewhat rational and didn't go with my first and or second response of holding her outside of the car, because I love her and I really felt bad for her and I was mostly pissed at my naivety for not even thinking this, that these fleas would ever be part of our lives!

We were about thirty minutes out of Houston when I made the unfortunate discovery, so I pull out the phone immediately and Yelp dog groomers that were close by to see if anyone can get us in; at this time it is almost two, I get a hold of PetSmart and awesome they can get her in at 3:00; we will wait it out and get her bathed before heading back down the road to New Orleans. We arrive at PetSmart,  I start checking her in and Tom is off to search for flea control products; as I am checking her in I ask how long they will need her for, I'm thinking thirty to forty-five minutes, and then they tell me four fucking hours. Seriously, what the hell, why would I even bother to make an appointment if you aren't going to get my dog washed and cleaned anywhere close to the appointment time? The first thought in my head, besides wanting to punch the lady in front of me, was what the hell am I going to do in Houston for four hours and second, that this isn't going to put us into New Orleans until after one in the morning, yeah, not going to work! So I take my poor pitiful dog, find Tom and we are back on the road, fleas and all!

Four and half more hours in a car and every inch of  me is itching, I can't even begin to imagine what poor Ethel feels like and now I hate Texas because it gave Ethel fleas! On a positive note, we have a pretty amazing vet in Salt Lake, so I call and they approve a medication for her so that I can order it from PetMeds and have it mailed overnight; now why couldn't they send it to me, well because they don't carry it, because Utah is awesome, unlike Texas, and poor little dogs don't have to worry about fleas there! We also got awesome news while talking to the vet, the last time I was in, in November getting Ethel's teeth cleaned and checked out before we left on our journey, our vet switched out her heart worm medicine to Sentinel, why because Dr. Silkman was thinking ahead, unlike me. So what does this mean, Ethel can still get adult fleas, but it breaks the cycle by destroying eggs, so really she just had a few adult fleas to deal with and I was beyond relieved to find out that we didn't have to worry about a total outbreak of baby fleas everywhere! Woo Hoo!

Upon arrival at the New Orleans house, Ethel went straight to the bath, the laundry commenced and the washing machine did not see any reprieve for an entire week! Everything laundered and then repeated! Not to mention poor Ethel got a bath everyday until the flea medication, that kills adult fleas within thirty minutes of landing on her came! Yay Comfortis and mixed with the Sentinel, Ethel now has a magic flea fighting cocktail once a month!

So lesson learned, the South, regardless of how clean you are, will give your pet fleas. Don't pull a Bonnie and plan ahead! And huge thank you to Dr. Silkman and the crew at Jordan River Animal Hospital for planning ahead for me when I told you what we were doing, because I was oblivious and didn't even think about it! Truly saved my skin and good Lord, I don't even want to think of the nightmare that might've existed had you not changed her medication in advance!

Home Sweet New Orleans!

January flew by and I can't believe we are already over one month into our journey, time goes by too quickly! Which means we are onto our next location and new home for the month, and NOLA it is, whether or not it's ready for the Compagnos! We are so excited to be here and we can't wait to see what this city holds for us over the next month, especially with Carnival in full effect! This is a city we have been to before and loved, but experienced as tourists the last time we were here and this time we are looking forward to seeing it from a locals perspective, seeing the neighborhoods and the day to day life that really make New Orleans one of a kind, a city like no other in the world!

Our new place is so charming and so much more than we expected; seriously, the pictures don't do this place justice! We are in are fantastic neighborhood, Carrollton, just off of Oak Street and everything we need is within walking distance. In fact, the Bikram Yoga studio is literally like walking three houses down, Audubon Park and its amazing running trails within in a mile, and we are just a five minute walk to picking up the street car to the French Quarter. I get all this amazingness in exchange for no dishwasher! That is right, I am hand washing dishes, I am channeling my younger self, before I knew the magic of this fabulous machine. I am not going to lie, it's hard, really hard to not have amenities one is so accustomed to, but I'm taking it in stride and the pros so make up for the cons at this place!

So here it is, our little Oak St. Charmer rented again from airbnb and loving it, dishwasher or not!

How cute is this to store your silverware?

A vanity station, I've never had one of these before!

And the adorable neighborhood that is literally just out our door! 

 

So anybody that has recommendations of must do's off the beaten path in New Orleans, we are up for suggestions and ideas, so throw them at us!

Remember the Alamo

One can not visit San Antonio and not visit the iconic Alamo, it is like a contract one must make with the travel Gods, it is an absolute must. I mean who would come all the way to San Antonio and not see this part of Texas history? I don't even want to mention how hard it was for me to refrain from buying a coon skin cap and not going full Texas patriot, it took all my strength to not purchase one. What? I just wanted to channel my inner Davey Crockett!

The Alamo itself is treated as hallowed ground, to honor those that lost their lives fighting for independence from Mexico, so sacred that photos aren't even allowed inside the Alamo itself. And although the Alamo holds a special place in history, it was my least favorite of the missions; I don't know if it was due to the massive amounts of people, or the fact that a lot of the remnants, outside walls and the active church don't exist on this historic site, part of the charm that I found so appealing about the four other San Antonio missions. Regardless of my views on it, it was amazing to see, to tour and to witness what this part of Texas/American history was all about and most important, to pay tribute to those that lost their lives defending freedom.

 

Just down from the Alamo, is the River Walk, another must see in San Antonio. Restaurants, bars and hotels line the river as water taxis zip up and down the river, delivering people to their destination. No trip could possibly be complete without a walk here along the cobblestone paths, taking in the smells of all the fabulous outdoor cafes that line the river. The River Walk makes for a great escape from the city, even though you're right in the heart of it, it almost feels like you've escaped right into a Disney movie, especially if you are lucky enough to catch one of the horse drawn carriages pass by on one of the bridges above.

And last but not least on the list of must do tourist stops in San Antonio;  The Tower of Americas, the only remnant left of the 1968 Worlds Fair. We had the opportunity to have dinner here at The Chart House with Tom's coworkers, and it was delicious, the view of the entire San Antonio area was just amazing, and when I say entire San Antonio area, I mean it, the restaurant actually rotates while you're eating so you can take in a complete 360 degree view. Visiting this place was a two for one, I finally got to put the names to the faces of those that Tom works with, and take in this part of the Hemisfair history.

 

So there you have it, the  tourist side of San Antonio! I figured we had better share that aspect before our departure tomorrow, yes we are done with this leg of our journey and head to New Orleans tomorrow for the month of February, so be prepared for the Mardi Gras fun that is about to come your way; parades commence on the 15th! 

Other updates in the Compagno world; the house is under contract again and this time we were a little smarter about it all and even have a back up offer waiting in the wings, which makes for a nice safety net. We are scheduled to close the beginning of March and I still have a house full of furniture from the fail of the last sell, so I might be calling in favors for those of you willing to let people in to our home once we get everything listed on KSL; so thank you dear friends that volunteered to help us out. Also, we might be in need of a space to store some furniture if it doesn't sell, so if anyone has space they aren't using over the next year or so, a basement or garage or something, we would love it if you would let us take up a bit of it for a short time, I promise to hunt down movers so you don't even have to do manual labor.

For those of you that don't know me well, this relying on other people to take care of all this for me is about enough to drive me crazy. I am a do it yourselfer and a bit of a control freak, so not being there to handle it all myself has me all up in knots, but knowing how blessed we are and that we have some of the most kick ass family and friends around does tend to lighten the load. So thank you to everyone, I don't know what we would do without you! I promise rewards for your service!!! 

Next stop NOLA!!! And this, just for you because I just couldn't resist!

Texas Company

We had guests in San Antonio! Mark, a coworker of Tom's stayed with us a few days during the week over the month that we were here and he would bring his adorable basset/beagle Penny with him. We had such a great time with both of them and Ethel and Penny totally hit it off . The two, four legged kids, couldn't get enough of frolicking and hunting down the trails of critters that would ventured in and out of the back yard and then chasing them up the trees. Some day's I would just find them sitting out there on the grass staring down the tree, daring a squirrel to magically appear!

Mark was also my saving grace, he brought me his Dyson from home each week so I could keep things "Bonnie" clean. Seriously, it takes a vacuum to send me over the moon and make this girl grin from ear to ear, I am not high maintenance at all, just bring me cleaning products!  Not only did I get to vacuum rugs and furniture, but today, the day before we head to New Orleans, I was able to suck the air out of all my Magic Bags! Woo hoo, otherwise I would have been hunting down a car wash today with a round vacuum hose and heaven forbid I eliminate some of  the wardrobe selection.

Did I mention that Penny and Ethel got along great, from stealing each others beds on more than one occasion (they each took a liking to the others bed), sharing my lap and having fun running around the living room chasing each other; it is really going to be hard to say goodbye to that girl, for all of us. I contemplated dog napping Penny, but am not sure how I can have a 12 lbs dog and a 40 lbs dog both on my lap for the long road days, if I could figure that one out, I am pretty sure I'd have to hide her and tell Mark she ran off somewhere.

So thank you Mark and Penny for adding an extra element of fun to San Antonio, you both made our stay here that much more memorable!

On A Mission

San Antonio is home to five Spanish frontier missions, built to convert the natives to Catholicism in the 1700's,  and are now part of the National Historic Parks. The park itself spreads across eight miles of San Antonio and follows the river; trails wind their way through the city and visitors can walk or bike from one mission to another; in fact they have bike rental stations at each mission for guests to pick up, so you can ride and enjoy the scenic route and take in a little more of what San Antonio has to offer.

Ethel was welcome at all of the mission sights, except for inside the churches and then Tom and I would just take turns running in and taking a look at the architecture and cathedrals; all of which still hold mass and weddings to this day, except for the Alamo.

Every time we would roll up on one of these missions the primary song "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission," would pop into my head, oh the irony coming from me, but you know, those Mormons make some catchy tunes and I still know it (even though I defected close to twenty years ago!)  Now don't get your hopes up my LDS friends, each time I order Mexican food and server asks if I want rice and beans a little "Baby Got Back" pops in my head. Oh the wasted brain power I have on song lyrics. Enough of my side rant and back on point, look at these gems!

Mission Concepcion

Mission Espada 

Mission San Jose

Mission San Juan

Aren't they gorgeous! San Juan was my absolute favorite, there was just something magical about that place. You also may have noticed that I didn't show the Alamo, that building and its iconic history will get its own post, even though out of all five of them it was my least favorite architecturally!

These four missions are often overlooked by tourists to San Antonio, if you saw the hoards of people at The Alamo versus these, you would know exactly what I am talking about. At some of them, it felt like Tom, Ethel and I were the only ones there, which of course only adds to the experience. I highly recommend breaking from the average tourist mode, renting a bike and checking out this National Park, all of it!