Shrimp and Grits. Or: This isn't a food blog, I just eat a lot

Last night I made a ripoff version of the shrimp and grits at Zelko Bistro, one of my favorite dishes in Houston. I made some polenta, added a hefty dose of smoked cheddar (they use white cheddar), fried up some crispy bacon and topped it with some seared shrimp and chopped scallions. For the sauce I mixed some ponzu, honey and butter and warmed it in a pan then drizzled it around the edge of the plate. (They use a mix of soy and agave). I was very pleased with how it turned out. It was a damn good interpretation of it, and I actually chuckled at my own cleverness while I was eating. I'm so full of myself. And shrimp!

Thai Lettuce Wraps: Take 2

I posted awhile back about making this recipe for sriracha beef lettuce wraps. They came out good but I made a modified version last night that I prefer, swapping ground turkey for the beef and romaine for the iceberg (because iceberg is laaaame). Boom! An even lighter, healthier version that still tasted great. I have to admit that I'm still not completely sold on lettuce wraps as a concept - I think they are a bit messy and strange - but if you're looking for a healthy vessel in which to put a filling of your choice you can't get much lighter than lettuce. I can see myself making these again for sure.

PSA

For anyone looking to grow their hair and nails faster and healthier, I highly recommend biotin supplements. I'm using the Spring Valley 1,000 mgc (2 a day; just upped it to 4 a day) and I'm getting good results. I did some research when a friend had some issues with hair loss due to some medication, and the makeupalley reviews convinced me. The first photo was taken on March 31st, the day of a new haircut, and the second photo was taken today - just over a month and a half later. See?!

I dig chicks

Growing up, most of my friends were guys. I had a few female friends, most notably when I lived in Bastrop in my early teens, but when I reached 15 or so I started to find it very difficult to relate to the girls around me. This continued until a few years ago. I have a few theories as to why that is, but what it comes down to is that I was kind of intentionally closing myself off.  For a long time I just thought I couldn't get a long with women. So many were catty, or talked exclusively about things I found boring. While I wore makeup and painted my nails, I didn't have money for clothes or shoes, so bonding over that stuff was out. I've come to realize though that it was a matter of me not giving them a chance. Estranged from my mother and lacking a consistent female role model (though my aunt filled the role wonderfully when she was able to) I was wary and awkward. I just didn't relate.

Thankfully this has changed over the past few years, partially due to my internal attitudes shifting, but also because I'm honored to know some of the raddest women on the planet. I'm not going to say that I never have days where I feel like a bit of an outsider, but I am honored to be part of such a great group. The women I know are as varied and unique as you can imagine, but at the core there are similar struggles and experiences. As a result, the last few years have done more to turn me into a feminist than my whole lifetime leading up to them. I think one of the healthiest things you can do for your emotional state is surround yourself with a group of strong women. Whenever I start to internalize the message that I'm not attractive enough, or smart enough, or good enough in any other way I just look at my girlfriends - the tall and short ones, the skinny and curvy ones, the quiet and loud ones, the A cups to F cups - and think about how they're all beautiful and how I would never judge them harshly - which means they aren't judging me either and fuck anyone else that does. It's a good reality check sometimes. Mostly though, they're just a shit ton of fun. I know I'm being a bit sappy, but I just got back from a wonderful beach house weekend for my friend Liz's bachelorette party and I'm feeling really grateful.

The ultimate housewarming present

Most of you know my dad is an artist. He makes custom furniture, altars, paintings and various other pieces. He's a jack of all trades, but there's always been creativity with anything he does and after years of being a master carpenter, a tattoo artist and who knows what else I think he's really found his niche.  I'm lucky to have several of his pieces around the house, and the latest addition is a beautiful hutch cabinet that he converted from an old wardrobe. It was a big rectangular piece, but he completely changed the shape and added cabinets, complete with old glass doors.

Isn't it lovely? He refers to it as a future family heirloom (a phrase lacking his characteristic modesty) and I wholeheartedly agree. I have some other wonderful pieces of his that I'd love to include here, but I need to take better photos to do them justice. In the meantime, check out his work at ashlandgalleryhouston.com. He does a lot of custom work - special discount for friends of mine (hint hint!)

Greg and I took a impromptu road trip to San Antonio on Saturday and I'm kicking myself for not putting my phone on the charger the night before. I would have love to have gotten pics of the trail we walked at Mission San Juan near the river. We saw a beautiful crane (we have those in Houston near the bayous but it always feels special to see one), some fuzzy caterpillars and other creatures. Of course the mission itself was beautiful too, but the walk was a real highlight for me. I grew up in the country and I miss being in nature.

We also went to Mission Espada, which has a chapel that is still in use. But we mostly drove around. There was some festival going on downtown but we weren't quite up for braving a crowd of thousands, especially given my slowly healing foot injury. We didn't set out to do anything in particular anyway, so we headed back after a few hours of exploring and knocking one of Texas Monthly's top 50 cheeseburgers off of our to-do list. We had wanted to go to The Cove, a funky laundrymat/carwash/grill but the line was out the door. We settled for a place called MoMak's and while the burgers were delicious the atmosphere was very suburban. Not really our thing but Greg did leave with a delicious malt for the road. I do want to make it to The Cove sometime though.

Oh! We also stumbled upon a cool old cemetery in Columbus on the way that I'm sure Greg will want to revisit. He hadn't been there before and I had started to think he'd seen it all.

I guess there's not much more to recount but that's because the roadtrip itself is a lot of the fun. It's always good to get away!

Paint your face!

I'm just popping in real quick to recommend an excellent blog! Full disclosure: I'm totally biased because it's written by my friend Geri. She's doing a different makeup look every day for the month of April, ranging from practical (wedding looks, makeup that won't melt off of your face on a hot day, etc) to fun and wacky (Cleopatra, Ziggy Stardust). Bonus: she's really pretty and also her name is Geraldine. (I highly recommend having a friend named Geraldine because it's really fun to say.)