A Lovely Week-end

We made a heart together with our toes...isn't that sweet?

I know this will be shocking - but after Friday night's pizza, I didn't take a single photograph of food this week-end!  Oh, I cooked, but I have begun feeling the family irritation over delaying their meal while I take pictures...so I gave them a week-end off.  The Friday night pizza photos were snuck in while I was refilling plates :-)

We had gone over to the island Saturday afternoon and shopped a bit after Mr. Flip Flop got his hair cut.  Of all the stylists available to him in Austin, he has me get him an appointment with James whenever he is home and needs a trim.  James works at Virginia's across from the Light House in Port Isabel.  Both my man and my teen will only go to James!  So, after the shopping we were a bit tired (well, he was) so we stopped in at Pirate's Landing after crossing back to the mainland so he could get an espresso.  I had an excellent little Cappuccino also.  We then were tempted into adding cheesecake to the table - he had a caramel pecan fudgy thing and I had the Tuxedo cheesecake - a long time favorite.  We left sated and happy...I told him we needed to get back to the house because dinner was a 3 hour preparation!  Saturday night we had the teen-requested Braised Country Pork Ribs over Creamy Polenta made in a crockpot. (I wish I HAD taken photos - it was a much prettier presentation than my previous blog post for this recipe - as I've learned to tilt the pan so the fat drains down and I can get the reduced braised veggies spooned over the ribs and polenta without a pool of red grease...much prettier that way).  My husband had not been home the last couple of times I made it and he was very, very complimentary (thank you honey). Steamed broccoli on the side and some sliced toasted garlic bread I made with the leftover pizza dough from Friday night (I rolled it up and baked it off for a small French Loaf - dense, but very tasty).  We topped off dinner with slices of the still delicious Acorn Squash Streusel Cake.  I'd put it in the fridge several days ago to ensure it would keep until the hubs made it down to the coast - it keeps beautifully!  We waddled away from the table.  It's good that we skipped lunch (well, except for coffees and cheesecake) because dinner was very filling.

We caught up on all of the DVR'd season premiers and hit the hay later than normal...resulting in my sleeping until an almost-unheard-of 8:30 Sunday morning!  Daddy-o slept until 10:00 and the teen slept until 10:30!  Everyone was up sitting on the couch looking like zombies sipping our coffee when we all started laughing at each other.  That woke us up enough that I asked if they wanted "brunch" and they agreed they wanted omelets.  I fixed some really delicious veggie omelets with fresh mushrooms, beautifully ripe tomato, chopped green onion and a mix of sharp and mild cheddar cheeses.  An entire package of bacon got cooked (thinking I'd have leftovers for something else...but no), whole wheat toast with a 4-berry jam, and a big bowl of the most succulent sweet cantaloupe I bought a couple of days ago for a mere 78 cents.  We finished up around 12:15 and decided to leave the teen working on his homework and his laundry (yep, I'm the mean mom that makes the kid do his own laundry...he needs to know how!) and headed over to the island with cameras in hand.  We headed down to the North end of the island and parked at Access 4 to avoid the crowds...if you go down to 5 or 6 - lots of cars on the beach...South of Access 3 you start getting more week-end visitors...our selection was perfect for a nice long walk.  It was incredibly windy but the beach was mostly uninhabited, the water was gorgeous and blue (the Gulf usually looks kind of green or dark blue), and there were lots of little shells at the high tide line, as well as many birds.  Thanks to the Saturday beach-cleaning activity, it was quite clean and mainly free of trash (lots of horsey poop from a recent horseback ride on the beach - but we stepped carefully in that area!).  I admit I did not participate in the Saturday morning beach cleaning - I pick up trash every single time I visit the beach and I don't get to have my hubby home often...so I skipped out on the activity.  I appreciate the obvious work that was accomplished - the beaches looked great!

So, the hubby is headed back to work and I ate a bowl of Raisin Bran for dinner.  I'm tired (it was a really long walk) and need to sit down and read a good book.  Thank goodness the teen is self-sufficient in meal preparation, so long as the freezer and cabinets are full!!!

Here are a few of the photos I took today - no food photos - but it was some really nice scenery!

The waves at South Padre Island

Dunes with sea oats topping the crest

A bunch of little shells tossed together at the high tide line with the
tiniest edge of a wavelet trying to return them from whence they came!

My sister just arrived for some much-needed vacation time on the island...so I will be planning some treats to take over to her condo for her, and her guests...more to come on that over the next week or so!  Have a great upcoming week...and, as always...
Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!