When in Rome...

These photos were taken at an event called TCU Pigskin Palooza. Some friends of ours who are both TCU grads were kind enough to invite us to come out. Their little boy, Baird, and Eli have been attending school together for over two years already! At the event we had great BBQ, the coach gave a speech, dance team and cheerleagers were there, band was playing, etc. The boys had so much fun!

TCU (Texas Christian Univeristy) is a really nice, private university literally just down the road from us. We are getting so excited about TCU football this year. We bought season tickets for the 1st time and can't wait to take Eli to the games!

Anyone that knew me in college knows that I was a HUGE Kentucky basketball fan (football wasn't a factor at our school at that time). My blue-blood mania was a little weird for a girl, I will admit. But it is just darn hard to keep up the zeal when you are away from it for so long (has it been twelve years?). This is a different conference and people just don't talk about KY basketball like they should. Besides, Texas is all about the FOOTBALL. When in Rome....

Greek Layered Dip

I don't know if anyone is interested or has a reason to make this. I made it for a book club meeting last month and everyone loved it. I sent the recipe to a friend today as requested.



Greek Layered Dip with Pita Chips (from Sandra Lee(?), the Semi-Homemade Queen)



Pita Chips:
1 package pita bread
Olive oil cooking spray
Greek seasoning (I found a brand called Cavender’s at Central Market)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with foil. Cut pita circle into eighths. Cut each triangle in two to make two triangles. Place triangles on baking sheet, inside of pita facing up. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with Greek seasoning. Bake 7-10 minutes.

Dip:
1 lb ground lamb (Aaron said it tasted like hamburger meat, so may be okay to sub)
1 t garlic salt
2 t Greek seasoning
16 oz container of hummus
1 ½ cups tzatziki (gyro sauce) *
1 cup shredded lettuce
2 medium Roma tomatoes, diced
½ cup red onion, diced
½ cup kalamata olives, chopped
4 oz container crumbled feta

Brown lamb, garlic salt, and Greek seasoning. Drain and set aside. In a shallow 1 ½ quart dish, spread hummus on bottom. Top with lamb. Next layer the tzatziki sauce. Follow with the remaining ingredients in the order given. Serve at room temperature.

*(In case you have never bought this before, two different Central Market employees told me they did not carry tzatziki, but they do. I found it on the aisle that is across from the yogurt, I think…I believe it was by the hummus and other Greek foods.)

YUM, ENJOY!!

Florida

Well we finally did it. It had been more than seven years since we last traveled to Florida to see Aaron's family, and we recently flew down for a long weekend. We have seen Aaron's family over the years of course, but each and every time they have flown to see us here in Fort Worth. The reason? You guessed it...our restaurant! It is hard to leave 20+ employees for any period of time. A host of problems can and will arise! We have a good group working for us and just finally decided to leave it in God's hands. It is really in his hands each day that we are in Fort Worth anyway, right? Who are we fooling?

In any event, we had a really nice time. We visited Aaron's dad, Al, his step-mom, Pat, his grandma, Irene, and I should not forget the dogs...Mattie (who hated us all!) and Polo. We stayed two nights at Granddaddy Rumfelt's then stayed two nights at a beautiful resort in Captiva Island. We would have liked to stayed on a week, but we will take what we can get. Maybe next year...

Poor Eli is so confused and it makes me so sad! I grew up going to my grandparents house(s) all the time. It was part of life...they were part of my life. Eli only sees each side of the family maybe once a year. He last saw my Dad, whom he calls "Pop" in February. In Florida he was visiting his other granfather who we were trying to get him to call "Granddaddy", and no matter what we said he kept referring to him as "Pop". I have no doubt that he knows this is a different person, he must just think "Pop" is the name for all grandfathers?? Also he kept calling Aaron's grandma "G.G." which is supposed to be the name for one of my grandmothers. He is just so darn confused, bless his heart!! I so wish he cold see everyone more often!!

First Time Blogger

This certainly feels weird. What is a "blog"? I am definitely from the pre-blog generation. I think what is throwing me off is that unlike an email, a blog feels uneasily one-sided. I got the idea from a couple friends who have cool family blog pages of their own. I have been meaning to set one up for almost a year! I figure that even if no one else wants to read it, I may have some noteable entries my child(ren) may be interested in one day. Also, anyone reading should be able to post comments to create a dialogue which could be fun. We will see how it goes.



The main purpose of the Cowtown Rumfelt blog page is to keep everyone we love and rarely see up to date with us (if I remember to update it and can really figure out how to update it still remains to be seen, ha). It is difficult not having family roots in this town. It is challenging being a parent. It is challenging owning a business, particularly a restaurant. And after eight years in Cowtown, I feel like we are really finally starting to live (praise and glory be to God). The "awakening" began once Elijah was born and continued with a slow and steady progression. Prior to the "awakening" we were so mired in the business opportunity God allowed us that we left little time for anything else. Not the most well-rounded existence by any stretch, but possibly a necessary one at that time given the learning curve we were up against. But this blog page is not about yesterday, it begins today....

At any rate...is this a blog?? I will try to give future posts more direction.

We love you all!