Cookin' Up Trouble: Fabulous, Fun Weekend #1

This is the time of year when things start to get crazy around our house. Both my husband and I teach and I'm not sure who is more anxious for the end of the school year, us or the students! Don't get me wrong, we both absolutely love what we do for a living, but it's at this point in the school year when I can start to feel emotionally drained. It's very bittersweet.

This year has been especially demanding (and emotionally stressful) with my teaching partner being out on maternity leave for 12 weeks and then being the Cooperating Teacher for an incompetent student teacher for 14 weeks. Thank goodness the long-term sub was fabulous and that I have many good friends at work who helped me hide from my student teacher during my conference period! (Did I really just say that out loud???)

All of that to say that it was time for me to have a little fun last weekend.

I kicked things off on Friday by throwing a party during the last period of the day to celebrate my student teacher's final day with us. I was so happy to ~~have survived the experience~~ see him graduate that I made red velvet mini-cupcakes since red and white are our school colors.

I think I ate at least 4 of these.

I'm a sucker for homemade cream cheese icing.

On Saturday I headed to Austin to visit my sister and ended up having an incredibly interesting evening. She volunteers with Refugee Services of Texas and takes refugees to their medical appointments, grocery shopping, and helps them with paperwork... you know, all of the things we take for granted. One of the family groups she works with are Nepalese refugees.

Their life stories are incredible.
Absolutely mind-blowing.

These people have been persecuted, imprisoned and tortured, yet still have this light that shines inside of them. While they may lack material possessions, they are some of the richest people I have ever met.

Sorry for the poor quality.

I only had my phone with me, but felt the need to capture the moment.

Over time my sister has developed very close relationships with them and we were invited into two different apartments, treated like royalty and fed a wonderful Nepalese meal. I didn't quite catch everyone's name and how they were related, but I do remember that Aruna is on the far left and Tia is in the far right. The girls in the middle brought us drinks and cooked us something to eat. They are either Aruna's children or children of Aruna's husband's other wife. Did that make sense?

The noodles were coated with a spicy paste and the garnish/relish was a combination of cilantro and onion, along with fresh lime. Delicious, but I had heartburn afterwards!

After a good night's sleep and a leisurely morning we were off to Tacodeli for brunch.

I wish we had one here.

I would visit every weekend...and weigh 500+ pounds

Their queso was out of this world creamy, almost like it was a mix of traditional queso and a white sauce. I stupidly ordered a large.

My sister and her roomies are still probably eating on it.

My sister ordered one veggie and cheese taco.

This picture sums up my sister pretty well:

smallish portions, mainly non-meat and an international piece of clothing

And it shows how gorgeous she is...

Her food looked good, but not as good as my 2 fat-loaded El Otto tacos. Refried black beans, thick cut bacon, sliced avocado and shredded cheese on corn tortillas. Did your arteries just harden a little bit? Mine did.