The waiting

Patience, who ever said it's a virtue sure as hell didn't know me. I lack it especially when there's something out there that I want and I know I can't have right now. If something/one interferes with my routine or has not met my expectations I will just about lose all cool. Right now I am in a waiting period by the U.S. postal service and it is driving me crazy. Most of you all know that recently Amanda and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, a milestone for both of us since we ended our previous marriages before the five year mark; we had to make it special. We began our celebrations on Saturday night with a toddler free dinner and a couple of drinks at the club Sunday was a relaxation and shopping day and finally Monday, our anniversary. I got up with Bella and made breakfast; half way through Amanda got up and "found" her anniversary gift on the table. Against my principles I bought her a purse she had been eyeballing (Dooney and Burke) and a pair of diamond earrings set in white gold. You ever meet a woman that could make a diamond look better? I have one. Anyway now it's my turn, I couldn't wait, I already had an idea of what I might be getting since I only gave Amanda two suggestions for my gift. One was a new dress watch (how traditional right) or a new bass, actually an acoustic bass! I even went so far as to save the musicians friend web site with the bass I wanted to our favorites. Well my lovely wife had forewarned me that my gift may not get here in time but a little piece of me was hoping that was a cover she was throwing down to throw me off a little so I wouldn't look around for a gift. Not so, she handed me three pieces of printer paper of the items she bought me for our anniversary, a picture of some guitar picks, another of a new guitar stand, and the third...there it was my new acoustic bass. She was serious, IT'S NOT HERE! I can't lie, and babe I know you’re going to read this but I was a little disappointed but thrilled at the same time I just wish the USPS would have hurried up. The day after I checked our mailbox and there is was a little yellow slip indicating we have a package to pick up. Holy crap, it was here my excitement grew bigger and bigger as I ran to the parcel pick up counter...I think I may have been dancing and probably looked like I had to pee a little. I'm next, I gave the clerk my yellow card and my ID, away he went only to return in a minute with what was definitely NOT MY GUITAR! I could hear the music in my head just like if I had lost a game of plinko on the "Price Is Right" "WHAA, WHAA, WHAAAAA". In this package was part of my gift, the picks and stands that Amanda purchased but for now the waiting continues. And it still continues to this day, almost a week later and nothing three weeks after she orders it, supposedly the thing shipped and we should be expecting it any day now. Until then I have to maintain a higher level of patience than what is usually expected of me, what a bunch of poop.



Look at the lonely little stand, kind of like a missing man formation.

We are idiots

Take a look at these pictures...enough said.

Happy Birthday Little Girl

Most everyone knows that the 16th was my little girls’ birthday, good god she is getting big, three years old and ready to take on the world. Amanda and I decided to throw Bella a little birthday party Saturday and invite a few of our friends and their children, most of them Bella has spent time with and played with before. It was a whirl-wind of a day beginning around 7:30 a.m. when Bell woke us up, of course I actually got out of bed with her and let momma sleep for another hour. It’s not like it really mattered since it took that whole hour for me to drink down 2 cups of motivation and get on the ball. Finally the frenzy began with dust rags and vacuums flying Amanda and I set full steam ahead, progress was the word of the day. We used our teamwork to clean the house together before it was off to the kitchen to get started on the day’s menu. A little teamwork was even used in the kitchen since Amanda did do a lot of the cutting and chopping as well as other prep work that helped me with the food I had planned to prepare. The party food consisted mainly of appetizers and finger foods most suitable for a kids birthday bash taking place half way between lunch and supper. For the kids I prepared blue shells-n-cheese topped with hot dogs made to look like little octopuses, we also made up little jello cups with gummi sharks and worms to accompany the goldfish cracker party mix. Are you sensing that there was a theme here, something fishy or under water? Well duh, my little princess being in love with the Disney Princesses right now chose The Little Mermaid as her birthday theme so Mom and Dad had to do it up right. Now on to the adults, here we go time to get your game on Tyler. I chose to stick with my usual southwest style and whipped up a queso-cheese dip and some fresh tomato salsa, both turned out equally tasty and surprisingly appealing to the eye, I also tried, only for the second time ever a BBQ chicken pizza. Now for anyone that knows me (and knows me very well) I LOVE pizza and for as long as I can remember my ideal pizza has consisted of a light buttery crust with the typical toppings of ham, mushrooms, sausage, etc. Most importantly a pizza in my opinion needs to have a rich tomato red sauce and nothing else, no BBQ, Tabasco, cream cheese, chocolate…NOTHING but red. So I am going against my rule and trying this pizza out and to my surprise it is delicious! I am a changed man and the world is a better place because of BBQ chicken pizza, OK maybe not that extreme but it’s good. Anyway, back to the menu…I finished it out with a pot full of little smokie sausages cooked in K.C. Masterpiece BBQ sauce and southern style deviled eggs, yeah I ate some and yes I stunk from them, sorry Baby! Everything was prepped plated and ready with about 60 seconds to spare before the first family and friends showed up to wish my baby girl a happy birthday. All in all it was a great day, mom and I were worn out, Bella was content and thrilled with her new presents, and I think for the most part everyone enjoyed the food that was put together in the kitchen by me with the assistance of my lovely wife. So I’ll leave everyone with some pictures of Isabella’s party with her and her friends along with some recipes of my two favorite dishes of the day, as promised…hope you give them a try and enjoy them as much as I did. Talk to you Sooner, Tyler!

Queso Dip
2 lb. block of Velveeta cheese cubed
8 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese cubed
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 Jalapeno cut in half seeded then sliced in half moon shapes
½ Red Onion diced
½ tsp. Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Ground Chipotle Powder
½ package Jimmy Dean Sausage browned
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Mix all ingredients into a slow cooker place on low heat and let it go for about 2-3 hours stirring occasionally to mix the cheeses. Serve warm with your favorite Tortilla chips (recently we discovered Tostitos Flour Tortilla Chips…AWESOME).

BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 can prepared pizza dough
Toppings:
½ lb. chopped boneless skinless chicken breast
1 Tablespoon veggie oil
½ teaspoon season salt (I prefer Tex Joy)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ Red onion sliced thin in long strips
4-5 jarred peperoncinis (banana peppers) thinly sliced and seeds removed
Cheddar-Jack shredded Cheese
Sauce:
½ cup prepared BBQ Sauce (I use K.C Masterpiece “Original”)
¼ - ½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce (depending on your heat tolerance)
2 teaspoons honey
Season Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Prepare the caned pizza dough according to package directions, while dough is baking heat oil in a pan and sauté chicken until no longer pink. Be sure to season with the above mentioned spices. The sauce can be prepared the night before to give the flavors plenty of time to come together. Just simply mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl, when ready to use spread evenly on lightly browned pizza crust. Top with the chicken, red onion, pepperoncini, and cheese. Complete the baking process according to the pizza crust directions. If you’re using this recipe to entertain a small crowd cut the pizza into small 1 inch X 4 inch strips, should be a hit.

Well, here it is my blogger cherry is popped! It's weird...kind of like being in a foreign land for the first time as you can tell by my page layout. It's rough but it is still in work and hopefully with Amanda's (that's my wife) help I can get it looking sharp. OK, so here is what I plan on doing with this, apparently this is a good venue to vent...so I'll vent. I also hear that many share experiences they've had...so I'll share. I'm also told this is an excellent place to get the word out about things that I might be interested in and maybe others reading will have the same or similar interests...so I guess I'll let you in. Really I know I'm being a little cynical about this but I have been wanting to get on here for a while especially since Amanda started her blog. You see, I have a dream of some day being a successful restaurant owner and serve the masses from my kitchen. AAHHHH, that's were "Tyler's Lunch" comes from! Food used to be just an interest to me as I started getting older it became a hobby, today it's a full blown addiction! It's not the smells and taste of it I crave but the education I get from it along with the satisfaction I feel not only when those served say "Mmmmm, that's yummy" but also when I finish plating the meal and it looks like fucking art. It's a hit record, a masterpiece, an Oscar winning marvel! This is what I feel on the inside but my modesty usually gets the best of me and all I can muster for words and reactions is a meek little "thank you". That brings me to the main reason for this blog, occasionally I will post a recipe I have created as well as some of my favorites from the cooks and chef's I look up to. I will keep it simple believe me, I am not a chef, I am a what is known as in a certain society as a "foodie" at least a self-proclaimed foodie. But please try them occasionally and let me know what you think. Now of course I don't have enough pallet pleasing concoctions to share with everyone and keep this thing current. So, this will also be my hang out to share my adventures in Japan with my beautiful girls and toss in some venting frustrations now and again I should be able to entertain myself along with the readers frequently. So, I guess its Bon Voyage for me as I set sail on my blog-venture and thanks for coming along. ~~~Talk to you sooner!~~~