13. Surprise someone out of town with a visit

I like surprises. Always have. I never tried to find my Christmas presents before Christmas Day because I wanted to be surprised. I never like knowing the ending of a movie I'm planning to see before I see it, and I love being able to surprise other people.

A few months back I knew I wanted to make a visit home since I hadn't been since Christmas, so with my brother's help (he lives in the same town as my parents and could make sure they would be around), I went home this past weekend to surprise my parents with a visit.

Some of y'all (that's a hopeful use of the plural there) knew I was planning this surprise and couldn't wait to hear my parents reactions. Well, I'll do you one better and show you their reactions.

First my mom's -- my brother was the videographer (sorry it's a bit dark):



We were going to be celebrating my brother's birthday that night and my dad wasn't going to get home from work for a few more hours, so we waited to surprise him as well. My brother and I were both sitting in the den - you can't see me, but you'll get the idea....and...uhhh I can't figure out how to rotate the video, so hopefully you have a laptop and can rotate it...




I will add that after he put his things down, my dad did come back in the room and give me a proper hug. Although I must say their reactions were hugely insightful as to why I am not overly expressive with my emotions or reactions -- at least I come by it honestly!

It was a great visit at home - I got to cross a few more things off the list which I'll post separately, but mainly it was a good time of hanging out and eating good food, like my favorite barbecue:



And my brother took us to Atlanta on Sunday see Bobby Cox's final home game before retiring. It was a fantastic game as the Braves won and secured their wildcard spot in the playoffs (since the Padres lost).

We had a great view:

A nice break and good time at home -- as usual it just went by too fast! I'm thinking I might like to repeat this lucky number 13 since it worked so well the first time.....hmm I'll think about that.

29. Get my African elephant image framed

My brother has traveled all around the globe on various medical missions trips and always brings back fabulous gifts from the places he visits. A few years ago he brought me a painting of an elephant family and I have been putting off getting it framed, so I included this on my list so that I'd actually get it done so I could hang it up and enjoy it.

But..I realized when I went to go look for a frame that my "African" elephant image was actually from Thailand. A note that came with it said it was hand-painted with coffee in Thailand and that the image is called "Morning Caravan."

Now, Thailand IS indeed where my brother bought the painting...I just mixed it up. But then I began to wonder...Are there elephants in Thailand or is my painting really of African elephants?

So my trusty old pal Google helped me find out the following interesting facts:

1. Yes, Mary Beth, there are elephants in Thailand.
2. The elephant is actually the symbol of Thailand
3. There are two main types of elephants - African and Indian. Based on geography, obviously elephants in Thailand are Indian elephants.
(Source: http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/elephants_thai.html)

I also found this great website from a man in Thailand who posts pretty amazing pictures of elephants - one for almost every day -- http://www.changthai.com/

A few of their great shots that will make you want to check out the website:







So anyway, I learned a bit about elephants in Thailand after I got my painting framed. So here is the finished result, and it now hangs above my bed (and yep, I didn't feel like making up my bed for the picture, so you just get an image of the framed painting):

27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

For the aforementioned UGA football gamewatching, I checked another Paula Deen recipe off the list.

Brie en Croute #2 (the other Brie en Croute recipe is much sweeter)

I'm starting to realize that following instructions isn't so easy....I can't resist adjusting the recipe a little....maybe getting through this cookbook won't be as easy as I thought. I mean I'm only 3 recipes in and already I can't stay on track....

Anyway, I love baked brie and it's so versatile in terms of taste - you can make it savory and salty or sweet. I love this recipe's combination of sweet jam with brie. And the nutty flavor from the toasted pecans was a perfect touch. It would be easy to sweeten this one up with brown sugar, too. I might try that next time.

So, what variations did I make?
-Phyllo dough instead of puff pastry
-I only buttered the outside of the dough
- I didn't twist it up all fancy - just tucked the dough underneath the cheese.
-I used fig jam - it is SO tasty.

Sorry, again, no pictures.

But enjoy this recipe for yourselves: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/brie-en-croute-2-recipe/index.html

82. Host a UGA football game watching party

I'm starting to realize I'm picking off the easy ones on this list right away....a year from now I'm gong to be spending all my weekends mending clothes and trying to amp myself up to share the gospel with a stranger.....

So yesterday I hosted friends to watch the UGA game. We had more than enough food and drink, but not enough points on the board, unfortunately.

And, I didn't take pictures....so I'll keep this one short.

I love a laid back Saturday watching football with the windows open....wearing a t-shirt and jeans...it's just so comfortable.

Go Dawgs!

27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

Ok, of these 9 things pictured above, which one was not included in the recipes I made today from Paula Deen's cookbook?

If you guessed Honey Nut Toasted Oats, you are correct.

If you guessed butter, I don't think you know who Paula Deen is.

So, I'm rapidly discovering how simple the recipes in this book are to make. Of course, all recipes are just an exercise in following instructions, but I mean, y'all. These recipes are almost too easy.

I needed to take a dish to a Labor Day cookout this evening and just ended up really wanting to make two things, so I did. I mean what the heck, who doesn't want more food options when you can have them?

So, first up:
Cobblers really must be the best investment desserts. Cheap ingredients, minimal effort, amazing results. I mean look -- I put a stick of butter in a casserole dish:

Stuck the dish in a hot oven to melt the butter while I mixed these ingredients together:

Unfortunately I can't find White Lily and Dixie Crystals up here near Yankee land. We're slowly getting more Chick-fil-a's around here though, and Blue Bell ice cream has found it's way into some of the grocery stores, giving me hope that maybe one day soon I'll find White Lily and Dixie Crystals (and Duke's mayonnaise and that pimento cheese in the clear container -- you know that one brand I'm thinking of ---) on our shelves. But anyway, back to the easy cobbler. So after the butter is melted and you mix flour, sugar, and milk together, you just dump it in the dish, followed by canned peaches and syrup.

It then looks like this:
After 45 minutes of oven magic, the cobbler part rises to the top and you're done.

Assessment: I should've used a different dish b/c my cobbler topping cooked before the middle of the cobbler did, but it was still tasty.

On to recipe #2:

These are even easier than the cobbler. You take these ingredients and mix them all together:


Then you dump the mixture into muffin tins:



And the result is something like this (I made two different sizes of biscuits):

Assessment: The biscuits were great - the beer makes them moist and the sugar balances out the beer really nicely. Definitely a good, simple recipe to keep in mind.

And with that, I was ready for the cookout.



And the best part is that I had some cobbler leftovers to bring home. De-lish.

Enjoy these recipes for yourself:
Peach Cobbler
Bubba's Beer Biscuits

27. Cook my way through Paula Deen’s cookbook, “The Lady and Sons Cookbook”

Tonight was the first of what I have realized will be many, many cooking sessions in order to cook through The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.

I've had this cookbook for several years now, and have read it a few times. Yes, I just used the word read in the same way I would say I read The Help. Sometimes I like to read cookbooks. I skim them, and don't always read in order, but I often find that my imagination and creativity are more stimulated by the thought of food and creating something by using a new recipe than typically happens when I read a novel.Maybe I am meant to cook food, or maybe I am just a lazy reader. The jury is still out on that.

In any case, I chose this cookbook because I thought I was pretty familiar with it, and it isn't terribly long -- I wasn't trying to mimick a Julie & Julia type feat here - just master some Southern recipes.

See, it doesn't look too daunting, right?

So today I decided to go easy on myself and do a recipe that I have cooked many times - I've even gotten to the point where I've modified it and shared the modified recipe with others --- this doesn't happen very often, as usually if I modify a recipe, it doesn't exactly work out.

But, in order to be true to Paula, I didn't want to modify the recipe too much, so my sister and I made Chicken Georgia, and served it with brown rice and green beans.
And of course, what Paula Deen recipe would be complete without her favorite sidekick:


Though this doesn't win many presentation points, it's such an easy and satisfying dish that I'd recommend you try it -- here was my final result:


If you would like the recipe, it's posted online here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-georgia-recipe/index.html

75. Play Tennis

I didn't even remember this one was on the list when I ended up playing tennis this weekend.

I am terrible at pretty much all sports, including tennis, but for some reason I felt like it would be good to play a round as part of my 101 list. Maybe it goes back to the days of PE class on the tennis courts when we thought it was fun to run around and look like idiots.

Saturday, however was in a league of its own. My roommate's parents (Mr. and Mrs. Brown) live a little over an hour away from where we are in Arlington and yesterday they hosted about a dozen of us for what they call "Camp Brown." Competitions in putting, golf, and tennis ensued and champions emerged from the crowd. I was not one of them, no big surprise there. We all then feasted on grilled, baked, cooked, mixed and melted foods after our day in the sun. It was a good day.

I was equally poor at all of the sporting events, placing last in each - I even managed to escape any responsibility on my team's speed golf turn because my teammates were good enough to place the ball on the green in 2 shots. (We had 4 folks posted at different spots on the hole - my responsibility was to get the ball from the 2nd shot location onto the green. My team's driver and 2nd shot were both so good that I quickly became unnecessary. I did not mind that in the least.)

But anyway, back to tennis.

So I was partnered with Mrs. Brown, who gave me helpful pointers all along, but her good instructions couldn't work magic on someone as inexperienced and unskilled as I. We had 2 game wins out of a possible 8, or in other words, we lost 6 games. I am pretty confident I made contact with the ball fewer times than I swung and missed.

So even though it may not count as technically playing tennis due to my lack of actual contribution to the game, I'm still counting it!

Much thanks is due to the Brown family for hosting a great day of activity and unbeknownst to them, helping me cross of another item on my list!