Weekending...Walters-style

There was nothing particularly exciting to note this past weekend, but I wanted to document it just the same. Both Nate and I were ready for the weekend; it had been a particularly long work week and we were eager for some down-time. Initially, we had big plans to head into Dallas for some pre-holiday madness shopping. However, that didn’t pan out since Nate started to get a head cold on Friday and was not up for any crazy fun on Saturday.

So, we spent Saturday at home in our pajamas, which is always fun to do once in a while. We watched movies: 27 Dresses, Tropic Thunder (actually, we watched this one on Friday night), and The Incredible Hulk. We own 27 Dresses, but I absolutely LOVE it and it has a scene with my favorite Elton John song: “Bennie and the Jets.” Plus, Nate is a good sport about watching (often times, over and over) many rom-coms with me! We were really disappointed with Tropic Thunder – way too much vulgar language for our taste. Why do so many script writers feel that people screaming obscenities and making crude gestures is comedy? I guess because people continue to laugh…but I don’t. Sure, I laugh at an artfully placed swear word, but this movie overdid it. We had higher hopes for The Incredible Hulk as Saturday-night popcorn entertainment; and it was – for the first half of the movie. The second half just dropped the plot completely and had Nate and I glancing at each other every few minutes, our eyes saying, “Are we seriously watching this?”

While the movies were playing, Nate started soaking the hominy for our posole that we were planning to make later. He had already cooked the pork on Friday night and had our spices and red chile powder ready. A few weeks ago we were two ecstatic New Mexicans in the Mexican food aisle at Central Market – the store just started carrying Los Chileros products! What a site for sore eyes – real NM food in Texas! Now if only we could get fresh Frontier tortillas, and we’d be set. Not ten minutes after Nate added the hominy, pork, water, and posole spices to the crock pot did our kitchen and living room smell so delicious, and so like home. We had to wait about four hours for the posole to cook, so I also made some cornbread as a side. Delicious! We’ll be having leftovers tonight.

Our Sunday started out fairly lazy, as we enjoyed bagels and cream cheese while watching CBS’ Sunday Morning. However, Nate soon decided it would be good for us to get outside and get moving. He mowed and picked up leaves while I raked and swept the driveway and sidewalks. The weather was fantastic, overcast and 65 degrees – in late November! Our yard looked fantastic, six yard bags later, until this morning after the night winds blew more leaves off the trees and into our yard. Oh well, we had already picked up six bags of leaves two weeks ago, and hopefully we’ll only have one more round. What we need is some real cold weather so the final leaves actually fall off. Our pin oak tree out front has hardly turned yet and has not dropped but five leaves!

We finally left the house for a late lunch at Central Market – mmm…they serve the best sandwiches. I had a caprese sandwich (minus the tomatoes - yes, I said no tomatoes) and Nate had a chipotle steak sandwich with caramelized onions and roasted red peppers. Next time I’m substituting red peppers for tomatoes on my caprese sandwich. Our bellies full, we procured a few items for the week, including our eight-pound turkey breast for the Second Annual Walters Thanksgiving Dinner the Day After Thanksgiving. Next year, someone needs to come visit us! We have gotten quite good at this whole Thanksgiving menu and I promise you a fantastic meal…and pecan-bourbon pie (which my mother-in-law appropriately named “Drunken Pie” in 2006).

When we got home we took Riley on a nice 30-minute walk at dusk. I continually marvel at how much I love our neighborhood and last night was no different. We crunched leaves underfoot, smelled burning wood coming from a few fireplaces, and thoroughly enjoyed the view of downtown Fort Worth during the last few minutes of the walk, down our street to our cozy little cottage.