Mellie Dee

New Year, 1st Blogoversary

January 1, 2012 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

Happy New Year! And Happy 1st Blogoversary to my MwM!

I have received my annual report from WordPress and I love it! I had the most readers from America (obviously), then Australia (surprisingly), with Canada following not far behind. I love reading these stats. It’s a good motivation for me to keep going. Thank you everyone who’s supported me through all of this!

January

Staring a New Blog and 2011 New Year Resolution: Post up a different dish twice a month if not even more and continue this blog until next year. I have continued to post and it’s all thanks to y’all. Thank you!
Changed New Years Resolutions: make one new dish a month. Though I did end up with 12 new dishes, it wasn’t made once a month. But we will count it.

February

First Chinese New Years not with the family and spending it other than in Houston.

Made caramel from scratch for the first time.

May

Decided to start Couch to 5k and opening up a little on my blog.
Went to my first Houston Rodeo.

June

Started reaching out to the Blog World. Thank you for everything y’all!

Appreciated everything in my life after reading Miss Alabama USA, Madeline Mitchell’s story.
Having my first Magnum Ice Cream since coming to the states.

July

Best friend from high school, Alyssa, got engaged.
Had my first OOIAJ!
Finished my C25K!
Finally posting up my Bucket List.
Signed up for Pinterest! Find me @cripple15.
My Very First Giveaway!

Holding Baby Katherine.

August

Went to the Inaugural 2011 Houston Beer Fest.

Amanda’s Birthday Weekend where I wore a skirt without tights for the first time, staying out so late in Houston for the first time, and sleeping somewhere overnight in Houston for the first time.
First Houston Restaurant Week at Le Mistral with the mum!
Winning my first Giveaway from Lauren from Team Giles.

September

Having my first dinner party at my new apartment.

UTSA’s Inaugural Football Game.
De Lorenzo getting my hair done professionally and walking down the “runway”.
My very own popcorn machine that I use on the daily … almost.
Finding The Country Network.

October

Would You Rather Be A Mermaid or a Whale?
Ropes Course
New Phone for the next two years!

First Halloweekend spent with the brother and his friends. Found a picture of myself enjoying my first bratwurst from that night.

November

Fashion Out Cancer Show.

Opening a wine bottle without a wine opener …
Spending Thanksgiving weekend and Mum’s birthday with family, and Brother’s birthday with him and his friends.

December

Going to the Holocaust Museum and getting to listen to Rose’s story.
Christmas with Family.

**********

Wow. This year has gone by so quickly! And so many things happened. I am happy I started documenting my life here because I wouldn’t have realized how wonderful my life is.

Next post? My 2012 New Years Resolution.

Keep a lookout. Until then, Happy New Year!

What are your New Years Resolutions?

New Years Eve

December 31, 2011 by Mellie Dee 2 Comments

Right now sissy and I are getting a manicure. Hopefully it’s going well since I’m writing from the past.

New Years Eve in my family means me spending time with my family. More like my parents and June since my brother is already back in Dallas and my sissy is most likely to hang out with her boyfriend.

I like being home with the parents. I actually like starting a new year with them.

I guess we’ll see what happens this year.

Happy New Years Eve!

Have fun and be safe!

What are you up to?

Recipe | Congee

December 30, 2011 by Mellie Dee 2 Comments

If you’re Chinese you would know what Congee is. Or in my language, Jook. It’s a type of rice porridge. I remember eating it when I was sick or on Sundays.

Ever since I went off to college I ate less and less of it. I wasn’t home anymore where my mum can make it for me and if I went out for it, it would cost an arm and a leg.

My mum is letting me take the 3 quart (?) Crock Pot to college for my last semester and I am so excited.

So excited, I decided to try it out and make congee last night.

I know it may look disgusting but it tastes better than it looks.

Congee (Jook)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice
5- 7 cups water (may need more)
1/3 cup raw shelled peanuts
2 preserved duck eggs, chopped
4 scallions, chopped

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in the 3 quart crock pot except for the scallions.
Bring to a boil and cook for at least five to eight hours. It could have a tendency of boiling over. If so, just stick a small fork in between the lid and the pot.
Add additional water if necessary. More water for more soupiness, less for a thicker consistency.
Add scallions as garnish.

You can add anything else you want in there. Chicken, vegetables, shrimp, etc.

Mine came out a little bland but that’s how I like it because I’m not a big fan of using salt. I also added a lot of water. More ingredients in the pot, more water needed.

It also depends on what you put in there that makes the color. If I didn’t add some of the ingredients, it would have came out white. Keep that in mind. And enjoy. Smile

Spring Creek Barbeque | Katy, Texas

December 29, 2011 by Mellie Dee 4 Comments

Since Tammy, Jenny, and Sammi were leaving back to Dallas we went to:

Spring Creek Barbeque
21000 Katy Freeway
Katy, TX
(281) 829-0359
www.springcreekbarbeque.com

They do things very differently here.

The cost of your food depends on what you order meat-wise.

And the sides (pinto beans, potato salad, coleslaw, corn, mac & cheese, green beans) along and bread are on the house – all you can eat!

But if you wanted to get baked potatoes, french fries, okra, or side salad, you would have to pay extra.

Ribs | $11.95

I got the ribs as you can tell. They were delicious. You can get bbq sauce on top or in a sauce cup. I got it on top.

For the sides, I got a roll, a slice of onion, macaroni and cheese, green beans, and potato salad.

Yes the sides are all you can eat but they were heavy and … unhealthy.

For the taste though, let’s just say I ate another roll, more green beans, a very tiny bit of potato salad.

I would come back here but not for a little while. They really do pack on the meat.

Christmas Recap

December 29, 2011 by Mellie Dee 4 Comments

We had Christmas on the 23rd due to the sissy having work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It starts out like any other Christmas.

Me wrapping presents for everyone that needs help wrapping their gifts

Some tags to some presents that needed wrapping.

Pictures with the doggies (Rocky, Krypto, Pluto) were taken in front of the Christmas tree.

Here is the shots with the presents, minus the sissy’s. She hadn’t arrived yet.

All the presents!

From:
– Tammy’s Family – Beignet Mix from Café Du Monde, Fact or Crap, Scrabble
– Brett – Spice Rack
– Tammy – Popcorn Bowl, Eco 2 Go Cup
– Dad – 10 bucks (Traditional Game)
– Sissy – Certificate Shellac Manicure, Neutrogena Chapstick
– June – 2 scarves
– Mum – Crockpot Recipes

Not shown:
– Brother – Coach Wristlet

We opened up the Scrabble and played a round of it. I won with 182 points! The next time we played, I was not so lucky.

Pluto got a new sweater!! It’s so cute!! Open-mouthed smile

And I made Red Velvet Cupcakes for Jenny and Sammi.

On the 25th we all went to our Aunt’s for Christmas dinner.

I got a purple wallet from the cousins, the siblings and I got random things in a bag from another cousin, and the Uncle gave us each 20 bucks.

It was fun getting to reminisce with the cousins. I love that we grew up so close together. So many memories …

We played Outburst for Juniors. We were put into two teams. Me, Tammy, and Cousin. Brother, 2 Cousins, and Jenny.

Four against three. We won!!

Then we played Chinese Checkers. Jenny won by victory of everyone. We helped her out and she ended up being first place. Funny huh?

Hope your Christmas was just as wonderful!! Open-mouthed smile