2nd place!

We just got home from Central Market's Hatch Green Chile Cooking Contest. Matt took 2nd place with his green chile cheese bagels!

Check out some pictures here.

I'm so proud of him. :)

We think he got 2nd primarily because "creativity" was one of the judging factors -- and a green chile cheese bagel is fantastic, but maybe not as creative as some other things. We tasted the winning item, green-chile stuffed french toast, and it was great. Everything we saw or tried was excellent! Other finalists included wontons, chocolate icebox pie, squash soup, and gnocci (like mac & cheese -- that item tied with Matt).

So, we didn't win 75 lbs of chiles. But, Matt will tell you that he's happy because one of the celeb chefs went back for seconds of his bagel. The chefs also liked how they looked "rustic."

We're already thinking about ideas for next year!

Cheer for Matt!

Matt entered Central Market's Hatch Green Chile recipe contest, and was selected as a finalist! Woot! Good thing we went there this weekend and bought a bunch more chiles. :)

He'll be preparing his dish (more info on that to come) for the judges this coming Sunday. The winner gets a Central Market gift card and a huge pile of Hatch Green Chiles. Judges include (arguably) Austin's two best chefs, local food bloggers, and others. (Hmmm, come to think of it, maybe the food bloggers will come by my blog. Nah, nobody actually reads my blog!)

We love Hatch season -- so this is just awesome! I'm so proud of him! He thought carefully about his recipe options and tested everything. Even if he doesn't win, this is a lot of fun (and I get to eat the results -- not bad).

Fantastic Quilt blog & giveaway

My favorite quilt designer (unless I count myself - ha!) is having a fantastic give-away on her blog this week, to celebrate her blog's 1st anniversary. Prizes include finished quilts & some great fabric.

Check out Anka's Treasures blog here for more info. Designer Heather Mulder Peterson designs simple-to-make yet visually interesting quilts. I've been sewing her designs for almost a decade and am always excited to see new patterns. The patterns are illustrated well, accurate, and don't waste a ton of fabric (which is a pet peeve of mine). Her blog features lots of pictures for inspiration, which is great because her patterns usually work really well in lots of different color-ways.

Check it out and I hope I you win!

Maybe soon I'll be active again!

Tomorrow morning, I venture into the next stage of trying to solve the foot problems that have been plaguing me since last Thanksgiving: physical therapy. I'm not sure entirely what it will involve, but I'm excited to get started, hoping this will bring me relief. (Especially hopeful since the next stage would be some kind of surgery.)

My doctor said the problem has gotten to the chronic point, which I take to basically mean it's getting harder to treat. Thankfully, my recent venutre back to working out hasn't hurt anything (biking/elliptical seem just fine for me). What seems to do me in is standing or walking. Even just an hour of cooking or cleaning can put me down for days. I haven't been able to stand up during a worship service in at least 6 months (thankfully one of my coworkers gave me the go-ahead to sit in a special area last Sunday night, so at least I was able to see the words to the songs on the screens & sing along). So, I'm very much looking for more relief.

I guess, though, if I had to pick a time to be stuck at home, this summer was a good time! Last I heard Austin has had something like 55 days of 100+ degree temps. Hopefully by the time autumn rolls around and it's nice enough to go outdoors, my body will be up for it!

Depite the heat & pain, we are still managing a few fun things this summer, including taking another cooking class tomorrow night at Central Market, this one about green chiles. Matt also entered a recipe in their green chile recipe contest! We watched both Indiana Jones & The Goonies outside with friends. We've checked out a number of good new restaurants as well (Salvation Pizza between Guadalupe & Lamar around 28th was great, loved 5 Guys Burgers & Fries, etc.). Friends gave us tickets to the Broadway in Austin showing of "Wicked" last week. And, we're working on some upgrades to our living room, with a new flat-screen TV, xbox & media console, which we'll be installing soon.

So, anyhow, that's a random update from Matt & Becky's world. I'm off work today, since elevating my feet is about the best way to feel good after the shots I had yesterday. Being at the computer to type this has been about enough -- time to rest again. *sigh* Hopefully soon this will all be over!

Home Cook Masters

Matt & I have been thoroughly enjoying Top Chef Masters this summer on Bravo (that's probably because it features our favorite celeb-chef, Rick Bayless, plus plenty of other excellent chefs). We never really watched the regular Top Chef, finding that it had too much petty bitterness, immaturity, etc. Top Chef Masters, however, is fascinating.

For those not familiar with the concept, in each episode several chefs compete in two challenges, with amatures and professional critics judging the food. The challenges can be kind of random - making desserts that young Girl Scouts would like, cooking vegan/gluten-free/soy-free food, etc. Others dishes are more normal. At the end of each show, one person is declared the winner. That person then goes on to complete in later rounds.

Last night, we had our own little take-off of the show in our kitchen. We made our own version of Rick Bayless' tacos from his first Top Chef Masters episode. The original version was made with tongue (the challenge was all about cooking meat like that which most of us don't eat, and getting normal people at Universal Studios to eat it). His tacos went over great, so we figured they were worth a try.

Minus the tongue, of course.

Bayless put a version of the recipe online (check it out here). If you look at it even a bit, you'll notice a problem (other than just the tongue) -- it's good to make 100 tacos. Kinda overkill for just having one couple over for dinner. So, we improved a bit. But, it still tasted good!

Matt grilled the skirt steak (marinaded with the juice of 2 limes, a bit of olive oil, a handful of mexican oregano, grated garlic, and salt) and then we put it in with the other ingredients I'd prepared, including choriso, potatoes & onions. We served it with bacon crumbles, pickled red onions, limes, guacamole & cheese.

I figured the meal was a success when the friends who ate with us declared "I think this is Torchy's worthy" (referring to one of our favorite local taco places) and "I'm in my happy place right now."