For this year’s second annual ski trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico, we stayed at Andrea’s house (a friend to Nathan’s parents). She has a wonderful home in the mountains that has a beautiful view. Below is the view from her back porch after a light snow. How gorgeous!
We couldn’t have asked for better weather. For our drive from Fort Worth to Ruidoso it was sunny and in the high 60s/low 70s, yet during our first night, it snowed. Everywhere you go in this area, there are deer, wild turkeys and elk. Here is a herd of elk we saw one morning by the local elementary school.
We arrived on Saturday evening and had a late dinner at Rio Grande Bar & Grille. I had a loaded baked potato.
Monday was our first day of skiing at Ski Apache and it was gorgeous driving up the mountain.
Wow – why am I so pale? I guess I need more sun in my life. The views driving up were so pretty, we were literally driving in and out of the clouds.
The drive up to Ski Apache is 12 miles long.
Tuesday was our second day skiing and it was awesome! The visibility was literally next to none. I think I’ll definitely frame the picture below on the ski lift.
This is only the second time I’ve gone skiing as an adult so I’m definitely a beginner. However, I think I’m doing pretty good. I stuck mostly with the greens but did end up going on two blues.
Nathan has about as much skiing experience as I do and he’s also doing awesome! We both think if we can come up here once a year and ski for a few days, that we’ll end up being really good.
After a morning on the slopes, we went with Nathan’s parents to the bowling alley. It was really fun because I have always had great memories at good ole’ Huntsville Lanes growing up.
Since Tuesday was also Valentine’s Day, Nathan and I ate dinner at The Ranchers Steak & Seafood. Nathan had the prime rib and I had the Alaskan king crab dish – which is my favorite meal! He helped me pick out some really beautiful opal earrings and necklace and I helped him pick out some new sunglasses.
On Wednesday morning we ate at The Log Cabin and I had the pecan waffle with a side of bacon. I’m on a big bacon kick right now. 🙂
After breakfast (we’ve eaten so well on this trip) we decided to go and play a little disc golf. Nathan is really good… while Gary and I are… well, we are still working on our game. Suzanne joined us for what ended up being quite the hike. The fact that none of us lost a single disc is pretty remarkable.
Thursday was our last day on the slopes and I went down two blue slopes, which means I’m definitely improving.
We got lucky again with the clouds on our way home, look below at how gorgeous the view was driving down the mountain. We were literally in the clouds.
Our last day was spent with Nathan’s parents while they house hunted for a vacation home and.. fingers crossed… they may have found one. I don’t want to say too much and jinx it, but it could be really awesome and the location is great!
On our drive home, we stopped at Aunt Shirley‘s house for an awesome breakfast – green chili quiche, cinnamon rolls, fruit and asparagus with a dill dipping sauce. Everything tasted so good and it’s always so wonderful when we get to stop and visit with her. She lives in Roswell, NM, home of the aliens.
We had a wonderful vacation and I’m so thankful that Nathan’s parents let me tag along – such wonderful memories were created. Now back to reality!
This year for Christmas everyone made their way up to Kalamazoo, MI to spend some time with Grandma Mary… Mother Mary… or Mary Weezie as I like to call her. I was lucky enough to arrive a day before everyone else, so it only seem natural to take advantage of our alone time. What better past-time than showing her the latest Snapchat filters.
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, Chloe is the best traveler. She has flown on an airplane many times and is so well behaved. She was pretty tired when we finally arrived, so found her ‘spot’ and hunkered down for the evening.
The first night that mom and dad were there, we had dinner with Chuck and Marianne. They’ve been friends with grandma and grandpa for years and years. Last year they moved into The Village and it was wonderful to see them and catch up.
We were so happy to have Clare, John IV’s girlfriend, come up and spend Christmas with us. It was her first time to see snow but unfortunately the day we were going to go sledding was the day the snow decided to melt.
It’s only a few times a year that the Cochran clan are all together, so we really try and enjoy the time we have together.
We love our games! I found this funny game called “Watch Ya’ Mouth” and it was hilarious. You put these funny plastic things in your mouth that are similar to what dentists have in their offices. You have to read different phrases and your partner has to decipher what you are saying. It’s soooo funny! I have some great pictures of mom and dad wearing the mouth piece, but of course, mom has threatened my life if I ever leak the pictures of her. 😉
One of the traditions I hope to continue with my family is something my mom started years ago. When J4 and I were too small to read, she created photo cards for all the presents, so we could help hand out the gifts based on who’s picture was on the package. Doing this year after year, you end up with a great collection of family photos and you end up reminiscing while you open presents.
Clare found really cute socks for all of us to wear – I love that she embraces her inner crazy cat lady. Please note the cats on her socks!
I’m always so curious what other family’s traditions are – we wake up, open presents and have Christmas music playing and then typically eat Kringle sent from Aunt Shirley and a breakfast casserole.
The whole gang. ❤️
While in town we stopped by the old family farm – one of Michigan’s last centennial farm that was owned by the same family the entire time. 150 years is pretty dang impressive! They mostly grew cherries and grapes.
The day after Christmas we had all the Pugsley cousins over for dinner, I think everyone had a really good time. It’s always really nice to see everyone! Below is Scott, Michael and John.
John and the kids were all in charge of passing out presents.
Mom and our Cousin Sally – they are so cute!
And of course mom and dad with Will and Sue. Will showed us his unbelievable collection of antique cars and metal toys. To keep the anonymity I haven’t added any photographs of his collection, but I can promise you – TV producers would love to get ahold of him!
I was in Michigan for almost a week but the time just flew by. We all had a great time together and I feel so blessed to have such a fun family.
If you are looking for a really good dessert for fall, check out the Chai Spiced Apple Clafoutis featuring unique spices from Raw Spice Bar.
INGREDIENTS
RawSpiceBar’s Peppercorn Chai
3 eggs
1 cup milk or heavy cream
12 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 tsp. salt
4 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1⁄2 cup plus 2 tsp. sugar
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine milk, eggs, 6 tbsp butter, vanilla, flour, 2 tsp sugar, and salt in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.
Melt 4 tbsp butter in a large skillet. Add apples, 1⁄2 cup sugar and RawSpiceBar’s Peppercorn Chai.
Cook until apples are glazed, about 5 minutes.
Add half batter to greased pie plate.
Arrange apple slices on top, reserving juices, then pour remaining batter over apples.
Sprinkle remaining sugar on top and bake until golden, 25-30 minutes.
Drizzle with warmed reserved apple juices.
If you are interested in trying new and exotic spices from around the world, Raw Spice Bar is a great option. They ship you new spices each month for literally only $8. Do it!
This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving in Kingwood, TX at John 4’s new home. He and Clare were the best hosts and everything was just so lovely. Here are some of my favorite moments from our fun week!
For the first time ever in Cochran history, we participated in Kingwood’s Turkey Trot. I hope this is a tradition we can continue.
I have to brag on John, he ran the 5k in 29 minutes and had the turkey on his head the entire time!
I didn’t feel quite as guilty eating to much food since we had a good workout in the morning.
I found these really pretty fall flowers at the Kroger by John’s house, so got them for our centerpiece.
Clare did 95% of the cooking the whole week and she killed it. Gold stars for her! The sweet potatoes were really good, not too sweet, but just right.
Mom made her stuffing and this year we did it with Jimmy John’s bread. It was awesome as usual. Her stuffing is my favorite, I look forward to it every year. Clare’s green bean casserole was really good, it had ground beef in it I believe and of course I love those crunchy fried onions.
Y’all know how much I love corn casserole and macaroni and cheese. These were ah-mazing. I love my yellow foods so much.
I’m not usually a ham person, but I went back for seconds on this ham. The glaze was unreal. The turkey was really good too, Clare got this particular recipe from Gordon Ramsey and it was a turkey wrapped in bacon with cajon seasoning injections.
We finally got to meet Clare’s folks and we had so much fun with them! Great food, great company and great conversations. You can’t ask for anything more.
Mom provided the table with little Thanksgiving Poppers, so we each had fun paper hats and little toys.
In Clare’s dad’s popper he got a fancy eye patch. 🙂
John got a cheap little yo-yo in his popper. After I ate, I really struggled to keep my eyes open, so this is my attempt to stay awake.
Nathan and Freddie joined us on Friday night and on Saturday we all got to play a round of golf at Deerwood Country Club. (Thanks John!) What’s cool about Deerwood is that’s where the famous scene from Tin Cup was filmed.
Thanksgiving was a blast and I’m so glad everyone was able to get together!
Recently I decided to give Raw Spice Bar a chance. I’ve had great experiences with Blue Apron and Hello Fresh as far as the meal delivery services go. Raw Spice Bar is similar in that it’s a monthly subscription, but instead of sending you entire meals, it focuses on new spices from around the world. As someone who loves to travel, the idea of trying new spices from cultures near and far each month, is incredibly appealing.
This month is the Pondicherry Flavor Kit. I’ll be honest, I had to google what Pondicherry was. In case you didn’t know either, it’s the capital city of Indian union territory of Puducherry. Over the next few weeks I’ll be cooking and reviewing the first three packets that came in the Pondicherry Flavor Kit.
Up first is the Indo-French Vadouvan packet. I kinda’ feel like an idiot because I don’t know what those words mean either. “Vadouvan” means Indian spice blend. When you get your spices, each packet comes with two recipes. This provides you with options on how you’ll use your packets.
Since it’s fall, I decided to go with the Vadouvan Butternut Squash Soup. I didn’t have any of the ingredients for the soup other than butter, so I stopped at the grocery store and to my surprise, everything came out to $9.80. That’s pretty impressive considering this is a healthy meal that contains several servings.
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp RawSpiceBar’s Indo-French Vadouvan
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, strained
1 medium butternut squash
2 quarts chicken stock
1 cup water
3 medium leeks
Salt & pepper, to taste
RAW SPICE BAR’S INDO-FRENCH VADOUVAN SPICES
Toasted cumin, toasted coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, yellow mustard seeds, brown mustard seeds, green cardamom, aleppo pepper, cayenne, nutmeg, cloves, spices
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil or butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
Chop up the leeks and onions. Add to the pot and stir until translucent, 6-8 minutes.
Add salt and RawSpiceBar’s Indo-French Vadouvan and stir until fragrant, 1 minute.
Add butternut squash, re-season with salt to taste. Cook until slightly brown, 8-12 minutes.
Add tomatoes and let brown, another 4-5 minutes.
Stir in stock and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until squash is tender.
Season with black pepper and salt to taste. Puree to desired consistency.
Ladle into individual bowls and serve with plain yogurt or raita and crusty bread or naan. (I actually used sour cream, because that’s all I had in the fridge.)
Overall, I’m very pleased with this soup. The flavors are rich and tastes like Fall. With the ingredients pretty much all vegetables, this is a really healthy option for a cold day.
I’m looking forward to trying the other two packets from Raw Spice Bar – Peppercorn Chia and Unpumpkin Pie Spice. Getting spices from around the world every month for only $8 is a heck of a deal.
Comment below if you have also tried Raw Spice Bar and what you think!
