This is one of the openers, Doug Burr. He was also wonderful – really enjoyed his songs.

And Balmorhea:

Anyway. Cooking usually means I’m stuck with mass quantities of whatever I make for days on end. I’m sure I could reduce the recipes or whatever, but remember, I was an art major. I don’t do math. And I’d share leftovers, but half the time I don’t even want to eat it once I try it. Why subject others to my culinary disasters? But I’m really trying to cut a lot of junk out of my diet* so with that comes the reality that I am going to have to cook for myself at some point. So I’ve been scouring recipe blogs for things that sound good. I love Pioneer Woman and her Tasty Kitchen cooking site, so I decided to try this White Chili Casserole recipe after seeing it over on another blog that I’ve been reading lately. Brace yourselves, internets: not only is it edible, but it’s good. I mean REALLY good. I know. No one was more surprised than me. Normally when I try to cook, I go for foofy stuff like cookies and brownies but this is an actual main course with many ingredients that I’ve never handled. Truth: I Googled the following phrases – “how to cut green onions”, “how to cut green peppers”, “do I need to drain white kidney beans?” None of that was for comedic value, I really did find videos showing me how to do those things. What can I say? I wanted to be sure. But I gathered (and properly cut) all the ingredients, followed the recipe** and waited patiently while it cooked. Then I pulled out a plate (hello plates! long time no see!) and served myself a scoop of casserole. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it smelled so good, I was hopeful this was a good sign. And it was! So good!

High on my success, I decided to go for broke and make the pumpkin bread that has been sitting in my cabinet for a long time. It was a mix, so all I had to do was add eggs, water and oil. I did it blindfolded, I was so confident. No, ok, I didn’t. But after spending over an hour making that casserole, this seemed like child’s play. I waited as it baked, filling my kitchen with pumpkin-y spicy smells. And as of 10 minutes ago I can confirm, it too was delicious! Wahoo!

Here is proof that I’m not making any of this up – Mom, are you reading? Do you see I finally put your lasagna pan to good use?

*the State Fair is coming in just a few weeks, so from September 24th to October 17th all bets are off. bring on the corny dogs and tornado taters!

**these are the changes I made to the recipe:

no garlic (didn’t have any and forgot to buy it)

I used corn torillas instead of flour

I didn’t layer anything, I ripped up the tortillas and mixed it all together

(I had to add this photo below to explain why the one above isn’t totally in focus – I think I caught Porter just as he was about to come running at us!)