Ohhhh mexican food. I miss you dearly...

For the most part, San Francisco's Mexican food has been a great disappointment. There are a few places worth going to but nothing has compared to the goodness we left behind in Texas.

The SF Effect

It reminds me of senior year of high school when I decided to play on my schools softball team. It was my first year to play softball.

The coach always told me to watch the ball. I tried, but from the time it left the pitchers hand to the time it touched the catchers glove...I never saw the ball. No matter how hard I tried. I was tired of striking out so I asked the coach to bench me (Brent says I'm a quitter...I just don't like to do things I don't enjoy or have much time to perfect).

I stopped trying new Mexican food restaurants because it's just too disappointing.

Plan B

In an effort to satisfy our need for Tex Mexican Food, I came across this recipe for Brisket Tacos. The next best thing to Mi Cocina's brisket tacos.

It's pretty easy too. Try it!

It makes a lot of food so here are a few recommendations if you're not making it for a big group and have lots of leftovers.

I know this pic does not look appetizing...but it really IS good.

Freeze it in individual ziplock bags (just enough meat for one meal) so that you only defrost what you'll use.

Shape the meat in the ziplock bag in a round shape to fit in your bowls. So you can dump it from the freezer bag to your bowl and heat it up in the microwave without it sticking out of the bowl funny. The meat will cook more evenly this way.

Try it with corn tortillas, salsa, and white cheese like monterrey jack or mozzarella.

My next undertaking....fajitas. That word is practically foreign here. I have not seen it on a menu once.

Summer's Here!

Today it finally happened. It felt like summer outside. It was sunny AND warm. I wore a short sleeved t-shirt! I could have worn shorts but I didn't trust the forecast because their usually wrong. So, I tried a new hike.

I hopped on this trial about two blocks from our house. On either side of the trial are streets that run parallel to the path for awhile. And, despite the traffic noise, I enjoy the combination of nature and architecture.

The path connects to many trails at this little lake.

Luckily the trails are well marked or I would have gotten lost. I was particularly intrigued by the Cemetery Overlook. Who would want to go there?

It took a good while but finally I was at my destination...the GGB. There are great views of Alcatraz and downtown but my phone didn't take good pics of them.

It was perfect. A nice cool breeze. The ocean. The sun. Somedays I can't wait to move back to Texas...but not today. If Austin could only have an ocean I would be there in a heartbeat but you just can't beat San Francisco when the weathers perfect.

I was dreading the hike back because round trip it is a 6 mile hike. But, as usual curiosity got the best of me and I had to check out this cemetery outlook.

I almost turned back when I saw all these stairs. My legs did not like me. But, the cemetery had some beautiful views.

You could definitely rest in peace here. I wanted to stay here all day because 1. It was beautiful and 2. I didn't know if my legs could could carry me home.

I would have done anything for $2 to get on the bus. I didn't even care if it was the right bus.

But, my legs moved on and three hours and a sun burn later I made it home.

Got Milk?

Brent's co-workers were raving about the cookies and cream cookies at Anthony's Cookies in the Mission district. So, we had to go and see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.

Cookies are a big deal in the Couchman family. Especially chocolate chip cookies. They have their own secret chocolate chip cookie recipe. So, this place had high expectations to live up to.

Anthony's is a cute little cookie shop with a nice variety of cookie flavors.

We ordered the chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, and cookies and cream cookies. The cookies were GOOD. We enjoyed all of them, but we both agreed the cookies and cream was the best. The cookies and cream cookie passed the Couchman cookie test.

And of course, a cookie must have some milk to go along with it to make it complete.

What's Up?

Brent has been keeping himself busy as usual, so I thought I'd share some of his latest projects.

The Bike Mess illustration is his latest print available on etsy. This year it was also a part of Poster Cabaret's Bicycle Print Show in Austin. If you like bikes you might want to check out all of Poster Cabaret's bicycle prints available here.

This solar system illustration will soon be available in kids sized t-shirts from Made by Wolf. But, if they don't hurry up and print it, I'm going to print it myself. It's one of my favorite illustrations of Brent's I think. And, the solar system was one of my favorite themes to teach in kindergarten.

Brent was very sweet to surprise me with these business cards. I hope to use them in the future even if it's not for private tutoring.

In other news....

Our fridge went out yesterday, ugh! It has been very hard for us to wait patiently for it to be replaced. If I were in charge, it would have been replaced yesterday! We found out today that the new fridge should be delivered on Saturday.

There are two more weeks left of my long term sub position in first grade (June 16th is my last day). I'm really excited for the summer but I've had fun getting to know the kids. But, I'm mostly excited for the summer! The beginning of summer also means my sister, Katy, will be visiting SF!!