Come back to Texas

Despite the fact that I'm not traveling right now I figured I could probably manage to entertain you with the few things that have been going on around here.

I arrived in Houston Wednesday afternoon and my dad picked my up at the airport there. We decided it would be much more economical for him to simply pick me up in Houston and drive me back to Austin. Besides, then he got a whole two and a half hours with me all by himself. 

The first thing I did was nearly die of heat exhaustion when we walked out the elevator doors onto the roof of the parking garage. The Texas sun was beating down, as expected, and it was a clear, sunny 88°F. 

It was 34°F when I left Prague 14 hours before so I'm sure you can imagine how that felt. I tried to dress in layers so I could strip off the extra when I got to Texas, but we all know that effort is futile. You just can't get cool in Texas unless Texas wants you to.

What's a tostada?

Yesterday was simply amazing.

I leaped out of bed at 11:30 a.m. which is incredibly early for me, especially once you consider I didn't go to sleep until 5 a.m.

I was so excited I couldn't sleep. All I could think was: "Today, I'm making a Tex-Mex feast."

I received a package full of Tex-Mex essentials from my mother the other day: A 30-count package of corn tortillas which I've been whining for since I got here; a block of Velveeta (I won't even attempt to call it cheese now that it made the 7-day journey from Texas without harm.); and six cans of El Pato sauce — the best jalapeno sauce ever and the base ingredient to my dad's enchilada sauce.

Since it was my week to cook, I decided it was Tex-Mex time.

All from scratch, I made refried beans, Spanish fried rice, salsa, and tostadas. I also made queso, but you can't really call that from scratch. Although I did make the "rotel" to put in the velveeta from scratch.

All I could think about all day was that it was Tex-Mex day and by the end of the day I would be eating some of my favorite foods that I grew up with my whole life.

In my class, I was super bored because my kids were taking forever to do anything and I was just thinking, "I want to go home and eat my food."

It's 12:30 p.m. the next day and I'm still full.

Of course the Girl Scout cookies didn't hurt.

My friend Terena sent me four boxes of girl scout cookies — two Thin Mints and two Samoas, my favorites! Now I just have to savor them.

Even if my supply is limited, having all these foods back in my life is probably less of a blessing than I would like it to be. Last week one of my classes asked me if I was pregnant.

Well, first they asked if I had a boyfriend. Then they asked if I had a husband. Then they asked if I was pregnant.

Now in my defense, I can still fit into every piece of clothing that I brought with me. Everything fits me just fine. And I am perfectly content with these sizes.

I honestly think it was just the dress I was wearing last week, but the whole experience has left me a little body conscious.

I mean, I'm used to my kids saying I'm fat (even the pudgy one's call me fat), but I honestly can't blame them. The average Taiwanese woman is a size 2 and a size 2 in Taiwan is equivalent to a girls' size 16 in the States. It's programmed into them to believe that all women are stick thin.

My curves seriously throw them off.

Either way, though, pregnant is a whole new level of insult and I'm not quite shaking it off the way I normally would.

I had better get into a better routine before it gets hot outside otherwise I'll just have one more excuse to add to the pile of reasons not to exercise.

In the meantime, I love Tex-Mex far too much and having it back in my life — even temporarily — has put me in the best mood ever. I don't think I'm capable of any level of restraint here.