Cooking New Menus

Being in a new place, we can't resist to try the foods they usually have here.  Especially when we always hear them in our country.  We tried two dishes that's new to us:

First, the french toast.  It's familiar even in our place, I even tried it in one of our local restaurants in the  Philippines.  But I never knew how to make it.  Maybe because, unlike here, some of the ingredients were not readily available in the grocery stores or not included in our budget (hehehe).  Back to the french toast.  Well, it's easy.  Just mix milk, eggs, orange zest (if available) and cinnamon (I added sugar to taste).  Dip the bread to the mixture.  And fry it using butter.  Serve with butter and honey or maple syrup.  That's it.

Then, we tried cooking their local seafood... crawfish.  When cooking it, you should have live ones (or the dead ones will affect the taste).  Here are the steps:

1. Clean the crawfish first with water. 
2. Boil water into a pot.  Add seasoning (we used Louisiana premix) 
3. Once the seasoned water comes to a boil, add the potatoes, corn, garlic, and sausage. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add the crawfish and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat after and leave the pot covered for 10 minutes. 
5. Drain well and serve immediately.

Now, eating crawfish is somewhat like what you do with shrimps.  Take off the head ant tail, then peel off it's shell.  And by the way, remove it's digestive tract (it's the black part located inside the meat of the crawfish).  It's easy to remove it, just watch YouTube if you'll get a hard time figuring it out.  Bon appetit!  Yahweh bless.

Me & My New Found Skill

Have I already shared that life here in the US isn't cheap?  If not, let me then give a brief overview of the cost of living here, particularly in our state of Texas (figures are just rough estimates):

• Apartment rent– between $800 to $1,200 (basic/ monthly) and there are those that cost much more.
  Water, gas, trash and other fees– $80 monthly average
• Electricity– $40 monthly average
• Groceries– $70 weekly average
• Car (2nd hand)– around $400 monthly payment (down payment, taxes and other fees not included)
  Car Insurance– $140 (basic) average monthly payment
  Gasoline– $30 semi-monthly consumption
• Health Insurance– $800 family coverage (semi-monthly payment)
• Phone lines– $60 (post-paid/ monthly average); $40 (pre-paid/ monthly)
• Internet connection– $50 basic/ monthly average

Along with other petty expenses, I guess one needs 2 to 3 works or a good paying job will do.  Don't be discouraged with the figures.  Life here is still a lot better.  If not, why do you think we are here? 

Well, enough with the advertisement and go back to the main program... my topic (LOL).  With all the expenses mentioned above, I learned a new skill– BARBERING... all thanks to the ever reliable YouTube for the tutorials and helpful videos.  And for my very first victim... err... customer, my son, Justin.  Everything was prepared.  I got my newly arrived haircutting kit from Amazon;  newspapers spread on the working area; one lovely assistant (none other than my wife); and plan B (just if everything won't be what is expected)... skin head (bwahahaha). 

But I was pretty confident that I can pull it off.  And so did I.  Wasn't good as a pro but my wife and kid told me that it wasn't also bad for a beginner.  Looking at it, I myself can't believe I did a good job.  

The only downside is I cannot cut my own hair.  I guess there was just enough good new for the day.  At least we didn't need to resort to plan B.  Yahweh bless.