Our outdoor adventure..

For Santi's 30th birthday I thought to myself what can we do that he would enjoy and I was shopping on group on and stumbled on a really cool Zip lining package and thought what the heck let's do it!

We packed a back pack and drove about an hour away to Boerne, TX, and headed to the Don Strange Ranch of Adventures.   We challenged ourselves to an Alpine climb that was not only physically challenging, but mentally challenging.  It took me almost 17 minutes to get to the top- with my legs trembling, and stopping a couple times ready to give up-but I didnt give up and I made it to the top and I rang that bell!  If you knew me, you would know I am the biggest baby, and I very afraid of heights.  So proud of myself for pushing to do it!

We had so much fun, and we can totally scratch this off our bucket lists! ^_^

Definitely a day full of adventure!

We made it official...

This is a little long overdue, but lately it seems like there is not enough time in a day!  Married life, holidays, and work...have not been able to stop for a minute quite yet!  Just a little recap on life a little, Santi & I finalized our marriage!  I am now Mrs. Santi Villamaria.  ^_^ I am still getting used to this...the other day I signed my name as usual, and realized that's not my name anymore.....whoops!  It will take some time I think!  

So a few weeks ago Santi & I we took our much needed vacation back home to Florida for a few days.  Well it was hardly a vacation...we had our dinner party and his graduation to tend to.  Our trip felt too short, but was AMAZING, (although did not feel like a vacation at all), but I am not complaining because we got to spend time with our close friends, and our families were able to get acquainted.  They seemed to enjoy one another's company so we spent a lot of time together!  

I am very grateful for this-I have always enjoyed spending time with my family, and now I feel extremely blessed I have another Mom, Dad, 2 sisters, and brother in law to add to my already special family!

Here are just a few photos from our dinner & graduation! :)

Safe to see it was great to see everyone, especially our families!

Love, 

The Villamarias

Our little trip to a local Vineyard..

We spent the day with my future sister-in-law and her husband.  We took a little trip about 20 minutes out to a local Vineyard in New Braunfels to do a little wine tasting!  We tasted about 8 different wines, from white to red, sweet to dry- they even had a little chocolate, crackers, and spicy jam to pair it with.

We had about the best Sangria (says Santi), that we have ever had, and we washed everything down with a Sweet Blanco Shooter.

The Sweet Blanco shooter was interesting.  It was a sweet jalapeno topped with some white wine.  There were specific directions we had to follow too..
1. Sip a little wine from the top- wait a few seconds
2. SHOOT it with the jalapeno
3. Chew the jalapeno 26.5 times while the wine is still in your moth
4. Swallow

It sounds hmm..not so good, but it was pretty delicious and like I said interesting. :)

After our tasting, we grabbed a few bottles of wine we liked the best and had a little scenic picnic with some good wine, cheese, and company.  It was the most relaxing, perfect Sunday!

Needed a Laos food fix..

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since I've moved to San Antonio, TX...and I have come to the conclusion there are no Asians here.  I am seriously missing good, authentic ASIAN food.

The other day I was on a mission to find a friend or find some good food so I googled the nearest oriental market, and found one 30 minutes away called Tim's Oriental & Seafood Marketing.  Apparently this is the largest Asian market around here (according to the random guy I kept asking to help me in the store, I think he was the owner's son).   So if you are an inquiring mind and are in the San Antonio area they are located at 7015 Bandera Rd Ste 8.  NOTE:  The best days to shop are Thursday-Sunday, this is when they get new shipment and this is when they will have some fresh baked goodies!

So I walked up and down ever single aisle in search of some khao piak sen noodles- the ones that already made and all you have to do and take it home and throw it in the pot.  ^_^ No bueno.  I did not find any, but I did find rice flour and tapioca starch.  I was desperate for some Laos food, so I decided what the heck I CAN DO THIS (and plus one of my Korean friends that lives in Boston posted a picture on Instagram last week of the noodles she made from scratch- I told myself if she could do it, I could absolutely do it too)!

So here we are....

I woke up this morning to a gloomy, rainy, and a VERY cold 53 degrees.  It was cold to me, I'm from Florida- don't judge me.  So as I was saying, it was perfect weather for some hot soup, plus last night my future hubby, poor baby had the sniffles, so I thought it would be the perfect day to make some Khao Piak Sen.

After some research, I found a Video on youtube on how to make the noodles for Khao Piek Sen.

So I watched it to get somewhat of an idea of what to do.

The link to the video is below, if anyone is interested- I think he was a little drunk when he made this video, but it does make for good entertaining, and it gives you an idea of how to make the noodles. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50GKFJBGNI

All and all, it was a long process, and a messy one, but I did it!  I will post a picture of the soup later on today, once my hubby gets home. ^_^

Also, if anyone is interested on the entire recipe with the broth and how to cook the chicken check out this blog below.

http://concasse.blogspot.com/2010/06/khao-piak-sien-laotian-fresh-rice.html