Our friends at Republic Title compiled a list of the bets places to see holiday lights in DFW this season.
Check it out!
If you’re looking for a fun holiday-themed spot to visit (with or without kids, no judgement!), here are some options in Oak Cliff.
Special shoutout goes to the folks on Knott Place/Evergreen Hills who have decorated the street and island! Be sure to take your letter to Santa.
The gift for baking has been endowed upon many. But not me.
I possess photographic evidence of the following:
It’s never interested me to study the why’s of these results, so I simply stopped baking…until this Fall. I was tempted into buying the book “Bakes Simple” by the author, Aran Goyoaga’s, looping baguette video. In the clip, she breaks a baguette in half, and it’s gorgeous. Fine print reads “gluten free”. Wheels screeching! Record scratching! Alarms ringing! That was a full ‘YES’ for me. So I ordered a copy (Actually, I ordered one for me, two for other GF friends, and three by accident…that have now found good homes).
When I delivered the books to friends, I found out that I was the only one new to Canelle et Vamilly (Goyoaga’s blog). In it and the cookbook, she goes through some deep gluten-free science, like binders and leaveners and steps to replace what wheat, yeast and water do naturally.
The good news is she makes a strong case for buying an inexpensive baking scale for accurate measurements. The bad news is that there were about 10 different flours that I needed to get started. But no surprise….I was already knee-deep into figuring out that baguette. I was diving all the way in.
So that was my first recipe to try. And it turned out. Not beautiful, but tasty! In the 6 weeks since I got the book, I’ve made 2 cakes, 4 batches of cookies, and an oat & honey bread. All amazing, and no exploded cupcakes or other mess ups to be seen! The real surprise to me is how relaxing and fun baking has become for me. Many Friday nights, I’m elbow deep in GF flour. It’s become my way to unwind and be mindful of the transition from work time to personal time.
February 15th, 2021, I woke up at 5:30AM to Val asking, “did you turn off the ceiling fan?” The bedroom one we keep on all nights of the year? Nope. Not me.
UH OH
We both bolted upright. “The power is out!”
That’s right…in the first 24 hours of the brutal snowstorm that crippled Texas, we were without heat, lights, or hot water. Although “rolling blackouts” were “scheduled”, Val and I both doubted the state’s ability to execute their own plan.
We each got into motion. Val secured a hotel room that would take our dogs and checked on her mom. I grabbed the Go-Bag and started to assemble the remaining checklist items. What’s a Go-Bag? Simply put, it’s a waterproof container ready for various emergencies. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of them; I hadn’t either until September 2019. At that time, I met Vicky Wessling, the first female forest fighter and later a volunteer with the American Red Cross. During the whitewater raft trip down the Grand Canyon, she convinced me in a few days time that a Go-Bag was essential to every household.
What’s in a Go-Bag? In brief, it’s a waterproof bag with personal documents, a handful of medical items, some cash, and a few emergency staples. A complete list can be found here. Or, if you are short on time, you can buy pre-made bags with Judy or Preppi starting from $195. There are variations depending on the type and extent of emergency expected. The main thing is to have your bag and a checklist ready IN ADVANCE.
Here’s how that played out for my family. Val did get us a place to stay. But on the third day, we came down from the 15th floor for our morning dog walk. There were several trash cans catching leaks throughout the hotel lobby. We learned that they lost a boiler and were about to shut the power off “for an hour” (it ended up being 12 hours). When we got back to the room, we grabbed the Go-Bag, and a few other things, to head home, where a few neighbors had let us know the power was restored. It would have normally sent me into a tailspin or panic to have had to evacuate twice. Just knowing that I had all of our important stuff in one place and a plan gave us great peace of mind. And made quick decisions possible.
My Go-Bag took me about 3-4 months of steady progress to compile. If you start now, you can be ready for deep winter in Texas. Or, get a pre-made kit if you prefer. But as Simon Huck (founder of Judy) told the New York Times, “The No. 1 thing you can do to save lives is make an emergency plan…more so than having a physical product.”
