Holding On to You

When we left Houston, I regretted that I had not tried many of the thousands of restaurants in the area. However, I am grateful now, because I'd have probably found lots of good ones that I'd really be missing now.

There are several restaurants and foods that I am missing the most:
1) Texadelphia cheesesteaks, particularly the Mustard Blend sauce
2) Chipotle burritos (1450 calories each!)
3) Ninfa's and/or Don Carlos' queso and fajitas

None of these restaurants exist in Utah.

I have located two Utah restaurants that are known for their cheesesteaks*. One is in the Piper Down Irish pub in Salt Lake City, and the other is Philadelphia Sub Shop in Clearfield. I will most likely be disappointed if I try them, because I am craving Texadelphia's taste, and nothing else. I can also guarantee that neither will have Mustard Blend sauce, which is the most important part of a Texadelphia cheesesteak. I have found a couple sources on the internet claiming that the ingredients for the sauce are mayonnaise, yellow mustard, Gulden's spicy mustard, Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce, honey, and water. I'm going to experiment with the mustard blend sauce and then maybe I'll take some with me to the cheesesteak place in Clearfield someday. I knew before I left Houston that I needed to buy at least two jars of Mustard Blend from Texadelphia, but I forgot about it :-P If my experiment doesn't work out, I'll order some or have my Houston co-workers send me some.
* I understand that places like Subway and Quizno's have cheesesteaks, but they seem to have pretty consistent bad reviews.

I've tried New York Burrito, which seemed to be similar to Chipotle, but it wasn't even close. The basic idea was the same, but the burritos were small, and the ingredients were tasteless. The guacamole tasted like it was made from a powder.

I tried the fajitas at Bajio Mexican Grill. They were OK, but they weren't anything like Ninfa's/Don Carlos. Ninfa's/Don Carlos fajitas are simple Tex-Mex fajitas - flour tortillas, steak or chicken, onions/peppers, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream, with beans and rice on the side. Everything is fresh (the key) and flavorful, but none of the flavors are overwhelming. Bajio Grill's fajitas had a bunch of strong flavors all competing for attention, which made everything kind of gross.

The final thing I need is queso. I have found a bunch of different recipes for queso, so I'm sure I'll find one that is satisfying. I used to melt Velveeta and add canned jalapenos and thin it with milk, and that worked all right. However, I want to find something that uses real cheese instead of Velveeta.

Engineer in training

I discovered today that I am officially an EIT (engineer-in-training). The requirements to become an EIT are to graduate from an accredited engineering program (which I did in 2003) and pass the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam. The FE is an 8-hour exam testing you on all the classes you should have taken in your college program. Most students take the FE while they're still in school because it's much easier that way. I started to sign up for the test while I was in school, but then I thought "I'm never going to work! I'm just going to be a stay-at-home-mom! Why spend $150 and waste 8 hours of my life?" So I didn't take it. Life changed, and I am working. I finally got around to taking the FE last April, and in June, I found out that I passed. I took it with four other people from my company, and I really want to compare scores with one of them. I'm really competitive about academic stuff :-)

We moved from Texas to Utah soon after that, and I still haven't sent in the forms to become licensed in Texas. Today I decided to find out how I could register in Utah. I couldn't find anything on the State website, and my coworkers confirmed that there is no EIT registration process in Utah. Basically, once you've graduated and passed the FE, you can start calling yourself an EIT. So, in Utah I'm now 'officially' an EIT. Yay, me! I've filled out my papers for Texas (again), so if I ever get around to sending them off, I'll be an EIT in Texas too!

Texas vs. Utah, Part I

To explain the title of my last post - it was my idea to move back to Utah. I didn't insist that we move back, but BigDaddy has always known that I wanted to. So when he decided that he wanted to move back, I was very excited. This summer was supposedly very hot in Utah. However, coming from the Houston death-humidity, it felt cool and refreshing to me. Granted, I wasn't usually out in the heat of the day.

I've been planning to do a post exploring my feelings about where we live. We like Utah for many reasons, but our biggest complaint is that housing and land prices are out of control, at least compared to places like Texas (housing), Tennessee (land), or Missouri (land). I realized that this comparison post could get very huge, so I'll only talk about one thing at a time.

First - weather. Texas vs. Utah (anywhere on the Wasatch Front)
I hate the heat, but I also hate the snow. I know we can't live in California, so that means I have to accept one or the other. Going outside in Houston during the summer (any time from April through October) is like stepping into a death-wave of stifling heat. We were there for 2.5 summers, but I never got used to the heat. I was working all the time, so I never went outside during the day regularly. Maybe if I got a chance to experience it more often, I could adapt to it.

Utah is also very hot during the summer. However, the really hot months are limited to July and August, unlike the full 6 months in Houston. There is another huge difference. In Utah, if you find shade, you are saved! You go into the shade and it feels deliciously cool. You instantly start to cool down and feel better. In Houston, shade does nothing. You get out of the sun, but the heat is just as stifling because of the humidity.

What about winter? As you know, it's only November, and yesterday it was 13 degrees out, with a wind chill to 0! Utah is typically chilly or cold from October through March. Most of the time it's tolerable, especially if you have warm clothes. But days like yesteray just make you want to stay in your warm cuddly bed with your warm cuddly kids all day!

We never experienced this kind of cold in Houston. I don't even think we got our jackets out for two whole years. Last New Year's Eve we went to the Children's Museum of Houston. The kids had on overalls and long-sleeved t-shirts. The museum had water exhibits outside. The kids played in the water, outside, on New Year's Eve, with no coats. I think they might have been slightly cold, but it was still warmer than it is here in September or October.

If you like snow or snow sports, Utah is a great place. The motto on the license plates is "Greatest Snow on Earth!". Other than the 2 years in Houston, I have lived here my entire life and have never been skiing. I like to go sledding a few times. I like to see the beautiful snow when it's covering everything. I love to see it falling. But other than that, I'm not such a big fan. I'm terrified of driving on snow, or worse, ice. I just hate it. I've never been in a snow-related accident, but that's not because of my skill, it's because miracles still exist.

Of course in Houston, you will never get snow that sticks, but you also won't have to scrape your windshields more than once or twice a year and you won't have to drive on ice regularly. Interestingly enough, most bridges in Houston have warnings about icing over.

So - weather. Do we want to suffer the death-ray heat of Houston for 6 months out of the year, or freeze to death half the year? Such a conundrum.