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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Eating with the Gossetts

As many of you know I dont cook often, and so Kris picks up the slack, ecspecially on Sundays. I often come up with the recipe and buy the food the somehow push it all over to Kris. He is sweet about it and recently made some excellent Pulled Pork Burritos. I figured I would share the recipe because they are so good.

Mexican Pulled Pork Soft Tacos

1 Med onion, coarsely chopped
1 3.5 to 5 lb pork shoulder roast
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 15- oz can jalapeno flavored diced tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp oregano or italian seasoning
1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper
1 4-oz can diced green chiles (mild)
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1/2 Cup water
1 15-oz can corn kernels, drained
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
Tortillas

In slow cooker layer chopped onion, pork roast and sweet peppers. In medium bolw, combine all ingredients except corn, beans and tortillas. Pour evenly over mixture in slow cooker. Cover cooker and cook on high 5 1/2 hours. Add corn and beans during the last 30 mins. Pull meat apart with two forks and place into warmed tortillas; top with cheese and lettuce if desired. Roll and pour liquid over tacos to smother them.

This made a ton, so share it with those you love!

Tonight I made bannana bread because I always buy more bannanas than Kris and I can eat before they go bad. I have three loaves now so come get it if you want some.

Adventures in Lava Hot Springs: Kris, Captain; Megan, 2nd in Command










So this summer we have decided that we want to enjoy our time as a married couple and take advantage of having the weekends off so for our first adventure Kris staked out LAVA HOT SPRINGS in Idaho. He made reservations at the Home Hotel just .2 miles away from the Hot Springs and the next day we were off.

I was expecting a little bit bigger town, and open lava pools around the springs but Lava Hot Springs is what it is. A small town with a state run facility that has several nice pools that are somehow heated by lava underground and then the water comes up and is filtered into the different pools, I guess. (I am not a geologist.) The pools have no chemicals, only minerals that are healing. In the area are lava rock covered in mineral deposits, which I thought was cool. There was also one small natural pool that they had gated off. There are five man made pools but one is so hot people dont stay in it long. Some of the pools have small pebbles, instead of flagstone bottons and bubbles come up through the bottom, which is kind of cool. I enjoyed the pools the most in the evening after it had cooled down and I am sure it would be a fun place to visit in the winter when its really cold.

Most of our time was spent in the Hot Springs but we also spent time eating and at the indoor pool in town that was a normal temperature. The first place we ate for dinner was a pizza joint in town that had a big room filled with old style boxes and cans for various popular food products, a frame filled with various types of barbwire and a name for each type and mirrors with different beer adds. There was one waitress and only a couple of customers during dinner time and we were told to sit anywhere we wanted. The food was good, although a bit expensive for just being good.

The next morning we ate at Johnnys Cafe, formerly know as Silver Line Grill, (or something close to that) but after burning down and having to move the restraunt several times they changed the name, maybe to have better luck. When we came in we were again told to sit anywhere we pleased, but this time there were two waitresses, a cook and another girl that just seemed to talk behind the bar but still just a few customers. Again the food was good, although my belgium waffle was a little flat to be called a really good, thick and fluffy belgium waffle, and once again kind of expensive. I guess that is what happens in a small tourist town.

At the pool we played in the water and Kris climbed the rock was on the edge of the pool. It seemed that the pool is the one thing kids in the small town had to do since there were many there that day.

At the end of the day it all came down to the HOME HOTEL, an old hotel probably built in the 1940's or earlier that had since been remodled and had some extra rooms added onto the property in the 90's. The room Kris picked out had a nice king size bed, smallish oval tub that filled with mineral water from a well right behind the hotel and some art work by a famouse Architect of the late 1800's. It was comfortable and cozy and because it had been remodled it didnt have the smell of an old building, like the hallways and lobby did.

Overall we enjoyed ourselves a lot, got some sunburns and would like to return again with family or friends. But if you ever go watch out for the small snakes. One almost scared me to death near the river!

Sunday, May 8, 2011








Kris and I went to Moab with Kris' sister Jessica, her husband Chad and kids Cody and Taylor. Their friends JJ and Stephanie and daughter Brianna had come with them too. We didnt have a tent so we stayed in JJ's large tent and used some of Jessica's sleeping bags. The first night we made hobo dinners and felt like hobbos gathered around the flame cuz it was windy and cold. Luckily Saturday was nice and warm!

We had a lot of fun hiking to the various arches and hiking through Fiery Furnace. It is a bunch of narrow caynons that mostly went no where. At one point we came to a dead end unless we climbed a 15 ft cliff. Luckily we had a rope so the guys climbed up then pulled the rest of us girls up.

I wore sunscreen so I didnt get burnt, but also no tan... :(