There’s no place like home. And crawling into your own bed, or your own crib if you’re of that young age, is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world after traveling. Granted, we weren’t gone that long, just a weekend. Then again, it seems like it was forever! The west Texas highways belonged to us this weekend, spending a total of 22 hours on the paved roads in the middle of the desert. Rump-sprung doesn’t even begin to describe it. And before I write anything else, I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to those who emailed or left a comment with suggestions for how to travel with a toddler! They were so helpful and appreciated. The one thing I was sure to not leave home without was the computer for us to play Cars, Brennan’s favorite movie. And it goes without saying that the whole Cars cast are my new best friends!

The little guy did super and let us drag him around all weekend long, usually not going to bed before 10 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights. But Sunday, he was totally wiped, and if we hadn’t had Cars for the road, all three of us would have had crocodile tears streaming down our cheeks. The one thing I didn’t have a chance to get before we left home was deodorant, so I used Matt’s Old Spice manly-man deodorant all weekend. I’m not sure if it worked or not. And if you happen to be one of the people I saw this weekend, just keep it under wraps if I stank to high-heaven. And the one thing I totally forgot to pack were some unmentionables, and I ended up having to wear the same pair of unmentionables for three days. I’m sure ya’ll really don’t want to know this. But after remembering everything else for the weekend, the two things I didn’t have were my own deodorant and clean undergarments! That’s the most imperfect combination to be faced with when being nervous seeing people you haven’t seen in years. So Cars was also an aid to distract from my stench that followed us across the great state of Texas.

While it was a hard and tiring weekend for Robert’s memorial service, it was a treat to also see so many special friends whom I grew up with. We also ate some of the best Mexican food on the planet and got to see Mac and Julie for well, a total of two hours. Brennan was spoiled by both Pops and Meems and his pseudo-grandparents, Ron and Tycha. We ate our fast-food quota for the next two months, and it was quite painful to put on a bathing suit this morning for Brennan’s first swim lesson at 9 a.m. The amount of chlorine in the pool was sure to kill off any remaining odor on my body though. It was an exciting way to start our week!

Last week we had some good buddies of ours, Oscar and Jacques, over for dinner who were also in town to be with Robert. I wanted to make something tantalizing for their taste buds, so I put together the following that ended up being a huge hit and I wanted to share the recipes with you all. A little background though first: There is a fabulous restaurant in Phoenix that I went to a number of years ago called El Charro. Unlike the mainstay restaurants that serve the basic French rolls or other kinds of bread along with the meal, they serve homemade, gooey sticky buns and they are AMAZING! So I thought I’d give it a whirl and serve sticky buns with the meal instead of normal rolls. The sweetness of the buns alongside the sauce that went with the main dish, Chile Shrimp, was the perfect tantalizing combination I was aiming for. I served it with a big salad with lots of fixins like red bell pepper, dried cranberries, green onions, cucumber, and avocado, topped with Brianna’s Red Blush vinaigrette. For dessert, I made a two-layered ice cream pie with Blue Bell mint chocolate chip and vanilla on top of a graham cracker crust. This menu is now on Matt’s list of favorites, and it’s like pulling teeth to try to get him to set apart a meal as a “favorite” because he tends to like everything. So it means he really, really liked it!

Here are the recipes for the very simple Overnight Sticky Buns and the Chile Shrimp, which you could probably make with chicken if you’re not a seafood person…I bet it’s just as tasty. Also, it’s not a very spicy sauce at all. I used a medium salsa which was just right, but you could make it spicier or milder depending on the salsa you choose.

Overnight Sticky Buns

24 oz. frozen dinner rolls (I use the Rhodes brand)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 4-ounce package butterscotch pudding mix (NOT INSTANT)

Grease a bundt pan. Place the dinner rolls in the pan, stacking and layering them. Mix the white sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over rolls. Sprinkle the nuts, brown sugar and dried pudding mix over the rolls. Slice the butter and arrange the pats on top. Cover with a dish towel and leave the rolls setting out overnight (if you’re going to make them for breakfast) or for at least 7 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately take out of pan and revert onto a plate.

Be careful, they will be messy with the butter and sugar baking together! You might want to put foil underneath the bundt pan to help with clean up.

Chile Shrimp

(recipe courtesy of The Junior League of El Paso’s Seasoned with Sun cookbook)

Serves 4-6

1/2 cup butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder or 1 fresh clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp. oregano

1 7-ounce can salsa

1 8-ounce box Velveeta cheese

2 8-ounce packages frozen shrimp, deveined and without tails

Combine butter, onion, bell pepper and celery and cook over low heat until the veggies are soft. Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, oregano and salsa; simmer 5 minutes. Before serving, melt cheese into mixture; add thawed and cleaned shrimp. Heat well.

The recipe calls for this to be served over rice for a lighter option, which I’m sure is great. I chose to serve it over fettuccine noodles, and it was so good, I probably will never end up trying the rice with it <grin>.

I didn’t even think about taking any pictures of the food that night, so you’ll just have to try it yourselves to see its colorful beauty and partake of its goodness. And to make sure I don’t turn into a big, burly man, I’ll make that necessary run to CVS for deodorant when Brennan wakes up from his nap. Now if only I could get that Rascal Flatts song, Life is a Highway, out of my mind and that numbness out of my bum <grin>!