RGV Life

Mobile audio blog entry by me, Shaine Mata, for RGV Life. Mobile entries are on the go blog entries whenever computer access is not available. MP3 File

Mmmm, caldo , originally uploaded by shainelee . My wife knows that my heart is grafted on to my stomach. Knowing that this is, as KURV's Sergio Sanchez states, "caldito weather", she bought all the ingredients for making chicken caldo. For the non-Spanish types, it's chicken soup. The main ingredients, besides the chicken or soup bones, are carrots, zucchini or squash, cabbage, celery, onion, garlic, potato, and maybe some Knorr consome. While the family was out, I got to making caldo for dinner. Tonight, I pan fried and browned the chicken with herbs in olive oil first before putting it in the pot. Other than that, it's standard caldo. We have limes and Mrs Mata is making "Spanish rice" to complement the soup. I need to check for corn tortillas to top it all off. I could die happy tonight. Subscribe in a reader RGV Life Store

I'm going to surprise my family by arriving home a whole day early. I'll arrive sometime early this evening. I've contacted other family members to let them know in case I have problems on the way. The legislature meets again on Monday, so I'll have to depart on Sunday. It will be nice to be home again for a while.

Dinner at China Wok Originally uploaded by shainelee . Before I left the RGV to come work in Austin, we stopped to eat at China Wok with the children. They love the food there. It was a good and bad deal. It was good because Jason, the owner, was cooking that day. It was bad because we didn't get a chance to spend time with him. The reason we like it there so much is that the food tastes good, the portions are too much, and when you microwave leftovers, they still taste good. They'll still enjoy the food at CW while I'm up in Austin.

Going to Austin Originally uploaded by shainelee . I'm loaded up and headed to Austin to settle in before the session starts. It turns out that state offices are closed today to observe the funeral of President Ford. This is alright as it will give me a chance to find a place to live.

I got word at JD's Inaugural that Rick Rodriguez had an event going on at Monte Christo. Rodriguez was one of the candidates that I interviewed back in the primaries, so I wanted to catch his event. It was the swearing in on two judges, it turns out, Ricardo Rodriguez and Mary Alice Palacios. I only had my camera phone, so my pics are good enough for a blog, but far from award-winning. I had ran into Don Medina at UTPA earlier, but didn't get a picture of him. He's sporting a new look. I didn't recognize him at first, but you can't forget his personality. He's the friendliest guy you'll ever meet. I did get a chance to meet and shake Judge Rodriguez's hand. There was a long line of people waiting to meet him. To me, that's a good sign of an elected official, that people want to meet him. There were other people present. I forgot to mention in the previous post that Rep. Veronica Gonzalez was at the Salinas Inaugural. She attended Judge Rodriguez...

This morning, I will attend the Inaugural Ceremony for incoming County Judge J.D. Salinas. The event is being held at the UTPA Student Union. It should be a nice event. I'll try to take some pictures. UPDATE The event had a pretty good turnout. Much of the auditorium was filled. Here is JD Salinas greeting the audience as he makes his entrance. Oscar Garza was the Master of Ceremonies of the Inaugural Ceremony. He kept the crowd entertained throughout the event and was quick to recognize other officials present. John Sharp, the Texas Comptroller, had some kind words to say about his friend and former employee JD Salinas. Finally, JD got a chance to speak to the audience. He shared how he will approach the work that lies ahead. We had music from the Valley View High School Mariachi throughout the event. They played remarkably well. They are good performers.