It's a sad sad day at the Eyestone house:

Breaking News!!!!!:   I have it from a reliable source that our beloved favorite restaurant Gecko Grill in Gilbert is closing!!!!! This is truly tragic news and though this reporter has not confirmed the validity of said rumor, I myself will be acting on the assumption that it is true and haul my cookies down there at least once before the rumored closing date Friday, September 30th. When I told golden the news, which came in late last night from my SIL Lindsay, he was reeling. We are both in shock and heart broken. All I have to say is where o where am I gonna get a shrimp mango quesadilla from now huh? Gecko is nearly the only Mexican restaurant we will go to. I know everyone likes Tia Rosa's but I am NOT a fan the food is bland, unexciting and extremely over priced. And before you suggest El Charro or Matta's think again they are not even worth mentioning! Yuck and yuckier if I wanted food from a can I would use a can opener. The only other place that even comes close, is Moreno's but it is more authentic and less baja then Gecko, so many of the seafood items are not on the menu and they do not have the American fusion element that Gecko has perfected such as jalapeno cream cheese and spicy spinach con queso. Gecko you will be sorely missed , we may not have visited you as often in the past few years but it was good to know that we could. I want you to know we were always loyal to you and defended you at any cost, even friendship. We will never forget your shrimp burro, crabby burro, shrimp mango quesadilla, salmon tacos, fiesta tacos, enchiladas, special chimi, pollo grande, and so many many more. You will be in our heart forever and always!!!!! We can only hope that you will eventually reopen and we can once again enjoy your delicious offerings. So long my looooveee, until we meet again. I will leave all you fans with a few mementos drool over....

picture compliments of google

Update****: We went in tonight and found out that they are maybe just moving but even then they will be closed for at least 6 months!!! This reporter has her doubts though. As many of you may know Golden worked there as a server and then manager for like 6 years, as I mentioned earlier Moreno's is one of our faves especially because we know the owner Angel, who is Fransisco's( the owner of geckos) brother . We heard it through the grapevine that the owners of gecko have been spending a lot of time working and helping out at Moreno's which is doing really well and has actually expanded and now owns a Neveria on Broadway and Horne (ice cream shop). I personally would speculate that they are working on a merger and would not at all be surprised to find that Moreno's adopts some popular menu items from Gecko. Either that or I would suspect that Gecko might adopt the same business plan as Moreno's and become more of a walk up type of restaurant. They are actually closing Saturday so get your fill before then! The official word is that the complex they are located in is under new management and were requiring that Gecko sign a 5 year lease which they were unwilling to commit to so they chose to close and potentially reopen only time will tell I will keep ya posted :)

Mally

This brown eyed beauty Is my sister in law Mallory Corine Eyestone and NO she is not available to date your son/brother/nephew/co-worker or even you! This gorgeous girl has chosen to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 18 months. She has been called to serve in the Neuquen, Argentina mission and she reports to the Missionary Training Center on December 21st!!!!!! We are soooooo excited for her. Congrats Mally we know you will be an excellent missionary and that it will be such a life changing experience for you and those who you will teach. We are so very proud of you and the choices you have made which have qualified you for the Lord's service! We will definitely miss your pretty little face:)

Two Slice Hilly

So recently I mentioned that I read The Help, and watched the movie. Both were really enjoyable envoking the full spectrum of emotions from laughter to tears. It was honestly the best contemporary novel I've read in a long time.Though I will say that I should have watched the movie first and then read the book because I would have enjoyed the movie more if I had. Any of you who have read/watched it will get the title of my post hehe and get why it inspired me to look up a recipe for chocolate chess pie (sans excrement).I found a few and tweaked them to my own liking, essentially coming up with my own recipe and to my great surprise it was wonderful the first time I baked it!!! So I thought I would share the recipe as well as my/ Lee's recipe for easy pie crust.

This is not the actual pie I made but it looked similar to this one, picture courtesy of Google

Pie crust (yields 2, 9in crusts) you only need one for this pie so half the recipe unless you are making 2.
2 1/2 C Flour
1 C Crisco butter flavored shortening sticks
1/2 C ice water
1tsp salt
1tsp vinegar

For now I will tell you the easy and fast way to make this because I want to eventually do a tutorial with pictures on how to make a pie crust by hand using butter, which takes longer but I believe it turns out much more tender and flaky however it is much harder to describe without pictures. Maybe I will have it ready in time for thanksgiving?
So first  measure out the flour and salt into the bowl of your food processor with the blade in, and add the Crisco cut into squares on top. You can then measure out the ice water, adding the vinegar, and set it on the counter to allow the ice to melt. Then pulse in the food processor till the pieces are about the size of peas. Slowly pulse in the water/vinegar mixture. Do Not over mix once the water is mostly incorporated I like to turn the mixture out onto the counter and bring it together by hand.  The key to a tender crust is not to overwork it if you do it will be very tough, trust me I know. Form into two equal sized balls and wrap tightly in plastic wrap before pressing them flat, then refrigerate for at least an hour. After it has chilled roll it out onto a lightly floured counter top, roll from the middle out applying even pressure. You can then carefully fold it into quarters before transferring it into your pie dish then just gently unfold it without stretching and press into your pie dish place in the freezer while you make the filling.

Chocolate chess pie

1 stick of butter
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips I used Ghiradelli
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1 C sugar
2Tbs flour
2Tbs cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C whole milk
3 eggs
1 1/2tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a double boiler or heatproof bowl fitted over a pot of water on low heat, melt chocolate and butter together. Pour chocolate mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer then add sugar , flour, cocoa, salt, vanilla and milk mix on low till Incorporated. Next add the eggs and turn mixer on to medium for 5-6 minutes. Pour mixture into your uncooked pie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool for at least and hour on the counter for the center to firm up. Top with fresh whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!

De Loser

Sooo lately blogging and I have not been friends. For no real reason except that I am pretty boring/ anything I would write about would sound like Debby Downer. Let's see lately we have had lots of car trouble ... like 6 new tires and expensive break problem car troubles. Then last week Letty got sick and it was especially sad. Also I realized that I am an old women and as a result my life is super boring. I have been waiting for exciting things to blog about but since there aren't any I decided I will just blog anyway and  all 5 of you who read my blog will just have to settle for what little entertainment value my life provides. I am setting a goal to blog 2x a week.... let's just see how I do.
 In other breaking news:
Violet has become a force of her own and now expresses her opinions quite vocally about which cup she wants, what food she will and will not consume, and which songs her singing dog should play. She also has eaten nothing but watermelon for 2 days!!! Seriously I have tried giving her nearly everything in my cupboard but to no avail. At least she is well hydrated right? I am not certain but she has also been saying something that resembles what that? while she points to various objects. And last week I taught her to say uh uh (sp) whilst shaking her head no, and then Gold taught her to wag her finger simultaneously I laugh so hard every time she does it, mostly to the dog....


The mutt is doing well she is very smart and has come a long way potty training not to mention obeys commands 75% of the time. I think we'll keep her.

Daphne is getting naughtier by the minute and her recent accomplishments include crying on the floor at Sam's club as it echoed throughout the building, I was just thinking, oh please don't hold back child not EVERYONE is staring yet! But alas I still love the little beast, who could resist those big brown eyes and her life gripping hugs? Not I my friends, not I.

The boys are mostly independent and nice, it helps that they are at school the majority of the week. Tristan is really into the D-Backs and informs Golden of every night they are playing by taking a glance at his handy schedule that he keeps under his pillow. Morgan is off in his own world most of the time except when he makes obvious observations hours after everyone else. He is such a little airhead, yet so like me he will occasionally surprise us by saying something so smart that proves he is listening. I have to say I am so glad that they are such good friends and play so well with one another. I only hope Daphne and Violet will be as good of friends!

Golden is a few weeks away from finishing his associates and starting his bachelors program. I am so proud of him for conquering his fears and doing so well in school and hopefully the next 22 months will fly by. I decided to save a little cash to present him with at the end of his program, for him to spend on whatever he wants. Hopefully it will be a dream vacation for the two of us? hehe But If I know Golden he will buy an old VW bug or dune buggy like he's been wanting forever now.
 Right now Golden and I are laughing hysterically at our children who are playing dress up in our closet and pretending to be us, I guess life is not always boring...but it sure is messy!
 So that's us in a nutshell. Ta-ta for now:)