The Cochranes in Texas

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Tennesse Capitol Building

So we dashed during my lunch break on Thursday downtown to the capitol building..we have been spoilt with the Texas one and the California one..it was not so impressive, but the people were lovely and it was good to see it.

Monday, January 17, 2011

I am learning to make Spanish rice

So my wonderful cleaner, GuDelia is teaching me how to make Spanish rice. Gudelia made it for our new years eve party and it was delicious, so now I am learning.

The secret that I can see is to liquidize the tomatoes ( x2 Roma) garlic cloves(x3) and about a finger size of onion. Put three teaspoon of chicken stock powder in as well and about 16 oz of water..ah forgot the teaspoon of cumin

Cook the rice in about 2 tablespoons of oil-with a clove of garlic and lump of onion until it turns light brown, then add the liquid .. Adding more if needed. Keep it uncovered.. It takes about 15 minutes..

Delicious

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, January 13, 2011

More...

This is the snooker room..it is totally covered in material

This si the coridor leading upstairs from the snooker room, and it is covered, floor and ceiling with this , fairy disgusting, green material, meant to look like grass..we are heading to the jungle room. The green 'stuff' was used to help the sound in the room.as it was used as a recording studio for a while.

the jungle room

Lisa Marie favourite chair

more photo's

His parents bedroom, this is downstairs next to the formal living room

This is the kitchen, where they say it was always producing southern food, as the house was always alive with people

We are in the basement now, this is the TV room. it has three TV's on one wall so he could keep up with all the news channels.his music collection was also down here

On the wall is Elvis logo and motto. TCB, Take Care of Business. he always had a lightening bolt with the initials. He believed in family first and taking care of business. that came through very strongly on the tour

Graceland's

Well, we made it there, and I must say, even if you are not a huge Elvis fan. it is well worth the visit. so much history, feelings, and just a part of our history now. the world over knows Elvis and it is nice to be able to say 'I have been to Graceland'.

Memphis is not what i expected, it is very run down, and has the unkempt feel to it, down town is sad, boarded up stores, police station, restaurants, littler on the ground and not much foliage about the place. I have spend a few days now in Memphis and it is not coping well with this recession. There is homeless people and you feel sad at how it is looking, but the tourists sections just keep rolling, although they are not kept clean or vibrant either. so i hope Memphis does manage to pull through and regain some of its vibrancy.
Gracelands, which is named after the aunt of the previous owner. aunt Grace gave the house to her niece as a wedding present, when Elvis bought the house, for $102,500 he loved the name so kept it. It sits on Elvis Presley boulevard, also a badly maintained road, area etc, and across the way is a tourist trap for you all to spend loads of money. in such a small area, it is amazing how many shops they managed to fit in. It is where you get your tickets, ride the shuttle across to the main house, see the cars his two airplanes, and other exhibits to do with his clothing, movie career and Elvis himself.
It was laid out well, and you can get around it all easily, yes we shopped, i of course, got myself a christmas decoration, and then some bits for the kids, but over all we ahd a wonderful time.
I was pleasantly surprised by how small Graceland was. it truly was a family home and although his money would have bought him much more, from the family videos and notes , you get a feeling he loved Graceland's so much, it was his sanctuary.

i will post many pictures so you can all see, you can not go upstairs at all. that was for Elvis and his close family. It is said still today nobody has gone up there unless they are close family. it is kept private, as Elvis kept it. he never came downstairs unless he was ready to be seen, i like the fact they have kept part of him private.