Irish, French, its all the Same Difference, Right?

So, I've been absent from blogging for a while.  Most of that can be explained by the fact we've been eating out a little less to save money and so that I can fit into my clothes!  Also, we've been enjoying some of our tried and true favorites.  On St. Patrick's Day, we thought about going out for Irish food, as I refuse to make corned beef and cabbage (I remember dreading it as a kid and my mom is a good cook.)  Apparently, Irish options are slim here.  They didn't even have a parade, but to be fair, the town was a little busy with all the SXSW (South by Southwest) stuff going on.  We had just been to Taste of Round Rock, where we tried tons of food from various restaurants in Round Rock and remembered that we liked La Madeleine, a French cafe.  It was a really cute place and was separated into a cafe with baked goods and coffee and then the eating part.  It was sort of like a fancier St. Louis Bread Co.  They had a huge menu consisting of soups, salads, sandwiches, and a few entrees.  To order, you went through the line cafeteria style, got some of you food, paid, and the rest would be brought to you.  We wanted to sample a little bit of everything so we did an option where we got to try a few things.  I ordered the Turkey Bistro sandwich with Caesar salad and pasta salad.  My husband got the Croque Monsieur with the tomato basil soup and homemade potato chips.  It was reasonably priced, as our meal with drinks was under $20 and had good sized portions.  The food was amazing.  I don't like tomato soup, but I loved this soup- it reminded me of pasta sauce.  The sandwiches were delicious and full of melty gooey cheese.  The homemade potato chips were also great.  We were very impressed by La Madeleine and will be returning again for dinner or possibly their brunch.  My only regret is that I didn't know about this place when my sister was here, because it would have met her- "I just need a salad" request.  

Oh, I Wish I Had an Oscar Party to Attend

This was our second year in a row watching the Oscars in Austin. Its crazy to think that the whole process started a year ago.  I didn't have an Oscar party locally to attend and I didn't know of anyone that would care to attend one, so my husband and I had our own.  I decided we'd have appetizers and a dessert and that I wanted to make new things that I hadn't tried before.  This is where I have to give a huge thank you to Pinterest.  I have been crazy pinning a variety of recipes and now I finally had a chance to use them.  On Saturday, I selected 3 appetizers and a dessert that sounded delicious and went shopping Sunday afternoon.  As soon as I got home, I got to cooking.  First, I made the S'Mores cookies.  They were a little time consuming, but had an interesting premise.  Basically, you laid out a bunch of graham crackers, put a scoop of your cookie dough (chocolate chip with marshmallows) on each cracker, baked for a few minutes, add a piece of Hershey's, and bake a few more minutes.  Next, I made the Salsa roll-ups, which were a Weight Watchers recipe.  I wanted to include at least one healthier item.  These were very easy to make and perfect for making while the cookies were cooling.  Finally, I pulled my husband into the kitchen for the last two recipes.  He really wanted pigs in a blanket, so I told him he had to make those.  He also helped me by chopping the tomatoes, jalapeno, onions, and cilantro for my Queso Blanco.  We finished all the dishes during the red carpet coverage on tv so we had a little time to make our Oscar predictions and eat before the show started.  The food was excellent and I was glad we had so many leftovers.  The pigs in a blanket were a huge hit for my husband, me and the dog.  They were especially good paired with a new mustard I had found at Target.  The Salsa Roll-ups were okay, but probably the least popular dish.  I think they would have ranked higher if the other food hadn't been so good.  The queso was amazing and even made my stale tortilla chips taste good.  I tried it again today with apples and it was a great combo.  The S'mores cookies combined all the great flavors of S'mores with a much neater way to eat it.  This recipe made a lot of cookies so my husband's coworkers have been enjoying those all week.  The actual show was okay-we did decent on our predictions, not having seen many of the nominated films.  Our Oscar party was a big hit with us and we'd love to have guests for next year's bash.  By the way, it was near 70 degrees, making it a perfect Oscar day.

Guero, Guero Has My Taco Gone? Guero Could it Be?

Recently, we were lucky enough to have my sister visit us for President's Day weekend.  While she was here, we tried to cram in as many of our favorite restaurants as possible, all the while trying to convince here that we do more than just eat here in Austin.  It was rainy the first part of her trip, which is a little bit rare for Austin.  We decided to head down to South Congress to try out all the various food trucks.  However, the drizzling turned into pretty heavy raining and we didn't really want to eat outside in the rain.  It was really crowded on South Congress that day, so we knew we'd have to wait anywhere we went.  We ducked into the first place we could all agree on,Guero's.  My husband had heard good things from some coworkers about Guero's so we felt safe trying it.  We did have to wait for 45 minutes or so, but it was a great spot for people watching and watching to see if any of the little kids fell into the fish pond. (They didn't, but several got really close.)  We got seated and immediately were served chips and salsa.  We lucked out and sat right next to the salsa bar, so we could try the various types.  My sister ordered a margarita and I got a mojito.  We had earned it after a long wait in a crowded area!  Next, we had to choose what to order.  My sister has a thing for fish tacos, so her choice was easy.  I got chicken tacos and my husband had the steak tacos.  For an appetizer, we ordered the queso.  It was delicious and had a great kick to it.  Everyone enjoyed their tacos, queso, and drinks.  My sister said that it was the best queso she had in Texas and the fish tacos were pretty good too.    

My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Our friends in Sugar Land had recommended Potbelly Sandwich Shop after they had moved to Texas.  It was one of many places on our "to eat" list.  This weekend, I was really wanting a sandwich, so we decided to give it a try.  We started our day by heading to Barton Creek Mall to get some Valentine candy from Lamme's Candies.  It was a cooler weekend here (low 40s- I know that's not bad for you STL folk, but its cold here!) so the mall was packed!  We definitely worked up an appetite after shopping.  We drove a little ways to the Arbor Walk area, where Potbelly's is located.  The area was crowded too, a traffic nightmare.  The area includes several restaurants and shops.  We walked in and the atmosphere was very relaxed.  The decor was cute (Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures!) and clever.  There were several choices for sandwiches, but not so many that it was overwhelming.  I opted for the skinny turkey so that I could order a milkshake too.  My husband ordered the Big Italian.  We both got BBQ chips, paid, and got started on our eating adventure.  My sandwich was yummy-I liked that they had a skinny option, which was a smaller size with less bread and also, loved the baked aspect with the cheese melted.  My husband's sandwich was good too, and the big size was not huge.  The chips were a BBQ ranch and had the perfect level of spice to them.  Finally, my chocolate malt.  It was thick, creamy, and delicious.  It was obviously made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, which I like, but was not chocolately enough for my husband.  We really liked the sandwiches here and will be back for more.  After eating, we tried a new store (to us) in the Arbor Walk, called Sam Moon.  STL friends, it was like an ABC Trading Company or Hongs, but on crack.  The store was huge!  My husband commented that it seemed like a store I would like because while it had a lot of stuff, it was well organized and not crowded.  He was right.  There were some cute hats and other accessories, but it was a little overwhelming and maybe not the best place to go shopping with him.  

Kerbey Lane is in my ears and in my eyes..nope its in my stomach

My husband has been wanting to go out to breakfast or brunch, but more often than not we sleep in too late to make that happen.  This weekend, my husband actually set an alarm to get up for breakfast at Kerbey Lane.  We had heard great things from our sister in law and others in Austin, so we've been eager to try it.  When we got there, we realized that it was a popular option- I signed up for a table and they were out of pagers.  There was scarcely a place to stand and for once, it was too cold to stand outside.  About 5 minutes later, we were able to get a pager and we walked over to a cute dog shop and bakery.  After purchasing some Valentine goodies for our spoiled pup, we headed back to Kerbey Lane to wait for our table.  We got back and almost immediately were seated.  All the waiters and waitresses lived up to the "Keep Austin Weird" attitude and were dressed very casual with lots of piercings, tattoos, and crazy dyed hair.  I had already checked out the menu online and knew that I wanted the pumpkin pancakes and a side of bacon, but we still took a little time to check out the menu.  The menu had a First Watch vibe, but not quite as healthy.  I ordered as planned and my husband ordered the migas tacos.  Both were quite delicious and lead me to believe that we might be setting an alarm again in the future to wake up for more  Kerbey Lane goodness.  Thanks again to our sister-in-law for a great recommendation and our Christmas gift card!

Leftovers for Dinner-No Forking Way

This weekend I was really craving some steak for dinner.  This doesn't happen that often, but we figured that this is the perfect town for that.  My husband looked up some places on Yelp and we opted for the Roaring Fork.  It was fairly close to us and we knew how to get there, which is always a bonus when you're new in town.  As we walked in, we were welcomed by the scent of a wood grill-it was heavenly. The atmosphere was very cool here and it reminded us a little bit of our favorite place in St. Louis, Wild Horse Grill.  We apparently needed reservations to get a seat, so we opted for the lounge area.  It was nice, but very loud as we sat by a group of crazy happy hour folks.  The menu had a lot of interesting items on it, but steak was not one of them.  We laughed that Yelp recommended it as a steak place, but there was no steak on the menu.  For an appetizer, we ordered chips, queso and guacamole.  It was delicious, probably the best guacamole I've had in a long time.  The chips were well salted and had dried cilantro on them.  For our main course, my husband ordered the Big Ass Burger (something he'd been craving) and the Southern part of me prevailed and I ordered the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with cheese grits and Mexican street corn.  The burger was huge, juicy and had poblano peppers on it.  My pork was amazing and the bacon was an excellent touch.  I'm picky about my grits, but these were great and the corn gave them an almost sweet flavor.  We loved the food and wished we could have tried some of the many tempting cocktails, but it wasn't in the cards for us that night as he was driving and I was on pain pills.  Maybe next time, and with food like that, there will be a next time.

Ama-Zed

This past Sunday, we decided to go out to dinner.  My husband made several suggestions, but none of them sounded that great to me.  I didn't really know what I wanted, but those weren't it.  Finally, he suggested Zed's, a restaurant sign we'd seen many times from the highway, but had never stopped into.  I had heard that it was hard to find, which I thought was silly because you can clearly see the sign from the highway.  As we got closer, I realized why people said that.  There is a sign by the highway, but the restaurant itself is back further, almost hidden.  It had a very cool vibe to it with a stone pathway and a stream with koi swimming in it.  My husband liked the inside with the touches of bright green.  As we were seated, we got to look at the menu.  There was a huge drink menu with tons of choices.  I ended up ordering water and my husband ordered a beer.  Next we had to decide what to eat.  My husband ordered the Mahi Mahi and I got the Prime Rib French Dip.  The food was excellent!  My husband loved the fish with the rice pilaf and garlic vegetables.  My French Dip was awesome as well.  The meat was so tender and delicious.  While I didn't need dessert, I had decided ahead of time I was having it.  My husband and I split an apple crisp with Amy's cinnamon ice cream.  It was delicious, too!  It had the perfect amount of cinnamon sugar crumb topping and delicious granny smith apples.  The cinnamon ice cream was the perfect addition to the apple crisp.  It was an enjoyable evening and we have both decided it will be on the list of places to take our parents when they come visit us.

Phil 'Er Up

After several long work weeks, my husband took Friday off and we went shopping.  We visited Lakeline Mall in nearby Cedar Park, TX.  When we arrived at the mall, we were hungry so we immediately went to the food court.  It mostly had some basic food court staples, such as Subway, Chick-fil-a (which in my husband's eyes qualify it to be a true mall), and Panda Express.  I would have been fine with one of these options, but we also saw Phil's Philly Grill.  My husband loves Philly cheese steaks and really hasn't had the best luck with them in Texas-he's really missing Penn Station.  So we ordered, each getting meals that fit our tastes.  He ordered the traditional Philly cheese steak with steak fries.  I ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich with tots.  Our sandwiches were great and grilled to perfection.  The tots were also amazing with the perfect level of crispiness.  I did not care for the steak fries as they weren't crunchy enough for my taste.  We were very happy with our choice and my husband's only complaint was that there wasn't enough meat on his sandwich.  After we fueled up, we toured the rest of the mall.  It was okay as malls go, having the normal mall stores.  I also got new glasses and we bought a new TV, so our Friday was a success.

"Want a Twinkie, Genghis Khan?"

So, its been a bit since I've posted, but we have been to a few new places over the past few weeks.  The first was Kublai Khan, which is a stir fry and sushi restaurant.  We are not sushi fans, so we went for the stir fry.  It was a create your own stir fry, much like Hu Hot or Stir Crazy in St. Louis.  The cool thing about Kublai Khan was that you could decide if you wanted unlimited stir fry or just one serving.  This was perfect for us!  My husband was very hungry after a long, hard week of work, so he opted for unlimited.  I was starting to get the "cedar fever" and didn't have as much appetite, so I opted for a single serving.  We loved the huge selection of items to go in the stir fry, along with the variety of starches you could put it on (noodles, rice, and pasta).  We were both very happy with our meals and the fact that it is new to Austin, so it wasn't very crowded.  I can definitely see this becoming a favorite in our restaurant rotation.  

That's Amore!

Two weeks ago, I went to the doctor for my back.  I had to go to an urgent care clinic in a part of town we hadn't explored much.  The best part of the experience was that we were near a restaurant we wanted to try.  Even though I was in intense pain, it was a great experience.  The restaurant was Brooklyn Heights Pizza and my husband says its the best pizza we've had so far in Austin.  We each ordered salads and we split the Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  The menu was huge and there were many specialty pizzas as well as more traditional items.  The salads were good sized and tasty.  The pizza was sooo good.  The chicken was fresh and spicy.  The crust was good.  We were very pleased with our meal.  I know that my husband was glad to find a good slice of pizza in this city that seems to be lacking in the pizza and Italian area.  Next time we visit, we'd love to try a more traditional pizza, however, we loved the Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  It was a great end to a stressful day!

Insert Stereotype Here

I've been absent from the world of blogging for a few weeks.  This does not mean I have not been having new adventures, but I have been on painkillers and muscle relaxants and thus, abstained from making foggy posts.  So tonight, my back is feeling great, I am off any mind altering substances and ready to post!  About 2 weeks ago, we decided to try a nearby Asian restaurant.  The name of the restaurant is Ka-Prow.  I kid you not.  We thought it was a silly name and possibly offensive, but went anyways.  It was a pretty tiny place with 2 waiters, a hostess, and chef.  We got there at the right time because it gradually got busier and busier.  I ordered the Ka-Prow noodles and my husband ordered a Sapporo and Spicy Chow Mein with chicken.  Both dishes were delicious and spicy.  However, they were two different kinds of spicy.  My husband's was the immediate kind of spicy while mine was the kind that builds over time.  Unfortunately, this was the point when our waitress seemed to be absent.  My poor husband was turning from pale to bright red and guzzling his beer.  My water was gone fast.  She finally brought us more to drink, but we had to wait a long time for the check.  We loved the food, but will be sure to order extra drinks next time or hope for a new waitress.  

Happy Birthday Dear Husband!

After a long holiday break in St. Louis, we made it back before New Year's and on Monday went out for my husband's birthday.  I will admit the day might have gone better had I not been crabby and if plans had been better established ahead of time.  He decided he wanted to get a pizza and go to the movies.  We went to Mangia's for pizza.  They are known for their Chicago style pizza, but neither of us really wanted that type.  We ordered two side ceasar salads and a thin crust pizza with sausage and pepperoni.  The salads were good, but pretty small.  The pizza was really good.  We finished almost the whole pizza (the rest was really good as leftovers today!)  We still had some time in between dinner and the movie so we headed over to Fry's to pick out part of his birthday present.  We surprisingly had success and found an iPad cover that he likes.  From there, we headed to the movies to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  It was really good-maybe even better than the first one.  Overall, I hope that he was happy with his relaxing birthday!

Take a Wok on the Wild Side

Last Sunday, we needed to go grocery shopping and we often times eat dinner in the same area as our Target.  Often times, we eat at Freebirds or Pei Wei, but this time we decided to try Masala Wok.  It is a combination Indian/Asian restaurant.  There were options from both types of cuisine plus several rice/noodle options.  Neither of us were feeling super adventurous, so we both went with Asian dishes, but added samosas as appetizers.  The samosas were actually my favorite part of the meal.  They are puff pastry filled with potato and peas.  There was a spicy sauce that went along with them.  I ordered the Orange chicken at the spicy level, but was not overly impressed.  The chicken was good, but not very spicy.  I prefer a little spicier and a little more sauce.  My husband ordered Spicy Thai Fried Rice with chicken.  His food was really good.  His only complaint was that there really wasn't very much chicken at all.  The food was good and there were so many options that we will be back to try new things.

BBQing with the King

Last Friday, we went out to pay for our new couches.  I was excited that we made a decision and can't wait until they arrive.  They should be delivered after we get back from our Christmas trip, which is fine since we will need to get rid of the old stuff too.  In the same shopping center as Sofa Mart, was a BBQ place called Texas Rib Kings, where my husband and friends from work like to eat.  I have been told on numerous occasions how good the food is, but hadn't gotten a choice to try it until now.  We walked and were among only a few people in the place.  We went to order and asked for turkey and sausage and were told that the turkey was coming out of the smoker in just a minute.  So we sat with for a minute, and got turkey and sausage and sides.  For me, beans and potato salad and for my husband, green beans and coleslaw.  I loved everything except the beans- they were not baked beans, but more like pinto beans.  The turkey was amazing and definitely worth the wait!  The sauce was a little spicy and had great flavor.  I was glad to finally taste this BBQ that had gotten such rave reviews from my husband!

She Baked Red Velvet

I have been enjoying my adventures in baking by trying out various whoopie pie recipes.  This week, I tried the red velvet cakes with cream cheese icing.  During the mixing and baking process, everything went smoothly.  Overall, it was a pretty simple recipe to follow.  I was thankful once again for two mixers!  I was even successful in not making a mess at all with the red food coloring.  I went a little lighter on the amount it called for, because while I love the red color of a red velvet cake, I don't like to taste excess food coloring.  I also used a lot of cocoa to give it a rich chocolately flavor.  After letting my cakes cool, they were ready to be iced.  I had cooled my icing in the fridge which made it really hard.  I mixed it again with the mixer and put it in my handy pastry bag for easy piping.  Once again, I was really happy with the end result.  The cakes were rich and fluffy, while the frosting was sweet and creamy.  My husband loved the fact that while it was cream cheese frosting, it didn't taste too much like cream cheese.  I also love the red velvet for the holidays!

Opal's is a Stomach's Best Friend

Last weekend was Christmas present shopping for us.  That is, we were shopping for our Christmas present to each other.  We've been really good this year so we are getting new couches.  Of course, we wanted different things-me, I wanted cute and my husband wanted comfy.  We both have decided we wanted leather.  It was a little bit of a challenge to find a leather couch that is cute, comfy and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Plus, we had a to get used to a whole new set of furniture stores.  After a long day of shopping, we were pretty hungry.  The last furniture store we visited on Saturday was near Opal Divine's so we decided to give it a try.  The location we went to is called the Marina location and it looks like a seafood place.  A cool thing about Opal Divine's is that they have a covered porch where dogs are welcome, too.  We went inside and ordered beers from the Austin Beer Works label.  Mine was the Pearl Snap and was very crisp.  My husband's was something dark, which I didn't care to taste.  They had a large menu and as we were hungry-everything sounded good.  While we were deciding, we ordered the cheese fries, Divine style.  We got back a huge plate of fries covered in melted cheese with bacon and sour cream.  They were amazing!  For our meal, I ordered a guacamole burger with mac and cheese and my husband ordered the philly cheesesteak with mac and cheese.  We were very happy with our choices.  His was well seasoned and mine was bursting with guacamole.  The mac and cheese was probably my favorite thing we ordered-it was a white mac and cheese with hints of white cheddar and parmesan cheese and maybe some sour cream as it was so creamy.  It ties with Paula Deen's mac and cheese for the best mac and cheese ever (yes, Aunt Sallie, its better than Bread Co's).  We left quite stuffed and ready for a nap.  Will we go back?  Definitely.

License to Drive and Pizza My Heart

So, I thought I wouldn't be having any more Tex-ventures until after Thanksgiving, but I was wrong.  Today, we went to the Texas Department of Public Safety.  Why?  That's where you go to get your driver's license here.  I had heard rumors about how much it sucks to get a driver's license here, but my husband really needed to get his this week so we went early with the idea we'd be there for a while.  First sign it might be crazy there was that there were only 2 spots in the lot to park.  Sign two was that as we walked in there were tons of people sitting in chairs waiting.  We went to the info desk to get our numbers, 306 and 307, respectively.  There was a large sign with lights announcing what number was being served at which lane.  There were 8 lanes and only a maximum of 4 were open at any given time.  I looked at the sign and the numbers were totally random.  35 was being served at window 7.  208 was being served at window 6.  708 was being served at window 5.  There seemed to be no rhyme or reason with how they were choosing the numbers-it certainly was not numerical order.  We waited about 10-15 minutes and then my number was called.  I took all my various pieces of identification and prayed for the best.  The lady I got was very nice (not your typical DMV employee) and asked how she could help me.  I told her I needed a Texas license.  She took my paper work and we realized some common ground.  Her son in law was from Missouri (St. Louis, specifically).  We chatted about Missouri and Texas as we went through the process.  I filled out some paperwork, got my picture taken, gave my thumbprints electronically (that was different), and then took the vision test.  My eyes change a lot- both color and prescription wise.  Today was apparently a bad eye day.  I tried to take the vision test without my glasses and failed.  Boo.  Now I have to wear my glasses when I drive.  Guess its time to make a trip to the eye doctor for new frames and more importantly prescription sunglasses with all the sun here.  She gathered up all my paperwork and handed it to me.  I paid my $25 fee and then was handed a paper temporary driver's license.  What?!? That's right for the next 30-45 days, I will be walking around with a piece of paper with my  picture on it that says I can drive.  "Umm, will the airport take this as a form of identification?"  Well, she thought so.  The guy next to her thought I'd be okay if I had my passport (uh, too bad that's in my maiden name) and my social security card.  So here's hoping that the TSA and I don't fight because I am going to St. Louis and back for Thanksgiving.  Meanwhile, my husband continued to sit.  His number was not called after mine.  It was called 10-15 minutes after I finished.  Our overall time spent at the DPS was about 1.5 hours and we left with 2 pieces of paper saying we were good to go.  Oh Texas.  After this adventure, we decided to grab a bite to eat.  We were in a new area so we decided to try a new place.  Always on the search for a decent slice of pizza, we headed to Rockin Tomato Pizza Company.  They were having a lunch buffet so that seemed like a great way to taste a variety of options.  The pizza bar included soda, salad, pasta, pizza, garlic cheese bread, calzones, pepperoni rolls, and dessert.  The pizza was actually pretty good.  There were a variety of options and the crust was really tasty.  I loved the garlic cheese bread which was basically a cheese pizza minus sauce.  The calzone and spaghetti were only okay.  My husband really like the pepperoni roll which was a roll stuffed with pepperoni and cheese.  Finally, there was apple strudel, which was a delicious way to end the meal.  Here's hoping that we are able to safely make it back to St. Louis with our paper IDs. Again, have a happy Thanksgiving and if you don't hear from me in December, it may be due to the fact I've been involved in some sort of airport drama.

Houston, We Have a Problem

Ok, not really.  But had I been driving around that day we surely, would have.  Houston traffic/driving is a little bit crazy.  I was feeling really lucky that Jason was driving on our second day of our Sugar Land/Houston trip.  On Sunday, we decided to visit the Galleria area before we headed back.  The Galleria was huge!  It had a ton of shoppes, both traditional mall stores and a lot of high end stores, as well.  Probably, our favorite store that we visited was Dylan's Candy Bar.  It was a huge store full of candy, both classic and custom made candy.  They made chocolate malts and desserts as well.  We loved the chocolate malt and homemade fudge there.  I got a red velvet candy bar to go and it was amazing how much it tasted like red velvet.  We wondered around various shoppes and I will admit with all the high end stores, it was the first time I had ever felt poor at a mall.  We decided we were ready for lunch so we headed to the nearby Pappa's Burgers for lunch.  The burgers were huge, but delicious, as were the fries.  Only Jason was able to finish his burger and none of us ate all our fries.  We were very full after all the food and walked it off while shopping at Nordstrom Rack and Old Navy.  We went back to Ashley and Jason's to pick up our pup and make the way back to Austin.  The ride home was great with a few traffic issues once we were back in Austin, but overall a good trip.  We cant wait to go back and visit again!  Thanks again to our great hosts!  There won't be any posts for a while- we leave Saturday for a long Thanksgiving trip in the Lou, so we hope to see many of you while we are there.  I did help some of my husband's coworkers have a St. Louis food adventure-today I sent Gooey Butter Cookies with him, which were a big hit.  Happy Thanksgiving-enjoy time with your families and if you're crazy like me-enjoy some Black Friday shopping!

Pour Some Sugar on Me

This weekend we decided to visit Sugar Land, TX, home to our friends, Ashley, Jason, and Mildred.  Cecil is quite in love with Mildred and needed to see his lady.  :)  It was a good drive (about 3 hours) and we got to see new parts of Texas, including the area that had been hit by wildfires.  The biggest success of our drive was that Cecil was really good the whole time and didn't require any medication.  We were really hungry upon arrival so Jason took us to the Earl of Sandwich for lunch.  It was really good.  I love sandwiches and these were no exception.  They were warm and had a huge selection.  I ordered the club and it was great!  I wish they had one of these in Austin, but maybe they'll expand!  Jason drove us around Sugar Land, showing us his offices, Town Square, housing, and the new Skeeter Stadium.  Its a really nice area and I can't wait to visit again to see what they build next!  After Ashley came home, the dogs played a bit and we decided to head out to the Town Square for dinner and entertainment.  Sugar Land Town Square was a cool area full of restaurants and unique shoppes.  Did I mention that it was in the high 70s-low 80s all weekend?  Perfect weather for walking and enjoying this area.  Unfortunately, Town Square was already decorated for Christmas, which really seemed out of place with the warm weather.  For dinner, we went to Escalante's, a delicious Tex-Mex restaurant.  The food was great, as were the drinks.  I think my favorite part was the queso, which was served with ground beef, tomatoes, and jalapenos on the side so you could add what you wanted.  It was great and we were able to give it the perfect amount of kick.  For dinner, I enjoyed the cheese enchiladas with my Sangria Swirl Margarita.  My husband had Tacos Al Carbon (his new favorite) and realized it was so much food!  He liked it, but said that Pappasitos still make his favorite tacos.  After dinner, we were quite full so we wandered around some shoppes.  We went into a clothing store (the boys loved that) and into a little dog boutique.  Next, we hit the Sweet Boutique for some cake pops.  It was really cute and they also served cupcakes and macaroons.  We each got a cake pop: red velvet for Jason and me, vanilla for Ashley, and chocolate for my dear husband.  They were yummy and the perfect size after a huge meal!  Our final stop at the Town Square was Flying Saucer, a really cool beer bar.  Covering the walls were a variety of plates and there were many, many beers to choose from.  I didn't especially love the beer I tried, but it was a matter of taste.  The boys had a few beers and then we went back to their apartment.  It was a fun, but exhausting day and unfortunately, Cecil didn't allow us to sleep much that night.  

Struttin' with Some Barbecue

Last Saturday, we were in the mood for some barbecue.  We had driven around a little earlier in the day and found a place nearby called Pok-E-Jos Smokehouse.  It was obviously a chain, so I was a little skeptical at first.  We got in and could see the various meats and sides and were to select what we wanted on our plates.  My husband got the 3 meat plate with brisket, chicken, and sausage.  His two sides were potato salad and a jalapeno corn casserole.  I got the two meat plate with pork and turkey with broccoli salad and baked potato casserole as sides.  Every meal comes with a slice of Texas toast, too.  We also could choose from original or spicy sauce.  I went for the original and my husband picked the spicy.  Everything we tried was great!  I especially loved the turkey and pork, which were our favorite meats.  I felt the brisket was a little bit fatty and that the chicken was a little dry.  The sides were excellent too.  I liked that the broccoli salad had almost an Italian type dressing with onions and peppers as well.  The baked potato casserole reminded me of my PopPop's twice baked potatoes.  The potato salad was a combination of a mustard based and German style potato salad.  All in all, everything was delicious and we will definitely be making a return for more barbecue.  On another note, I am looking forward to another Texas adventure.  This weekend we are going to visit our friends in Sugar Land, TX before we head back to St. Louis for Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to share all our adventures!