Dog Days of Summer

No, really!

Problem solved by the fountain!

And where are these 2?  At the Farmers Market of course!  We luv the Saturday morning Farmers Market and usually make it out there to eat breakfast each week.  My favorite?  I have several.  The bar-b-q’ed chicken (they were missing this weekend) and a fresh butter croissant brought home to eat with home grown tomatoes.   A rich, chocolate croissant with a cup of coffee.  And last, a new favorite…

Wood fired breakfast pizza.  Made with sausage, bacon, onion, egg and cheese.  Made fresh in just a few minutes too.  Yum-o!

And look what else you can find here:

Artisan breads and pastries, beautiful baked goods, Cajun pralines,

Wine and honey,

Luffa’s fashioned into cat toys, tamales,

Longhorn luffa horns on my breakfast buddy,

And of course Texas grown vegetables! 

On these mornings my youngest says we eat like Kings! 

Been to the Farmers Market lately?

Sites for the goodies listed above:

cmike@fireintheholepizza.com, chezkatherine.com, www.roundrockhoney.com, Luvaluffa.com, www.jazzy-fats.biz

Antique Alley Success?

Just want to say, right out of the gate, (if you get the opportunity) Antique Alley is where you want to be!  Stuff aplenty and at great prices.  There was so much fun for the getting that I forgot to take pic’s until we were way down the road.  Sheesh. 

Driving the packed road,  our peepers peeled for the best stops. 

The parking and driving is a little sketchy.  For the record, I wouldn’t hold any fevered hunter responsible for another hunter that lacks the ability to step out of their parked car gingerly. 

Travel? Texan?  Show it!

Sometimes I forget what my words need to be to the teen chilies that live with me.  Subtle reminder…

Clean restrooms AND free water!  That’s what they call a conflict of interest.

A little, fried, Mennonite pie luv!

HANDMADE!

Nice shop at the end of the trail.

What did I get?  There should be pic’s, right? 

One word.  “Alas!” 

People, friends, I’m doing the best I can and I just haven’t gotten around to those yet.

I’ve got other things to share. Bigger things.  Better things.  Perhaps even fantastical. 

I’m committing to tomorrow.

Weekend Field Trip Part II

Tra, la, la.   Flying or floating into Dallas…

So, this is why you have to go hungry if you’re going to Fm 1410 B(see previous blog).  Jimmy’s is on the same corner and they have the best sandwiches! And just like the sign says, they have all kinds of imported goodies: fresh meats, sausage, pasta and entree’s to take home.  But if you can’t wait till you get home- order a sandwich.  Jimmy’s was voted “Readers Choice”, Best Sandwich in D Magazine this month.  Our favorites?  We love the Jimmy sandwich with spicy sausage and peppers.  They have a great Muffaletta and a lovely Prosciutto Panino too.  The latter is served with thick slices of fresh mozzarella, thin slices of prosciutto, basil and sliced tomato.  Both of these sandwiches are huge and a small can easily serve 2 people.  All the sandwiches are served on wonderful bakery bread and not some kind of Wonder Bread fluff.  Grab a bag of chips and select a drink from their vast selection of sodas and vino.  You can then sit outside or at tables at the entrance of the store.  Or, our favorite place is in back.  Way back.  Pass the restrooms, back.  It’s kind of a secret and you’ll probably feel conspicuous the first time, basically, walking through the kitchen and into the back to a “secret” room.  There are tables, paper plates, napkins and plastic ware for your convenience.  Bring your laptop or your friends as this is the Starbucks of the sandwich world. 

 

 

Here’s Lovey enjoying the nice weather last spring.  The view is “interesting”. (this is downtown Dallas, mind you)  But this is forgivable for the “we’re not in Texas anymore” experience and the food.

 

 

You can pick up some great imported foods like these crackers.  These little cracker Diva’s are a favorite and fly off the shelves and are out of stock till Mike can get them in again.  Apparently they come from some far away place, New York or Italy, and people buy them by the box.  Curse them when they don’t leave any for us!You know what they are?  Really, they’re just  saltines with olive “flakes” on them.  Sounds simple enough but they’re so tasty.  And inside the above package are individual packs so you can pop them into your purse or backpack for a “little taste of Italy”  anytime.   I think I’ll christen them the 2010 version of “Calgon, take me away!”.

Jimmy’s Food Store is located at 4901 Bryan at Fitzhugh in Dallas.

Photo of a pretty door in Dallas.

Shouldn’t you be gone already?!

Technorati Tags: Jimmy's Food Store,FM 1410 B,Muffaletta,Panino

Recent trip to Houston

Just thought I would pass on a few fun things to do if you are in the Houston area:                                                 

Eat breakfast at The Breakfast Klub. 

I’m going to go on the record and say that I had the best French toast and fried chicken wings in my life at this place. “Chicken wings?”, you say.  Yes.  The Breakfast Klub is famous for their waffle and 6 piece fried chicken wing breakfast.  My sister in law, pictured above, was kind enough to share one of her chicken wings with me.  After tasting the wings I can’t say that I would have done the same.  My French toast was other worldly.  How they do it?  Maybe it was deep fried.  I don’t know but angels sang with each bite.

This may seem like a lot of hoopla about wings, but seriously…  How to describe the fried chicken wings…   a dream perhaps, never tasted anything like it.  Made me wish for a bigger piece, a thigh maybe, battered and fried the same way.  Wishes and dreams. 

If you go, be prepared to wait at peak breakfast and lunch times.  The line wraps around the building and rain or shine people wait.  And wait.  We waited about an hour on a cold and damp Saturday at 11:30 am.  We were cold and damp with lots of other TBK hipsters.  What to say about that?  It was worth it.

Found a great thrifting place, Blue Bird Circle Resale Shop.  One of those secret little places the collectors and vintage crowd like to keep to themselves.  But you won’t tell anyone will you?  Check their hours before you go.  By the time we left TBK I only had about 20 minutes to look around.  So sad.

Here are some more fun photos taken while antiquing on Westheimer:

   

     Houston is a great city for graffiti art.  It’s kind of fun to think of someone perusing their vast graffiti stencil file for the best sample to go on a city pole.  Very crafty.

     I’m kind of a cupcake-o-holic.  And kind of figure that good brakes on a car are for coming to a screeching halt when the word ”cupcake” is spotted on a building.  Sugarbaby’s is a Cupcake Boutique.  The inside was just as cute.  I have to say that the cupcakes were just “okay”.  But in Sugarbaby’s defense, in addition to my blossoming mini cake addiction, I am slipping into becoming a cupcake snob. 

Oh wow.  Why does she take these pictures?!  I don’t know.  Some people collect postcards on vacation and others collect salt and pepper shakers.  I collect  photos of city sewer lids.  Hmmm.  What do you collect?  Leave a comment and let the world know.

Technorati Tags: The Breakfast Klub,Sugarbaby's

Weekend in Houston

Went to see Lovey's Dad for Father's Day in Houston. Grandpa found himself a nice place to take a nap and DR found half an inch where she could squeeze in too. Looks like he's okay with it. Also spent a day adventuring in the big city. Houston is a fun place. Very active inner city life, lots of restaurants and curious things to look at. Here are a few snapshots from the weekend and a few fun things to do if you ever find yourself down that way.









Java Java Cafe is the best place for breakfast. Doesn't look like much from the outside does it? Good, good food and interesting art from local artists is inside and out. They have the best croissants. We weren't there for breakfast this visit but I still stopped in to get a croissant "to go". A girl has got to think about breakfast for tomorrow.




The artwork on the outside of Java Java changes every few months due to a group of local grafitti artists. "It's all good" as Java Java appreciates the beautification and thus the artists are allowed to operate in broad daylight. No faces shown, though, in my pics. I'll have to get a pic next visit of the finished art. I love, love, love grafitti. It's so homemade and personal.

We went exploring in The Heights. They call it The Heights because it's way taller than the rest of Houston - by a foot. I did feel a little light headed there. The elevation, you know.

She's so cheezy!



Spend any time in Houston and you're sure to run across a car from Houston's Art Car Parade. And these artists have such great names. One is "Atomic Dog: One Nation Under a Groove". Don't you want a handle like that? I'm going to have to sic little sis, KT, onto that. "Pleeeez, you know you want to. And change my ringtone on your phone while you're at it. My life doesn't suck and I want your ringtone to sing out to the world that "I'm bringing sexy back."




You want to flock with birdies like these. What do you think a place like this goes for inner city?








Flowers for you!










We liked the topiaries at this garden center. There were also huge animal topiaries galloping down the median of the street. Horses, a T-Rex, giraffes and dancing bears.






Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen makes my current favorite enchi-lotties. (Because you want to eat a-lottie of them!) Notice it's not just "Sylvia's", but "Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen". That's to let you know that they are serious about their enchiladas, enough to dedicate a
whole kitchen to them. They say it's "Absolutely worth the drive!" on their menu. Lovey didn't think so but he drove me anyway. That's why I call him Lovey. We were so close and Lovey and DR were so hungry and we had to pass a lot of restaurants to get there and we couldn't exactly remember where it was and it was not pretty... I think I may have taken advantage of his goodness.

I first read about these enchiladas in Texas Highway magazine. On our next trip to Houston we drove ALL
THE WAY DOWN WESTHEIMER to get there. It's a long way people.

This is the Sarita Enchilada Dinner. It's a heavenly combination of sauteed zuchinni, corn and queso topped with a light cream sauce. Sounds strange, but it's good. Their hot sauce is also the best I've had in a Mexican restaurant. And you know, for me, that's a good sign of things to come. So that's my commercial for Sylvia's (12637 Westheimer).

After all the drama, Lovey said "It was good but I still don't think it was worth the drive." That's what lack of nutrition, mixed with elevation madness from The Heights, will do to you.

And if you ever do find yourself in Houston, you might as well skip on over to Old Town Spring. Thads is the best store. Doesn't it look like something out of a dream? He picks out the best stuff for all the holidays and all the home deco's are so wonderful.














You should plan to spend a whole afternoon at Spring. There's a shop somewhere there that sells fudge (lunch is served!) and then go see Lil' Miss Isabella at The Wild Goose Chase. Isabellas' human has a store that is so prettiful.


Isabella sits on the counter and makes sure you buy something.





















So I hope you enjoyed this eye candy. I'm still gonna send out my favorite summer recipe but this will keep you occupied till then.