scenes from the weekend

Lunch at Bolsa.
Stroll through Bishop Arts District.
Windows at Niemans.

conveyor belt sushi

The restaurant, conveyor belt in the middle booths surround it

Probably one of the coolest concepts ever! I just got back from NYC and got to do the conveyor belt experience with my brothers who as luck would have it were in town too!

The conveyor belt

Mark (our traveling buddy from Denmark) also happened to Live in Japan for a while and now lives outside NYC so he was the conessieur to take us on the adventure.

Basically the premise is that you sit in a booth (or at the bar) and a conveyor belt circles around with colored plates of 2-4 pieces of sushi on each one. You grab a plate as it passes by you and then are charged by the color of plate that you choose. nothing is really labeled so you kinda have to go on what looks good but is a great way to try new things.... like sea urchin... but that is a whole other story.

our plates at the end

Apparently they have karaoke booths upstairs too... if you are into that. ;)

BBQ & Hey Cupcake!

Saturday we took an last minute trip to Austin/Lockhart for some BBQ at our friends favorite BBQ joint Smitty's. And man it was yummy. Aside from the good eating, the signs and original weights and decor added to the charm, then you walk out back and see the ginormous wood pile. It was pretty incredible.

Then we headed into Austin and hung out on South Congress for a little while. Bought a few goodies from Parts & Labour, Uncommon Objects and Lucy in Disguise. The icing on the [cupcake] was our visit to Hey Cupcake! across the street. Now if you haven't been there you have to check it out because once again aside from its general grooviness of being in an Airstream with giant rotating cupcake on top, they have the most delicious red velvet cupcakes. (i hear the other flavors are just as delightful) ... and they will give you a shot of whip cream inside the cupcake for FREE if you are so inclined.

sinfully good....

I just arrived back from Las Vegas late last night. I thought I would do a little recap of things we did when we weren't busting it to finish the black, white and yellow bonanza in time for market.

Here you go:

1. Visited the Hoover Dam

2. Had drinks at the new groovy Sushi Samba at the Palazzo

3. Checked out the model condos for the new LEED accredited CityCenter Las Vegas. They had these rad Chihuly glass sculpture reeds in the fountain outside.

Now I could go on and elaborate about these things but I think a little visual candy will do just fine. You can check out more on my Flickr site.

i've got a visitor

I know this is totally un-design related, but had to post it. I am equally fascinated and mortified all at once. I went into my kitchen this morning to find this scene. My avocado had been ripped into. I am pretty sure it is a rodent of sorts because if you look closely you can see the scratch marks on the green part. Is it weird I find it kinda pretty?

It is a bummer because that avocado was going to be my lunch.... now for the rat poison! eek!

back to reality.

After spending the weekend in Hilton Head, including all day Friday, I'm feeling a case of the Mondays. Taking Jane into the ocean was, by far, the highlight of our lives together so far :)



Coming back to work today was cushioned just a little bit by an office-outing for lunch. There's a new restaurant (newER...) called Press- I've steered away from it because their website looks slightly fancier, but inside it's kind of like Dean+Deluca. Yes, that can be fancier, but we're talking GOOD food- great sandwiches, salads, etc... I built my own salad, of course, but I would've eaten any of the sandwiches listed. Check it out if you're in CLT- it's pretty good... and their signage / branding is pretty nice, as well.

othello

Last night Ben and I went to Shakespeare in the park. His friend Jacob did the costume designs, and hung out with us and gave us some little insites (like "that wallet he just threw on the floor, it is an $800 Fendi I got as a gift"). what girl doesn't like tidbits like that?! We took a picnic and a rug (no blankets to be had) and sat out on the lawn for a little cultural enrichment.

I recommend this for anyone in the Dallas area for a couple reasons: 1: even if you arn't a Shakespeare buff or understand it for that matter, it is still fun to go out and have a picnic... and the custumes rock! 2: it takes you out of the city for a moment so you feel like there is nothing else going on (except for the occasional ambulance you hear in the distance).

Emily's Chocolates

the last fortune: "Times of need are not enough to prove your friendship."

I got a Valentine's Day Package from my twin sister two weeks before February 14th. She plans ahead...

Inside there were a bunch of 'goodies' including Emily's Dark Chocolate Covered Fortune Cookies. I tried to pace myself with them, only giving a couple away and saving the rest for bad days, but today I (sadly) HAD to eat the last one. The box alone was adorable, let alone the fortunes and fact that they were all individually packaged inside... and they were SO good.

I think it was one of my favorite Valentine's Day presents ever- sure beats the last couple of years!

As much as I don't like this day...

Last night Amanda and I got pretty excited about our brownies! The first batch had two boxes of the mix- dark chocolate + fudge brownie, plus peanut butter chips. THEN... the second batch had the same two boxes of the mix, but we threw in white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and chopped walnuts. They are amazing. We both were kind enough to bring all of these to our respective offices today- I'm sure everyone was impressed :)

And they wouldn't be appropriate for today unless we threw a heart in there somewhere, right?

Cakes!

I know it's been a while- my apologies. Look at these wedding cakes I just saw on Style Me Pretty- LOVE THEM... and now I want cake.

Design*Sponge : Guide to Charlotte!

I don't know how I missed this, but apparently the city-guide on Charlotte is a couple days old at design*sponge. Fortunately, a coworker of mine in Colorado forwarded the link to us here in Charlotte to check-out. SO glad I did! Having just moved to Charlotte not too long ago, I'm right on the border between feeling like a visitor and calling it home- enough to where I can use all of the guidance I can get in this city, but where I still associate with it when it's recognized elsewhere.

It was wonderful to read through the city-guide... I highly recommend it if you're in Charlotte or will have the opportunity to travel this way anytime soon. They highlight the neighborhoods- NoDa, Plaza Midwood (hey hey, erin!), Dilworth, Southend and Pineville- although they don't say too much about Pineville, which i'm kind of curious to learn about since they seem to think it's got a lot to offer... and all I've found there is the mall. Typical.

Some of the places they listed that I've been to were The Penguin restaurant (mmm... fried pickles!), Dish (shrimp + grits!), Pike's Soda Shop (try the celery dressing!), & Mr. K's Soft Ice Cream (I currently work right next door!). To prove that I have actually been to places BESIDES restaurants (although don't forget what my priorities clearly are..), I loved hearing what they had to say about Century Vintage and Fifteen Ten Antiques in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood- been to both, and bought (too many) little accents at each one!

It was wonderful to hear another person's perspective on the city, and to rack-up a few ideas for places to go and things to see here!

the perfect afternoon tea [i mean Coffee]

Today is my friend Lindsy's birthday [happy birthday Linds!] Over the weekend my friend Shannon and I planned a afternoon tea for Lindsy. It was at this local latin bakery La Duni [they also have awesome brunch]. But we were there for tea.

When it came time to order our drinks however, they only had one type of tea... confusing? yes. but they did have an extensive coffee list, so we all got a variation of that. It was actually quite the perfect accompaniment.

They had a delightful tiered tray full of goodies, sweet and salty. On the bottom tray there was finger sandwiches [with a Latin flair of course] of ham and gruyere, and one of goat cheese, pickled asparagus and roasted red peppers. On the second tray were these delicious cinnamon bun type things with caramel and nuts and also a apple tart type thing. On the top tier we had chocolate cake [mmm] and lemon cake.

Family in town!

from L: Dad, Michael, Amanda, Eric, Katie, Meagen, & Maggie

I love having family come to town- especially when that includes having a chef for a dad. I think it's safe to say that I've got a fair amount of repair work ahead of me in terms of dieting after this weekend, but sometimes it's worth putting those goals on hold.

We went to the Lexington Barbecue Festival (crowded, but I'm glad admission was free) and then dad cooked for us that night- here's the menu:

Starters:
-sauerkraut balls (sauerkraut, corned beef, dijon mustard)
-bacon-wrapped scallops
-apricot-stuffed brie in puff pastry

Dinner:
-mixed-green salad w/ mandarin oranges, cashews, dried cranberries, red onion and light balsamic vin.
-hickory-smoked pork tenderloin with a honey balsamic glaze
-asparagus
-red-skin potatoes

Dessert:
-chocolate & caramel brownie with whipped cream

I was full before dinner was served but managed to maintain my standing as a life-time member of the clean-plate club throughout the evening- all topped off with a few glasses of Ecco Domani- mmmm...

Now, of course, I have a half-wheel of brie with apricot stuffing in my fridge, two full slabs of that pork tenderloin in the freezer, and tons of leftovers. It was a great weekend- especially with Ohio State taking Penn like they owned them :)

De La Costa

Those travel items you posted are really cool!! Speaking of travel, we sat down yesterday and started to plan out travel for our winter season... second stop on the list Chicago in mid-November. I got really excited because one of my very favorite restaurants is there, De La Costa. It is a latin restaurant with food that is pure bliss. And this is NOT an exaggeration, honestly every bite I took from appetizer to main cours to desert was truly some of the best food that I have ever had. They even had these cute "pop-tails" frozen cocktails on a stick.

What is even better about De La Costa is the whole place is an experience. The interior is all very Theatrical with old world marianettes all over the place. They have four rooms including the front waiting area, bar/seviche bar, main dining and a back room. You can tell the designer paid attention to the details. I really could go on and on about how awesome this place was but I'll let the photos speak for me. some of them are taken off the website (above) and I took a few myself (below). The website is also very well done a true representation of what the restaurant is like.

Pumpkin Seeds

We've hit October which means we're officially in Halloween-prep month. That being said... my favorite part of the holiday skips right past costumes and even decorations- right into food, of course. We were never big on pumpkin pie at home (until Thanksgiving), but every year we saved the pumpkin seeds and roasted them in the oven- SO good.
Now, my mom always just toasted them with looking for a few other recipes today and came across a couple other var some seasoned salt on it- not bad, but I wanted to find a few varieties:

1) Cajun Seasoning Blend:
1 1/2 c pumpkin seeds salt to taste 2 tsp. melted butter or oil garlic powder cayenne pepper Bake @ 300, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.


2) Sweet Spicy Pumpkin Seeds:
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
Line baking sheet with parchment paper; bake seeds @ 250 until dry- about 15-20 minutes.
Mix 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, pepper in bowl.
Combine oil & other 2 tablespoons sugar in a nonstick skillet over high heat & add baked seeds. Cook until sugar melts and seeds caramelize- 45 to 60 seconds.
Transfer seeds to bowl of spices; stir well to coat; let cool.

3) Curried Toasted Pumpkin Seeds:
3 c pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons peanut, canola or olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Bake @ 300 for 25-30 minutes on parchment-lined baking sheet after coating in all ingredients. Let cool.

So, I'm hungry now- I LOVE curry, but I'm probably going to try all of these... let me know if you've got any others!