Denton Dining

Admittedly, I work in Denton quite often, so I am forced/allowed to eat lunch there. Since I've had this job (almost a year!), I've eaten at the good, somewhat bad and a little icky in Denton.

Good:
Love Shack
I Love Sushi

Somewhat Bad:
El Guapo's (How can you compete with Rosa's?!)
Greenhouse
The Cupboard

Icky:
shall remain nameless

This post is dedicated to the winner of all food competitions for Denton dining: Chef Tim Love's Love Shack. Now, this has nothing to do with the fact that I have a Chef Crush on Tim Love, or the fact that I respect his decision for building a fab restaurant in his hometown. Never forgot his roots. Tugs on the heartstrings, huh?

No, this is about the snap of the perfectly grilled hot dog that was sliced in half then topped with Love Sauce (similar to special sauce but more Chefy). This is about the hamburgers topped with a fried quail egg, dubbed Dirty Love style. Melt.

I've had food from the Love Shack twice now, and each experience builds on the previous one. Such a great place!

I hope to continue finding great lunch spots, and bolster my love for Denton dining.

Dallas Dining

Lately Michael and I have tried a few 'tried and true' Dallas restautants. I'm only going to share one review with you, readers, mainly because I am lazy. :)

Campisi's
On Saturday Michael and I decided to treat ourselves by going our to lunch. We chose to go to the original Campisi's on Mockingbird. For some reason, it's called the Egyptian House, or something similar, even though it has not a scratch of Egyptian food on the menu. That was lost on me.
We ordered the famous garlic bread, small dinner salads, a salami and mushroom pizza, and the combination pasta plate.
I'll make this short and sweet: It was mostly terrible. Everything seemed old, canned or not in the least bit fresh. The garlic bread was the only saving grace, with all of it's garlicly goodness.

Thoughts? Concurrences? Stories of your own?

Our waiter was very nice and unobtrusive. He received a good tip, but we'd rather not have paid for the food.

Suggestions on good italian food elsewhere? I am a fan of Villa-O, but I don't think it's a Saturday-for-lunch-type place.

Whoa, July?

It's apparently July. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did.

Time has been precious this past month and a half, mostly due to TWO federal grant applications at work, family, traveling and making life plans. While all of this seems very grand, it's actually very tiring.

With that being said, I will try to keep things updated around here a little better than I have before. Thus, the next few posts.

Enjoy!

Nose to the Grindstone - In Other Words, "Happy June!"

June has been the month of insanity. From applying for federal grants to cramming in work before going on vacation, June has been jam-packed.

I thought the summer would bring a break, but no such thing has happened.

My blog has been horribly neglected, but I hope to pick things back up after going to Las Vegas next week! Michael will be there for a conference, and Jamie, Mom and Dad and I (me?) are tagging along. It should be a good getaway, with hopefully tons of winnings. And awesome food. Ahh, the food.

More soon! Stay cool!
(This library is most certainly NOT cool. I need to find another hiding place that isn't 80 degrees.)

Pickles!

This past weekend I made spicy homemade pickles, based loosely off a family recipe my mother-in-law gave me. Her recipe was for bread-and-butter pickles, which aren't a favorite of mine. I prefer spicy or dill pickles, and I combined the two into my recipe.

I can't taste them until 8 days from now (pickling time is 10 days from jarring), so I'll have to let you know if it was a best or bust!

Here's how they look:


I added fresh dill, several chile de arbols, black whole peppercorns to the usual pickling recipe of vinegar and sugar. I also added several of my favorite spices.

Results soon!

Check Up & Granola

A few weeks ago I posted a small list, and I think it's about time to check up on my progress!

1. Blog More (At least 6 times before the month is through.)(DONE)
2. Call my Sister & Mom (I need to check up on them more often.) (MAKING PROGRESS)
3. Go to the gym or spin class every week. (Both.) (MAKING SOME PROGRESS)
4. Return Andrea's message on Facebook. (DONE)
5. Utilize my pantry for this month's dinners. (So many rices, quinoas and lentils!) (MAKING PROGRESS)

I'm beginning to blog more, but I feel like most of my posts are frivolous. I'm good on quantity, but not exactly quality. That's my new goal.

Finally, I've been taking a hard look at my pantry, and am trying to use some forgotten ingredients. A few weeks ago I made a lentil dish, and I've been incorporating rices into many meals. Today, I made a cinnamon almond granola with the old-fashioned oats and agave nectar that I had sitting in the pantry.


The result is fabulous! Also, I was able to utilize an ingredient that I've never used before: wheat germ. I've heard of it, but never really used it. It's similar in texture to bread crumbs or steel-cut oats. It tastes nutty. A great addition to crunchy granola.

Simple Gift

A friend at work left this on my desk this morning.



Such a sweet and thoughtful gift. The coworker remembered from back at Christmastime that I had owls on my wish list. Every day gifts are sometimes the best ones.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

How are you celebrating?

To this Texan, Cinco de Mayo is always cause for celebrating the Mexican influences in my life, i.e. Mexican food, colorful fabrics, the Spanish language.

So, tonight, a group of friends and myself are going to Rosa's!
Hooray for sloppy, cheesy, yummy food!

Recap!

Here we are in May, and I haven't shared since the middle of last month! I'm not keeping my posting promise very well, am I?


At the end of April, Michael and I went down to Houston to join the celebration for our friend from college. She is(has) leaving for veternarian school in the Caribbean, and we were sending her off. Sounds like a dream to me! Anyway, we had dinner and drinks at Bodega's Taco Shop (a must if you're hanging around the Museum District in Houston), and then went back to Hotel Zaza (where Michael & I stayed) for drinks and music. The hotel was fabulous, and they even gave us sparkley rings to wear in the dark! How thoughtful.

We took too many photos that night, but this is one of my favorites.






Last Tuesday Michael won tickets to the Texas Rangers game! If you know me, you know I'm not that thrilled about baseball. Being the AWESOME wife I am, I went anyway! We lost the game, but got a fabulous photo out of it! (You see where my priorities lie.)


I can't wait until the next weekend!

Weekend Wedding!

Today I'm at the Baylor Sammons Cancer Center FREE Head and Neck Cancer Screening. Anyone who lives in the area can come by before 11:00am. No appointment necessary.

Last Thursday was Gloria's (some #) Anniversary, and they were celebrating with 25 cent margaritas. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to go, but after standing in the line at the Addison location for 1 hour and 15 minutes, I gave up! We ended up going to Blue Goose for some yummy frozen margaritas. They were only $3, so I didn't take it as that much of a loss.

Later that night we had the hailstorm of the decade! It was unreal. It looked like snow on the ground; quarter- and dime-sized hail! Crazy! I should have taken pictures.

Tonight is my college friend Lizzy Murray's wedding - I can't wait! It's at a country club in Lewisville, next to the lake. I'll be sure to take a ton of pictures. Stay tuned!