Notables from 2011

Top 11 of 2011 - because it's tradition!

1 - Read the entire New Testament in 40 days for lent.
2 - Ran my first 5K, in the company of great friends.
3 - Got snowed in for 4 days and got to sled with neighbors - a first in Texas for me.
4 - Went back to Punta Cana!
5 - Went to New Orleans for the first time. Love SHARK ATTACKS!
6 - Got to spend several days in Chicago with the girls!
7 - Saw Dashboard Confessions in concert.
8 - Had a blast at Jordan's Bachlorette & Wedding!
9 - Got to spend time in Tokyo, as well as Hong Kong.
10 - Learned how to make Sopilla's with Angela.  & got to enjoy Maple Syrup Bacon Ice Cream Ang made.
11 - Spent a girls weekend with Laurel in Omaha in cute shops & restaurant's.

Chicago 2011

Last weekend, me and a few girls headed to Chicago for a girls weekend. It was mostly shopping, but here are a few pictures of the rest of the trip.

Our first stop was deep dish pizza at Gino's East!

We walked down to see the silver bean, the giant Marilyn Monroe and the river front, shopping our way down the street.  We also went out to Navy Pier for fireworks.

We started the 2nd day with brunch at Yolk. It's a new favorite for all my stops in Chicago! And Allison came in to play for the day! We did a lot of shopping and headed to the top of the Hancock tower for great views of the city!

Monday we headed to art class, and make a tri-panel project. It was a great 3 day girls weekend!

Pink Martini

We found this new liquor - X Rated - in the Dominican Republic. It's vodka + fruit flavors and quite tasty! It's good straight, or with a little bit of lemonade.  Perfect for the summer, or Oct (Breast Cancer awareness month).

I drink it straight out of the freezer with just a splash of lemonade on top!

NOLA - Drinks

This is a recap of just my favorite bars and drinks we had in NOLA. You can probably guess by the lack of details that these were not the only bars and drinks we had.  Some of these I'm going to re-make with a Melissa twist in the next couple of months, and will post if I make anything worthy of mention.

We started the trip at Pat O'Briens with Cyclones and Hurricane's.

Followed by Voodoo at Bourbon O bar. This was very tasty, and I believe it is Hawaiian Punch with Rum.

We also took at Historic Drinking Tour. We started at Muriel's with a refreshing drink that had cucumber in it, and a champagne something mix.

2nd stop was Hermes, and this is their wine collection. It was a very cool bar, cool restaurant and served a drink made with brandy and citrus.

The 3rd bar I have no idea the name. They served Mint Julep and a Sangria (but made with liquor).

We ended the tour at Bombay Club, a Martini bar.  2nd best Lemon Drop on my list, behind the Hong Kong Mortons.  B is in the center, cousin Mike to the left, tour guide Sandy behind and a gift from Lafayette to the right.

Then we went to Funky Pirate and tried several drinks. The one above is called Shark Attack! I've made this drink before, but they added some bells and whistles (literally).  When you order the Shark Attack, it comes with the grenadine in the plastic shark, they start ringing a life guard bell and blowing a whistle and then pour it into the glass.  Nikki kept the first 3 sharks for kids bath toys, we left countless sharks on the tables.  This was my favorite, but who's surprised by that?

Vodka

Sour

Grenadine

Splash of Soda

Can't leave without Hand Grenades.  So tasty, so deadly.

NOLA - Eats

We just returned from a trip to New Orleans, with B's cousins. The plans for the trip revolved completely around eating and drinking.  This blog is dedicated to the OMG GOOD food of NOLA.

Our flights were early, and first stop is Cafe Du Monde. I can't think of anything more yummy than fried puffy pastry with powdered sugar. I loved Biegnets, as much as I love funnel cakes and sopilla's. Well maybe not as much as sopilla's, but they are up there! This place was always packed, but the lines moved fast, and was perfect for breakfast. In fact, we ate there 3 times!

 We also made our way down to Mothers for po boys.  We ordered 3 and shared between the 4 of us, and they were quite tasty.



 We did fancy places for dinner each night.  The first night we went to Brennan's.  The guys LOVED the steaks.  The onion soup was the best I have ever had. However, my Chicken Lavon tasted like Chicken and Waffles, which made the fine dining experience a little strange since I felt like I was in Waffle House! But yummy - who doesn't like chicken and waffles?

Mr. B's Bistro. Wow. We had trouble getting a reservation and I know why. I'd eat there twice a week if I was a local. 

They are famous for BBQ Shrimp, but they aren't grilled and they don't come in BBQ sauce.  They are cooked in a sauce that is like heaven in a bowl. I even took off my wedding ring for this event, and it is an event.

They come around and give you a bib and extra napkins.  The shrimp were huge, and GOOOOOOD! It was work, but so worth every bite. This will have to be a repeat experience!



Cousins came to visit!

Meet Cato, my cousins full German Shepherd.  That little dog to the back? That's our Kaiser. Kaiser is what we call miniture German Shepherd at the small size of 50lbs (give you any clue at how big Cato is?). Cato came in town with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents to celebrate my Gran's 80th Birthday! But I think Kaiser and Cato had the most fun!

Kaiser slept for 2 days after Cato left. He really enjoyed the cousins visit and hopes they come back soon (and so do I)!

Strawberry Slush

 A new favorite summer drink!  The votes are in, and this one is a winner!

2 cans frozen pink lemonade
1 can frozen limeade
1 small box of strawberries, pureed
6 cups of water
3 cups of rum

2 2-L bottles of Sprite or Diet Sprite

Mix top ingredients together in a really big pitcher.  Freeze for 2 days.  Mix 1 part frozen slush with 1 part Sprite and enjoy!

Since the slush will hold in the freezer without going bad, you can treat it like a margarita bucket and eat on it all summer! Probably won't last that long, but you could in theory...

Enjoy!