Eating in Arlington

A couple weeks ago we decided to try out Orchid City Fusion Cafe based on several recommendations of people who live in Arlington. Those recommendations were correct!

I got the Crawfish Fusion, fried crawfish over spicy fried rice with jalapenos & crispy onions mixed in. This was some of the best fried rice I have ever had! There were several yummy sounding things on the menu, but I will have a hard time not getting this every visit!

We also got rolled ice cream! Mine was mango ice cream with fresh fruit & mochi on top. The ice cream tasted like fresh mango, it was sweet & creamy. Sister made an even better choice, she got macha ice cream! The macha flavor was so strong! Anytime i've had green tea ice cream in the past it has been good, but not very strong flavor. This flavor was so strong & wonderful! We will be back!

Today Hubby & I decided to have a lunch date :) We wanted to try Tom's based on recommendations & the owner, Tom's, super nice presence on BookFace ;)! This guy is the real deal y'all & his personality rubs off on the people in his restaurant! Hubby told me while we were eating that this was the nicest restaurant he had ever been to as far as customer service is concerned :)

I got a bacon cheese burger with jalapeno bacon, fries, & their new (as in today was the first day) Bacon Gravy to dip my fries in. The burger had fresh veggies on top, & the jalapeno bacon had great flavor. That gravy though, next time I will be trying the chicken fried steak just so I can have more of the gravy! Hubby got the Bacon Bleu Burger, and he really enjoyed the mild bleu cheese flavor. However, he said next time he would get the half pound burger because his third pound came out well done. So if you like your burger medium, keep that in mind.

We will be back Tom! & thanks Chad & Kristen for the wonderful service!!

Heim BBQ

Heim BBQ is our second stamp in our BBQ Passport! We visited over our Anniversary week, and had a yummy lunch!

I got the Big Cat Sandwich again, yum!! Hubby got Brisket, Sausage, Potato Salad, & Green Chile Mac & Cheese. I tried a bite of his potato salad, it was creamy and delish. Of course the mac & cheese is always a great option! We shared the Bacon Burnt Ends, oh my, those flavorful smoky pieces of bacon will bring you back for more!

Thank you Texas Monthly for our BBQ Passport & for planning our meals for a while ;)

10 Years on Top of The World

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary! For lunch we went to Sal's, which is where we had dinner the night he proposed :)

This is also where we had our rehearsal dinner, we really love Sal's Pizza! We were fortunate enough that Sal was there yesterday so we could share the good news with him.

We then rode the McKinney Avenue Trolley. This is a great date idea! It is free transportation around a small circuit of Dallas that takes about an hour to complete.

You can hop off and back on at the stops, they come around about every 20 minutes depending how many cars they have going. This Trolley car is named Petunia :)

Headed back to the spot he proposed!!

We first went to the Bar & Lounge at Five Sixty Restaurant to have an appetizer & drinks. We shared calamari with a pickled ginger vinaigrette. It had fresh jalapeno mixed into the hot calamari which gave each piece a nice bite. However, we found the calamari to be hit or miss, some pieces were very good and others were quite chewy.

To drink Hubby got a Barrel Aged Old Fashioned which was both of our favorites. I got the Yakuza with was lemony and gingery and very good.

We sat at the edge of the bar by the window so we could see Dallas as we spun in a 360. In an hour you will make the full circle, and then it was time to go to the newly remodeled Geo-Deck.

This spot right here is where he proposed to me 11 years ago! Overlooking Downtown Dallas & Old Red Courthouse.

This time we stayed long enough to see the sunset

This was such a special day to return to Reunion Tower!

I am the luckiest girl in the world, being on top of the world with my perfect man! Here's to the rest of our lives!

Dinners and Shows

We were going to see a play in Fort Worth, and Hubby said we had to try this BBQ place he had been to.

Heim BBQ

Goodness, was he right! All 4 of us (Hubby, me, and our moms) got the Big Cat Sandwich. Chopped Brisket on a Jalapeno Bun topped with a scoop of Green Chili Mac & Cheese. When mine & Hubby's came out on the same tray, Hubby threatened to eat them both! Fortunately, he decided to let me have one ;) This brisket was full of flavor and needed no sauce! We will be back (Grandma, we have to make plans to meet you!)

Then it was time for our play at Amphibian Stage.

We saw Northside Hollow, about a man who was trapped in a mine.

These are working headlamps, we were asked to be part of the lighting crew! :) This was a very well done play! And I'm not just saying that because we were on crew ;)

Our second night of dinner and a show, actually started with the show. Cirque Du Soleil Kurios, a Steampunk themed show. It was extraordinary! The acts had you in disbelief!

After the show we went to Trinity Grove in Dallas, and decided to eat at Beto & Son. I got the Stuffed Chile Relleno Noodle Bowl. A roasted chile relleno stuffed with shredded chicken and topped with cheese, laid on top of a bed of noodles & veggies. It was very tasty!

If you couldn't tell, we really enjoy trying new dishes, and new places to eat! I hope you have some fun trying new things too! Let us know about places we need to be checking out!

Valentine's BBQ

Happy Valentine's Day!! We were trying to find a casual place that wouldn't be packed today, so I turned to my D Magazine BBQ issue.

There it was, Top 5 BBQ, #8 on D Magazine's top 20 BBQ joints in Dallas. Even better, it was only 15 minutes from our home!

This is a tiny place with only a couple tables, so we decided to bring our Valentine's dinner home and eat it while watching Mad Max, one of my Christmas gifts from Hubby :)

Our reviews:

First of all these are some of the nicest guys! We were asking about their sauce options (regular, hot, and atomic) and they had us come over and try each. Telling us what made them special, and then telling us about their different sausages. These guys are passionate about BBQ!

Both of us agreed that the sausage was the best, and the ribs were also amazing. I love dry ribs! The brisket was good, but not better than the ribs or sausage. I was not a fan of the pulled pork, but I've never had pulled pork that I was a fan of. I'm pretty much ready to quit wasting stomach space trying pulled pork ;) Hubby, who is in the pulled pork is good camp, really liked this pulled pork :) so I would listen to him! The mac & cheese had a sharpness to it that I can't put my finger on, but really liked! The cabbage tasted like it came from Grandma's house :) The potato salad was tangy with mustard, and the beans were a little spicy and a little sweet, but not quite cooked long enough. These sauces though, ya'll, I would eat a shoe coated in their sauce! This is coming from someone who rarely likes BBQ sauce, their hot and their atomic are smokey, spicy, and tasty! And if you are on the side of there should be more cookies in pudding then you need to try their banana pudding. It has no bananas, just thick banana flavored pudding with a box of cookies in every bowl ;)

We thoroughly enjoyed our Valentine's dinner! Now excuse us as we go watch our movie :)

Celebration Dallas Style

Today My Love & I are celebrating our anniversary! This pic is 15 years ago when we first started dating compared to today, our 9 year marriage anniversary, having breakfast at Cafe Brazil :) Which apparently is where we went to breakfast last year as well! 

Then we went to the Nasher Sculpture Center.

This is the first sculpture the Nashers collected :)

Life imitates art!

I wonder how Picasso would feel about selfies? ;)

Then we walked across the street to the Trammel & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, which was open this time. We walked around the courtyard on our Art Walk for our 6 year Anniversary :)

They have an exhibit of wooden Tibetan book covers. They are beautiful and a great piece of literary history!

This is essentially a book spine, this is the side you would see on the shelf, and the carvings tell you which book it is.

They were so intricate!

My Love had to ring the bell!

Our next stop was Maple & Motor.

Someone is getting a little impatient with my obsessive picture taking ;) We shared the cheese fries with bacon and jalapenos, they were not skimpy on the toppings! My Love got a bacon cheddar burger with a fried egg and grilled jalapenos and onions. I got a bacon pepperjack burger with chili, grilled jalapenos, and onions. They were both great burgers, but we agreed we would skip the bacon next time. It was not crisp enough to be on a burger, so one bite and the whole piece tried to come out.

Of course, because today was a celebration, we had to get dessert on our way home! :) We did a Google search for ice cream and found Carnival Barker's.

There is no indoor seating, you order at the window, and eat at this very cool street sign table :) I got Nutella ice cream, which was creamy and chocolately! My Love got an Old Fashioned Vanilla Malt, it was heavy on the malt and delicious!

Happy 9 year anniversary My Love! This year has been quite the year, but together with God we can do this! Thank you for a wonderful day, and a wonderful life together! I love you!

Valentine's Date

Happy Valentine's Day!! Pictured here is our Valentine's Blizzard, Texas Style! Sorry to those who have been living in an actual blizzard, but your snow pics have been making me jealous!

Tonight, being the fancy & romantic people people we are, we decided to try Dallas Grilled Cheese Co in Bishop Arts. What says I love you more than melted cheese and toasted bread?!

We made the right choice! I got The Rustic which is; 3 cheeses normally on rustic white bread which they were out of, so they subbed sourdough ( my favorite bread ever!). My sandwich was yummy! Cheesy, crispy bread, so good! My Valentine got Fried Bologna, which I did not try because yuck! However, he liked it :) but he did say the cheese in mine was more flavorful. The quick pickle they skewered to the top of the sandwich needed to be multiplied! Still crispy cucumber texture, but slightly vinegary & slightly sweet, I could have eaten a jar of them ;)

After our sandwiches we walked over to Cretia's. We have a bit of an obsession with their cheesecake brownies :)

Just look at that brownie!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day celebrating love today! Happy Valentine's!!

Alamo Drafthouse

Tonight Hubby & I went to the brand new Alamo Drafthouse in Dallas! Yesterday through Thursday is their "Soft Soft Opening" before their "Soft Opening" on Friday.

We will be back! I would go sit through a movie I cared nothing about to get more of that Hatch Green Chile Mac & Cheese! And while I'm there, I will definitely get another Temptress Shake, made with Lakewood Temptress Milk Stout.

But enough about the food (did I mention they put real butter on their popcorn?! Yum!) as we were leaving Hubby said that was the best sound he's ever heard in a theatre. There were points I could feel the rumbling in the seats!

For a "Soft Soft Opening" I would say they have got their act together! We were brought our neighbor's drink, but overall everone was friendly and on top of their game! Also, if you have your tickets already just go get your seat, your server will check your ticket. Dont be like us, standing around  trying to show it to someone ;)

We cannot wait to check out some of their "Quote Along" movies, and other fun events they have planned! Maybe we will see you there :)