Thursday, June 7, 2012

Memorial Day Pig Roast

I was in town this Memorial Day and a group of my friends decided to have a pig roast to celebrate the holiday. The party was in fact a "Jarty" that required all guests to wear denim, lots and lots of denim. It was also pretty hot that day so I was able to unearth a jean skirt and a jean jacket, but it was way too hot for that so I stuck with just the skirt and an undershirt (to class it up). There were a few far better outfits at the party, however:


And, as the title suggests, there was also a pig roast. Now, this wasn't a giant pig turning on a spit (as I witnessed once on a trip to Penn State with my friend, Kait), but it was still pretty delicious:


To cool off, there was a shot block out back and lots of other fun activities. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and took (at least a little bit of) time to remember all those who have passed in protection of our country!





Happy Memorial Day!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Christine's H-town Visit!

I was counting down to this visit since February when she booked her ticket. Soooooo happy to see Teeners again, and pregnant Teeners at that! We got to eat lots of old faves as well as discover a few new faves at the Haute Wheels food truck festival. Thanks to everyone who came out with us, it definitely made the visit that much better! Here is a recap of the weekend:

First stop on the trip was lunch a Tookies (they have a pretty good turkey burger!). Christine was pretty pumped to be eating outside, I on the other hand got pooped on by a bird haha. Then, we headed to Boondoggles for a meet-up with Christine's old work group from NASA:

Next up was catching dinner with Josh and Shanna in the city before Shanna jetted off to Dallas for the weekend. We ate at our fave, Cyclone Anaya's and got to see Josh and Shanna for the first time since their engagement. Congratulations!

On Friday we hit up Cracker Barrel first thing (apparently there are no CBs in WA, boo). Then we did some bee-bopping around Clear Lake, errands and what-not. Took Baloo to the park etc. Then we headed back to Boondoggles for the HH I had set up for all our homies to see Christine on her visit. Here are a few peeps from that outing:

Saturday was the Haute Wheels food truck festival. Josh, Christine, and I headed into the city and tasted goodies from lots of the 30 different food trucks. There was also a beer and wine tent with lots of delicious microbrew action. I think my fave sampling was the fried macaroni and cheese with green chili sauce from the Fork in the Road truck:



Firehouse tacos (I believe these were pineapple and buffalo chicken):


Waffle Bus Chicken Waffle bites:




Angie's Cake Balls (ginger beer):

I definitely had tons of fun (and food) at this event and I was glad to have a few peeps up for the adventure (for once)! We met up with Steph and Josh that evening for some Thai Cottage and B&J.

Sunday was actually Mother's Day so I booked a brunch for Christine and I at Haven downtown. I've been wanting to try this restaurant because it's green-inspired (meaning they grow a lot of their own veggies in an organic garden out back and even have their own bees!) and seasonal (so the menu is always changing). The brunch was a set menu that gave you a few choices per course. The first course was free range deviled eggs (just normal). For the second course I chose smoked pork belly and a scrambled yard egg (both were good, but pretty standard) and Christine chose brioche french toast with homemade Greek yogurt (she said the french toast was ok but the yogurt was yummy!):


For the main course I chose a grilled gulf fish and gulf shrimp over a wheat berry salad (it was killer delicious!!!) and Christine had the farm egg frittata (another winner).


For dessert we shared a slice of cheesecake and chocolate ice box pie (both pretty amazing).


Over all the food was very good, but could def use a little more pizazz on the opening numbers. The ambiance was definitely top notch. My one complaint was not food related at all. I had called to try and expand our reservation and was vehemently denied by whomever answered the phone, and yet when we arrived we were sat at a 4-top and there were empty tables around. Not cool. Here is us leaving Haven:

Since Christine was flying out that afternoon, we made a quick pit-stop at the galleria for a visit to GAP Maternity and then headed to Josh's place to see him once more and get in a bit of backgammon haha. Here is my last pic with Teeners and her bump:

Sooo excited to be an aunt, obviously! September can't come soon enough! Thanks a million for visiting Houston, Christine! I had a great time and I can't wait til the next time we get to hang out :)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Greek Turkey Burgers

After smelling grills all over Houston from summer kicking off and the weather being awesome, I felt the need for some burgers. Now, i don't actually have a grill (doing this recipe on a grill would make it way more awesome), but these Greek turkey burgers were still delicious after being sauteed. Check out my new favorite summer meal:


*Note: I nearly never eat potato chips, but when I do it's always the Kettle Cooked black pepper ones, yum!

Recipe:
Greek Turkey Burgers (from Daily Worth- which happens to be a finance blog that all the ladies out there need to start reading!)

burgers
1 lb ground turkey
4 oz crumbled feta
1c chopped fresh spinach
sliced tomato and red onion

sauce
6oz plain Greek yogurt (I used vanilla since that's what I had)
1T fresh lemon juice
1/4c minced peeled cucumber
1/4t minced garlic
1/8t dill
salt and pepper

In a large bowl, combine turkey, spinach, and feta. Mix really well, season with salt and pepper. Form about 6 patties and place on grill (or in broiler pan, or in saute skillet). Cook until no longer pink in the middle (25min in oven, 7min each side on grill, about 15 min flipping in saute pan). Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well and adjust flavors to taste. Assemble with tomato and red onion.

Enjoy!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Monthly Subscriptions

I added another subscription for May, Glam Bag, and am still getting my Birchbox and my Foodzie box (at least until June). Here are all the goodies I received this month:

New Glam Bag:
I looooved the Studio Gear lipstick! Really a perfect color match for me which is a miracle. The brushes and Philosophy perfume were nice as well. I will definitely never use those nail sticker things.

Gossip Girl Inspired Birchbox:

I love the Dior mascara, very lush! The Miracle Skin Transformer stuff seems like putting makeup all over my body and in Houston that means I'm going to be sweating makeup off all day, gross. The Dior perfume smelled like old lady and the Shu Uemura cleansing oil is nice, but not enough of a cleanser for post-soccer hair.

Foodzie Box:
This Foodzie box was a bust for me. The only items I ate were the hazelnuts and the soda, and neither of them were spectacular. The raw cookie was gross (but Baloo still ate it), the marionberry fruit de pate was ok but weird, and the sausage was completely molded over and smelled like butt. I wouldn't even let Baloo taste it- went straight in the trash. I think June will be my last month of this box. I don't think it's holding its worth since they made it bigger and more expensive.