happy st. patrick’s day!

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Jessica

{cutest puppy ever, right? he was all festive for the occasion, and i couldn’t stop taking pictures of him!}

i hope you’re all having a fabulous st. patty’s day, full of green beer, rainbows, and lotsa luck. here are some bits and pieces of my weekend, which has been a pretty swell one, if i do say so myself.

{friday night… i could finally paint my nails since i have no culinary school this week, first time to wear flip-flops since fall, and a walk to west village with ashley and lainey for dinner. winning already!}

{everyone was eating outside, enjoying the gorgeous weather.}

{it was my first time eating at the trendy urban taco}

{i got a campechana and we shared an avocado ceviche tower for an appetizer. the tower was to die for.}

{for dinner, i had two red snapper tacos and a roasted corn con lime taco, with mango-jicama slaw and black beans. so delish!}

{two pictures of ashley, lainey, and me, because i can’t decide which is better… dark and grainy or bright with crazy eyes!}

{on saturday morning, ashley and i met angelica, her parents, her boyfriend kevin, and noelle at bread winners for brunch. we were all dressed in our green for st. patrick’s day, and of course couldn’t leave without taking pictures! we had the most wonderful time.}

{cinnamon raisin french toast topped with fresh fruit}

{the st. patty’s day parade was right outside my apartment complex, so we walked to it and ended up hitting up a few bars on smu blvd. it was all kinds of crazy, but so much fun!}

{one of the bars we went to, the barley house, had the coolest fountain made of beer taps.}

{there’s the adorable puppy! his shirt said, “pet me, i’m irish.” ahh, i want to eat him up!}

{sending kisses to ashley’s boy in italy…}

{after hours of irish car bombs, beer, sunshine, and a lot of people, we were ready for a nap! and that’s just what we did… then took it easy the rest of the night.}

{my sunday was a lot more low-key. i gave in and got a shamrock shake from mickey d’s for lunch, because mint is my favorite. i couldn’t remember the last time i had a milkshake, and it was pretty tasty!}

{i went to church…}

{…and wore this outfit, which for some reason, i was quite excited about.}

{oh, and i had an irish dinner from central market, with none other than a guinness to wash it all down!}

{guinness-marinated flank steak, irish potato salad, corned beef & cabbage slaw, and a green salad. can you say YUM?}

…and that pretty much concludes my weekend adventures. happy st. patrick’s day!

xoxo

january/february catch-up

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Jessica

so this blog is past due for an update of what’s been going on around here since the start of 2013, besides all the birthdays [mine and my brother's], valentine’s day, culinary school, and business trips, because those all get their own posts. what else is there? you ask. well, a whole lot of everything, and by everything, i naturally mean food. and a scattering of other randoms. this is me we’re talking about, after all.

so here it is:

{christmas crafts. after christmas. because this is how i roll.}

{the tiny bit of snow we got + milky, cinnamony chai tea with honey and The Book With All the Stories. in bed. on a sunday evening. a.k.a. contentment at its finest.}

{in early january, kyle came to visit, and he went with me to buy my first mini keg for my beertender, which i mentioned in this post. ”baby’s first mini keg” – that’s one for the books!} ;)

{it just so happened that the lucky ducky dogs food truck had set up camp at the liquor store parking lot when we went to get the keg, and we hadn’t eaten dinner, so we each got a hot dog before we went home. they were delicious, and i loved how college-y it felt – so spontaneous and fun. ahh. i miss college.}

{trying out the beertender!}

{sorority posing}

{just another wild night in dallas}

{i adore them.}

{delicious lunch that kyle and i had at olivella’s}

{ashley and me + the southwest turkey burger from village burger bar}

{back in the kitchen, y’all. you know what that means… an over-abundance of food photos! and lots of pictures of downtown dallas}

{lucky helping me with my work projects…and all bundled up in his new bed!}

{eating a chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon by the warmth of a fire at la madeleine.}{blackberry lovin’}

{doing my monday-tuesday night thang}

{leinenkugel’s snowdrift vanilla porter + a prehistoric camera}

{a couple of my favorite lunches from whole foods… a salmon roll + more blackberries(!), and roasted edamame}

{…and some tasty dinners: acorn squash with butter and brown sugar (okay, so that might be more like dessert!) and a mini pizza with zucchini and sunburst tomatoes}

{“that building with the green lights”}

{being silly in the bugatti}

{the bugatti dog and i went for a ride with dad}

{yet another great shopping area to explore in dallas… highland park village}

{happy mardi gras!}

{the historic inwood theatre + a louisiana roll}

{i used my anthro birthday coupon to buy this adorable pair of earrings for myself, among other things}

{this city.}

{why i feel the need to document my crazy hair days, i don’t know…}

{…and then there was the time that i had purple hair for a day…}

{editing produce specs, drinking large volumes of green tea, and eating sunbursts like candy all kind of go hand-in-hand, as it turns out. so that’s what i do!}

{caramelized sea scallops with roasted asparagus and sundried tomato-mushroom pearl pasta from seasons 52…and a lot of dallas traffic}

and there you have it, folks. the first two months of 2013 in a nutshell.

have a great rest of the week!

23

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Jessica

yep, i’m alive.

and a year older, as it turns out!

the past month has been a whirlwind, and amidst the whirlwind was my 23rd birthday. it was on a friday, and weekend birthdays always feel like miracles, in my opinion. my thursday-sunday was filled with family, friends, and lots of sweets, as birthdays should be.

here are some bits and pieces from that weekend:

{dinner in uptown on thursday night with ashley and angelica}

{it was my first time at the common table and i fell in love}

{we started off with a pitcher of skittles sangria!}

{i had avocado on the “half shell” with sauteed lobster meat and chive oil. it. was. awesome.}

{i may be old now, but i still think birthdays are magical}

{carrot cake cup with stout anglaise}

{and on top of all the wonderful food, drinks, and company, there were birthday cards..}

{…and presents!}

{i’m so happy to have these beautiful women in my life!}

on friday, my actual birthday, i took a half day at work so that i could drive home and spend that afternoon with my parents and my brother who had come in for the weekend. all day long, i got showered with happy birthday emails from my work people, which was so sweet.

{ruthie brought me cake pops!}

then, a little while before i left work, i got a call from one of the receptionists saying that she had received a delivery for me. confused, i went down to the first floor, thinking, i don’t remember ordering any samples from suppliers to be delivered today... and when i got to the front desk, the receptionist handed me a huge brown paper bag. it was a dozen sprinkles cupcakes from thomas!! isn’t he just the greatest person ever?!

{chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet}

{i just love him.}

i drove home that afternoon, stopped by my church to say hi to my dad who was working our men’s club fish fry, then spent the afternoon catching up with my mom and brother. then the three of us went to the fish fry and ate dinner together, and it was SO tasty. my dad runs it, and they are known for their awesome fish. they make their own breading – it’s a secret recipe! if you’re ever in arlington, tx on friday during lent, you should stop by st. joe’s fish fry! :)

{me and my pretty mother}

{a blurry pic, but we’re so proud of our dad, the fish fry king! they raised the most money ever in the history of their fish fry on my birthday evening.}

{two peas in a pod}

{me and brother bear}

after dinner, we went over to celebrate at mimi and papa’s!

{i’m so lucky to have these two in my life}

{there were lots of lovely gifts…}

{…and a present-opening machine named lucky!}

{mom made a carrot cake, my favorite, with cream cheese frosting of course!}

{the two best parents i could ever ask for}

{getting ready to make a wish!}

{this is my dramatic “i’m pretending to blow out the candles because they didn’t get a picture when i actually blew them out” face}

{meanwhile, this little guy is completely exhausted from the adventures of the evening!}

i’m quite excited about my new ipad, which i’ll probably get at the end of march [i'm kind of waiting to see if there's a new one coming out...], and i got so many other wonderful gifts. the most important gift of all, though, was having our family together, especially since papa isn’t well.

late that evening, i was serenaded by angela and all my other favorite houston folks, and then they sent me this gem of a video:

Happy Birthday Video

i laugh every single time i watch it! makes me happy.

the next day, i went for a walk with mom and mike [dad had to leave for a trip], said goodbye to mike [he was headed back to austin], and then went shopping with mom and mimi. i went back to dallas that evening, and spent the rest of the weekend chilling out, enjoying some “me time,” and getting ready for the week.

{mom sent me home with this huge hunk of carrot cake that gave me dessert for 3 days! best cake ever!}

{i was way too excited for my new pair of house shoes from anthropologie. they were my gift to myself, although anthro pitched in 15% for my birthday. oh yeah, and they were already on sale – a steal!}

{i had sunday brunch with the girls at mama’s daughters’ diner}

oh, and random sidenote: my bday week was like the week of cinnamon rolls! i literally eat cinnamon rolls once or twice a year, and it just so happened that i had three opportunities to eat them on this week. [hello, gym!]

{i had one for breakfast at my parents’ house – my mom had gotten some for a school fundraiser. they were actually really tasty}

{this one hardly counts because it was angelica’s, but i had a bite!}

{then on monday, we made them in baking class! they unfortunately didn’t rise as much as we would have liked, but they still looked pretty.}

if one week out of the year has to be a cinnamon roll week, it might as well be your birthday week – that’s my philosophy! ;)

i appreciate all of the nice notes and birthday wishes from friends and family.

i’d say it was a pretty fabulous birthday! if only my papa was better and all of my dear friends were here to celebrate with me, it would have been perfect. <3 what a lovely time it was!

xoxo

happy hearts day.

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Jessica

here’s a quick glimpse at my v-day…

{this day.}

{donut with sprinkles}

{v-day cards}

{gift from my parents}

{a “thank you” from a co-worker… a zuccotto cake ball. so tasty!}

{vintage valentine}

{heart cookies from my valentine, a.k.a. my friend ashley}

{cheers to prosecco and good friends! this was before we painted the town pink!}

{from ashley’s phone, happy valentine’s day! love this girl.}

xoxo

weekend.

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Jessica

after a tumultuous week with lots of ups and downs, i met my family in oak cliff last night for dinner at la calle doce, a charming old home turned into a mexican seafood restaurant. the food was excellent, and we all needed the time together after such a chaotic week. i love them.

brother bear came back to dallas with me after dinner so that we could have a sleepover! my beertender and arrested development made for a fun night, along with our chats about college and life and stuff. he’s pretty cool to hang with. :)

this morning, we went to brunch at bread winners, my favorite breakfast place in dallas. coincidentally, it is also an old home converted to a restaurant. the weather was warm [this was before the fierce cold front blew through!], so we sat in the little courtyard. i couldn’t believe how pleasant it was – i didn’t even realize we were outside at first!

they gave us a little plate of breakfast bread to munch on. mike ordered the pomme de terre bayou sausage casserole [i've had it and it's amazing], and i had hot tea and a smoked salmon bagel. everything was delicious, as usual. then mike headed home, as he had to drive back to austin this afternoon.

i met up with ashley, our new friend angelica, and some of her friends at the dallas museum of art to go to a posters of paris exhibit. it was relaxing and nice to have some girl time. at the end of the exhibit, they have a big table set up where you can make your own “posters of paris.” there are these boards with different layers of plastic sheets, and you can trace cutouts of the paris posters with dry-erase markers onto the different layers of plastic to create your own picture. they photocopy it for you in this little room and hang one on the wall, and give another one to you to take home. it’s really a cool idea. the bright colors and creativity that covered the wall were inspiring, i thought.

after the art museum, ashley and i headed back to her apartment, and ended up walking to gloria’s for dinner and sangria. i feel like i’ve been going straight from one meal to the next this weekend, but the important part is that i’ve been with friends and family, and i couldn’t be happier to spend time with them.
i’ve been reflecting on a lot of things these past few days, and it’s the people in my life that make it what it is for me. i’m thankful for each and every one of them and the impact they’ve had on my world. the times we share are precious, and i don’t want to take for granted a minute of them.

i hope you are all having a happy weekend. still another day left! xoxo

let’s play a game…

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Jessica

…called instagram time travel.

all you have to do is look at my instagram photos which i’ve been meaning to post for months, and you’ll feel like you’re in a different season.

today, we’re going back to fall, starting when the weather was beautiful…

{tandem bikes and a foodie’s paradise}

{spending time on the balcony}

{home means country walks and good cookin’}

{our weekend trip to jefferson, tx}

{food truck day at work}

{traveling for work and a tasty whole foods lunch}

{i bet a quarter on the texas a&m vs. arkansas game with my sweet grandmother!}

{fun drinks in houston with friends}

{sophisticated mac ‘n cheese and saint arnold brewery}

{messy hair and dad’s homemade waffles}

{my first time at the belmont hotel and i fell in love}

{these two crack me up}

{my pretty place of worship, holy trinity catholic church}

{first wedding shower!}

{got to see an old friend and meet her boyfriend too!}

{fall at the office… colorful trees and halloween decorations}

{dallas traffic}

{i won a beertender at our work fall festival!}

{whoopie pies from the office bake sale… and lucky making a face}

{my little guitar named lucy and torchy’s tacos}

{fall at the village}

{grown-up birthday party and the cutest wine charms!}

{my boyfriend}

{thanksgiving potluck brunch at the office}

{homemade minestrone and blue moon winter sampler… i’m beginning to feel winter coming on…}

{the corner market is my favorite place ever}

…and we breezed right through fall, just like that.

now that we have cold, wet, winter weather at its finest, i’m going to go enjoy being cozy in my little apartment with hot tea and a book, but i hope you’re ready to play this game again soon!

xoxo

chocolate spoons

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Jessica

gianina has as much of a sweet tooth as i do, so when we came across some chocolate spoon molds at tchibo, we just had to buy them. tchibo is a german chain of shops based in hamburg that sells coffee as well as all kinds of other interesting, practical items. [i also got my mom a christmas cookie cutter tray that cuts out 15 little cookies at once - handy to have for holiday baking!]

here is a similar mold that i found on amazon.

we were just like little kids, SO excited to make some chocolate spoons! we poured melted chocolate into the molds the very day that we got them and put them in the fridge. the next day, after a cool morning 10-kilometer run by the lake [notice how i nonchalantly threw the 10k in there... that kind of run doesn't happen very often!!], we sat down for a leisurely breakfast and tried out the spoons.

we stirred the spoons into hot milk until they melted completely and all we had left was a creamy mug of hot chocolate to warm our bellies. :)

{first we chopped up the melting chocolate and melted it on the stove}

{poured the melted chocolate into molds very carefully, and tried hard to “stay in the lines.” it wasn’t easy. p.s. see that adorable little gingerbread boy timer that’s smiling for the camera? also from tchibo.}

{into the fridge they went! not perfect-looking, but our tummies didn’t mind!}

{after hardening overnight}

{ready for stirring}

{going…}

{…going…}

{…gone.}

yep, it was pretty fun.

xo.

germany 2008.

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Jessica

a little over four years ago, i went to germany to visit my friend gianina. i experienced so much more during that visit than i ever thought i would – everything from getting to watch gianina skydive to being there when she started dating julian. [they're still together now.] i saw the north sea and the baltic sea, the city of hamburg and the little town of buchholz where gianina lived. i got to know her family and friends. i lived like a local instead of a tourist. it was one of the best experiences of my life.

now, here we are, four years later. gianina lives in an apartment in hamburg and is halfway through medical school. I’m all grown up too, it seems. it will be so fun to see where we’ve come since those days when we were just getting ready for college.

here’s to round two, gianina! <3

pedal party!

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Jessica

my friend angela turned 23 this past friday, so i drove down to houston that afternoon and joined her and some other friends for a pedal party, which turned out to be the most fun, unique birthday party i have ever been to! there’s this wooden cart/”party bus” sort of thing [designed by some brilliant man in the netherlands] that holds sixteen people, but all the seats have pedals. it’s entirely pedal-powered, and it stops at all different bars, like a pub crawl. a driver sits at the front and steers, and people to take turns being “bartenders” in the middle area where the coolers are. along the outside are the “bar seats” with pedals that sit up to countertops with cupholders.

so to give you a visual, we have a huge cooler full of beer and wine that the “bartenders” are passing around like candy [and they are most definitely drinking on the job!]. it’s perfect weather – fairly warm for a november night in texas, and we’re all enjoying the fresh air and the cool breeze. the pedal party started an hour ago at 8 and we still have an hour to go, and we’ve already stopped at several bars for quick [and i mean really quick] drinks. not to mention that we’ve all been sipping on something during the pedaling in between… the music is blaring and everyone is beginning to dance and get more rowdy. we’re driving around midtown in houston, and the skyscrapers are all lit up and glittering beyond us. we’re on an actual road, and because the pedal party vehicle travels at an average speed of 5-8 miles per hour, the cars have to slow down and pass us, which leads to lots of staring, opening of windows, yelling, honking, picture-taking, and the like. [we even had some people on the sidewalks dancing to the music as we passed.] right before we turn a corner, the driver [who luckily was relaxed and had a great sense of humor] calls out, “RIGHT! RIGHT!” and all the people on the right who still remember the directions he told us at the beginning dramatically stretch out their hands, signaling our right turn to the cars behind us. everyone yells out, “RIGHTTTTTT! RIGGHHTTTTTTT!”

meanwhile, people are raving, and the vehicle is starting to move a little slower while simultaneously getting louder with talking and laughing and music…

if you didn’t catch how ridiculously fun the experience was from that little moment-in-time that i described to you, then maybe you just had to be there. and if you ever have the opportunity to do one of these pedal parties, i pinky-promise that it will be the best party you’ve ever been to.

to conclude, i’ll leave you with some photos from different points of our journey:

{our starting point – big woodrow’s}

{picture with the birthday girl!}

{sharing a “moondriver” – screwdriver + blue moon + frozen = moondriver}

{kyle gladly offered to hold angela’s drink!}

{houston skyline}

{noted: my phone’s redeye correction is a fail sometimes.}

{oops.}

{take two.}

{and finally, the driver took this picture at the end of the party. it. is. perfect.}

date nights.

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Jessica

good friends don’t come around very often, but you know when you meet one.

i was nervous about making friends when i joined the workforce – i have some amazing friends from college and knew that it can be a lot more difficult to make friends once you’re out of school, especially since we’re all at different stages of life. luckily, i work with some great people who i have really enjoyed getting to know. one of these is ashley, whom i met a few months after moving to dfw. i knew right away that i’d met “one of my kind,” and i was spot-on! she and i think alike – we just get each other in the way true friends do. we got in the habit of chatting in the break room, going to lunch together, and hitting up happy hours when we could. it was nice to have someone to hang with at work functions, but also outside of work since i didn’t [and still don't] know that many people here. she has since gone to another company, but fortunately she’s still in dallas, and we’ve made it a point to have “date nights” at least once a week.

and they pretty much make my world go ’round.

last saturday, for instance, ashley and i had planned on going to a huge halloween block party that takes place in uptown dallas every year. it’s supposed to be wild and crazy and a whole lot of fun, and i had spent the couple weeks before gathering elements of my costume.

however, as i had mentioned the other day, when saturday night rolled around, it was COLD. somehow, this made getting into a short skirt, a [barely] short-sleeved shirt, and open-toed heels seem like not so much fun after all. not to mention that i was ghostly pale and still had yet to shave my legs that week, which was poor planning on my part, yet not really a surprise considering the way my days have been lately. thankfully ashley wasn’t thrilled to jump into a skimpy costume in that chilly weather either, and we both decided that we were maybe in the mood for something a little more low-key.

so we opted for drinks in west village, sans the halloween attire, except the glasses from my costume that i had been so excited to wear. ash insisted that i sport them anyway, so i did. they were just too fun! we walked over to village burger bar where we sipped on mojitos and martinis and chatted and laughed and flirted with the cute bartender [well, that part was all me] until close.

{silly glasses and a watermelon mojito}

{round two: fresh strawberry martini}

{so what was supposed to be a wild night at the halloween block party turned into a chill night of drinks plus a pair of glasses. i love us.}

this saturday, we decided to do watters creek in allen for a late dinner. it was a great place to walk around and explore the shops and restaurants. we took a peek in anthropologie, just because i can’t ever walk by one without stopping in, and they had their christmas decorations out, which made me a little giddy. i even bought myself a little treat that i’d been eyeing for quite some time – it was on sale! then we went to bonnie ruth’s, a little french cafe, for dinner. we sat outside on the patio, as it was much warmer than it was a week ago, and enjoyed the most perfect “three course meal” – wine, a bowl of soup, and a piece of cake to share. it was divine.

{present to myself from my favorite store}

{bonnie ruth’s}

{pinot grigio}

{french onion gratinee}

{kahlua chocolate cake, to share!}

another awesome night in the books, ashley! i’m so thankful to have this girl in my life!

A Bit of Sweet and Color

photography, food, art, and life

Tag Archives: friends

happy st. patrick’s day!

january/february catch-up

23

happy hearts day.

weekend.

let’s play a game…

chocolate spoons

germany 2008.

pedal party!

date nights.