Hot Child In The City

I know I keep complaining about the heat, and I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about it.  But as turns it out, this isn't normal!  Texas isn't always this hot, what a relief!  Seems typical that my first summer here would be a brutal one, but I think this article sums it up nicely- So How Hot Is It?


To put a cherry on top of this steamy summer, today (Sunday, 7/21) this fine state earned the highly coveted spot for the second longest run of days over 100 degrees in Texas.  


So in the spirit of trying to bring the cool weather back, let's take a moment to reminisce about when we couldn't wait for it to warm up.

Central Park

Correction, when Evan couldn't wait to get out of those girly figure skates.

Mall Madness

While pursuing a jeweler in the Galleria to resize my ring, we stumbled upon one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a mall.  

The Galleria

Your eyes do not deceive you, this IS an ice skating rink inside a mall.  If you think I'm not coming back here over the holidays to skate you would be mistaken.  But seriously?  Ice skating year round in a mall in Texas?  Especially when it's over a hundred degrees outside?  


That's just weird.

The Real Farmer's Market

Today we ventured to the big Dallas Farmer's Market in Downtown.  There are five sheds that are filled with fresh produce and local food for the taking.  

There it is!

We ended up having some breakfast and picking up some fresh tomatoes.  I've already had two of them today with some salt and pepper and they were sooo delicious.  I can't wait to put together a caprese salad tomorrow.

Yummm

I also couldn't get over the abundance of fresh produce and all of the beautiful colors.  Next time I'll do some recipe prep so I have a game plan for which fruits and veggies to buy. 

Look at that yellow watermelon!

I also have to try the sweet corn vendor on my next trip- they serve fresh corn off the grill on cones.  I've never had anything like that before, but if my love for street meat is any indication, I'm sure I'll love this local treat too.

THS vs BTM

I'm sure you all remember the good old days of Behind the Music when really amazing artists and legendary bands were profiled.  Personally, I loved the Mama & the Papas profile and had a weird weak spot for the Red Hot Chili Peppers episode as well.

On DVD- yeahhh!!!

Then there was, and still are, True Hollywood Stories on E!  Always silacious, a little bit scandalous and sometimes completely premature.  

Last night I decided to indulge in a THS and caught the Nicki Minaj episode.  I didn't know any of her songs, I had no idea who most of the people featured in her episode were and, most importantly, I felt total out of touch with pop culture.  Then the episode was followed by Snookie's THS.

There are so many things to be said about why I spent 120 minutes of my precious life watching these episodes, I think I was amazed at how old they made me feel, but it also made me so nostalgic for the good old days of amazing Behind The Music episodes and Pop Up Video.  

Here's my question: what happened to the BTM and THS episodes that profiled entire careers instead of debuting after a few popular songs or a hit show?

Pizza alla Amazing

A few weeks ago we found a neighborhood pizzeria that has some seriously good pies.  This place is cozy and close, but more importantly, the pizzas are delicious.

The restaurant is also BYOB, just like the neighborhood pizzeria near Evan's old apartment in Milford that we loved.  That restaurant, Baszo's closed last year just in time for us to drive up to Milford for a Valentine's Day dinner (at a family pizza joint, we're romantic like that).  Months later, we still reminisce about their lasagna pizza.  They also had cold bruschetta, a serious revelation.

So not only is our new joint easy on the wallet but you can bring your own wine and walk home, so who says you can't have one more glass.   They also have this secret weapon tucked into the dessert menu near the less-than-exciting Tiramisu. 

Pizza alla Nutella, meet your neighbor.

Oh dear.

Nutella and dough, come on.  As if that's fair.  Evan barely stood a chance with this one; I can't think of two things that I love more than hazelnut and bread.  I also noticed there's a marshmallow calzone on the menu.  I think I should avoid this place until we get hitched.

Funny Billboards

There are some things about Texas that never fail to surprise me.  One of those things are the billboards I see from the Tollway to and from work.  I love seeing ads for all of the restaurants and products that we didn't have back in CT, but I also find some of them to be just plain old clever.

Hilarious.

Now this one makes me laugh.  What better way to get the A/C fixed than with this little quip?  Maybe the Northeast should take a cue with all the heat and humidity they've been getting lately.

TRX

Since moving to Texas, I have been (lazily) waiting for that lightbulb moment when I find a gym that I really like.  I was so sad to leave my boxing gym in CT but there are no LA Boxing locations here in Dallas, I had to find something new to keep me motivated.  


Over the last few months, I have also become aware of the commonly used phrase "The Texas 10" aka the Freshman 15 for out-of-staters that relocate to Texas.  With more restaurants in Dallas per cap than any other city in the US, all you have to do is put two and two together to figure out that I had to find a gym stat.


Last week was my first week trying TRX, which has left my body feeling sore since Monday (literally every day since I started these classes).  There is a new studio that just opened nearby and this Navy-Seals style workout is pretty intense.  I think the best way to describe it is super hardcore pilates.

Source: D Magazine

I'm also told that this is one of those sneaky kinds of workouts that never gets easier.  Once you get stronger, you can hold the poses for longer and get more reps in, so the burn never stops.  


With so many places serving queso dip and a wedding slowly approaching, this is probably a good thing.  

Pop Overs and Prosecco

This weekend I did a little shopping at Neiman's and rounded out the day with a visit to one of their restaurants, Zodiac.  There were ladies lunching, sorority girls singing and these big fluffy gifts from above.

Popovers!

Each guest is treated to the pleasure of a steaming hot popover with strawberry butter when they are seated.  Now if this isn't the most delicious way to kick off a brunch, lunch or casual mid-day cocktail, I don't know what is.


We skipped the entrees which all had body conscious calorie counts next to them in favor or a cocktail.  It seems like a bit of a contradiction for a restaurant that serves popovers from the get-go to have calories listed next to their meal items, right?  We opted for ordered a bubbly cocktail instead and almost asked for more popovers.  Almost.


These popovers are part of the "official: to-do list for anyone looking to call themselves a "local" in Dallas.  I don't think I'll ever completely get there, but I'm certainly going to enjoy trying. 

Marvel in 3D

Last night Evan and I went to a sneak peek of Captain America in 3D.  

Sweet shades

The 3D glasses weren't as cool this time but the movie was pretty great.  Anyone who loves comic books, graphic novels or Chris Evans without a shirt on should see this film.  There's lots of action, but not the Avatar kind that gives you a migraine in 3D.


It was no Harry Potter, but again, there is spandex in this movie so that helps bring it up a notch.

SMU- Sort of Madison University

After visiting the lake this weekend we stopped by SMU which is in a part of Dallas that we hadn't explored yet.  Although I am extremely biased towards JMU and it's absolutely beautiful campus, I was so pleasantly surprised by SMU's campus.  We drove around, because let's be honest, it was too hot to comfortably stroll around without water (as mentioned, we ran out at the lake) and even from the car it was gorgeous.

SMU from the mean streets of the Big D

From what we could see, there was a lovely little chapel and a museum of art on campus as well.  Outside of the museum is a huge, moving sculpture of 129 steps.  They move slowly in a wave-like motion, thus its name, Wave.  It's very cool to see in person, Evan secretly liked it too.

Not my finest picture

I think we'll head back to the campus when my siblings come to visit Dallas.  I want to make sure that my sister has the chance to take as many great pictures of the city as she can and I also want some of her amazing pictures in my apartment.  Yeah, I guess that's a little bit selfish...

Blood Thinning and Other Myths

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it yet, but it's pretty stinking hot in Texas during the summer. 

Ever since we moved here, people keep telling me that my blood will "thin out" and I'll cool down.  This sounds like one of the stories my Dad tells about his Grandfather and the hot blood/cold blood drinking theory.  I won't go into that but still, it got me thinking that my northern blood may be different now that I'm living in the South.

After a very insightful conversation with Nicole today, I started thinking about how strange it would be if my blood actually thinned out.  She also made a good point- there's no way this is actually true, it's not as if we live in a high-altitube climate where this would make a lot more sense.


Enter our trusty friend, the Google search.

Dead grass and cooling off in the shade

It turns out this theory is nothing but an old wives tale.  There seem to be some interesting articles about it and there are a lot of user-generated posts claiming this to be true.  From what I can tell from the more reputable sources, it seems that all this blood thinning talk can be chalked up to the fact that my body will "simply" adjust to the heat.  

I'll make sure to yell from the rooftops when this happens, I will be more than relieved when this heat wave breaks and the temps drop below 100 degrees.

White Rock Lake

On Saturday I dragged Evan out of our air-conditioned apartment into the 106 degree heat to see White Rock Lake.  There was a venue on the water there that I wanted to see but I also wanted to explore the closest body of water to our apartment.

White Rock Lake

The lake is only a few miles from us and kind of reminded me of the Long Island Sound- nice to look at but I'd think twice before taking a swim in it.

The loop around the lake is about 14 miles and there are a couple paths for running and biking.  We tried to go for a nice relaxing stroll and we got about 20 minutes out before the water bottle was empty and it was time to turn around.

On the way back we did see something that I haven't seen since last summer in CT- the green parrots I used to see at Compo are here too!

They're hiding

I wonder if there is a local legend about these birds is.  No one in CT seems to know where the green parrots really came from but it's pretty obvious that these birds are not indigenous to the Fairfield County coastline.  Even if their squawking is irritating, they're beautiful to look at.

Can you find the parrot?

Funfetti Is the Best Fetti

Just a quick note to wish one of the Connetians I miss the most a very happy, funfetti filled birthday.  

Happy birthday, Bonnie!!

And PS.  Move to Texas already, ya jerk.

Harry Potter Madness

I spent my Thursday night and Friday morning in awe of the final two installments of the Harry Potter series.  Yes, I said it, in awe.

I'm torn between being proud or sad to admit that I have been a huge fan of these books since high school.  I remember the third book came out on the date of my high school graduation and I couldn't wait for the ceremony to be over so I could get into the Prisoner of Azkaban.

There was a 9pm showing of Part 1 followed by a the midnight premier of Part 2 in 3D; that was about five hours of HP back to back.  We even got these amazing glasses which I'm pretty sure made my exhausting Friday worth it:

Pottervision

Unfortunately, this is the last movie in the series so that means it was the last chance for the freak show also known as Pottermania to take over a movie theatre near you.  We saw people dressed up as witches, wizards, elfs and death eaters- you name a character from the book and we saw at least one enthusiastic fan dressed up like them.

We also got to the theatre an hour ahead of time and still had to sit in the fifth row.  People were that enthused about this movie.  There was also an exceptional amount of cheering, clapping and audience interaction throughout both movies.  

It made me sad to see the eighth and final HP film but both parts of the seventh book (broken into two films) are intense, dark and incredibly entertaining.  And to answer the question that I'm sure is running through Jordan's head, no, I could not convince Evan to come with me.

Wedding Planning- it's a doozey

I never dreamed of my wedding as a little girl which makes planning 'the day I dreamed about since I was a little girl' tough.  All I know is that I want Evan to show up and I want to avoid having frizzy hair.  Beyond that, I hope my loved ones eat, drink and I get married.  

Evan made this image in the program paint when we first started dating.  Kind of romantic, right?

In theory, this is a simple task to accomplish- a keg party in the Skutnik backyard would do just that.  But since this day shouldn't be like any other, and I know JJ's already had some pretty ridiculous parties in the Skutnik backyard, I don't want to steal his thunder, so the keg party is off the table.

That being said, I'll try not to bore you all with wedding chatter, but sometimes when creeping around the internet late at night looking for 'inspiration', one stumbles upon something that one just can't help but share.

Locally, this has been described as the Dallas Royal Wedding- and ya'll know how I felt about the real royal wedding, so how could I resist.

Gorgeous venue and frills aside, this lady has put herself in a situation when confetti exploding in her honor is actually appropriate  (no exploding confetti was allowed at my high school pep rallies, the only other occasion that this would have really been appropriate).  

I can safely say that after seeing that video, the confetti situation is now a dream of mine.

Working Hard For The Money

Since starting my new job, I've heard that the lights go out in the building at 8pm.  I think the idea is that bringing the lights down in a huge building like this helps save energy and keeps our office more 'green'.  I get it.. but it's creepy!


While it's not the first time (by a long shot) that I have worked past 8pm, it is the first time that this has happened:

Trapped in the dark

I think anyone who's worked with me at my past two jobs can agree that this would never fly.  Unless you account for the creative department where the lights are intentionally turned off to keep that areas with the high-powered computers cool.


At least it was still light out when I walked out to my car on the top of the parking deck in the brisk 99 degree weather.  And for whatever reason, I still thought tonight's Texas sky was especially lovely, even if I did have to work late to see it.

Hello CC!

Sunday Night Dinner

I can't think of a better way to start the week then with an amazing Sunday dinner.

Thanks to Nana and Pop Pop for the Omaha steak package that keeps us smiling (and full!).  

Great way to end the weekend

We had our neighbors over for dinner tonight and started off the evening with a yummy new artichoke dip I tested out last week.  It's a lighter version which always makes me feel better about enjoying these typically mayo-heavy dips.  This is delicious with Stacy's Pita Chips (but seriously, what isn't great with Stacy's?!).  

After a great start we got into it with the Omaha steaks and the stuffed fish.  On the side I made some corn (because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough.. for four) and my favorite garlic mashed potatoes that could have fed a party of eight.

I also tried out a new green bean side dish that is served cold, so it was easy to prepare ahead.  Finally, we had some brownies for dessert that I made with a dry mix we had picked up at the West Village Farmer's Market.  

All in all, this was a serious Sunday night feast!  And needless to say, we are getting some serious mileage out of that Omaha Steak package.

Haircuts in TX Are... Different.

In Dallas there is a chain of ‘salons’ for men called Knockouts.  At first I thought it was a boxing gym.. it’s not, it’s a place that guys can do and get their hair cut.  

Evan likes it because they serve beer, have TVs at each chair and they wash his hair not once, but twice.  I like it because they hire women like look like this to work there:

No caption for this one

Yeah, that doesn’t make me uncomfortable at all.

Our Favorite CT Bar.. in Texas!

Since we moved to Dallas, we’ve been in search of a bar that until yesterday, we had been unsuccessful in locating (sad, I know).  Our favorite neighborhood bar in Norwalk, The Ginger Man, is here in Dallas!!

We found it!

It kind of makes me sad to know that this small chain is big enough to have locations in NY, CT and TX but the SoNo location, as well as the Dallas one, doesn’t feel like a chain at all.  The menus are definitely different, for instance, they serve brats on sticks in TX (typical).  Both of them have lovely little patios too.

Maybe if the temperature drops below 100° anytime soon we can enjoy the outdoor space; since the states of Texas had their hottest June on record it seems doubtful that that will happen anytime soon.

Americana and Carbs

As mentioned, this past weekend was a pretty serious three days of pool time and grilling.  For one of our BBQs, we were responsible for the buns.  Naturally, Evan was nervous about not having enough (this is a reoccurring theme in life), so when we found a special at Kroger for 10 for $10, we went for it.

And guess what, we ate quesadillas at the BBQ.  Oh well, at least Real Simple has a list of  7 Ways to Use Leftover Buns.  Hopefully someone else will find this as helpful as I have.  Looks like I’ll be making croutons and breadcrumbs for myself until they’re all gone.. or until we get tired of eating stale bread.  

At least this weekend was a great opportunity to bust out old faithful:

This is for Bonnie & Jordan- you miss this, don't you?

That just screams 4^th of July, doesn’t it?  As usual, Evan refused to carry it.  Strange how we keep finding such appropriate opportunities for a picnic basket- who knew this would become so handy!

I also had another successful run at recreating one of my favorites from my Mom’s delicious repertoire of recipes.  The only difference is that I added fresh bocconcini to this version of the recipe.  Oh, baby.

Happiness is this pasta salad

This Post Is For Erin

At our local Kroger, there’s the weird bin that you see at some stores tucked in the front labeled “discounted”.  I know you’ve seen it before, there’s always weird things in there like leaky shampoo and private label salad dressing.  Yesterday, Evan discovered this gem while we were checking out.

Winner winner chicken dinner

A four-pack of Duvel for less than $8?  This is huge, normally a glass of this ass-kicker at more specialty pubs costs about that much.  Be warned, if you ever see Duvel for this price you should buy it, but don’t drink more than two in a sitting.  It won’t end well.

Cinnamon Cordon Bleu

Tonight I made one of my favorite burger dinners to continue the burger-fest that we began yesterday.  What could be more American than burgers for the 4^th?  Exactly, nothing.  And to add to the nostalgic value, they were invented in CT, so it was a must.

These chicken cordon bleu burgers are a good compromise for Evan and I- they’re burgers.. but made from chicken or turkey.. and there’s bacon on them.. but it’s Canadian.  So much for the Americana theme.

I think I got a little too confident with this recipe and there was an accidental compromise with one of the spices I usually add to the burger mixture:

Come on, these look really similar!!

So sad, I know.  Ev realized it right away, he took a bite and asked ‘is there cinnamon in this burger??’… there shouldn’t be, but there was.

Now that's a yummy way to celebrate

Surprisingly, it wasn’t half bad!  I did some Googling after the mistake to help myself feel better and it turns out that chicken and cinnamon are often combined together in dishes other than cordon bleu burgers.  I think I might just try this (on purpose) in the near future.

TGI 4th of July!

Happy Friday and happy 4^th of July!  Not only is this a great weekend to celebrate our independence from bad teeth, but it’s the perfect excuse for sunning and grilling.

Today started off great- half day, a delicious Mediterranean lunch and daydreams of afternoon pool time all took place before 1pm.

Then this happened:

This wasn't stressful at all

Why am I still so irresponsible?  Ugghhhh.  Naturally that was followed by this:

I'd rather put that towards something else... like brunch

Such a good mood killer.