Dallas

Weekend in Dallas

July 18, 2011 by Marci 1 Comment

This weekend, we were on the road again! On Thursday, I drove to Dallas with Lily for a wedding on Saturday. Jeffrey had a work retreat and joined us on Saturday, then we all drove back to Houston on Sunday. Lots of logistics with planes and cars and packing! Everyone has a bag, including Lily!

I didn’t take my big camera, it is just too bulky for a short weekend trip. I also didn’t really take many pictures. I started playing with the iPhone app, Instagram, in the photo below. I don’t really understand why the app is so popular. It’s cool, but not the coolest thing ever. Not cool enough for how popular it is, I guess. I also get tired of having so many networks where you can follow people and be followed. I like Facebook and Twitter, and recently added Pinterest, and also like gchatting. Why do I need more ways to follow people?

lily .jpg

While in Dallas, I went to Northpark Mall three times, once each day. It is my favorite mall, there is just lots to see and great restaurants. One day I didn’t buy anything, just had lunch. It’s easy to park, it’s clean and cool, it is a complete square, and it has every store you need in one mall. Are you listening, Houston Galleria? Your L shape kills me. And it’s just so hot inside. And hard to park. And hard to get there. Ok enough…

photo 1.jpg

The wedding on Saturday had these cute photo booths. I think they make cute little things to take to work. I’ll be putting mine in my office this week!

And finally, to make up for having no good photos to share, I took a picture of what I had in my purse, because who isn’t nosy about that? The only thing missing from this photo is my phone, which I took the picture with. The Matchsticks were just for an emergency, the dress was new, and you never know when you’ll need some tape!

photo 2.jpg

Of course back to Lily, on Sunday morning, she was more than ready to go back to Houston. She had a nice weekend, but never gets too much rest in Dallas. She is so busy having fun and playing and making sure she isn’t missing something. She hopped right in the car and on the console, where she slept most of the car ride home.

lily in car.jpg

I had Pinkberry while I was in Dallas, a new flavor called Salted Caramel. It reminded me of Coffee ice cream. We also picked up Rudy’s BBQ on the way back to Houston for lunch and dinner. Weekend of good eating has ended, and begins again on Thursday back in Florida!

Filed Under: Dallas · Tagged With: Dallas

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

February 18, 2011 by Marci 7 Comments

In Wednesday’s post, I talked about a chocolate shop we went to last weekend in Dallas. It was a fun shop and I had pictures on a different camera that I finally uploaded. Here’s a little more detail about Dude, Sweet Chocolate in the Bishop Arts District.

Here are newlyweds Sharon and Eric showing off the goods. I think these are the two that we bought, Crack in a Box and Dude, Sweet Toffee.

They suggested another great restaurant called BEE (Best Enchiladas Ever). I didn’t take pictures there, but it was a fun restaurant too. You build your own enchiladas and they weren’t greasy or overloaded with sauce. It was really fun.

Bishop Arts is a funky area that reminded us of South Congress in Austin. It was a bit far from the North Dallas area, but a nice Saturday night adventure. There were lots of cute clothing shops, an old-fashioned soda shop, dessert coffee shops, and very trendy dinner restaurants too.

The shop is a little warehouse type space with all their products displayed on these racks. Everything is chocolate, ranging from bars to potions to marshmallows. Everything can be sampled, and everything we tried was really rich and delicious. Not for the faint of chocolate heart!

Our friend Rachel outside the storefront.

Artisan chocolates. Check out these flavors.

Potions. Taken by the spoonful like Mary Poppins or added to your drink. Check out these flavors.

To balance out a post full of chocolate goodness, here’s a dinner inspired by Terry Walter’s book, Clean Food that I have been experimenting with like I wrote about earlier this week.

Pan Seared Tofu with Roasted Vegetables

Both of these recipes were roughly based on her book. She made the tofu with a dipping sauce and marinade, I nixed the dipping sauce and used BBQ. She broiled her vegetables, I baked them.

Pan Seared Tofu:

1 box firm tofu
marinade below:

The best way to make tofu is on the stovetop and not in the oven, in my opinion. I have tried different cooking techniques and I like this one best. Here is a longer explanation in this post.

Press the tofu like it mentions in the above link. Then cut into cubes for cooking.

I made a marinade of 1/3 C orange juice, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 T minced fresh ginger, 1 T sesame oil, salt, pepper, EVOO and poured it on the tofu in the pan. You could also pre-marinated in a bag and that’s good too.

Cook over medium heat for about 6 minutes per side or until it’s a pretty brown. They will be crispy outside and soft inside.

Roasted Parsnips, Carrots and Asparagus:

Usually when I make parsnips and carrots, I just coat in EVOO, salt and pepper. Terry Walters added a cornmeal topping so I tried that this time. Mine didn’t get as crispy as I hoped, but perhaps a longer time in the oven and thinner “fries” would help that. Those parnsips are so hard to cut though!

This was a mix of 1/4 C yellow cornmeal, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, dash of cayenne pepper, salt, pepper. I drizzled the baking sheet with EVOO to coat the vegetables and then spooned the mix all over.

They were well flavored, just not crunchy enough.

Any fun plans this weekend?

Filed Under: Dallas, Dinner · Tagged With: chocolate, Dallas, Dinner, tofu, vegetables, vegetarian

Guest Post by Jeffrey: Dinner for Two

February 16, 2011 by Marci 9 Comments

For Valentine’s Day dinner, Jeffrey was head chef in the kitchen and wanted to tell you about the dinner he made. This post is all by my valentine.

I promised Marci as part of her Valentine’s Day gift that I would make my first guest post about the dinner I cooker for her, so here we go. As you all know, Marci doesn’t eat red meat often (i.e., ever). I like steak and wanted to cook her a good filet for Valentine’s Day. We don’t like to go out on this Hallmark holiday (especially when it’s on a Monday), but we like to cook together. On the menu was a beef filet recipe by Ina Garten (my favorite tv chef…she’s so soothing), steamed asparagus with slivered almonds, leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving (we freeze it), and roasted baby yukon potatoes.

For dessert, we had some special dark chocolate truffles from a chocolate shop in Dallas called “Dude, Sweet Chocolate.” More on that later.

Roasted Potatoes

This one wasn’t tough–I started with a recipe but just sort of threw it together based on what we had in the house. We had about 10 small yukon potatoes. I quartered them, drizzled with EVOO, salt, pepper, 4 minced garlic cloves, greek seasoning, and fresh parsley and baked them on 350* for 35 minutes (turning them about halfway through).

Asparagus

This was nothing special, but they were crisp, healthy and tasty. In a pot of boiling water, add asparagus to the bowl (trim the ends first), and steam for about 5 minutes. Drain and pour into an ice bath to blanche them and retain color (Ina taught me that). Add the slivered almonds, salt and pepper.

Cranberry Sauce

Recipe link here. I don’t eat (and am pretty much scared of) the usual condiments (ketchup, mustard, etc.) so the cranberry sauce was our garnish sauce for the meat. I also like horseradish, but we didn’t have any.

Filet Mignon

And now for the main attraction. As I said, this technique came from Ina Garten. I’ve never made filets before–we’ve made a beef tender once before, but this was my first time doing this. It was a great recipe, very easy, and everything came out so juicy and good.

First I patted down the two filets with a towel to dry them. Then I rubbed them with EVOO, mixed a lot of salt and pepper on a plate, and covered all sides of the steak with the mixture.
To cook it, I used a cast iron skillet, heated it up for about 5 minutes on high to get the skillet really hot (no oil), and then seared each side of steak for about 2 minutes on each side. I dabbed with butter on top before the next step.
To finish the cooking, we moved the steaks on the skillet into a 400* oven for 10-12 minutes, until they were cooked at about 125* on the inside (for medium rare/medium). Following Ina’s technique, I took them out of the oven, immediately covered them with foil for 10 minutes to let them rest, and then sliced them.

They were perfect–although next time I think I’d let them cook in the oven a bit longer to get closer to 130* as I usually prefer steak medium.

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

Dinner was delicious and our dessert was special too. Last weekend in Dallas, we went with some friends to the Bishop Arts District, an eclectic part of Dallas outside of downtown with little shops and restaurants. We stumbled upon a chocolate shop specializing in dark chocolate. We bought two varieties to try on Valentine’s Day. Here’s the box they came in.

And this is what they looked like. The toffee squares were our favorite, kind of like a truffle brownie with hints of fig. It was soft and very rich and intense.

The crack in a box was like a very hard brittle chocolate with nut clusters. Delicious too, but the toffee was softer and very flavorful.

Of course Lily had a valentine’s cookie too. And perhaps a few bites of steak. She is a meat eating dog!

Well, it’s been nice guest posting. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime event, so Marci better have enjoyed this. Have a nice day.

Filed Under: Dallas, Dinner, Recipes · Tagged With: Dallas, Dinner, Holidays, Recipes

Dallas White Rock Half Marathon Recap

December 5, 2010 by Marci 28 Comments

Well friends, I did it! I am a half marathoner!

Thank you so much for the kind tweets, Facebook messages, emails, and well wishes. I thought about all the people I’d have to report back to when I finished and the people thinking about me as I ran. I love having a blog to connect with such caring people.

2010 was a big year for me and running, starting with watching the Houston Marathon last January, running my first 10K at the end of February, another 10K in May, signing up for this race in June, thinking I could start to train in crazy heat, and then finally getting my groove with increasing mileage.

I am really proud of myself and had a great race. I finished in 2 hours, 46 minutes, but here’s the story of why I also count 2:26 as a personal time for this race too.

The beginning:

The morning started off as usual with two pieces of toast, peanut butter, and half a banana. I actually slept pretty well and woke up around 5:30 a.m. The weather was COLD — the coldest I have felt this season. I have probably never run in these temperatures ever. It was about 38 when we got to the start and maybe 48 by the end of the race. I wore three layers at the start, shed one before the gun, and a second around Mile 10.

At the expo, I bought Zensah calf sleeves and a thicker headband that covers my ears. Both were awesome, even though I tried them out on race day and you aren’t supposed to do that. The calf sleeves helped keep my legs warm, and I had no shin pain while running. Love those. And the headband never moved under my hat. Great purchases. I also used KT Tape on my left IT Band, but I don’t know if it did anything.

The beginning started fine, the crowds were awesome, the race was well organized, and it was fun. I couldn’t feel my toes for about 1/2 mile, but it came back! Jeffrey was the race photographer and he got some great shots!

Around mile 2.5, my left knee got stiff like it used to when my IT Band would rebel, so I stopped for a second and shook it, bent it, and then kept going. Then I had a little talk with it telling it I was the boss and it would not screw me up and mess up my day. For the whole rest of the race, it was like a dull pain or no pain. I told it who the boss was. There were some choice words toward that muscle too. Dull pain has nothing on me. I also liked the sign I saw saying “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

Spectators:

I saw my parents and Jeffrey at Mile 3.5, 7, 8 and then the finish. So fun to see familiar faces because I didn’t recognize any other racers or spectators! The spectator strangers who read names on bibs and cheered for me by name were so nice. Lots of High 5′s. I learned a lot about how to be great spectators, like the homeowner who let a girl inside to use their bathroom or the little girl who had a sign that said “I hope you win.” Loved the Kleenex people too. Another great sign was “Way to be the best at exercising” and a girl had this on her back: “Dear Gd, I hope someone is behind me to read this.”

I actually felt great the whole time. I loved the Turtle Creek, Uptown, and Beverly Drive parts of the course. So many people out, pretty houses, pretty ponds and trees. Wide, well-paved roads. My legs got heavy near the last 5K, but my Garmin said my pace was still not slowing, meaning I was just feeling slower than I was. I took 3 Shot Bloks through the second half of the race, and also drank a lot of water and some Gatorade. Also one orange slice around Mile 11.

Stats:

The only annoying part about the race was that my Garmin said I was way ahead of the mile markers even from the beginning. I honestly don’t know how it happened, because by the end, it said I ran 14.88 miles! It really messed up the race pace reported and how fast it said I was. Here are my Garmin stats:

1,00:10:06 (talk about coming out a little too fast!)
2,00:10:58
3,00:11:09
4,00:11:16
5,00:11:01
6,00:11:12
7,00:11:16
8,00:11:24
9,00:11:24
10,00:11:17
11,00:11:15
12,00:11:18
13,00:11:25
14,00:11:27
15,00:09:56

Summary:

time: 02:46:31
mileage: 14.88
avg pace: 11:11
heart rate: 161-189
calories: 1,625 !!

My pace was awesome! I haven’t continuously run this steady in the 11′s during the whole training cycle. I was so happy and surprised I was maintaining a pace under 11:30/mile. But the race pace says I was 12:42. My primary goal was to finish, and secondary was to finish under 2:30. My Garmin said I did that at 2:26, so for comparison purposes to other runs done with this Garmin, I was so happy about that.

I really don’t know how I took so many extra steps. I know the rules about running the tangents, not weaving, etc. I bought the Garmin at Luke’s Locker and will probably go there and ask what they think.

The End:

The end was awesome. The last mile coincided with the marathon, so we ran side by side with marathoners finishing a sub-3 hour marathon. That was pretty cool. And the finish line crowds were way bigger than I expected. I got my heat blanket, finisher t-shirt, race medal, took my picture, ate another banana, and found my family.

My legs hurt SO BAD right now, but that’s ok! I really pushed it the whole time. Very little walking, probably less than 0.1 mile total. I have one little blister on my right middle toe (?!), and a lot of pains on my shins, outer knees, outer hips, and the tops of my feet (?!). It’s too bad our house has a lot of stairs. I can barely walk on flat surfaces, much less up and down steps.

I will do another post about some things I learned from this training process, but for now, I’m enjoying my accomplishment. And one more thing–I loved spectators saying “Go runner!” I really felt like a runner. They were talking to me!

P.S. I finally met Dorry, a blog friend in Dallas who also ran the half with her husband. Go check out her site for her race recap! She is far more speedy than me! So fun to meet blog friends in real life and run the same race together. Now we are real life friends.

Filed Under: Dallas, Half Marathon, Running · Tagged With: Dallas, Half Marathon, Running

Weekend in Dallas Part 2–The Wedding

October 12, 2010 by Marci Leave a Comment

Miss Part 1? It’s right here. We were in Dallas for a wedding, and here are the pictures of the Rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception. And some pictures of Lily because she is just so photogenic.

Eric and Sharon are on their way to their honeymoon. If you’re reading while you’re gone, enjoy!

Jeffrey interrupts the couple’s lovely table for two.

Here starts a little fashion show.

This picture is my favorite. Looking straight ahead too!

This was the first time I have been to a ketubah signing besides my own wedding. Fun to see it from the other side! It is my favorite part of the wedding ceremony. Just a few people for a short service.

Filed Under: Dallas · Tagged With: Dallas

Weekend in Dallas Part 1

October 10, 2010 by Marci 4 Comments

CultureMap Article: Please check out my latest article for Houston’s CultureMap called A few of my Favorite Things. All previous articles can be found on my About Me page at the bottom, or of course on CultureMap by searching for my name.

Weekend in Dallas

We spent the weekend in Dallas celebrating the wedding of our very good friends Sharon and Eric. Tomorrow I’ll post about the wedding, but today is about the non-wedding activities like exercising and eating!

If you are new to the blog, I’m from Dallas and we visit often to see my parents and get our fix of the city.

And thanks to our Dallas friends who told me they enjoy reading. It’s always nice to know there are people out there!

Exercise in Dallas

Since the Dallas Half Marathon is getting close—8 weeks I think?!—it’s training time. I ran 6.5 miles around the neighborhood one morning and walked about 4 maybe on the other morning. The run was my longest outdoor run to date, so I am very happy about that! I ate similar to last week, eating half of my breakfast before I went out and the other half when I got back. I ate one piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and half a banana twice.

I felt great the whole time, with minimal short walking breaks. A good run! Now if only I would listen to my own advice and wear a hat to block the sun.

I’m into new running mileage, so it’s going to get interesting. I am going to experiment with Clif Shot Blocks on my next long run. I have a few questions about eating and drinking while running.

How do you carry your water/food?
Do you eat while running or take a walk break?
What mile do you start eating?
What do you eat?

Eating in Dallas

One of my favorite lunch places is Snappy Salads. They started the green, healthy, fresh salad bar trend before everyone else, and I’ve been hooked since the beginning. I’m hoping they’ll expand to Houston one day. I went to their second location in Dallas at Northpark Mall and built my own salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges, gold raisins, water chestnuts, corn, and turkey on top. Their Maple Vinaigrette dressing is my favorite, and they have warm wheat rolls.

Dallas also recently got a Pinkberry yogurt shop! I had an afternoon snack one day of a small original yogurt with brownie bites and strawberries. Very light and tasty, and they make the cup look so pretty.

And then Lily and I had breakfast together. Kibbles and bits for her, yogurt and cereal for me. Lily started liking cottage cheese mixed into her kibbles. You see, even Lily understands the importance of pairing a carb and protein!!

And Lily got some kisses from Jeffrey too. Look at those cute little toes.

And here are me and Jeffrey with my parents at the wedding. Lots more wedding pictures tomorrow!

On the way back to Houston, we packed lunches to eat in the car. Everyone had their own bag, even Lily! She got salami and cheese, and we had sandwiches, carrots, chips, and cookies.

Since I didn’t get to go to Central Market, I had their turkey on my sandwich, which I love but rarely buy. Also lettuce, tomato, red pepper hummus, and swiss cheese on wheat.

Filed Under: Dallas, Exercise, Half Marathon, Lunch, Travel · Tagged With: Dallas, Half Marathon, Travel

My Official Half Marathon Training Program

June 22, 2010 by Marci 6 Comments

First, this morning I ran a very sweaty and humid 5 miles around the neighborhood. Barely 80 degrees but humidity is out of control. I hope running is easier in cooler temperatures! I don’t think I could have done more than that today, but was happy with that distance on hard pavement. I know I need more practice there. It is so nice and peaceful to get outside early when the streets are quiet and the sun is just starting to come up. And my route through River Oaks makes for pretty scenery.

Next, let’s talk about training! I recently signed up for the Rock Run Rock Dallas Half Marathon on December 5. Some days I think this distance is scary, and some days I’m ready to tackle it. As a reminder, my longest race distance is 10K., and I am prone to leg injuries–(IT band and shin, hip pains).

I have been reading some professional training programs, and also some other blogger’s training tales to decide the best way for me to approach this race. And let’s also clarify the purpose of signing up for this race–I am running this race for a personal challenge, to set a goal and figure out how to get there, and it’s not about speed…but I don’t want to run forever!

The things I am taking into consideration when reading programs are the number of days running, total training weeks, and mileage increases. I am starting with Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Training Program and will adapt from there. He recommends 3-4 days of running, but I honestly think I can only handle 2-3. His program also peaks at 10 miles and doesn’t hit 7 miles until one month out, and I think I need more assurance that I can run closer to 13.1. I am also planning to leave a little more time to taper. So my program really doesn’t resemble his at all! Don’t know if that’s good or bad.

I value the importance of strength training and cross training, so those need to be incorporated into my program.

So here is an Excel document of how I have decided to train for the race. It starts the weekend of August 14, which is about 6 weeks earlier than Hal’s program starts. My program assumes that I will run sporadically throughout the summer up to 6 miles indoors and will pick up with longer distances, then taper, then pick up again.

Marci’s Half Marathon Training Program

I welcome your comments!

Filed Under: Dallas, Exercise, Half Marathon, Injuries, Running · Tagged With: Dallas, Half Marathon, Injuries, Running

Little Miss Lily Goes to Dallas

May 19, 2010 by Marci 1 Comment

Here is our newest family member, and a few pictures of her first few weeks with us. Lily is a shih tzu, and she was born on January 17 in Houston. We took her home on April 10. She is on her way to being the queen of the house.

Here are some pictures from her, and a note from her about her first trip to Dallas.

: Lily at 7 weeks, first time to meet her

My favorite picture

I really am that cute

Hello friends!

This is Lily writing. Well I’m dictating to my mom because I lack opposable thumbs. I just took my first trip to Big D and I wanted to tell you about it. It has been a long weekend full of adverture…some more fun than others! First I thought I wouldn’t like this place. My mom took me on an airplane and it was terrible! I hated it! I panted and barked and was shaking. It was so bad. I told her we’re driving next time.

Then it got a lot better. I got to meet a girl named Shelley, my mom’s sister. She loved me a lot. Who wouldn’t though? Then she left and I don’t know why. I hope it wasn’t me…

I met another dog named Sophie. She was a lot older than me and didn’t really want to play. That is too bad because I thought she would be my friend! Oh well. But her parents gave me a toy that I like a lot.

Then I got to cheer on my mom at her run! And A.J. too. It was really hot outside, but I gave her kisses when she finished. She thought it was me saying I was proud of her, but I really just liked the salty sweat. Mmm mmm. I also played with some really nice little kids who brought me water, rubbed my back, and asked me a lot of questions. They even asked me how much I weigh! I told them that was not polite to ask a lady. So they apologized.

The rest of the time was spent napping, resting, playing, and just having a great time. I love this place! So many great places to hide, chew, and run around. Mom’s parents were so nice to me, they took me outside a lot. I got real good at walking and pottying outside. Thy took me in the car, and I had so much fun not being in my crate all day! They said I was a great houseguest. I brought my own food, had no laundry, and didn’t even take a bath!

That’s all for now. I am pooped. I hope you enjoyed seeing more pictures of me! I’ll be back in Houston soon, but I think I have to go back on the airplane. I am not happy about that one bit.

Ruff ruff,

Lily

Filed Under: Dallas, Lily · Tagged With: Dallas, Lily

Dallas Bagel Run 10K

May 16, 2010 by Marci 11 Comments

Today my dad and I ran the Dallas Bagel Run 10K! It was his 22nd Bagel Run (mix of 5k and 10k and person who has run the most Bagel Runs!), my first Bagel Run, and my second 10K. We finished in 1 hr. 10 min. That is two minutes faster than my first 10K in February (Houston Rodeo Run)!

The picture above is after the finish. It was hot and humid! Here’s a review of the morning and the race.

I woke up much earlier than planned. Was ready to get going! Lily woke up too, we played. Had breakfast of wheat toast with peanut butter and a banana, coffee and water.

Got my shoes, bib, ipod ready to go.

Now we’re ready to run! Dad and I stayed together the whole time. The Bagel Run was nice and small, and probably 85% of the people did the 5K, so the 10K was very quiet. The course was also the 5K route twice. Tempting to stop, but also noticed that seeing the crowd at halfway gave a little umph to do it again. The route was also through a pretty neighborhood, a little hilly, no major streets. Great route. Better than the Rodeo Run, which was not so pretty!

So our first half was fine, no major leg pains, good pace, nice weather. My shins did great. Right one twinged a bit, but on a pain scale, it was maybe a 0-2 out of 10 the whole time. My left outer knee started hurting at about mile 3.5. I am pretty sure this is Runner’s Knee. It happened during the first 10K, hasn’t happened since. I welcome suggestions for what to do about this. It would definitely hinder me from being able to run longer distances. Could be that I need more practice running on hard surfaces. That pain was closer to a 7-8 off and on for the rest of the run.

But anyway, we finished, got our well-deserved bagel, and on with the rest of the day. Kinda strange to be ready for lunch at 10:30 a.m.! Here are some more pictures. Lily came too to cheer us on.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Dallas, Exercise, Injuries, Lily, Running · Tagged With: Dallas, Injuries, Running

Going to Dallas!

May 14, 2010 by Marci 3 Comments

This weekend I will be in Dallas, not my home anymore, but where I come from. I am asked all the time why I left Dallas (especially because I came to Houston!) and what I miss about it. Well I left because the boyfriend turned fiancee turned husband would only live in Houston, out of every city in the country. So it was Houston, or no Jeffrey.

And what I miss about Dallas is Northpark Mall (why can’t Houston’s Galleria be a complete square?), our friends, my parents, and a few restaurants. A weekend there every so often so I can get my fix is all I need! Here are the restaurants I miss most.

1. Snappy Salads

This place is the mecca of healthy salad bars. I don’t like the term “salad bar” for this place. It has different kinds of lettuce, a million vegetables, protein choices, a long list of homemade salad dressings, eco-friendly corn to-go cups, and recyclable to-go boxes. And if you don’t want to make your own salad, you can choose from their blackboard of combinations. And the bread of the day on the side. It’s just delicious. Please expand to Houston. I must have it everytime I go to Dallas. Oh wait–there’s more–they have a location inside Northpark Mall! I can go shopping, get my healthy salad in the “food court” of neat restaurants, and keep shopping. It just doesn’t get any better than combining favorites.

2. Sushi on McKinney

No website, but this place has been around since the 1980s I’m pretty sure. Their original location was very retro 1980s, a little smelly, and pretty much a sushi dive. But their rolls are the softest and freshest we had in Dallas. A definite favorite for sushi. Not froo-froo in their prices or their menu. Just good old-fashioned sushi rolls.

3. Eatzi’s

Oh how I miss leaving work and going to Eatzi’s to pick up dinner. Seriously I cannot believe Houston let this place close down. It’s like a little neighborhood market/fresh sandwich and salad bar/great breads/huge chef cases of prepared dinners. Loud opera music, tasty samples, patio seating. Just a great nightly stop.

4. Orange Cup

Yogurt shops aren’t a new trend, there are so many! Trying to keep my list local, I picked Orange Cup. They’ve got a great location inside Northpark Mall. And their cups are so pretty. They also print the nutritional information of your custom cup. It’s a tart flavored kinda place–no Oreo yogurt here. Fresh toppings made pretty on top. It’s nice to eat something so pretty.

Filed Under: Dallas, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch · Tagged With: Dallas, Restaurants

Weekend in Dallas

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

Pan Seared Tofu with Roasted Vegetables

Roasted Parsnips, Carrots and Asparagus:

Guest Post by Jeffrey: Dinner for Two

Roasted Potatoes

Asparagus

Cranberry Sauce

Filet Mignon

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

Dallas White Rock Half Marathon Recap

Well friends, I did it! I am a half marathoner!

Weekend in Dallas Part 2–The Wedding