MIA

Hello everyone! I've been getting lots of hits today and am super excited to share with you that I am BACK! Sorry I have been MIA for so long--life got in the way (and my foot). Long story short, had to have surgery and it hurts and just you know--felt sorry for myself, hopped back off of healthy living and ya-da-ya-da-ya you know how that story goes. But I am back and better than ever! Well, my phone is messed up and that was the key source to my pictures so this post will be boring and picture-less. But I have some exciting posts coming up this week once I get everything set up and rolling again! I am so happy to be back and want to thank Dana at The Wonder Forest for the fabulous ad that is up right now--you should go check her site out, she is seriously the most incredible person I know. But anyway, just wanted to give you all a heads up that I am back and to expect some yummy, healthy, creations along with my random blurbs. Good to be back! Now...off to watch the Oscars!

Love you long time.

Tart Bakery Adventure

Being in a large city at the moment very much unlike where I am from, there are certain things you MUST see and do. Such as, find the bakery with the best French macarons in the city. And ladies and gentlemen--I did just that. I stumbled upon Tart Bakery at 5219 W. Lovers Lane in the Big D.

Now let me tell you something that you already had an idea about; I have had many macarons in my lifetime and never have I had my favorite flavor (my beloved pistachio) literally melt in my mouth of goodness. Not only was it melt-in-my-mouth good, it wasn't too too sweet to where it was overpowering, it was just sweet enough with hints of pistachio. And the color, well, was fabulous! As I walked into this fabulous little bakery, I was greeted with the sweetest girl. Extremely friendly personalities that just made my experience THAT much more delightful.

I got a pistachio macaron (OF COURSE), raspberry, lemon, & salted caramel. And let me tell you, they are all kinds of fabulous! They look great too, which is a plus because I have seen some unattractive macarons in my life. So having macarons look AND taste beautifully, amazingly, wonderful is honestly...rare. But Tart definitely did it!

(from left to right: Salted Caramel, Chocolate, Passion Fruit, Raspberry, Pistachio, & Lemon)

Let's just say my journey to find the perfect macaron has ended in complete success. I honestly cannot get over it. But wait! There's more! Not only do they have the best macarons in the city, they have a wonderful assortment of fresh (made daily) cookies, French pastries, cupcakes, and more! They are also known for their custom-ordered cookies, petit fours, cakes, & cupcakes. 

My sister ordered the triple chocolate mousse which was absolutely divine (which after eating my pistachio macaron, I didn't expect anything less than divine).

With their pastries and other fun stuff you had choices of glass bottled pink lemonade, french soda, water or a cup of coffee if you wanted something to wettin' your whistle between each bite. I got the blood orange soda. How chic and fabulous is that? Here's me just completely giddy with my tiny piece of perfection in my hand:

To conclude all of my blabbing, let me just tell you this is a must stop when you're in Dallas. It is all things fabulous and just what I was looking for and finally found. 

Thanks Tart Bakery! 

Make sure to like them on Facebook, they are always posting some "sweet" photos!

Until next time, lots of love.

disclaimer: all opinions are my own

Drybar...& Lox

Let me start by saying today was a very successful day. I often feel insecure and self-concious about the way I look because I am overweight. Well today, for the first time in a long time--I truly felt beautiful. It is seriously the most wonderful feeling in the world and I hope all of you readers out there that stopped by feel this way more often than I do. Those of you that know me really well know that I have crazy, frizzy, curly hair that most of the time can't be tamed no matter what I do or how many insanely expensive products I use--just never works out the way I want it to (lioness mane problems--but seriously!). But anyway, my beloved NYC started opening these blow dry bars; strictly blowouts, no cuts, and no color. I have heard about them in magazines and have walked by one on E 76th Street in the Upper East Side, Manhattan (I MISS GOSSIP GIRL!). But anyway we went to NorthPark mall here in Dallas and my eyes immediately caught the signature yellow blow dryer hanging on the front window of drybar. I decided right then and there that I had to experience this phenomenon for myself. And let me tell you, it was just all kinds of fabulous! I walked in to the sweetest girls welcoming me with my choice of champagne, mimosa, coffee, or hot tea (I chose hot green tea if you were wondering). My stylist then took me back to this super chic wash room to wash and condition my hair. And then after she pinned it up and we went back to the chair, she then gave me a menu. I chose the Straight Up blowout which is their signature; straight with a little bit of body. Next thing I know, she's magically almost completely finished. And guess what? SHE ONLY USED A BLOW DRYER. If you know my hair, you understand my amazement. But anyway, drybar made me feel beautiful for a reasonable price and within 30 minutes (not my usual straightening routine that takes AT LEAST an hour). Here are several pictures I compiled from my wonderful experience:

Fashion Moment--

Top/poncho w/ Faux Fur Scarf: Michael Kors

Lipstick: Kate Spade

Earrings: Kate Spade

Pants (although you can't see them): G by Giuliana Rancic

About my food today, breakfast was great--I had my usual hotel breakfast food that I couldn't pass up on, which was Lox on a bagel with all of the fixings:

Tomorrow, expect eggs bennie ;)

As for lunch we had Mexican food, which is not my forte and for dinner, 'twas a complete fail on the restaurants part. I ordered braised beef short ribs with goat cheese polenta, mushrooms, fried shallots with a balsamic reduction. The mushrooms were fabulous but the other stuff was not quite what I had expected. Which ultimately made me sad. I'm a foodie, so I expect fabulous food of course!

Until tomorrow, stay fabulous and beautiful!

love.

Restaurant Review In the Big D--Campisi's

Hello from the big D (Dallas, TX)! Most of my readers are personal friends and family, but if you're not--WELCOME, thanks for stopping by my little, tiny corner of the internet! Reason I am in Dallas is for the Cotton Bowl, that Texas A&M University is playing in against Oklahoma University which is on Friday. We decided to come a few days early so we can wine, dine, and shop! So obviously I won't be in the kitchen the next several days so I decided to share with you all what I eat/have eaten! Today I ate healthy and balanced, until dinner. We are exploring Dallas with a true "Dallasite", so we have the ultimate insiders guide to great food, which is obviously right up my alley! Tonight we hit East Mockingbird Lane and went to the original Campisi's for some great homemade Italian food. Here is a picture of my food (I will explain everything underneath the picture):

Campisi's is known for their crab claws and pizza! I, of course had to try the crab claws and let me tell you, they were DELICIOUS! They were soaked in a lemon butter sauce that was divine. For my entree, I got the Veal Scallopine--piccata style which means the meat was sliced, coated, sauteed and served with a sauce. The sauce was a light lemon butter cream sauce with capers and artichoke hearts. I adore capers and artichoke hearts, so it made it that much better. My side was ravioli with a marinara sauce. You could tell the marinara sauce had been stewed and just cooked for hours, it was great. The ravioli wasn't that great--it was definitely mediocre to say the least. It was not warm at all and the cheese in it had no flavor. But I love strong tasting cheeses, so maybe it was just my preference. But anyway, overall this dinner was a success--it was a local haunt that was a hole in the wall with great food and atmosphere. You could just picture Don Carleone sitting in the dark corner in one of the beat up booths smoking a cigar. The green and red walls were cheesy with the autographs from Scarface & the Godfather hanging on the walls. But the food was great, which is all you can really hope for. 

Here's a picture of me enjoying a fabulous Bloody Mary at the bar called GOSSIP, I considered it my "welcome" drink. Love me some extra olives.

Now I am sipping on some decaf and munching on granola chips, about to do some pinteresting, you can follow me Here!

Until next time, enjoy your night & I will see you tomorrow with a new post with my adventures as a foodie coming from Highland Park.

Lots of love.

Reminiscing 2012 & Vanilla Macarons

Well I don't know if you have heard, but we survived the end of the world and a new year is coming in less than 2 hours...And WOAH! Let me tell you, this year has certainly been a mixture of emotions. But summed up, I have realized how incredibly dang blessed I am. I have lost friends, I have gained many. I have lost many pounds, I have gained a few pounds. But everything is pretty balanced in where I am with life right at this moment. I am content, yet anxious for what 2013 will hold--there are many things I want to accomplish this coming year and feel that I have the capability to do so. God has given me undying love and strength this year, that has in return made me an incredibly strong woman living through Christ himself. I am blessed, very blessed. Thank you to my readers of my blog, (even if there aren't that many) hopefully someday it will make something of itself and can inspire people. I hope you have a blessed New Year and here, I will leave you with a few answered questions that are passed around my family at the dinner table tonight:

What was your favorite song of 2012? Well my favorite song of this year actually came out in 2011, but I discovered it in 2012. It is incredible. 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman & of course I love We Are Young by Fun.

What was your favorite movie released 2012? This is a tough questions, so I'll just say whatever is off the top of my head that I really enjoyed this year: Pitch Perfect, The Lorax, The Hobbit, & Brave (I am missing so many more!)

Favorite meal you have eaten in 2012? My most favorite meal I have probably ever eaten was at Fig and Olive in NYC on 5th avenue. We ate lunch here and it was crowded with local moms lunching together while the nannies were at the opposite side of the room with the babies. I ordered the Fig & Olive salad that was DIVINE. I seriously have never eaten a salad this good and I am a salad connoisseur! It consisted of fig, apple, manchego, gorgonzola dolce tomato, walnut, olive, romaine, mesculin scallion, fig balsamic--Arbequina olive oil. Delicious!

Best sweet treat you have eaten in 2012? This, once again was in my beloved city of NYC. It was a Pistachio Macaron at this French bakery between 3rd & Bleecker St, right next to the NYU bookstore called Mille-Feuille Bakery. It was a tiny little bakery/cafe that was super chic and cozy and you could actually watch them make macarons!

After my mouth watered for 30 minutes after writing this post and thinking about that dang macaron, I decided to whip some up myself. So I made vanilla macarons tonight after attempting it two times. So I must leave you with vanilla macaron recipe:

This makes 14 normal sized macarons.

Ingredients for cookies:

3/4 cup sliced and blanched almonds
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup extra fine sugar (just regular Imperial granulated sugar is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for filling:

4 tbsp unsalted butter (softened<---this is very important)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions for cookies: Place the almond slices and powdered sugar in a food processor and process for about 1 minute, until every thing is nice and grounded. Sift the mixture into a bowl to make sure it is super fine texture. After doing this, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper

Place the egg whites in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until it is holding soft, white peaks. Slowly incorporate the extra fine sugar to make a firm and glossy meringue and then whip in the vanilla extract.

Using a spatula, fold the almond and powdered sugar mixture into the meringue one-third at a time. DO NOT MIX WITH MIXER. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, continue to cut and fold the mixture until if forms a shiny thick batter.

Pour this thick batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1 cm plain tip. Pipe 32 small-ish circles onto the baking sheets. Make sure you don't have many air bubbles. Let stand at room temp. for about 30 minutes until dry and shiny. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes and then cool for 10. After that carefully peel the macaron cookies off of the parchment paper and let them cool completely.

To make the filling beat the very soft butter and vanilla in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Use to sandwich pairs of macarons together.

this recipe was adapted out of macaroons: 30 recipes for perfect bite-size treats

Bon Appetit!

Everyone have a safe and happy new year! 

Eat your cabbage and black-eyed peas!