Catch Up

Happy Tuesday!  Life has been a little busy lately.....2 weekends ago my parents came to visit. We ate lots of good food, went to a cooking class at Sur la Table, watched Arkansas beat Texas A&M, and had lots of fun just hanging out in Dallas.  Last weekend was the big Texas vs. OU football game......there was a ton of orange and red around town.  

Today, I want to let you know about one of the best and probably the most unique restaurants here in Dallas.  David and I took my parents there 2 weekends ago.  We love this place!  Rise No*1 is a souffle restaurant located in Inwood Village off Lovers Lane and Inwood. Everything is fabulous and always enough to share.  Between David and I, we have probably tried almost everything on the menu.  This last visit we ordered the Rise No*1 salad, Southwest Chicken Souffle, Crab Souffle, Brie and Artichoke Souffle, and Pumpkin Souffle for dessert.  Everything was so filling and flavorful.  So if you are looking for a new place to try in Dallas, I suggest Rise No*1.  You will not be disappointed and you might even see Former President and First Lady George and Laura Bush (this is known as their favorite place to eat in Dallas).  Bon Appetite! 

The Pumpkin Souffle with clove and nutmeg sauce and real whipped cream!

XOXO -E

What I Made Monday

I want to start this blog off right....with some recipes!  My passion is cooking.....I love to cook for David, for friends, and for no reason at all.  Who knows maybe I will go to culinary school someday.  But for now, the skills passed on to me from my grandmothers and mother will have to do.  Since it has been a cool 80 degrees in Dallas (it really does feel cool compared to 70+ days in the 100's), I have been craving homemade bread.  Last week I made Pumpkin Bread and Zucchini Bread.....David said "they were the best he has ever tasted", and I have to say they were pretty good. I also made a recipe I found in the Williams-Sonoma catalog, and, tonight, I am making Classic Roast Chicken-a recipe I found in The Weeknight Cook cookbook by Williams-Sonoma.  (I will post the about the Roast Chicken after we taste it)

I hope you enjoy these recipes!

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Zucchini Bread-a recipe from my Great-Grandmother, Effie

(Yields 2 regular size loaves or 4 mini loaves)

3 eggs

1 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

3 Medium Zucchini or 2 Cups, grated

2 t. Vanilla

2 Cups Flour

1/4 t. baking powder

2 t. baking soda

3 t. cinnamon

1 t. salt

1 Cup nuts, chopped ( I use walnuts)

*Preheat oven to 350* F.  Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl.  Stir in oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla.  Sift Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; stir into egg mixture until well blended.  Stir in nuts.  Spoon batter into 2 well greased 8x5x3 loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans.  Bake in a 350* oven for 25-30 minutes.  (less for mini loaves)  Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf--if it comes out clean remove the pans from the oven.  Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then remove the bread from the pans and cool completely on the wire rack.  

*Pumpkin Bread Recipe Here

*Williams-Sonoma Roman Style Meatballs

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend has been one of my most relaxing weekends this semester.  (Since I am a teacher I refer to the year in semesters again)  I only had 3 to-do's on my calendar.  

Friday night, I spent a relaxing night with friends watching The Royal Wedding....we ate brie and rosemary strawberry scones.  Here is that scone recipe...yummy: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/strawberry-and-rosemary-scones-recipe/index.html  

Saturday, I went to a luncheon with my future mother-in-law,Charlotte,  at her church and hung out at her house for the afternoon for the North Dallas Artist Studio Tour....see Charlotte's website here:http://www.charlotteseifert.com/works.html....Saturday night David and I went to the mall then went to whole foods and picked up some steak and veggies to grill last night for dinner.  

Tonight, David and I are going with our friends, Kate and Stephen, to try a new restaurant in the Bishop Arts District called Oddfellows: http://oddfellowsdallas.com/wp-content/uploads/dinner.pdf

Also, our engagement announcement was in the Northwest Arkansas paper today...so exciting!

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend as well!

XOXO

-E

Playing Catch Up

So the New Year's Resolution of blogging more went downhill when I started a new job and got engaged within a week of each other.  Now I am back and this blog is going to have a new look....new recipes, new fashion tips, and details for my upcoming wedding.  December 30, 2010 I got engaged to David at the Belmont Hotel in Dallas.  Here is a link to our wedding website to read all the details: http://www.mywedding.com/emilyanddavid2011/ January 3, 2011 I started my new job as a Pre-K teacher at West Dallas Community School.

Pic from David and my engagement session in Dallas by Dale Benfield

I promise to blog again soon!  I have a lot of recipes to share :)

XOXO

-E

The Second Half of 2010 Recap

This pic sums up Christmas Day...Sophie and Phil love to beg for food!

Matt and Dad admiring Matt's new boots

David and I on Christmas Eve at his mom's house

David came to Rogers for Stacey's Wedding

Dec. 4, 2010 - Stacey getting ready for her wedding day

David and I at the Dallas Museum of Art

Nicki and I in Martha's Vineyard 

Me, Kaitlyn (John's fiance), John (Nicki's bro) and Nicki at Nicki's parent's house in Cape Cod

Matt came to visit me/go see Dave Matthews Band in Dallas

Caroline, Me, Nicki, and Molly in Austin for Sheridan and Derrick's Wedding

in July

Hope you enjoy this second half of 2010 recap and I promise to blog again soon! (Blogging more is a new year's resolution)

XOXO

-E

Went to Destin with the Fam!

Hey Y'all!

So, I haven't posted in FOREVER but I promise I will change that!  I figured a family vacation to Destin, FL needed a shout out!  So this past week I flew to Destin to meet up with Mom, Dad, and my bro, Matt (who is living in Destin for the summer).  We mainly sat on the beach, read, floated in the pool and ATE....I came home stuffed!  If you make your way to Destin you definitely need to go to the Red Bar in Greyton Beach!  It is fabulous!  There are only 5 things on the menu and on Friday/Saturday night they have their Famous Crab Cakes!  We went here two nights, one night I had Manicotti and the other night I had their crab cakes!  Both dishes were Wonderful!

Here we are eating at the Red Bar, Round 1

The Second night we ate at Stinky's Fish Camp on 30A in Santa Rosa.  AMAZING!  We had never been there before, but we had always passed it to go to The Red Bar and Seaside.  Multiple people recommended it to us so we decided to try it out!  I had the fish of the night which was Kobia in their house Potato Leek Sauce, Stir Fry Veggies and Mac n' Cheese!  Needless to say, we will go back again next year! 

 We also ate at Dewey Destin (by the Destin Bridge), Bayou Bills Crab House, Bud and Alleys, Cantina Laredo, and for breakfast YOU MUST go to the Donut Hole!.....I highly recommend all these restaurants if you are in the Destin/Seaside area!

At Bayou Bills with my pound of Blue Crab

Nothin' But a Model

Mom, Dad, and I in Seaside

I think this will be this years Christmas Card Photo

The View from the Condo

Hope you enjoyed the update!  Let me know if you are going to Destin anytime soon!  I know all the good places to eat!

XOXO

-E

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

All of us girls with Lindsay (in the white scarf) outside Fireside Pies

Me, Sarah, and Meagan

So this past week was my friend, Lindsay's, birthday!  On Thursday a big group of girls went to Fireside Pies.  I had never been before and let's just say that I will probably frequent this place in the future.  They had amazing wood fired pizzas with lots of topping options.  I had a pizza with grilled chicken, blue cheese, baby spinach, balsamic mustard marinated mushrooms, and tomatoes.  It was wonderful!  Then on Saturday Lindsay and Meagan had people over to their apt to hang out for the night!  We all had lots of fun celebrating Lindsay's birthday!  I am so blessed to have these girls here in Dallas!  

XOXO

-E