Le Cordon Bleu: Technique

Today was Todd's (coworker) birthday, so I made Pioneer Woman's delicious carrot cake cupcakes! I made these for Easter this year and they were so good, so I couldn't resist making them again! If you make them, I filled each cupcake half way with batter and baked them for 16 minutes at 350 degrees.

For lunch, Todd chose to go to the Le Cordon Bleu student-run restaurant, Technique. We're working at a bank that's basically in the same parking lot as the culinary school, so we figured it would be a quick, fun lunch.  We should have known that this wasn't going to be a quick lunch because: 1) There were 9 people in our party, 2)When we got there, we found out it was only the second day of service, and 3) There was a notice on the menu that said that if we had time constraints for lunch, we should inform our waiter. None of these raised any red flags in our minds...

We arrived at noon and were promptly seated. Then the waiter took our drink order and brought us bread. Then he brought us more bread. Then he asked if we were ready to order. It was 12:30.  Everything on the menu sounded delicious. I had a hard time deciding what to get. There were 3 appetizers to choose from - fajita pizza, margherita pizza, and fried goat cheese salad.  There was also a duck soup.  For the entree, the choices were roasted chicken with goat cheese risotto, lamb rack chop with mashed potatoes and zucchini, and pasta carbonara.  Dessert was either brown sugar cake or raspberry sorbet.  I got the fried goat cheese salad, lamb rack chop, and raspberry sorbet.  The salad was delicious. There's nothing better than fried goat cheese!  And the lamb was cooked perfectly, seared on both sides with a tasty grill crust.

The raspberry sorbet was also good, but I could have done without it. The prices were pretty reasonable, $5 for an appetizer, $8 for an entree, and $3 for dessert. I don't think there's another restaurant in Dallas where you can get lamb for $8! They also serve dinner and you can get a 3-course meal for $35. My only complaint would be...from the time we sat down to the time we left, it took TWO HOURS. Talk about S-L-O-W service!! But the food was delicious and the experience was definitely one of a kind! I'd go back. And I'd recommend you to try it sometime! But make sure you have plenty of time for lunch. Or wait and go towards the end of the semester...

Le Cordon Bleu Dallas

11830 Webb Chapel Road

Dallas, Texas

Reservations: (214) 647-8500

Casey the Water Dog

We took Casey swimming at Aaron's house this weekend. She loved it!! We've taken her once before, but I forgot my camera, so I made sure to bring it this time! She had so much fun with her friend Zoe!

Getting the hang of it...

Trying to get her tennis ball back from Zoe...

We had such a good time swimming and hanging out with the doggies. It's kind of sad that this is probably our last weekend to go to the pool, but we're so ready for the cooler fall weather!! And I'm sure Casey's hoping to see her long lost friend, "snow", this winter! :) Hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend!

Riley . . . AKA the Starving Kitty

We put Riley on a diet about a year ago. The vet told David that if Riley didn't lose weight soon, he'd be diabetic and require insulin shots. So now, Riley gets 1/3 cup of food twice a day, instead of 1/2 cup of food twice a day. And I swear, you'd think we were starving the poor cat. Riley gets fed at 6:30am and at 6:30pm. And you better believe that starting around 5:30pm (sometimes earlier), he's meowing like crazy and pacing back and forth in front of the pantry. As soon as the food hits his bowl, it's gone. I don't even think he chews his food. We usually feed Riley first and then go back into the pantry to fill Casey's bowl, and by the time we come out of the pantry with Casey's food, Riley's done eating (and trying to find a way to sneak some of the dog's food)!

Anyway, when David and I are both out of town, we fill Riley's food bowl with as much food as he would get if we were there. It's up to him whether or not he portions out his food correctly or not. For all we know, he eats all his food the first day and he starves for the next three, five, or seven days. But it's his food, he can do whatever he wants.

So on Friday morning before David left for the airport, he filled Riley's food dish with enough food that *should* last him until Monday when we got back. Hard to say how long that food lasted in the bowl. We came home to this...

Suffice it to say, Riley wasn't very happy when there wasn't anymore food left in his bowl. Either that, or he was so excited to have more than 1/3 cup of food in his bowl, he knocked it off the ledge...and he spent the rest of the weekend eating all the food off the ground. Either way, he was meowing and begging for more food as soon as we got home Monday afternoon.

DFW to DCA to DTW to DFW

Last Sunday, I flew to Washington, DC for a training class at the FDIC student center. The class itself was pretty darn boring (as expected), but lucky for me, it was over by Friday. When the class ended on Friday, I flew from DC to Detroit for David's cousin's wedding!! I was exhausted after all my flights. I flew from DC (eastern time zone) to Chicago (central time zone) to Detroit (back to eastern time zone). By the time I landed, I wasn't sure if I was in the air or on the ground, much less what time it was supposed to be. I've never gotten sick, or even felt remotely sick from flying, but Friday was horrible!! 

Saturday morning, we met with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Margaret for dim sum. I meant to take a picture of all the delicious food, but I was so hungry I forgot!! I'd been craving dim sum for a while, so I was glad to finally satisfy that craving! Now I want to go to San Francisco to have dim sum with my sister... :)

Saturday evening, we drove out to MacRay Harbor in Harrison Township for Kim and Adam's wedding! It was absolutely beautiful. 

Kim's sister-in-law giving one of the readings...

The sand ceremony...

Kim's mom (David's aunt) made their wedding cakes!! Don't they look great?!?

She also made the centerpieces...

And I'm guessing she made the name cards, too! :)

Us!

And finally....Mr. & Mrs. Adam Pokowski!!

We had such a good time at their wedding!! Congrats to the happy couple!

Summer Vacation Project No. 2 : Hallway Collage

We've been married for almost 10 months and I realized a few weeks ago that we don't have any wedding pictures displayed in our house! Zip, zero, nada! So, one of my summer vacation projects was to take my lazy butt up to Michael's and get new frames. Our entry hallway is 18 feet long and has looked like this pretty much since we moved in two years ago.

I love these pictures. My sister took them all during her trip to Morocco. I picked these six out and she printed them and gave them to me. But since we had paid so much for our photographer, we really needed to display our beautiful wedding pictures! Not to worry - the old photos will be moved to the study and displayed there!

So after about an hour of putting all the pictures in their frames, and another hour of David and his dad trying to figure out the template and anchors and screws......our hallway now looks like THIS!

I love it!! And there's ample space on both sides to keep adding pictures as our family grows!

Summer Vacation Project No. 1 : Herb Garden

David and I took a week off from work...we needed a BREAK! His parents came to visit Tuesday through Friday, and while they were here, we put them to work! Ever since we moved into our house, I've been wanting an herb garden in the backyard. So David's dad brought up all his saws and building supplies to help us (David) build it!

Before...

Our supplies...

We used untreated cedar - David's dad said that termites stay away from cedar and I wanted untreated wood because I read somewhere that if you use treated wood, the chemicals can seep into the soil.

Sawing away...

All done!!! Now all we need to do is clear out the grass and fill the flower bed with soil and herbs!! YAY!! Doesn't it look great?!?

Casey Turns 1!

Our sweet little puppy turned one last Thursday.

In celebration, I took Casey to Three Dog Bakery in Plano! April, Tux, and Ryder joined us.

We'd never been, but it was so neat! They had the most delicious looking dog treats in the display cases. April got Casey a "pupcake" and I got her a bunch of tasty treats, including a snickerdoodle cookie, mini-donuts, and a s'mores! If you've never been to Three Dog Bakery, I highly recommend it!!