That’s the name of the Vancouver cop show I’m going to make, about Det. Jack Groove, a bad-tempered, good-hearted cop who’s not afraid to tussle with scary Canadian hooligans. It’s also what Matt and I did for 5 glorious days last week! I miss it, you guys. I really, really miss it.

There’s a LOT of food and beer to get into here, so let’s get started!

Day One! I bought this hat as soon as I arrived. I named it “Hatley.”

Matt and I split a delicious burger and poutine (a Canadian delicacy, if you aren’t aware, of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds, gravy and awesomeness) from kick-ass retro diner Hamburger Mary’s, a block away from our adorable little VRBO condo (pics at the link) in the wonderful gayborhood of Davie Village. The condo was two blocks from all the shops and restaurants on one side, and two blocks from the gorgeous beach on the other. Here’s the view from the rooftop patio of the condo:

We spent the remainder of the day (we arrived around 2pm) just walking around and getting acclimated to the neighborhood. That night, a few blocks from our condo, we walked to the charming Mis Trucos, where we enjoyed a 6-course tasting dinner and a bottle of champagne. I cannot BELIEVE I forgot to take food pictures that first day, so you’ll have to use your imaginations coupled with my unerring memory for yumminess. Course 1: a crispy breaded prawn with aioli. Course 2: octopus with spicy tomato foam. Course 3: Creamy corn bisque. Course 4: Truffled lobster risotto, AKA all three of my favorite words married in one tremendous dish, topped with crème fraiche. Course 5: Ribeye with gnocchi and mushrooms. Course 6: Chocolate something or other which I couldn’t even touch because I was STUFFED. Then we walked to 1181, the gay bar with the BEST DRINKS IN THE WORLD. Check out the Gay Peari on the menu. Best name ever!

Day Two!

We started with breakfast at Hamburger Mary’s. I had the Mexican omelette, which is funny because I live right next to Mexico and Vancouver is pretty far away from it. That didn’t stop the Mexican omelette from being AMAZING(ly huge).

I actually put a serious dent in that plate, and our waitress told me I did a good job! Matt had this:

Then we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. I *love* aquariums and VanAqua is the best one I’ve ever visited. We spent hours and hours there!

We watched a 4D movie about the shallow seas! No, nerds, the fourth dimension was not time, but rather shaky seats and water splashing our faces.

The aquarium has beluga whales, otters, dolphins and sea lions in their gorgeous outdoor tanks. We took lots of videos, but I forgot to upload them in time for this post. Rest assured, they were all adorable and/or majestic.

That evening we walked to Yaletown for dinner. Vancouver is incredibly easy to maneuver, one of my favorite things about it. We could walk or take public transportation almost everywhere. Davie Village is a great place to stay because it’s so central (and cool). We stopped by the Yaletown Brewery for a brown ale (Matt) and a hefeweizen (me).

Then we walked to Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar, which won Best Restaurant of the Year and a whole bunch of other well-deserved accolades. There, I proceeded to stuff myself so full of oysters and sashimi, particularly toro (my fave), that I spent the rest of the evening moaning in half misery, half bliss.

Day Three!

The following day we grabbed some road pastries, hopped in the car and did something incredibly dorky. We went on a Smallville pilgrimmage! Yes, we are grown-ups who watch Smallville…religiously. It films in Vancouver and this is the last season, so we checked out some of the haunts.

The Kent Farm, which looks EXACTLY LIKE the Kent Farm on the show!

Here it is on the show:

Here it is in real life:

We then drove to nearby Cloverdale, where they film the Smallville Main Street scenes. Adorbs!

From the show:

From our trip:

While in Cloverdale, we ate at this tiny little deli that was decorated like my grandma’s house, and Matt had a delicious meal of perogis and cabbage rolls. (I had the tuna sandwich and clam chowder, also delicious, no pic.)

Throughout the trip, just by virtue of being in Vancouver, we also stumbled on the Luthor Corp building, the Luthor Corp plant, the Daily Planet, and Smallville High School!

That afternoon we drove to Kitsilano, a fun shopping neighborhood. I ate this mint chocolate chip cupcake, which was rather tasty although a little denser than I generally like my cupcakes.

That was the coldest day. The weather was always chilly, but we were dressed for it and perfectly comfortable the whole trip–particularly the last two days, when the sun started shining.

That evening we headed to Gastown for dinner and beers at Six Acres, a cozy pub with a terrific beer selection, recommended to us by Matt’s Beer Advocate magazine. With the rain on the cobbled streets and the old-fashioned lanterns outside, this  place was a warm and snug haven.

We shared a large bottle of saison and the bratwurst plate, with artisan sauerkraut, two kinds of homemade mustard, gerkins and hard rolls:

and the mac and cheese. The entire meal was TO DIE FOR. I just really miss it, you guys.

Day Four!

We walked to the notorious Elbow Room Café for breakfast. They had a bunch of crotchety rules and a super grumpy owner who liked to harass us for being from Texas, thanks to George Bush. I was therefore afraid to take pictures of our food, but I had this:

and a giant mimosa. Both were divine. Matt had:

and a very spicy bloody Mary. We then walked to the ferry stop to take an aquabus to Granville Island Public Market!

Granville Island is touristy, but super cute and fun. And the public market is STUFFED with tasty business.

We grabbed some picnic supplies, but first stopped by the Granville Island Brewery for a tasting.

Verdict: they were all delicious! This doggy was there.

Vancouver is such a dog city! There were dogs everywhere, but I was generally too busy petting them to take many pictures.

We missed the brewery tour that day, so we arranged to come back the following day. We bought a couple of go beers and had a picnic on the water!

That picnic was so, so rad. We then took the ferry back to Davie Village and walked to the beach, as the sun had really started shining by that point.

We headed back to Gastown that evening and hit up the Steamworks Brewing Company. Very nice beers and a huge brewhouse. And then we walked back to Six Acres, because we were OBSESSED. Matt had this stout:

and I had a very dry English cider, just like I like ‘em:

We split the sliders, the shoestring fries and the very tangy, sweet and sour wings. Every bite was heavenly, as our first meal had taught us to expect:

Day Five!

We walked to La Brasserie for one of the highest-rated-by-me brunches of our respective lives. Matt had this beer:

and he was happy about it:

I had a mimosa the color of lemonade because it was mostly champagne, as they all should be:

We split the oysters:

the French toast with caramelized apples, caramel sauce and a raspberry reduction:

and the truffle oil poutine with poached eggs, twice smoked bacon and hollandaise:

LORDY IT WAS ALL AMAZING! Look at these happy plates!

We then walked back to the ferry stop and took the ferry this time to Granville Island to check out the brewery tour.

As with all brewery tours, it was fun, informative and it concluded with free beer. We walked to a milliner’s shop, where Matt bought this fine handmade, one-of-a-kind hat made by a man right in Vancouver.

We went to the Kid’s Market where I delighted in using the kid’s entrance.

What does that name mean? Does it refer to something? It sounds like it should be familiar, but it isn’t.

I had gelato, and Matt had a candy kebob.

We then took a ferry around to see some more of this stunning city.

That evening we met our friend Sophia at The Clubhouse for beer and okonomiyaki, one of my favorite dishes.

And with that messy pile of deliciousness, we concluded our trip to Vancouver. The next morning we woke up ass-early to go to the airport and fly home. But our Continental points allowed us to upgrade to first class, so that was still fun! I can’t recommend Vancouver more highly. It’s one of the coolest cities, if not the very coolest, I’ve ever visited. It’s just fun and EASY, so incredibly relaxed. Everyone there is outrageously friendly and, as I mentioned before, it’s a breeze to get around. I want to go back IMMEDIATELY and writing this blog didn’t help. I miss you, The Couv! I’ll be back to film my cop show as soon as I can!

For the UT Season opener against Rice on Labor Day weekend, some of my favorite old tailgating partners visited to help us teach Houston HOW IT’S DONE.

Our legendary UT football coach, the delightfully avuncular Mack Brown, has a few tips for supreme Longhorn fandom: “Come early, be loud, stay late, wear burnt orange with pride.” And boy, did we!

COME EARLY.

Here we arrive at 10 in the morning and set up our tent to protect our Warren’s-assaulted eyeballs from the harsh rays of the morning sun. We prepared for such an ungodly hour by the most powerful weapon known to the hung-over masses.

BACON. Five and a half pounds of crispy, heavenly bacon. Matt cooked it up in preparation of our tailgate breakfast tacos. Fun fact: not only is bacon delicious, it’s also flammable! We forgot lighter fluid, so Matt used some of the bacon grease. With the help of firefighter-turned-firestarter Chris Chris: success!

Seriously, worst firefighter ever. That morning, he disabled our smoke detector when it wouldn’t stop beeping due to all the bacon-makin’.

BE LOUD.

Oh, how I love the Longhorn band. Many of my college buddies, some of whom participated in this tailgate sesh, were in LHB, and there’s really no arguing that UT boasts the loudest and most flamboyant band around. Compare this majesty:

with Rice’s precious little band! They were kind of funny, yes, but were they OBSCENELY LOUD?! No. No, they were not.

STAY LATE.

I hate fans that are fairweather AND foulweather. Meaning—if we’re either way up or way down in the score, they leave early. I DON’T. I never, ever, EVER leave. You can’t MAKE me leave…until Gabriel blows his horn, of course. Then I trot happily back to the parking lot to float the keg. And THEN I leave. With a designated driver, kids. Be safe!

Sleepy ladies, still representin’!

WEAR ORANGE.

Yeah, we can do that.

Well, most of us can. Kim and Eric are aggressively non-orange, just to be ornery.

Erin’s so dignified!

This seems as good a time as any for some spunky self-promotion…LOOK MA, I MADE IT!

So there you have it: Mack Brown’s guide to UT Football Fandom.

BUT WAIT!

We pros have a few more lessons to impart.

DRINK LOTS.

(Okay, that’s Italian soda. But cuteness!)

Not only did we have a pony keg of Matt’s delicious Hitchcock Blonde ale, we also enjoyed mimosas with the breakfast tacos.  Delightful!

EAT MORE.

Partially because you really shouldn’t drink more than you eat. Just, you know, in life. But also because tailgating’s all about the FOOD, baby!

Matt whips up a batch of eggs next to a vat of Chris’s mom’s AMAZING BEANS HOLY LOVE OF FOOD I WANT SOME MORE.

Those ribs fell apart at the touch!

(to be sung to the Dreidel Song): Taters! Taters! Taters! I eat you all dang day. Taters! Taters! Taters! For you I say hooray.

Give now-me that plate of yummy, old-me! DO IT!

Aaaand don’t forget the bacon.

CONVERT BRITS.

Here we have Erin’s boyfriend Pete, a devout fan of that OTHER football, from over THERE. Look how perky he is! This is an illusion. He was actually suffering from Warren’s-inspired brain ebola. But we taught him about downs, so yay!

KICK ASS.

Let’s be frank here. (Can I still be Garth?) Football’s always fun, but it’s a lot more fun when we win. And I have to say, I don’t ever want to see a score like THIS against a team like Rice, ever, ever, ever again.

Final score was 34-17, which is still FAR closer than it should have been. I’m sorry, but it’s Rice. Granted, Rice students will all nab Nobel prizes and/or a billion dollars before any Longhorn will, and the illustrious founder of this blog is from Rice, but she can’t play football, either.  WE SHOULD HAVE STOMPED THEM. Where’s my O-line at, ya heard?!

And the final key ingredient in an ideal football weekend…

AFTER PARTY.

This is Chris, bobbing for beers in a trash can filled with ice water. He did this for about 20 minutes, you guys. His head is bald and thus extra-susceptible to cold. No one forced him to do it. But we did pay him $10 bucks. I’ve edited the interminable footage of near-misses down to the money shot. Please to enjoy:

And the next day, because dammit if we don’t know how to celebrate a win, we took a boat out on Lake Conroe.

Ain’t no party like a Longhorn party because a Longhorn party don’t stop! ON A BOAT, BISHES.

Selina here to tell you all about my trip to Spain.

First, for a little bit of background. My family used to go to Spain almost every summer when I was younger but the last time I had been there was eight years ago so, I was so excited to go back and to show Tommy, my husband, all the things I love about it. My mom was also around during most of the vacation.

Our destination was Marbella, a beautiful little town on the Costa del Sol. It’s an amazing beach town with great beaches, wonderful food, and an entertaining beach pedestrian only promenade with lots of restaurants, bars, and clubs.

First, let me show you the view from our balcony.

So, as you can imagine, this is what I did most of the time.

I know…what a rough vacation.

We also did A LOT of eating.  As you will see, a great deal of this post will be dedicated to food which is appropriate for a pants post (and because I love food). The food in Spain is so delicious and I had some of my favorite things.

For example, I really love lasagna in Spain. It’s made with bechamel sauce and baked in little individual clay dishes in the oven so it comes out hot and bubbly. Amazing!

Don’t you just want to eat that?!

Another thing that I have many lovely memories of is the ice-cream in Spain. It’s just so delicious. It’s not as rich and decadent as say Amy’s ice-cream, which to me is a good thing. They have wonderful flavors like nougat, cream, dulce de leche, and my favorite, green apple. It’s smooth and creamy, not too tart, and amazingly refreshing on a warm summer night.

Here I am enjoying my favorite flavor at the best ice-cream parlor (note that others agree, check out the line going out the door!). This place is always so crowded they had to implement a number system like at a deli!

Another yummy dessert that people in Spain eat a lot is called churros y chocolate. Churros are basically deep-fried dough sprinkled with sugar. The chocolate is basically a thick hot chocolate which you use to dip the churros in. Oh man, I want some right now!

Another interesting dessert is called the Gofre. I say it’s interesting because it’s basically a waffle with or without toppings. I know Americans eat waffles for breakfast but I agree with Spaniards in thinking that waffles should be for dessert.

Messy and delicious!

Ok, but seriously…here is another awesome dessert that I always have to have in Spain: Strawberry tarts!

Look at this deliciousness! It’s like pure perfection: fresh and juicy strawberries and a crisp and buttery crust.

Oooh Oooh another dessert..yes, there is more! We had to have a few crepes cuz they are so yummy.

Banana and chocolate with vanilla ice-cream

here is one with apples and sugar

and strawberries and sugar

Ok, let’s take a small break from the food (don’t worry, it will be back real soon). We did do a few other things besides eat, but really in Marbella it was mostly hang at the beach, walk around, and eat. It was pretty amazing. I also got to see some of my friends I used to hang out with. One person I saw was my friend Heather who is from Ireland and comes to Marbella for vacation. Thankfully, we reconnected via facebook and we got to see each other!

Yay for facebook!

One thing that is always a tradition for us is to go to the market. The markets in Spain travel from city to city on different days and the market in Marbella is on a Monday. There you can walk around and buy so many things from fresh fruit to CDs to clothes to pottery. It’s amazing! The nickname for the market is El Barato but unfortunately due to the Euro and other factors, it’s really not that cheap anymore.

A fun thing about being in Marbella is there are lots of charming towns to visit nearby. For example, we went to a town called Mijas in the mountains. It has amazing views and a lovely park…

and a really cool little church built out of rock

and charming people like this cute couple who has been making doughnuts here ever since I was a little girl.

Another town we visited is Benalmadena. We took a teleferico or cable car up the mountain to see some more amazing views.

We were very lucky and excited to be in Spain for the world cup finals! It was amazing to be a part of this historic moment.

We went to a port called Puerto Banus where all the rich people park their crazy yachts. We went there because someone said they were going to be showing it there on a big screen but no such luck. We still had fun watching it at an outdoor pub.

The atmosphere was very lively and festive

It was such a tense game but when they finally scored that goal and won, it was an outburst of emotion.

People were all over the streets chanting and dancing.

We took a break from Marbella and traveled to Barcelona for 4 days. Me and Tommy were very excited to go since we had never been north of Madrid. It’s an amazing city with the most unique and interesting architecture I have ever seen. Barcelona is also different in that they speak Catalan in addition to Spanish so it took us a while to figure out some of the different words they use for things. For example, for salad they say Amanida instead of Ensalada. The first morning we got there starving for breakfast, we were confused when the waitress said they had pasta with chocolate for breakfast. She obviously meant pastry and not the pasta that you and I know but it took us a second to figure out.

We did so many amazing things in Barcelona in 4 days. We saw 7 museums in 3 days! We weren’t planning on it but we couldn’t pass up the Artticket deal. For 22 Euros you get access to 7 museums.

One of our first stops in Barcelona was La Rambla, a pedestrian mall with lots of tourists, street performers, and shops.

Presenting…Edward Scissorhands

Honestly, I thought it would be more interesting but I wasn’t that impressed. I did like La Boqueria, a market in the area with lots of bright colors, fruits, meats, etc.

Look at all the amazing and colorful fresh juices

and fruits from all over the world

As I mentioned, the architecture in Barcelona is amazing thanks in large part to Antoni Gaudi. One of his creations that we visited is a public park called Park Guell. It’s like being in a whimsical fairy tale!

We also visited La Pedrera or Casa Mila an amazing apartment complex Gaudi built. For some reason I forgot to take a picture of the exterior but check out the amazing roof.

This is the interior courtyard of the building

Here is the exterior of another cool Gaudi building

Probably one of the most famous sites in Barcelona and the most famous Gaudi work is the Sagrada Familia, an enormous and intriguing cathedral started in 1882 and that is not expected to be complete until 2026!

Here is a view of it from the roof of La Pedrera

We were able to take an elevator up towards the top where you could see all the towers and designs up close

It’s like a christmas tree, right?

I want to eat this because it looks like fruit baskets

We went to many museums as I mentioned like the Picasso museum, the modern art museum, and Joan Miro museum. One of the most spectacular art museums was the MNAC or Museu Nacional D’Art De Catalunya (National Museum of Catalan Art).

It is housed in this amazing building in a beautiful park

We saw amazing art by such historic artists as Picasso and Dali.

Here are a couple of my faves

Most days we were way too tired from walking and touring all over the city to go out at night but we made an exception to go see a movie outdoors projected on the wall of a castle!

We ate a yummy veggie dog (topped with little fries!) while waiting for the crowds to get there and for the movie to start

It was a great experience enjoying the outdoors with (mostly) local people although it was strange since it was a weird Swedish horror movie that we watched with Spanish subtitles.

We did of course have a few good meals while in Barcelona (yay back to food!). Our favorite lunch was at a restaurant called Anima. In Barcelona you can get really good deals for lunch by getting the menu of the day. Usually you get two or three courses for a reasonable price. At Anima you could get either first and second course or second and dessert and a drink for only 10 Euros.

For my first course, I had a cold carrot soup with an artichoke and vegetable ice-cream. It was sooo good!

For my second, I had a fancy hamburger

and Tommy had Salmon

For dessert we had a chocolate tort with raspberry sauce and balsamic vinegar ice-cream. Deeeelish!

We also tried an efficient Tapas place where any tourist can order. You will see what I mean when you look at their menu.

Who can resist mini little plates of food?! You can try lots of different things without spending too much money.

Like yummy chicken croquetas. It’s something like mashed potatoes, chicken, and milk encased in bread crumbs and fried.

We also had a mini steak and fries

After 4 wonderful but exhausting days, we headed back to Marbella to relax some more and to eat more food.

Like freshly made gnocchi

and lots of seafood

shrimp in olive oil

fish baked in salt

It’s just so nice to eat dinner right by the beach and to hear the waves while enjoying delicious food. You can see here how me and my mom are enjoying the scene.

Our time was sadly coming to a close but before we left we had to have some Paella, one of Spain’s most famous dishes. I opted for the vegetarian paella this time, crispy rice with all kinds of veggies.

It was time to go home. We had an amazing time and I was sad to go but hopefully I will get to go back again soon.

I hope you enjoyed traveling with me, and if you are in need of a vacation, just look at this and insert yourself here:

Adios til next time!

I grew up in south Texas and I love going back to see my dad and family. We went last weekend to take a firearm safety class for women. That’s right – I shot GUNS for eight hours on Saturday! I went with my dad’s wife Michelle and step sisters Kayla and Stacey. There were women of all ages and backgrounds in the class which immediately made me happy.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Anyone can shoot a gun, right? I saw it on Castle last night. I could totally pick up a gun and know what I’m doing. I’m here to tell you that showbiz has it WRONG, and the first time you fire a gun it will scare your pants off. I’m going to tell you some of the tips I learned at this class, AND you’ll get bonus guy points. In all seriousness, these are things that they teach to save your life. I’m not saying you should own a gun, but you should know how to use one.

We drove out to an outdoor range with three different areas surrounded by hills called berms. The guys came along so that they could learn in their own group while we did the formal course (I think they were jealous), and the ladies group split into beginner and advanced. We were in the beginner’s group and my dad came along with the guys.

After we split up, we met our two instructors, Jay and Pat. We spent a few hours going over the rules of the range, and general safety rules. I think this was the most important part of the whole day.

1. All guns are always loaded. This can be the gun in your closet, the concealed gun on the guy’s waistband in the supermarket, or the gun the instructor is using to demo. Assume it is loaded until you prove otherwise.
2. Never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy. This includes your friends, your family, your foot, and your walls.
3. Never put your finger on the trigger until you are looking at the target and ready to shoot. If you get scared or tighten your grip, you may accidentally pull the trigger.
4. Know your target and backstop. If you aim a gun at someone and miss, there is a good chance there is a wall behind them. If you don’t know what’s behind that wall, don’t fire.

The instructors broke down a semi-automatic pistol to show us how it works, and showed a revolver. The main differences are the way you hold the guns and how you reload.

Semi-automatics come with safetys to make sure you fire when you are ready to fire. There are many different types of safetys so it’s important to know how yours works. Some are levers for your thumb, others are buttons, or there can be one on the grip, magazine, or the trigger. Some guns come with two safetys which is even better.

When firing a gun, there will be recoil. THIS is actually the scary part, more than the sound. It’s going to jerk back in your hands and the lighter it is, the more it jump. Heavier guns will have less recoil but will be harder for you to control. It’s important not to anticipate the recoil or you will be off target. Kayla demonstrated this for the class with the fake blue plastic gun.

The next thing we learned was how to hold the gun when you’re aiming. The first part is called the master grip. You want to have your dominant hand around the gun with your finger ABOVE the trigger (rule #3!) as high up as you can grip. Your off hand goes on the other side so that you create a basket for the gun. You tuck your thumbs to make it as snug as possible and keep them raised for stability. For revolvers, you keep them down so the gun doesn’t burn you.

The second part of aiming is the stance. There are different stances that you can use. The first you’ve probably seen the most which is with both arms straight out and legs shoulder width apart. Stacey liked this stance. This is also the first time she held a gun and looks pretty awesome.

The second stance is more defensive. You stand with one leg forward for balance. Your dominant hand is straight and pushing the gun, while your other hand is bent elbow down to the ground and pulling the gun. This gives stability and you can move around easier.

We each went to our gun and tried our grip and stance. I was using a .38 Special revolver. The first time we fired scared the bejeezus out of me because of the kick, but at least I had a good grip. I didn’t like the revolver because it kicked like hell and my targeting was way off. Adrenaline really affects how well you can aim.

The instructors let us rotate and try all the other guns that were brought to the course. I shot a .357 Magnum, a Glock 9mm, and a Walther PPK, a Sig Sauer, a XD, an H&K, a Smith & Wesson, and a 1911. I don’t remember the calibers – which is what the numbers are – the bigger the number, the bigger the bullet. And the heavier the gun. The Glock 17 9mm ended up being my favorite with the 1911 a close second.

After a while I went to my dad’s range to spy on them and they were doing an obstacle course. I HAD to do it! They were being timed as they shot in a specific order and moved from target to target. This was SUPER cool and included a reload in the middle, so I had to stick extra ammo in my back pocket.

Here’s the bonus points with guys section, and where you can correct them during an action flick. Do not call it a clip. It is a magazine, or mag. If you call it a clip, gun geeks will make fun of you. If you call it a mag, they will probably buy you flowers.

So halfway through the course I was running through I had to drop the mag and put in a new one. I felt like the most bad ass person on the planet. I was slow for my first run ever but my accuracy was good. HELLO NEW HOBBY! I love a challenge and it turns out you can compete. I had no idea.

We were tired, sunburned, and eaten alive by giant mosquitoes by the end of the class, but it was worth it. I’m no longer afraid of guns and will try to rent guns regularly here at indoor ranges to stay that way. I felt so cool the rest of the day. And, I looked bad ass too. I mean really, check me out. And find yer own class!

I love dubai. It dazzles. It’s this magical city that blends american and muslim cultures, with a WHOLE LOT of glitz, extravagance and bling worked into the mix. dubai is constantly growing, expanding and building, so it’s amazing to think that this place was all just a desert island less than thirty years ago.

It went from being this:

To this:

So here’s a recap of my 48 hours in Dubai!

Day 1:

My first night there, my friend SVA (who is lucky enough to live there) took me to dinner at Wafi Mall. I was skeptical when he suggested dinner at the mall because I am not a huge fan of food-court places like sbarros or KFC. When we pull up to the mall I quickly realized that malls in Dubai are MUCH more extravagant than the ones in the US. It turns out each mall has a theme or special attraction that is designed to lure in the expats and tourists. Wafi mall had an ancient Egyptian theme and it was amazing!

After dinner, we hit up QD’s, a sheesha (hookah) lounge which allowed me to people watch. Dubai is a very diverse city which includes Emiraties, other Arabs, South Asians, expats, and many, many tourists.  It wasn’t uncommon to spot the emirate and gulf natives, as they wore traditional kandooras (men’s white outfit with red/white checkered scarves) and abayas (female’s black dress and headscarf, usually with rhinestone trim!) The vibe of this place was very loud and the DJ was attempting to reach out to his western audience, by playing recent songs by Pitbull: I know you want me. However, when he started to remix “Wiggle it just a little bit” and a night at the roxbury’s “What is love”, I decided it was time to go.

We decided to hit up the Address, a luxury hotel in downtown.

Not only was it SUPER posh, they have a huge bar/lounge that looks over the BURJ DUBAI! The Burj is the world’s tallest man made structure and is over twice the height of the Empire state building!
(Side note: The burj is officially called burj khalifa, after the ruler of Abu Dhabi who saved the dubai economy from collapse, but locals are adamant that it should be named burj dubai!) And the best thing about it, is that every half hour it lights up and sparkles

There’s also a huge garden with fountains where everyone can walk around if they get tired of looking at the sparkly building (but uh, why would they?!) Naturally, I had to stop and smell the pretty flowers!

Our walk took us next door to The Palace- Old Town, another luxury hotel. The views were amazing and I felt like I was on the set of a movie—everything was just *that* extravagant and grand!

Day 2:

After being enchanted the night before, I decided to try and visit the other famous malls I’d heard about. According to Wikipedia, Dubai is “the shopping capital of the Middle East”—SO TRUE. After a yummy breakfast, we headed to the Dubai Mall, which was grandiose and extravagant!

Apparently this mall is known for a large indoor aquarium and waterfall sculpture:

Another mall we hit up later that day had a huge out door attraction where people (mostly kids) could get inside huge balloon bubbles and float over the water! SAY WHAAATTT??!

Although it looks like so much fun, I didn’t try it out. I *really* wanted to, but couldn’t due to time constraints.  The indoor sky-diving attraction at City Center Mall tempted me as well. Ah well, this just gives me more reasons to go back and visit.

After a morning of shopping, we decided to head to the beach to play in sand. On the way to the Jumeirah beach I had to stop and photograph the beautiful mosques. I love Islamic architecture and I loved the simple details of this building in contrast to the over the top extravagance of the malls.

Oddly enough, the main attraction at Jumeirah beach, isn’t the beach. It’s the burj al arab is the second tallest building in the world that is the only 7 star hotel! Compared to the modern look of the burj al khalifa, the burj al arab seems much simpler. Its shape resembles the sails of an arab dhow, or sailboat.

After soaking in some sun, we decided to get dinner and headed to the atlantis on the palm jumeirah island. The palm jumeirah is an artificial island that was designed to represent a palm tree and was built in the gulf, connecting to dubai.

I’m definitely not an engineer, but it was amazing to think about how this entire city/resort was built from the ocean up. They are working on building a second man-made island in the shape of the world. I will def go back to check that one out!

When you entire the grand, magical atlantis, you are greeted by a beautiful murano glass sculpture! Then your breath is taken away by the hallways of floor to ceiling  giant aquarium! It was much larger than the one at the mall and it was so peaceful watching the fishies swimming around.

And now onto the tasty business! The Atlantis had many restaurants to choose from, and although it was hard, we settled on eating at rostang, a french restaurant. It was v. v. YUMMY and was one of my most favorite meals of the trip!

And since I love food, I have to show you some of the other om-nom-nom-worthy photos I took:

I hope that with all these photos of yummy food, shopping attractions and the aquariums I’ve convinced you to consider a visit to Dubai.  

One more thing, Dubai really is the city of bling. The new trend is to bedazzle your car. Even if you don’t like shopping, yummy food, or the beach, go to dubai just to check out the bling-bling cars, like this one:

Disclaimer: secret dates are not my invention.  A couple of years ago, Erin read a blog about a couple that planned secret dates, and Matt and I stole the idea and have been doing it ever since. And now you can steal the idea from us!

So here’s how it works: every month, we alternate who plans the secret date. I typically keep a list of secret date ideas on my phone, and I’m on several fun Houston e-mail lists to find out when cool stuff is happening in town. We give the other person a little notice, clothes/shoes recommendations if relevant, and then SURPRISE THE PANTS OFF EACH OTHER!

Okay, that one’s not from a secret date. It’s from our honeymoon, which was not a secret as we were both pretty much in on it. But don’t I look surprised?!

Secret dates don’t have to be outrageously expensive or complicated. Previous secret dates have included bowling and a monster movie, an Aeros hockey game, museums, picnics at the park, a wine tasting, a crawfish boil, pub crawls, live music shows, visits to the farmer’s market or lunch at a favorite restaurant. The awesomeness of secret dates is three-fold:

1) Once every two months, I get to be surprised, and once every two months, I get to be sneaky!

2) We always have at least one night (or day) a month that’s all about us and having fun and being cute.

3) Food and booze are invariably included.

January was my month to plan secret date, and I’d read on one of my e-mail lists that Discovery Green, the big, wonderful park downtown, had a giant balloon that you could ride 300 feet into the air for beautiful views of the city. For only $15! Secret date plan: accomplished.

That morning before I work, I packed our oft-used picnic backpack with wine and snacks we had at home (including scones and a heart-shaped raspberry chocolate torte made by the aforementioned Erin, because she loves me and I don’t cook), and on my lunch break I went to HEB and got typical tasty outdoor fare: gourmet cheese, sausage, olives, etc. After work, I met up with Matt and we headed to the park for a delicious picnic!

After which we went up into this giant balloon!

Which was really fun because it was just the two of us up there for about 20 minutes, enjoying the peace and beautiful Houston skyline. (I’d forgotten my camera, so all of these pics were with my phone, thus the suckiness.)

et voila! Secret date festivity: accomplished. It was cheap, cozy, fun, and included food and booze!

Last Sunday was Matt’s turn to plan secret date. (It was also the last day in February, because Matt likes to cut it close.) He kept a close eye on the weather, and when it cooperated, fun commenced! We went to the Houston Zoo, a place I had never been before and had always wanted to visit. The day was lovely and we had a wonderful time, walking around and looking at (and squeeing at, in my case) adorable animals for three whole hours. You guys, look! At the animals!

I don’t know what’s up with this dude, but I like it.

Sleepy kitty!

Hop into my pocket, cutie pie!

Yay, I love you, animals! But my favorite was Toby, the red panda. He was so sleepy in the tree! So sleepy that we couldn’t get a good picture of him, so here’s one I stole from the internet:

I like him because he reminds me of Zelda, my ginger puppy:

Doggy bag!

At the zoo, we ate burgers and fries (food!), and afterwards, we headed to my favorite pretty-weather bar, Volcano, for tasty cocktails (booze!).

And that, my friends, is how you plan a successful secret date. I urge you to try it! Or not, whatever.

Hi all!  Sally here, back from an epic trip to Argentina, and I just don’t know where to start!  Well, first, let me just say that you all need to go because it will blow your pants off, even if your pants are posh.

We spent the first part of our trip in Buenos Aires, and y’all, that business is HUGE!  It’s got 11 million people! That’s almost 3 million people more than all the boroughs of New York!   Our first day, we went to Recoleta, which has the super crazy cemetery that is like a mini town inside.

It is where all the rich people go when they die to hang with their ancestors and have intense arguments about whose sepulcher is better. It’s like a little town. A really cozy town. How cozy, you may ask.  This cozy.

Or am I confusing “cozy” with “snug”? Also what’s up with that family member who was cremated?  Was he rebelling, or were they just running out of room and gave him the shaft…like “so sorry great-great-great grandson, we just didn’t plan on our lineage lasting that long, so you are only allowed to take up one square foot of space”?

Looking at all these sepulcher’s made us thirsty, so we had a cup of coffee under the most beautiful tree ever.

That is some major Disney movie meets Princess of Mononoke tree action.

Now, we’re getting to the world of tasty business, which is what I know you’re all here for.  I have to say that Argentina does coffee best, and here’s why.  When you order a coffee, you not only get chocolate or cookie with your coffee, they give you a shot of sparkling water or orange juice to cleanse your palette.  GENIUS!

Some places even give you a cute, tiny bowl of ice cream.  WHAT?! I don’t even like coffee that much, but I ordered it every day because it was that awesome.

I know that poshdeluxe readers are also, well, readers, and you’ll all faint when you see how awesome this bookstore is.  It is in an old opera house!

It’s about time that a bookstore was housed in an architectural equivalent to what the store provides.  Also, there was live music at the coffee shop where the stage used to be.

Speaking of live music, Buenos Aires is the birthplace of tango, so we had to go watch some! We went to a couple of awesome cafés, and one place had some serious dancing business going on:

But back to tasty business. You have all perhaps heard that Argentines love their meat.  They are serious about meat.  I suggest bringing some bulk forming laxatives with you when you go, because you will be eating meat, bread, meat, cheese and meat.  I would like to show you what is considered an appropriate and perhaps even meager amount of meat for four people.

It needed two grills!  After a couple days of that, I sought out every vegetable I could find.

Besides meat, which is the cornerstone of any meal, Argentine cuisine is greatly influenced by both Italian…

….and Spanish fare.

Food is rarely, if ever, spicy, and Argentines love themselves pasta and pizzas.  I think I had pizza seven times, and once I had it twice in one night!  The best pizza hands down was the hearts of palm & salsa golf pizza.

It looks delicious, no?  What is salsa golf, you may ask. This may gross you out hard core.  It is equal parts ketchup and mayonnaise.   But trust me, it is DELICIOUS on pizza!

I had two other favorite things to eat, and those were the Spanish-style antipasti plates.

Um, DELICIOUS!

And then, there are empanadas, which are hands down the most delicious things in Argentina.

They are especially more delicious when you have them before having bean, hog’s foot & tripe soup.   The contrast in tasty vs. untasty only further elevates the glory of empanadas.

Another thing I like about Argentina, is how they approach food.  I never thought I would make it to 11pm to have dinner.  I mean, how can I eat if I’m ASLEEP?! BUT, there is always an afternoon ice cream, coffee, or drink to be had to help you push on through. One of my favorite places was this really great, old café in San Telmo where they bring you peanuts with your beer.

I thought that is what America was supposed to do.  Come on America!  Get back in the saddle!

One of my favorite place we ate, hands down, was a place on the Tigre River. Brencho’s dad’s old boarding school mate took us on his boat, and we drove an hour down narrow, windy channels to get to Los Pecanes, a hotel in the middle of nowhere.

I mean, just look at this place!  It is only accessible by boat!  They had the most delicious empanadas you could imagine, and it was all you could eat and felt like a friendly potluck with complete strangers.

Can you possibly get a better spot to lunch?

Also, in Buenos Aires, there are tons of awesome museums that only cost about $0.70 to get into and you get to see crazy stuff like this:

Just a little creepy. And this was at a religious museum!

Anyway, we then went to Bariloche in the south in the Andes, and that was some pretty business.  I mean, look at the view from our restaurant window

And gas stations look like they are in Twin Peaks.

Also, why in the hell do they create such cute telephone booths? So cute, I wanted to smash my cell phone and only use this phone booth.

Now if I showed you how ridonkulously pretty the Andes are, you would go into some sort of brain stupor, so I’m going to try to restrain myself on the scenery pics. Let me skip ahead to some requisite activities when in the Andes.  One of them is drinking mate. It is basically a gourd that you fill with yerba leaves and hot water and pass it round.  It’s the Argentine way of making friends!

Brencho is a master.  I, however, completely scalded my tongue.  I actually hurt myself a LOT in the Andes. I got bamboo shoved into my hand, I fell through a dock, got bronchitis and almost fell off a mountain. America has made me soft.

Another thing you have to do in the Andes is go fly fishing on the beautiful lakes next to glaciers, OBVI!  And I caught the biggest one!

And when you get back from your day of fishing, you have to eat your fishies!  We grilled him back at the cabin at the stone grill with this amazing view.

While having appetizers and wine here…

My favorite night, which was the night before we left, we went to Miramar, a really awesome bogedon that I found in the New York Times (I owe you one NYT!)  We had an awesome waiter named Ramon.  They had frog legs on the menu, but I opted for the safer snails.

(Thanks Kevin Moloney from The New York Times for such a delicious picture.)

Ramon was so surprised that such a gringa would be ordering snails that he gave me a snail fork he made himself out of silver wire.  I love you Ramon!

And, uh, don’t worry about his horrified look.

Well, that’s that.  You must go as soon as possible.

To end on a sweet note, I think Brencho would be upset if I didn’t put at least one picture of flan in there.  He had it about 10 times when we were there (about ten times less than he had ice cream).

********

Here are some links to awesome Argentine things…

The NYTimes photo story that took me to Miramar.

Argentina is, of course way into soccer. You can tell by the how hard this commentator breaks down at this Maradona goal. This is actually the first Argentine thing Brencho introduced me to.  It is called the Hand of God goal.  There is a new Maradona.  His name is Messi, and he is amazing.  Watch out for him at the world cup this summer.

Also, if you guys didn’t already know, I am obsessed with Design Sponge, and they often have kick ass city guides.  This one will definitely make you want to go! (As if I hadn’t already convinced you with all this tasty business.)

[Note: No children were harmed in the making of Deviled Corn Dogs. Good taste and our arteries may not have fared so well.]

Scene: One random day in December, at a lovely, but messy, semi-suburban home.

BR: I saw this recipe show up in my Google Reader today. It’s from ThisIsWhyYou’reFat.com. I think we should make it on New Year’s when everyone comes over!

MSWR: Oookaaaaaay…

BR: It’s called Deviled Corn Dogs. People are really excited about it. The Google Reader share generated over a dozen comments and included awesome suggestions like adding “Baconnaise” to the recipe.

MSWR: [shudder]

BR: You buy pre-made corn dogs and cook them, then remove the sticks slice them in half, take out the dogs, mix up the dogs with other good stuff like tater tots and mayo in the food processor, then pipe the stuff back into the corn dog shells and bake them.

MSWR: Whoa. This recipe requires to you re-process the pre-processed hot dogs? You don’t see a problem with this?

BR: The only problem I see is that I’m not eating one RIGHT NOW!

MSWR: Blech. Will this be interfering with my turnip greens and black-eyed peas?

BR: Not really. It’s just going to make the entire meal infinitely more awesome.

MSWR: Will I have to do any work?

BR: Nope. I was thinking that this would be a great project to take on with the men.

MSWR: “Men”. Riiiiiight. OK, have fun.

End Scene.

Scene: New Year’s Day, same house.

MSWR: So much cooking, so little kitchen space, aaaaaaaahhhhh. If you want to make the deviled corn dogs, you’d better start now. I’m getting out and handing over the camera to a dude.

BR and Assorted Male Guests: We’re on it. Here’s what you do:

Cook the bacon.

MSWR: What’s the bacon for? That’s not in the recipe you got off the interwebs.

BR: Are you forgetting the golden rule of cooking delicious, manly food?

MSWR: “When in doubt add bacon”?

BR: Close, but there is never any doubt. Continuing the process…

Bake the corn dogs and tater tots. Then, carefully remove the corn dog sticks and slice them in half lengthwise.

Remove the corn dog innerds.

Place corn dog innerds, tater tots, mayo, spices, bacon grease, and crumbled bacon in a food processor. Include Cholula, Hot Sauce of the Gods.

Take ‘em for a whirl.

MSWR: Ewwww.

Female Guest #1: You’re doing what with the what now?

BR: Can we use your pastry piping bag and tips?

MSWR: Um. I guess. The tip’s pretty small, though. Maybe a ziploc bag would be better. Don’t be messing up my piping bag with that goo.

BR: Let’s try the tip first.

Male Guest #1: This isn’t working, I’m just going to use the ziploc bag.

Male Guest #2: Let’s top some of them with cheese and bacon and leave some others plain.

BR: Now, we bake!

[5 minutes elapse] Meanwhile, guests are busy discussing what the deviled corn dogs represent for the coming year, if the turnip greens represent money and the black-eyed peas represent luck. Love life, perhaps? Clogged arteries?

BR: Yum! These look AWESOME. I can’t wait for a photo before I put one on my plate.

MSWR: They look ok, actually. I guess I’ll try one. I’ll just pretend like I didn’t see what all went into the mix. At least there are vegetables on my plate.

Female Guest #1: I can’t pretend not to know the horrors that dwell within. I can’t unsee what I’ve seen. I’ll pass.

Female Guest #2: No thank you. Are you people actually going to put that in your mouth?

Vegetarian Male Guest: I’m definitely trying it.

MSWR: It’s ok, not quite as gross as I expected. It tastes like highly processed food-like substance piped into a shell of highly-processed, sweet food-like substance. Maybe too sweet in the shell.

BR: Nom. Hmmm, probably didn’t need to add salt.

MSWR: This was fun, but I definitely don’t need or want another one of those ever again in my life.

BR: Nom. Oh crud, I forgot that we were going to add ranch!

MSWR: Yes, that’s exactly what it needs, more fatty ingredients. Wait, are you eating another one?

BR: Nom.

The End… or is it! Dun dun dun!

I’m popping in today to write about my trip home for Christmas. I go home every year to do what most people do during the holidays: eat far too much and do as little as possible whilst fighting with various family members. This year however, we shook things up a little: my lovely girlfriend Jen came over for a visit.

I think it’s safe to say that Jen came back to Texas safe in the knowledge that there are two things you really need to know about Ireland. It is a beautiful country, and it is unmercifully cold. I have some photographic evidence to back up both of these statements.

You can’t tell, but she’s having a great time. We took this picture on a trip to the Cliffs of Moher whilst travelling around my favourite part of Ireland, the west coast of Counties Clare and Galway. Ireland is suffering the same cold snap affecting the rest of Europe at the moment, so things were pretty rough. The main road to my uncle Brian’s was flooded, so we had to (very slowly) take an alternative route. More chance to check out cool scenery though.

This part of Ireland is called the Burren, which is famous for being a karst region in Ireland, made up mostly of limestone. This makes for fantastic scenery. Oliver Cromwell famously sent a scout into the Burren, only for the grim report to come back that “There isn’t tree to hang a man, water to drown a man nor soil to bury a man.” Yup, Oliver Cromwell. Not a nice guy.

It also means there are some interesting geographic features, as my old teacher Mr. O’Brien would describe them. My favourite are turloughs, or winter lakes. Due to the higher water table in the winter and  the limestone bedrock, the Burren has lots of small lakes that turn up in winter time when the water table rises and disappear during the summer. Thanks to the unbelievable weather these lakes had frozen over.

See the fence over the frozen lake?

Of course, my main reason to go to the Burren is to see family. I don’t always have American tourists with me, you know. Here’s a picture of my cousin Cliona.

You see? I can embarrass younger cousins from thousands of miles away. My dad is the oldest of nine and has dutifully taken on the responsibility of making fun of all his younger siblings and their offspring at every opportunity. I’m in training to take over. It all works in a hierarchy though; my dad’s younger siblings are free to torment me and by extension Jen. For my uncle Brian this mostly consisted of driving about ninety miles per hour down roads barely wide enough for his car while interrogating Jen about trivial matters instead of watching the road. It was great!

After a couple of days of Jen being terrorised by my uncle Brian and some more rather hairy country driving, we returned to Cork, where it seems things have gotten a little ghetto since the economy crashed.

We decided it might be prudent to get out of the city, and braved the icy roads to visit the lovely town of Kinsale.

Kinsale was the site of the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, when a combination of Irish and Spanish forces were defeated by the English, more or less settling what is now known as the Nine Years War and resulting in the “Flight of the Earls”, the end of the Irish political aristocracy. Today, Kinsale is noticeable for being picturesque, having a comedy festival, and sporting numerous oddly named retail establishments.

It’s never really struck me before how easy it is to recreate postcard-type photographs in Ireland. You’ve got the little village by the sea:

and the medieval tower in the middle of nowhere:

This was even before I took Jen to Blarney Castle.

Incidentally, the gift shop at Blarney had quite possibly the most cray tote bag ever.

Jen kissed the Blarney stone, and is now officially an eloquent person everyone! Yay! She needed it, because it was time to make merry and meet all the people I went to school and college with, and still talk to, all while drinking quite a lot of Guinness.

Ok, ok. We were having too much fun to take any decent photographs of the pub shenanigans. To make up for it, I decided to post a picture of the family dog in  a snuggie.

Rolo, our American Spaniel. As you can see, the members of my family enjoy both celebrating the Christmas spirit and making animals look ridiculous. He seemed okay with it! We even had little Santas holding our olives and sun dried tomatoes in place (we were trying to impress our visitor).

I tucked in to my favourite meal of the year. Yum.

All in all, I think it went ok! My family succeeded at not imploding or otherwise being embarrassing in front of our visitor, and I think Jen enjoyed meeting so many people in such a short space of time. You did very well Jen. Maybe you can show me up in the comments! Though I’m not lying everyone. Really.

Bye Ireland. See you in December.

A birthday party for my dear sister, Robin:

And my dear friend Josh:

Some of you may know these people but you probably don’t. See Josh grew up in America but he now he lives in London. Robin is spending the year in Edinburgh getting her master’s degree. You see the trend, yes they have friends here but they also have friends in America who would like to celebrate with them.

Enter Matt and Lindsey and computerz:

Step 1: Stalker

Even though I’m good friends with Robin and Josh I don’t know all their friends (weird right?). So I scanned my email for the few group emails they’ve sent out and picked out the emails I didn’t know. I also scanned their facebook account for the past month or so for any activity coming from friendly voices I don’t know. Finally, I painfully went through each of their friend list and made note of the people I’ve heard them mention that I didn’t have contact details for. I made a list for each, Robin’s list was titled ‘Robin’; Josh’s list was titled ‘Josh’.

Step 2: The Plan

Have a plan before you contact people. This is my plan:

This is what we were physically doing. Pretty cool right, but more on that later. Obviously, their friends across the world can’t fly to London to play birthday for one evening. So I came up with a way for them to play with us and us to play with them.

youtube: I created a youtube account for both Robin and Josh for their friends and family to upload videos. Here’s an example:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELL2o6Eh_b0

Step 3: Contact

I’m quite used to contact people with newsletters, etc. So I just set up a separate mailchimp account and loaded it full of Robin and Josh’s friend’s emails. And sent them instructions to create genius. And genius they did, look at what my mom did:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3b53iCttgU

Step 4: Party

As you can see in the map in step two, I had a pretty full day of surprises planned. I set up a website for Josh and Robin to host all their videos and a live feed of all the photos and tweets going. It really gave a little connection between us and everyone else watching around the world.