Paris: FOOD!

You guys should know by that that G and I are major foodies….but believe it or not, we didn’t really look into what restaurants we should eat at while there!

First of all, the main attractions in Paris had long lines (Eiffel tower, the Catacombs, Notre Dame etc.) so we didn’t want to make reservations somewhere and not make it in time or get stressed over stupid reservations.

Second of all, we were in PARIS…pretty sure the food in most places would be good….well it was and it wasn’t.

If you are going to Europe or anywhere bring FIBER SUPPLEMENTS.  All they eat is cheese and bread! I wasn’t complaining but by the 3rd day I was having issues….sexy trip fail.

I ate a loaf of bread at each meal and ate all the cheese I could…as well as desserts.  The skinny chicks there?  They ate ALL their bread and food too!! Trust me, I was watching with envy!  I wonder if they are all so skinny cause they don’t obsess over their bodies or exercising like they do in the US?

Anyways, here are pictures of our food!

Ginormous salad of duck meat, bread, melted cheese, and pesto.

I had a croque monsieur once a day.  Grilled ham & cheese sandwich? HELLZ YAH. Check out the cheese on top.

Pistachio éclair?  Why not.

We ate at sidewalk cafes daily…not only to people watch but also to slowly sip our coffees while eating PASTRIES.

Savory crepe!

This chocolate tart was seriously just a melted bar of dark chocolate on flakey crust.  I died.

Lamb shank!

Crème brulee!

They sold french toast at the Starbucks there!  Yes we went to Starbucks while on vacation…

Going to Paris, I knew my mission was to find as many pastries as I could and eat till I puked.  And to get…MACARONS!!!!

Laduree supposedly has the best macarons. We came here three times.

At another macaron store, their display!

Even Mcdonald’s sold macarons!

More pastries…

Macaron break while checking out the Louve.

More duck!

And this was the last dessert of our trip…chocolate pie!

Paris has always been my dream.  Believe it or not, I was more amazed at the sights and history than the food.  I love food but to be able to walk into a palace?

Priceless.   Glenn and I both grew up poor and we are so thankful for everything we’ve achieved together…GO TO SCHOOL KIDS!!!

Hope you guys enjoyed my late and badly lit pictures.

What is your dream vacation?

G and I wanna go to Spain next…no wait…Japan…no wait…Germany! Ahhhh!!!

Paris!

Thanks to those who are still reading/skimming/stalking/eye rolling this blog.

We came back from vacation to work, friends, visitors, etc…and days turned into weeks and then months…

Then the whole Rpatz Kstew scandal broke out so…I’ve been busy finishing the Twilight book series and rewatching all the movies…then shaking violently from crying.

Don’t judge.

Anyways, here are just some pictures from our trip to Paris.

It was amazing.  We didn’t speak French and BOOTY SHORTS are not “in” in France so I looked like an Asian hoochie.  But we had a blast and now we’ve got the travel bug.

The trip was a dream come true.  We’ve never been to Europe (we grew up poor but not Oliver Twist poor) before and now we can’t wait to go back.

Hope you enjoy these photos!

We did a bike tour around the city (so fun) so of course Glenn wanted to take of photo of me…

Words can’t describe the gardens in the city.  SO GREEN and well taken care of.  TAKE THAT CENTRAL PARK!

We saw artwork that we’ve only seen in history books!!! Monet, Van Gough, Picasso, etc!

If you look closely…under those trees…there’s a man who doesn’t pick up his dirty socks from the floor…

Versailles was amazing. Kings and MARIE ANTOINETTE sinned here!!! The gardens, the palace….it was awesome. I demanded Glenn buy me a palace or else.

Those orthopedic sandals saved my feet throughout the trip!

Of course Glenn was…Glenn. He still farted in public and fell asleep during our BOAT TOUR ON THE SEINE. Once in a lifetime…no big deal to Glenn.

On a serious note, it was such a beautiful place.  We were both so happy and grateful to be able to go somewhere that we’ve only dreamed of!

Thanks for sticking around to my handful of loyal readers!

Next up? FOOD!

Testing

Does anyone still read me?

Au Revoir!

I’m leaving today on the vacation of my dreams.

Glenn has a week off before he needs to start his second year of residency and since it’s been a crazy year of transition for us (new state, new jobs, marriage, etc.) we thought…WE DESERVE IT.

I’ve been brushing up on my French…

for our trip to Paris for a week!

Since Glenn could only get one week off no, we aren’t going to Spain or London or etc.

Before I get accused of “bragging” of where we are going let me just say this: I’ve been working my ass off since I was 14 and you only live once.

I hope I can look as elegant as Renee Z. when I jog around the city…BUCKET LIST!

Crossing my fingers to run into some celebs…

Kimye will even do.

Other than Home Alone, one of my favorite movies is Amelie…

So you know I’ll be blaring the soundtrack everywhere I go…

My goal will be to find the best macaron

So till next week….Au Revoir!!

Charleston Food

Fried food.  Check.

Cheese.  Check.

Bowel problems now? Check.

You can go to other blogs if you want to read about how to have a balanced trip, how to be healthy when traveling.  Don’t get me wrong, when Glenn and I go on vacations we walk EVERYWHERE (free cardio) or take advantage of the hotel gym.  But when it comes to food, bring on the Rolaid cause you HAVE to try what the city offers.

Behold southern dining:

Made reservations at Poogan’s Porch for our first dinner in Charleston.

Fried green tomatoes with pecan encrusted goat cheese and peach chutney.

First time having fried green tomatoes and I wasn’t that impressed!  The only thing I kept going back for was that ball of goat cheese.

Shrimp & grits: tri-colored peppers, vidalia onions, spicy sausage, tasso ham & blue crab gravy

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?  Grits are cheesy and creamy and that salty gravy on top was just…perfect.  The shrimp were huge too!

Mocha bread pudding with vanilla ice-cream.

Delicious.  After that pound of gravy and grits, Glenn and I still had room to finish this dessert.

Poogan’s Porch was the best restaurant we dined at while in Charleston.  The service was good, the portions were generous, and I honestly have no complaints about the place.  Oh and apparently there is a ghost that lives in the restaurant.

We woke up at 11:30 the next morning (damn you hotel curtains! such a peaceful slumber!) and had no lunch plans so we walked into Blossom Restaurant with no expectations.

Crab cake.  It was a meh crab cake but the middle was cold. WTF.  They sent us another crab cake to apologize thank gawd.  Wasn’t a fan of all that cream sauce on the bottom.  Can’t I eat a crab cake without all that jazz?

Sh*tty salmon salad.  Isn’t this the most pathetic thing you’ve ever seen?  I make this sh*t at home.  Glenn told me that’s “what I get” for ordering salmon at a restaurant since we can make it at home but seriously…at least give me a cherry tomato!

Blossom is actually one of the top rated restaurants in Charleston but honestly, their lunch experience was meh.

Our farewell to Charleston brunch was at Magnolia’s .

Blue crab bisque.  It tasted good but who doesn’t like a bisque soup?  It’s all creamy!

Blue crab benedict. 

Shellfish over grits: sautéed shrimp, sea scallops, & lobster on creamy white grits smothered in lobster butter sauce and fried spinach.  Okay, I was impressed by the thick pieces of lobster on this dish but the grits weren’t as tasty as my entrée at Poogan’s porch.

Magnolia’s is a beautiful, high end restaurant to dine at but the food was average.  I swear I’m not THAT picky!

Glenn has been obsessed with this show called “Drinking Made Easy”.  It’s a travel series that focuses on bars and local drinks instead of just FOOD.  So when he saw Grill 225, we “had” to make a stop here.

Grill 225 serves Nitrotini cocktails, drinks cooled to –320 degrees Fahrenheit using liquid nitrogen.

Because I wanted to be obnoxious and attract attention at the bar, I ordered the COTTON CANDY: Pinnacle cotton candy vodka, X-rated Fusion
liqueur, pink lemonade, a splash of grenadine with
a sugar rim and a cloud of cotton candy.

Glenn ordered a NITROMELLOW: Stoli vanilla, Baileys, Frangelico and butterscotch schnapps with essence of chocolate, graham cracker rim and Nitromellows.

See the pictures of us?  TOURIST ALERT.  The drinks were a gay man’s dream but VERY sugary (duh) and cost $20 each.  Someone stamp SUCKER on our foreheads cause that’s what we are…

But it was still fun to hold them.

Charleston is such cute town to visit!

Now I’m off to pop a few fiber pills to get my stomach back to its regular schedule.

Charleston Wedding

There are some friends that come into your life that you instantly get along with.  Although it’s not “normal” to become such great long distance friends with a BLOGGER, Lily and I are obviously not normal…for one, she’s a former food now cat blogger.

So when she invited me to her wedding last year of course I said yes.  I’ve heard great things about Charleston so it was also a great opportunity for a weekend getaway.

I’ve missed the South.  The platinum blonde hair, the fried foods, the twang..everything!  Charleston is full of history and charm.  Glenn rolled his eyes from my constant use of the word “charming”.

Anyways, here are some pictures of the city.

Glenn and I checked out Charleston’s City Market,  an open air market place with various local vendors.  You can get jewelry, flowers, dishes, food, etc!

Of course we got food.  We got a bag of dried okra chips and dried bell peppers.

Glenn’s secret is that he freaking loves MoonPies.  The trailer park version of a French macaroon.  

Hence we had to stop here.

Glenn’s dream…ignore his mug shot stance, 5 o’clock perv shadow, and bad posture…he is seriously excited to be in the Moonpie logo.

Did I mention I “accidently” gave Glenn wrong directions and we ended up at Trader Joe’s?  Alas, I couldn’t get any peanut butter since we didn’t want to check bags in at the airport and THEY WILL CONFISCATE THEM when you go through security. Trust me.

Now for Lily’s wedding.

The ceremony was at a church on the Citadel campus where she met her husband.

Not only was the church beautiful but Glenn and I got to pose with on campus helicopters, tanks, and a freaking plane after the ceremony! It’s all about US!

By the way, I do not know how but my boobs looked HUGE in that dress. SCHWING!

The ceremony was held at Wickcliffe house , an elegant old southern home with a wrap around porch!  Unfort, I can’t post pictures without some family members peaking out in the background.

But check out this cardboard photo of Lily’s cat that greeted guests at the sign in table.

See this beautiful cake?  Guess who made it?  PUBLIX!!! A supermarket!! She is one of the most frugal people I know so she wanted me to flaunt this!

Lily looked so gorgeous that day…ignore my humongo grandma boobs.

Fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits, sweet potato fries.

The beautiful couple.

I don’t want to get emotional but I don’t know when we’ll see each other again but I was so thrilled to see her on HER day.

Ready to see what fried goodies I ate in Charleston?  Get your antacids ready for my next post!

The Blogger Life

Life.

Life has been good.  Been working a few days extra to save time up for my vacation next week.  Glenn’s been on overnights which means he wears this during the day to sleep…

Yes.  He’s a sexy little bride.

While he’s been gone I’ve been glued to my Kindle.  Am I reading Tolstoy? No.  Am I reading Faulkner?  No…Honestly…the books I’ve read are cringe worthy but damn…addictive.  The past few weeks I’ve devoured:

• All three “50 Shades of Grey” novels
• Gail Simmon’s “Talking with My Mouth Full”
• What Alice Forgot
• Before I Go to Sleep
• A book about incest: “Forbidden” Flowers in the Attic was better.
• I’m currently loving “Middlesex”
• Next up? “We Need to talk about Kevin”

Yeah, my reading list is probably the same as Kim Kardashian but guess what?  My brain needs some trash after work! And yes, I’ve gone from a “BDSM” book to a book about incest to a book about a hermaphrodite. Classy.

In other news True Blood is back on tv….When I got this twitter notification I almost had an “O”….

Too bad it’s a fake account and Eric doesn’t really exist…or…does…he?

Other than trashy reading and work I’ve also been enjoying Colorado!

I went to my first Red Rocks concert to see The Shins! How hipster am I?

Red Rocks is an amphitheater known for their gorgeous views of the city as well as their rocking acoustics.  During the summer they host workout boot camps as well as show films here in addition to concerts!

The Shins were amazing and I left spinning from second hand pot smoke.

I also went on my first hike of the summer!  Lena, Annie, Heidi and I hiked at Maxwell Falls last weekend.

Gorgeous isn’t it?  Although the streams and “falls” weren’t there due to lack of water, it was still great to get out there for the day!

Yah I gained weight…SO WHAT? I DO (eat) WHAT I WANT!

By the way the hike wasn’t THAT hard…as you can see since Lena’s little puppy was able to handle it.

Heidi was sweet enough to snag me a swag bag from the Blend Retreat.

Blog friends and life are the weirdest thing.  If you are not a blogger, people don’t really “get” how strangers can meet up and get along so naturally.  These girls and I were together for 5 hours and it was nonstop talking and laughing.

In addition to hanging out with these girls I’m going to my first blogger wedding this weekend…YES I’M A FREAK!

Lily and I have “known” each other for almost 4 years.  She was the second blogger I met when I went to Charlotte.  The first time we met, we SLEPT TOGETHER!

It was also the first time I met Tiffany! What a crazy world blogging is.

I hope you guys have a great weekend.  I’ll be out in Charleston, South Carolina to celebrate Lily’s big day!

Quick: What to do and eat in Charleston?  I haven’t looked up activities but we have 2 restaurant reservations…priorities people.