Tunesday: Jack White's ULTRA LP

There's not much that can be said to preface this video.

You have never and will never see anything like it.

Jack White is an unparalleled talent.
Vinyls will never be the same.

Pupdates

Remember that time I didn't blog for three weeks?

You can blame this little monster for that.

The same little monster who was delivered back to us by our neighbor (in her robe) last Saturday morning because Molly tried to hop in bed with them.

Yes, the same little monster who has left us with countless scars on our wrists and forearms.

The same little monster who is the reason we have to leave sheets covering our couch when we are at work.

 The same little monster who is the reason we need a king size bed.

The same little monster who doesn't believe in pee pads and prefers them to be ripped to smithereens.

The same little monster, who refuses to pee in the rain.

 The same little monster that thinks NO! means "run faster and act even more like a psychopath please!"

 The same little monster who loves to pee at 3am every night.

The same little monster who cannot leave our sight for two seconds or else we will find that an atomic bomb has exploded.

 The same little monster that thinks riding in a car involves repetitively bouncing from lap to lap and seat to seat every second like the floor is hot lava.

The same little monster who insists on daily piggy back rides via Charles.

 The same little monster who thinks she's a parrot. 

The same little monster who is only sweet and cuddly when she's tired (which is approximately 5.2 seconds of the day).

 The same little monster that loves her brother to death.

The same little monster that loves Josh to death.

I'm obviously still bitter.

 The same little monster that I love to death.

(but I hate her to death sometimes too)

Yea, you can blame her for my MIA-ness.

Next week, I'm coming back to the blogging, full force. 

Right? 

Unless she all of a sudden decides to un-potty train herself, which is a definite possibility.

Love Letters

Dear bananas,

Sometimes I let you go bad, just so I have an excuse to get creative with banana bread.

. . . coconut blueberry banana bread to be exact.

Dear Nicole,

 You've outdone yourself with this incredible invitation.

I still can't get over how great it is.

Only a few more weeks until #thedavidgeshow!

Dear Dallas,

You are caayyyuuuuuuute.

Dear terribly long clinic days that lack lunch breaks,

I hate you.

Looking at the prints in our patient rooms (daydreaming about 10 days in Europe this summer) keep me from going absolutely bonkers.

Dear Josh,

You know that "just because something is 75% off" means we don't have a choice but to buy it, right?

It's Target's fault, not my lack of self control.

Dear Charlie,

You are the next contestant on Supermarket Sweep!

Dear 'burbs,

I'm so happy you provide us with such excellent food.

Dear sweet naked baby nephew Abe,

Although Josh is still gathering his bravery to hold you without the fear of breaking you, he still loves you nonetheless.

Dear job,

Sometimes I love you and sometimes I hate you, but then I get things like this in the mail and LOL.

Dear Whole Foods,

Thanks for helping me to look like a good little wife.

Dear Sprinkles,

You did it again. and again. and again. and again.

Dear long over reunions with college friends living in Dallas,

Thank goodness you happened.

My introverted-ness was slowly reaching an all-time high.

Dear Texas,

$15 for unlimited crawfish, gumbo, grilled oysters, and andouille? 

I'm still confused (but still impressed).

Dear cadbury eggs in a nest of coconut on top of a cream cheese icing stuffed sugar cookie cup,

Nothing says Happy Easter quite like you do.

Dear Em's last few days of being "Perky",

Although you will still be known by that for eternity, your surname will be missed.

HAPPY WEDDING WEEKEND!

I can't believe it's already here.

I'm so happy for you and Chase, I love you to death, and I can't wait for you to become an old married woman this weekend!

P.S.

Happy Easter guys!

Central Market Cooking School: Tex Mex Basics

For my birthday (wayyyyyy back in November) Josh surprised me with gift certificate to a Central Market's cooking class of my choice.

Due to many scheduling conflicts and the fact that the classes fill up so darn fast, we weren't able to register for a class until this month. 

After much deliberation (not really) we chose their Tex-Mex basics course.

Honestly, I picked this class so I could learn how not to burn pralines.

To my surprise, the praline recipe we would be cooking was actually the recipe of a famous local chef, Stephan Pyles.

They were incredible (if I do say so myself).

. . . as was the rest of the foot, and the class, and the instructors, and the sweet classmates.

Not only did we go home with some great recipes, but we also learned how to properly hold a knife (easier said that done) and how to dice correctly and safely.

THE pralines.

Personally, I think the magical ingredient was orange zest.

Here's the recipe, if you are interested.

You better be interested, or we can't be friends.

We also made our own tortillas for puffy tacos.

Next investment: a tortilla press

We also made stuffed jalapeños, salsa, guacamole, and tortas.

Our instructor (on the left) was so helpful.

Contrary to what you may believe, I'm the worst tomato dicer in the history of tomato dicers.

. . . but Josh is the greatest salsa taster in the history of salsa tasters.

We had a truly great time, and we already can't wait to do another class!

I hear they have a gourmet grilled cheese class . . . 

Another delightful weekend in New Orleans

We recently joined the fam in New Orleans for a weekend stuffing our faces with incredible cajun food visting my sister.

She's a Sophomore at Tulane and she's been dying to show us around.

Josh and I met my parents then made the drive south.

On the ride down we watched Frozen (for the first time, I KNOW, four mid-twenty-year-olds in the back seat of our parents car eating candy and watching a Disney movie, I KNOW.)

We made a "light lunch" pitstop at Billy's for his famous boudin and crawfish balls (stuffed with pepperjack cheese! YES.)

Once we arrived to the big city, Ellie drug us to her favorite bar, The Boot.

I must say, I've been intrigued to see this infamous place (particularly after seeing most of Ellie's s "Happy Hour at The Boot!/penny pitchers at The Boot!/free herpes at The Boot!" statuses from freshman year) 

. . . only kidding about the herps (but you really never know)

Once we fully enjoyed Happy Hour to it's utmost extent, we grabbed a bite to eat at Luke before the Elton John concert. 

The waiter "accidentally" brought mom two drinks.

mmmhmmm.

Sorry in advance for the excessive food photos.

The pictures don't do it justice.

Every. Single. Thing. that touched our mouths was phenomenal.

One of my favorite meals, by far. 
The Baked P&J oysters were probably my favorite oysters of my life.
That was a bold statement and I mean every single word.

I got the Flamenkuche (thin Alsacien onion tarte, bacon, Emmenthaler cheese) and Josh got the Croque-Madame. 

. . . although no meal, no matter how magical, can compare to the magic that is Elton.

He was great.

He made mom squeal (and cry) like a teenager.

I'm not ashamed to admit I did too.

Levon did it to me.

Josh was just thrilled the venue had Sweetwater on draft. 

Following the concert, we reunited with Liz and Jason to kick off Liz's birthday weekend with a few drinks at Pat O's.

Thanks to Jason's impeccable recommendations, we did Saturday morning breakfast at District Donuts.

Donuts and iced coffee straight from the gods of coffee and donuts.

I wanted the berries and cream (but the kind woman in line in front of me ordered the last one) so I settled on the salted caramel.

I'm kinda salivating just remembering how great it was.

We followed up breakfast with post-breakfast beers watching our alma matter win a basketball game at The Bulldog.

Oh and this is Ellie and Eric.

They are pretty cool I guess ;)

We had lunch Saturday at Dick & Jenny's.

It was such a cute restaurant inside an old house on Tchoupitoulas Street.

. . . and they served waters in mason jars, just sayin.

As usual, we each had the hardest time deciding what to eat.

Although my family is pretty great at each ordering something different and then passing around bites to everyone else at the table.

I settled on the eggs boudreaux.

Crabcakes topped with a poached egg covered in hollandaise sauce WITH DUCK CRACKLINS ON TOP.

Yes.

After we stuffed our faces for the second time that day, we were ready for nap time.

It was Eric's birthday, so Ellie planned to meet up with some of their friends at their favorite weekend spot on the river, The Fly.

We had a great time relaxing, enjoying the incredible weather, and visiting with Ellie's friends.

. . . and I got sunburnt.

How does that even happen?

Thirty minutes in the sun.

We met up with Liz, Nicole, and the boys at The Columns for happy hour (followed by a guhhhhhhhreat dinner at Dat Dog).

The duck dog (duck sausage topped with blackberry sauce) and white trash fries are what late night drunken food dreams are made of.

Following dinner, we went back to The Bulldog and spent some more quality time with Ellie's friends Charles and Rachel were my favs.

Josh's fav was Sweetwater on draft.

Prove it?

Ok.

On Sunday, we celebrated Liz turning the big 2-6 with brunch at Cafe B.

Yet again, another great food destination chosen by Jason.

Mr. Piper knows his stuff. 

@nolapartyof2 y'all 

Liz & I have been living in separate states for two years now and this was our second year in a row to have birthday brunch.

I think that means it pretty much has to become a tradition now, right?

. . . last but not least, before we could leave our lovely home state we had to stock up on Sweetwater.

Then I instagrammed this photo and tagged them and they informed me that they will be distributing to Texas this year.

Hallelujah, praise the Lort.

Nola, you were SO good to us, as usual.

Au revoir!