FORT WORTH DATE NIGHTS

 

I love date nights with my hubs. 

Pasta, pizza, steaks, desserts, fajitas, burgers and fries.

< Confession: I ate a hot dog on date night a few weeks ago >

With that said, clearly our date nights don't have to be fancy, 

even though sometimes fancy is fun!

One-on-one time with my favorite person and best friend sharing a meal

discussing life, ministry, pop culture, sports trivia and funny moments. 

Our perfect recipe for date night.

 

Fireside Pies

Fresh and delicious hand-crafted pizza 

And the. best. brownie. dessert. ever.
 

 

Dude, Sweet Chocolate

Samples of crazy dark chocolate concoctions 

Even though I'm not a dark chocolate fan, it was fun to try new flavors.

And I appreciate the simple packaging, branding, and store design.

(sometimes we watch Celebrity Apprentice)

 Cattlemen's Steak House

This is Cowtown, people. Cows are king.

We ate steak in a wooden corral booth from the 1940s.

Hello, Fort Worth stockyards.

 

Piola

Charming tiny, old house with Italian dinners and desserts.

I really like dessert.  Tiramisu and cannoli? Yes, please and thank you.

Shinjuku Station

Former train station to Japanese fusion tapas.
I love to try a little bit of everything,
so tapas you are my friend.

spring sunshine

FORT WORTH | FERRIS BUELLER DAY

Back in December, Brian planned a fabulous day date in Fort Worth. We kicked off our Ferris Bueller day (in which we just did lots of fun things, no actual skipping of school or work) with a Dr. Pepper, Arnold Palmer (tea+lemonade) and lunch at Lili's Bistro on Magnolia  

We made our first visit to Brewed for coffee

And it was pretty much awesome.

We stopped to grab a few things at Central Market and I admired the lovely fresh green trees.

We also stopped by the Kimbell Art Museum, Urban Outfitters, and ate tried to eat sushi at Blue. 

Guess I didn't sing in a parade like Ferris, but I sure enjoyed a whole work/school free day with my hubs in one of our favorite cities!

LUNCH DATE: WOODSHED, FORT WORTH

Lunch date on the Trinity River at the Woodshed smokehouse with my hubs. The perfect fall weather to enjoy lunch in the sunshine!

PRE-BIRTHDAY DINNER CUPCAKES? WHY, CERTAINLY!

{Birthday Letters} Dear Jess+Joe and Brian, thanks for cupcakes and Chick-fil-a lemonade to kick off my birthday dinner in a most delicious and practical way!  Clearly a cupcake makes a fantastic app and zert (appetizer + dessert).  Dear hubs, thanks for the sweet birthday letter on my pillow that made me laugh and cry with thankfulness that I'm yours and there's no one else for me.  Also, thanks for inviting Katniss Everdeen to my birthday party.  Dear co-workers, I loved the cheesecake, presents, and Thai food.  You are cool, but probably don't read my blog---so I'll tell you when I'm back at work after my five day weekend.  Dear momma and daddy, thankful God allowed me to be your daughter.  I'm forever grateful because of adoption, grace and your love.
 

The adventurous foodie in me (that leads me to try honey roasted Brussel sprouts, seafood paella, and thinly sliced pears on pizza) decided Brownstone on West 7th should be the birthday dinner location.  It was a tough choice since other options included some of my favorite Fort Worth eateries: Fireside Pies, Joe T Garcia's and Pappadeaux's.  

Crawfish tails and crispy onions pulled at our Louisiana heart strings.Birthday dinner good times with some of the best people in the world. 

The Black Rooster Bakery, Fort Worth

We stopped by The Black Rooster Bakery for an afternoon treat! We were hoping for a delicious lemon blueberry muffin, but instead I got a fabulous fresh fruit tart and Brian got a yummy lemon sugar cookie. (I like that he shares!) 

Confession: I have a sweet tooth.  Clearly it's obvious.  Last week, the dessert lunch lady at Cross Camp called me a "cake connoisseur" and then proceeded to give me the best piece of coconut cake!  

The Black Rooster Bakery: Fresh baked artisan breads, pastries, cakes, and cookies...yes please! 

Cupcakes Are Best Shared With Friends.

Dear bestie, two cupcakes per person is the best idea. 

Happy to meet your friend from work for lunch at the FW Food Park. 

I'm glad we like to try every cupcake shop in sight and still think Curl's Cupcakes are the best.

Mostly just glad to call you friend!

Cupcakes from Red Jett Sweets feat. on Cupcake Wars : Red Jett Velvet, Strawberry Sashay, Nuts for Kentucky/caramel pecan (my favorite one!), and Lovin' Lime 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY| RYNE HESTER

Ryne-y turned 26! 

Brittany (Ryne's beautiful and sweet wife) planned a super fun birthday dinner with a big group of people that all claim Ryne as a friend!  I can't say too many nice things about Ryne. That'd be weird.  

We are like college siblings.  I guess a whole blog post about his birthday dinner is worth something. 

Thanks for being such a faithful friend to the Crains! 

Guys and gals took some group pics...

We enjoyed a little catching up with our awesome friends...

...and ate a yummy Tex-Mex dinner at Pappasito's 

(oh hey handsome hubs, i sure love to be your date!)

Date Night: The Flying Fish

We decided to give the Flying Fish in Fort Worth a try.

Crawfish, po-boys, fried shrimp...

I found the info about the Flying Fish on a hole-in-the wall blog. Can you tell?

There's an adoption wall for Billy Bass talking fish plaques,

pictures of fishing stories, and a fish with airplane wings.

For a low-key seafood diner in Fort Worth, 

it was pretty tasty. 

DATE NIGHT: FORT WORTH FOOD PARK

The Fort Worth Food Park recently opened for food trucks to gather and share their deliciousness!  I think we were a little intrigued by "food trucks" after watching a few episodes of the Food Truck Race.  Last Friday night seemed like the perfect spring night to spend some time with friends and check it out!  The park was packed with college kids, families, and a few puppy dogs.  Our lesson learned: Arrive early --- once the food trucks sell out...no more herbed french fries, hot dogs, specialty grilled cheeses, or philly cheesesteaks.

Our dinner varied from vegan/gluten free nachos, ham and cheese croissants, tacos (steak, chicken, avocado & egg), strawberry basil lemonade, creme brulee from Salsa Limon, Good Karma Kitchen, and The Munch Box + milkshakes from the nearby non-food truck In & Out.  If you like to plan ahead, check out the calendar here for a schedule.

DATE NIGHT | JOE T. GARCIA'S

Joe T. Garcia's = simple and yummy TexMex!  Former and current Fort Worth dwellers recommend Joe T. Garcia's.  The two menu options (fajitas or enchiladas) keep it simple.  The Crains are a fan of the combo fajitas.  Most times (especially in the spring) the line is super long --- which I like to think means we've picked a favorite Fort Worth staple near the Stockyards.  (It reminds me of a line at six flags!)   On our double date with the Hesters, the wait time for indoor seating = zero minutes! (No wait time for two hungry couples > romantic candlelight dinner by the soothing sounds of water fountains...haha). Brittany and I explored the pretty patio garden on our way out. For some reason the boys were not impressed with fountains, flowers, and pottery like us. They did enjoy mini-golf and batting cages.                                       

Newlyweds back from our honeymoon (2010)

First trip to Joe T.'s with the Hacklers

Date Night: The Tavern, Fort Worth, TX

On one of our recent date nights, Brian and I decided to try out something new for dinner.  I did a little google research and came up with The Tavern.  Dinner was simple and tasty.

For dessert, I was expecting a slice of pie to share with my honey boo boo (any Alana fans? my friends and I have been laughing about this video from Toddlers and Tiaras all week).  Instead we got a yummy deconstructed take on banana cream pie...graham cracker, chocolate chips, walnuts, caramel sauce, bananas and a smooth vanilla creamy filling topped with whipped cream.  While I was eating I was thinking about how I wanted to make this at home.  With a couple of willing test tasters (Joe and Brian) and a creative cooking duo (Jess and Hannah), here are the results:

Homemade pudding at 10:00 pm?  I think we would have settled for instant pudding but the poor little box of instant expired last year. And since we were comitted to the cause, we tried out a homemade recipe.

Plus added homemade caramel sauce, fresh bananas, wafers and chocolate. Delicious!

A few tips and hints:

-When adding raw eggs, make sure to gradually add a small portion of hot mixture to the eggs to let them get ready for the hot pudding! If not you will have scrambled eggs --- this didn't happen to us because I watch a lot of cooking tv shows

-We added a touch of lemon juice (next time might try to add more to intensify the flavor)

-Cover with plastic wrap or in my case, tear a few ziplocks and apply directly to the top of the pudding as it cools in the fridge so no funky pudding skin develops on the top

-Top with chocolate chips, graham crackers, your favorite fruit, pecans, fresh whipped cream, etc.. 

The February issue of Southern Living features a similar dessert on the cover so we must be on to something good.

Here's how to make it:

Easy Vanilla Pudding (makes 4 servings)

2 cups milk
1/4 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a 3-4 cup Pyrex measuring cup, measure out 1 1/2 cups milk. Microwave on high until steaming and heated through. Do not boil. Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Stir 1/2 cup cold milk into the cornstarch mixture until well blended. Gradually whisk in hot milk until no lumps remain.Cook in microwave until mixture is thickened and glossy, about 3-5 minutes; stir several times.Beat half of the hot mixture into 2 eggs which have been beaten lightly. Return the egg mixture to the remaining hot milk. Cook on high for about 3 minutes, or just until pudding begins to boil.Mix well with a wire whisk, stirring in butter and vanilla.
Pour into cups and refrigerate.

Easy Caramel Sauce (topping for 4 servings)

1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/8 cup of half and half
1 Tbsp of butter
dash of salt
1 tsp of vanilla


Heat everything except vanilla on medium heat until melted and smooth (about 5 to 10 minutes) then add vanilla.