As a professional food blogger I must first admit something…I know the owners of Tiramisu Italian Restaurant.  I know I know, I’m a giant frickin deal and I bet you’re even wondering “Sara PLEASE tell us you’re running for President in 2016?”  And I probably will run but right now I just want to focus on my overeating k?  Let’s get down to Italiangarbl bidness.

First, the negatives:

You can’t draw on the tables.  I associate Italian restaurants with crayons and paper tablecloths.  Tiramisu is more upscale and I actually felt guilty when I accidentally flung marinara sauce at Jason.

There was music playing in the background but it was barely noticeable.  Now, this is actually a plus in most situations but for a restaurant starting out that doesn’t quite have a crowd every night, a little Hall & Oates is nice to avoid awkward silence.  And trust me, there was plenty of awkward silence.  After dating for nearly 5 years what else is there to talk about you know?  Robots?  Covered it.  David Hasselhoff comeback?  Donezoes.  Venus flytraps and how they work?  Googled at the table.  See?  Awkward.

There was no dessert tray when you walk in.  With a name like Tiramisu which implies bakery more than restaurant, the first thing I want to see when I walk in is a plastic rendition of tonight’s mascarpone lady finger espresso special.

Now, the positives (the food):

We started with the calamari because nothing says celebration like fried squid.  The sauce was delicious.  I wanted to bust out in a Little Mermaid song it was so good.

As if the marinara sauce and winning the NBA Championship wasn’t enough, they brought out FREE garlic rolls!  They looked so delicate and perfect, almost fake even.  I expected them to be garlic doughy heaven but they just tasted like your average rolls with garlic butter brushed on top.  This was actually a good thing because I didn’t want to fill up on bread.

Next course?  All entrees come with a small salad.  Fresh lettuce, fresh onion, fresh tomatoes and DJ Jazzy Fresh Italian drizzle.  I actually would have preferred a balsamic dressing because Italian is so oily but that’s just a personal thang.  It was a deliciously crisp salad.

For our main entrees, I ordered the chicken piccata and Chokelahoma Joe ordered the chicken parmigiana.  Everything is bigger in Texas and Tiramisu entrees can prove it.  We had to get half of them wrapped up because we are weak and lack discipline and could not finish.

The piccata sauce was very lemony just like I like it and had HUGE artichoke hearts!  My only complaint was that the chicken was breaded.  But apparently I’m drunk because I just googled piccata recipes and apparently it’s common to bread the chicken.  The last time I had it was at Campisi’s and it was grilled.  I prefer grilled but Tiramisu’s rendition is a runner-up fo sho.  The chicken parmigiana was delicious as well and included the same fresh tomato sauce that we loved with the calamari.

I’m such a Garbl FAIL by not saving room for the signature Tiramisu dessert but I do have to fit in a wedding dress at some point in the next 5 years (still haven’t set a date FTW!).  I promise next time I’ll start with dessert and do jumping jacks between courses if need be.

You don’t expect a good, classy neighborhood Italian restaurant to pop up between a Christmas store and a donut van but there it is – Tiramisu Italian Restaurant – destined for glory.

You all must go try this place not only to make my friends kagillionaires but to reward yourself with a lovely Italian meal after a hard day at a stupid job.  If anyone wants to go back with me, I have a VIP member card and get 15% off future purchases through November.  Oh and did I mention I know the owners?

We met my Dad last week for lunch at Bistro B.  This place is ridiculously awesome.  Their menu has 8,000 things on it.  You think I’m kidding?  Go there.  It will rock your world.

We had to drive clear across Canada to get there so my dad had already ordered by the time we arrived.  Fine by me!  Let’s chow.  We started off with roasted pork spring rolls served with Thai chili dipping sauce.

Next up was the Asian fried chicken.  KFC and Popeye’s WISH they had this recipe.

My absolute favorite dish at Bistro B would have to be the calamari.  They use a very light breading – unlike anything I’ve ever had fried – and I think they use pieces of calamari steak rather than the squiggles you normally get.  It is beyond good.  They toss it up with some onions and jalapeno slices for perfection.

My Dad still expects me to eat my greens so he added an order of Chinese broccoli.  SO GOOD.  They really know how to cook veggies here.

This is the standard Thai chili dipping sauce but they also have a slew of sauces at the table so you can spice it up however you like.

My father is an animal and eats thai chili’s on everything.  Not to mention hot vinegar and sriracha.  I’m pretty sure he shaves his face with habanero shaving cream.  This is his rice.  Normal.

The interior of Bistro B is adorably decorated with lanterns, a Buddha shrine, and seasonal items.  They also have multiple tv’s but don’t expect to catch the NCAA tournament here.  More like a sumo match.  For dessert, you can wash down your meal with a bubble tea or smoothie.  They have crazy flavors including avocado mungbean and durian.  I’ve had the avocado mungbean and it was surprisingly DELICIOUS!

If you are a true champion, you will attempt the Bistro B challenge: 5 pounds of pho noodles, beef and broth in an hour and a half.  I’m pretty sure our waitress said you don’t have to finish the broth.  One Chinese man has already done it.  You win a $200 gift certificate.  Come on, live a little.  Stuff yourself silly.

If you live in Dallas or even if you live closer to Oklahoma in Frisco, you should make the trek to Bishop Arts District.  Why?  Because Eno’s Pizza Tavern is there, duh.

The Bishop Arts District is a quaint little shopping area in north Oak Cliff just 5 minutes from downtown Dallas.  It is a renovated part of town that is surrounded by an area that has not quite seen the same renovation.  Let’s put it this way – if you go an entire block without seeing a yuppie or hipster, you might want to turn around.

I don’t do any wheeling and dealing but if I did, you can bet it would take place upstairs at Eno’s.

We arrived on a Saturday night around 6pm thinking we would beat the crowds.  We still had to wait only about five minutes but the table we got had some pretty uncomfortable Adirondack chairs.

We did have prime people watching views though.

Eno’s has a very cool bar.  It’s obvious they are trying to support microbreweries and local beers.  This is not a come get drunk and throw a wet napkin ring on a deer head kind of bar.  It is an upscale caj kind of joint.  Pearl snaps and flippy floppies.

We started off with a large harvest pear salad.  This consisted of arugula, local greens, fresh basil, pear, pancetta, goat cheese (substituted in place of bleu cheese) and topped with a champagne vinaigrette.  Oh and you get a bonus piece of soft, delicious bread to soak up the dressing.  It was incredible.  I almost wanted to order another large as my entree but I didn’t want Jason to have to eat a large pizza by himself.  That would be rude of me.

We went with a large Traditional pizza with tri-colored bell peppers, fresh basil and hot sausage.  I don’t typically get sausage on my pizza because of the grease factor but their spicy sweet sausage is ballin outta control.  As you can see Eno’s has thin crust and they use only the freshest, most awesometastic ingredients.

Clean plate club check: you’re in!

Look how cool the bar is!  I toll you!  Those glass jars have bar snacks for $.50 each.  In the background there is a stage for live entertainment.

We haven’t even gotten to the best part though.  DESSERT!!!!  BEHOLD GREATNESS.  Foodpeoples, below is the Eno’s Sundae Sack.  Bluebell homemade vanilla ice cream, marshmallow cream, blueberries, pecans, hot fudge, graham cracker, cinnamon and sugar and whipped cream all nicely packaged in an edible tempered chocolate box.  If you had just read me that description and I had never seen or tasted the Sundae Sack, I would have said “Sounds gross.  Let’s go get fro-yo.”  But I took one look at this and realized it had to be omnomgarbled.  It is incredible and at least once in your life you must try this but it should probably be on a reward night because I don’t think it is fat free.  Might check with the chef though.

Jason loves buying me dinner.  You can tell by his “I love buying you dinner” face.

Moral to the Garbl?  I LOVE ENO’S and can’t wait to go back!  I better hurry up and get a job because it’s my turn to buy…

This is so ridiculous that I am in New York City and writing a review for a Mexican restaurant on Northwest Highway in Dallas but here goes!  If you can’t find Tipico’s, just look for the smoke coming out of the roof at El Regio next door or look for the stripclub billboard behind their sign.

This is not your average Mexican joint.  Well, I guess it might be along Northwest Highway.  But it’s certainly not TIPICO of Dallas Mexican food.

They offered two kinds of salsa.  One was watered down pico de gallo (good) and another served hot with what I think was nopalitos (cactus) mixed in.  The hot salsa was very good.

The decor was bright pastels, like a pinata.

The salsa was so good my dad drank the rest of his through a straw.  I promise we’re normal.  Kidding!  We’re not normal.

A side order of bistec taco  Looks sloppy but tastes good.

I ordered the fajitas which were awesome.  The chicken and caramelized onions combined with butter meat grease cooked beans rocked my world.

They make their own tortillas and they are floury buttery goodness.

They also offer corn but I highly recommend flour.

When we were done eating, a few things were said in the car:

Jason, “The seatbelt was a lot easier to buckle on the way here.”

My Dad, “Hey Mamaw get out I’m too fat to make the turn.”

As you can see, we enjoyed our meal at Tipico’s.  Now where’s the gym?

It’s amazing how things work out.  I graduated college with a marketing degree and a deadbeat boyfriend.  My first job out of college was for an oil & gas company that I ended up quitting after a few months because I refused to be the girl that gets the CEO his Diet Coke from the fridge right next to his desk.  Next job – an assistant to a grants administrator at a non-profit foundation.  I was told I wasn’t making the folds in the letterhead even enough so I kindly told them what they could do with that job.  Next up?  A software company in Addison where my life completely changed for the better.  On my first day, my boss took me down to the IT room to get my computer and email set up and I met the dreamboat who will become my husband.  I dumped the deadbeat boyfriend faster than you can say “refund” and Jason and I took off into the proverbial sunset.

It was seriously the best time of my life.  I worked with the guy of my dreams, my ideal soul-mate.  To make it even better, we had a kickass lunch crew that we hung out with nearly everyday.  We even had a Circle of Trust diagram to reference in case we needed to confide in someone.

It was the perfect setting for me to show my true colors (I used to make prank calls on speaker and hold rap concerts in the lobby) and for Jason to prove that he could fix any virus I got from doing Google Image Searches.  Unfortunately, the company started to tank so everyone started to go in different directions.  Though we moved on to better jobs, Jason and I have stayed together and grown closer ever since.  I am, without a doubt, the luckiest girl in the world.  Hey Victoria Beckham, what’s wrong with your Blackberry?  Is it not receiving emails?  Oh maybe David can help with that.  What’s that, he can only kick a ball across a field?  Oh, that’s too bad.  GOTEM.

All of that to lead up to our first Valentine’s Day as an engaged couple.  I had already promised my grandmother that I would take her out for lunch so before I went to get her, I picked up a Jimmy John’s sandwich combo and some yogurt covered pretzels and delivered them to Jason at work.  It was like we had lunch together separately!  He told me to be back early because we had reservations for dinner at  7:45pm.  I was a good girl and came back early to run the dogs and get ready.  Here is the happy couple before dinner.  We look so awkward but that’s what camera timers do.

Jason made reservations for us at Dallas Fish Market.  He said almost everything was booked two weeks in advance so it wasn’t his first choice but he hoped it would be awesome.

Even though we had a reservation, they asked us if we wanted to wait in the bar for a few minutes while they “got our table ready.”  The trendy crowd scared us so we sat on the bench and waited for our table.  A few minutes later, we were led past a waiter station through a dark hallway to a back room.  We later realized we were in the timeout room.  We started to realize a pattern of people being seated in this room and let’s just say I don’t agree with it.

To start, the waiter brought us some warm bread and butter topped with chili/black truffle sea salt blessed by Queen Elizabeth and on the list of Oprah’s favorite things.  Just kidding.  But whatever he said sounded like a bunch of bull because it just tasted like butter.  Good bread though.

You’re getting some of my favorite things!  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  (Oprah audience scream)

We opted to skip the Valentine’s Day menu at $65 a pop and ordered willy nilly on our own.  We started with a sashimi platter.  Is there anything better than raw fish?  I mean seriously.

They gave us low sodium soy sauce but also added a bonus trio of sauces including ponzu, creamy wasabi and some sort of tropically citrus grapefruit melon niner.  Did I catch a niner in there?  They were all good but not really necessary.  I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl and by meat and potatoes I mean raw fish and soy sauce/wasabi.

Jason ordered the black truffle wrapped monkfish with carmelized onion mashers, truffle butter and wild mushrooms.  He loved it but I wouldn’t go near it for fear of the dreaded mushroom.

I ordered the Ahi Tuna with couscous, zucchini, squash, carrots, basil and tomato vinaigrette.  Must try to make this couscous at home.  Dear Lord it was tasty.  Most restaurants give the tuna an Asian flare using wasabi or marinating it in soy sauce but this dish had a Mediterranean feel to it and it was awesome.  Topped with avocado slices for the ferkin win.

Like the eating champions that we are, we got a side of four cheese mac ‘n cheese that was phenomgarbl.  Toasted breadcrumbs on top and cheese that a lactose intolerant girl squeals about.

By the time we were done with our entrees, numerous tables had filled up in our room of minorities and jean wearers and only one waiter was tending to the whole room.  When our waiter finally came to our table he started to pick up all the plates and even put some on top of the macaroni that we were going to ask to be wrapped up to go.  Lucky for him, we have the 5 second germ rule so we still got it to go.  The dessert menu had a bunch of foreign words on it but what I did see and understand was “red velvet” so I went for it.

The white layers tasted like cheesecake so it wasn’t my favorite dessert (I don’t like cheesecake) but that didn’t stop me from dominating it with my Valentine.

It took our waiter four tries to get this one but…nailed it!  He even said “I have the same camera!”

The chicks got a bonus chocolate nugget for the special day.  It’s a chocolate truffle something or other.  I’m going to take it up to Chicago with me this weekend and give it to my grandmother for her 90th birthday!  And tell her I made it!

Another thing to note – you have to pay $7 (plus tip) to valet park downtown.  It’s chump change when your fiance just dropped nearly $30 on your entree alone.  Remind me to call my mom next time and see if she has a coupon   Hi MOM!

Jason, you are my bestest homie and you make me laugh like a crazy person and you treat me like a Princess and I love you so so so much and next year I might even pay extra and get you cheese on your Jimmy John’s sub!!  Don’t ever change because you put the awesome in awesomesauce!  I love you

I called my grandmother on Sunday and asked if I could take her to lunch on Valentine’s Day.  I didn’t expect her to remember our conversation but she called Monday morning and said she was dressed and ready!  Somebody was ready to bust out of the home and party!  My dad and I planned to take her to Garden Cafe but we got there and they were closed Mondays

Next stop: Mextopia on lower Greenville.

They have a nice patio that would be great for people watching during happy hour.  Lower Greenville used to be so trendy.  I guess it still is trendy if you have a nose ring.  Lately it just seems like it’s been riddled with fires and drunken attacks.  My uncle used to own a bar down the street from Mextopia.  One day a guy came in who had just been stabbed.  He just wanted a glass of water.  Rules are rules though, no shirt no stab wounds no service.

What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, Mextopia!  The interior is not too big and has bright colors and Mexican art on the walls.  They even have an open kitchen to watch the chefs making a big pot of pozole (Mexican pork and hominy stew).

The bar is typical of lower Greenville.  You have your beer, your tequila, your glasses.  It’s pretty awesome if you’re into that.

We started off with some guacamole (pronounced “wakaflocka”).  Their guac was ridonk.  Creamy and avocadoey with a hint of lime.  This was the large order.  Their salsa was tasty fresh too.  My grandmother doesn’t like spicy things but I saw her dipping her chips in the salsa like it wasn’t even no thang.  Maybe after all these years she’s coming around?

For my entree I went with the Calabaza con Pollo, a boneless chicken breast with squash, zucchini, corn and tomato in a light broth.  It was delicious but there was nothing light about the broth.  It basically flooded my plate (note the beans swimming in the broth).  Luckily, I don’t eat the rice and beans anyway.

Light broth residue:

My dad went with the fajitas and ordered them 5 star spicy hot.  We couldn’t tell if it was garlic salt or what but the chicken, peppers and onions were cooked to PERFECTION.  They were some delicious fajitas.

Served with corn tortillas (or flour if you drink maiz hatorade).

Oh your grandmother doesn’t take a shot of tequila on Valentine’s Day?  That’s weird.  (Mom – JOKING!  That’s water, we wouldn’t do that to her)

My dad told my grandmother if she was good and ate all of her soft cheese tacos then we would take her to get dessert.  You’ve never seen an 86-yr-old wolf down tacos like Crazy Bettye.  She wanted that frozen custard and nothing was going to stop her (except maybe a sopapilla).

We headed on over to Wild About Harry’s.  My dad and his daytime Valentine posed for the press.

Crazy Bettye had herself a scoop of pralines ‘n cream and I went with a vanilla concrete mixed with Heath bar pieces.  I don’t mean to compare but as you can tell by the picture, my dessert can beat up her dessert.

Sometimes I’m very discreet with my picture taking.  Here I feel that I captured the striking similarity between Hot Dog Man’s shoes and my dad’s Crocs.

We had a great time with the Beejinator (her name is Bettye Jane but we affectionately refer to her as: Crazy Bettye, Beej, BJ, Bettye, Whacked mother-in-law, Kablamaw, Mamaw and Memaw).  Getting old is whacked but when you have days like this, you tend to forget about the whackedness of it all.

My mom’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day.  It makes sense because she has the biggest heart and she always has chocolate for me.  Since Jason had reservations for us for V-day, we told my mom we wanted to take her out this past weekend to celebrate.  She was really excited because SHE HAD A COUPON!!  I explained to her that it was our treat and that a coupon wasn’t necessary but once my mom has a coupon in her hot little hand, that’s like a golden ticket to the Willy Wonka Factory.  So, out of all the restaurants in Dallas, she had a coupon for…

I can’t turn my nose up at it because even though it is a chain restaurant, I have been there once before and I do think I liked it.  The only thing I remembered about it was that I could get a sweet potato as a side dish.  I don’t even remember what I had as an entree.  Sweet potatoes are my crack though so I was game.

We sit down and my mom pulls out the “coupon” which I then realize is not even a coupon but simply an ad for the Texas Land & Cattle two for $25 deal.  Cool we won’t need scissors!  Our waiter brought out a loaf of bread while we argued about how the hell we were going to do the 2 for $25 deal when we had 4 people.  My family isn’t very good at math.

Part of the deal means you get to pick from a list of appetizers.  Since we both decided to do the deal (use the “coupon”), we ordered the steak queso and the spinach artichoke dip.  Because we’re on a diet.  They were both tasty.

I ordered a wedge for my main entree to the other kids got to start off with a house salad.  Looks yummy!  I wouldn’t know

But in yo face suckas!  Check out mine!  With steak FTW!  Reconfirmed fact: I’ont like steak.

Jayqwon went with the chicken fried steak served with mashed potatoes.  Holy dead cow that was a big piece of meat.  Quick imagine a cow grazing peacefully in the field!  Now imagine eating a steak!  You’re welcome.

My dad wears Crocs.  Oh and he got the mesquite grilled chicken with a sweet potato and steamed broccoli.

My moms also got the chicken with a side of nasty mushrooms.  I’m sure they tasted fine but I hate mushrooms so ooooooh they nasty.

Along with my steak wedge I got a sweet potato with cinnamon butter.  This is what I remember!  So yummy.  I wish sweet potatoes grew on trees.  Wait, do they?  No, they come from cows.  Huh?  I failed science.

After coupon dinner, we went to my parent’s house so my moms could open birthday presents!  Jason got her a mandolin slicer and a lemon squeezer!  We accidentally circled the price in Sharpie instead of crossing it out.  Zoops.  $50 for a mandolin slicer??!?!  You didn’t.  Oh, yes, mom, we did!  (note: no we didn’t)

She’s very proud of her yellow squeezer as anyone should be.

And last but certainly not least, I got her a FERKIN ICE CREAM MAKER!!!  She casually mentioned wanting peace ice cream the other day and being totally chapped that Blue Bell only offers it in the summer and saying she would just make it herself.  Well, now she can!  Get busy mom b/c I’m HUNGRY!

Oh and yes, we used a Christmas bag and used wrapping paper to wrap her gifts.  She liked it!  Happy Birthday MOM!!!

This morning started off with one of these pretty thangs:

Then I took my three hyenas (2 dogs and a fiance) for a run.  Jason has been mega hyper lately.  I feel like I must either convince a doctor he is a 12-yr old boy so I can get him on Ritalin or I can take him on runs to calm him down.  So far the latter is working.

We went about four miles then got dressed to meet my parents at Brackets for lunch.  Brackets is a new restaurant/sports bar in the old Trader Vic’s spot at Hotel Palomar.  They feature Il Cane Rosso pizzas from a built-in Texas oak burning wood oven.

When you walk through the front door you are greeted with two full size pool tables and a hostess.  We made our way past the entry game room to a larger bar/dining area filled with an SMU crowd.  To start, we took the waiter’s suggestion of the ahi tuna nachos.  I like my ahi tuna pink in the middle but these were definitely overcooked.  The greasy chips didn’t tickle my fancy either.  For $11, so far I wasn’t impressed.

They keep the wood burning oven at 900 degrees and only cook the pizzas for 60 seconds.  I’m not joking.

If you can’t wait the whole minute for your pizza to cook, you can catch a game of ping pong in the middle of the bar area.  There is plenty of room to run around and execute the double spin around the back left grip lob for the win.  If you’re into that.

This is the $14 Jimmy’s Sausage pizza with basil, tomatoes, house-pulled mozzarella and Jimmy’s sausage.  Looks pretty good freshly delivered to the table.

Then you get a slice…and it’s limp bizkit.  Maybe this is supposed to be like Papa Murphy’s where you take it home and put it back in the oven for more than 60 seconds?  Except my oven doesn’t go to 900

Below is the Hangover Special.  If you order this, the pizza maker puts whatever he wants on there to cure your hangover.  This one had jalapenos, black olives, prosciutto, Jimmy’s sausage and mozzarella.  It also suffered from not having a backbone.

Jason ordered the Brackets Burger made with Texas kobe beef, avocado, pancetta, basil mustard, arugula, chili peppers and an onion ring on a brioche bun.  Seems like a lot of things to overpower what is supposed to be some really fine tasting beef.  The shoestring fries were delicious and the burger was, according to Jason, “a good burger but it’s hard to screw up a burger.”

The table shared an order of macaroni.  It was delicious.  Okay I won’t lie only two of us shared it.  We also ordered a side of seasonal vegetables but the waiter forgot to bring it.  It didn’t show up on our receipt so I never said anything.

I didn’t finish my limp pizza so I got the rest to go, hoping I could salvage some in the oven.  The to go bag was worth it.  How crafty!  Overall, not impressed with Brackets.  I’d go back for game play but will probably have dinner elsewhere.

After a few pieces of pizza and some macaroni (sounds like a Lunchable), I decided to bust out the indoor bike trainer.  Oh and the tree isn’t coming down until February.  YAY!

I ended up watching an entire episode of I Used to Be Fat on MTV.  It’s pretty motivating to keep pedaling while you’re watching someone lose weight!  I was drenched after an hour on the bike.  It felt really good.

Meanwhile the puppies ended the night with a downward facing dog and a nose lick.

What’s your favorite way to burn off pizza and macaroni?

Today the lunch crew called for Chuy’s.  Instead of stuffing myself silly with chips, I took evasive action and ditched the crew in order to try a new joint in Snider Plaza, Dive Dallas: Coastal Cuisine.

It's a Dive alright.

The website looked so promising.  The decor on the inside looked so promising.

West Elm Show Room

The overly excited and bubbly girl that took my order even seemed promising.

Corporate Accounts Payable Nina speaking! Just a moment!

Really up until I tasted the food did I realize that I just wasted $17.86 on one of the worst meals I’ve had in a long time.  Including my own cooking.  I went for the ahi tuna wrap, white bean hummus and an Oogave grapefruit drink.

Floating cucumbers are the new parsley.

Pureed garlic, aka white bean hummus

Pile of crack. Ers.

The hummus was about 80% garlic and 20% parsley garnish.  I wanna know where da white beans at!  The only good part of the meal was that the hummus was served with pita slices AND cracker pieces.  In case you don’t want toast.  Just wish I had something delicious to dip them in (hummus FAIL).

If you can't stomach the look of it you prolly can't stomach the taste of it.

The wrap came with a dipping sauce(?) that had a cucumber slice in it (on purpose?) and smelled like the alley behind the fish sauce factory.  The tuna was overcooked and brown and the wrap altogether tasted like grandma accidentally used leftover tuna in the meatloaf wraps.

It's okay I wasn't hungry and money's not important during a recession anyways.

Ooooh! Gave! Fancy bottle of nuttin.

My Oogave drink promised me delicious nutrients in the form of purified carbonated water, organic agave nectar, grapefruit extract, citric acid and natural flavors.  The ingredient list did not include “tasty.”  Even with agave nectar as the sugar component it was too sweet for my liking.  I’ll take a fake aspartame Fresca anyday.

Despite my gross lunch, my day was AMAZING.  Wanna know why?  Ferkin lazycake that’s why.

Some weekends you crave Asian food and you’ll ride 4 laps around White Rock just to get it.  That’s precisely what we did last weekend.  Saturday we had a hankering for some Korean Seoul food so we went with my dad to Seoul Garden off of Royal/Stemmons.

Garden of Eatin. AEO!

J Man's first Korean experience! He is super excite.

I’m really embarrassed to say that I ordered the salmon teriyaki.  I panicked and in a moment of weakness I picked the first thing that I could pronounce.  Mega fail.  It would be like going to Mi Cocina and getting a burger.  Luckily, we started off with some yeehaw appetizers:

There was nothing sticky about these pots.

Korean pizza. Could have/should have eaten 12 of these. SO GOOD.

Jason ordered the bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef) and it was ferkin amazing:

Rocky and Bulgogi

My dad ordered squid surprise which was equally as baller:

Korean spaghetti and meatballs

All meals come with Korean sides Luby’s style.  Tofu and kimchi were the only things I recognized:

Yum! What is it?

Yum! What is it?

Hey tofu, I know you!

All together now!

The waitress was awesome and the food was awesome and I highly recommend it for Korean food rookies/fans.

On Sunday we wanted to hit up White Rock for a 40 miler.  However, we knew we couldn’t do it without a bahn mi thit for energy.  So we booked it over to Lee’s Sandwiches in Garland.  One of the best decisions of our lives.  Since we had the custom blinged out bikes with us, we had to go through the drive-thru.

Approaching the sandwich kingdom

omg the anticipation

one of each! no wait #4 and #8 and a smoothie. or one of each!

They have all kinds of sandwiches (check their menu) and all looked tempting but we opted to try the #8 shredded pork, #14 pork roll with pate and #18 cured pork with pate.  The sandwiches are only $2.99!!  And check out these beauties:

Cured pork stocked full of fresh veg. OMNOM.

Pork roll with fresh cilantro, jalapenos, carrots, etc.

Washed down with an iced coffee and a honey chrysanthemum iced tea:

Iced coffee nicely paired with pork roll.

Needed more chrysanthemum flava but refreshing nonetheless.

They threw in a free loaf of French bread too!  Probably because it was a day old but still!

I like things that are free.

And they label their sandwiches!

No, that's Susie's. She had the cha lua pate.

And they have rides out front!

I'm almost 30!

Three sandwiches and two specialty drinks for $14.52.  Not too shabby in my book.  We’ll definitely be back and next time we might have a french bread fencing lesson in the parking lot.

To the lake!  It was windier than Keanu Reeves in a wind storm on Sunday so the ride was more difficult than planned.  However, I did get some free advice!

Seriously, I didn't have to pay a dime.

For the past 15 years two gentlemen dish out free advice to anyone who wants it every Sunday.  We made a stop on our bikes to take advantage of this surprising service and the guy told me to get a life.  I said you ugly anyway.  Totally joking!  They were extremely nice guys and we talked about morals, movies and my career path.  Two police officers and another young rider joined us in our nearly 20 minute discussion.  Roderick, the main advice giver, even loaned us a movie – Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.  I know what you’re thinking – random dudes giving out free advice, bottled water and DVD’s?  Awkward!  But these guys will listen to anything you have to say and ask you questions in return until you come up with your own conclusion.  They were tricky like that.  So next week I’m opening up a restaurant in a silo!  Free advice = genius.

We managed to squeak out 4.5 laps around the lake for a total of 42 miles.  We also drank nearly 3 gallons of water but kind of forgot to replenish our calorie stock so we cramped up real bad like.  Luckily we packed some pb&j sammies which took care of the problem.  Our 65 mile ride is coming up in a few weeks so we’re trying to get our mileage up and learn when to snack and how much to snack to keep our bodies happy.  I hope they have Vietnamese sandwiches at the rest stops in Wimberley!