Cincinnati, OH

Hi Friends!

A few years ago (lol), Josh and I took Corbin on a weekend trip to Cinci! It was so much fun! We started our trip with the Newport Aquarium and also walked the purple people bridge. I always enjoy Newport Aquarium, it was likely my third or fourth time going.

For dinner we went to Salazar (unfortunately has closed) and had their local breads with bone marrow butter, crispy skin branzino and squash. Their branzino was delicious, it was a great restaurant! All in all, we rated it a 7.5/10. Our next stop was Taft’s Ale House (unfortunately has closed) and it was a really cool place! I had their pumpkin pie ale (we went in the fall) and we discovered their absolutely scrumptious Tri Tips, they were so good we ended up going back one more time before we went home! We also had their loaded tots, and on the second trip we tried their bacon cheddar tri-tip sandwich with a ceasar side salad. We’d rate Taft’s a 8.5/10.

After Taft’s, we went to Copper and Flame (sadly has closed) which had a beer wall where you could pour your own beer. It was a cool place!

On day 2, we started by going to the Bagelry. I got their lox bagel and Corbin and Josh got one of their egg sandwich options. I definitely think their egg sandwhich was better than what I got, it was fine just not the best lox I’ve had. I’d rate it a 6/10.

Next we went to Top Golf, it was our first time for all of us and the Louisville location hadn’t opened yet. It was a lot of fun!

We stopped for lunch at The Arepa Place and we had their great arepa with verde salsa, chorizo and cheese arepa with roja salsa. The one with chicken was a bit dry. We would rate 6/10.

Next we had to show Corbin one of our favorite breweries - Rhinegeist Brewery. It is such a big place, but it’s just cool to hang out.

Following Rhinegeist, we went to Pins Mechanical where we played duckpin bowling. I really took a liking to the duckpin bowling, I thought it was a lot of fun! I also thought that Pins was a cool space in general, they had other games to play besides duckpin bowling.

For dinner we went to Bakersfield and I was excited to try it, since Mexican food is my favorite! We had the chips and guacamole, short rib queso, and the fish and carnitas tacos. The guacamole was good, but the queso and tacos were meh. I was disappointed, I’d rate it a 5/10.

We ended the day with Brew Dog, where we hung out and played a few board games. They had a cool space, and the beer was pretty good.

On our day of travel, we stopped at Collective Espresso for coffee and I thought it was good! The space was a bit small. Then for lunch, we stopped at Taft’s house again. It was a really great trip!

Colorado

Hello Lovelies!

Josh and I ventured to the west for our first big trip of 2022! We visited Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park, Denver, and Colorado Springs. We kind of got lucky on timing for the trip, I learned through the middle of my booking that ‘busy season’ for most of Colorado starts Memorial day (which we were back home by then) and what ended up being a blessing in disguise was that it snowed lightly the day before we flew in. Colorado is much more prepared for snow than KY and IN ever will be so the roads were perfectly clear, and we got a snowy mountainous view.

Our time in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park was spent mostly hiking. We started the morning with a hearty breakfast from Coffee on the Rocks. I had the iced coconut latte, and their sausage burrito. The burrito was greasy and coffee wasn’t the greatest but they had a really cute setup outside with a pond and mountain both in their backyard. I’d rate them a 5/10. We then headed out to our first hike, we tried to take it easy on our first full day due to the elevation change and trying to avoid getting sick. We hiked Alberta Falls and hiked a very short bit to see Bear Lake. The snow covered falls and lake were just breathtaking! We also learned that hiking in snow, is made easier by buying chains to put on the bottoms of your shoes. We had some time to kill before our dinner reservations, so we had a wine tasting at Snowy Peaks Winery, the wines were all good but they did seem to do better with the sweeter wines. We brought home their Riesling. We then went to The Barrel and I had a Pineapple mango mead that they had on hand (it was a bar so they didn’t make any of their things) the mead was ok but not great. We went to dinner at Twin Owls Steakhouse and was impressed with the food! They had beautiful mountainous views. We started with their wedge salad, then split the ribeye served twin owl style (blue cheese crumbles and pistachios) paired with potatoes au gratin. I’d rate them an 8/10.

Our second day we fueled up at Egg of Estes, I chose their banana strawberry waffle and Josh had their lump crab Benedict. I thought the waffle was good, but Josh wasn’t super pleased with his dish. I’d rate it a 6/10, just your typical small town breakfast spot. We decided to go full fledge hike and hiked up a small mountain (deer mountain trail), it was around 8 miles total, which for us was an accomplishment! After we were finished we decided to kill time from our dinner reservations by checking out a few of their breweries. We first went to Estes Park Brewery and I’m pretty sure this brewery was established before breweries were considered ‘cool’, they hadn’t done much to update the place. Beer was ok, I had their blueberry wheat and Josh had their porter. We split their super nachos, I’d rate them a 5/10. After we went to Lumpy Ridge Brewing and it was a much smaller location but the cool thing with them was they restored an old abandoned gas station. Their beer was pretty good, I had the sun lion pale ale and Josh had their german lager. I’d rate them a 7/10. We ended the night by having dinner at Hunter’s Chop House. We started with their elk carpaccio and I was surprised by how excellent this was (given the decor, I thought it would be your average run of the mill steakhouse), we then split their bison sirloin. The entree was not as good as the carpaccio, so it brought their rating down a bit. I’d rate them a 7/10, we still really liked them!

Our third day was split between Estes Park and Denver. We had some time to kill before we could checkin at our airbnb, so we took a relaxed pace with our breakfast in Estes. We went to Kind Coffee and I had their carmelo latte with a parmesan bagel and herb cream cheese, Josh had the avocado brioche toast. The food and coffee was amazing, and it was a cute place! I’d rate them a 10/10, they also had a cute outdoor area with a stream in their backyard. We ended up stumbling across a cute game store Frames, Games, and Things Unnamed next to the coffee shop so we went in and there was a kind older gentleman running the store whom I believed ran the store by himself and he was so passionate about games and very easy to talk with. He showed us how to play cribbage, and we ended up buying a board as a nice souvenir for ourselves. After spending more time than we initially had intended we headed to Denver.

We had lunch at Biker Jim’s and were surprised at the lack of decor in the place, but the hot dogs were pretty tasty! I had the conspiracy bacon cheddar brat and Josh had the el diablo elk jalapeno dog with splitting some smothered fries. We’d rate it 7/10. We then walked to Great Divide Brewing and really enjoyed their dark beer lineup. For dinner we started by going to the Cruise Room Speakeasy and I had their old fashioned with Josh trying something different with getting a sidecar. It was a cool place but their cocktails were overpriced. We walked through the Central Market and Dairy Block. We had dinner at Dio Mio and it was super yummy Italian pasta. We had their radiatori and agnolotti - I enjoyed my dish so much I’d rate the place a 9/10. We ended the night by going next door to The Infinite Monkey Theorem, I had their sauvignon blanc and Josh had their cab sauvignon. They were having trivia that night so we sat and watched for a bit.

Our next day we grabbed coffee at River and Roads Coffee and I just loved the place - it was so cute! Their coffee was great too. Next door they had a glass blown studio that we stopped in to look and ended up buying something for Josh’s mom there. We stopped for lunch at Kike’s Red Tacos and I highly recommend - we split their quesataco combo and got pork, steak, and burria as our protein of choice. I’d rate them an 8/10. Between lunch and dinner - we did a ton of brewery hopping. We started at Crooked Stave Taproom and I had their blueberry sour with Josh having their stout. Place was cool, beer was ok. We then moved to Bruz Beers which specialize in Belgian style beers, we had a few beers there and split a Denver chip company bag (you saw them in all the breweries) and understood what all the fuss was about - those chips were tasty! We then went to Clyfford Still Museum, the museum was cool but quite small - we aren’t huge into the art scene but still like to visit museums when we are on vacation and this one didn’t stick out to me much. We then moved onto Bierstadt Lager and had their slow pour pilsner (of which they are known for). It was worth the wait - it was quite tasty and they had a cool setup. They were in an old warehouse. After that we went to Our Mutual Friend and I think they were one of my favorites beer and decor wise, it was a colorful place and I really enjoyed my fruit sour there. We had dinner at Q House and split the chicken wings and duck lo mein, it was good - I’d rate it a 7/10. We ended our stay in Denver by drinking at the highly rated Cerebral Brewing and yes, their smaller oz pours are in legitimate beaker glasses. They had a cute space, and the beer was good but not as great as everyone else made it out to be.

Our last few days were spent in Colorado Springs. Our first stop was lunch at 503W and it was a cute space, and had some tasty food! I had their poke bowl, Josh had the Korean tacos and we shared their Korean french fries. I really enjoyed the meal and would rate it a 7/10. Next we took a tour at the US Olympic Training Center and I thought it was really cool how the tour was actually run by a para-olympian. Our dinner was at Four by Brother Luck and we were so excited because we always enjoy supporting the Top Chef contestants, but I think this might have been the worst high-scale restaurant we have gone to. Everything we had was a disappointment - we had the pappardelle with wild boar chorizo, duck chili, goddess salad, and the duck breast. The salad was so bad I had to send it back. The restaurant also did not portray high scale in my opinion, with the biggest downfall being the restroom. They were rundown and had cheap stalls - definitely not a restroom high dollar customers would want to use. I would rate it a 3/10 and it pains me to rate anyone that low. Afterwards we went to check out Cork & Cask and I have to say it was the cutest bar I’d ever gone to. They had the cutest velour sofas and chairs for each diner, along with a cute patio - it definitely lifted my spirits after the bad dining experience! Our last full day was spent going to Garden of the Gods and driving up Pikes Peak. Which, I must warn you that if you visit close to memorial day, they make you purchase a timed entry ticket to drive up, but it’s a 2 hour window to get there and checked in. We went to Dos Santos for lunch and had their guacamole, fish taco, and chicken Tinga taco. It was a good restaurant, I liked it, I would rate them a 7/10. After lunch we hopped over next door to Frozen Gold Ice Cream and split their cookie crumbles ice cream - it was yummy and was a nice treat after walking a lot at Garden of the Gods! Throughout the day, we visited Colorado Mountain Brewery and Pikes Peak Brewery - both cool places. Colorado Mountain Brewery was a huge space and could host a ton of people but seemed to cater to the older crowd, I’d say Pikes Peak was a bit more hip. We ended with dinner at Shuga’s and I must say we were pleasantly surprised with Shuga’s, we knew it was known for being eclectic and they certainly did not disappoint with that statement, but I also liked that they were big supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. I must say their food was absolutely delicious - which I was not expecting with them being mostly a lunch spot. We had their snack board, jalapeno bacon mac n cheese, spicy Brazilian coconut shrimp soup, and their Saskatoon sandwich. It was a ton of food - we ended up taking some of it home to eat later. All in all, I would rate them an 8.5/10. We really enjoyed Colorado and hope to be back in the near future!

Nashville Girls Trip

Howdy, my friends!

I took my bestie Maria to Nashville for a nice weekend Girls trip in March, and we had so much fun! I had been before, but she hadn’t. Our main goal was to shop until we dropped - you can head over to my fashion tab to see a review of all the boutiques we shopped in!

We arrived early Friday evening, and had dinner at Pelican & Pig and then ended the evening at TailGate Brewery. At Pelican & Pig we had split their crispy brussels sprouts as our appetizer and then we both had their seared halibut for our entree and then Maria wanted to try their chocolate chip cookies and I am so glad she did! It came with this delicious milk jam that you poured over the cookies, and they were some of the best cookies I have had! Everything was really great, I would rate them an 8/10! At TailGate it was a big space and there were lots of beers, we discovered they had some of the best Sour Beers we have tasted! Decor wise it wasn’t amazing, but the beers were really good! What was crazy on Friday was that it snowed! It was annoying given the fact that the weekend before and week leading up to our trip it was great weather.

Saturday was our big day of shopping, so we had to fuel up with caffeine and a scrumptious donut of course! Unfortunately for us, the snow cooled things off and it was a chilly 20 degrees most the day. We stopped by Frothy Monkey for coffee and a donut at Five Daughters Bakery. Frothy Monkey we did not realize they were a full service restaurant on top of it being a coffee shop. At Frothy Monkey I had their bourbon butterscotch latte and Maria had their monkey mocha. We liked our coffees, however I did wish mine was a bit sweeter than it was. At Five Daughter’s I had their king kong donut, and Maria had their parent trap donut. We thought both were absolutely amazing, a 10/10 for us! We were so distracted shopping, it took us a long while until we were ready for lunch. We ended up eating at a food court, we had wanted to get Hattie B’s hot chicken but the line was out the door and it was very cold so we opted to eat Prince’s hot chicken. I wasn’t a huge fan of them, I got the tenders meal in a medium spice and fries and I just didn’t think it was worth the hype, I’d rate them a 4/10. We also hit up some of Nashville’s famous murals! Most of the boutiques closed at 7-8 pm so after they shut down we headed back to the airbnb to get ready for dinner and a fun night out. We had dinner at Black Dynasty Ramen House and had Bearded Iris Beer, both were in the same area. The ramen was excellent, I had their spicy pork and Maria had their garlic chicken. I’d rate 8/10. The place had a cool vibe to it, and I liked the beer! We then headed to Play Nashville, and I have to say.. I think Play Louisville is better. The place was packed, but it was also St Patrick’s Day weekend, I just was disappointed with the Drag Queens, they didn’t really dance that much (the ones in Louisville do). In addition to that, the dance room did not have great dance music in it! No one was dancing! Maria and I only stayed 1-2 hours, both of us were disappointed.

Sunday we decided to go back to Frothy Monkey and have their breakfast, I had the chorizo biscuits and gravy with a side of grits and Maria had their french toast. This time around, I tried the turtle latte and absolutely loved it! The food was pretty good, but I felt like they put some things on the biscuits and gravy that didn’t add to the flavor and detracted from it (ie onions and tomatoes), all in all I’d give them a rating of 6.5/10. We visited Cheekwood Gardens after brunch and although not much flowers were in bloom yet, we still enjoyed ourselves! Afterwards, we stopped at Creek Side Garden Center and let me tell you.. it was the cutest plant shop I’ve ever been in! Everyone was so friendly, and the decor in there was just so darn cute! We did not walk out empty handed.. I’m so glad we stopped in there! After, we hit up the boutiques we didn’t have time for Saturday and then went back for more TailGate sour beer, and then we headed out! All in all, it was really an awesome trip! I’m so glad we got to go together :)

Chicago, IL

Hi Lovelies!

Josh and I took a quick weekend trip with our friends in October of 2021 and had such a great time! We drove up on Friday and had lunch at Taquizo because Umami Burger’s dining room was closed. Taquizo was fine, but nothing stood out to us. We had chips, queso and salsa but chips were a bit stale and queso had no flavor. The tacos were good, overall rating would be 5.5/10. From there we did some thrift store shopping and then went to Paradise park bar, and that place was SO cute! So many cool photo ops throughout the restaurant. We had drinks and a snack since it was happy hour. Then we went to Big Mini Putt Club and played putt putt - it was a good time! After that we went to Emporium Arcade bar and played some games and drank for a bit, also a fun time! We ended the evening by going to Kinton Ramen and it was really great - I had the spicy pork and Josh had the garlic ramen, we would rate 8.5/10.

Saturday we had brunch at Egg Harbor Cafe and I had the San Antonio skillet with a classic pumpkin spice latte while Josh had the Habenero hash and eggs, a great place! We would rate 7/10. We then shopped on Michigan Avenue and stopped for lunch at Timeout Market, it was a cool place I jus wished they had more stores and restaurants inside. I had Cleo’s fried chicken and Josh had Polombia, we would rate the experience a 6/10. We went back to the airbnb after to recharge for a bit and get ready for the evening. We went to Hampton Social for dinner and we split the tuna tartare for an appetizer, I had the ceasar salad and clam chowder and I was amazed at how good both the items were! Josh had linguini and clams. It was a cool place but very loud, very good food. Rating would be 8/10! After we had drinks and danced the night away at Beauty Bar, that place was really cool and not overly crowded! After we ended at Nick’s Beer Garden, also a cool place but I liked Beauty Bar a lot better.

Sunday we had a full day planned but unfortunately for me and my friend, we had too bad of a hangover to do anything, so we just drove back home that day. It was a great trip overall, I can’t wait to go back!

Las Vegas, NV

Hey friends!

In September of 2021, I traveled to Las Vegas for the national HR conference. I thought it would be a great cheaper way to explore a city I’d never gone to before, so I had Josh fly in one of the last days of the conference and we stayed for 4 days. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Vegas, I thought I wouldn’t like it much because I’m not much of a gambler but Vegas had lots more to do besides just gamble!

I stayed close to the hotel when I was by myself, but I did venture out to Casa Calavera one night and had some good Mexican food! I had the classic guacamole and the grilled shrimp taco, the guac was very good! Space was also cool. I’d give them a 7/10!

On Josh’s first night we ventured out to Sparrow + Wolf and enjoyed ourselves. We had the oxtail hummus, that night’s special of squid, and halibut for our main dish. It was a little on the loud side, but we would rate them an 8/10.

Our first full day together we spent walking the Strip going in and out of most resorts (such as Park MGM, NY NY, Paris, Venetian, Mirage, and MGM), we stopped for lunch at fellow Top Chef Alum Richard Blais’s The Crack Shack. Josh and I split the Mexican Poutine fries and he had the fire bird and I had the California drip - it was a lot of food! We probably could’ve gotten by with splitting just one sandwich. It was all really good though - we would rate 7.5/10. When we were in Park MGM, we walked around their Eatily marketplace (inspired by Italy) - it was super cool! Definitely recommend it! We ended up having lunch there another day. We had tickets to see Gabriel Iglesias in the evening and I gotta tell ya - he is absolutely hilarious! He is one of Josh’s favorite comedians, and he did not disappoint! Before the show we had dinner at Mott 32 and I have to say it was amazing! We had the hot and sour pork dim sum, crispy Szechuan chicken, crispy duck salad, prawn clay pot, and ended with coconut ice cream. I’d rate everything a 9/10!

Our second day together we drove out to explore Hoover Dam, Willow Beach, and the Red Rock Canyon Park, it was all so pretty! We stopped for breakfast at Sunrise Cafe for breakfast, I had the vanilla cold brew and cinnamon swirl french toast, Josh had the Fiesta Benedict. It was very yummy - rating would be 7/10. We wanted to kayak but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a full day ride, it wasn’t beginner easy either so we opted to skip it. We did explore the area though and stopped at a local brewery Boulder Dam Brewing while we were out that way, and also stopped at Mariscos el Soto Loco and had corn in a cup and tacos - very good too 8.5/10. We went to Best Friend for dinner and had the bancho sampler, slippery shrimp, and kolbi beef. Josh liked it more than me, but I was having stomach issues that night. Still a very cool place and good food - 7/10.

The next day we ate lunch at Mr Fries Man and split the lemon bacon parmesan fries - they were very good but the location was junky and run down the food I’d rate 8/10 though. For dinner we went to Top Chef Alum Jamie Tran’s The Black Sheep and had the poached pear salad and duck confit we would rate 8.5/10 - we also got to meet her as she was working that night and she’s just as sweet and down to earth in person as she is on the show! We walked Fremont St and also did the zip line at night and it was so much fun! After the zip line, we went to Lucky Day Tequila + Mezcal House and Commonwealth Bar. Both were cool spaces, Lucky Day was very loud but I think that’s what the crowd likes late at night. We also lounged in the Flamingo’s adults only pool and it was really really nice, I wished we had gone more times than the one time we had!

The day we headed back home, we stopped at an In N Out - we had to since it’s such an iconic burger joint. It was good, but honestly think it’s a bit over-rated in my opinion.

Our trip to Vegas was awesome - I will definitely go back!

Austin & Houston, TX

Howdy Ya’ll!

The hubs and I traveled to Austin and Houston Texas back in June of 2021 and we had a blast! We started our week in Austin and I’ll admit - it took me a little bit to warm up to the hype of Austin, because I felt like it was pretty similar to Louisville! I did really enjoy all the cactus and succulent plants outside everyone’s lawn. I also really liked all the food trucks Austin had - Louisville could step up their game on that!

Our first day we had dinner at JewBoy Burgers and I had the Thirsty Goat amber ale and the oy vay guey burger and Josh had the JewBoy burger and we shared a side of tots and green chile and cheddar cheese potato latkes. The line was out the door when we got there, and to top it off the owner was running the cash register and was super nice! They had a cool space, and awesome food. I’d rate it a 7/10! We then went to Wonderspaces which is an immersive and interactive art show. It was pretty cool but idk if it was worth the ticket price. We finished the night at PinBallz Arcade and stopped at 4th Tap Brewing as the arcade was BYOB.

Our second day we had breakfast at Mi Madre’s, I had the migas breakfast plate and Josh had the chorizo egg potato taco and the bacon egg potato taco. It was alright, but it wasn’t great, we would rate 5/10. We then went to explore Austin’s Botanical Gardens and loved it! I always love going to botanical gardens, they had several different exhibits throughout the gardens. I had really wanted to go to Austin’s hot springs but unfortunately it had rained too much so they were closed when we were there. So we opted to go shopping instead. We went to Uncommon Objects, Allen’s Boots on Congress Ave (got Josh some real nice boots), Austin’s Gifts, and the Whole Foods flagship store, among other shops on Congress Ave. We also tried Amy’s Ice Cream while out shopping and had their caramel whiskey with pecans and Josh had the Mexican vanilla with cookie dough - both were absolutely delicious! We had some more time to kill so we went to Still Austin Distillery and hung out there for a bit. The space was really cool, gin was good and whiskey was alright - what can I say we are spoiled living in KY! While at Still Austin, we ate at the food truck Bearded Baking Co and had their biscuits and gravy mac n cheese, and grazing board. Both items were very good, I really enjoyed the grazing board because it had savory cheesecake and I’ve never tasted anything like it before. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Little Longhorn Saloon and watching chicken shit bingo. I feel like that is something you only see in Texas. You literally buy tickets and get assigned a space and the chicken pen was numbered with the spaces and wherever the chicken shits is the winner! We ended the evening by attending a concert at Far Out Lounge and I had one of the best Italian sandwiches at Lucky’s food truck.

Monday we started the day at Gourdough’s Donuts and had the cherry bomb donut holes, nutty valentine and the fat Elvis. It was some of the best donuts I ever had - definitely recommend them 10/10! After we explored the Capitol building and the Mexic-art Museum, we had lunch at Banger’s Sausage and Beer Garden we split the boutin balls, cheddar hot link and side of fries. I had the peacemaker and haulin oats beers. Pretty cool place, I’d rate 6.5/10. We then attempted to watch the bats take off near dusk near the bridge - the bats were so tiny I couldn’t really see them but it was definitely a cool experience! We had dinner at Odd Duck and Josh & I really enjoyed it there! I had a super yummy cocktail they called hare of the duck; we had their cornbread, scallops, fried qual, and ended the evening with lemon pound cake and strawberry sorbet - all in all I’d rate 9/10, it was very good! We then ended the evening with having some mezcal at Whistlers. It was a really cool space!

Tuesday was our last full day in Austin and we ended up spending it eating lunch at the famous Franklin BBQ - the pandemic worked in our favor with this one as their dining room was shut down so we got to order online and do curbside pickup (saved us hours waiting in line!). Josh and I had the potato salad, the brisket and the hot sausage link. While the meat was 10/10, I thought their potato salad could’ve been better along with their sauces, I would rate them 8.5/10. I think this is because Lewis BBQ in Charleston spoiled us as Lewis had a really cool space inside and the same meat as the pitmaster trained under Franklin’s pitmaster. Perhaps I would think differently if we got to sit in Franklin’s actual dining space? We then explored a couple of breweries to kill time. We first went to Pint House Brewing and that place was super cool! Good beer too. After that we went to Meanwhile Brewing and it was also a cool place, but fancier, they had a large outdoor area and several food trucks. We then did an AirBnb experience graffiti tour and had a good time with it! We learned a lot from it. We ended the evening with dinner at Clark’s oyster bar. We had 3 different kinds of oysters, 1 from Canada, 1 from Maine, and 1 from Massachusetts they were all good but we liked the Massachusetts one least as it was a bit too grainy for us. We also had the cocktail shrimp, and their catch of the day tile fish with an added potato. The fish was good but bland, but potato was very good. All in all I’d rate them a 6.5/10.

Wednesday we headed to Houston! We ate lunch at Ninfa’s and had their chips & queso, and the Del Mar enchilada. Everything was ok, but I’d rate them a 5/10. I hadn’t realized their specialty was the fajita and if I had, I would’ve tried that because I’m sure that is most likely better. We then went shopping at the Galleria Mall and explored Waterwall Park. We had some time to kill before dinner so we visited Saint Arnold Brewing, not realizing how huge the place was - it was a really cool space! For dinner we had reservations at State of Grace and we loved it there! We had oysters, hush puppies, tagliatelle pasta, and NY strip and fries. My only complaint was that I wish there was not powdered sugar on the hush puppies. The place was really cool decor wise too. I would give them the same rating as Odd Duck - a 9/10.

Thursday we dedicated to Beach Day in Galveston, which is about an hour drive from Houston. We visited the Stewart Beach and had lunch at Shrimp n Stuff, I had fried shrimp and Josh had grilled shrimp, the place was alright but nothing special - rating would be 4/10. We drove around the Strand shopping area in Galveston before heading back to Houston. We had dinner at Nancy’s Hustle and it was an interesting place. We had parmesan and pancetta croquettes, spicy beef and butter dumplings, wood grilled half chicken and carrot cake for dessert. The cocktails we drank were cotton cowboy and sir duke. I’d rate them a 7/10.

Friday was our last day and we spent it by going to the NASA Space Center, and the Holocaust museum. NASA was cool, Josh was really excited about it, but he didn’t realize how many kids would be there so that was a bit of a let down. The holocaust museum was really neat too. We had lunch at La Crawfish and we were disappointed. Josh had the crawfish pho and I had the shrimp poboy, neither were very good with scoring a measly 3/10. We then went to the Scoop Creamery and had ice cream nachos to make up for how bad lunch was and the ‘nachos’ were so yummy! We had more time to kill so we spent it drinking - notice a pattern? Lol! We went to Max’s Wine Dive and Sable Gate Winery, both were cool! We were almost late to our dinner reservations, but we ended with Xochi which specializes in Oaxacan Mexican cooking. We had the robalo crudos, queso de rancho, mole tasting, chamorro de puerco en salsa verde, and finished with churros and chocolate. It was located inside a hotel, and typically restaurants attached to hotels aren’t the best. The place was good, but not as good as some of the other places we went on our trip. I’d rate it a 6.5/10.

All in all we had a wonderful trip and will definitely be back someday! Have you been to Texas? What places did we miss?

Atlanta, GA

Hey there friends!

Josh and I spent a few days in Atlanta to split our drive back from Charleston up, it was a very nice stopping point for us. I picked Atlanta mostly because I have been obsessed with a boutique called Red Dress Boutique who has exploded in popularity online and they have a store front based in Athens which is an hour drive away from Atlanta. Josh and I have also been wanting to check out Atlanta for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so!

We arrived around dinner time and we decided to check out their popular Ponce City Market and grab some dinner there. We stopped at JIA, a Szechuan inspired Chinese cuisine and it was very yummy! We had their fish in chili oil and their fried pork belly although I will say I wish they were both spicier (because that’s what that type of cuisine is supposed to be known for). We would rate them a 7/10. Following that I stopped at Batter Cookie Dough Counter and got their bourbon brown sugar cookie dough and topped it with some caramel bits, it was delicious! We ended the night with a stop to City Winery and ended up staying there a while and eventually got their Burrata and it was really yummy!

The next day was our day to shop, we traveled to Athens where Red Dress Boutique’s store front is. We looked around Athens once I was finished in Red Dress, but honestly there wasn’t a whole lot there so we headed back to Atlanta and did more shopping. I have a separate blog post for where I went shopping and pictures of what I purchased here! We had dinner at one of our favorite Top Chef alum Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant called Gunshow. They have a 10 dish tasting menu that is meant to be shared amongst two people. Some of the dishes were amazing and some were lacking. We would rate it a 6/10.

On our last full day we started with the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. Both places were pretty cool, my personal favorites at World of Coke was the tasting room where you could taste various drinks that are popular from all over the world as well as their mock coke factory where you could see the various machines in action. The Georgia Aquarium was one of the largest I’ve been in and they had some animals I hadn’t seen before including the fat bellied seahorses, I also really enjoyed their Dolphin show as Dolphins are my favorite animal!

We were so hungry after seeing the attractions back to back that we picked somewhere we could walk to and stumbled on this hidden gem called Aviva Mediterranean inside a shopping center, I totally forgot to take any pictures but they were SO yummy! The owner was there and he was such a character, it was nice to see the owner there and interacting with the customers. I’d rate his place a 9/10. We ended our last day with dinner at Umi Sushi. We had their red snapper appetizer, sweet shrimp nigiri, octopus nigiri, tamago, unagi nigiri, wagyu beef nigiri, tuna nigiri, and lastly their crunch lobster box. It sounds like a ton of food but we split all of it and all nigiri were just 2 pieces. I’d rate them an 7.5/10.

The nice thing about driving is you have more leeway with when you leave, so we decided to leave after lunch. The first time we were at Ponce City Market we stumbled across The Splatter Studio and I thought it was so cool I made reservations for Saturday (the day we were leaving). It is what it sounds, you book a time you want to come and you get to splatter a bunch of paint on a canvas. It was a lot of fun! One thing to note is it takes about a week for them to dry, so keep that in mind if you are just visiting Atlanta you’ll have to pay to have them shipped back to your home. After we ate some lunch inside the market again, this time Josh had Botiwalla and I had Minero Mexican. Josh had the lamb boti kabab and I had a steak quesadilla and chips and queso. I would rate Minero a 7/10, it was very good!

That about sums up our experience in Atlanta, we enjoyed our stay here and hope to be back one day! Have you ever been to Atlanta?

Charleston, SC

Hi Friends!

What a year 2020 has been for all of us, we had planned on going to Australia this year but the pandemic had other plans us. Josh and I love to travel each year so this has probably been the longest we had gone without traveling. It had been over a year! I was starting to get really antsy and fed up with being stuck in our home town for too long.

I wanted to plan a trip but didn’t know where, I knew it had to be drivable as we didn’t feel comfortable flying yet with the pandemic still in place. I was stuck on where we should go, Josh was actually the one to suggest Charleston. I researched it and picked a date for us to go!

Charleston is a really cute city, with endless great food options and quite a few beach spots to go to as well. We ended up staying in an Airbnb on the beach of Isle of Palms and it was very nice! We loved being right on the beach. It’s a 9-9.5 hour drive for us from southern Indiana, and we aren’t morning people so we got in around 8 pm.

We started with dinner at The Obstinate Daughter on night 1. We had their geechie frites, Pappardelle pasta, and Rutledge pizza. We thought their pizza was really good and the frites were good, we were a bit disappointed with the pasta, it just didn’t have a fantastic flavor profile. The space itself had a cool vibe, but it was a little difficult to find as it was in a space that had other stores and you had to walk upstairs to find it. Overall I’d rate it a 7/10.

Our first full day we started with seeing The Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. Both were cool places, I recommend seeing if you have time! The Drayton Hall is an 18th century estate that is the nation’s earliest example of Palladian architecture. Shown below are the original blue walls and ceiling that were hand crafted. At Magnolia Plantation & Gardens we toured the main grounds, I don’t believe you can enter their plantation currently. It was a pretty place, but I bet it is even prettier in the spring when the flowers are in bloom. I loved all the moss trees and they had a cool bush maze we went through too!

We ate lunch at the historic 82 Queen Street, it was my favorite restaurant of all the ones we went to! I had their Bloody Mary, and barbeque shrimp and grits. Josh had the crab cake benedict, and we split a bowl of their famous she crab soup (it was my favorite thing we had).

After lunch we had explored The Battery and shopped along King St. The Battery is an extensive row of really pretty mansions, below are a few shots of my favorites. King St is a really cool area of local boutiques and restaurants, I will talk more in depth about what shops I enjoyed and bought stuff at here!

For dinner we went to the award winning Rodney Scott BBQ and split their whole hog, hush puppies, and mac n cheese. Rodney Scott BBQ is known for smoking it whole hog and serving Carolina style. Josh was looking forward to this so much, we were both a tad disappointed. I guess you can call us BBQ snobs, it just wasn’t that exciting but it was good! I’d rate it a 6/10. After we ate dinner we explored some of Charleston’s breweries and they did not disappoint! We went to Palmetto Brewery, Revelry Brewing, and finished at Holy City Brewing. Revelry had super cute balcony seating and Holy City had the best loaded fries I’ve had in a long time! I guess Josh and I were so hungry that we forgot to snap a photo of said fries.

Monday we hung out on Isle of Palms Beach which is where we stayed. It was nice and sunny, Josh and I stayed there until lunch time. For lunch we just went somewhere we could walk to and that would also not take much time as we had a sunset sail tour to go to at 4. We ate at Acme Kitchen and I had their whistle top shrimp and grits with fried green tomatoes, and Josh had their fish catch of the day sandwich. Place was okay, about what we expected. I’d rate it a 5/10.

The sailing tour we did through Charleston Harbor Tours and it was amazing! It was actually REALLY windy at the time so it worked out perfectly for the sails. We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we checked out Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co and they had a really cool outdoor seating area and great beer! Highly recommend! We ended the night with dinner at Husk. At Husk we started with their house cured meats charcuterie board and then split their catfish and ended with apple pie. Husk was good, we would go back for sure! My personal favorite was the apple pie. I’d rate them a 7/10.

Tuesday we visited Folly Beach as it was one of the highest rated beaches on the internet in Charleston but honestly we preferred Isle of Palms beach. Folly felt too touristy for us, it definitely had all the souvenir shops and family friendly restaurants. We did find a light house on Folly Beach though! For lunch we ended up going to Lewis BBQ. When I was doing my initial restaurant research the highest rated were Lewis and Rodney Scott, I didn’t want to eat at 2 BBQ places in a few days time so Josh and I had narrowed it down to Rodney Scott because of the Carolina style BBQ for something different. Well we talked to the locals in passing at shops and other restaurants and they all told us to try Lewis, so we did and we are SO glad we did! It had such a cool indoor and outdoor space and was hands down the best BBQ we have ever had!! We had time to spare before our dinner reservations so we killed time at Wine and Company and happened to walk into their special wine tasting night and got to taste 5 wines for the SUPER cheap price of $10 a person! It was such a fun experience. We ended our final night in Charleston at Darling Oyster Bar and we both tried raw oysters for the first time and definitely understand what all the hype of oysters are now! They are SO delicious! We also had their blue crab tagliatelle.

Well ya’ll, that concludes our trip to Charleston. We absolutely loved every second of it and all that Charleston has to offer. We will for sure be back! Have you ever been to Charleston? What did you love?

Canada - September 2019

Hey there, Darlings!

Towards the end of September this year Josh and I along with my mom went to explore Canada! It was my mom’s first time out of the states in a long time, so it was exciting. We went to Quebec City, Toronto, and Banff. We were there for a week, and wished we could have been there longer!

Here’s a recap of our travels in Canada (photos are below):

We were in Quebec City from Saturday to Tuesday morning. We were all a bit shocked at how hilly the city was, which made navigating a bit cumbersome sometimes. We were also surprised to find out that English was the second language in Quebec City and French was the first. Some of my favorite things included exploring the Saint Roche Neighborhood, eating at a Japanese Izakaya, seeing the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac (as known as the Castle Hotel), and taking a boat ride around the island.

We were in Toronto from Tuesday to Thursday morning and we saw a ton of museums. Some of my favorite things in Toronto included the Bata Shoe Museum, Ripley’s Aquarium (the largest in Canada), and eating at Kojin restaurant.

We finished our trip by visiting Banff and I have to say it’s the prettiest place I’ve ever seen. We were there from Thursday morning to Saturday morning and I wished we would have been able to stay in this gorgeous place longer. My favorite things in Banff included seeing all the lakes and mountains, riding up to the top of a mountain and taking in the views, and eating at a very yummy Bison Restaurant.

Weekend in Indianapolis

Hey Darlings!

The hubs and I decided to get a way for a weekend trip to Indianapolis, because why not? Indy has a really great food scene going, so we spent most of our time checking out different restaurants. A lot of our plans didn’t go as planned on the items that were not food focused, we tried to go to the Indy food market and they were ‘open’ but most things were closed after lunch time so we didn't get to explore in there. We also went to the Fashion Mall so I could mainly go look at the Chanel purses inside of Saks 5th Avenue, only to realize they took out the Chanel mini store. I was quite bummed! We did get to explore one of Indy’s downtown malls and around the fountain square area and had fun doing that!

The places we ate were: Tinker Street, Milktooth, Bru Burger Bar, Sun King Brewery, Salt on Mass, King Dough Pizza. I’ll be talking about each of them in more detail below.

TInker Street

Tinker St was our first restaurant of the bunch, we went on a Friday night and they had the perfect outdoor space. The food was great too, their food offerings were kind of random, but we enjoyed what we got! We started with the chicken and waffles and they were good, the waffle was a little soggy but it was still good. We had their beet-walnut pesto spaghetti and it was super yummy!! We ended the evening with a suggestion from our waitress, their ricotta doughnuts and they did not disappoint! We would go again if we are in the area. Overall I’d rate them a 8/10.

Milktooth

We tried out Milktooth for brunch on Saturday, and they do not take reservations so we were a little leery of how crowded it would be because Milktooth has been getting fantastic reviews! The wait wasn’t bad, we probably waited about 20 minutes. I of course had to try their bloody mary and it was quite expensive and disappointing to be honest. It did not come with any toppings or olives, what is the fun in that? And the actual bloody mary wasn’t all that great or flavorful. I got their sourdough pearl sugar waffle that had
sweet cherry compote, salted honey corn butter, graham cracker crumble, and powdered sugar. Josh got their fried swiss cheese polenta cake with sunny egg horseradish sauce, celery, pickled knotweed, cashew, and pesto. The food was great, but the cocktail was not worth the money. All in all, I’d rate them a 6/10.

Bru Burger Bar

We honestly were not planning on going to Bru Burger Bar, but we were hungry and had 3-4 hours before our dinner reservation so we needed to eat something and wanted something close to Sun King Brewery (it was our next destination). Bru Burger Bar is a regional chain, and they had decent food but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to eat there again. We had their beer cheese and pretzel to start, and then we split their signature Bru Burger, it was good but nothing really stood out. Burgers can also be hard on my stomach (go figure).

Sun King Brewery

When we got to Sun King, we were super bummed to discover that they partner with a salumi, cheese, and sausage restaurant. We had thought they didn’t have food, which is why we ate at Bru Burger. Sun King was a pretty cool place, and we opted to do a flight of beers and really enjoyed their beer!

Salt on Mass

We had originally intended on trying a different restaurant, but they had called to tell us they were closed for a private event on the day we wanted so we had to pick something different. We needed a place that took reservations because we had an event to go to after our meal so I opted for Salt on Mass. They had a super pretty restaurant inside, I loved the beach house vibes and decor. The food wasn’t all that great, especially given the price range. They are all about fresh seafood, and make it known that they do not have any freezers in their restaurant, which is cool and all, but if you want to specialize in only seafood, you need to have some great seafood! We started with a sashimi course and the fish was cut way too big, perhaps Japan spoiled us in this category because no one can do Sashimi as well as Japan. We had a wedge salad to follow, and it was good, but wedge salads are not difficult to make. We had their special that night which was red snapper and we paired it with their parmesan risotto. The fish was merely grilled and seared, no sauce no seasoning, nothing! The risotto was good but the fish was bland and we paid $32 for it. Josh had a mezcal cocktail and it was pretty decent. All in all, I’d probably rate it a 4/10. The best thing there was the decor and the atmosphere. The pricing and the food we got was way off.

King Dough Pizza

On Sunday we opted to go to this pizza place that was super close to our AirBnb, and it was pretty good! We got their bread and butter as an appetizer and it was pretty good, the bread was good and the butter was nice and easy to dip with good flavor. We tried their destroyer pizza which contained red sauce, mozzarella, rosemary, basil, garlic, goat cheese, sausage, and hot honey. The pizza itself was way overly greasy and very floppy, but the flavor was good. I’m guessing because of how greasy it was, it messed with my stomach but I genuinely did enjoy the flavor it gave. I would go back to it, if we are in the area. I’d rate King Dough a 6/10.

Overall we had a good time in Indy, and we left feeling well rested and I’m glad we took the trip.

Japan - April 2019

Kon'nichiwa Darlings! 

Hubby and I went to Japan at the beginning of April to see the cherry blossoms in bloom, and we had such a great time!! We went to see Tokyo, Kyoto, and Sapporo and stayed for a week and a half. We would have loved to stay for longer, but I didn’t have a lot of PTO time to use unfortunately. A lot of people always ask me the question, “how is it traveling to a different country and not speaking the language?!” I think people underestimate the art of pointing to what you want as well as learning ‘hello, thank you, and yes’ lol!

Here’s a recap of our Japan travels:

We spent the weekend in Tokyo and had a great time, it didn’t take us long to adjust to their time schedule thankfully! My favorite things were: watching Sumo wrestlers at a practice, sushi tasting menu, Robot Restaurant show, seeing the beautiful cherry blossoms, and getting to hold an owl at one of Tokyo’s owl cafes! Scroll down for some fun pics!

We spent a few days in Kyoto, and I wished that we would have allowed ourselves to spend more time here, it was probably our favorite city we got to visit! My favorite things were: tea ceremony, eating at one of the beautiful kaiseki restaurants called Hyotei, going to a pottery class, and seeing the gold-leaf temple.

We spent the most time in Sapporo, and if I could have redone the trip I would have spent the least amount of time in Sapporo just because there wasn’t as much to do here than in the other cities. Their food sure didn’t disappoint though! Some of my favorite things in Sapporo included: visiting the historical village of Hokkaido, beer museum and unlimited Genghis Khan, having the best ramen I’ve ever had, dressing up in a kimono and having tea with some locals, and having the best steak I will probably ever have in my life!

Japan was such a fun trip, I highly suggest going if you have the chance!