Tia Tuesdays

Tia Tuesday should be a weekly thing, I think.

 

There's a "new to me" restaurant downtown, Tia Juanita's. I have been roughly 74 times since I found out about it though. I keep hoping the next time I go, I will find out they're ready to serve brunch!

The style is quite off the wall and unique! I love the ceiling and blue wall if I do say so myself.

 

Karla got the shrimp tacos.

 

The salsa threw her into hysterics. I almost floated off of my chair from the flood of tears. I think it caught her in the back of the throat, but catch it on your tongue and the flavors will make you want to salsa.

I had the shrimp bread bowl which was cheesy and shrimpy goodness.

I think had we gotten there a second later, there wouldn't have been a place to sit. The place is always packed!

We ate until there wasn't any room left and decided to take a stroll by the water to walk off our lunch! It was a beautiful day.

On that note, have a firey day (from Karla's hair to yours)!

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Well, Happy New Year! I've been working but being out of school has been quite joyous. I got a Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer for Christmas and I have been itching to use it! I knew the first thing I was going to make in it was brioche bread. I made it last Christmas by hand and about every recipe I read said that to make the perfect brioche you must use a stand mixer. My bread was quite dense last time so I didn't make it again until last night. I used a recipe I found on Pinterest.

But what's with my title, you ask? Well, the color of the bread isn't the issue. I like just about all things in life uncooked. Bread, cookies, cakes, biscuits... well, maybe just bread products. Bring me a moo-ing steak and that's a no. The problem is her Majesty (me) forgot to add the butter to the bread dough until I had already beat the living yeast out of the stuff. So basically it was doomed from the beginning. I figured it shouldn't have made too much of a difference. Lol.

The bread has roughly the same texture as couch foam. There is no light airy brioche texture at all. Also, I was at church during the baking process and I left Mom in charge. She followed my directions but unfortunately I wasn't home to make the judgment call that my uncooked bread literally wasn't finished cooking. There was still a rather large raw portion which I didn't know until I cut into the other butt.

Things went awry, but I'll give it another try. I knead more practice.

Also, don't you love little brothers who don't understand the life of a blogger with one reader? They just don't know what it's like trying to get "the shot".

^Screen-shat from my brother's snapchat.

Vintage Girl

 

Today Mumzy and I took our umbrellas a few towns over to visit a little shop, Vintage Girl.

 

 

 

They had quite a mix of old and new!

 

 

 

Mom got her FLORAL PRINTS which will be going somewhere that is not my bedroom...

 

 

I got this little gem of a necklace. It's a hologram! I've never seen such a thing, can't really tell what the hologram is, but can't wait to wear it.

 

Cheers! We got these glasses, too.

 

 

What nice earrings you have! We basically got these too.

 

 

I got to bust out my new rainboots! Finally an upgrade from horrendous brown with polka-dots. I like how these are more of a "rainbootie" if you will, because I have tremendous difficulty lugging around a giant thigh high rubber shoe.

 

After working up quite an appetite, we headed to Cecil's Cajun Kitchen. To start: fried pickles!

 

 

Obviously, worried about bikini season, we chased those down with tilapia topped with crab sauce, and a burger with fried jalapenos...

 

 

I think it's time for a nap!

Black Tulips

It's finally October which means pumpkins and colorful leaves, but there aren't many tulips to be found.

Thankfully I have two-lips, and you do too!

I've become quite fascinated with black lipstick. I think it can look very edgy and cool rather than gothic. But hey, gothic is great too.

I paired a deep plum lip liner with the "Fergie" Wet n Wild lipstick in Pagan Angel.

I'm so excited for Halloween! What are you going to be? It'll be here before we know it!

Buns & Donuts

I usually like to exercise at the gym... but I've gotten a bit burnt out. I decided to switch things up and exercise at the park with my friend Lexi. Silly me didn't take into account that the temperature is such that even a cactus would get too hot.

*Please exercise outside when temperatures are pleasant, or else you will have to cut your workout short like we did!

Today we decided to work our buns and thighs. We started with a brisk walk around the park and a few jumping jacks, then we got started with...

1. Squats.

 

I love squats! They really can kick your butt (literally) even if you have no added weight. I make sure to keep my chest up and pretend like I'm going to take a seat.

2. Plié Squats.

 This is a regular squat but with a wider stance, you know, like a ballerina. Great for targeting the inner thighs.

3. Lunges.

Walking lunges are so tough! We like to take it slow so that we can keep our balance and really feel the burn.

4. "Hop-Hop-Touch"

 

This exercise is SO fun! You start in a standing position. Take two giant leaps to the right. Squat and touch the ground. Then repeat on the left!

 

I know, it's tough to be so graceful, right?

 

Let me introduce you to this beauty, my Polar FT4 heart rate monitor.

 

 

 I love it! I wear a chest strap under my clothes which sends signals to my watch. It tells me my current heart rate, if I'm in "the zone", my calories burned, the current time, and how long I've been working out. The super cool part is that it stores all this information in the watch!

After working out so, so hard, it was only fitting that we try out a new little coffee & donut shop: CC's and Glazed.

We got iced coffee - I had an éclair donut and Lexi had simple chocolate. I didn't put my donut down until it was gone... so... it was really amazing.

A Day in Paris

 

 

Paris...

 

Something about the Eiffel Tower just makes me feel at home. Maybe it was all those French classes, my love of French cuisine... or maybe the fact that my name is "Remi" and my ancestors are from France... some things we'll never know.

 

I went to Paris in prime-time tourist season, so there were swarms of people everywhere. Like termites! I just wanted to flick them all away! Uh, could I just get a picture without you in the background, sir?

 

Spring and I woke up at the crack of dawn to start our journey over to "Zee Paree." Check out this system... We drove to a metro station, got on the metro, switched metros, got to the train station, took the train, got off the train, took another metro, then got on the Hop On Hop Off bus. Hello transportation! I'm so proud of us, though. We managed just fine!

 

Notre Dame

On the bus!

Spring being a silly bean!

3 cheese fondue for lunch

...and crêpes for dessert!