Hittin’ The Texas Roads (Part I)

Before I tell y’all (ok, so I tried to pull of a Texas accent) about my trip down south, I first need to introduce you to my newest addition.

Yes folks, that’s a beautiful Canon Rebel XS camera—my dreams officially came true this past Christmas. Thanks mom and dad! So of course Ms.Canon got put to work this past week as I toured Texas for the first time. And my Casio digital camera has officially filed for retirement.

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My gram and I left for Texas last Thursday. What seemed like a start to a nightmare (delayed flights, 4 hour bus ride, 6 hours layover in Minneapolis airport), finally led to waking up to some Texas sunshine Friday morning.

I thought it was so weird to see everything still decorated for Christmas minus the snow. Is it just me, or does Christmas just need snow?

Downtown Austin

I think I mentioned this before, but my cousin is opening up a bistro in downtown Austin on 6th street, so this trip was highly anticipated for me—I knew it would be a lot of things food related! She is starting from scratch in an old historical building.

It’s going to focus highly on brunch, appetizers, and a wide variety of wine. She is also renting out the bottom half for test kitchen needs! She plans to open in April..I can’t wait to see how it goes!

 

Starting a restaurant from scratch is no easy feat. I realized this as we paged through plans, forms, and more plans!

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Then my cousin knew I’d jump at the chance to visit the HUGE Whole Foods. When I say huge, I am not exaggerating! We spent at least two hours browsing, admiring,  and of course eating at the famous hot bar.

Throughout our browsing, I bought this gorgeous kabocha squash..

I admired the gorgeous bakery displays..

 

And after working up an appetite walking around, we ate at the hot bar.

Check out the gigantic salad bar!

 

Glorious grilled salmon!

Grilled salmon, grilled squash, sautéed broccoli. So fresh & delicious!

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And of course, a day spent traveling is not complete without some shopping. This was on the top of my list!

The All in One Bakeshop is  the largest cake supply store in Central Texas. I had a few things I’ve been looking for, so I figured this would be the spot! It was a baker’s delight!

Cupcake toppers galore!

Every birthday theme imaginable!

Cookie cutters anyone??

Sprinkles, glitter, flavoring & more!

If you are ever in the Austin area, make sure to pay the All in One Bake Shop a visit! :-)

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And other must when I travel?

 Self-serve frozen yogurt places of course!

Being that Minnesota has virtually none, I cram as many in as possible when I am in states that do!

The Yogurt Spot happened to pop up first on the GPS, so off we went!

16 flavors of pure goodness—so hard to choose.

After much debate, I decided on two kinds—cheesecake and pumpkin with some crushed grahams and a few strawberries thrown into the mix! Amazing!

Had to get the classic fro-yo shot!

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And then it was time to call it a night!

**Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 of my trip!**

Have you been to Texas? If yes, what did you do? If you haven’t, would you like to visit sometime?

Whole Lotta Whole

So like I said yesterday, my second day in Minneapolis was full of fun stuff, but I saved one last stop to share today.

Whole Foods of course! This is my 2nd time there—so Trader Joe’s and WF’s all in one day—good food overload alert!

I actually didn’t buy any groceries because I got plenty at TJ’s, but I did pay a visit the the hot bar which always gets rave reviews. I picked a little of a lot of things!

I got some jimaca coleslaw which was marinated in vinegar and had a nice twang to it! I got some grilled pineapple—sweet and savory! Then some roasted fennel and carrots—love fennel! Some kind of cauliflower, marinated artichokes, and a tofu salad, which I am not a huge tofu fan, but it wasn’t bad. Do you have a WF’s hot bar fav?

By the way, I tried the TJ’s Mini Cinnamon Raisin Bagels and they were awesome!! Not really mini, but the raisins were plump and chewy, and the cinnamon was definitely apparent. Plus they were super cheap—I should have bought 2 packages since they can be frozen.

 

Recently, I had been searching online for a new lunch bag for the upcoming college year. Since I won’t have a meal plan, I will be packing lunches to save on money.(And I wasn’t a fan of “cafeteria” food anyway) But before I bought one online and paid for shipping, etc. I decided to check stores around here. Luckily I found one I loved at Target! It looks like a purse instead of a standard lunch bag. Check it out—>

Nice, huh? Even better than the style? The price! Only $9.99! It fits everything nicely, so if you’re in the market for a new bag, head to Target in the camping/outdoors department.

Come back for a trip to the jungle tomorrow! ;-)

I’m Back..With Food of Course!

Wow; what a fun little jaunt to Minneapolis—just what I needed before I get dragged down by the college life in just a short week! I have a lot of stuff to share, so I will keep the chat to a minimum and the pictures to the max! Hope you enjoy my recap as much as I enjoyed my time :-)

We (my lovely grandma and I) started out Wednesday morning and made the four hour drive to the Mall of America (check out my last trip to MOA here.) Once we arrived, I was more than ready to scour the stores, but first I needed to quell my growling belly! What did I choose amidst millions of choices? Something that I love, but don’t have in my area of course!  

I chose the new Freshside Grille meal from Long John Silver's. It came with fresh grilled tilapia, half of a corn on the cob, and a vegetable blend that was lightly seasoned. It was a nice meal that didn’t weigh you down to shop, so light in fact that I split a broccoli stuffed baked potato from The Steak and Potato restaurant with my grandma. I love food courts because then you can create endless meals. What’s your favorite food court option?

Shopped, shopped, and shopped some more—I think we did a tad of retail damage!

Thursday we woke up and I had a anticipated mission—my very first trip to Trader Joe’s; exciting right?!

Minnesota only has 4 in the metro area. I was anxious to see if all the good vibes TJ’s gets was true—it was amazing! Cheap, variety, and good food—everything a foodie could ask for under one roof! Obviously I bought some good stuff.

Lots of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (it’s 1/2 the price there vs. what I pay here!), more No Pudge Fudge brownie mix (review here), some new bars, mini vanilla meringues, some Garden Patch Veggie soup, also not pictured some Chicken-less BBQ Pulled Chicken and a bag of TJ’s Kettle Corn.

Some TJ’s mini cinnamon raisin bagels and mini original bagels. Then some of their heavenly looking French rolls!

Some European style Mocha coffee flavored yogurt. (Yes mom I bought you one for when you come visit!)

And I was uber excited to find this..

SUSHI!! If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile I am sure you remember my complaints about never being able to try this because it is no where near me! Verdict? I am in love, so looks like I will have to learn to make my own!

And of course a rockin’ TJ’s reusable bag—for 0.99!

I have another surprise place I went on this trip too, so stay tuned for tomorrow. Also tomorrow: food reviews. :-)