Botanic Garden & Terra Mediterranean

Finally, time to post!  I've been so busy with real life the past couple weeks, I haven't had much spare time.  That, and my internet has been working sporadically at best.  It is supposed to be fixed this afternoon.  Keep your fingers crossed!  

I had family visiting from Kentucky last week, so I had to get out of the house and show them some of Fort Worth.  I really haven't seen much beyond a five-mile radius from my house, so it was a good experience for me too. 

On Monday we ate lunch at Terra Mediterranean Grill.  They only offer a buffet at lunch, but you order from a menu at dinner.  The hostesses were less than friendly, so I had my doubts about eating there.  I can't stand walking into a restaurant and the hostess acts like you're not good enough to eat in their establishment.  They even seated us in a room separate from the other diners.  I honestly think it was because of Levi (I only saw one other child in the place, and that family was seated as far in the back as you could get without being in the separate room). 

The food was really good though, and fresh food was constantly set out.  The lady who refilled our drinks was nice, which somewhat made up for the hostesses' attitudes.  She seemed to forget about us, though that's not surprising since we were in a little room by ourselves.  The zattar bread was awesome.  I could have eaten the bread with hummus all day.  I also had pasta salad, kafta kabobs, falafel, stuffed grape leaves, and some other things that weren't labeled so I have no clue what they were.  I liked everything except the grape leaves. They don't serve dessert, which was a little disappointing.  I would have loved some baklava.  

Josh wasn't with us, and I'd like for him to try the lunch buffet. But I will be reluctant to go back because of  the less-than-stellar welcome.  

After lunch, we visited the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.  It is absolutely beautiful!  I can't imagine the work it must take to maintain gardens in this weather.  General admission is free, but you do have to pay to enter the Japanese Garden and Conservatory. We didn't get to explore the whole park because of the heat, but I plan to go back some day when it's not 104 degrees.  

They have amazing water features including ponds, streams, and fountains.  They also have turtles and koi.  Some of the koi had to be at least 3 feet long.  You can pay 25¢ for food to feed the koi.  The turtles must be fed pretty often too, because they came up to the bank to look at us.  

One thing I didn't like--and I probably wouldn't have noticed had my grandmother not been with us--was the stairs.  She's 76 years old and can't climb stairs.  I know she would have loved to look around more, but there were very few places she could walk.  She was able to see very little of the rose garden (there's an overlook with ramps).  She didn't even go in the Japanese Garden with us, which was a good thing.  There were so many stairs and steeply curved bridges that she wouldn't have been able to access much at all.  When I visit again, I'll be sure to find out if other areas are more accessible.

It's been a long week!

It's been such a busy week in our household, I haven't had much time to post.  Josh has been managing two stores, Levi's had soccer camp, and I'm trying to finish up my work so I can look for a new job.  Oh, and there was one night our oven wasn't working when I had already planned on cooking!  Our food this week has mostly consisted of home-cooked meals, and I didn't take many pictures to share.

Tuesday night we had grilled pork chops, collard greens, and rice.  It was the first time I'd cooked or eaten collard greens, so I was a little worried.  They were actually pretty good! I'm definitely going to make them again sometime, and I've included my recipe further down in this post.  Josh marinated the pork chops in Soy Vay Island Teriyaki then grilled them.  Levi didn't like them at all.  I think the marinade would have been really good on chicken or beef kabobs.  

Thursday night we ate at Hooters in North Richland Hills.  Josh loves chicken wings... I don't.  So Wing Stop is a definite "no" on my list.  Buffalo Wild Wings is just OK (I'll eat there, but they don't have anything that I think is great).  But the fried pickles at Hooters are really good, and Levi won't eat them at most other places.  Josh had wings (of course).  Levi had fish and chips (he like them, but I didn't).  I had crab legs!  That's a strange thing to eat at Hooters, and I was surprised to even see them on the menu when we first ate there a few months ago.  I was even more surprised at how good they were!  So last night I was still hungry after eating my meal and ordered more.  

Crab legs are my absolute favorite food, and I will eat them any chance I get.  Except at Red Lobster...  one day I sent them back twice and still was served crab that was so dry, rubbery, and yellow (gross!) that I wouldn't eat it.  You'd think the chef at a seafood restaurant would know how to steam crab legs. Apparently not.  

Today for lunch we ate at Deb & Steve's Cafe in Southlake.  Josh had a Ruben, Levi had ziti with marinara sauce, and I had a chicken salad sandwich with onion rings.  All of our food was pretty tasty, but I think I like their breakfast better.  Their biscuits and gravy are awesome.

Collard Greens

6 slices of bacon
1/2 large onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 bunches collard greens (about 1 1/2 lbs)
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Wash the collard greens and remove the stems/ribs.  Chop the greens into one-inch strips.

Fry the bacon in a large pot until crisp, then remove the bacon and set it aside.  Sauté the onion and garlic in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes.  Add chicken stock (I actually used water and 1 tub Knorr Homestyle chicken stock), salt, pepper, brown sugar, pepper flakes, vinegar then stir.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, then cover and cook on low for about one hour.

Coal Vines

I didn't blog yesterday because I fixed chili for dinner... from a kit. Yes, I was lazy.  I have a lot of those nights, especially when Josh has to work late.  But tonight it was Coal Vines, a pizza and wine bar in Southlake.  It's by Central Market (which we love!) so we've seen it a few times, but always had groceries we needed to take home.

The dining area is small, intimate, with nice decor, candles and "hunormous" mirrors on one wall -- another Levi word.  The opposite wall was filled with wine bottles.  I really liked their music.  It ranged from Frank Sinatra to Kings of Leon to Colby Caillat.  The lighting was low, which was great was for atmosphere but not so much for taking pictures.  I'm sorry they're not the best quality.  Levi also took one of them (the slice of pepperoni pizza below) but I don't think it would have looked any better if I'd taken it.

On Thursday nights, bottles of wine are half-price!  Josh didn't want wine, a single glass cost almost as much as a bottle, and I didn't need an entire bottle all to myself.  So no wine tonight.  But maybe another time, like if we ever get to have a date night.  This would be a great place for date night.  

We started with an order of bruschetta.  It was okay, but the toast was a little overdone.  We couldn't decide on one type of pizza, so we did half Caprese and half pepperoni.  It was amazing, especially the Caprese.  I don't like much tomato sauce on my pizza.  This had sliced tomatoes instead of sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, and was drizzled with a balsamic glaze.  I can't decide whether or not this was better than Aleda's, another pizza place in Southlake that I'll have to write about sometime.

Thai Tuesday

Today I had my first experience with Thai food, and I must say it was awesome!  We had lunch at Sweet Basil Thai near Northeast Mall in Hurst, TX.  It doesn't look very impressive from the outside, but sometimes those are the best places to eat.  The service was great.  Our glasses were never empty (I hate waiting for refills) and the staff was incredibly friendly.  The three of us shared an order of egg rolls, which were among the best I've ever eaten. 

I ordered the pumpkin curry chicken, one of today's lunch specials, with a house salad.  The salad was very fresh, with what I think was a peanut and ginger dressing - very tasty.  The curry was a little too spicy for my taste (I'm a bit of a wimp) but the flavor was so wonderful I ate as much as I could. It did come with steamed rice, which helped to cool the burn between bites of the main dish.  I think this was the first time I've eaten pumpkin, other than in a pie or bread.  A day of firsts for me!

Josh had their panang curry with chicken and soup.  I don't know what the soup was called, but it tasted really good.  And it had just the right amount of spice for me.   I was afraid to taste his chicken, as the whole dish was covered in red pepper flakes (he ordered it hot).  Josh says it had good flavor and depth, and the spiciness was just right for him.  His only complaint was that the green beans could have been cooked just a little longer. 

Their kids menu is very limited (choice of chicken tenders and fries or fried rice) but I guess that's understandable.  Most kids aren't as willing to try new foods as Levi.  He chose chicken fried rice and really enjoyed it.  It was, in his words, "egg-tastic."  He also loved that they garnished the dish with veggies, but didn't care for the red cabbage. 

One other thing I have to mention is their iced tea.  It was great!  It definitely wasn't your regular ol' Lipton tea.  Sadly, I forgot to ask our server what it was.  Maybe jasmine?  I'll try to ask next time, because this is a place I definitely want to try again.

Egg Rolls

Chicken Fried Rice

Panang Curry Chicken

Pumpkin Curry Chicken