Arizona Eats :)

When ever I go home, or anywhere for that matter, my trip is planned around food. I have always loved food! I go to bed dreaming about food, and wake up wondering what I am going to eat :) When I was in Arizona, there were a few food places I wanted to try, and to also make sure I ate at a few of my favorite places too! The tacos above are from a new place that opened up on Gilbert called Joyride Taco House. I thought the restaurant was lovely, had super comfy chairs, fun colors and decor. The sad part was, the food looked beautiful, but wasn't my favorite. I don't know if it was the flavor combo, or what, but sadly I didn't like it. My friend who was there with me didn't love it either :( We'll have to try it again though and see if we ordered the wrong thing!

One of my favorites when I go home is Nielsens Frozen Custard. The turkey grinder sandwich and the french fries with fry sauce are divine! Not to mention the custard is pretty dang good too!

I normally don't like nuts on my ice cream, but I always get almonds on my chocolate custard ever since I was little.  It's one of my favorite summer-time treats at Nielsens.

Native New Yorker is also a favorite of mine. It's a must go to for me. I don't know why I love it so much, maybe its the memories, or the fact I am obsessed with chicken wings, but I LOVE it there!

 Hot wings and french fries! Some of my favorites!

A trip home is not complete without some cookies from Sweet Cakes! I also love to eat there, but the sugar cookies....wowzers, are they good! I always stop by several times during my visits home for some sugar cookies, and some to bring home ;)

I got to go on a lunch date with one of my best friends from high school, Scarlett.  We met at a cute sushi restaurant in Mesa called Got Sushi.  I loved that they had a lunch special and lots of fun rolls to pick from.

Volcano Roll

This Chelsea salad and Margarita pizza from NYPD Pizza were to die for.  A medium pizza was more than enough to feed three!

My mom and I got to eat at a new Indian restaurant near our cabin called the Taj Mahal.  The food and service was great but sadly we had to pay for the rice.  Next time we'll remember to eat the lunch buffet instead.  Rice and curry proportions are always important.

Jake and I got to eat at one of our favorite Indian food places in AZ called India Oven.  They have a scrumptious buffet.  Jake's favorite is the unlimited mango lassi (a smooth yogurt drink).

Yum!  Nielsen's Frozen Custard!!!  This one was a reese's peanut-butter-cup mix!

 I also got to go to In N Out with my cute parents. We always love a good burger!

We had several family party's while at home, and at one of them my brother in law made the most amazing coconut shrimp with a mango habanero dipping sauce! Oh yum!

Lastly on the drive back to Utah, we stopped for a break in the middle of nowhere for a delicious slice of coconut cream pie (they were all out of chocolate!).

a new eating out fav

Jake and I have heard great things about Black Sheep Cafe and have been wanting to go! We got to go on a double date with my friend Sasha and her husband Lehi! It was so fun! Jake and I hardly ever go on double dates and it was super fun! I loved everything we ordered to eat, and I could not help but look at other's plates of food around the restaurant and have plate envy! I wanted to eat it all, so we will have to go back for sure real soon! On a side note though, if you ever go eat here, plan on waiting a few hours for food! We were there from 7:15 to 10:00... Good thing we were in good company! I would say the food is worth the wait! I am sure if you skipped the dessert, you could take an hour of time off that too! I would highly recommend making reservations before going! They have one long table to eat at and a few small tables, so if you don't want to share a table, call in ahead and ask for your own table :) But it could be really fun eating communal style and meeting some new friends! 

Jake and I ordered  the Blue Burger and a side of Sweet Potato Fries and Street Corn. The burger was delicious  Not a heavy burger and very tasty. If you are scared of blue cheese, don't be with this burger! I didn't even taste any!  We loved it! The fries were great and didn't need a sauce. They were thicker than an average fry, but thinner than a fat fry. I liked them! The street corn was good to try, but I wouldn't order it again. I am not a big corn on the cob person but for some reason I really wanted to try it! haha

We also got the Cactus Pear Lemonade! Oh wow, that was my favorite thing of the entire meal! It was only $5.00 and came in a huge bottle, enough for 4+ glasses of drinks! We drank it up so quickly, we loved it! It's a hand squeezed lemonade with prickly pear puree! Oh sooo good! I highly recommend trying it if you ever get a chance!

Sasha ordered the Green Chile Stew with Fry Bread, and holy cow...it was amazing! I LOVED it! I am for sure ordering that, or the Indian Fry bread meal next time! 

For dessert I got the brownie. It was more cake like to me with the dense brownie taste. I liked it.

Jake got the Creme Brulee with a hint of habanero. He really liked it! Sasha loves the Creme Brulee here too. She said its on her top 5 Creme Brulee spots! Can't wait to go back again and try more yummy food!

Since I got this post ready, Jake and I have gone back to Black Sheep Cafe!  I got the green chili pork salad with a side of fry bread! Wow, the potatoes and corn in the soup make it! The flavor is fantastic and perfect for a cold day or summer afternoon.

Jake got the Hog Jowl Tacos for his entree. The meat was super tender and juicy! I tried one and really liked it. It was heavy though, and I couldn't eat more than one.

Polka Dots and Kate Middleton

A few weeks ago Jake and I were in Vegas and got to go shopping! I found this cute polka dress at Topshop and was super excited about it! I was trying to find a link to this dress and could not find one anywhere! I was surprised because its new and it was no where to be found! Well I found out why! The beautiful Kate Middleton wore this dress recently and it sold out!! How cool is that?! I thought the article was kind of neat, so HERE is a link to it if you want to check it out and see how Kate wears the dress to! I guess thats kind of fun to think Kate Middleton and I have the same dress :) She wears it so well and looks adorable!

Can you tell I was surprised at Jake jumping? haha

Hers- Dress: Topshop (sold out! Similar here, here) | Leggings: BP | Belt: Target | Shoes: Sam Edelman (similar here) | Sunglasses: Prada

His - Shirt: Jcrew | Jeans: All Saints | Shoes: Converse | Watch: Nixon Rerun (loving this style)

Last night I got to join a few ladies at Pizzeria 712 for some pizza, chatting, and saying goodbye to Elisabeth as she moves to Ohio. I got a tomato basil pizza and loved it!  Jake was so cute and wanted to come along, so he hung out in the car and waited for me as I hung out with friends. He read some of his book and went on a walk. He also stopped at The Chocolate to get us some yummy cookies! Hes the best! I love sugar cookies from The Chocolate! 

Brooke, Myself, Elisabeth, Alycia, Aimee, Kirsten

NYC Eats!!!

One thing I loved about going to NYC with Jamie, was we both had the same mind set....."what can we eat?!" We had so much fun trying new places, going to some favorite spots and just eating in general! It made the trip so much fun! Jamie and I had both taken a red eye flight into the JFK airport, took a taxi cab, and checked into the Trump hotel! The hotel was so nice and let us check in early! It was great! We got to freshen up, sit down and plan our first food stop! We headed to Doughnut Plant. I have heard amazing things about these doughnuts and was quite excited to try them!

Vanilla Bean Jam Filled | Peanut Butter and Jelly Filled | Coconut Cream Filled |
Valrhona Chocolate Yeast | Wild Blue Berry Cake

Our next stop was for lunch in Madison Square at the Shake Shack. The Shake Shack has a couple locations all around the city, but Madison Square Park is by far my favorite location! I love the outdoors, eating a burger in the sun, and the pretty twiggy trees all around! When I was going to Parson's, I would stop by this Shake Shack often for a custard or a shack burger!

Jamie and I both voted Levain Bakery, chocolate chip walnut cookie, the best cookie of our entire lives! It was served hot, the chocolate chips were semi melted and got your fingers gooey adn messy, but the cookie was cooked enough  and not to warm to gooble this cookie down! Oh wow, I can not express how amazing this cookie was! Ok, well I guess we can say it was so good, Jamie and I went back to Levain Bakery on our last day to bring a dozen cookies home! :) It was a heavy carry on to bring home but so worth it! The cookies are HUGE (the size on a palm on a hand) and 2 inches high! No joke! These are big cookies, made with love, and to DIE FOR GOOD! 

For dinner our first night, we ordered in Pizza at the hotel! The company that had Jamie come to NYC had a party that night with finger foods, so we got a light dinner before the party!

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Chelsea Market for breakfast. We got a bite to eat at Sarabeth's Bakery. It was pretty good! All the other little shops with cupcakes and other yummy treats that weren't open yet looked very yummy to! I need to go back and eat all the cupcakes and treats from the other bakeries in Chelsea soon!

Saturday, Jamie had some meetings, so I went shopping in SoHo all day! I just wanted a quick lunch so I grabbed a meal at Bloomingdales. 

Jamie and I met up later that night for a late night 1am snack at Max Brenner! OH...you probably already know this, but I LOVE Max Brenner. When I lived in NYC I lived in Union Square across from Max Brenners and went there way to much! I cant ever get enough of there coca waffle fries with spicy mayo dip! Its truly heaven! So delicious  I got my regular chocolate truffle heart for dessert. Jamie got a smores dessert! I tried it and really liked that to! 

On Sunday, we had a little time to walk around, go to the Natural History Museum for a bit and grab a bite to eat at Pastsy's Pizzeria that was by Levain Bakery to grab our take home cookies! I actually like Patsy's pizza over Grimaldi's pizza. I liked the sauce better. It was more flavorful for me at Patsy's.

As a last stop, we went to Junior's in Time Square to grab a cheesecake! Perfect way to end a trip! It was so much fun! Now all I want to do is go back to NYC and try more places to eat! :) What are some of your favorite places to go in New York? 

I like to eat out...

Have I mentioned, I love to eat out?! It really is one of my all time favorite things to do! I love chatting and eating a yummy meal! In Midway Utah is one of Jakes all time favorite restaurants, Taramaharas.  Its actually really good mexican food! They have all kinds of dishes that are really yummy, but what we got for is the SALSA BAR! They really have over 30+ different kinds of fresh homemade salsa to pick and choose from! All with different flavors and tastes! Oh YUM! I also got some corn tortillas from their tortilla bakery to take home to make shrimp tacos! We ate the tortillas up so quick they are were so good!

Jake also loves the Horchata here! He thinks its the best you can ever get! I dont drink Horchata much so I have nothing to compare it to. But its quite tasty! 

We got Carne Asada Burritos this time! I really love the green sauce and not so much the red. Its good, but not my favorite by any means. Go green :)

Have you ever heard of Culvers?! Its a fast food place that I have only seen back East and just came to Utah in American Fork. It opened end of January. They have amazing custard! Oh YUMM! Jake got a patty burger melt, we got some fries, a custard with cookie dough, and I got a bacon butter burger. Everything was good, but the fries and custard were divine! Next time I am just going to get fries and custard!

Have you tried Cloud Cakes yet? I was curious to how they compared to a Twinkie. I miss Twinkie. I never ate them, but I miss knowing they are around. The Cloud Cake was good, but its just like the name describes, Cake! It tasted more dense to me than a Twinkie. 

 Mac and cheese with a side of meat balls from Noodles and Co. OH YUM!

Jake and I have been going to Rubios every Tuesday lately for some yummy Fish Tacos! We even buy a container of salsa to take home to eat throughout the week! Oh so good!

 A little trip to Yogurtland! Never disappointing!