Happiness is Only a Pancake Away

Tags

All Good Cafe, breakfast diners, BuzzBrews, Chicken San Miguel, Dallas, Iced Chai Latte, Justin Bieber balloon, KaLynn, Kamryn, Kara, kid-friendly restaurants, pancakes, steak and eggs

KaLynn and Kacey (#8 and 1)

Few people are lucky enough to have a 100% biological sister that’s 19 years younger. It just doesn’t happen that often. It would make more sense age-wise if KaLynn was my daughter. But nope, it’s way better than that, because I get to be her big sister. I exist solely for the purpose of making her life more fun. I get to impact her life through a few teaching moments and the good thing is, I’m not her mom, so I’m thinking that this ups the chances of her actually listening to me. Maybe.

KaLynn (#8) – The talented athlete in her softball uniform. She’s an awesome pitcher already. Pitchers run in our family…all of my siblings and I did it at some point.

KaLynn has grown into a super cool 11 year-old. With every year that passes, she becomes more mature and is a pleasure to spend time with. Sure, it was rocky when I’d take her places at the ripe young age of 3, with temper tantrums and gimmes threatening to take over at any moment. When she was 4, she never wanted the fun to end and would pout when it was time to go (okay, this lasted until about 6). By 7, her manners were well developed and there would be genuine “thank yous” when I was dropping her off after an all day event. At 8, she was the perfect flower girl/dog escort for my wedding, acting more like my bridesmaid than my baby sister. I still marvel at how well-behaved and grown up she was that day. Now, she’s just one of the girls. She can hang with adults like we are her peers and can blend in quite nicely. She has truly had a unique childhood and I hope she is able to look back on it one day and think it was terrific.

I was excited and a little nervous to take KaLynn to BuzzBrews. The girl likes pancakes, but typically she has them at All Good Cafe. Of everyone in my family, she is not someone you want to culinarily disappoint. It reads all over her face, even if she’s trying here best to disguise it. I get it. I can be the same way. So it was extremely important to me that she like BuzzBrews because frankly, I love it and if she does too, it increases my chances of going back. Now there would be two of us looking at Danny with our eyes wide and sparkling…and as all men know, it’s definitely harder to say no to two girls.

Here KaLynn is all smiling and optimistic, but the jury was still out. Thankfully, not only did she LOVE the pancakes, but she ate almost every last bite. I was worried she might not like the syrup. Not because it’s not good, on the contrary, this is premium quality syrup, no high fructose corn syrup in here, and it’s fantastic! But to an 11 year-old, well, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to appreciate the depth of flavor. She proved me wrong and absolutely adored it. Looks like I have a budding foodie to bring along on tasty adventures after all. She was also in love with their in-house fresh squeezed orange juice and had an admiration for my Iced Chai Latte as well, which reminded me of a milkshake on the rocks.

When Danny and KaLynn get together, there is never a dull moment. These two adore each other.

He doesn’t even mind one bit when her tiny little eyes peer over at his food longingly. He doesn’t skip a beat cutting up his steak and sharing a bite….or lots of bites after she discovered she liked it better than her bacon. Hey bacon for steak, it can be a fair trade…he definitely loves his bacon.

I tried the Chicken San Miguel for the first time and it reminded me of a breakfast chicken enchilada casserole. It was spicy and the tomatoes helped cooled the mouth after several bites when you start to feel the heat. I also like that it comes with black beans, which are better then their potatoes.

KaLynn and I are definitely cut from the same cloth. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she didn’t mention gifts. She specifically requested pancakes, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a back rub. She truly has an appreciation for the finer things in life.  Finding happiness is only a pancake away.  I hope it’s always that easy for her.

Happy Birthday to my terrific baby sister, KaLynn! It is a joy to watch you grow up.

KaLynn, Kara, and Kamryn (#8, 6, 7)

Buzzbrews and All Good Cafe: Two Breakfasts Are Always Better Than One

Tags

#3, #8, 24 hour restaurants, All Good Cafe, Awesome Blossom, beer, best chai tea latte in Dallas, biscuits and gravy, Breakfast, Brunch, BuzzBrews, Chair Tea Latte, Chilis, Chocolate Milkshake, coffee shop, Dallas, Deep Ellum, Fried Egg Club, hipster, KaLynn, kid-friendly food, Kristin, Mega Egg Sandwich, Oliver Garden, pancakes, Shelley, Tour of Italy

How could you not have a good day when you’ve got nothing else scheduled but a leisurely breakfast with one of your favorite people? It is rare that any person gets to spend a day with almost nothing on the agenda. I think it instantly sends you into vacation-mode and it’s a great way to give yourself a much needed break from the every day.

What do you do when you want to try a new restaurant but they do not have a Chai Tea Latte on the menu? Well, you make two stops, of course! And if you have Chai Tea on the brain, then you go to the best place that makes it that you know of, which for me, is Buzzbrews (I will continue to look for the next great chai tea latte and report back ASAP when I find it).

When I see this sign in the morning, I know it’s going to be a good day!

Outside Buzzbrews in Deep Ellum (a.k.a. the Buzzbrews that serves beer)

Not everyone would be open to the idea, let alone excited about going to two restaurants for one meal. A man might say it’s a waste of time and wouldn’t want to make two stops, and a girl that’s calorie-obsessed might look a bit panicked when you suggest going to two restaurants for one meal. It’s hard enough to pretend to eat/enjoy food at even one place. Good thing no one like that was there to get in our way.

Kristin does not judge a plate…yours or hers. If I want to pile up chicken fried steak and scrape the gravy off of my plate, she would just sit back and happily smile that I was enjoying every bite. Now If I were to start to lick the plate clean, then she would have an issue…she’s classy like that and thankfully I would never do that in public, so we’re good.

Kristing (sister #3) - It's her very first time at Buzzbrews!

This is the kind of person you want sitting across from you at the table…a fellow food lover. And it’s the type of friend I’ve always chosen to hang out with at the table ever since I can remember. Two childhood friends come to mind. The first one is Amber, a girl that would rock a Chili’s like nobody’s business. I watched in awe as she began with an Awesome Blossom (you remember, the giant fried onion with dipping sauce that contained so many calories they had to remove from the menu when people started becoming aware of a thing called “calories” ) moved to an Old Timer with Cheese and then rounded out the whole meal with a chocolate milkshake. I’m still in awe of her. Then there is Shelley, who could eat her way through Olive Garden’s Tour of Italy (which is basically three meals on one plate) before you even make it half-way through your plate of noodles. Hey, we were athletes and played every sport imaginable and sometimes even had two different sport practices in one day; we needed the calories. I love those girls. They are the type of people you look forward to sharing a meal with and that you can be your goofy self around without fear of judgement.

Best Chai Tea Latte that I've found so far. Now this is the face of someone that's almost giddy.

Kristin is now officially a fan of Buzzbrews. All it took was one taste of the Chai Tea Latte and I think she was hooked. The sweetness, spiciness, and creaminess blends together perfectly. We also ordered a small Jailhouse salad, which is a fruit salad served with honey dipping sauce. It was a great first breakfast course and warm up to our next destination.

All Good Cafe

All Good Cafe is a place I’ve been wanting to try because my baby sister, KaLynn (#8), loves it so much. Every time she visits Kristin (#4), they always go to breakfast here and frankly, I was feeling like I was missing out. The place is located in Deep Ellum and music definitely inspires the decor. They even have a stage where bands can come and entertain.

Inside of All Good Cafe - music definitely has a place here

...as well as Art

This is a typical breakfast/diner type of joint but with exceptional, local ingredients, which is what all diners must want to be when they grow up. Nothing too strange or crazy on the menu, here, just good breakfast fare. I think I tried to make breakfast look more like lunch when I ordered the Mega-Egg Sandwich. It was more like a club sandwich that happened to have an egg on it than a true breakfast sandwich. It was good, just not quite what I was anticipating. The sourdough was perfectly toasted and buttered and I loved every bite. There was a little too much tobasco mayo on there for my taste, and I think this is also what contributed to it seeming more like a lunch dish. The egg tasted fresh and so did the tomato, avocado, and cheddar cheese.

Mega Egg Sandwich

We didn’t stop with the sandwich, we also wanted a pancake and a biscuit and gravy to share.

Our morning spread....next time we'll be smarter and each order a different sandwich and trade.

The pancake was fluffy and large, just how I like them. I can see why my 10 year-old sister loves this place. With pancakes like these, I bet All Good Cafe is often requested by kids. And it sure beats the heck out of McDonalds or any other most-requested-kid places we reluctantly find ourselves. Parents should be herding their children to All Good Cafe in droves.

These boring little biscuits were actually the favorite and definitely not dull-looking in person.

The biscuits and gravy summoned thoughts of cowboys making biscuits over the open fire. They were thick and dense and covered in homemade gravy. Their texture made them quite interesting, as fluffy biscuits they were not. These are a great side-order addition to an entree.

I consider myself lucky when I get to make it to one restaurant for breakfast, two just puts things way over the top. I was in Saturday morning heaven. I encourage you to try a 2 in 1 breakfast the next time you have a day with nothing to do but indulge yourself in food and bask in time. Be sure to bring someone with you that is able to truly enjoy the experience like I did.

Where to Go/What to Order:

Buzzbrews: Chai Tea Latte and Jailhouse Salad (or the French Connection, or anything really)

All Good Cafe: Biscuits and Gravy, pancakes, and good all-around breakfast fare

Do you know of a good place to go for a Chai Tea Latte? I’d love to know about it. I may just visit your restaurant choice next.

Winging Out

Tags

#4, #6, #7, #8, Buffalo Wild Wings, family fun, frozen yogurt, Gross Reese's Minis, hot wings, KaLynn, Kamryn, Kara, Kelly, peanut butter frozen yogurt, Purple Berri, worst Reese's ever

It’s never dull when family gets together. Mine is no exception. No matter what the combination, just a couple of us, or the whole bunch of 8 siblings, we definitely make memories. Kelly (sister #4, striped shirt) spearheaded today’s get together at Buffalo Wild Wings. And Danny and I were lucky enough to get an invite.

Apparently, Kelly likes hot wings. I did not realize she was such a wing lover until today. She did the ordering and I gladly sat quietly and waited to see what new flavors would be headed our way. Kara (#6, in green) and Kamryn (#7, in red) were not having any of the traditional style wings; they prefer their chicken bone-free, chicken-nugget-style and chose that option. For the rest of us, it was Honey BBQ, Mild, Jammin’ Jalapeño, and a rub of Buffalo (this one was not saucy, but it turned out it was one of our favorites). I also really liked the sweet, spiciness of the Jammin’ Jalapeño.

Turned out these four flavors made a pretty good combination. Not too spicy, in fact, I didn’t eat very much ranch with these, as I wanted to get the full effect of the sauces. I’m sure if I would have ordered a super hot sauce, I would have more heavily relied on the coolness of the ranch to cut the bite of the heat. I preferred to wait to the end of the meal and cut the heat a sweeter way…with frozen yogurt. Good thing a Purple Berri just opened in Waxahachie (by Subway and Domino’s) and my sisters did not need much convincing.

The decor was fresh and colorful and included visually interesting chandeliers that just so happened to photograph well. Kara, Kamryn, KaLynn and I went to work deciding which flavors we wanted to grace the insides of our bowls. My favorites were the peanut butter and the white chocolate mousse, and since they were side by side in a machine, it made it easy to swirl them together. Peanut butter should always be topped with chocolate, so I added chocolate and peanut butter chips, coconut, almonds, and a tiny scoop of heath bar.

I would have added Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, but they had the AWFUL, new, super tiny cups (Reese’s Minis) that have more waxy chocolate than peanut butter. These are served up intact since they are too small to chop up, which means that when added to something cold like ice cream, it becomes super hard and your tongue can’t even melt the chocolate enough to get a good taste. It’s a complete waste and I’m quite disappointed as you can tell. I’m hoping that these new extremely tiny Reese’s Minis get discontinued and fast…they are ruining things for me, yogurt-wise. It’s to the point that I’m seriously considering chopping up my own regular size Reese’s cup and topping my peanut butter froyo myself. I really hope it doesn’t have to come to this.

Enough of my peanut butter rantings, the bottom line is that Purple Berri yogurt is good and from what I can tell, the flavors don’t have the artificial-ingredient-after-taste. A huge plus in my book. We filled up our bowls (bet you can’t tell who made the colorful bowl 😉 and laughed and giggled like we were all 10 again.

Kelly’s Top 3 Wing Destinations:

1. Buffalo Wild Wings

2. Walmart in Ennis

3. Wing Stop

Thanks, Kell 🙂

Carino’s Family Style

Tags

#2, #7, #8, Carino's, Italian, KaLynn, Kamryn, Kandace, Monday special, Waxahachie

This seems to be our hangout for the past few years. It started when one of my sisters dated a server here, but even after that relationship came and went, our love of the bread and pasta lives on. I was so happy to get the invite when Kandace, Kamryn, KaLynn, and my mom texted the other day. Actually, I was hoping they would be wanting to do something on this particular day. I even soaked in my bubble bath with my makeup still on, just on the off chance that they might have the same idea I did. Thankfully, sisters often think alike.

I go to Carino’s mostly for the company I bring with me. I do love their 1/2 price family platter Mondays. They also have my favorite calamari and a Cesar salad that is quite tasty.

Spicy Chicken and Shrimp is always a crowd pleaser with the cream sauce and sundried tomatoes.

But the star of this particular outing was the grown up mac ‘n cheese! Now they definitely need to consider putting this on the menu full time.

Cheddar, chicken, mushrooms, and bacon…how could you go wrong?

The only bad thing is that this dish appears to be here only for a limited time. If you’ve been contemplating going to Carino’s, well now is the time. If you’re not a fan, I recommend giving them another try just for the mac ‘n cheese.

What to Order:

1. Calamari

2. Grown up Mac ‘N Cheese (limited time)

3. Spicy Chicken and Shrimp

Dairy Queen: We Didn’t Mind Getting Tricked Into It

Tags

#8, Dairy Queen, Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard, ice cream, KaLynn, Oreo Brownie Earthquake

My little sister, KaLynn, is quite talented at shooting a bow and arrow into a target. She’s made a name for herself already and she basically just started. I like joking to her that she’s on the CIA’s watch list for up and coming talent 🙂 It is quite entertaining to watch her hit her target and cheer her on.

After a day at the state archery tournament with my mom and KaLynn (#8), we were on the long trip home when KaLynn asked if we could stop somewhere to eat. There is a Dairy Queen on the route and my mom suggested stopping there. KaLynn quickly agreed, kept snacking on various things we brought in the car, and happily waited for us to stop.

When we walked into the restaurant, we looked at the menu and KaLynn’s eyes went straight to the ice cream section (us sisters are all alike!). What we all happened to forget is that she still had a sandwich in the car that she hadn’t eaten yet. The little one had the whole thing planned from the start, with no intentions of ordering a meal. She smiled the cutest smile and we all had a laugh.

She was about to order an ice cream cone, when I talked her into an Oreo Brownie Earthquake. I had a feeling she’d like the combination of ice cream, oreos, marshmallow topping, hot fudge, and brownies. She is not one you want to disappoint, so for a fail-safe, I offered to buy her an ice cream cone if she didn’t like it. No emergency ice cream cone was needed, as she loved it.

F

For my mom and I, it was an easy choice…the Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard. Hot fudge, brownie bites, walnuts, and cocoa (kind of taste likes oreos) all swirl together to make our perfect blizzard. Reminds us of the times we spent driving around and eating Blizzards together 8 years ago. Glad we could bring KaLynn along to enjoy the ice cream with us this time.

What to Order:

Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard -Tip: You can order this even if you don’t see it on the menu

Oreo Brownie Earthquake