Evita 101

Farmer's Market, Houston Food Blog and Vegetarian Dining

2008-02-22T17:37:00.008-06:00

2 weekss ago Andrew & I went by the Houston Bayou City Farmers Market, unfortunately we came late and had no cash! Check out their website, this market happens every Saturday morning. They had lots of fresh veggies/fruits, eggs, honey, coffee, artisan breads and much, much more! They also had a stall full of yummy prepared Indian foods. Here is another Farmers Market that occurs Tuesday afternoon in the Rice Stadium parking lot and Saturday morning in the Heights. And last but not least is the market that happens in Midtown in Monica Pope's restaurant t'afia's parking lot on Saturday morning.

Whilst on the subject of food I have never introduced you guys to a local Houston food blog - Food in Houston. Although he reviews some restaurants that are wayyyy out of my price range, he does like to explore ethnic dives which tend to be more on the cheap side!

I'm about to go eat at Quan Yin, they specialize in faking meat, here is their motto:

Beyond your imagination.

We provide foods for your healthy life

Tastes like chicken, and chews like beef.

Really.

But it's not.

There are no animal products, no eggs and no seafood in our products.

Soy products and wheat gluten are the primary ingredients other than meat

For the people who are vegetarians

And also for those who are not

You'll find out how interesting it is while dining at Quan Yin

Surely, you will enjoy our food with a big surprise.

Visit Quan Yin

And it's delicious!

Go see...

2008-02-09T23:48:00.000-06:00

This week's date night included an outing to the Angie to see this movie:

And hitting up Micky D's afterwards for a Happy Meal and Parfait! :)

Girly Night

2008-01-19T19:37:00.000-06:00

Off to a cocktails and appetizers event that Irena's sister Ana is hosting.

Irena and I went to Spec's Warehouse in Midtown and picked up some supplies which included: Absolut Vodka, Creme de Cacao and Coconut Liqueur.

I myself am bringing chilled white wine.

Hope there'll be a lot of female empowerment going on. But with all this alcohol involved I'm not too sure...

I always was and will always be a Spice Girl at heart!

Hope the apps are good!

Found it!

2008-01-18T23:45:00.000-06:00

Click on image to see the recipe!

In search of...

2008-01-18T23:25:00.000-06:00

the recipe for the amazing baked spinach and artichoke dip I made for Andrew's birthday!

Ingredients I remember: frozen spinach, canned artichoke hearts, sour cream, parmesan and romano cheese.

Back in the U.S.A!

2008-01-11T16:25:00.000-06:00

We got back Monday night, so much to write about and share!

Happy New Year!

Relationships 101

2007-12-15T15:47:00.000-06:00

Because Andrew and I cannot afford couples counseling (not that we need it on a regular basis) but we have found this website incredibly helpful, as have a few of our friends we have passed it on to.

The BBC's Relationships website.

The couples section is pretty neat and has particularly shed some light on productive arguing.

Enjoy!

Date Night 12/7

2007-12-08T10:31:00.000-06:00

Last night was Andrew and I's date night. Keeping up date night is extremely important, it's like keeping the sabbath. It is one day of the week that stands out from our usual hectic, sometimes monotonous week.

After eating my mother's delicious dinner of stuffed cabbage rolls. (We're saving up for Europe!)
We went to my favorite movie theater, the Landmark River Oaks on West Gray:

We saw this romantic drama at 7pm:

I ended up crying at the end of the movie which is ALWAY a plus! I love crying during movies, it's extremely therapeutic and I get to make my man feel even manlier, he thinks it's adorable too. I don't know how I feel about the director taking us into the future, I was sort of enjoying the 1930s/40s era... Ah well, I really liked the movie although I heard a lot of people complaining. I think I might read the novel it is based upon over the break.

After strolling out of the theater and wiping away my tears we walked into Cafe Epicure next door where they have wonderful French-style pastries. Andrew indulged in some homemade tomato basil soup and I had their signature fresh berry lemonade with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Absolutely delicious and West Gray is so beautiful with all its palm trees lit up.

Our date night concluded with Peppermint Mocha and Peppermint Hot Chocolate at Starbucks.

Winter Break Trip 2007

2007-12-07T12:47:00.000-06:00

In light of my recent job offer my parents got Andrew and I tickets to spend the holidays with my friends and family in Europe! We'll be gone for a whole whopping 3 weeks!

We're flying to Amsterdam December 17th and will spend 2 days and 1 night there before flying on to Dublin the afternoon of the 19th!

We'll be spending Christmas Eve with my cousin in Dublin and possibly Christmas with Andrew's family in Cork.

I LOVE Dublin, it is definitely the hippest city in Europe at the moment. This will be my 3rd time visiting this wonderful city, where my cousin Ilona lives and where I've gone out on a bender with Andrew's friends this past summer. The city where I experienced the worst hangover ever!

Here's a mini preview:

And the city is small and very walkable it's brilliant! Here's the Liffey River:

Ireland is also where beautiful men come from:

At the end of the month, we'll fly over to Liverpool, where we'll be ringing in the new year! We'll be spending time in Formby, where my grandmother lives, right near the beach! And we'll probably spend a day and night in Rhes-y-cae, Wales where my grandfather has the most darling cottage!

Liverpool is going to be the European Union's Capital of Culture in 2008

We're expecting a wicked party in Liverpool to ring in the new year, this is from last year:

Liverpool gets a bad rep, but hello the BEATLES are from here and they've done a good job of revamping the city.

My personal favorite the super banana lamb, they move it around the city every couple months, it's huge too, can't wait to show this to Andrew.

And I'll take Andrew to the trendy part of town, Albert Docks and take him on a ride on the "Ferry Across the Mersey" which is a song from the 60s and when you take the ferry ride today
they play the song, I think that's so cool!

My favorite building is the Liver Building it has a bird on each tower and it's right on the river:

Formby is known for 3 things, it's beaches, red squirrels and the fancy golf club:

Oh and my favorite pub in Formby:

And we'll try to do some shopping on Lord Street (TopShop!) if we can afford to!

We'll spend another whole weekend in January going nuts in Amsterdam with my friend Joanna.

Ahhh Amsterdam, I lived there between the ages of 5 and 13 and know it inside out, this city is beautiful and I hold it close to my heart...

We'll be flying back to Houston from Amsterdam on January 7th!

latest guilty pleasure...

2007-10-07T18:35:00.001-05:00

Daily OM

2007-05-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

May 24, 2007
Looking Deeply

The Good In All Sometimes we find it difficult to see the good in people, places, or situations that aren’t to our liking. We focus on the things we don’t like in our lives as a way of fueling our efforts to create change. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and it is one way we make progress. However, if we get too caught up in this way of looking at the world, we lose touch with our ability to sit back and simply say yes to everything on our plates, which is the true starting point for all successful activity. Sometimes what we really need is to encourage ourselves to look deeply into all things in our lives to see the inherent goodness at the heart of everything.

At the core of this inquiry is the practice of unconditional acceptance, which can be scary because we feel as if we are being asked not to change the things we don’t like. But when we think this way, we are still operating on the surface of our lives. In order to feel the beauty and warmth of full acceptance, we have to be willing to sink deeper into the stratum underlying the external manifestation of our lives. This deeper place of being is the origin of all lasting change, yet its paradox is that when we are in it, we often don’t feel the need to change anything. From this place, we experience the pure beauty of the process of being alive, and we see that all things change in their own time. We don’t need to force anything. If there are things that we do need to change, from this place of serenity we create the shift easily, our hands guided by an energy that resides at the very center of our hearts.

In our active, goal-oriented culture, we learn to distrust stillness and to engage in busywork on the surface of life. This tendency can blind us to the good that lies at the heart of all things. But all we have to do to see again is stop for a moment, let go of our preconceptions and our agendas, and settle into the very center of our hearts, remembering that it is only from here that we can truly see.

Recent Acquirements

2007-05-22T10:32:00.001-05:00