Cleburne's Cafeteria

A long while back I knew someone that knew I liked cafeteria food. He suggested I check out Cleburne's Cafeteria...5 years later, I'm having lunch with Seth and that seemed like a great opportunity to finally check it out.

On arriving, I found myself really excited and looking forward to the eats. The selections looked amazing behind that glass casing. I chose my usual fried fish, mash potatoes with white gravy, green beans, and a white roll. Outside of a cafeteria, I never order these things. But, like I was telling Seth, it's me revisiting my childhood and I love it! It's just what I have always craved and get at a cafeteria.

I am first in line and since I don't want to take too long, I go ahead and just order my usual. Seth behind me spots the turkey and dressing! Grrrr! I didn't see that! I never got my turkey and dressing this year since I was in Europe for thanksgiving. Oh well, next time! My gosh the desserts were massive.  It should be a criminal...I think they were a quarter of the cake sizes.  We definitely don't have a mayor regulating.  I'll be good this time and skip it.

The food was ok. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed. I think I do prefer Luby's. Plus, I can get a Luanne plate which is half the size of the main entree. They wouldn't allow half orders at Cleburne's, I asked.

Oh and be prepared, they only accept cash. 

2014 Greenwood King Top Producers

Thank you to all my wonderful clients for another amazing year!  I couldn't do it without you and I'm looking forward to seeing your families grow and what other great surprises 2014 will bring!  It's going to be a good year!

Pluckers Houston (Shepherd)

Recently, a client asked me if I had gone to Pluckers yet.  I knew nothing about it, nor had any idea where it was.  On doing some research, it was a block down the street from me!  Pluckers is also located in Austin, San Marcos, Dallas, Louisiana, and a few other places.  We decide today is a good day to go and off to Pluckers we go!  

First, parking is insane...there is none and they have a large parking lot too!  We end up parking a block down the street and on walking in, there is a 20 minute wait.  But wait, there's something going on here...Jose Altuve, an Astro, is here with some Hall of Famer radio announcer named Milo Hamilton.  That's pretty cool!

Our server, Brittany was the best!  She was very helpful and offered options and other suggestions.  I ordered the bone-in wings, in Bakers Gold and Spicy Lemon Pepper.  I would definitely recommend the Bakers Gold, the Lemon Pepper was a bit too salty.  Brittany also brought a plate of sample sauces so I could choose, which I thought was very helpful.  We also ordered the fried pickles which I thought were amazing!  The sliver of pickle and the breading was just right, yum!  Brittany comped us on the pickles because we were first time guest.  She said they try to do something for first time guest, so ask for Brittany and let her know you're a first timer!  Fun, fun!

Rockets vs Trailblazers (Toyota Center)

Thanks to Bruce and Judy for our seats 5 rows from the court.  Amazing seats!  We had a blast!  And guess who we ran into?  Calvin Murphy!  He's fun...told Matt he better not rush the photo either...haha.  He's great!  Oh and...we won!  Go Rockets!  By the way, I highly recommend going to a game, it was a blast! 

Heights General Store (19th St)

I was very excited to visit, it's a great place, food was great, one of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had, and the staff was great!  Tip, do go upstairs.  There is a full restaurant, outdoor patio, and bar!

A Beautiful Winter Weekend in Houston!

This weekend was just beautiful!  My favorite part about it was spending it outside with the dogs, enjoying some coffee with my husband and watching the babies play with their new friend, Kitty.  Good times.

Congratulations to all the marathon runners today, full and half...it was an absolute gorgeous day!  Chilly in the morning and maybe a little too warm in the early afternoon for runners, but overall, a very nice day.  Hope you all had a great or your best race!  Now the best part about it all being over...sleeping in on Saturdays!!

Michael's Cookie Jar (West U)

This is a visit a long time in the works...3 years later, here I'm am!  I was pretty excited since I've had a taste of MCJ, since some of the cafes I frequent carry or used to carry MCJ's products.  The shop is in the back behind the Joanne's on Weslayan, which you have to drive through to get to it.  Oddly, on arriving it looks pretty empty.  They really don't have as much as I thought.  It's a really small shop, which is mostly the kitchen.  I ordered 4 cookies, chocolate chip, toffee, sugar, snicker doodle, sand tart, and a ginger bread man.  I thought they were all good but pretty average cookies, nothing really special.  The cookies I have previously tried from cafes that carry or used to carry MCJ were better than what they offered at the store, I thought.  Antidote used to and Black Hole still carry their products, if you would like try to their product before making a trip to the store.

Lexis Florist (Skyline)

Absolutely beautiful, $200 for this large arrangement at Lexis Florist.  This is their signature orchid arrangement.  Their arrangements are just stunning!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lexis-Florist/210325877117

The Popcorn Bar

I was given a bag of popcorn (Oreos' flavored) from the Popcorn Bar as a gift and since I had recently used the Poparazzi Popcorn for my wedding favors, I definitely wanted to make a visit and compare.  By the way, the Oreos' flavored popcorn is really good.  

On finally making a visit, I did some sampling.  I found PB was a lot more flexible about sampling than Poparazzi.  Poparazzi asked me to make an appointment for sampling, which I thought was unnecessary.  She probably thought I was going to be excessive in my sampling.  I guess, I can understand that.  At PB, I think I tried 7 flavors and ended up sticking with the Oreos and I got it in mini size.  It's just so good!  Denyse got the Jalapeño Cheddar which was really good as well.  Cameran, who is 9, initially didn't want any, but later when I forced her to try one, she couldn't stop eating it.  On the other flavors, I thought were all pretty good.  The buffalo and ranch, salt and vinegar, and others were tasty and had nice flavors.  However, I didn't like their Chicago mix as much as I do at other places.

PB also has candies and tins for gifting.  They're located off 59 near Buffalo Speedway, a much better location than the other gourmet popcorn shops.  It's a fun place to visit, but for me, I must restrict my visits and practice self control!  But when I am feeling not so controlled...I'll probably be hitting up the Popcorn Bar again!

Local Pour (River Oaks)

I think everyone and their mama s'talking about Local Pour and me...well, I'm making my first visit 9 months after they've opened. It's a little hard to find if you don't know what you're looking for.  But, if you know where the old Sherlocks was or where Ginger Cafe and Brasserie 19 are, you shouldn't have a problem.  Cool exterior huh?

On walking in, I really liked the decor.  It's was a pretty large room, all very open and spacious.  A mix between vintage, rugged-contemporary, and had a cool, urban feel.  While waiting for my late compadres, I go ahead and order a cheese plate and a glass of wine, the Creekstone cab.  I love cheese and oddly, I don't really recognize a whole lot on the cheese list.  It's mostly a list of cheddars and a brie and bleu.  I go with my server's suggestions and we also order several other appetizers, the hummus dish, grilled veggies, mussels.  Sadly, we were disappointed with the food.  All, very ho hum, including the cheeses, nothing really tasty or good.  The drinks on the other hand were great!  The 2 beer flights were perfect, I was told.  The wine was great.  They have a ton of local brews on tap.  I ordered the Heaven and Hell crafted cocktail and it was a bit undrinkable...too heavy on the heat, otherwise commonly known as "jalapeños"...I couldn't take in more than a sip, nor could the others.  We probably had only 1/4th of it.  

I was told LP is apart of a bigger group that also owns Sherlocks, Baker Street Pub, D'amico's, and several others.  At that point, I understood the food.  There's no love in the food.  It's filler food.  But, to be fair, I had not tried any of the entrees, maybe next time.  Other than that, the atmosphere was great and the manager said they do carry the sports packages and have any game their guest want to see.  They also have live bands, which I'll have to come back and visit.  My single girlfriend did mention there were no cute guys...That's  for all you single ladies.  Overall, we liked our experience, atmosphere (5 stars), service (5 stars) and drinks (4 stars) were good, food not so much.

Quick shout out to Sonoma, who has the best cheese plate and is my official go to place for wine and cheeses.  At any bar, I think it should be a staple to have Drunken Goat, a goat cheese, Sottocenerre, Manchego, Guyere, etc.  Ok, that's all for now.

Celebrating the Eve of 2014!

I can't think of a better place to celebrate New Year's Eve by dining at Triniti with my husband.

The meal was ridiculously light and I was left a little hungrier than I am used to at Triniti.  Our bill for 2 came out to a whopping $280!  That's including tip though...I was stunned.

We later stopped by Howl at the Moon and paid $35/person, after about 45 minutes, got tired of standing and was home by 10pm.  That night was a little anticlimactic, but I was glad to be home in my pjs with my darling  babies.  Cheers to a wonderful New Year, Happy 2014!