A Weekend in St Louis, MO

Happy Friday! I am so excited to share with you the rest of our foodie trip we took to St Louis last week. I showed you all the highlights from our Weber Grill Academy & Nature Sweet Tomatoes day before and now I'm spilling the beans on all the things we ate and saw in the meantime.

Day 1:

It probably comes as no surprise that one of the first things I do when planning a trip is figure out where I want to eat, and then I plan everything else around that. Before leaving I asked a few friends and weren't given very many recommendations and a lot of the suggestions I did get were chains which I try my hardest to stay away from.

Maybe it's because I had very little expectations or maybe I just was lucky enough to love my picks, but I truly was blown away by the food scene in St Louis!

The awesome girls at Nature Sweet Tomatoes booked us a gorgeous room at Magnolia Hotel. The rooms are beautiful and the lobby is a stunner for sure. The weather didn't cooperate all weekend so I wasn't able to get a good shot of the entrance, but it's located downtown and super close to the convention center, Busch Stadium and the Arch.

We took the early flight out (hello, 3:30 am alarm) and landed by 7:30. We hopped in our rental car and drove straight to Egg. It is the cutest little cafe and we actually ended up chatting with the owners for a while which was awesome! I loved hearing their stories, how they moved to America from Tunisia, how they shop the local farmer's market for the restaurant and how the coffee is a special blend roasted just for them by the guy 2 booths over. After saying how much I loved the harrisa, which is house-made, they even brought me a container of it to take home- how cool is that?!

I tried the Hot Espresso Martini and the Corn Bread Benedict with Sautéed Spinach & Avocado and Louis got the special omelet of the day which he dug into before I could even get a picture of it. Service can be a little slow, but the friendliness of the owners and the food made up for it and then some.

 After breakfast we headed over to Budweiser for the Bud Light Brewery Tour

I don't ever drink beer, but I knew Louis would enjoy the tour and I was excited to see the Clydesdales. The tour far exceeded my expectations, I learned a lot and I could not get over how clean and pretty it is there. The tour is 75 minutes long where you visit the Clydesdale Paddock and Stables, the Beechwood Aging Cellar, historic Brewhouse and the BEVO Packaging Facility. If you do decide to take the tours, bring a light jacket or sweatshirt with you. A few of the rooms were freezing and I wish I had brought one with me

Those horses are HUGE and I swear that their stables are cleaner than my house. I can't really tell you anything about this part of the tour because I wasn't listening at all to the guide. I was too busy watching my new friend Lloyd and wondering how I could sneak him home with me.

After the tour we made our way to the hotel to check in. Since our breakfast was huge and our early morning flight had us exhausted we decided to have an early dinner at Sidney Street Cafe. If you can only eat one meal in St Louis please let it be here. We ended up doing the chef's tasting menu with wine pairing and it was absolutely stellar!

The wine pairings were perfect and each dish was prettier than the next. The bread basket was savory beignets!! I told our waitress that my dog's name is Beignet and she packed up a box of them for me to bring home. 

Just some of the highlights from the tasting:

Confit of Octopus with sunchoke puree and sea urchin bisque 

(we fought over the last bite of that one)

Sweetbread Tostadas with white bean escabeche and pickled jalepeno

Roasted Scallops, Ragout of summer beans, creamed corn, nduja and bone marrow jus

Halibut, Parmesan gnocchi, marinated tomatoes, grilled zucchini, and a horseradish cream

Day 2:

Saturday was our Weber Grill Academy experience. Knowing how much food I was in store for, I just wanted a cup of coffee so we stopped at a little cafe called Coma right across the street from where we were going. I got a cortado and Louis got a gorgeous fruit smoothie bowl that he had already eaten half of before I could get a pic

After the buffet we ate at Weber, all I wanted was a nap!

Around 8pm I wanted a snack. I found an awesome Peruvian restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel called Mango that now holds the title of the best sangria I've ever had. It was absolutely delicious with a hint of cinnamon that I will need to figure out how to make soon!

Instead of the chips and salsa I'm so used to in Texas, they start you off with plantain chips and a bright cilantro dip/sauce that I ended up putting on everything.

Louis had the Ceviche de Pescado (Traditional Peruvian dish of today’s fish cold-cured in freshly squeezed citrus juices with Peruvian peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro) and I got the Causa de Salmon (Aji amarillo infused potato cake chilled & layered with salmon salad, sliced egg & guacamole finished with red pepper aioli). To be honest, I think both of the dishes were just ok and really needed more seasoning but the Sangria and cool vibe made it a place I'd definitely give another shot if given the chance.

Day 3:

We took our time getting ready in the morning and checking out so by the time we got to brunch it was around 10. The Shack was PACKED! The wait was about an hour, but when 2 seats opened up at the bar we just seated ourselves. The waitresses were really sweet and ended up giving us samples of some of their Boozy Shakes. These things were flying out of the bar and now I know why! We tried the "I Do What I Want" which was coco puffs, yogurt, bailey’s & frangelica and the "Captain Crunch" which is rumchata, captain morgan, yogurt & crushed cap’n crunch

I got the Gringo Killer Skillet- 2 eggs over medium on a bed of hashbrowns topped with chorizo, onion, bell peppers, green chili salsa & SHACK cheese and Louis got the Downstream is too Mainstream Omelet  - a 3 egg omelet with avocado, smoked salmon & feta cheese. Both were excellent and the service was great too!

After our humongous meal we went and visited friends of ours that we hadn't seen in years. The drive there was beautiful and it was so good to catch up after all this time!

Our time was almost up, but I couldn't leave St Louis without trying some barbecue so we headed to Sugarfire Smokehouse

We had the Smoked Fried Artichoke Hearts, The Meat Daddy Platter (Smoked Turkey, Ribs, Smoked Sausage, Brisket and Pulled Pork), Coleslaw, Fries and about 32,987 sauces! 

I really loved the Coffee and White Sauces!

I truly don't think we could have fit any more food into one weekend and I loved every minute of it. Even if my clothes were a tad tighter on the way home!

Weber Grill Academy, St Louis MO

A few months back, my Bacon Pimento Cheese Cherubs won the Grand Prize in the

Nature Sweet Tomatoes Tomato-Vators recipe contest! Part of the package was the awesome new gas grill that is now on my porch, but the best part finally happened this past weekend.

As part of my grand prize, Louis and I were flown to St Louis, MO to visit the Weber Grill Academy, cook with the chefs there and learn all about cooking techniques on their gas and charcoal grills.

  Here's what was explained to me before we left:
Your package includes an exclusive, personalized experience with their Grill Academy Chef using both charcoal and gas Weber Grills. Your tour will begin at the restaurant and Grill Academy. There will be a private bartender in the room to accommodate your needs. 

Your menu will be:

• Grill-Fired Mussels with Nature Sweet Tomatoes 

• Grilled Caprese Nature Sweet Tomato Salad 

• Bone In Tomahawk Ribeye 

• Grilled Lobster Tail 

• Grilled Roasted Ratatouille with Nature Sweet Tomatoes

• Grilled Lyonnaise Potatoes 

• Cherrywood Smoked Cherry Cobbler

What What?! To say I was excited is a huge understatement. They had me at "Private Bartender"

I knew the brief description sounded awesome, but I was truly blown away once we got there and realized that we had the entire cooking classroom, that usually seats 22 students all to ourselves! The table was set beautifully and had 2 gift bags for us, a mimosa was ready for me almost immediately and we rolled up our sleeves to started cooking.

Chef Keith had 3 grills ready to go with charcoal and he had Louis fill the grill baskets. Luckily no eyebrows were lost

All of our dishes were prepped for us and since I knew it was going to be a huge meal, I hadn't eaten breakfast. I'm really glad I didn't because the amount of food we made was insane!

First up was the Grill-Fired Mussels with Nature Sweet Tomatoes
Louis and I both love mussels, but I've always done them on the stovetop, so this was a treat!
You might not be able to tell, but the grill we cooked them on had an opening in the center of the grates so the dutch oven could be set inside of it. Totally want one of those now! We grilled the garlic bread around the pan while the mussels cooked and it was finished in maybe 8 minutes.

Each dish was paired with amazing wine, so for the Mussels we cooked with and sipped Cakebread Savignon Blanc. Tons of garlic, tons of butter- I was so happy!

We sat at our table and enjoyed our mussels while the dishes were cleaned up and the next prep tray was brought out. I really wish it was like that in my own kitchen! Let me just sit here and enjoy my wine while you clean up after me...

Grilled Caprese Nature Sweet Tomato Salad, Grilled Roasted Ratatouille stuffed in Nature Sweet Tomatoes and Grilled Lyonnaise Potato Salad was next. As I was chopping I mentioned how much I loved the knife that I was using. Chef Keith said "well then you're really going to like your gift bags"

I was SO excited that the knives we used were included! Totally didn't expect that and I can tell you, I've used it every day since I got back home. Joking with Louis while we were chopping, I said "I hope I remember how to make all of this" and, of course, that was already taken care of. Every recipe we made was typed up and included in our giftbags already. How thoughtful is that?!

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but these steaks were MASSIVE
and the lobster tail on the side was absolutely divine! Grilled and basted with a lemon, garlic, basil butter - I ate the entire thing

Naturally, these courses were paired with the perfect wine
Chateau Gruaud Larose, a Bordeaux from France
Then came the cobbler. We smoked cherries, blueberries and cranberries in a grill basket with Cherrywood and charcoal, topped them with an oatmeal cookie type streusel and "baked" them on indirect heat in the grill while we ate our meal. Once it was done, it was topped with cherry vanilla ice cream and served with Dow's 20 Year Old Tawny Port
Aren't those the cutest little cast iron mini casserole dishes? Definitely want some of those now too!

What's in that small glass next to the port, you ask?
Oh, no big deal. Just a shot of Louis XIII Cognac.
I had no idea what it was until Louis told me a bottle costs around $2500
After a sip I carefully handed it over and let him enjoy the rest.
That was not the time for me to be clumsy and spill
After dessert, we were given a tour of the kitchens for the restaurant before we packed up all of our gift bags and headed back to the hotel.
From start to finish we were spoiled and treated like royalty. It makes me feel so grateful and lucky that this little hobby of mine, that I started on a whim 11 years ago, has led me to experiences like this. An unforgettable day that truly couldn't have been better!

Spring Break in New York

Our trip to New York was short and sweet this time. It's kind of crazy to think that this is the 5th trip I've won to New York and every time I'm there I fall in love with the city even more.

It felt like a dream, which was pretty appropriate since that's the name of the hotel we stayed at in Midtown Manhattan.

We took the 6am flight to NY and got to the Dream hotel around 11:30 

(Isn't the headboard gorgeous?!)

Just enough time to drop off our bags and head straight to Nobu for lunch

 Holy mother of all things delicious, Nobu was amazing! It was one of those meals where all you can do is moan at how good it is and fight over the last bite like cave men. 

To start I had the Champagne 95 (Champagne, Torres Orange Liqueur, Crème de Peche & Pineapple Juice). A little sweet, but still delicious. Yellowtail Sashimi with jalapeno was next and was light and refreshing- the perfect way to start the meal. We got the special roll of the day, but for the life of me I can't remember what was in it. Just know that it was damn good. I couldn't go to Nobu without trying the Black Cod with Miso, which lived up to all the hype I had read about it before going. For dessert we got the Raspberry Mille-Feuille: (Caramel Miso Cream Layered Puff Pastry Wafers, Raspberry Coulis, White Chocolate Tuile, Chamomile-Fromage Blanc Sherbet) while this was good, I thought it was the weakest dish we had that day. Maybe because right before we had dessert, we were served the Duck. It was a special of the day, and by far the best thing I ate the entire trip. Seared duck breast, a leg of duck confit and a fresh micro-green salad sat on top of icy cold watermelon and jalapenos with a bright vinaigrette. I seriously wanted to order another one as soon as we were done. Mind blowingly good!

After lunch we went back to the hotel to get ready for the night!!

The party was put on by Food Network Magazine, The US Potato Board  and Alex Guarnaschelli at Butter Restaurant . The venue was really beautiful! The menu on the tables were printed out for the night and my recipe was first on the list!! There was a huge oyster bar as well, so Louis and I were in heaven and stopped by there a few times that night.

I was pulled aside to take pictures with my dish and with Chef Alex and as you can see it was blinding! Overall the night was amazing and it truly flew by. 

The next morning we headed over to Dominique Ansel Bakery for cronuts! I was so super excited to try these after seeing them all over instagram. Louis, however, had no idea what I was talking about or why I had to pre-order and pay for them weeks before we even got to NY. This month's flavor was raspberry coconut and they definitely lived up to the hype. We also got an order of Madeleines fresh from the oven. After loading up on sugar we walked down to The Highline, a park built on old freight rails that takes you above the streets of the city. It was the perfect day to walk along and watch the crowds below.

The Highline took us to Chelsea Market where Food Network studios and a bunch of restaurants and stores are. I couldn't get over how gorgeous the produce was! 

We had walked a long time at this point, and for anyone that knows me, you know that's a big deal. I typically hate walking especially if it's hot. Luckily the day was cool and gorgeous, so it was ok but I was ready to eat! We headed to Ippudo for lunch and sat at the counter. It was super busy, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes. Any time someone is seated or food is brought to you all of the staff makes these loud announcements together in Japanese. I don't have any idea what was going on, but it was cute.  Louis got the lunch special of Pork Soboro (rice and sweet and savory pork), a side salad and the Classic Ramen. I got the Akamaru Modern Ramen and I totally get now why they say that Ramen is Japanese soul food. It is a hug in a bowl and I couldn't even finish half of the noodles the bowl was so big. The broth was amazing, and being able to recreate that at home is now on my to-do list.

Next up was something I had been dying to do since the moment I knew we were going back to NYC! 

Wicked!! 

I truly love this show, the music, the costumes. Everything about it is amazing and even though we've seen it once already, there were parts I had forgotten that felt new all over again. Love love love.

After Wicked, we had about two hours to kill before the car was ready to bring us to the airport so we walked across the street to Cognac Brasserie and sat at a table outside to people watch. I have to say, I would not recommend this place at all. The service was painfully slow, the food was lacking and look at how sloppy the bowl of soup I got was brought out to me! I got a Kir Royale and Lobster Bisque and Louis had a Manhattan and the Cassoulet. Meh.

We got back around 1:30 am and we were so exhausted but look at those furry faces waiting for us! Beignet hasn't left my side since we got back. Oh, you want to read? I'm just going to sit on the book so you have to pay attention to me. 

I don't know if it was too little sleep, too much partying or dirty planes but I got a terrible cold which hit me quick so I made myself a huge pot of chicken soup. It wasn't the same as Ippudo's ramen, but it hit the spot. 

I was also super excited to see Food Network Magazine posted this little gem on Instagram!! Here's my link  (@fleurdelectable) if you'd like to follow me over there as well! 

Suggestions and Smoothies

While having the time of my life chatting it up in NYC with Chef Jeffery Saad for the Bush's Chili Cook-off he suggested once we were back in Austin to try out Barlata since he knew the chef and had been there numerous times before. I was super excited when I found out that Louis had booked reservations for us to go there for brunch on Valentine's Day!

It did not disappoint! We tried a little bit of everything, and I would definitely go back. The cocktails were amazing and here were some of our favorite dishes:

The Lola's Cooler was absolutely delicious, I could have had a pitcher of that alone. The garlic shrimp were divine, and the best part was the butter in the bottom of the pan soaked up with the warm bread they kept bringing to the table. Totally delicious!

Torrijas- Castilian Toast, Seasonal Berries, Almonds, Whipped Cream

House cured salmon- Pickled​ red onions, capers, crème fraiche

Gambas Ajillo- Shrimp Garlic/Olive Oil

Pulpo- 2 hours cooked octopus with fingerling potatoes and adobo oil

Barlata Paella- Spanish​ saffron rice, mixed seafood, chicken, chorizo and veggies

Lola's Cooler- StGermain, Dolin Blanc, Pear, Yellow Chartreuse, Honey, Citrus and Cava

In more exciting contest news, I had two wins in the same week that I am pretty proud of!

My Blood Orange Coconut Lava Flow Smoothie won me a $500 WholeFoods gift card 

And my Southwest Sackin' Stackers won the runner up prize for Pepsi's Game Day Grub Match challenge!! I took Cheddar Jalapeño cheetos and pressed them on the outside of crescent roll swirls with bacon, mexi-corn and pepper jack cheese. Topped with FritoLay hot bean dip and a creamy Lay's Smooth Ranch Dip Salsa for the win! 

Runner-up prizes:  Check in the amount of $500,  PepsiCo party pack including a mix of PepsiCo food and beverage products, a signed cookbook from Anne Burrell and a Wilson Super Bowl 50 Football.  

It's been a great week so far!

New Win in New York!

Remember a while ago when I posted my Mushroom Chicken Marsala Chili for the Bush's Beans Chili Cook-off? Well, guess what? I WON!! I almost fell over when I got the email and probably re-read it a thousand times just to be sure I wasn't dreaming!

I still can't believe it myself. Nothing beats getting those kind of emails. I will never get tired of it!

 So, I got the email that I had won and literally was supposed to be in New York within a week. I was nervous about getting everything squared away with the kids, but I am super lucky that my dad (who lives 8 hours away from me) is retired and dropped everything to drive in and stay at my house to take care of the kids and dogs while Louis and I were whisked away and spoiled in NYC!

We got to the Ace hotel and there was the cutest saying painted right on the wall and the Empire State Building was right outside our window.

The welcome bag was an unexpected nice touch! Bottled water, t-shirts, postcards, snacks and $1,000 in Visa gift cards! They really know how to spoil a person!

Once we dropped off our bags in the room I couldn't wait to get downstairs to eat. Lucky for us, the hotel's restaurant is The Breslin.  I've seen it featured on Food Network and in magazines for years and couldn't wait to try it. I had a glass of prosecco, Louis had an Old Fashioned- perfect way to start our trip and calm my nerves from flying! For an appetizer we split the Seafood Sausage with Beurre Blanc & Chives. It was delicious, and we were both starving, so no picture of that. I peer pressured Louis into getting the Chargrilled Lamb Burger with cumin mayo, feta and thrice cooked chips and I got the BLT with Lamb Bacon, Guajillo, Fermented Green Tomatoes and Gaufrettes. We split both of them, and while they were absolutely delicious, if I had to choose, the BLT was the better.

 That night we had tickets to see The Book of Mormon so we wanted to have an early dinner within walking distance of the theater. We ended up at The Paramount Bar and Grill. The hotel and restaurant is beautiful! We started with the Tuna Poke with Tarro Chips and Avocado. I was still pretty full from lunch so I got the Burrata with Heirloom Tomatoes and Grilled Bread and Louis got the Pan Seared Scallops with Pureed Carrots, Blistered Tomatoes and Crispy Shallots. Everything we tried was absolutely delicious but the service was painfully slow and the few questions I asked the waitress about the menu she just made up answers for so not sure I'd ever go back there.

After dinner we walked to the theater, I got my sippy cup of wine and we had great seats! After the show we went to The John Dory Oyster Bar, had a few snacks and then went to bed. I was exhausted and I knew the next day would be a long one!

Bright and early we headed over to The Daily Meal offices for taping! I was SO nervous. Like can't eat, sweating in 15 degree weather, pacing the floor nervous. The kitchen was gorgeous, and when I got there everything was prepped and ready to go for me. I was excited to meet and cook with Chef Jeffrey Saad and luckily he was such a pleasure to work with! He's just a down to earth friendly guy that really made taping the video easy and fun. I quizzed him all about his experience on The Next Food Network Star and loved picking his brain!

The thing that took us the longest was figuring out how to turn on the burners! 

We taped one shot and all of the production people were really happy with the way it went, so I felt very relieved. They brought in lunch from Mario Batali's Otto- pizzas, salads, brussels sprouts, marinated olives, pasta. They had a ton of food, and since I was too nervous to eat breakfast earlier, I tried almost everything! On the schedule it was planned for me to be there for the taping until 6pm, but I was done by 2. They told us they were happy with what I did and for us to go enjoy the city, so we headed down the street to Eataly. I just love walking through that place! It's like a culinary Ikea- filled with everything you didn't know you needed and very hard to find your way out of. We had a drink at Manzo before walking back to the hotel

For our last night in town we made reservations at Scarpetta

The dining room is so pretty, warmly lit and feels very romantic. We got seated right by the front window and it was nice to watch the world go by outside while we ate. The only downfall was that we felt really rushed while there. We ordered a cocktail to start the night and the 3 course tasting with the wine pairing. Before we could finish anything they were attempting to take our plates away and bringing us the new wine pairings. Other than that, the night was perfect. The bread basket alone is worth going for! Since we were rushed I didn't even get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. For starters I got the Creamy Polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms- totally decadent and delicious, and Louis had the Raw Yellowtail with pickled red onion. As our mains, I had to get the Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil. It's what Scott Conant is known for and it is the most comforting bowl of pasta ever. You can tell it's hand made and I cleaned my plate with no problem! Louis had the Black Cod with braised fennel and concentrated tomato- delicious, but I liked my pasta more. Even though we had ordered the 3 course tasting menu, I had heard so much raving about the Duck and Foie Gras Ravioli with marsala reduction, we ordered that as well. If there is Foie Gras written on a menu, Louis wants it. Unfortunately, he wasn't as thrilled with dish like the rest of yelp is and I thought it was just OK. For dessert, I chose the Coconut Pana Cotta- my least favorite dish of the night and Louis got the Valrhona Chocolate Cake. If you ever get a chance to go to Scarpetta, get the spaghetti and skip the dessert!

As you can see so far, we had an absolutely amazing time through  this whole experience. I didn't realize that once I was home Bush's would have another surprise delivered to me! 

I was totally blown away and I've already used the beans and the Le Creuset!

Now, to end the longest blog post ever, here's the link of the video we shot! I hope you like it!

Still in Spring Break Mode

I still feel like we're recovering from Spring break! We had such a busy trip and it flew by so quickly. Obviously, there was no school, so that means no lunchboxes. Instead I'll share a few highlights of our trip and what I've been cooking since we've been home

The visit home started and ended with seafood and that's just the way I like it! Boiled, in po-boys and in a cream sauce served over fried eggplant slices on pasta.....I ate it all!

On Sunday we went to the St Patrick's Day Parade and the kids had a blast! We knew we were home when at 10 am on a Sunday morning we were handed a gallon of daiquiris in the drive through before heading to the parade route.

All set and ready to go! Thanks to my mom who was our DD that day!

The kids had SO MUCH fun! They also filled 5 bags full of beads, trinkets and vegetables. Cabbages, carrots, potatoes, garlic, lemons......

This isn't even all of it...we gave some away to people around us and there was an entire bag of potatoes on the side. Even still, that's a lot of cabbage! I've made potato salad, coleslaw and a few new dishes to try to use up our loot. The deer even got the outer leaves to snack on!