Galveston vs. NYC

I recently came back from visiting 2 great friends in NYC. I had been there before about 5 or 6 years ago but this was definitely a much different experience. Last time I went we stayed in a hotel located in Times Square. This time I stayed at my friends' apartments; one in Midtown and the other in the Upper West side. I was lucky enough to stay at both their new homes and get to see a lot of NYC! This was also much more fun than staying in a stuffy hotel.

I had so much fun with my friends! We ate at some awesome restaurants -- dinner at Cafeteria in Chelsea and Sunday brunch at Red Rooster in Harlem. I must reiterate that I am no foodie, but these restaurants were really unique and I would definitely recommend them to a novice New York City visitor like myself. I mean, Cafeteria had macaroni and cheese egg rolls with cheese dipping sauce...how can you say no to that?!

Walking around Bryant Park

New York City kicked my ass. I will go ahead and say I could never live there.  I give lots of credit to my friends who can hack (and love) that sort of citylife. I thought Houston was a big city...but NYC is a just on a different level. I cannot keep up with the pace and the legit city people. One of the friends I was visiting couldn't handle how slow I walked around the city. To be fair, I had to consistently remind her that I live in the absolute anti-city of NYC -- the island of Galveston. Thus, where we (she) coined the phrase Galveston vs. NYC. NYC won this round.

With that being said, I think the culture in NYC is fascinating..hence why I almost died -- people watching and pausing to look up at the huge buildings while cabs and businessy men were staring me down and sooo ready to run me over.

We went to an antique/flea/art market

On my last day in NYC, my friends had to go to their big girl jobs (mine is just 4 weeks away now...eeek!), so I went to the 9/11 Memorial. The two huge fountains in place of the twin towers were so neat and very well done. I suggest going here (it was free) if you haven't been yet. My pictures cannot do it justice. The museum wasn't open yet but should be opening sometime this year. I am sure it will be amazing.

One of the memorial fountains with the soon to be tallest building in the US in the background

On my way back from the Memorial, I got lost about a dozen times trying to find the right subway. This is yet just another reason why I could never live here...I am the absolute WORST navigator ever. I could not tell you which way is North or South if my life depended on it. And I think if I lived in NYC, my life would consistently depend on my direction solving abilities. For now, I think I'll just call Houston home. It is the 3rd largest city, and I've signed my life away to live there for the next 4 years anyway.

Htownlove,
germs

Wine + Paint = best idea ever

A few weeks ago a group of us got together for a friend's birthday. We celebrated at Pinot's Palette in Houston. I had been wanting to try this place out for a couple years now and it was definitely worth the wait! There are two locations in Houston -- we went to the one in Montrose, but there's also one in the Galleria area.

The best part is that this place is BYOB. So, of course we brought tons of wine and goodies to snack on while we painted. The bad part: almost drinking your dirty water cup instead of your wine (yes, they warned us and no, I didn't listen).

 Now, we all know I am not the best painter in the world (we have established that previously), so I am sure you are asking how the heck did my painting turn out even remotely like it was supposed to?? Well, that is a good question. The good thing is that the "teacher" (aka starving art student) goes step by step through the whole painting process. You all paint the same thing (you can look and see what is being painted beforehand and pick which class you like best) so you can also cheat and look at your neighbor.

We painted pink peonies but seeing as how I am not much of a pink girl, I obviously opted to paint mine red and turquoise. See:

Mine is the best, right? jk. Happy Birthday CK!

Although you start out with the paint they want you to use, they have all the paint there, so you can pick and choose different colors if you like. The painting experience cost $35 and that includes the lesson, paint and canvas. I thought this was a great idea for a birthday and suggest you grab some wine and a few friends and try it out asap!

picassolove,
germs

Enchiladas -- healthy style!

Pre-planned meal #2 from last week was chicken enchiladas. I'm not the biggest fan of tex-mex food for multiple reasons. First, I always feel insanely full when I leave those places and second, I smell like the restaurant (or maybe that's just the ghetto ones in Galveston?). Don't get me wrong though, I intend to spend Cinco de Mayo in full force this weekend which means I'll probably be hitting up 2 or 3 tex-mex spots in Houston (mainly for the margaritas). 

I thought if I made the mexican food at home, and without any chips and salsa in sight, I might not eat as much and thus, feel much better after dinner. I wanted to make Enchiladas so I researched what I could leave out/add to deduct some calories and carbs. Don't get stressed when you see the directions; these sound a lot harder to make than they actually were.

Everything looks yellow but I promise it wasn't...I'm bad at instagramming food.

Ingredients

• Salt n' peppa
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 to 2 tablespoons minced canned chipotles in adobo
  
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
• 1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• Sliced pickled jalapenos

 Directions

1. In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, bring 1 inch salted water to a boil. Add chicken. Cover; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 5 minutes; remove skillet from heat. Let chicken steam, covered, until opaque throughout, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer chicken to a medium bowl; shred with two forks. Set aside.

2. While chicken is cooking, make sauce: In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add garlic; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add flour, cumin, and chipotles in adobo; cook, whisking, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, whisking occasionally, until sauce has thickened slightly, 5 to 8 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Transfer 1 cup sauce to bowl with chicken; toss to combine.

You can see about how thick it should be.

Shredded chicken covered in adobo mixture.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour 1/4 cup sauce into bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish; set aside. Stack tortillas, and wrap in a double layer of damp paper towels; microwave until hot, about 1 minute. Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture; roll up tightly, and arrange, seam side down, in baking dish. Cover with remaining sauce, and top with cheese and sliced jalapenos. Bake until hot and bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart 

I served these with some mexican rice. 

--Germs