Saturday, June 18, 2011
Sippin' Saturday: Easy Tabasco Bloody Mary
Friday, June 17, 2011
Where Y'at Friday
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Evacuation Nation in Full Effect
Yesterday afternoon there was an
So in the meantime, I'm under evacuation.
With road closures and evacuation notices, the rest of the family and my puppy are in New Iberia while I've been somewhat stuck in Lafayette.
I'm cranky. I'm tired. And I'm not sure if my makeshift Target outfit is a dress or a beach cover-up.
That being said,
I have amazing friends.
BIG BIG BIG
Thanks
to MTher & SKing
for giving me a place to stay and taking care of me.
xo xo
Go here if you want to find out more about the explosion.
Elitists: Day Two of Brewmasters International Beer Festival
Yesterday, I caught you guys up on Day 1 of the Brewmasters International Beer Festival that SKing and I attended last September.
Today, I'm bringing you Day Two - also known as VIP Day.
If you guys don't remember, I entered a Twitter Contest for VIP Tickets to the Brewlicious Beer & Food Tasting event.
My contest entry
Wellllllll... I won!
SKing and I loaded up the Audi once again and headed back down to Galveston.
We first met up with @JoshInHouston for our VIP Passes and some free Nikita Swag!
We headed into the Moody Gardens Ballroom, a little nervous and shy -until we saw the Applewood Bacon Wrapped Quail with a Pomegranate Glaze made by the chefs at Bernardo's. We. Love. All. Things. Quail. We washed it down with a sampling of New Belgium Mother Ship Wit, an organic wheat beer.
Next was Hofbrau Dunkel paired with Baby Short Ribs, Polenta, and Micro Greens by the folks at South Shore Harbor Resort
Comfort food done bougie in all the right ways!
Nikita Table Cards & a Beer App?!
What photos are missing here? The gorgeous guy pushing Harpoon Cider Beer.
As we have a special place in our hearts for cider beer (our friendship truly began over pints of Wood Chuck Amber) we saw the Harpoon Hottie and thought it was a match made in heaven. Once we made our way over to the booth, we learned a few important lessons. Mainly, all cider beers were not created equal and the booth with the hottest rep usually has the worst beer. I believe our review was along the lines of "dirty dish water." Yech!
Green Eyed Susan Macaroons - a Houston company that hand-makes gluten / preservative free macaroons.
ESB Cheese Soup with Citruc Creme Fraiche paired with Redhook ESB by Stone Kitchen
We'll cam-whore in a crowded room, no worries.
There were seminars throughout the day, hilarious booth workers, and of course our beloved Woodchuck paired with eclairs and other sweets from Moody Gardens.
We circled around a bit before we found this booth, but finally we found the Citrus Pork Belly Lollipop on a Sugar Cane Stick from Voice Restaurant & Lounge. I read about it online beforehand and couldn't wait to try it. This was hands-down our favorite dish. It was paired with St. Arnold's Elissa IPA which is made right in Houston.
We also got to try some sliders and empanadas!
We also spotted Abita's SOS: Save Our Shore as we made a few new friends.
All in all, it was the perfect laid back follow up to Brewmasters International Beer Festival Day 1. SKing and I not only enjoyed all the yummy beer and food pairings, but thanks to my contest winning entry, we also got to enjoy VIP treatment that included larger tasting glasses, a special VIP seating area, and early entry.
With September drawing closer, you can bet we're already making plans to attend this year's festival.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Lushes: Day One of Brewmasters International Beer Festival
Since SKing and LMac spent the weekend relaxing away in Galveston, TX , I thought one of my first catch up (read: I have 10 months of happenings to fill you in on) posts should be about SKing & I's trip to the First Annual Brewmasters International Beer Festival in Galveston back in September.
For some added company, we had Nate and Ninja meet us at Moody Gardens for the event. Once the boys arrived, we walked through the event doors and were given a sampling mug and a punch card.
The room was filled wall to wall with sampling booths - arranged by brewing company. Each brewing company brought a few of their favorite beers for us to sample, which was a little overwhelming at first since there were literally HUNDREDS of beers. Eventually, we just started asking the brewery representatives to serve us up a sample of their favorite.
The entire day was a blur - both in the sense that it flew by and we drank quite a bit. hahah
That being said, I'll leave you guys with photos from the day....
Post Brewmasters, we had dinner at Gaidos - yeah I'm really not sure how it's pronounced - where I somehow lost a contact in the sink.
Since I wear circle lenses it was a total "Hello Hot Mess" moment...
Notice my contact-less wonky eye. *Le Sigh*
Anyhooooo - Tune in tomorrow for Day 2 of Brewmasters International Beer Festival
Monday, June 13, 2011
Beer Candles Are the ONLY Candles Worth Having
That's right folks, this weekend marked the two year anniversary of my first post.
Taking a little time off from blogging recently hasn't made this two year mark any less special - because we've been keeping Dixie Lust going strong in spirit over here.
I started this blog as a way to show not only y'all but myself as well all that the South has to offer. No more "I'm bored", "There's nothing to do around here....", or "I wish I lived in a cooler city." The possibilities are endless - some of them just need to be re-discovered.
And we're here to do just that.
In the spirit of renewed dedication to blogging, MTher, LyLa and I got together Saturday to work on a few new video features for Dixie Lust. Before we called it a night, we made a little wish and had some cake.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Trend Watch Tuesday
Also, You guys can find me posting on style and fashion over at The Bee's Knees Blog for
Monday, June 6, 2011
Little Thing 55
Stumbling across fantastic photos - like this one - that contain all my favorite people.
Boca Raton, FL
July 26, 2010
Give the People What They Want
For all the long-time followers of Dixie Lust,
Trust me - I'm just as shocked as you are right now.
Shock & Awe
Yes - after 10 or so months - I am finally blogging again.
This past Saturday, I broke myself away from newest committed relationship - Netflix and Napping - to hit up the Cajun Heartland State Fair with MTher, Sking, and our newest addition, LMac.
Before we made our way to the fair, we stopped by La Fonda's for dinner and their legendary margaritas.
Some of the best frozen margaritas I've ever had.
While at dinner, SKing mentioned she showed little ole Dixie Lust to LMac earlier in the day and that launched everyone into a "Bring Back Dixie Lust" campaign.
What can I say, I'm a people pleaser. I have heard their cries for more Gulf-Coast-goodness, so here it is folks.
I'm back.
This week as I get the blog back in shape, I'll be bringing you bits and pieces from old adventures. I've got quite a lot of back logged photos and videos that I'd love to share with everyone.
Meanwhile, on to Saturday night's Instagrams
SKing, MTher, & Yours Truly
Wayne Toups
LMac, SKing, MTher - What you dont see? The sweat literally dripping down on everyone
Cajun Dancing at the Fair
Mint Chocolate Martini, by Russ, at the Wine Loft
Great conversation with old friends and a few new ones at Wine Loft
The usual crime scene
444 Cajundome Boulevard
Lafayette, LA 70506-4286
(337) 265-2100
Wine Loft
211 Settlers Trace Boulevard
Lafayette, LA 70508
(337) 406-9630
Wayne Toups
Lafayette, LA 70506-4286
(337) 265-2100
Wine Loft
211 Settlers Trace Boulevard
Lafayette, LA 70508
(337) 406-9630
Wayne Toups
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Your Daily Reminder!
Don't forget to enter the give-away from
((click the logo to find out how to enter!))
Les Breastfeeders
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Ye Olde Renaissance Faire
Last year, a dear friend of mine from high school, Miss Ashley B, went to the Texas Renaissance Festival and wrote me up a lovely guest post on the experience complete with tons of photos. But since I never got a chance to post it up for you guys and I'll be having my own Texas Renaissance Festival outing this Saturday, I thought now would be a perfect time to post it up - Hope you guys enjoy!! xo KB
I have always wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival ever since high school. The honors classes always scheduled a trip to Plantersville, Texas, where the nation’s biggest Ren Fest is held annually- eight weekends out of the year. Unfortunately, my dad never let me go because it was “too expensive.” For some reason, I find it hard to believe 40 dollars is a hefty sum. But I digress.
A few months ago my husband, Tyler, picked up a Renaissance brochure from Albertsons just to do it. I guess because he knows I’m obsessed with medieval times and anything before the eighteenth century. As soon as I saw it I thought, “Holy Sh*t! I forgot about this thing!” and looked at all of the dates. One of the weekends just so happened to fall the day after my birthday – October 17th, and 18th- the Fairy and Elves themed weekend. Close enough.
We decided to only go the Saturday just to see if we would like it (could handle it). We drove up to Lake Charles, Louisiana from Baton Rouge the night of my birthday – the 16th. In doing this, we broke up the trip almost in half just to cut up the five and a half hour drive. We ate sushi with his family and had cake…and blah blah blah – now the Renaissance Festival. ** angels break into chorus**
My husband decided that night along with friend Mike and little brother Paul, to dress up. They hadn’t previously planned this, but since my costume was so epic they would have looked like idiots. The costumes they made didn’t exactly change that, but they tried, and it was a cute effort – kind of. Just kidding.
They stayed up until 2:30 am sewing their own crests onto Wal-Mart shirts (heyo!). I went to bed at 1:30 just watching this spectacle. That was a bad idea considering I had to wake up at 5am to braid my hair and do my makeup. They woke up at 6am. So basically we got the same amount of sleep. Yippee. We left at 7am, an hour later than we wanted to. It all turned out okay; we got there just a little later than expected.
When we arrived at the gate – we arrived at pure awesomeness. Turns out the people who don’t dress up look like the uninterested stand-outers. The moment we walked in, “Ann Boleyn” got up in our grills and we looked like deer in the headlights. I guess we weren’t expecting the old English accent right off the bat and it caught us off guard. She asked, “ Are ye lookin’ fuh me?” First I said to myself, “ I thought Ann Boleyn spoke more elegantly than this?” Then Tyler, Mike and Paul all just nodded. Assholes. She went on to tell us about the jousting match and what section of the crowd she will be sitting in. We didn’t go to the jousting until 3pm.
There were a lot of awesome characters walking around. I have given Kora a few of the ones I took pictures with, and some that I snuck photos of. You can tell in some of them because they have a look on their face (helmet) like they just caught a small medieval castle peasant stealing an apple. One looked as though I stole his soul. Oh well, I got the picture.
The first thing on my agenda was to buy a turkey leg. Of course we went to the place that was the only shop that didn’t carry turkey legs. Now, I’ve heard from everyone that has went, to get a darned turkey leg and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get one. The bartender wench said that most of the food stores have them and just to look around. Well I guess we were blind because soon after we turned the corner all we saw were giant wooden turkey leg signs. DOH! Tyler bought us each a turkey leg, and it was glorious. I also supplied Kora with these sweet pics.
We mainly walked around the entire day because there was so much to see (and buy). They had rows upon rows of costume shops. Since there are different themed weekends, such as pirates, gypsies, Scottish clans, elves and fairies, Halloween and Christmas, each shop had different types of clothes. They had a store for wooden mugs, silver mugs and you –name-it-they-had-it mugs. They sold colorful hand carved staves, wooden chairs, authentic micro-suede capes, scarves, candles… I mean anything, and that was just the “trade district.” That’s what I’ll call it for now. In the Mage Quarter, and that’s what it’s actually called, they had “Drench a Wench.” This was the medieval style dunking booth. She said typical trash talking things and so on. They also had a guy locked in the stocks that you could throw tomatoes at. He said some pretty nasty things such as “hey honey if I had a face like that I’d paint it too.” Below the belt, but funny. The Mage Quarter was pretty much an entire section of games and crafts. You could also shoot bows and arrows, throw ninja stars, toss maces and axes, and fish in ponds.
The chapel section of the 56 acre theme festival was very pretty. They are totally legit chapels and there was actually a wedding held that day. We saw the procession of the bride and groom coming from the Trade District. The chapels had vines growing all around them and they were also near a courtyard with a fountain. Very cool.
One of the shows we saw was the “Ded Bob Show”. He was like Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist comic on Comedy Central except the man had a mask over his face. That definitely defeats the purpose, but his comedic improve more than made up for it. He called on members of the audience to embarrass them and thank God he didn’t call on me. PHEW. Sorry guys, no pics, I was too nervous he would get me on stage. The jousting show was “different”. I was expecting some spectacular reenactments, but I guess these guys were retirees of the Medieval Times restaurant because they kind of sucked. They completely whiffed when going to lance the other knight and purposefully threw themselves off of their horses. It was almost comical, so I let it slide. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my awesome adventure.
One of the last places we went to was the cape store because it looked like capes from Lord of the Rings of course. They even had little leaf brooches. Shut up- it’s cool. The guy working the counter inquired about Tyler and his friend’s crest and asked if they were “part of a thing”. I laughed. On the inside. Mike followed with, “Oh no man, we made these.” He pointed to each of them as he said, “I made mine, he (Tyler) made his, oh and (Paul) his mom sewed his.” THEN, I laughed. Poor kid. The guy seemed a little too amazed for comfort, and then proceeded to tell us how he wears his cape every day. Awkward.
That about sums up my day at the Renaissance Festival. We’ll probably go every year now because I had that much fun. I also got a Renaissance Festival 2009 ceramic mug out of it, so it’s all good. The next one on our list is probably the Christmas one because they apparently deck the town out in lights and stuff. The town stays up all year; they just maintain it in the off season I guess. We didn’t get a chance to see the rest of the craft stores such as the candle making and glass blowing stands. We also didn’t get to explore the Magic Gardens section. Now I know what’s first on the list next year! OH, and they had an armory museum, it was cool. The end.
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