4/13/15

I'MA FOODIE | @87PAGES | FOOD VLOG ♡1


Hey Gypsies! Sadly I'm back from an awesome vacation where I sailed the open seas, jumped into blue holes, and crazily enough drank from a coconut! I'll be back later to update you on my travel adventures, today I want to focus your attention to food! 

While in South Florida, the hubs and I chowed down! We were unstoppable and forgave ourselves the calories every day (at least I did). 

During our visit to Ft. Lauderdale we had the pleasure of visiting the below restaurants and they equally rocked the salt of my margaritas! 

  • La Bonne Crepe Address: 815 E Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

    http://www.labonnecrepe.com/ 
    2009 in Paris, gazing at the Eiffel Tower, I stuffed my face with a delicate crepe pastry. Therefore, I was quite eager to re-eat old memories. We arrived around 11 and to our dismay, we had missed brunch, which was odd because I definitely wanted a mimosa with my crepe + bacon. Un-deterred we scoured the lunch menu while chewing on bread... ah the bread... ce était magnifique.

    My husband ordered: #23 Chicken, ratatouille and gruyere cheese (it was amazing no complaints! per my husband)

    I ordered #32 Nova, smoked salmon, asparagus, capers and béchamel (I loved it but I thought the salmon was over-kill.)

    Service:  The staff was courteous but friendliness was missing, if you are expecting "southern hospitality." Catering no, efficient yes. However, they did find my wallet and held onto it while we traveled 30 minutes back into the city to retrieve it.

  • ROK BRGR Address: 208 SW 2ND Street Ft Lauderdale FL 33312 https://rokbrgr.com/
    I’m not sure if you do this, but my husband and I like to research the top 10 best places to get a certain meal, for brunch it was La Bonne Crepe, and for burgers it was Rok:brgr. Blame it on living in Seoul, South Korea for over a year, but I thought this was a Korean-American burger joint. Nope. Although I did not get a chance to sit inside and check out the décor, my research says, it is a 1920’s Prohibition feel, which is awesome. We sat outside and arrived in time for happy hour – cheap margaritas yes please, ginger ale + a bartender that goes heavy on the rum, I might need to move here! 
    But let’s talk burgers…. 

    For an appetizer, we ordered the ROK: Shrimp, which is flash fried | tempura style. It was yum but I was digging the fried too much, less fritter and more shrimp please. 

    My Floridian friend Dai ordered the below burger and kept exclaiming these are definitely the best burgers I’ve ever had. 
    TRUFFLE BURGER: baby Swiss | exotic mushrooms | caramelized onions truffle oil drizzle | truffle aioli
    My husband ordered the below burger, he wasn’t a big fan of the cheese but that burger… yes that burger was amazing (per my husband, I was hoping Star wouldn’t finish hers!) 
    FARMHOUSE: cave aged gruyere | caramelized onions | fried farm egg garlic aioli
    Although my hubs tried to convince me that ordering 2 burgers would be alright, I eventually decided on the 2011 “Burger Battle Fan Favorite Champion” listed below with a fried egg on top. The meat was succulent, thick, and juicy. I tried to eat it with the bun, but the bun was too fluffy for me! I tossed that bread aside and dug in, ala steak style. The fries weren’t bad either! 
    ROK:BRGR: aged Vermont cheddar | smoked pepper bacon bourbon bbq
    Service: I’m not sure if our waiter was new or if we were asking to many questions. He was nice but couldn’t tell us much about our meals and his description regarding the pepper bacon still boggles my mind. I wanted to know if they had regular bacon, but I think he misinterpreted me, because he started saying the bacon was built into the sandwich. Clearly, the picture accompanying my burger shows it doesn’t, so again maybe he was new… but The server with brown curly hair who brought out our drinks and food was super nice and quite friendly. 

  • Joe's Crab Shack Address: Plaza Del Mar Shopping Center, 1451 N Federal Hwy, FtLauderdale, FL 33304 

    As you can tell from the subheading, we are a family that travels the beaten path and that involved calling a Lyft, so my hubs could get his long awaited Bucket of Crab! Unfortunately, we arrived after Happy Hour ended, but we sat at Bar and enjoyed our cocktails and our bartender kept them coming! This was our first time at Joe’s and we love seafood and like I mentioned we didn’t drive, so this was a time we just kickbacked and relaxed.

    My husband had beer throughout the entire dinner. My beverages were more interesting… 
    Berry Red Sangria 
    Cruzan Rum, cabernet sauvignon, brandy and strawberry puree blended with blackberry and cranberry juices.

    Island Tee Time Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka, and Absolut Citron Vodka with cranberry juice and blackberries, then topped with Sprite.


    To start we had calamari, for meals my husband actually went for the
    Arctic Bay Steampot 
    Queen crab, shrimp, a whole lobster and smoked sausage all boiled in a garlic bath and topped with Old Bay® Seasoning.


    I on the other hand, went for the handbreaded platter

    Go Shrimpin' 
    Jumbo fried shrimp, coconut shrimp and crispy shrimp stuffed with crab, cream cheese and jalapeños. Served with hushpuppies, fries and coleslaw.


    Everything was good, we had zero complaints and before we left we were able to catch the next happy hour special of $5 patron margaritas! I call that happiness! J

    Alright gypsies, I’ve actually been frying some chicken while writing this blog post and dinner is ready! If you want more visuals of my good eats while on vacation, check out my YouTube channel -- I recently posted a Food Vlog! 

Ciao
Star Page




2/24/15

What to Wear to a Military Homecoming + LOOKBOOK

Hey Gypsies!


It's about that time for deployment to end and what better way to prepare then by showcasing a lookbook of 3 potential outfits to wear for the military homecoming ceremony! So in my quest to find the outfit to wow my husband, I began to wonder... What do people typically wear to homecomings? Is it the same stressor as searching for your dress for the military ball? Is there a list of do's and don'ts. Eventually, I realized that, like most things in life, everyone will have an opinion and it's up to the you to take it with a pinch of salt/sugar.


My top 5 tips on - What to Wear to a Military Homecoming!


1. Keep it Tasteful -- that's open ended, basically if you can't bend over to grab your sign or your kid without flashing your booty, maybe you should re-think the situation.


2. Walk like a Model-- If you are deadset on wearing those 5 inch stilettos, then by all means -- but please, please practice! You have 6-8 months to get it together, so no wobbling around like a drunk deer.


3. Save the Ta-Ta's --  literally and figuratively, this plays on #1, bending over and I can see nippage... errmmm I can't deal! Nothing wrong with a bit of cleavage, but your boobs should not be fighting with your top.


4. Minimal Makeup Sunglasses -- I will be sobbing like a sad sally, I can't deal with emotions. I'm getting mad just thinking about it! So I won't be rocking a full face but will definitely have some lipstick & waterproof mascara handy, which will result in good-ish pictures. Oh and I will be "that girl" wearing sunglasses in-doors. Did I mention, that I just can't deal?!

5. Be comfortable! If it feels wrong, don't do it. Simple as that. You'll be standing around & waiting for however long, so do it in comfort.


Alright gypsies! Check out my lookbook for my 3 looks -- let me know which one you like the best! Don't forget to comment, subscribe, share, and like this video + blog!




11/26/14

Orange Wednesday

 Hey gypsies, it's been awhile but I'm another adventure and I'm making it my duty to write about it. As I travel the skies in my journey to DC, I thought I would battle strangers, canceled flights, and crying babies. Shockingly, it was an orange that attempted to slight me. I can still feel the prickly itching, the scratchy throat, taste of citrus in the still air. 

It all being in the ORD USO, while I was re-packing my suitcase and a young child began to eat an orange. So I left and sat outside with the regular folk and towards the end of Vampire Diaries , a man across from me began the peeling of his orange. 

Aghast I looked around, was i the only one in shock? Perchance did these oranges come from in late November????!!! As I again ventured from a comfortable chair, I met the eyes of man selling oranges at the Farmers Market below. I admit I glared. Sighing I went to my gate, boarded the plane, squeezed into the middle seat and as the computerize flight attendant told me about the exit rows.... A tingling sensation graced my shoulders, from beyond my row of 20 I heard the munching of another orange eater. We're I not to be free from this danger? 

I beseeched the irritable old bat of flight attendant: "ma'am could you make an announcement regarding allergies and ask the passengers not to consume oranges as my epipen is below." She gave me two options. 1) get off the plane 2) bare it. Later she came back and spouted off a few policies that ended with, "next time bring your epipen with you."

Clearly I felt aggrieved and still quite itchy. Popping an 800 ibuprofen I covered my face and forced sleep. I would note the dousing of whiskey I inhaled from my sleeping seat partner.... Who I have a sneaking suspicion unapologetically slept on my shoulder.

Lesson learned, in November it is not uncommon for individuals to consume oranges, completely ignoring the decency of eating bananas or apples during this fall season. 

I have no choice but to blame GMOs. 

Ok, this story is over... It's  time to visit the Smithsonian Institution 

8/30/14

30 day fitness challenge | Fitness Haul

So I've done it again, fallen off the wagon & SPLAT right back into fat! I mean there was less fat to deal with back in June.... so I'm doubling up and taping my mouth..



  • The plan is to workout BEFORE work & after. I have T25 to assist me here because its only 25 minutes. My after workouts will be either at the Gym or at Home, I have Insanity, Turbo Fire, and recently acquired BodyBeast for the days I don't feel like going to the Gym or the WEATHER is awful and I don't feel like driving. Clearly the biggest struggle will be waking up in the morning. So I will try to be in bed by 9:30pm!
  • No sweets & chips (not including tortilla chips)... Alcohol only ONCE a week. I have to preplan and only drink sparingly for that specific day.
  • 80-120 oz of water is the goal!
  • Maintain my calories of 1716!
To help me along in my journey, I went to the GNC and bought these (it was buy 1 get 1 50% off w/membership price:

C4 = $16.14, Wheybolic (protein powder) =  $35.99
Shockingly I also bought for $40.37 an appetite suppressant. (no judging)


So that's it for my Fitness Haul -- please no that I won't be sticking to just ONE or TWO workouts. I'm planning to get out my comfort zone and try some different workouts! It should be fun!






Make sure you follow me on Youtube & Instagram! 



3/25/14

Crockpot Fish Stew w/ Red Wine

 Ingredients:
inspiration: http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotsoup/r/bl16c11.htm
  • whiting fish (wild caught, store bought)
  • olive oil
  • 3-4 garlic cloves
  • .5 purple onion, sliced
  • 1 zucchini squash, sliced/diced
  • 1 yellow squash, sliced/diced
  • 1 can basil/oregano diced tomatoes
  • shake in dried basil
  • shake in dried oregano
  • shake in salt
  • shake in red cayenne pepper
  • shake in pepper
  • pour in dry red wine (I used Redwood Creek Rich Red Blend (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah)
  • pour in chicken broth -- maybe 1/2 cup
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in crockpot -- try to spread the fish out--some at the bottom, some in the middle, and top. Stir gently. Cover and cook on HIGH setting for 3 to 4.5 hrs, the squash needs to be cooked well. You should hear the olive oil popping/zzing in the crock pot.