Eateries & Drinkeries

Inaugural 2011 Houston Beer Fest

August 1, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

I was looking through my pictures on my camera and realized … I never wrote about my beer fest experience! So here I am more than a month later, writing it.

I’ve been wanting to go to a beer fest since I’ve heard about it and when Houston was going to have one I begged Sissy, Mum, and June to go but everyone ignored me.

It wasn’t until Groupon had a deal. Thank you, Groupon. Only Sissy, Mum, and I ended up going though. But many people were in the Groupon line. Oy vey.

It was set at Hermann Square Park – worst place to have a beer fest with the amount of people around. There was not enough standing space and it was freaking hot out. People started standing in the pond and the security kept trying to get them out. They started to give up trying to get them out though.

Each of our tickets came with 10 free drinking stubs which was pretty sweet. For my first tasting, I got an amazing New Belgium Fat Tire. Sadly, our first tasting was also our last.

By the time we made our way around to the other booths .. all the beer were out. All that was left were the usual beers that you drink when you don’t want to buy anything expensive. It was a waste of money because experiencing a beer fest is to try stuff you never would. Sigh …

We ended up just pigging out on samosas, Asian food, pineapple drink, funnel cake, sausage on a stick, curly fries, and sweet tea.

We paid for all our food except for the teas which was paid for by tickets. We gave the rest of our tickets to some stranger that just came in. I hope he had more fun than us.

I understand this is their first ever Beer Fest here in Houston so I’m not mad at how it turned out. I just wished they thought this through more. They have to know that Houston goes crazy wild with drinking. Especially when you put it on Groupon or Living Social or any other site to help promote your event … you’re going to be getting A LOT of customers.

I hope next year it’ll be better. But now I can cross it off my Bucket List! and tell everyone I’ve been to an inaugural beer fest. Winking smile

I probably won’t go to one for a really long time here in Houston … maybe a few years when they know for sure how things go.

I know they’ll be having a wine fest though so … if you guys are interested, go check it out. It’s in September I believe and they should know how things go now.

Lasagna House III | Houston, Texas

July 31, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

For lunch, Saturday, Mum, June, and I went to the:

Lasagna House III
13306 Westheimer Road,
Houston, TX
(281) 496-9114

You get free Garlic Bread. Pretty much all you can eat.

The same goes for the Salad. They even let you pick your own choice of dressing.

Stuffed Jalapenos [jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese, lightly breaded and deep fried] | $5.99

These were 100% better than the ones we got from Red Oak Grill. Their marinara sauce that came with it was divine. I dipped some garlic bread in it. Yum!

Cannelloni Meat [large pasta tubes stuffed with meat, topped with Pomodoro Sauce and shredded mozzarella and baked] | $10.99

They went heavy on the cheese which I ended up ripping off and giving to Mum. Even with the missing layer of cheese, the layer of chopped up meat makes the dish. They gave so much that I had a lot of leftovers.

After lunch, we went to the new Whole Foods at Montrose. We all felt like a kid in a candy shop and bought a lot of unnecessary goodies.

I channeled my inner child and watched Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. She goes to New York to audition for Broadway and ends up finding out the part was for her dog, Boy. I will admit that even though her voice is all squeaky and such, the movie itself was very sweet and I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

Hope you guys had a great weekend!!

Fun Filled Weekend

July 25, 2011 by Mellie Dee 4 Comments

** Don’t forget to enter My Very First Giveaway before it closes! **

On Friday, I went to Walgreens for a gift bag and ended up buying some cracking nail polish as well! I can be pretty messy when it comes to painting my nails but this looks pretty darn good for a quick test. I think it’ll look amazing with a bright color underneath. Oh, the possibilities.

Katherine and I

I went to visit Rose and her family since she had given birth to another baby girl, Katherine. I was jealous of her smooth skin. Sigh …

Remember the Nutella Swirled Fudge Brownies? They all loved it, including Michelle H. who showed up after my arrival. More than half was gone when I left which is always a great feeling.

On Saturday, the family and I were leaving early to San Antonio to drop off my apartment keys due to my lease ending in August. Because of that, June made breakfast of eggs, Eggo pancakes, and hash browns. I opted for an egg and some hash browns with ketchup and made myself a peanut butter and banana bagel thin sandwich. Mmm …

When we arrived in San Antonio, we took a stroll around La Cantera, dropped my keys off, and had lunch a Pho Hung Cuong Restaurant before heading to Borders.

They are closing and was having a big sale. Books on sale make me so happy but it sucks because that means electronics are taking over, killing libraries and bookstores. I used to dream of opening my own library/bookstore when I was older. Sigh … dreams crushed.

On our way home we were stuck in traffic ten minutes away from our house due to construction. We were running late to Timothy’s dinner and made it … thirty minutes late. He was paying because he found a good job and wanted to treat everyone.

On Sunday, I woke up and went to Borders, again and might have gone a little crazy. I ended up spending $40+ but it’s so worth it! The one sticky that says $7.99 was actually only $5.59!

I have so many books to read now which makes my heart happy. I cannot wait to try out those cookbooks as well. If anyone would want to donate me their books or cookbooks, please send them my way. If they’re something I’d like, I’ll definitely add it to my list.

On my way home, I stopped by the Apple store and picked this baby up. I’m excited to try it out! I love when I get new toys.

For dinner, we ended up at a Chinese Restaurant in Bellaire. We had enough leftovers for me to have for lunch today. I love leftovers.

Little Napoli Italian Cuisine | Houston, Texas

July 15, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

Last night I met up with Amanda to celebrate my super belated birthday. So after work I went home to do my usual home things, I headed into traffic.

Little Napoli Italian Cuisine
6445 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX
(713) 266-9999
www.littlenapoli.net

They had Garlic Bread | free. Amanda already had some because of my tardiness.

I wasn’t a big fan of the bread. It was burnt on the other side and a little on the chewy, hard side.

Amanda said she liked it but I think she was just hungry waiting for me.

Our meal came with a very simple Salad. Always need to get my veggies in. I just wished they gave us more onions.

Beef Cannelloni [rolled pasta sheets stuffed with a mixture of ground beef and vegetables and topped with Marinara Sauce & Mozzarella Cheese then baked in the oven] | $9.99.

I’ve never had this before because I usually stick to what I know but we all gotta live so I took the chance. When they first served it I was thinking … what did I order?! But when I took my first bite … OH MY GOODNESS! It was so good! I want to recreate this at home!

Amanda wanted me to pick the dessert but since she’s a sweets lover unlike me, I let her chose and ended up with the Chocolate Mousse | $9.99.

It was soooo good!! The icing was very chocolatey, almost dark chocolate like. For a non-sweets fan myself, I ate my fair share.

Amanda

This is the first time putting up a picture of someone other than me so hopefully, she doesn’t get angry when she finds her face plastered on here. But meet Amanda. Isn’t she cute?! She was a sweetheart and paid for my meal. Thanks, girlie!

Anyway, we talked a lot. We were there for over 2 hours even after we were done eating. We caught up with what has been going on with one another since May and what we see coming up this year. We are looking forward to a fun, fun year. Here’s to hoping!!

I had a really good time with her and am so happy I got to see her and catch up.

Black Walnut Cafe | Sugar Land, Texas

July 10, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

I went over to Michelle’s house Friday night. I was a little afraid of driving through the countryside.

Eyes on the road. Safety first!

When I got to her place, Stephanie was already there. We went to the backyard.

Isn’t it beautiful?! They have a river out back and past the grass is a slope with more land and the gazebo you see on the left. Pretty neat huh?

They have a really gorgeous house. Plus, their family is really sweet.

Yesterday, June, Timothy, and I went out to Sugar Land to celebrate our cousin, Kenson’s, birthday.

We went and watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I wasn’t really a big fan of wanting to watch this movie because they took Megan Fox out and added that model girl, who I don’t really care to know the name of but I still wanted to see it nonetheless.

Though I don’t like the girl, I like her hair. Especially when they were standing in rubble and she was talking into the camera.

I knew I would like this movie but I was hoping my cousin wouldn’t pick it because it was two hours long. I even tried to make him not pick it by saying “I heard it sucks! Let’s watch something else.” In the end, I still wished we didn’t see it in the theater.

Shia LeBeouf is as sexy as ever. As is Josh Duhamel.

Oh, and I’m not ashamed to say I shed some tears in this movie.

Anyway, for dinner, we went to:

Black Walnut Cafe
16535 Southwest Fwy #2002
Sugar Land, TX
(281) 565-7800
www.blackwalnutcafe.com

Toasted Raviolis “Español” [ravioli, mild jalapeño cheese, tomato & Pavia alfredo sauces, garlic bread] | $8.50 to share with the group.

I was told this was the best dish on the menu and everyone ordered it. Sadly, I was not a fan of the ravioli. It was crispy but on the inside, it was very dry. The garlic bread, on the other hand, was to die for. Crispy and moist enough.

For my main meal, Meatball Sandwich [house-made meatballs, mozzarella, tomato & Pavia alfredo sauces, onion baguette] | $8.50.

The meatballs were a little dry but I really liked the onion baguette. It was just the right crunch but also soft. The fries were mushy, just how I like it.

I would like to go here again and try other dishes. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t 100% terrific. Maybe I just need to order something else that people love.

I can’t believe the weekend is already over! Sad, sad! Hope you guys had a good weekend!!