Chow Fest 2012-Day 1

My sweet, adorable, much older than me husband is turning 40! We are currently celebrating. Now Tadd is not much for a month long birthday celebration, but I am. So here we go! We have been planning this trip for about a month, and it's been funny, because when I say "planning this trip" I mean "researching every restaurant on in New Orleans." So this trip my friends is all about the food. For those of you who don't know, Tadd and I are self-proclaimed foodies. We love to eat.

So join us as we document this 5 day, 3 state, culinary extravaganza! We are enjoying it so far and hope you do as well! Below is listed our rating system from 1-10 and what it means.

1-Death

2-Borderline Food Poisoning

3-Wouldn’t send my arch nemesis there

4-Holly Could’ve cooked better than that

5-Should’ve gone to McDonald’s

6-Need to take a class in seasoning

7-Decent, but Tadd could do better

8-Pretty Dang Good

9-No doubt, I want to eat that again!

10-Best I’ve ever eaten

Monday-Day 1 Lunch: We were in Mobile dropping our kids of with the grandparents most of the day, but there was a spot that I've been wanting Tadd to try out. Is on Government St. in the Loop area in Korbet's Square, and is called Regina's Kitchen. Now, this place is nothing fancy, but it us yummy. It's a deli that is only open for lunch (and they do catering). The service is great, and the people who work there are friendly. My reason for wanting Tadd to try this place was specifically for this sandwich called The Schoel. It is a turkey, bacon, jalepeno cheddar cheese (made in house) sandwich on grilled sour dough bread. It did not disappoint him! I'm so glad that we know what each other likes. We get so excited when we find something yummy that we want to share with one another...and Regina's was just that for us. Yum! Go check it out! Oh, no pics of this dish for you. We didn't decide to document this trip until today! Plenty of pics to come! Ratings: Tadd-8, Holly-9

Day 1 Dinner: Again, nothing fancy for this meal. Mom and Dad came to Biloxi with us to check us in our hotel room, and we had dinner with them at the High Tide restaurant at Imperial Palace. It is your typical casino restaurant. Mom paid with this with her points on her card, so the yummiest part was that it was free! We decided to do salad and soup bar here because we knew there were a few desserts we wanted to try (I get my sweet tooth from my dad, and it is bad!). We ordered two (huge) desserts between the 4 of us, and were fighting over the last bites! We got a blondie sundae (I love brownies more than life itself...make it a blondie, hot, with vanilla ice cream, and I'm in heaven), and bread pudding with fresh fruit, a divine whisky sauce and whipped cream! We decided that since we ate salad for dinner and then dessert, they cancel each other out. It's like we didn't eat at all! Ratings (for dessert since you can't really rate a salad bar): Tadd-8, Holly-8

That's all for day one. Pics and post from today to come soon!

My New Favorite

Just curious...who's seen these?

They are ribbon hair ties, if you don't already know. Back during our girl's trip this fall, all of the girls either had these, or were buying them when we were out shopping in Homewood at a little boutique. I thought it was ridiculous to spend $12 on 5 hair ties. I didn't understand what all the buzz was about. Well, they all let me know that these do not pull your hair (no breakage) and they don't leave a crease after wearing a ponytail! So I made way back to Homewood and spent $12 on 5 hair ties. Hadley was very disappointed that I got the neutral colors. Sorry sister...mama is frugal and practical. Well yesterday, my sweet friend Kayce bought me the jewel tone set, and guess what she told me?! You can get a set of 8 for $8 at Sephora! This is the best price that I have seen to buy locally. Some places here in Birmingham are selling them for $5 a piece!!! Highway robbery if you ask me. Anthropologie also sells them, and if you want to get fun with prints or initials, Etsy has a great selection and good prices. Anyway, I adore these things. They make my boring little ponytail look deliberate. It also fits around my ponytail 3 times, which is unusual and important! And if you are wearing it on your wrist (as I do often with ponytail holders), it doesn't look ugly. It's downright cute. Oh, and a certain 5 year old is wearing one of my pink ones today!

So I know these are huge in Birmingham. For all of my readers in other places (both of them), has this little trend reached your neck of the woods?

Curly Hair Tip

Last week, I was given a voucher for a free haircut from a neighbor (maybe it was her way of telling me my hair was nappy and a cut was much needed). Being new to town, I had no idea of where to go, so I gladly accepted. My first impression was not great when I sat down in the stylists chair. I told her that I usually get my hair thinned out massively from underneath so there aren't little wispy hairs on the top layer, and that I wanted her to do the same thing. She said she felt strongly against it and couldn't do that. I mean, seriously, what do you say when a stylist says "No" to what you want? I was in shock a little bit, I must admit. Anyway, she said that if you do that, it grows out and is even thicker and more unruly than before. She said she would add some chunky layers around the bottom and that would work much better. I reluctantly proceeded.

Next, as she was washing my hair, she told me that when you have curly hair, and you want to style it curly, you should wash your hair with warm water (this opens the pores to allow the nutrients from the shampoo and conditioner to absorb) and then rinse with cold (this closes them so that the nutrients are locked in and the outside elements can't get in). Let hair air dry and add minimal product (she suggested moroccan oil, but I didn't use any product at all).

I just tried out this method yesterday for the first time. I have to say that my hair has never looked better curly! I'm not sure if it's the cut, or the cold water method, but it seriously looks so much better.

So here's my confession. I am not a hair professional, but I am a control freak, and I THINK I know what my hair needs. I obviously do not. I vow to listen to the professionals from now on. Just like I expect people to listen to my advice about fashion, I should listen to said professionals, and I will.

Any of you that have curly/wavy hair, please try this method out and let me know what you think. I'm curious if it's the method or the cut (or a combo of the two) that worked for me.