Brunch!!

I love brunch but I love brunch with the ladies even more!! Our good friend Rachel recently moved back from Hawaii and most of the ladies met up for brunch last weekend. It had been far to long since our last brunch, so we spent about 4 hours catching up :) Now, I will say that it took 1.5 hours to get our table because Tacos N' Tequila is a hopping place on Sundays. It was damn near crazy how busy it was. They have an excellent brunch buffet for $16.95 that includes mimosa's. With the unlimited mimosa's and buffet, people would camp out at a table (much like we did :)) We were lucky and got to sit at the bar while we were waiting for a table, so the wait wasn't to bad (except for the fact that I didn't eat so I was STARVING while waiting).

Ashley, Michelle, Courtney, Kelly and Rachel


Nicole, Me, Krista and Michelle

Ashley, Courtney, Rachel and Kelly

I loved the tiles in the ladies rest room... so we took some photos in there :)

My camera was resting on top of the toliet

So this might seem random.... but since we are a bunch of catty women, we made fun of these tights. Our whole table zeroed in on these tights when she walked by the restaurant (our table was near a window). They just aren't.... brunch tights.... more like.... stipper's day off tights :)

Nicole and I

A few of us went to Kung Fu Saloon after brunch, and Rachel got a bloody mary. It was kind of cool because they had their own "bloody mary" bar were you could mix and match flavors.

Rachel, me, Michelle and Nicole

The ladies!

A very fun and much needed girl time brunch!! Next time I won't wait as long to throw it together!

Takoba x 2



Last weekend we ate brunch at Takoba for the first time. I have been hearing the buzz for a few months on Takoba and was excited to try out the restaurant. About a year ago (maybe longer?? can't really remember) I had one of their tacos that they served out of a trailer in front of East End Wines. It was a simple pulled pork taco, but I remember it being very good.



Fast forward a year or so and now they have their own restaurant on East 7th. I love the building design and lay out. They have a great covered patio and a smallish inside section. The inside is really loud so the both times we opted to eat there, we sat on the patio.

The chips were thicker than I normally like but they were fresh and went well with salsa. The salsa was more liquid than chunky and didn't have much heat to it. But that didn't stop us from almost finishing the basket of chips ;)




I decided to go outside of my normal order for brunch (Migas) and ordered the Torta De Chorizo. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this sandwich was AWESOME! In the picture it looks a little bready, but I didn't mind it at all. According to the menu this bad boy had 2 eggs, house made choizo, jalapeno escabeche, queso fresco, and salsa secreta. I could have sworn that there was also avocado on the sandwich. Normally when I think of chorizo I think of grease but the grease factor wasn't that bad. Jim and I shared our breakfasts so I gave him half of the torta and he gave me half of his migas.

Jim's migas were pretty damn good. The eggs were cooked perfectly and were nice and fluffy. To many times in restaurants they will either not scramble the eggs before it hits the cook top (not terrible, but doesn't create fluffy eggs) or they put in WAY to many ingredients and then the eggs are non existent. There wasn't much heat to the migas, but overall they were very good. The only downside to the plate was the potato's... they were cooked well but hardly seasoned.

Jim ordered the White Sangria while I stuck with the $1 Mimosas (Hello... FANTASTIC deal on those puppies!!). The White Sangria was infused with pears, apples, oranges and cinnamon. They finished the drink off with a splash of champagne. For me, the drink was refreshing but the cinnamon really cut through the fruitiness of the drink. I like cinnamon but wasn't a fan of it being such a big flavor in the drink.

On Friday night we met up with Jim's sister and cousins for dinner at Takoba. I made the reservation while we were there for brunch the previous weekend. I couldn't wait to try their dinner. I was feeling ambitious that night and tried a Pisco Sour. A Pisco Sour is made with Capel Pisco, egg white, fresh lemon juice (bartender used an entire lemon), gomme syrup, and angostura bitters. I'm not going to lie, I had to look up most of what the ingredients are :)

Capel Pisco:Pisco is a brandy or aguardiente distilled from the white muscat grapes grown in two main regions of South America: the area around Pisco, described in A miracle of man and the desert, and the Valle del río Elqui in central Chile.

Gomme Syrup:Gum (or gomme) syrup is a drink sweetener that was commonly used instead of simple syrup in many classic cocktails. The advantage to using gomme syrup is that, especially in heavy-alcohol cocktails such as many of the classics, it adds a silky texture and softens the alcohol's flavor. It also prevents the syrup from crystallizing

Angostura bitters:said to contain over 40 ingredients — although few can know for sure, since the recipe, which was developed as medicine by a German doctor in Venezuela in 1824, is a closely guarded secret.

The drink was very tart and was a sipping drink. It was good but not something I could drink all night. Part of me was worried about the egg white being slimy in the drink, but it was mixed up well and made it more creamy than slimy. I'm living on the edge, drinking raw egg whites :) The rim was covered in sugar which helped cut down on the tartness of the drink.

We had horrible lighting for pictures, and I didn't have my little light to use. I ordered the Tacos De Carnitas Estilo Don Alberto. A whole lotta words to say pork tacos ;) They were delicious, the meat was tender and juicy. I ordered the rice (which was forgettable) and the side salad was lightly dressed in a vinaigrette and had slices of oranges and (I believe) feta cheese.

We meet up with Jamie, Julie, Lori and Charles for dinner. It has been far to long since the last time that we have all met up and hung out. The weather was perfect when the wind wasn't trying to blow away the table. I think everybody enjoyed their food, and we all definitely enjoyed each others company.

Jamie, Lori, Jim and Julie.... the Cousins (and brother and sister)

First Brunch of the Year!

Rachel was in town visiting from Hawaii so it was a perfect time to meet up for a ladies brunch. This time we decided to give Cru a try, their menu looked good and they had $9 unlimited mimosa's. Plus it was in a centrally located area so it worked for everybody! In the past I have only had a cheese plate and some nibbles at Cru, so I was hopeful for their brunch.

I knew most of the ladies with an exception of a couple (Rachel's friends) so there was plenty of chatting and laughing all day. But like I said, it was unlimited mimosa's so of course there was plenty of chatting and laughing. It was fun to hear how everybody spent the holidays and the new year.

While we were at our table, we asked the waiter to take our picture (in which we handed him 5 camera's :) ) when another waiter came up and said..."hey- why don't you jump up on the bar while we don't have anybody here". So of course we all jumped up and went to the bar and hopped up! Even Kenzie, Krista's 4 year old, joined us :). I love this photo and I love how the employees went out of their way to help create a fantastic photo opportunity!

Krista is sharing stories and pictures from New Years Eve. The picture of her spanking some guy (not sure if she knew him or not) was so damn hilarious.

Kenzie is such a cutie! She had a fun time playing her game

Kelly made a visit, which surprised us all because she just had her baby 13 days ago! She looked fantastic for just having a baby!!

Nicole, Ashley, me and Rachel

Rachel and Courtney

Overall my Eggs Benedict were tasty. I would have hoped for a runnier yolk and a little more Hollandaise sauce but it hit the spot. The potato's were done perfectly and spiced nice.

Baby Ella hanging out, she slept the entire time

Kelly and Ella