saturday is a special day

homemade brunch // nasher sculpture center // panda chair // flower chair
Saturday has always been my favorite day of the week, but Sunday has become a fierce competitor. Ever since I've started working, the weekends are reserved for play dates and exploring, but I usually have to work on Saturdays now at J.Crew. Today we still managed to have a fun morning and afternoon before I sold clothes from 5-10. 
Brunch is my absolute favorite meal and I always order eggs benedict if it's on the menu. Today we tried to make it and it was successful. Poached eggs have always been a culinary fear of mine, but I conquered them with the help of Preston making everything else. Here's the recipe for our mostly homemade eggs benedict:
Ingredients: -eggs -deli ham -avocado -english muffins -instant hollandaise sauce (oops)
1. Poach da eggies. This is tricky. First bring about 2 in of water to a boil in a pot. Crack eggs in separate bowls. Once the water is boiling, pour a little bit of vinegar (maybe a half a tablespoon?) and bring the water to a simmer. Carefully pour eggs into water and cover and cook on gentle heat for 4 mins. Using a slotted spoon remove from water and place on paper towels.
2. Cook ham. Not hard. Just put em on a pan. 2 slices per muffin is good. We just got the cheapest deli ham meat and it worked perfectly.
3. Slice avocados or whatever other vegetable you want. I've only ever had eggs benedict with avocado or asparagus. 
4. Make the hollandaise sauce. You can get instant packets in the same aisle as gravy. This is a major cheat, but it worked well and tasted good.
5. Toast the english muffins.
6. Assemble muffins. Muffin, then ham, then avocado, then egg, then hollandaise.
After brunch we walked to the Nasher Sculpture Center. It was a little disappointing, but admission was free so we went to check it out. One cool thing was a yoga class they had in the outdoor area of the sculpture center. Last Saturday we started going through the Dallas Museum of Art and after the sculpture center, we finished at DMA. 
The Neiman Marcus flagship store is right in downtown Dallas, a 4 minute walk from our apartment. It's always closed by the the time Preston is done with work so today we decided to venture inside. I experienced shortness of breath walking into the women's eveningwear and bridal boutiques because I've never been so close to so much Oscar, Chanel and Lanvin at the same time. After pretending to be glam at Neiman's, we went home, made burgers and swam and then I went to work. Now we are home celebrating BYU's win against TEXAS. Hehehe.

brie-lliant

fedora alternative // chair // a dumpster pool // soda tab robe // gorgonzilla
This past Saturday was a lot of fun because it involved brunch and food trucks. Mostly this post is about the food trucks. We went to the Design District Market held in the Dallas Design District (surprise) which was 10 minutes from downtown. It was a bunch of little stands and kiosks with everything from vintage dresses to wall murals to retro furniture to juice cleanses. It was hot as hell as usual, and before we went to the market, we read about a potential dumpster converted into a swimming pool. I was a little bit concerned, but any excuse to cool down in the Texas heat, I will take. So we came prepared to swim, but the dumpster pool looked as trashy as it sounded and we decided against joining the other design patrons. 
For dinner, I got the best grilled cheese sandwich. This post is about that sandwich. I love food trucks they have some of the most delicious foods and SO MANY KINDS all in one square. So like tacos with chili fries with a sno-cone with a milkshake is totally plausible and all within arms length. The design district food trucks did not have as much variety, but I the Gorgonzilla grilled cheese truck caught my eye and won my heart. I'm obsessed with brie so I got the Brie-Zilla sandwich and now I must share the recipe because it was the most delicious grilled cheese of my life.
Brie-Zilla
Brie Basil Muenster cheese Pesto Caramelized onions Thick white bread
Not quite sure the exact amounts of each, but it's not that hard to determine how much cheese to put in a sandwich you know? I haven't made it yet but I'm excited to. 

magnolia's banana pudding

One of my favorite desserts of all time is Magnolia's banana pudding. I had it in New York in 2011 for the first time and regret not buying a cup for each day I was there. A few months ago, I literally dreamt of this pudding and woke up needing it. I ignored my dream and a few days later, I found a Magnolia's cookbook at DI. It was the strangest and best book discovery I had in a while. I flipped through the pages to make sure the pudding recipe was there, and after confirmation, went and bought the ingredients. 

I've made it three times since I've bought the book and have made my own changes, which I've marked with an asterisk* in the recipe. Here it is, Magnolia's famous banana pudding:

Magnolia’s Famous Banana Pudding

·       One 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

·       1.5 cups ice cold water

·       One 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix

·       3 cups heavy cream*

·       One 12 oz box Nilla Wafers

·       4 cups sliced ripe bananas

In a small bowl on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for about 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

*In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl with 4-5 qt capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. Repeat the layer twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving    
*I tried the heavy cream, and it tasted fine, but I had trouble getting the "stiff peaks." I tried the second time with Cool Whip and it worked perfectly and tasted the same. Also this recipe is huge. I fed Preston's entire apartment the first time I made it, so cut it in half if you're not planning on feeding the masses. I had to include this pic. I got this glam Anthro cookbook for $3! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have. Also, I bought fat free/reduced fat ingredients this time and didn't taste a difference.