We planned the trip to Dallas, then I found out the date was the same as the first Owl Creek sale. I couldn’t stand to miss the sale, so we made an appointment with Dyna to go Friday evening and shop. As usual there were lots of gorgeous one-of-a-kind things. This visit to Owl Creek I concentrated on gifts, and scored big. So the weekend had already started out great.
Saturday morning we left early, well sort of. Twenty minutes outside of town I realized I put the ice packs in the cooler, put the cooler in the car, but never put any of the appetizers I had made in the cooler! I thought about just blowing it off, but decided to turn around. When we finally got to the metroplex area, our first stop was Costco in Arlington, because there were a couple things I bought in Austin the week before, that I had to pick up again. Then it was on to the Columbia Sportswear outlet at 360 and I-20 in Grand Prairie. We were so excited about going there, and none of us found anything we couldn’t live without. I know, hard to believe.
By the time we left the outlet center, we were starving. So it was on to our friend Dian’s to pick her up, grab a bite, and go to the Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum was so crowded on Saturday afternoon, I couldn’t bear to think about negotiating the crowd. Since the weather forecast had changed for the better, we came up with a new plan to get to the Arboretum on Sunday morning at 9am, when it opened. That decision being made, we headed to downtown Dallas to see the new park over Woodall Rogers. It’s really an interesting area, and was very crowded. Some of the neatest things were the decorations on the trunks of the trees on the north side of the park.
Then we decided to go to the new Trader Joe’s in Plano, because we were so close. I’m kidding of course, and those of you that know Dallas are thinking we’re crazy to go that far for a store, because from downtown Dallas to Plano is about 20 miles of driving hell. But in the total scheme of things, it’s closer than Calfornia! Their stores are in the east and west parts of the country, but this is the first one I know of in the central part of the U.S. They are kind of a cross between Whole Foods and Natural Grocers. We filled the trunk of the car, and that was enough for Saturday.
Sunday we stuck to our plan. We got to the Dallas Arboretum about 9am. It was overcast and only about 30 cars in the parking lot, so it was pretty near perfect. Last year I was really disappointed that I missed the fall pumpkin display, so I could hardly believe I was there. It was absolutely amazing – the pumpkins, the pumpkin houses, the pumpkin flowers, the pumpkin mobiles. The double treat was that the Chihuly exhibit is still there through December.
After the Arboretum, we decided to go to the Kozy Kitchen to eat. While there are lots of restaurants in Austin that serve grass-fed beef and locally grown produce, it’s not that way in Dallas, so I was anxious to try this restaurant (and everyone decided to humor me). Nina and I split our lunches, a vegetable, egg and beef scramble, and an organic club salad. It was delicious. Unfortunately, my photography left a lot to be desired, so the scramble is the only picture that made the cut (barely).
Dallas isn’t usually a destination for me. After all those years of living there and fighting to stay alive on the freeways, I’m just not that crazy about it. So when I do go, I try to cram in as much as I can, and I was pretty happy about this trip. The Arboretum alone was worth it.
Dian was lucky to make it to the Chihuly exhibit for one of the night concerts. Here are a couple pictures she shared.
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TSTC Texas Cuisine
This week at Culinary Arts Chef Tammie Brown serves up some Texas cuisine from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14, and Friday, Nov. 16. Click this link to view the menu.
The new Culinary Arts facility is located on Campus Drive. (view map)
Culinary Arts 254.867.4868 www.waco.tstc.edu/cln