Basic Brunches does Rapscallions

Rapscallion. Typically known as a mischievous person, in this case I am referring to the mischievous (somewhat) new restaurant located in Lower Greenville. Although they've been receiving rave reviews for their standard lunch and dinner options, back in September they opened up their doors just a littler earlier than usual to start serving brunch.

Rapscallions lovely brick facade.

Typically, I will admit, I keep to my comfort zone. I live in Far North Dallas where Addison, Plano and Frisco are king. I occasionally travel to Uptown for brunch because, to be fair, their brunch scene is on point. Also their demographic is 20-something career kids that love nothing more than getting turnt the night before and hitting some hair of the dog on Sunday mornings and Instagramming about it. But Lower Greenville is an area that I have yet to venture to. For this brunch a fellow Instagrammer Vicky D invited me out so we could finally meet in person and she chose the place.

While parking is slightly limited in the surrounding area, and everywhere threatens to tow you, Lower Greenville is quite quaint. Cute little walkable streets with plenty of food and shopping options. It's a place I need to explore more. Upon arrival to Rapscallions it seemed like it could accommodate our party of two but were told there was a 30 minute wait that obviously started with us because no one else was waiting yet. We said we'd sit outside but it was deemed too cold to serve on the patio, although this is Texas and really you just need to wait 5 minutes. Our wait ended up being no more than 20 minutes.

Rapscallions is the Lower Greenville version of Ida Claire. With their farm to table, "eclectic" menu and their hipster dressed waiters with ironic facial hair all over the place. The only difference really was that at Ida Claire they serve their mimosas with Rose while Rapscallions does their mimosas the traditional way with champagne. The menu is very limited and savory heavy. If you are interested in some kind of sweet dish like french toast I recommend you look elsewhere. The only sweet options on the menu were located on the appetizer section. And while, yes, you could easily turn the monkey bread into a personal meal, I wouldn't recommend it.

It's not much in way of full brunch meal

We ordered the Gammy's Monkey Bread to share which came out looking delicious and it did not disappoint. It was warm and just the right amount of goo for pull apart bread. It will get all over your hands if you choose to eat it that way. But it's very easy to pull apart so using your fork is a more civilized option.

Monkey Bread for two!

Vicky was debating about getting the "Old Soba" which is a NOLA style lo mein dish which is a pork head broth with pork belly and shaved pork collar. There are noodles and an egg in there too but you are looking at consuming all parts on a pig. She ended up picking the Duck Confit Hash because hash is her weakness, The hash is sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, poached duck egg and duck fat hollindase.

I went a different route and choose The Big Biscuit. Typically biscuits and gravy isn't my thing unless I'm getting it at Old West and it's smothered with eggs, potatoes, cheese and spinach but this looked like it would be good. It's a house-made sausage patty on top on the house-made biscuit with a heavy pour of pork fat gravy and two sunny side eggs. I personally don't like my eggs sunny side up so I asked for them to be cooked just a little longer. While the dish was as good as it looked I will admit that cutting the biscuit proved difficult at times.

The Big Biscuit!

The only, slightly ridiculous, thing that happened on our brunch trip was once we got up to leave the table next to us decided that we were inconveniencing them by sitting there because not only did they want to spread out a bit but they also wanted out chairs. As we got up to walk out we heard one of the ladies at our neighboring table say "Finally" and snag one of the chairs. Really?

Overall I would go to Rapscallions again but it's a place you need to be craving. With the limited menu and small space you need to want savory food and be ok with a wait. The food is done well and worth the wait but the menu prices are a little high.

Frank Underground

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending my first ever Frank Underground dinner. If you don't know of Frank Underground, it's an "underground restaurant" that was created by MasterChef season two finalists Jennie Kelley and Ben Star. Together they take you on a themed culinary journey. Although they never try to recreate a theme they will never recreate a dish. My dinner, "Brunch After Dark" was a theme they had done once before and brought it back because of the response to that particular dinner.

To sign up for Frank you need to visit the website and get on their mailing list. Once you're on there they will send out an email (usually once a month or once every two months) listing the theme for the dinner and the dates. From there you respond if you're interested and can make any of the times listed. After that you pray that luck is on your side because seats are given lottery style. I also encourage you to follow them on Facebook. On occasion they post last minute cancellations and on social media, but it's a first come first serve basis.

The dinner is held in a secret location that is not disclosed to you until the night before/day of your dinner. You sit, along with about 20 strangers, around a communal table crafted of reclaimed wood that Ben made himself. Throughout all the courses Jennie and Ben give you background on the ingredients and the inspiration about the dishes. At the end of the day... sorry night... you will be there for about 3 hours. Three hours of pure food heaven. At Frank they believe in frank food. Just basic ingredients turned into something fabulous.

Upon arrival you have to buzz up to the apartment, and if your name is not on that list you are not getting up. They check your name at the front door and at the apartment door. Just in case in the 2 minutes it takes you to get up to the elevator you're no longer yourself. The staff (yep staff) will take your purse (or coats but this is July in Texas, the fact I wore flannel baffled my mom but I looked hella good) and give you a cocktail, our's being champagne, and allow you to mingle. They will not start dinner until everyone has arrived. They encourage you to not be fashionably late.

Before dinner even started I had taken down 4 glasses of champagne. To be fair, it was the tiny, serving appropriate sized glasses. If I were pouring it would be a wine glass and it would be full. Once everyone arrived we were invited to sit. You are encouraged to make friends with your seat neighbors, which you will whether you want to or not. I was for it. Don't get me wrong. New friends = Yay!

My new dinner friends. Two of which were Frank veterans having attended around 10 dinners.

Once everyone was seated dinner started with an amuse-bouche.

Amuse-bouche:

Buttermilk cheddar biscuit - Foie Gras - Housemade heirloom tomato jam.

Let me explain what an amuse-bouche is, in case you've never heard of that term. An amuse-bouche is a single, bite sized hors d'oeuvre. It's usually served on a spoon but this one had potential to be messy so it was served on a plate.

I've never had foie gras and I still couldn't tell you want that tasted like. I didn't try it on it's own because liver. But this was a humanely obtained duck (?) liver. The biscuit was homemade with Vermont sharp cheddar cheese. What I was most cautious of trying, besides the liver, was the tomato jam. I'm very finicky with tomatoes. I used to eat them like apples when I was younger and then I got over them. Now I have to be in the mood for them. And honestly, I might start off in the mood and half way through my food be over them and pick them out. This jam was mixed with thyme which helped with the balance of flavors. It wasn't too sweet which one would assume tomato jam to become. At the end of my three bites I was very ready to get into this meal.

First Course:

Black bean huilacoche puree - Uncle Ron's heirloom squash - Chorizo - 63.5° egg (specifically) - Salsa Verde - Pickled vegetables

I know your first questions is, "What the hell is huilacoche and how do I say that?"

Huitlacoche (wee-tlah-KOH-cheh), AKA "corn smut", is a fungus that grows naturally on corn. It is a delicacy in Mexico while here in America we will just destroy the whole crop. The fungus itself sells for a higher rate than actual corn. It is perfectly safe to eat.

So in the bottom you have the black bean huilacoche puree. Mixed in are bite sized chucks of Jennie's uncle's squash. On top you will find chorizo, the 63.5° egg, salsa verde, pickled radishes and onion and cilantro as a garnish. This dish was fanominal.The black bean puree tasted like refried beans but was perfectly smooth. The chorizo added just the perfect amount of spice while the pickled vegetables added a slight sour note. Cliantro and the salsa verde rounded out the Mexican inspired flavor profile. It is mind blowing in its simplicity. Honestly though it could be a bowl of cilantro and I would be happy. I love that herb. It's disgusting how much I love cilantro.

Let's talk about eggs for a minute. I'm sure you're wondering, as I did, why specifically 63.5°?  Eggs want to cook at 145° F. Fact. Well assuming fact, this is what I was told at dinner. We cook our eggs too high. Here they cook the eggs for an hour sous-vide style. That means they put the egg in an air tight plastic bag and put that bag in a water bath and let it cook. Sous-vide is also great from quick marinades. It forces the marinade into the meat because it has no where else to go. The more you know right? When you cook the egg in this style the white and the yellow are the same consistency. If I had the patience to cook eggs for an hour, sous-vide style, I still probably wouldn't because I would never be that patient.

Second Course: 

Frittata - Ibercio ham - Smoked mozzarella - Asparagus salad

This is an Italian-based dish. Although, the ham comes from southern Spain and only southern Spain. The pigs, which this specific ham is from, are foragers. They eat acorns and wild flowers. No one feeds them. Once the pigs are fat or whatever they need to be they are salted and hung in a cellar for 1+ years. Obviously the curing of the meat happens once Babe is no longer with us. The technique these farmers use essentially make prosciutto. This specific ham was aged 2 years and goes for $180-200/lbs.

I put my fork into the ramekin and had a hard time getting it to come apart so at that point I wasn't too impressed with this dish. Then I put it in my mouth and took back every negative thought I had. That ham though. I have very rarely said the words "Oh my God" while eating but this time I did. I almost put the fork down. I didn't want to be distracted from eating. I didn't feel the need to rush into my second bite. But no because $200 ham. I have never had anything like that before and I most likely will never experience that again. That'll do pig. That'll do.

Third Course:

Watermelon sorbet - House-distilled peach moonshine - Mint

Once you are on the guest list for a dinner at Frank they send you an email with all your instructions and also your menu. You are free to look at it or not. Some people don't because they want to be surprised. I love surprises but I also love getting excited about what I was going to eat so I looked. Of all the dishes listed this was the one I was most excited to try. I love watermelon. That's one of the reasons I love summer. So much watermelon so little time.

Moonshine. The booze of the Prohibition era. Moonshine must be consumed within one week of distillation or it is no longer moonshine. Moonshine is also highly illegal and extremely strong. I obviously did not have moonshine (wink wink).

The watermelon sorbet is made with just frozen watermelon juice. It was a subtle flavor. The moonshine was strong but I didn't get peach. I got booze. I ended up mixing the sorbet with the moonshine resting on the bottom of the glass and taking it like a shot. I also removed the mint. I thought there was too much mint and I know that was the consensuses among my new friends on my side of the table. I also just don't like mint outside of mint chocolate chip ice cream or a mojito. But like I said, the people sitting around me agreed. We decided that basil would be a better herb. Or salt. Either in the form of some granules atop the sorbet or salting the rim.

Fourth Course: 

Crouque- madame - Laraland farms smoked red wattle ham - House-made sourdough - Gruyere - Sunny duck egg - Caviar - Green Salad. 

This was considered the main course. Again, a dish I've never experienced before. Crouque- madame. A crouque-madame is like an open-faced sandwich. It's bread, ham, cheese, and optional sauce. Our sauce was replaced with the egg. What's the difference between a crouque-madame and a crouque-monsieur? No idea. I tried to Google it and it gave me the same definition. So my guess is the monsieur is an actual sandwich. Someone, please feel free to enlighten me on the difference.

I was not a fan of this dish and I'll tell you why. The sourdough was a little too crusty which made it difficult to cut. I was literally throwing my food all over the table, at one point my lap, because I couldn't get through the crust. It was incredibly frustrating. Maybe it was the wild yeast. Wild yeast takes longer to rise. The first rise takes 24-48 hours and the second rise takes 3-6 hours. I doubt it was the yeast, that's a cop-out. I even just got in that dish after a little while and picked it up with my hands. Naturally after covering it with the caviar that was falling off because if I'm going to eat caviar I might as well get that shit all over it. I've had caviar on it's own before and was not a fan. Mixed with more food it's not as bad. After the hand attempt also failed me I ended up giving away what was left of my food. Like I said, the people around you become your best friends. Already willing to eat after you. No cooties at this table.

Fifth Course:

"Dessert Benedict" - Candied bacon waffle - Cantaloupe ice cream - Zabaglione

You know how fruit salads are always cantaloupe and honey dew and you're disappointed? Not here. The only way I want to eat cantaloupe is in ice cream form from now on. One scoop is all you need. The color of the zabaglione (which is an Italian whipped custard) was very yellow. Questionably yellow. It received its color from tumaric but it was really throwing me off. Yellow is not an appetizing color for food. At least to myself. But it was delicious nonetheless. At the bottom was the bacon waffle. Cause bacon waffle. You can't go wrong with bacon waffle. It was little bits of bacon so it wasn't overpowering at all. I only really got crunch from the bacon more than bacon flavor.

Drinks:

Home-made blood orange grapefruit mimosa

The mimosa was mouthwatering. I feel that carafes needed to be on the table. They didn't really, the servers walked around and re-filled your glasses often. But still, carafe wouldn't have upset me or anyone I was sitting with.

Rose

The rose came with the main course. I know I drank it but at this point I was kinda boozed up and a little overwhelmed by taste to really remember it. I know that in looking for a wine pairing for the dish they tired 8 different wines. PS- I would love to be apart of these tastings beforehand. I like wine.

Turkish coffee 

Turkish coffee. I don't drink coffee. When I was younger my mom had coffee in a water bottle in the fridge. I mistook it for soda and chugged it and regretted it instantaneously. Since then I just never wanted to drink it. It brings back bad memories. There are few exceptions to this statement. 1. I'm dying and need caffeine to get me through the day. 2. It's this Spanish espresso on of my Directors at work makes. 3. Turkish coffee.

It's slightly sweetened so you don't need to add sugar but they do offer it at the table. Apparently, in Greece they use Turkish coffee grounds to read your future. We were not in Greece, nor was anyone of Greek decent so no readings for us.

At the end of our three hour dinner I was done. This brunch dinner was some of the best food I've ever eaten. No brunch nor meal will ever compare. I might as well stop eating altogether. From now on I am eating for nourishment and not enjoyment. That's partially a joke. I love food. But really this meal is in direct competition for best meal of my life thus far, and I think it wins. When Jennie and Ben came around at the end asking everyone what they thought I told them "Anorexia starts tomorrow. Might as well end on a high note."

They also ask everyone what their favorite dish was. I told them mine were the two dishes where the main component was something in my every day life I hate.

I don't like beans (although I'm warming up to them) but that black bean puree was the best dish of the evening. It was so humble in it's origin and ingredients. So perfectly balanced.

Also I hate cantaloupe. But like I said, ice cream form and I'm sold.

After dinner was said and done my mother and I cornered Ben and asked for MasterChef secrets. Which I got. I know all the behind the scenes goodies. I'm on to you Fox and MasterChef. On to you.

I encourage you to sign up for Frank. It's hard to get in but when you do it's worth it. One thing I was told by Frank frequenters is to let them know you are open for any night as opposed to a singular night. I suggest creeping the Facebook if you don't get picked and snag last minute seats. It's an experience and it's one to remember.

Thank you Jennie and Ben for a wonderful dinner and a most kismet evening. Brunch After Dark was obviously meant to be in my life. I appreciate all the hard work that you put into putting that dinner on and want to emphasis just one last time how absolutely, without a doubt, fabulous the food was.

International Basic Brunch: Fable Kitchen

I know what you're thinking. "She was in Vancouver two months ago. Why is she just now posting about this?" Well, the answer is, I was waiting on the pictures that were not mine. I just got them this week. So I can finally write about my International Basic Brunch and hope I remember everything.

Let me introduce you to Fable Kitchen. Fable is a Farm-to-Table (get it?) restaurant opened by Trevor Bird, a former contestant on Top Chef Canada. Everything, and I do mean everything, is made from scratch in this restaurant. To be fair, Canada takes more pride in the quality and preparation of their food so most places are from scratch or farm to table. Every place is delicious. Eat in Vancouver. But back to the point, Fable has an open air kitchen located right at the front of the restaurant. Right when you walk in you're practically in the kitchen. Get your apron and help expedite some food.

The Sunday we went to Fable was for International Basic Brunch. It was written into the game plan once Basic Brunches became a thing. Also, brunch. Duh.

Brunch because mimosas

The food here seems simple, but in that simplicity it is very confusing. I got the scrambled eggs. Or so I thought.

Do you see the eggs? No? That's because they are snuggled all comfy like in that little jar. Do you need a closer look?

See... eggs. More than just eggs too. The eggs themselves also have sauteed spinach and bacon and parmesan cream. Yep. You read that right. Parmesan CREAM! I would have purchased a can of that delectable cream and take it home and put that shit on everything!! All the things. It also came with toast and homemade jam, and a potato hash-brown/square with whatever that cream spread was. Eaten, but not shown, was the side of bacon. But when I say "side of bacon" I actually mean the 1/2" thick SLAB of pure pork belly that came with an apple puree. Because if bacon isn't good enough as is, let's make it bigger and add puree with it.

Here's an aerial view 

Everything about my dish was amazing. Actually, having to relive this meal while I write this makes me want to go back and eat it again. 

Mindee and Adriana both got the French Toast. Oh sorry, I mean they each got a half loaf of bread that was made into french toast. 

Not even exaggerating. It was half the size of the plate and 3 inches high. And it's topped with mascarpone, because more cheese, and candied walnuts. Adriana also tacked on a side of house made sausage that came with a black pepper jam (which is shown but in the background). 

International Basic Brunch was a huge success. Here is something I mentioned before though about Canadian Brunches... they fill up ridiculously fast. Two places I called that morning basically laughed at me when I asked about getting in. Fable told me if I got there when they opened I could probably get in with no wait. We did. We got there within 5 minutes of them opening and were seated immediately. What you can't tell is the restaurant is very small.. sorry "cozy".  Before we even ordered our food they had no more tables left. Another thing is no one in Canada will rush you. At all. No one will make you feel like you need to leave so they can get a new table in. So eating practically anywhere will take you two hours. WILL TAKE YOU TWO HOURS. If you are sitting at a table and it's not McDonald's you will be there for a long time. Did I stress that enough? Eating is meant to be a time to relax and talk with your friends and enjoy your food. The way food deserves to be enjoyed and the way we should always enjoy it. 

Double Brunch Weekend

You know what's better than brunch? DOUBLE BRUNCH! You heard me. Brunch on Saturday and brunch on Sunday. Brunch for days. That's exactly what I did the other weekend and it was glorious. Both the places I went are in Uptown, admittedly probably the best location in Dallas to have brunch. I'm not an Uptown girl, nor do I live in an Uptown world, but I will visit to eat there sometimes.

Saturday Brunch:

Little known fact, in Klyde Warren Park on Saturday mornings there are a bunch of free workout classes. I found this out via D Town Sweat. On the last day of the month they post a calendar of free workout events all around Dallas, and who doesn't love free? Alex agreed to go with me and we planned on doing the 9 AM Bootcamp followed by the 10 AM yoga. At 9 AM it was already blistering hot and terribly humid so by 9:15 we knew that yoga wasn't going to happen. The class was brutal, but it's a workout.

After that we grabbed Alex's roommate and walked over to Company Cafe.

Walked because Company Cafe is right off the Katy Trail.

That's the sign off to the left. See literally right off the Katy Trail.

Couple of pluses to Company Cafe. Everyone was there in workout clothes so you don't have to feel pressured to get super fancy or "Uptown Pretty" as I call it. Also, it's a farm-to-market type restaurant, so all the dishes were fresh with quality ingredients. 

Alex got The Morning Glory:

Good morning glory.

It's buffalo meat and scrambled eggs over a bed of spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms, with some guac and salsa on top. If you sub-out buffalo meat with turkey, because I assume buffalo meat is hard to find, you can easily make this dish at home.

Her roommate Brittany had The Deep Bowl:

This was sweet potato hash with bacon and beef, topped with avocado, two eggs and salsa. Another dish easily replicated at home.  

I created my own concoction of the Yard Sale over some biscuits and gravy:

The Yard Sale is an egg scrambler with bell pepper, onion  and giant chunks of mozzarella and either venison or turkey sausage. Naturally I went with venison because I love that deer meat. But I put all this over biscuits and gravy mimicking a Panhandler from Old Went Cafe in Denton. 

All this food was deserved after that workout, plus the walking to and from Company Cafe on the Katy Trail. 

Sunday Brunch:

Sunday Alex and I were supposed to meet up with a couple new Instagram Girls for an Insta-Brunch (if you will) and Boxwood Tap and Grill. The girls didn't end up making it so it was just Alex and myself.

This place was so cute. It's right on the corner of Thomas Ave and Allen Street. It's in a mixture of residential and shops so you have a nice view from the patio. The patio itself was like a little oasis.

With ivy growing on the walls, misters outside to cool you off, picnic tables with umbrellas for shade and TVs along the wall. It's a great little get away. 

Since it ended up being just Alex and I we got ourselves the Mimosa Trio. That is a bottle of champagne with three seasonal juices. We had the classic orange juice, strawberry-kiwi, and white cranberry. I prefer non-traditional juices for my mimosa when given the opportunity so I was hitting the strawberry-kiwi and white cranberry.  

Neither of us were overwhelmingly hungry so we decided to split the chicken fried chicken.

Gravy on gravy with gravy on the side.

We had the chicken fried chicken, which was fresh out the fryer hot topped with gravy, scrambled eggs, and cheddar biscuits topped with gravy. Basically everything was topped with gravy. No problem with that. The gravy was delicious. The cheddar biscuits were not Red Lobster but they were still good. Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits are hard to beat though. One person could probably eat the dish but you would have to be hungry. It was the perfect size to split between two people. 

At the end of this weekend my blood had been replaced with gravy. Thick, delicious gravy. #NoRegrets. If I had to pick one over the other it would probably be Boxwood just because of it's patio, but it's hard to call because the food in both places was incredible. 

The Drunken Rabbit- Rather Sober- Easter Egg Hunt Brunch of Misery and Defeat.

I don't intend to write every week unless I do something that is really interesting and time sensitive. This event ended up being both time sensitive (Easter related) and an interesting story. Read "interesting" not "awesome". I fully believe this will be the worst brunch review I will ever write and I just started this en devour.

Earlier this week I found this "Drunk Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt Brunch" on Instagram. It was positioned as a local event at The Cellar out in Irving/Las Colinas where they offered brunch and an adult-only Easter egg hunt following. Drinks were $2 mimosa and $4 Bloody Marys and the event itself cost $20, reservations required. I did some additional research about this particular event and found it incredibly difficult to find. The Cellar website had no posts about it. They had no tweets about it on their Twitter. I eventually found a Facebook event that had no interaction on it. They clearly didn't want people to know about it. (I should have seen this as a sign.)

Delicious warm mimosa

My friend Jamie and I reserved tickets and ventured out there all excited about our cheap mimosas and Easter egg hunt. Why wouldn't we be. All of that sounds awesome! Upon arrival we walked into The Cellar to nothing. We followed some other girls downstairs (to the cellar... clever) and we see a couple rows of tables set up with a small amount of people and a tiny buffet. No one is there to tell you what to do. Do we seat ourselves? Are the tables set up by reservation? I have my ticket, is anyone going to take it, or scan it, or just casually glance at my phone screen with false interest to make sure that I followed the rules? We find the only table left open, it was all the way in the back corner, in the dark, under a fan, and had no chairs. Thankfully the girls that came in just before us didn't need all their chairs so we grabbed them for ourselves. Again, we are left with a feeling of complete confusion. Do we wait for the waitress? Do we just get up and eat? Eventually someone told us that the waitresses (sorry, waitress, there was only one) is only there to give drinks, food and non-alcoholic beverages are at the buffet. Oh and the buffet wasn't fully ready with all the hot food but if we wanted to eat we could.

We ended up getting biscuits, sans gravy since that wasn't ready yet, sausage, potatoes, pancakes, deviled eggs, some grapes (which were still in giant bushels on the serving platter, no one bothered to separate them a little), donut holes or cake pops, neither of us were really sure, and some mini muffins. Let's go through these items one by one:

1. Biscuits: Clearly Grand biscuits that were either made the night before or a little over done. The outside was very dry but the inside were decent. Gravy or butter would have gone a long way.
2. Sausage: This was decent. We each only had one.
3. Potatoes: Literally the best thing on the buffet. 
4. Pancakes: Seemed like they were cooked the night before.
5. Deviled Eggs: So I don't eat deviled eggs, it's something about the whipped center so I tried one and wasn't sure if it tasted right or not. Since I couldn't tell I assumed they weren't supposed to taste the way they did. Jamie loves deviled eggs and told me they were not supposed to taste the way they did. Neither of us finished our singular deviled egg.
6. Grapes: Unless you served me rotten fruit it would be real difficult to screw this one up.
7. Donut Holes/Cake Pops: Sugar-coated sugar overdosing on sugar. I think I got a cavity just looking at them. Pretty sure they were purchased from Kroger the day before from the bakery clearance rack.
8. Mini Muffins: Again, store bought muffins. The blueberry were good, the bran were dry,

Our table lacked ketchup, so I stole some from another table. We shared our hot sauce with this couple seated near us. Our salt would not come out of the shaker and we realized that the reason was because it was solid. We opened up the shaker and broke up the salt ourselves.

As we ate our food we started to comment on how horribly unorganized this event was. We watched as the staff (of 3) set up tables and chairs as the event went on. If you have to reserve a ticket why wouldn't you already have an idea of how many tables and chairs you need, and then over compensate? It wasn't even that crowed, maybe 50 people were there. 

This was everyone. 

Where we were sitting it was incredibly dark, which might have been a blessing since then we didn't have to see the food. Jamie went back for a second round of potatoes and also brought some concoction of food back with her. We weren't sure what it was. Jamie told me "I brought this because it has peas and meat in it. I figured we could try this together. I think it's some kind of hamburger helper." After staring at it for a moment trying to figure out what it was we both tried it. It was not good. We both basically forced ourselves to swallow it, then we washed that down with some nice warm mimosa. Yes, warm mimosa. Not warm because it was sitting there, but came to us warm. What we found out was that we ate "Breakfast Shepard's Pie". We took a camera flashlight to the plate and found potatoes (which tasted like potato chips), peas, onions, meat, cheese (?) and hopefully gravy. 

I'm sorry for that picture, but I actually ate it. So #sorrynotsorry

After "brunch", if that's what you call it, it was time for the Really Kinda Sober Rabbit Easter Egg Hunt. This lasted about a whole minute before all the eggs were taken. Depending on how close you were to the door when they announced the time to go directly affected how well you did. I got 3 eggs, Jamie got 7. The first guy that bolted out of the door had a basket full of eggs and another girl had zero. Most of the prizes were candy, some were coupons for drinks or appetizers, big eggs had little alcohol bottles. There were also some "grand prizes" but neither of us won those so not sure what they were. We left this cluster of a brunch immediately after that. 

Over-flowing with goodies

This was a series of unfortunate events. The Cellar acted like they were caught off-guard by a brunch that they planned. Everything was a scramble and nothing went according to plan it seemed. They tried but they let the idea of this event overwhelm them so it didn't reach the potential it had. It was a real disappointment to see something fail so miserably.

Attempted Athleticism and Sweatpant Brunch

This last Saturday my friend Megan and I partook in The Color Run. In case you don't know what that is I shall explain, The Color Run is a 5k (3.1 mile) run where, throughout the run, volunteers chuck powered paint at you. I did a color run a couple years ago for the first time, this was my second time.... I don't claim to be a runner. I'm guess you could call me a periodic runner, meaning I run when I randomly get motivation. Megan is not a runner. Period.

Look at me all ready and prepared for this 5k

Throw some glitter... make it rain!

If you've never done a 5k before I recommend you do one, they can get a little expensive but it's for charity. I like the ones that are either incredibly entertaining while you run or have an awesome swag bag, (The Hot Chocolate 5k for example has a comfortable and cute fleece hoodie and the most delicious chocolate fondue at the end). The Color Run is one of my personal favorites because it speaks to the starving artist/photographer in me. The best thing about most 5ks like this is it doesn't matter your level of athleticism, literally everyone participates. If you're a runner you stay to the left, if you want to walk you stay to the right, and if you do interval training like me you run wherever you damn please because rules don't apply to you!

We had a blast! One of the best things about this run was I could tell from the first time I ever ran one to this time my endurance and abilities have improved, so that was great motivation. Makes you feel good about yourself and all the work you put into working out and running might just be paying off. Since Megan isn't much of a runner at all we walked most of this 5k, but I got her to jog every now and then and I was so proud of her. Here we are with our medals.

Shiny medals.

After the run Megan and I knew we wanted to eat brunch but weren't sure how we felt about going covered in powdered paint and glitter. I suggested we don't care and go anyways, she wasn't feeling that, so we went with "Sweatpant Brunch."

Sweatpant Brunch is when you make food at home and drink mimosas. It's significantly cheaper than real brunch, you control the menu and there is no such thing as drunk driving because you are already home. Additionally, you wear whatever you want. So hello sweatpants. Or no pants. Really you do sweatpant brunch however you want to do it. No judgement here.

Sweet, sweet mimosa. I earned you today

I made my famous banana-chocolate chip muffins, scrambled eggs with spinach and pico de gallo, and bacon. Oh wait, and obviously mimosa. We did peach mimosa because peach juice is 10x better than orange juice, If you've never tried it I suggest you do it and do it soon. Actually go ahead and try that now. You'll thank me.

 

Look at that kick-ass, homemade, from scratch brunch. 

My banana-chocolate chip muffins are super easy to make:

This recipe will yield 12 regular sized muffins (one pan)

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (plain is a suggestion, I honestly use vanilla. Greek or Regular)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I just put chips in until I am satisfied that I've thoroughly nullified any nutritional value) 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Combine wet ingredients (egg, yogurt, oil, vanilla extract)
3. Combine dry ingredients into wet (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt)
4. Add in banana and combine some more
5. Add in whatever about of chocolate chips you deem reasonable. 
6. Bake for 20-25 mins. (Remember, ovens vary, I usually bake mine for 23)
7. Let cool and then enjoy!

First time I ever made these muffins they were completely gone in 2 days. So that says something. 

Yum yum get in my tum!

Obviously you don't need to add chocolate chips if you don't want. You could substitute them with nuts, heath bar, probably blueberries but I've never tried it. I will always add chocolate chips because chocolate.

Obviously after a 5k and sweatpant brunch it was nap time. #NoRegrets.

So let's recap:

1. Do a 5k because it's for charity and you'll feel good about yourself once you're finished.
2. Do a sweatpant brunch once in a while because they're comfortable and cheap
3. Make my muffins. 
4. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram! 

Check you later my basic brunchers!