Lunch. Courtesy of the Pioneer Woman.

I saw this the other day and have been craving a greek salad ever since. I bought everything for it at the grocery store earlier this week and now it is time to make it. Yum.

I thought today was going to be an awesome day…

Just had lunch with a friend/former coworker and caught up over some delicious food at Eatzi’s and have happy hour plans with some friends later this afternoon.

But, this day has pretty much turned to crap in a matter of an hour and a half.

Loving both of these on my turkey sammiches lately.

Monday meals and phone interviews.

I am feeling inclined to share a few things about my Monday.

I have cooked some awesome food today. For breakfast, I made whole wheat pancakes. For lunch, mixed greens salad with feta, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts with balsamic vinaigrette and a broccoli cheddar fritter from Whole Foods. Both meals were delicious. Now I am trying to figure out what to make for dinner..

I had two phone interviews today. The first went well, I think, but I was quite disappointed in the salary. Without going into too much detail, it was the salary I made few years ago. The second, which I just scheduled this morning, went well too and they are actually considering me for two positions, one that I would have never even thought to look at.

That is all. I hope you enjoyed my Monday update.

What I did over the last week.

Forgive my lack of updates lately. Here’s a recap of what I did over the last week or so.

• - SXSWi - Last week (Sunday-Monday), I went to Austin for a couple of days. I have wanted to go to SXSW since I moved to Dallas five years ago and now seemed like the perfect time to do it. I had a great time! I caught up with friends, some media and PR/social media friends and former clients and networked with some new people. I borrowed a friends badge and went to some really interesting panel discussions. I got a lead on a job in Dallas. It was a super short trip, and I wish I could have stayed longer for more networking and even longer for the music portion, but overall I had a really good time.
• - Home renovations - My dad and I refinished my bathtub. For about $30 bucks, we basically “painted” my bathtub. It was a lot faster and cheaper than ripping out the tub, getting it professionally done or calling someone like Bath Fitter. I am fairly happy with the results, but regardless, it looks better than it did before. I also cleaned my patio and planted new flowers, plants and herbs. I love this time of year, it’s perfect to enjoy a glass of wine and good book outside on my patio. This week, I think I might paint a wall in my living room. I painted over a year ago when I moved in, but left this one little section where a closet door is and it has been bothering me for too long.
• - Catching up - Lunch with a PR friend. Dinner and drinks with a former colleague/friend. Lunch with my dad. It’s amazing how many people I have seen since I haven’t had a full time job.
• - Job search - I have to be 100% honest here. I thought I would have had a job by now. The process is incredibly slow. I applied for a job almost 6 weeks ago and heard back just last week. I had a phone interview with a major Dallas-based company last week, but the feeling I got is that I was overqualified. I scheduled a phone interview for today with a big-time daily deal site for a new division of the company for today. I also got a good lead on job a huge PR agency. Something is bound to happen soon, right?

This. place. was. awesome.

Being from NJ, the diner capital of the world, I have been seriously disappointed in Dallas’ diner offerings. Basically, there are a handful of places that call themselves diners, like Metro Diner, but none of them have ever lived up to my expectations. Until today, when my mom and I went to lunch at Crossroads Diner.

Now it wasn’t a traditional diner and the food was definitely more upscale, but it was delish. They serve breakfast all day, have traditional diner classics like meatloaf and tuna salad and the portions were huge. I had a BLT and chips and brought half of it home for dinner. My mom had a corned beef sandwich and she had leftovers too.

The location is a little out of the way (Walnut Hill, between 75 and Greenville), but it’s worth it. I will definitely be back and I recommend my Dallas friends try it too.

A culinary adventure through NYC.

I spent a few days in New York City last week. Traveling back to the East Coast makes me miss the fast-paced life. It also makes me to want to eat all the foods I love that we don’t have or that don’t compare in Dallas.

I arrived in NYC on Thursday night and after checking into my hotel, unpacking a few things and turning on my computer, I fired up Google Maps to find the nearest Chinese takeout restaurant. A trip to China Regency in Midtown, two eggrolls and some chicken with broccoli later, I was stuffed and happy.

Friday morning I headed down to Tribeca to attend a TV commercial shoot for my client. I skipped breakfast and downed a super strong latte that gave me the jitters. For lunch, a whole crew of us went to Bubby’s Pie Company. Someone in our party mentioned, Bubby’s is a see-and-be-scene kid of place. Does it really matter? As long as the food is good, who cares who eats there. Our waiter brought us biscuits with butter and strawberry jam to start. I ordered tomato bisque with garlic croutons and half a caesar salad. To drink, I had their homemade ginger beer, which was delicious and refreshing and helped calm my stomach from the coffee earlier that morning.

After work wrapped up, I met my friend John, his girlfriend Kate and their friend Camille for dinner at David Chang’s (noted Korean-American chef) Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village. After going to Korea last year and not being a huge fan of the food, I was a little skeptical, but I went in with an open mind. We started with drinks (OB Korean beer) and some apple kimchi, which was nothing like the kimchi I had in Korea. It was good! Then we shared some pork buns, which were fabulous. The pork was a little fatty for my taste, but the flavor was amazing. And dipped in a little hot sauce…so good. For dinner, I had hanger steak with cauliflower and romesco sauce. The spices on the steak were outstanding, although it was a little undercooked for me. Even though I am from Texas, I order my steak medium, not medium rare. Dipping it in the romesco suace, which I love, made up for it though. Camille ordered pork sausage, Chinese broccoli and rice cakes, which I had to try. I probably should have ordered it as my entree because it was so tasty. Overall, everything was a little salty and I could immediately feel my fingers and feet swelling from the sodium, but it was truly a culinary experience.

To top off dinner, as if we didn’t eat enough, we headed right next door to Momofuku Milk Bar, in which I was amazed by the sweet concoctions on the menu. I opted for Candy Bar Pie - chocolate crust, caramel, peanut butter nougat and pretzels. Heaven. I also sampled the Crack Pie and Compost Cookie, both equally delicious.

The night continued with drinks at St. Andrews and House of Brews (where I ran into someone from NJ, who grew up in the town next to mine and dated someone I knew in high school..small world) and on my way back to my hotel, I stopped at Famous Original Ray’s Pizza and ordered a slice of plain. I don’t care if it wasn’t the real original famous Ray’s, but it was NY pizza and it was fabulous.

I woke up early on Saturday to buy a baker’s dozen bagels from Bagel & Bean to bring back to Texas. Everyone recommended I go to H&H, but again, I think any NYC bagels are good compared to Texas bagels. I ate lucky bagel number 13 with a latte in my hotel room before packing up the bagels in my suitcase and heading to the airport.

(Note: Click on the restaurant name and person’s name for a link to their Web site)

Strangest luncheon menu ever.

I went to a work luncheon today. I was expected rubber chicken, mashed potatoes and some kind of veggie and chocolate cake for dessert.

Being on day three of Weight Watchers, I had a snack before I left and figured I could take the skin off the chicken, eat the veggies a bite or two of mashed potatoes and ask the waiter to take the chocolate cake away.

Much to my surprise, they served the strangest lunch I have ever had a luncheon.

• Caeser salad
• Chili with cornbread
• Toppings (cheese, sour cream and onions)
• Apple pie

WTF?! I didn’t plan on eating such a fatty meal, but I think I did pretty well. I ate half the salad, about a cup of chili (no toppings), half a piece of cornbread and exactly three bites of apple pie. I estimated the meal to be about 12 points, which is more than I eat at any meal and more than half of the points allowance I get in one day.

Despite the points debacle, chili is definitely the strangest meal I have ever been served at a luncheon.

Chili Cumin Chicken Salad.

I went out to lunch a few months ago with some colleagues. We walked across the street from our office to Bread Winners Cafe & Bakery, which is a Dallas institution and the place to see and been seen for weekend brunches and lunch during the work week.

I had this wrap with chili cumin chicken salad, lettuce and avocado. It was delicious. Spicy, creamy and not overwhelming with mayo. It was served with homemade chips. It was too much food and I had to take half home to eat for dinner.

I woke up this morning craving this. I might have to hit up Bread Winners today. Or better yet, maybe I will try to make my own version. I can’t find a recipe online, but I found one that sounds close and I think I can wing it.