Wes & Erica's vacation photo album// Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - DAY 1// March 2025

Last month, Wes & I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary 💕 with a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ✈ We flew out on a Monday, arrived late Tuesday evening, and had Wednesday thru Friday to enjoy ourselves as tourists. Then headed home at midnight on Friday, getting back to Oklahoma City on Saturday. Since we'd be spending as much time flying as we would actually be in Kuala Lumpur, I decided that we should splurge on first class seats, so we could start our vacation as soon as we stepped on the plane. We chose Delta and Korean Air; both were amazing and I probably can't ever go back to economy. LOL 

The first leg was a short flight from OKC to Minneapolis/St. Paul. We got breakfast from Elemental Coffee in OKC ☕ and a second breakfast at MSP. 🥨 Then came the long haul flight: +13 hours from MSP to Seoul (Incheon airport). Our Delta plane (airbus?) had individual pods with sliding doors for added privacy. It was SO spacious!! Each section of first class had a dedicated flight attendant; I got Dan (who was a little too dedicated and attentive -- I felt like I could sense him watching & anticipating my every move), and Kenneth as back up. There were also Korean speaking flight attendants who we could request. Our pods came with a fresh pillow, blanket, sleeping mat, toiletry kit (that included an awesome pen made from recycled materials, that I dropped in between my seat & the console to never be seen again 😑), slippers, and earphones.

6,245 miles over Canada and around to the other side!

Since there is literally nothing to do on a thirteen hour flight, the flight attendants make sure everyone is well fed and full of alcohol. The rest of the post will be everything I ate (which is like 5x more than I would eat on a regular day!)  🍴

* As soon as we sat down, we were presented with champagne and snacks. Top Left
*Our first meal (lunch, I guess) was a choice between various entrees off the Korean menu by Chef Peter Cho or the Western menu. I got the beef & pepper galbi. They ran out of Korean options, so Wes got the roasted chicken breast off the Western menu. The cured salmon, and green beans & tofu from the banchan were my favorite part. My soup was way spicy and the galbi had more onions than I wanted. Top Right
*For dessert, I chose an ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream that tasted like coconut (weird) Bottom Left
*We were offered various chips, crackers, granola bars and more wine for the next hour or so. I turned it all down because I was still full from lunch.
*At snack time ("mid-flight snack"), I got a not very crisp/kinda soggy margherita pizza - I should have chosen the other meal option, a delicious salad, and a surprisingly tasty vegan brownie.  Middle Right
*At second snack time ("pre-arrival snack"), I got the three cheese quiche, which was full of onions and not any cheese. 😒 Wes got the French toast. I only ate the parfait, which was plenty enough since I just ate a full meal less than two hours ago.  Bottom Right

The Incheon airport was so cute (and no busy at all; reminded me of our Will Rogers Airport)!! And customs & security was a breeze. We didn't need the K-ETA travelers' pass that was recommended.

This was the first time I could sleep on a flight! 😴 The sleeping pods were so comfy!! I went back & forth between listening to my audiobook (Conclave by Robert Harris) while crocheting, and napping throughout our journey. Wes watched a bunch of movies. There was a bit of drama on the plane... it was announced that there was a medical emergency on board. We were seated right outside of the flight attendants' quarters, and I later overheard that the emergency resulted in a death. But besides that, the flight went smoothly and before we knew it, we were landing in Seoul. 🛬 Our original layover was pretty tight, but we got to Seoul early and ended up with over an hour at the airport. The airport offered Transit Tours in & around Seoul. The shortest tour was 3 hours so we couldn't go. But, next time!!

The sleeping pods on the Korean Air plane were a little smaller but just as nice, with fresh blanket, pillow, slippers and earphones. I opted for tea this time... I can only drink so much champagne. LOL

Our flight from Seoul to Kuala Lumpur was a much shorter 6 hours, but it seemed like we ate just as much! 😋 I liked the food on this flight way better. Our assigned flight attendant this time was Lee, who recommended the best green tea! He also handed us snack mix and champagne as soon as we sat down.

*Dinner started with a delicious and gigantic scallop, paired with a fancy red wine (Speri Valpolicella Classico Superiore Sant'urbano 🍷). Top Right
*Our salad course was cream of broccoli soup with a smoked salmon salad Middle Right
*Wes & I both chose the Western entrée of beef tenderloin. It came with a mustard sauce that I actually liked. The entire 4-course dinner was really good, I would say this one meal was better than all the meals we had on the Delta flight combined. Top Left
*I went with fruit instead of ice cream for dessert. *gasp* The grapes were enormous and they tasted so authentically "grapey." 🍇Bottom Left
*Snack time consisted of a pesto chicken sandwich that was really good but I literally could NOT eat anymore (I just picked at the sandwich and ate the pickled salad). I never thought I'd not eat a yummy meal when presented to me, but seriously... I was absolutely stuffed. Bottom Right
     When he first introduced himself, Lee asked if we'd like to be woken up at meal times. We both agreed. I wondered how he would manage that since I assumed they wouldn't be shouting at us or physically shaking us awake. 💤 I was fast asleep when he came by at snack time; he woke me up by gently whispering "ma'am?" until I stirred and then he immediately shoved the plate of food in front of me. LOL 

The Mandarin Oriental hotel was sooooo fancy!!

The flight went smoothly and the landing was much easier than our one coming into Seoul. ✈ Toward the end of the flight, the attendants walked up & down the aisle spraying disinfectant. Kinda weird but anyway, we had made it to Malaysia!! 🙌 Going through the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was a million times easier than I expected. They had airport guides dressed in cultural uniforms & sashes that ushered us down corridors and onto buses. All we had to do to get through customs was scan our passport. We were told we'd need a digital travelers' arrival pass but no one even asked for it. It took a minute to get used to the Grab app (southeast Asia's Uber), but it was fairly intuitive and easy to use once we got the hang of it. It even provided pictorial directions and landmarks in the airport that lead to the rideshare pickup. 

Our home for the rest of the week would be room #1502 at the Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel. Checking in was fast & easy; the porter insisted that he bring our bags to the room even though we only had carry-on luggage. LOL All of the hotel staff was extremely friendly and polite. The hotel really leaned into the old oriental style of decor and dress... think The King & I sultan vibes. They had traditional musicians playing in the evening! We had a lovely surprise waiting in our room - Wes told the receptionist that it was our anniversary when he booked the room, so there was cake and soda laid out for us on the table. 💝 And some pretty flowers that I got a vase for and kept throughout our stay. 🌸 Our room was immaculate. There was morning and evening room service; they thoroughly cleaned the room. Our phone cords were tidied up in Mandarin Oriental branded Velcro wraps (and, yes, I took mine home with me), our clothes folded & put away, and our shoes were placed underneath the ottoman in a designated shoe spot. The hotel also offered a daily morning poolside yoga class that I had full intentions of taking... but it didn't happen. #irathersleepin We're usually really thrifty travelers but I am so so so glad we pulled out all the stops to fly first class and spend our vacation at a luxury 5-star hotel. It was 100% worth it!!!

Room service came to check on us a few minutes after we checked in. He asked if there was anything we needed so I showed him our flowers and mentioned I wanted to keep them. He quickly returned with a nice vase. 

We had originally planned to head out to a night market for some street food for dinner upon arrival, but we ate entirely too much on the flight and the room was so cozy & inviting that we changed our minds and stayed in the first night. Days 2, 3 and 4 of our trip to come!!🌞🌆Our days (and nights!) were jam packed with touristy activities and adventure. 

Wes and Erica's vacation photo album // Carrollton, TX // December 2022

When you're 38, you get excited about -- beef jerky case at Buc-ee's, a gorgeous quilt at Not Your Mama's Quilt Store, and gazebo at Historic Downtown Carrollton

Last week, we took my annual birthday trip to Carrollton Town Center. ☕🍙🍜🍨🍣 We ate lots of yummy Asian food and did our shopping, per usual, but new this year was the addition of fabric shopping! 😄 I found three fabric stores in the area, and Wes found an authorized Gundam model kit retailer. First, pictures of food, then shopping...

We got into town mid-afternoon so we started with a light lunch. We went to Frankseoul for Korean hotdogs. I got the "half & half dog", which was part hot dog and part mozzarella stick rolled in a crispy batter. They had a bunch of dipping sauces; I got honey garlic, hot sauce, and ketchup. For dessert, I got a dalgona ice cream sundae. 🍨 It was sooooo good!!! It was soft-serve ice cream topped with caramel and bits of dalgona cookies. The cookies were a little too sweet by themself but tasted great in the sundae. Wes got a sujeongwa drink, which is a cinnamon punch. He was so excited that they had it because he hasn't had it in ages and can't find it anywhere. 

We went to dinner at Too Thai Street Eats. It is the best Thai food I've ever had and the restaurant had a nice vibe, too. I think this is my favorite restaurant we visited this year. I got the boat noodles with beef. I asked for a 1.5 - 2 spiciness level but it was still too spicy for me to drink the broth. For our appetizer, we ordered the pork Thai sausage. I thought they were really good but Wes said they had too much ginger in them. He got the pad Thai and said it was good but didn't share my opinion of it being the best Thai restaurant. 

The next morning, we went to 99 Ranch for breakfast and groceries. There is only one place I've found in OKC that has congee with bits of preserved black eggs in it, and its only available for dim sum. 😒 Since we rarely get dim sum here, I wait literally all year to get my bowl of congee from 99 Ranch. It is always my favorite breakfast. 🥣 Wes got a pastry with all of his favorite ingredients - coconut, raisins, and almonds. We bought lots of chips, candy, and other non-perishable grocery items. My mom only uses a specific brand of egg noodles (that has 2 chickens on the packaging 🐓🐓). Cao Nguyen stopped carrying them so she's been lamenting each time we go over to her house for won tons. We found that exact brand at 99 Ranch so, of course we stocked up! LOL

For lunch, we returned to BCD Tofu House. It was my favorite restaurant when we visited for my birthday last year. I was so excited to return but was underwhelmed this time around. 🙁 It had to have been what I ordered because Wes said his meal was just as good as last year's. I got the soon tofu with tripe. I was worried it would be too spicy so I ordered it plain. It was definitely plain... too plain. It didn't have any spice in it and it tasted gamey because of the intestines. I should have stuck with seafood and a low spiciness level. 

We wanted an afternoon snack and had way too many options to choose from. There was a boba cafè, a place that made crêpes, and an ice cream shop that I was interested in. We decided on none of those. LOL We went to Coconut Paradise. I don't even like coconuts! 😅 This place was absolutely amazing. It's decor is so adorable, the owner is the nicest man ever, and the coconut jelly desserts were so good! 😋 I told the owner that I've never tried coconut jelly so he told us all about them and offered samples. I tried the matcha flavor but ended up with chocolate. The coconut jelly is like a pudding but not as thick. The one I got was topped with Oero bits, M&M's, chocolate syrup, mochi balls and coconut flakes. It didn't really even taste like coconut. Wes got the coconut espresso. He said it was good but wish he got the coconut Thai tea in hindsight. 

For dinner we went to Kura for sushi. It is a sushi train restaurant. The wait was super long and the food was just so so. I think people went for the price. It was only $3.75/plate. I always want sushi on my birthday because it is one of my favorite foods but we haven't had much luck. The place we went to last year also wasn't too impressive. The conveyer belt sushi concept is a fun novelty. And they had a robot with a cat's face that played music while it delivered drinks to the table. That was actually my favorite part of our dinner! 😂 I felt like all of the good sushi items came out after we were already full. If you get 15 or more plates, you get a free prize. We only had 7 but the waiter gave us a prize anyway. He must have sensed it was my birthday! 

Our last meal was breakfast before we headed out for home. We got pastries from 85℃ Bakery. Always a good breakfast! 🍪 We got a little extra for the road home. too! Of the places we ate at, I would want to return to Too Thai Street Eats and Coconut Paradise for seconds. I already picked out restaurants I want to try for next year's birthday trip (a Vietnamese place, a different Thai place and a restaurant called Mad for Chicken -- because the name cracks me up).

Now onto reason #2 for the drive down to Texas... shopping!! Wes and I are mostly minimalists but this is the one time a year we really shop. There are very few things that I like so normally shopping bores me but when it comes to fabric, washi tape and stickers, I lose all self control. LOL We spent the first day going to all the shops at Carrollton Town Center. I got tons of washi tape & small gifts from Teso and Daiso, face masks from K-Pop + and, of course, my tokodoki Unicorno 🦄 Sadly, Teso and Daiso didn't have as much tokidoki stuff as they did previously. 

We went fabric shopping our second day. The first shop we went to was Urban Spools. 😍 It is my new favorite fabric store. It has super contemporary and modern prints like Sewciety in Norman, OK, but it was about three times as big. They had a lot of Ruby Star Society prints and there was an entire shelf of Alexander Henry prints!! I saw a bunch of different designs that I've only seen online. I wanted to buy two yards of everything but I controlled myself. I wandered around the store twice and picked out my absolute favorites to buy. My prized purchase is two yards of Endless Love by Alexander Henry. The print is of two Victorian lovers in the English countryside but they're skeletons.

After Urban Spools (which is in Dallas), we drove to Plano to visit Not Your Mama's Quilt Store. The owner was incredibly nice. I told her this was our first time in because we're from out of town. She gave us a quick tour of the store and free bottled water. She claimed to be a modern quilt store but I don't think they had as much unique fabric as Urban Spools. It was a nice mix of traditional and contemporary fabric. I recognized some of the fabric from the Road to Oklahoma Shop Hop I did with my sewing club friends this summer. I saw a lot that I liked but knew I could purchase it in OKC so I didn't buy much, just a few fat quarters.

While we were in Plano (which is way closer to Carrollton than I thought it would be), we went to HobbyTown USA. I guess there are HobbyTowns all over but this one is special because it is a flagship store for Gundam model kits. A quarter of the store was devoted entirely to Gundams. 🤖 I have never seen a Gundam tv show or have any interest in model kits but this place was pretty neat. There were tons of models! The wallpaper (floor paper?) on the floor was printed with Gundam pieces and there was a gigantic model RX 78-2.

The last fabric shop we went to was back in Carrollton. The Old Craft Store is a very traditional quilt shop (all florals and fabrics in your grandma's sewing room). I didn't like any of the prints. The owners were kind of rude, too.😑 The two women followed us around like we were shop lifters. One of the women seemed annoyed when she asked if she could help me find something and I told her I was just looking around. The only interesting part of the store is the antique fallout shelter. There is a room in the back with tons of old canned goods, boxes of provisions, and other general store items. 

And thus concludes another vacation and the end of my 37th year. The highlight of my year was finally making friends in my sewing club. 😁 I've been a member of The Oklahoma City Chapter of American Sewing Guild for probably 5 or 6 years now and I have always been friendly with all of the ladies. But, this year, I actually made a group of friends who I hang out with regularly outside of sewing club, and we've let each other into our personal lives and have become genuine friends (instead of just casually sewing... which we do plenty of that together, too!) 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Country Club Plaza (Kansas City) - April 2022

Wes & I have been married for 7 years!! 💖💟👫💘💕 We went out for a nice dinner on our actual anniversary date and took a quick weekend trip to Kansas City for more celebrations. (Side note: Dallas, TX was my favorite quick weekend road trip destination, but Kansas City, MO & KS has overtaken it; just as much fun stuff to do, restaurants, culture & art but with waaaaay less traffic and construction.) We went to the Country Club Plaza shops in search of a new leather and/or bomber jacket for me. Wes bought me one ages ago when we first started dating and it finally got to the point where it desperately had to be replaced. I should have known that the shops would be showing their spring looks and there wouldn't be any jackets for sale but oh well. 🤷 While we were there, we ate at a bunch of restaurants (my sole reason for travelling) and visited the Sistine Chapel art exhibit (more on that in next week's blog post).

This was our third trip to the Country Club Plaza but our first time to actually spend a day walking around. The Plaza has a mix of high-end shops, restaurants, boutiques, and a lot of outdoor art. We went into a few of the shops but mostly just window shopped. The only things we bought were for the dogs. LOL A majority of the shops close at 7pm so if you really want to shop & explore, it will probably take two days of walking around. 

Since it was springtime/Easter season, there were lots of rabbit statues everywhere. They were each named, which I thought was cute. There was also a "Heart of KC" exhibit where storefronts each had a heart painted in the theme of what they sell. 

Outdoor art is definitely cool, but the highlight of our vacations is always the food. 🍖🍔☕🍪🍗 Our first stop was lunch at Shake Shack. My cousin (who lives in Australia) recommended that we eat at Shake Shack when we took our road trip to Las Vegas about 7 years ago and that recommendation always stuck with me. We ate at the one on the Strip and it has been my favorite burger place since. Too bad there isn't one in Oklahoma. 😔 Earlier that week, Wes & I had a conversation where we ranked fries in order of preference. Crinkle cut fries were on the bottom of my list. I had forgotten that Shake Shack's fried are crinkle cut and I was momentarily disappointed but theirs are sooooo good. I suppose crinkle cut fries aren't the worse anymore. Our lunch was so awesome. I would rank it as the best meal we had the entire weekend. 😋

I've decided that two things I need on each & every vacation is a tokodoki brand Unicorno figurine and boba tea. We got my Unicorno at Barnes & Noble and then headed to Bruu for boba tea. Their drink special was the Anchan strawberry milk tea with rainbow jellies. I had no idea what an Anchan strawberry tastes like but the drink in the picture was really pretty so I ordered it. It was delicious!! 😋 Probably the best flavored milk tea I've had in a while. The rainbow jellies weren't as good as traditional boba but still very tasty. Bruu didn't have any dairy-free options, so Wes went and got a cold brew at Made in KC Marketplace. It was a neat shop that had a café, bar, and all local goods. It had the cutest mugs and t-shirts, jewelry, candles, etc. Great place for souvenir shopping, but we didn't buy anything (we suck as tourists LOL).

For dinner, we went to Fogo de Chão. I was unaware of this highly popular steakhouse, but Wes said it was top notch. Oklahoma has Texas de Brazil so I was at least familiar with the Brazilian churrascaria concept. Maybe it was because we went on prom weekend and maybe it was because the restaurant was insanely busy, but I was NOT impressed. The food was similar to Texas de Brazil; it was good but not worth all the hype. The only things that stood out were that the lamb and chicken were marinated in a different (maybe tastier) blend of spices and they served this amazing grilled mozzarella dipped in honey.  Wes really liked our meal. I did too; I am not saying anything bad about the yummy grilled meats, but the vibe of the restaurant really ruined it for me. 

We had made reservations for 8:15pm but had to wait a while to get seated. Strike one. The restaurant itself was filthy. Strike two. The bathrooms were a disaster and there was food and trash on the dining room floor. The marketplace salad bar wasn't fully stocked, and our waitress forgot to bring out one of the complimentary side dishes. 😒 And, the bar was out of gin so they couldn't make the cocktail I ordered (a featured cocktail on the menu... so I was unsure why or how they could be out of the essential ingredient to make it). Strike three. After dinner, we headed back to the Intercontinental hotel. This has been our hotel for each of our Kansas City trips. Its very nice and literally across the street from the Plaza. You can park in the hotel parking garage and walk, which is the only way to do it since parking and driving in the Plaza is a nightmare. 

Before we went, we took a look at the Plaza directory and picked out the restaurants we wanted to try. One was Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro (a Brazilian bakery). We wanted to go there for breakfast and coffee so that was the plan for the next morning. We waited around until it opened... then waited about five minutes more... and then another few minutes. After a while, we decided that either its hours needed updating or it was out-of-business. So instead, we went to Messenger Coffee Co. for breakfast. We both wanted a chorizo burrito but they were out of chorizo so I got a chocolate chip toffee cookie & a chai tea and Wes just got a cold brew. My cookie was really good, but the chai had too much cinnamon in it. It was my fault, the barista asked if I wanted cinnamon and I said yes. Wes said his cold brew was good but not as good as the one from Made in KC Marketplace.

We also went to the Sistine Chapel exhibit but that will be for another post. We drove about an hour out of our way to go to Auntie Rita's Jamaican restaurant for lunch on our way home. We had planned to go there when we drove to Lincoln for the Ghost concert, but I was horribly sick and we had to skip. We made our way to downtown Salina, KS and everything looked closed. 😓 I checked and double checked the restaurant's hours online and it said they were open, so we parked and walked in. We were literally the only customers in the entire place. It was 3pm on a Sunday so admittedly a weird time to eat but still... I've never eaten at a restaurant where there was no one else in the dining room. The guy behind the counter was extremely friendly and gave us some pointers on what to order since we've never had Jamaican food and were from out of town. I got the BBQ pork and Wes got the jerk pork meal. We got the "regular" size and the portions were ginormous!! I can't imagine what a large meal consists of. We both really liked the food and I even ate the plantains (which I don't like). Wes said that he liked that the coleslaw was marinated in vinegar and blend of spices instead of traditional coleslaw dressing.

Overall, a fun and appetizing weekend getaway. Happy anniversary 💗 and looking forward to 70 more years of being married. 

Wes & Erica's Vacation Photo Album - Lincoln, NE (food)- February 2022

I like to stop at the state line and have Wes get out of the car to take a picture of the "Welcome to <whatever state>!" sign but neither of us were in the mood to do anything fun after driving through snow packed roads of Oklahoma & Kansas. So instead, here is a picture of The Hub Café. 

Despite encountering obstacle after obstacle in the week prior, our first road trip of 2022 is in the books! 🚗 We drove to Lincoln, Nebraska the first week of February to see Ghost play at the Pinnacle Bank Areana. Ghost is one of Wes's favorite bands and the last on his list to see play live. We'll talk about the concert later, but first we must chat about food. 🍔🍗🍝🍨🍳 Trying new restaurants is one of my favorite parts about going on vacation. Sadly, I was sick with a stomach virus during this trip, so I barely ate anything, and we had to skip three of the restaurants I had picked out for us to try. I did not enjoy Nebraska and do not think we'll be returning so let's just hope The Parthenon, Tini Café and Auntie Rita's Jamaican Cuisine weren't as good as the internet boasted. Now onto restaurants that we did try...

The half-way point between Oklahoma City and Lincoln is Salina, KS. We stopped in Bravo Sliders-n-Bites for lunch. The building is small and unmarked (only one tiny sign--it looks big in the picture, but I was standing pretty close to it). I guess the polite way to describe this place is "no-frills" ... and no heating. The dining room was freezing! 🥶 But the food was good, and I suppose that's what matters most. I got a slider with beet slices -- something I've never tried before. Their fries are called Frips, a portmanteau of fry and chip. I got mine dusted with dill pickle seasoning, which was really good. Wes got a cheesesteak slider, a breakfast slider and regular Frips. 

We ate at Villa Amore for dinner our first night in Lincoln. It is a nice Italian restaurant attached to the Country Inn & Suites hotel. We were both pretty confused when our maps navigation took us to the hotel parking lot. LOL The food was amazing! I ignored my stomach troubles and ate so much (probably too much because I was super sick again the next day). I don't think I've drank an authentic peach Bellini until that night. I was shocked and amazed that it had actual peach puree in it (and not just peach flavoring); like the entire peach was blended and juiced into my drink! [Side note -- I am an extremely simply person and easily amazed.] We started with salad, bread (Wes said it was really good) and soup. The soup was a creamy potato bisque. For dinner, Wes had the shrimp and scallop pesto alfredo and I had one of their nightly specials: roasted eggplant with pasta and vegetables in a spicy marinara sauce. The pasta also had chunks of eggplant so double eggplant!! I was just telling Wes earlier that day that it's about time that beets & eggplant burst onto the food scene and this did not disappoint. 

For breakfast the next morning, we went to the Engine House Café. This was the first warm place I've been in since leaving our home two days prior. The restaurant is an old firehouse with exposed brick and high ceilings. Very small and cozy. Their coffee was so good (probably my favorite part of breakfast). ☕ It was a light roast but still full of flavor. I wished they had beans or K-cups for us to buy for home. I got the cinnamon roll, which I thought was way too buttery, and Wes got the standard two egg breakfast. He said the sausage patty was a little thin but he did like that it was crispy. 

We skipped lunch (stomach virus, yay 😑). It was probably 20℉ (or less) but I wanted ice cream. (402) Creamery was only a block or so away from the hotel, so we took a brisk walk for a snack that afternoon. I chose that place for its vegan/dairy-free options (for Wes) but he ended up getting real ice cream and I got one of the vegan offerings. LOL I got one of their Valentine's flavors -- the Breakup Blues, a blueberry and pomegranate sorbet with dark chocolate chunks. Yum! Wes got the snickerdoodle ice cream and he said there were too many cookie chunks in it and not enough ice cream. The spiced waffle cone piece on top was really good, too.

After the concert, we picked up dinner from Boss's Pizza & Chicken. It was the only place open past midnight that wasn't a bar. Its website boasted, "Famous late night eats!", but when we got there, it was a sketchy, old, run-down building with zero customers. There was a sign on the door instructing patrons to enter via the back door (by the dumpster and railroad tracks) when it was past 11pm ... super sketchy. I wasn't expecting much but the food was actually really good. Or I was just really hungry (my stomach started feeling better in the middle of the concert and I actually felt like eating again! Only there was no food at the venue so 😣😞😠) We got the chicken meal from Boss's. I was cracking up at the packaging because the franchisee didn't even bother to use Boss's logo/brand box. I guess Gold'n Plump had some extra boxes he didn't want to throw away. I liked the chicken because it was thoroughly spiced and flavored. Wes said it was waaaay too salty. LOL 

We got back to the hotel a little past midnight and our parking card didn't work. We paid to be able to park at the garage across the street from the hotel during our stay. Wes called the hotel and the night employee told us to (not even exaggerating) park at the meters because its free until 7am. 😶 Instead of offering to give us a new parking card or research the issue, this woman expected us to park my car on the street even though we paid for garage parking and not only that, she also expected us to get up before 7am to either move my car or pay the meter. 😡 Instead, I took a self-serve ticket at the garage and pulled in. We thought we would just clear this up with her in person when we got in. Some things are hard to explain over the phone... surely, she would be more accommodating in person. Nope. She was adamant that we did not pay for a parking card (even though Wes showed her the physical card we were issued) and since I took a self-serve ticket, I now owed an additional $11 to park my car and there was ABSOLUTELTY nothing she could do to help us. Ugh. Luckily, the manager in the morning was a million times more helpful and reactivated our parking card with no problem. 

The next morning, we had breakfast at The Hub Café. My stomach was cured and I was going to eat again!!! 😁 The Hub is a restaurant located on a really nice park/walking trail. Since it was the middle of winter, the park was sort of dead & ugly, but I bet this is a beautiful place to dine in the springtime. The farm-to-table restaurant only uses local ingredients from Nebraskan farms. Everything did taste extremely fresh. Wes said the bacon tasted like the same bacon his great-grandpa used to make when they slaughtered their own pigs. The best bacon he's had in a long time, he said. I noticed the goat cheese tasted different (aka no preservatives) than the stuff we get from the store. I got the roasted beet sandwich and it was ginormous. 🥪 Probably the size of two sandwiches. I thought it was a little bland, but I know they wanted to showcase the natural flavor of the fresh ingredients instead of hiding behind a bunch of seasonings. Wes got a cold brew coffee that he wasn't a fan of but I loved my chai latte. 

Just as my stomach virus was wanning, I started having painful menstruation cramps. (Oh the joys of endometriosis.) So needless to say, I was back to not eating. We skipped lunch and just powered on home. As I was driving through Kansas, I kept seeing signs for Lindsborg, KS aka Little Sweden, USA. I love making random stops on road trips to explore but we haven't been able to do that much due to tight schedules on our last few trips. Making unplanned stops is one of Wes's least favorite things but I really wanted to visit so he obliged. It would be nice to take a potty break not at a gas station and maybe we could get a snack. The town is tiny and we almost drove through without seeing the touristy part. There were small signs pointing toward downtown but I didn't see them; luckily Wes caught them and we turned toward Little Sweden. It took us less than an hour to walk around downtown and visit their famous Hemslojd giftshop. 

Dala horses are the town's mascot and there were replicas outside of each establishment painted to match the business. It was late Saturday afternoon when we stopped into town so most of the places were already closed. There was supposedly a Swedish cultural museum somewhere, but we couldn't find it. It was still nice to get to stretch our legs and get some fresh air, plus, I enjoyed the giftshop. I wanted to stop in the bakery but it was already closed for the day. So, we got our potty break but no snack. Back into the car we went. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and although I wasn't feeling well enough for a meal, I knew we couldn't also skip dinner. I saw Taco John's when we were driving though either Wisconsin or Missouri last year and laughed at myself. What a silly name; I bet the food is horrible. I saw Taco John's again when we drove through Salina a few days ago but this time, I was curious to try it. We needed to get gas so Wes found us a gas station/Taco John's combo in Wichita, KS.

Taco John's is not good but I wouldn't say it was bad. I rank it alongside Del Taco. The meat in the crispy tacos was mixed with refried bean paste. Good thing Wes got the soft tacos. He said they came pre-dressed with chunky "salsa".  It was a little sad to end our trip with subpar food. But, everything else we ate was good so one bad meal didn't ruin it. Aside from eating, we visited two museums and, the highlight of our trip, the concert. More on those to come!!

Wes & Erica's vacation photo album - Carrollton, TX - December 2021

The last time we were in Dallas (probably 2018 or 2019), I discovered that there was a 99 Ranch - my favorite Asian grocery store, and Wes discovered there was a Kinokuniya - his favorite Japanese bookstore, in the city of Carrollton. They are both in a shopping center with lots of cute shops and tons of restaurants. We decided that the next time we travel to Texas, we'd spend a weekend in Carrollton to eat and shop. We were going to do this for Lunar New Year 2020 but had to postpone due to COVID. Then we were going to in August, but Zephyr got super sick the day before we were supposed to drive out. So, FINALLY, we went for my birthday. This was over a month ago but I'm just now finding time to journal. 

You can't drive by a Buc-ee's and not stop in, so the one in Denton was our first stop. We got there around lunchtime on a Saturday and it was packed. We bought snacks, souvenirs, and lunch... all the things you need to buy when visiting a Buc-ee's. LOL I got a hotdog with dill relish and some potato salad for lunch and Wes got a Lunchable-type thing with cubes of cheese, salami, grapes and almonds. We ate it all before I could take a picture. 

Our next meal was dinner. 🍣 One of Wes's friends from work suggested that we go to Blue Sushi. It is his favorite sushi place and gave Wes a stellar review. I was so pumped to try this place... and it was not as good as I had hoped for 😔 Wes said his friend probably likes this place for its vegan options. I think he likes this place because it's a hip restaurant to impress his girlfriend. LOL I'm almost certain that the patrons dine at Blue for its ambiance and not its sushi. I would compare it to Sushi Neko in OKC. The coolest part was the front room & bar that was Godzilla themed. 🐉 It had murals of scenes from the old movies. We weren't trendy enough to be seated near the front; the hostess sat us in a different dining room that wasn't themed.  

The best part of our meal was the shishito peppers we got for our appetizer. One of my rolls had cilantro in it and the other was rolled in tempura beet flakes -- the two best parts of my dinner. Wes said he liked his sushi alright but there wasn't anything special about it. I was kind of bummed after dinner, so I wanted dessert to compensate. There weren't many places that were both nearby and still open so instead of dessert, we decided on coffee. I am so glad we did because Civil Pour was so good. ☕ I got a caramel apple latte that tasted exactly like the lollipops. 

The next morning, we headed out to our Asian shopping center excursion. We had breakfast at 85℃ Bakery. We've been here before and loved it so had to go again. Dine-in wasn't available, which was actually better because we got to heat up our pastries at the hotel. They would have still tasted amazing at room temperature, but I prefer them warmed up. The potato croquette I got was SO freakin' yummy!! 😋

We spent a majority of the day wandering around the shops. It was a really good shopping day. 😁😍 I bought a ton of snacks, goodies for my pen pals, and even Wes (who never shops) bought a couple of things! Of course, we had to take a boba break so we got drinks from 7 Leaves. I got the mung bean milk tea. It was delicious, no surprise. It had bits of crushed up mung beans and reminded me of the mung bean cakes I liked when I was a kid. 

Next meal was lunch (We did do things in between meals; in case you were wondering. We went to Rainbow Vomit 🌈 and the Meadows Museum, and they will be chronicled in the next blog post.) Wes really likes Korean food but it's just so-so for me. 😕 I try to find different Korean restaurants each time we travel in hopes of finding a dish that I really like. And it worked... I found my favorite Korean dish on this trip!! We went to BCD Tofu House and all they serve is soon tofu soup. It was the absolute best Korean food I have ever eaten. Wes really liked it, too, but he didn't agree that it was the best he's had (he's had the homecooked stuff and you can't beat that).

Soon tofu is soft tofu. The soup is made with lots of different spices, ginger, onion and scallion. Chunks of tofu are added to the broth and then you get your choice of meat. I got the combination with beef, shrimp and clams. You get to pick your spice level (I'm a wimp and got 1 🌶pepper). The soup is served boiling hot in a clay pot with a side of rice, traditional Korean side dishes--one was a whole fried mackerel 😋--and a raw egg that you crack into the soup. The restaurant had televisions playing informative videos about how to cook the soup, the proper way to eat it and BCD's annual spicy soup eating competition. 

For dinner, we had Pakistani food at BBQ Tonite. 🍛 I was still pretty full from lunch so I don't think I liked the food as much as I would have if we hadn't eaten a ton just a few hours previously. We shared the beef seekh kebab and rice with lamb. Wes really liked the spice blend they used. It was a good meal albeit a bit too spicy for me. 

Our final meal was breakfast the next morning. When we were shopping at the grocery store the day before, I noticed that 99 Ranch had dim sum at their hot deli. And on their dim sum menu was congee, like the legit congee with salted pork and black preserved egg. OM-freakin'-G!!! I am the only person in my family who likes congee so it's never cooked at family dinners, and you can't find it at many restaurants around here. I was ecstatic!!! I wasn't hungry when we went shopping so I didn't get any... when we returned for breakfast the next morning, I made a beeline for the dim sum and asked for congee. The cook said it wasn't done yet and I would need to wait 5 - 10 minutes. Wes got his breakfast (a pastry and some tea) and we wandered around the store a bit, patiently awaiting. As soon as the 10 minutes had passed, I rushed back to the deli and the cook handed me a steaming hot bowl. I triumphantly brought it to our table and devoured it.  I also got some fried stuffed eggplant, which was also delicious.

We stopped in IKEA on our way home. I got a table for my serger and we got a (much needed) new dining room table. We spent three days in Carrollton and ate as much as we could. SO MUCH GOOD FOOD. Our hotel was only a block away from the Asian shopping center so we had every meal (except for sushi) there. I almost wish we had something like that in Oklahoma but then I think it would take the fun out of travelling for good authentic Asian food. And I would probably be broke from shopping --or I would just have the most awesome collection of stickers & washi tape. LOL Anyway, it was the perfect way for me to spend my birthday! 🎂