Farmers Market at Historic Pearl

I know I have blogged about it a few times before, but guys, I LOVE the farmers market here. We go at least twice a month. It's my favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning. We went quite a few times in November and December. It doesn't matter how many times we go, I love it every time. 

The farmers market is at the Historic Pearl, only 15 minutes from us. I love everything about it and feel like I find something new to see and explore every time we are there. It's so easy to get to, just right off the freeway and there is plenty of free parking. We have learned to try to get there no later than 11:30, ideally, 10, as the crowds get crazy and things start to sell out! 

"Pearl, located north of downtown San Antonio, provides a unique experience as a top culinary and cultural destination. The mixed-use space features retail, dining, picturesque green spaces, paseos riverside amphitheater, and the third campus of The Culinary Institute of America. As a former brewery operating from 1883 to 2001, Pearl reflects a vivid past while embracing the future with LEED-certified complexes mixed with historic architecture."

There is also the stunning hotel Emma. The lobby alone is so cool to walk through. The employees are super nice and don't mind if you come in to explore a little, at least no one has said anything to us! Can't wait to take a staycation there someday! It has a really interesting history, the original building being the only brewery that survived the prohibition.

One Saturday in December we went and the weather was incredible, I think it was a high of 70 or 75. It felt like the loveliest spring day. The sky was clear blue, we enjoyed plenty of yummy food while watching kids run through the water fountains. 

I don't normally take selfies but the lighting was perfect I wanted to document the lovely day with my Bear! It was seriously the most perfect day out.

I honestly haven't had anything bad to eat there, but some of our favorites...

Yapa Empenadas - My #1 favorite. Their ham and cheese is incredible. I crave it all the time! Ask for their green sauce to drip it in! 

Sol Y Luna - #1 favorite for baked goods! Incredible breads and danishes. Can never go wrong here. Their honey butter croissant and lemon blueberry danish are a couple of my faves. They always have free samples and the friendliest employees. Thankfully they also have a brick and mortar location if you find yourself craving them during the week (as I often do!)

Mings Thing - I've only had their pork belly breakfast plate but wow, so good.  

Humble House Foods - I am always soooo tempted by their french toast, but I have yet to give into the tempting plate heaped with sugar. Someday. But they have yummy lemonades and pretty good hot chocolate. I'll have to try their amazing sauces some time too. 

Wildflower Caramels - I mean, with that name how could I not love them? They are usually only there on Sundays. So sad because you miss out on their ADORABLE camper. So cute. We only got to see their cute set up because they were there for a weekday winter market. But if you go on a Saturday and still want to try their caramels go into Larder, they sell them at the counter!

But honestly, there are so many yummy things there, I really don't think you can go wrong.

There are always lots of cute dogs too! 

A post shared by Adria Cavanaugh (@adriacavanaugh) on Feb 28, 2018 at 8:33am PST

I don't think I will ever get sick of this place! 

A Guide to Yelp

We are Yelp obsessed. SO OBSESSED. Maybe a little too obsessed. I'm sure that's not that surprising with what foodies we are, which we do post about frequently, but Yelp really is the most wonderful foodie tool around. It's easily one of the top 5 apps I use on my phone. 

Upon moving to VA is when we really started using the app and I quickly became rather compulsive about reviewing every single place we went to. After about a year of hardcore Yelping I got an email letting me know that I was nominated as an Elite Yelper! Not honestly sure how it happened, but I was (and still am) pretty excited about it. 

                                                                                                                                You basically become  Elite if you have an active profile with quality content. And (not always, but usually) your reviews are highly recommended to other Yelpers upon viewing a business's page. I pride myself on overly detailed reviews and quality photos of nearly every place we visit. But you certainly don't have to be Elite to thoroughly enjoy and benefit from Yelp. 

Pretty much all of our favorite restaurants have been found through Yelp. So I decided to compile some tips on how to get the most out of Yelp. 

Download the app
     The app is a must. You can certainly get a lot of Yelp just from their desktop site, and I often use it to make updates to my profile, as well as plotting out a wish list of restaurants leading up to a trip (more on that later). But so often Bear and I will be out and about, and decide we want to look for something to eat. 

How to Search

 To start, I hit Nearby, and Restaurants. 
Then I hit "Filter" on the upper left hand corner, select my price range I want to stay in, 
slide over the "Open Now" option (for obvious reasons) and scroll down to "Sort By" and select "Rating". 
I feel like this is the best way to narrow down my results quickly. I then scan through to see what looks good, and do a quick scan of the photos and reviews. 















Planning Ahead
     If we have plans to go somewhere new, or are planning a trip out of town, I will open up the app or go online and input the specific location we will be in. You can put the general city, or the specific address and view restaurants near that. Again, always searching by highest rated. I will then bookmark the ones that look appealing, and then discuss them with Bear when it comes time to decide where to go. 

Check-In (get coupons!)
     This is something I will often forget to do, but some restaurants will offer check-in discounts through Yelp. Sometimes you have to use them within a certain amount of time, sometimes you can save them for later. But it's good to check upon arriving to the restaurant. I can't tell you how many times I have checked into a place upon leaving only to discover I missed out on a coupon! 

 Reviews
     I spent a while using Yelp but without posting reviews. But being that I already often take pictures of what I eat I figured I might give back to the community that had helped me find so many yummy restaurants. For my review I try to give pros and cons covering; the cleanliness of the place, the quality of the service, what I ordered and my thoughts on the food, if I felt the prices were fair in comparison to the portion sizes, and if I would be willing to return or not. Additionally, if their seating and ordering is not clear (not sure if you seat yourself, if they bring the check to you or not) I will make note of that as well so people know what to expect if something is out of the ordinary. Photos are not vital but rather important to the review. If reasonably possible, I like to request to sit near windows to ensure I have nice natural lighting in my pictures. 

 (A series of photos for a recent review)

Unless there was something really atrocious about my visit, I like to give any place at least two chances before I say whether or not I would return. I'm not too hard to please, and being that I usually only visit highly reviewed places, I don't often have many bad experiences. 

 Hopefully that helps! Feel free to follow Bear and myself! 

Happy Yelping! 

Birthday Weekend

This past Sunday, the 31st was my birthday! It's a little crazy to think I am 40% of the way through my twenties. Often times I still think I am in my teens! At times I can't help but wonder, what have I done in that 40%? But I have had lots of fun, been on many adventures with my Bear, and am very blessed. And I know that there are plenty more fun times that lay ahead! I am excited to see what the remaining 60% of my twenties hold. Well, and beyond that, of course, haha.

Poor Dave has a new work schedule that has him working lots of grave shifts and has been pretty rough. So sadly I didn't get too see all that much of him this weekend. Boo. We will be going out for my birthday this week once he finally has some time off. Yay!

But I did have lots of fun time with my family. On Saturday we did some shopping and had lunch at Cafe Rio. I tried their coconut shrimp tacos for the first time. Pretty yummy! Too bad they aren't always on their menu. That evening I spent as much time with Bear as I could before he had to leave for work.

Sunday I went to church just for a bit, and then came back home to spend just a few hours with Dave before he had to head off to work again. I am so blessed to have him! He works so hard for us. At least we got to enjoy breakfast together!

The rest of the day my mom and I slaved away in the kitchen! It's been awhile since I spent some serious baking time in the kitchen, so it was lots of fun for me. My mom made a strawberry pie and helped me make my first ever coconut cream pie. All entirely from scratch! Thanks to my mom for all her help! 

When we were in Florida Dave and I have the yummiest coconut cream pie ever. We have hunted high and low in VA for a good replacement but we have had no luck! So I decided to just make one myself. I was little fearful about how it would turn out. But... You guys. Oh my word... It turned out Heavenly! I can't wait to share the recipe later this week!

We had some yummy shrimp tacos for dinner! The perfect summer dish!

Then for opening presents! My family gave me a Target gift card, a HUGE donut pool inflatable that I can't wait to use, some cute tops from Target, and a gift card to my favorite local bakery and cafe. Thanks family! 

Dave and I always give each other our gifts early, hahaha. But Dave ordered my a Gorilla pod (a flexible tripod) for my iPhone. I took it with us on our Florida trip and got this shot! Yay! 

He also got me a couple Funko Pops that I am OBSESSED with. Later this week we will trek our way to the mall that has Lush and I will get to spoil myself there! I'm a lucky girl! 

Oh and here is a crazy story from the other day! 

I was driving down a rather busy road where the speed limit is 45 mph (but of course everyone goes 50 or more) and I spot this cute little doggy making her way down the road. 

I shared the short version of the story on Instagram and Facebook but when I pulled over she was having a stare down with a big truck that had stopped for her that had been a ways behind me. A line of cars started growing as she zigzagged across the lanes, clearly not fearful of the cars at all. 

I was a little scared of being bit, but I finally managed to coax her into my arms and brought her into my car. Although she was little muddy and smelly, it had just been raining, she was very sweet and friendly and sat sweetly and calmly in my lap as I called the number on her tags. 

Her owner said he had come home for lunch and usually she just stays in the yard but she must have followed his car out to the road. He said she doesn't do it very often and is usually pretty good at staying in the yard. He told me were he lived, just at the end of a gravel road near where I found her and asked I just take her back to the yard. I took her home, but she kept jumping back into my care before I could close my door! Finally I got the door closed, but she ran behind my car, all the way out, straight into the road! 

I pulled over, called her name (which I learned from her tags) and she jumped right into the car. I took her back again to her and house and this time left her on the porch. But she wouldn't sit there long, playfully skipping and hopping after me back to my car. I drove down away again but couldn't see her following. I pulled out onto the main road and luckily didn't see her following out onto the road. But I wanted to be sure. So I pulled off a little ways down the road, and sure enough after a few minutes she came running out onto the road again! I collecting her into the car a third time and called the owner. He said he wasn't far from home now and just ended up meeting me at his house to take her! 

She was such a sweet little thing! I am so glad I was able to grab her before she got hurt. I really hope she doesn't have a habit of running out onto that busy road! I will probably drive by there more regularly just to be sure I don't see her again! I will certainly be worried about her for a while.

Anyways, thanks to all those you sent me birthday wishes! I am so grateful to have such wonderful family and friends in my life. xoxo

Florida | May 2015 | Day 7

Friday was a pretty lazy day at the beach. I have been wanting to wake up early to hunt for seashells but I can never seem to drag myself out of bed. Oh well, I'm on vacation. I can do what I want! 

We left the house at about 10 and decided to head out to the beach.

We stopped at a shop that caught our eye near the beach called The Sea Hagg. The place had been open for nearly 17 years and was just this crazy and awesome antique store. Lots of cool stuff.

These guys creep me the heck out! 

I was obsessed with this art! 

Very cool place. I will have to get some of that art sometime. 

Off to the beach. We drove a ways down the beach, wanting find a new place to go.

The sand wasn't quite as nice as the other beaches but the water was much more clear and a bit colder, rather than the warm bathtub like feel the beaches we have been to so far this week feel like.

Once we were nice and red (our skin that is) we decided to hunt around for a place for lunch. 

We decided on a place right on the water and got a seat with a nice view.

I got their grilled chicken with a fresh fruit salsa. Very yummy. 

Dave got a Mahi-Mahi sandwich. I almost wish I had gotten what he had. As always. LOL

  

Oh and the yummy coconut shrimp we shared.

After that we went home to clean up after getting sandy and salty at the beach. I love the beach my hair sure holds onto the salt and sand since my hair is so thick!

We just relaxed for a little while, the sun sure does wear on you! And then we went to another seafood restaurant with Dave's family for dinner. Yummy stuff!

And here's today's video! 

Florida | May 2015 | Day 2 & 3

Since we just did dinner and hung out together for dinner, there isn't a whole lot to share from Sunday so I am just going to combine Sunday and today, Monday.

We went to church with Dave's family, just for sacrament. I brought plenty of dresses, but Dave didn't have church clothes, besides his kilt, if you can count that church clothes. Hahaha... The ward was so quite compared to our ward! They are pretty much a nearly dead ward, but I suppose that's expected in sunny Florida. 

We went home and I started working on my chocolate cake for mother's day while the boys started grilling up dinner. We had lots of yummy garlic lime chicken, jalapeno burgers, grilled corn, and other good stuff. 

Jared's girlfriend brought over a homemade Oreo cheesecake. Normally I don't care for cheesecake but it was so yummy! And I had a bit of my chocolate cake as well. It was all devoured pretty quickly! Good desserts don't last long with the Cavanaugh's! 

And we learned another important lesson along our travels; Start Seeing a Dentist Regularly! 

In High School Dave was boxing or something without a mouth guard and long story short, the back of his two front teeth got shaved off and he has fake backs on them. They are quite old and we have gone on and off of having insurance and neither of us have wanted to bother to go into the dentist. Well the backing of one fell off so it make it a bit difficult for Dave to chew food.

So this morning we called around and made an appointment with a local dentist at 1:00. We went at got smoothies for breakfast and drove around. We visited the De Soto National Memorial where Hernando De Soto, a Spanish explorer first landed and explored what is now the US, in 1539. It was actually pretty cool, with lots of trees, crystal clear water, and lots of walking trails.

I grabbed a sandwich at Jimmy Johns, some of which Dave cautiously ate and we watched some shows and Dave's parents place until it was time for his appointment.

They were very friendly there, and they were able to take care of him really quickly, thankfully! His dental insurance don't really cover anything, so it was a good chunk out of our pocket I wish we wouldn't have had to pay, but we are grateful it wasn't anything more serious, and was a quick and easy fix. But really, LESSON LEARNED. If you don't want to go to the dentist while on vacation, maybe think twice about not going in for over 5 years.

We got ready to go to the beach and headed off with the family. Man, this water really is a bit of paradise! Sand so soft. Water so blue. Stunning.

After a while of being in the water and soaking up the sun, Dave and I were pretty hungry since we hadn't eaten much that day. So we made our way to a taco place near by. It wasn't quite as good as we had hoped. It was good, but nothing very special, pretty similar to ones we would make at home. And a tad over priced, but that was rather expected for the area we were at. 

We then picked up some ice cream to share with the family and watched a movie.

Fun times! 

Since I combined two days, this video is a bit long. It ended up being pretty hard to process and get uploaded! It's not perfect, but I am pretty happy with it. Enjoy!