My Weekend in the Metroplex

Dallas and Fort Worth are referred to as "The Metroplex," which I think is a great word, although I don't actually know what it means.  Wait, Wikipedia to the rescue: "A metroplex is large metropolitan area containing several cities and their suburbs. It is also sometimes used as an alternative to metropolis or megalopolis, which is a chain of continuous metropolitan areas. The term was coined for, and is still commonly used to describe, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex."  Well, look at that!  It's named for this metroplex!  Cool.  Dallas and Fort Worth are actually kind of far apart.  It took me a solid 45 minutes to get from the center of one to the other.

Yes, it's true: this past weekend I was forced to stay in the metroplex for a weekend!  I was not looking forward to it at all, but I ended up having a really great time.  No cooking, of course, but I did enjoy expensing a weekend's worth of meals!  It was nice not to be trucking myself back and forth across the country every weekend, but I'm SO ready to be going home tomorrow after a full 10 days here.  Here's an overview of how I spent my time here...

Friday: Joanna can be officially named as the person that saved me from eternal boredom in Dallas, as she introduced me to her friend David, who has been far more generous to me than any person should be.  I think he's just gregarious by nature, but I really appreciated having someone as fun as he is to hang out with.  He invited me to Friday night services, which were held in possibly the most beautiful sanctuary I have ever seen.  Truly, it was gorgeous.  Then there was a young adult chili dinner afterward!  (You know you're in Texas when...)  Everyone I met was incredibly friendly, and people kept asking me when I'd be back.  After a while I couldn't break it to people that I didn't actually live in Dallas.

Saturday: I got up early on Saturday for a lovely (free) breakfast at the hotel of steel cut oats and fresh berries with mascarpone.  I had trouble deciding between that and the buffet, but I made the right choice.  Then I met David at his gym for Turbo Kick, which, quite frankly, kicked my butt.  My glutes were sore for DAYS!  But it felt good.  After a much-needed shower, I headed off to Fort Worth in search of The Lonesome Dove.  I saw Chef Tim Love on Top Chef Masters, so when I realized he had a restaurant in Fort Worth, I made it my number one priority for places to eat in the D/FW area.  I've been talking about it for months, so it felt like the culmination of something special when I finally walked in the door, barely making the 2:30 lunch cutoff (I had a whole sob story planned about how I had come all the way from NYC, wah wah wah, if they didn't want to seat me).  IT.WAS.AMAZING.  I didn't take photos because it was really dark and I was already a little self conscious about eating at a nice restaurant alone, so I didn't want the extra attention.  But I went all out.  I had an iced tea, the most incredible summer squash soup with shaved gruyere and the perfect amount of fresh black pepper, and a shaved tenderloin sandwich with horseradish cream, caramelized onions, and sweet potato fries.  I knew I needed to eat some steak before I left Texas, even if it's not my favorite food group, and I was determined to get it at The Lonesome Dove because Chef Love uses local beef.  I thought it was grass-fed too, but now I can't find confirmation of that online.  The beef was so delicious and fresh and buttery (as was the potato bread roll), but the highlight of the meal was really the soup.  The fries were literally like shoestrings, which looked pretty but were unpleasant to eat.  Overall, wonderful meal that lived up to the hype.  Side note: Tim Love opened a burger place around the corner called Love Shack.  Too cute!

I walked around historic Fort Worth for a little while and saw some longhorns.

And some other farm animals.

I also saw lots of fun signs that reminded me I was definitely in Texas.

(Can you see the blue sign that says Rodeo Plaza?  I got such a kick out of that.)

After I strolled around here for a while, I drove over to the itty bitty, but very lovely, Kimbell Art Museum.  They have a couple of Picassos and a couple of Matisses, and a Miro that I really liked.  Also some stuff by Piet Mondrian, who I don't think I've ever heard of.  It was very blocky and geometric but pleasing to the eye.

I really had a lovely day by myself in Fort Worth and didn't get lost once!  OK, once I thought I was lost, but it turned out I was right in front of the museum. I will continue the weekend recap in a later post.  Getting a little hefty here!  Off to go brave the crazy Dallas weather... it's colder here than at home!  And I am totally unprepared!  BRRRRRRR.

Welcome to Dallas

One day I would like to make a list of all the ways in which Dallas is the polar opposite of New York, but for now I will give you this special road sign.  I find Dallas absolutely impossible to navigate, and signs like this most certainly do not help:

Oh, duh, I'll just exit here and turn loop or loopy-loop.

Pardon?

I also, actually, find it incredibly difficult to communicate with the natives.  I asked someone at the hotel for a pen, and she looked at me confused, maybe even slightly disturbed, and said, "A what?"  "A pen?"  "What?"  "A... pen?" [pretending to write]... "OH!  You want a PAAAY-EN."  Oops!  I forgot to say it in 3 syllables.  My bad!  I actually think it's kind of cute, but literally makes communication difficult sometimes.

Home, Home on the Range

Greetings from Dallas, TX! I have had a pretty busy week so far, but I'm surprisingly content to be here (in contrast to my usual feelings of resenting it wholeheartedly). It's probably because I don't think I had to give up anything I wanted to be doing in NYC, and because I don't have to be here for a few weeks after this (yay!).

Monday was very rushed, and I actually ended up missing my first flight ever. It was not very dramatic, and there was no frantic running through the terminal. Just a lot of pouting and furrowing my brow. It's mostly my own fault for not leaving enough time to get there, but I never leave enough time to get there, and it hadn't been an issue yet! I also blame uncharacteristic traffic and a poor route choice by my cabbie. Thankfully, there was another flight an hour later, and I had no problem getting a seat. It also gave me time to actually buy food and a very fortuitous magazine, so it was ok.


Hold the presses! I almost got on a plane without food? Well, my parents stopped by around 2 with pizza, and I made us a salad with food that would have otherwise gone bad this week. Since I had a big late lunch, I wasn't all that hungry or in the mood to plan dinner at 4, AND I was in a big rush because I realized I was running quite late. So I grabbed some granola in a baggie and hoped I would have time to buy a yogurt at the airport. (I would have brought my own, but they don't usually make it through security.) Since I ended up with an extra hour at the fabulous LGA Terminal D (blech), I had more than enough time to buy a Dannon peach yogurt. I ate my yogurt/granola on the plane and also had a chocolate brownie Pure bar, which I brought from home. My problem with those healthy chocolate-flavored things is that I usually just end up wishing they were chocolate. I think I'm better off sticking with fruit/nut combos that taste like what they're supposed to taste like. Cocoa Mole Larabars are the exception. This Pure bar was actually pretty good, but not amazing.

Lately I have been packing dinners (sandwiches, bagels, prepared noodles from Gourmet Garage) on airport nights because there's nothing good at my terminal, and it's really not very hard to pull something together. I have to eat airport food on Thursdays when I come home, so I like to avoid having to do it twice a week. A girl can only eat so much Au Bon Pain.

So I went off to the hotel, where I have a room in the not-as-nice section of the hotel because I booked late. It's ok, but the hallways feel stuffy and dark compared to the newer part. The newer part is also closer to the gym and the Executive Lounge, where my Hilton Baller status allows me access to snacks, free breakfast, and free drinks (woohoo!). My room is fine, but I will definitely be making my reservation further in advance next time. I will take a picture of the room later.

I had some tea, watched Seinfeld and Sex and the City, got into bed around 11:30, and set the alarm clock for 6am. FUN!