But there’s nothing like a little quality time with her two grown boys to top off her birthday fun, right? Preston and I planned to meet at Brewed with him bringing mom there and me meeting them without her knowing. I contacted the place earlier and their GM, Chris, kindly responded saying they’d help make our little outing special.
I arrived before mom and Preston, and although there was a long wait, they had a room cut off from all the noise just for us.
This place is small but extremely popular. And for good reason, the serve top notch local fare and, as the name implies, delicious brews in form of both coffee and beer. Being brunch, I could’ve gone either route, but as I’ve stated before, I choose coffee over beer any day. I went with a cold brew that they have kegged from a place in Oregon and it did not disappoint!
The equivalent of 3 cups of coffee and served in a Belgian style beer glass made me a happy diner! I also had to pee a lot. I never thought of coffee being in a keg, but definitely need to look into this for a home setup!
When my mom and Preston arrived, I waved them down and we were immediately waited on by a kind waitress. She even took pictures of us on both of our phones.
Mom tasted some of my coffee and ordered some for herself. Preston thought about it, hesitated, and then just went with water despite my advice to “just get some!” Plus, he had to go into work right after, so coffee would only help increase his productivity. Well, and bathroom trips.
Our food came without delay and we all enjoyed what we ordered. As usual, I made special requests including not cooking the omelette in oil and giving me raw veggies instead of toast. It took them a while since I guess not many people ask for this, but all was right in the end and not once did the waitstaff act annoyed at my requests.
Excellent service and willingness to accommodate my special requests (usually just to do less than normal) are all I need to place a restaurant on my favorites list. As of now, that’s a short list, but Brewed is one of them!
After our meals, they surprised us by offering some of their espresso ice cream. My mom and I quickly declined the ice cream but said espresso would be wonderful. After our waitress left, Preston said he actually wanted the ice cream. Oops, sorry, bud, I spoke for all of us! But, he did get to try espresso for the first time in his life and……he wasn’t a big fan. It’s an acquired taste for sure, and I’m glad he at least finished it.
The staff at Brewed had something special for my mom, though…..
How cool is that? A cappuccino with a little cream artwork! We all had a sip and Preston definitely liked that much better. Maybe we’ll have birthday brunch at Brewed for your 24th, Preston. 😉
We sat around a talked a while as I downed a couple coffee refills and then they had to get on their way so Uncle P could go to work. I’m extremely grateful to everyone at Brewed for their great service and quality food. They even comped my mom’s meal and coffee for her birthday! Thanks, Brewed!!!
Spending time with just my mom and brother is rare, and hopefully we’ll find a time to do it again soon. I love our little family, and it’s always fun to reminisce back to when we all lived under the same roof. I love you, Mom and Preston!
Feeling good about our dining service and fortunate they took good care of us, I figured I’d try and continue the good vibes in the area. Kelley was making spaghetti that night and she has a special sauce she makes. It’s rich with flavor with a vibrant red that screams “Eat me!” Seriously, I heard it myself!
Part of what makes the sauce so tasty is her use of lots and lots of garlic, and I needed to bring some home. Not wanting to go to the store, I ventured to another local eatery called Spiral Diner. It’s a unique diner that serves all organic vegan food that even meat lovers enjoy, me included. I popped in, said I don’t need to be seated, but asked if they had any garlic I could buy.
The hostess kindly slipped away to the kitchen and came back with 8 cloves! I asked how much and she said not to worry about it. Score, the good vibes were swarming that day!
I proudly returned home where my wife used all of the cloves for this excellent sauce that quickly found its way to all of our bellies a couple hours later.
Fresh basil from our garden really made it pop! Yum!
We’re getting ready to take Avery on her first flight ever this weekend when we go to Colorado to see Nana and Papa. I’m getting more nervous about how the flight will go every day, so any pointers are well-received. Don’t expect a lot of posts for a while as we try and figure out what all to pack. Too bad the house is not an option…..
How do you feel about Brunch? Better than breakfast and/or lunch, or not a fan?
Do you have a special meal you or your significant other makes?
Flying with babies/toddlers/kids…….is it ever easy?
Having done the Revolver Brewing brewery tour two days before, the next obvious stop with our visiting family was a local craft vodka distillery. This is not just any vodka either, it’s distilled using mainly black-eyed peas, the world’s first!
Before the tour, we met at a cool little joint called Lili’s Bistro for lunch. Any place that is happy to accommodate my request to do or add less is an instant favorite, and they pulled through! Actually, we all enjoyed our meals and the service was good too.
But Avery was on the wild side (no surprise) and we quickly found out highchairs are NOT acceptable. Instead, she switched between my wife or my mom and me as she danced around on the booth. Thankfully, G-Ma’s sunglasses case kept her somewhat preoccupied.
Good ol’ Grandma in the background. Isn’t she pretty? I would never believe she was in her 80’s if I didn’t know her. One of my mom’s friends joined us for lunch and took my grandma out shopping afterward since she didn’t care much about trying vodka. I think she was burned out on drinking after this visit!
For the rest of us, good thing we had vodka to look forward to right after because Avery made it necessary! Okay, not really, but it sure does help! The distillery was only a few minutes away and we went right to it after paying our bill.
The name is TreyMark Vodka, and is located in an old fire station in Fort Worth, Texas. The creator, Trey (obviously), put together everything with the help of his business partners/friends and started distilling the world’s first black-eyed pea vodka.
This used to be where the pole was located for firemen to slide down.
He chose black-eyed peas since his family had a large farm with the legumes and it just wasn’t turning a profit, so why not make alcohol? Check out his story and look out for a bottle near you!
I first spoke with Trey’s mom/manager (how cool is that?) who arranged the meeting for all of us to meet for a private tour. No charge, no hassle, and he opened the doors just for us! The only drawback was having no A/C on when we visited, but I can’t blame him; gotta keep costs low!
Uncle Paul with my mom on the left and Aunt Tammy on the right.
That’s the distillery behind the lovely ladies and handsome young man.
Trey kindly greeted us at the front and gave us an excellent history of how he got started and gave a great summary on how he produced his one-of-kind vodka. Leave it to me to poke and prod with too many questions that he couldn’t answer due to being a family secret and what sets him apart from other vodkas. Hey, gotta try, right?
It’s crazy to think just a couple guys were able o put all of this giant equipment together! The entire place smelled heavily of alcohol (duh), but it wasn’t overwhelming. I actually kind of enjoyed the scent. What none of us enjoyed was the very hot, stale air, but we were provided a little relief when we went up stairs for tasting and he opened a window.
Going Mom is not a big fan of vodka and opted out of the tasting, so she kept watch over Avery as she danced around the wooden floors. She really enjoyed the loud tapping noise her Soft Star Shoes made when tromping around the room.
She also explored a little and since we’ve never had her up stairs like this before, she was fascinated at the view from below.
Well, at least for a minute, then Kelley had to give up her phone to keep the peace.
Crisis averted!!
While Kelley was watching over our crazy toddler, we were learning more and more about the vodka world as we tried TreyMark’s vodka alongside another top Texas “handmade” competitor. Holy burn, Batman, the stuff I used to think was good had nothing on the smoothness of TreyMark!
All of us tried the competitor’s vodka, which Trey ingeniously keeps on hand for comparison, and came to the same conclusion; TreyMark took the trophy, hands down! Check out Paul’s action shot with all of us except our escapee toddler.
I could hold his vodka in my mouth without a major burn, but the other stuff just lit my mouth up instantly. I never would’ve thought there is so much of a difference, but it’s all in the processing, and Trey has it down pat.
You want this!
After feeling the burn of one, lesser vodka, and enjoying TreyMark’s smoothness, we were feeling the family love and posed for a few pics.
Lucky to have these beautiful ladies in my family! Love you, Mom and Tammy! As G-Ma went to get money to buy a bottle of vodka, I guess Avery thought it might be for her college fund or something….
I think my mom is saying “Silly girl, this is for vodka, not edu-macation.” Avery remained expressionless, and hardly cracked a smile when I tried to pose with her even as I held the almighty phone.
Everyone enjoyed the tour and I’m thankful to Trey and his mom for providing a great experience for all of us. This was the last time for us to see Paul, Tammy, and Grandma before they headed back up North to PA, so we said our farewells in the parking lot.
It’s crazy how fast time flies and we never seem to realize it until after the fact. Still, it was great seeing my family and look forward to flying up to PA with Avery when she’s a little older.
Have you ever visited a distillery?
Would you prefer spirits, wine, or beer or something else?
Kids in highchairs. How do your act in restaurants?
The title alone is enough to make any romantic envious, huh? While it wasn’t a “Lady and the Tramp” spaghetti noodle moment, we still enjoyed a wonderful weekend making the most of our time together!
I forgot to mention, I’m gluten-free.
G-Ma stayed at our house and watched Avery so Going Mom and I could venture a whole 20 miles away to stay at the Embassy Suites Downtown Fort Worth location. I’ll speak more on the hotel in an upcoming post for my review.
We left Friday afternoon not long after G-Ma arrived to our house. We quickly explained the to-do’s and not to-do’s with Avery and took off to start our time away. Maybe I was a little too anxious to go, but I wanted to get the most out of the room we paid for. Yes, I’ll get it out of the way now, I’m pretty tight when it comes to spending on dining out and hospitality services.
Upon arrival, I parked nearby at temporary space so we could unload our bags and check-in and then go back to use the free weekend parking garage. Yes, there was valet, no I did not use it. See paragraph above.
Leading up to our anniversary weekend, I exchanged several e-mails with Michelle, the sales coordinator at Embassy Suites Downtown Fort Worth and she kindly had complimentary champagne and fresh fruit waiting for us in our room. The room, by the way, was on the 7th floor; and it was our 7th anniversary…..eh? Well, I thought it was cool.
Embassy offers a nightly Manager’s Reception for guests with free snacks and a nice selection of beer, wine, and liquor. We arrived just in time and enjoyed the fresh veggies along with a beer for Kelley and a generous glass of scotch for myself.
Mmmmm, scotch and veggies go great together do not pair well at all! But I liked it because it was free and free is what I like! Jealous you don’t have someone as romantic as me in your life? Or maybe you do….
After relishing our complimentary happy hour refreshments, we washed up and headed out to, well, go drink somewhere else. I’ve mentioned the Flying Saucer several times before, and that’s where we went to sit outside. If I’m going to go out, I most likely will not eat, so want to make sure there’s a nice selection of quality beer to choose from and Flying Saucer has plenty.
The open patio seating was filled with energetic patrons, as was all of their tables. We finally found a spot and ended up sharing (not by choice) with a group of guys talking about computer programming jargon I’m clueless on. Regardless, we were alone (kinda) together and enjoyed a nice local brew from Martin House brewery which we visited for my birthday back in June.
Our pleasant evening kept getting interrupted from idiot smokers spreading their infectious smoke on us, so after we finished our beers, we left to walk around downtown a little. Fort Worth has a nice splash pad area that is beautiful when lit up at night, so we watched as the fountains put on a show.
One of my “being cheap” qualities is getting as many free refills from Starbucks as possible. I have the gold card membership, so after purchasing my first drink, refills are free the rest of the day. Only black coffee, that is, but that’s all I drink. We stopped at Starbucks earlier that day before leaving G-Ma and Avery, and then again for free refills on the way to the hotel. Well, I was eager to get another round of free before the night was over, and luckily a Starbucks was close by.
I talked the poor guy overwhelmed with late-night consumers wanting their sugar-laden, whipped cream calorie bombs into giving me two black iced coffees and then we were on our way back to the hotel for the night. We both had intense weightlifting sessions at home and the effects were setting in hard, so rest was the best option.
The next day, Saturday, I woke up before Kelley and went to the complimentary breakfast Embassy offers their guests. I returned with two egg white omelettes and coffee before Kelley woke and she was pleased with my free finds!
Yes, there were seconds. C’mon, free cooked-to-order food is hard to come by! Usually I’m not interested in free food offerings as “free” means processed crap, but not today. Of course, there was plenty of processed crap too.
After breakfast, I had an extremely romantic idea of going to the nearby trails that run along the Trinity River to throw a tennis ball together. I know how to woo my “woo”-man, huh? In my defense, playing catch in the grass with our bare feet really did sound like a fun way to bond and be active without spending a dime.
Our plans were altered when the open entrance we used to go to was occupied by a kayaking rental trailer with a full setup of kayaks and paddle boards. I love kayaking and hardly get the chance to go, so “tossing” our tennis ball plans aside, we opted for kayaking.
There were no tandem kayaks available, but Kelley said she’d be good with her own kayak so we rented 2 single-person vessels for the hour. And at $10/hr, I can deal with that!
We chose a route and kayaked together under a hot Texas sun. I found myself getting ahead several times and would just make a circle to let Kelley catch up. Sorry, dear, I get over-excited when it comes to kayaking and other things and just want to keep going! But, we still enjoyed ourselves and made time for a kayaking selfie.
The way back offered zero breeze and I felt the sweat dripping off of my eyebrows and elbows as if they were leaky faucets. No matter, we completed our hour of kayaking and were happy to have experienced it together.
Afterward, I did my daily routine of 31, burpees, push-ups, and squats near the shore just to be done with them. We still attempted to throw the tennis ball, but after only 10 minutes we decided we were hungry and our arms just weren’t feeling it. We walked back to the hotel to refuel on the food I brought from home and clean ourselves from the sand and sweat.
With our impromptu kayaking adventure, we never had sunscreen on, and as a result, this happened…
She’s still feeling it today, but it’s improving! I had a little redness on my neck, but couldn’t feel a burn. Guess all of that walking outside with Avery made my skin resistant…..or it’s because I had a shirt on.
Food in our bellies, and our bodies clean, we were ready for another night together.
But first we had champagne to open…
I was allowed one sip, Kelley had the rest.
It was a good sip! No worries, I had a Manager’s Reception offering free bourbon (see the shirt?), so I was all set.
After a bit of drinking, we went out to soak in the downtown atmosphere as parents temporarily freed from their cage. We weren’t sure what to do with our freedom since we hardly go out, so a lot of the time we just stood around talking. Oh, and taking selfies.
Finally, we decided to try out Bird Cafe which is the original location of Flying Saucer. Just FYI if you cared. We were immediately seated on the patio with a view of the splash pad and spent time talking and people watching. Never gets old.
Like I mentioned before, I usually don’t get food when we go to restaurants, and this time was no different. I was almost sold on the Zucchini Ribbons they offered, but decided otherwise before the waitress could finished saying “deep fried” when I asked if they were cooked. Oh well.
Kelley ordered a Farmer’s Market salad with cheese, crouons, and dressing on the side and a side of sauteed asparagus. I had several bites of both platters and although very tasty, not worth what I could prepare at home. Again, sorry, dear, I know I need to lighten up, it’s just hard to place that much value on simple things I make at home for a fraction of the price.
Either way, it was time well spent together and Kelley even caught me smiling. And for some reason offering my phone to her.
Seeing a movie was the plan that day, but it never happened since nothing seemed interesting enough. Even the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie that I was sure I’d see in theaters, has been getting bad reviews and figured it was best not to watch that for our anniversary. Instead, we did the next best thing; go back to our room.
Hey now, keep a clean mind here! After strolling around the center of Sundance Square (the main downtown area), we went back to our room, unwound with drinks, and watched documentaries on Netflix. This might sound odd to some, but we haven’t had our TV on at home in weeks, so just sitting together to watch anything was nice.
We watched a documentary called Forks Over Knives which dives deep into the world of holistic nutrition and using food as medicine. It was a great film and mostly ties with our current views on nutrition with a few caveats. We still eat meat, just in limited amounts and raised humanely. Anyway, back to our weekend…..
Well, that was mostly the extent since we fell asleep shortly thereafter. The next day, our actual anniversary date of August 17th, marked the end of our hotel stay. I can’t believe it’s already been 7 years since my stunning wife and I exchanged vows at the Bellagio in Las Vegas! I never thought it was possible, but I keep falling more and more in love with her as time passes.
I ventured out and brought back omelettes just like the previous morning along with fresh fruit. And then, just as before, we went back for seconds. Afterward, Kelley agreed to walk down the hotel stairs from the 7th floor to the first floor and back up to the very top, the 14th floor. No good reason other than I thought it would be cool and something active to do.
It really was not cool, but yes, it was active. We checked out and walked back to our non-valeted car in the free parking garage only to be welcomed by a completely flat front passenger side tire. Wow, this anniversary had us walking all the way on the red carpet!
We even had a note on the windshield that read “You have a flat tire. Love – Fort Worth”. That was kind of Fort Worth to let us know, but I wish it would’ve changed the tire too! The kit that comes with our car is less than stellar and hardly ideal, but it worked.
Once off, it was easy to spot the culprit, a large nail right in the center. We have plenty of construction in our neighborhood and several neighbors have had the same problem, even I did with my Subaru not long ago. Before making it back to Avery and G-Ma, we made a stop at Costco to have our flat repaired for free since we are members, and then it was back on the road.
G-Ma and Avery had a great weekend together and my mom was sending picture texts to let us know they were doing fine. I’m extremely grateful to my awesome mother for staying and watching Avery and doing a great job as well! Thank you, Mom/G-Ma!
It may not have been a lavish vacation, but we are simple and enjoyed being alone in each other’s company. Kelley, I love you so much and can never tell you enough, so I’ll just keep on saying it. Our time together was wonderful as always and I look forward to what the future has in store for our little family!
What’s the most simple celebration you’ve had with your significant other?
What’s the most lavish?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
