Blue Baker Review

Blue Baker is one of my favorite bakeries in College Station. They are an artisan bakery that bakes everything from scratch, starting from 3 or 4 am in the morning. Doubling as a restaurant, they serve fresh bagels, pastries, breads, pizzas, sandwiches, desserts, salads, and soups. Every month features specials, such as peach pecan scone, candied orange twist, and key lime tarts for this month of June. Additionally, they have weekly bread and pastry specials. I typically go to Blue Baker to eat their scone specials, but everything on their menu is superb.

Today, I went to go on their bakery tour, which happens twice a year, I think. I will give a summary of the tour in the next post, but first, I will give a thorough, thorough review of Blue Baker's offerings.

Their breads are moist, have the perfect crumb and texture (a little chewy, perfect crunchy golden crust that you can bite through, a little sweet, moist enough for bread), and show off that artisan, made-by-hand look. Their sweet breads and pastries are delicious and varied. My favorite sweet breads are the zucchini bread sold every Sunday, the blueberry peach bread (THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST) on Tuesdays, and the cinnamon swirl bread on Thursdays. I have yet to try the red, white, and blue sweetbread, but I am very excited to get it when July 4th rolls around.

Cupcakes are large, maybe 2/3 the size of Costco-sized cupcakes. I have gotten the Boston Cream Pie and the Zucchini cupcakes before. Tasty, not too sweet, but definitely sweet. Good, standard. Maybe a bit dense for cake texture.

Cookies are huge too. They offer many types every day: chocolate chip, chocolate walnut, chocolate decadence, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin. Special flavors are rotated in weekly and monthly, such as white chocolate macadamia, sugar, ginger.

Scones are about the size of the ones as Starbucks, but feature different flavors that allow the buttery saltiness of the bread shine while melding with the sweets of the fruits incorporated or the sugar crystals on top. With the addition of nuts, the scones also give a nice crunch.

Their pizzas are made Neapolitan style, which is a thin crisp crust, a touch of marinara sauce, and a delicate addition of fresh, quality toppings. Once before, I went with my BF and we ordered the four cheese tomato and the D'Vinchee.

The four cheese tomato was delicious, with fresh slices of tomato, melty spots of mozarella everywhere, freshly chiffoned (sp?) basil, and drizzles of just perfect marinara over a bubbly thin crust. I liked mine better than the D'Vinchee, which was also good but I'm not a meat person and not as big a fan of portabella mushrooms. The D'Vinchee has olive oil, mozarella, sausage, roasted portabella mushrooms, chicken, and cilantro. These pizzas are not as filling as Pizza Hut or Dominos (as in one slice won't fill you, but 1/2 to a whole 9" pizza will), but they are high quality pizzas.

Prices are somewhat high, upwards of $8-10 for a meal. Individual breads and pastries are quite affordable. Scones are about $2.25; cupcakes around $3.50 (a bit pricey, but they are large); breads about $4.50 for a loaf (I get day-olds for half off) or $3.00 for baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia. Despite the somewhat higher prices for meals, you are paying for the quality of your food. All the workers here are also extremely nice, fast, and wonderful.

This is, again, one of my favorite places in College Station. Hit either location on University or Dominik Drive in College Station, or their newest store in Austin, TX. This is one artisan bakery and restaurant that truly deserves to be tasted!

I live! And I live now in Texas!

I'm having a great time.

So closes my second week at Texas A&M University (A&M) as a first year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering (BMEN) program. If you remember some of my posts last year, I talked about some of the fun things I did as a summer research intern. Last December, I got contacted by the professor and grad student whose lab I shadowed in. They said they had an opening for a new grad student and were thinking I'd be great for it. At that time, I was applying just to master's programs in mechanical engineering at UCB, UCLA, and UCSD. I was kinda lost at that time, thinking I wanted to get a degree in mechanical engineering to make myself a better candidate for biomedical device companies. Once I got that notice from the lab at A&M, I decided to apply for the PhD program.

After a couple months, I got the acceptance letter and accepted the chance to join A&M as a new graduate Aggie. The months after I graduated from UC Berkeley were a fun-filled summer (which I'll have to update on sometime). Every summer builds up from the last and makes me say, "This summer is even better than last year!" I had so much fun with family and friends - and my puppy, Cody of course!

Cody, our mini toy Australian Shepherd!

Despite the delightful summer - or, actually, because the summer was so delightful, I was scared about moving to Texas. It would be an even bigger move than to Berkeley. Far away from my amazing family, my loving boyfriend, and my fun friends. Far from the spectacular food my mom and grandma cook. Far from Trader Joe's and cooler weather.

First dinner home after graduating from UCB

Inside of a Vietnamese Banh Bao (steamed bun), made with Ba Noi (grandma)

My aunts nagged me about driving there. They said that there were sandstorms in my path and that my car was going to break down from the heat. I got scared. I felt like I was making the wrong decision. Wrong to choose A&M - I should have took a year off and applied for a real job at some biotech company in Irvine or San Diego. Wrong to decide to drive there instead of fly - I should ship my car and fly there instead.

But then the day came and I drove there with my dad. Four days from SoCal to Texas, through Arizona and New Mexico. It was really enjoyable with my dad; he is chill and doesn't nag me too much if I don't do something. The sights along the road weren't that boring. The change of land from Arizona to New Mexico to Texas was intriguing. Between El Paso and Austin, though, there isn't anything but land. Scary thing, we drove for 30 some miles with the gas tank flashing empty in that middle of nowhere. We thought we wouldn't make it to the next gas station (silly us, forgetting to gas up that morning), but my awesome little Civic Hybrid made all the way to the closest town and we filled 'er up good. Those 30, 40, 50 minutes were a tense, unsure time. But, all in all, we made it to A&M fine and dandy. I'll post some more detail on that trip later as well.

Driving down the I-10

 The first week was pretty fun. I settled in, spent a lot on groceries, Craiglisted nonstop for furniture, swam in the pool at my apartment. The first week was basically orientation with the BMEN department and the school's orientation. I met the new BMEN grad students too, who are all great and fun people. The staff and faculty in the BMEN department are easy to approach and talk to. Already, I converse with the graduate adviser regularly and even went to the gym with her! And I chat with another professor now and then, especially about biking, since he was the one who assured me it's fine biking to campus in the morning. He does it every morning, because the morning's are not too hot yet.

The morning sunrise over the BMEN building at A&M

My faculty adviser is easy to talk to as well. During the first week of school, we had "Lab Fun Day", where we went to the nearby Lake, brought food, and chilled under the pavilion. My lab mates, I, and our faculty adviser chatted like long-time friends. We heard stories about her kids, we shared our funny times with our pets, I even shared random stories from middle school. It was great.

Today is the end of the second week of school. Tomorrow afternoon is A&M's first game of the year against the Florida Gators (the first game vs Louisiana was cancelled due to Hurricane Isaac tormenting the poor people there). This is the first game since A&M has joined the SEC division. ESPN GameDay is also being broadcoasted from campus as well. Pretty big news.

Football is life in College Station. The population has swelled massively in this remote city. I bike every day, and today, I saw trucks with BBQs in the back and RVs barreling down the road. Tents are set up in parking lots advertising "50% off!" A&M gear. The maroon and white is all the color you see. Friday night, they had a big concert called "First Yell," where they had country music artists perform at Kyle Field at 8pm. Then, at 11pm, they open the gates for "Midnight Yell." I haven't yet experienced these traditions here at A&M, but I think I have enough time to dally (meh, maybe bout another 5 years till I get my PhD?).

Today was really fun though. After work (research lab), I biked home, dropped off my things, and biked back to Northgate to meet a group of bikers (bicycles, not motorcycles) heading to Downtown Bryan. The first Friday of every month, Downtown Bryan comes alive with music, outdoor movies, food trucks, horse-carriage rides, and people. It's called "First Fridays" (imagine that) and is pretty fun to chill at with friends. I met this group of people for the first time and we chatted the whole bike ride there. One guy was a mechanical engineering grad student, and the others were upper year undergrads (2 nuclear engineering, 1 industrial engineering, and 1 kinesiology). We biked there in some 20 minutes I think and then decided to grab some food. After being unable to decide for a while, we went to Murphy's Law, which is connected to Bayerische Brauhaus.

We sat down and chatted and chatted and chatted. So hilarious. It was crazy, though, because we even talked about genetics, biology, multivariable calculus, gamma spectrometry, and the Texas City Disaster (look it up, crazy chemical explosion in 1947).

I finally got my glass of Rose wine that I've been craving since, like, last week. It was so yummeh and went down smooth. (I can only drink alcohol with < 10% alcohol content; what? I'm a featherweight.) The food came out after a long while, which we didn't mind because we had drinks and were having great conversations.

Me and one of the nuke E's (as I call 'em) shared the Bayerische sampler and the Bayerische salad sampler ($8.50 and $3.50, respectively). They both came with some shredded carrot salad and potato salad. The first sampler came with some skinny meat fingers (we think it was pork), onion rings, and two mini-mini beef patties in some brown sauce. Brown sauce yummy, carrot salad yummy, pork fingers yummy, beef patties just taste like beef (I'm impartial to beef, so they were probably good to others), and POTATO SALAD. Let's just say I love the contribution Germans have given to the world in the form of potato salad. It is great great great. And this place makes it yummeh to my tummeh. The salad sampler had a simple house salad, which was good and fresh with pickled cucumbers and fresh tomatoes. We enjoyed the food. Although service was slow, it is to be expected at many of the restaurants in Downtown Bryan on First Fridays.

The bike home, though, was tiresome and my knees felt tight. I think I've biked too much around here. Time to recuperate tonight...and bike to campus tomorrow evening, lol. Gonna check up on my hydrogels, whoop!

All right, night and...

Because I'm Lazy: Food Slideshow

Hiiii. I am avoiding doing homework and studying but being productive in other creative ways by posting up the food things I've been exploring these past couple of months. Again, it's been a few months since I last posted, and since then I've baked and cooked and eaten quite a lot. Below is a collection of goods that I've made. Recipes may follow...

One day.

:-P

To prevent overloading of this page with photos, I'll do them in series.

The first part of the series will be what I did over winter break, after the donuts that I wrote about in the last post.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (repeat)

These never last long...

Fruit Tart (wheat+walnut crust, pastry cream, fresh fruit, apricot glaze)

Homemade pastry cream: egg yolks, almond milk, sugar, vanilla

Drizzled with Dove dark chocolate ganache

Pandan Mini Baked Donuts

Light cakes, perfect without icing, probably enhanced with coconut frosting

 Mango Peach Jam Cake

From my Diabetic Cooking Cookbook, my favorite cookbook even though I'm not diabetic!

Organic mango peach jam layers the middle

Healthy, perfect breakfast or snack cake, and uses flaxmeal for egg

That's what I'll tease you all with for now. Lots more to come, including full-fledged meals with meat! Look, ma, I cooked!

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LIFE, Now

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By the way, it's been pouring nonstop here in Berkeley. Man! It's crazy weather!!! There may be a couple minutes here and there where it stops, but then it starts up again like a shower in the sky. Poor E-Week events were dampened (pardon the pun) by the rain. No ultimate frisbee competition, but the carnival is still going on in Hearst Mining, which looked so fun. Too bad I have work (right now, poo) and can't go to it.

Wow, 2 more months and then I graduate!!! I've already selected to go to Texas A&M, College Station, to do my PhD in Biomedical Engineering, starting Fall 2012. So excited! I'm already planning how I'm getting groceries, where I'm living, places I want to eat and try, and dreaming of opening and managing a Trader Joe's while I'm doing my 5-6 year PhD there. Haha, crazy weather makes a crazy mind. Change is about, my friends, and the future shall bring to us its mysteries!!!

Food Blips from Texas

A long overdue and unfortunately truncated post, this is a picture recap of some food-related things I pursued during my internship in Texas.

Sundried tomato risotto (Lundberg) with Blue Baker Olive Focaccia,
made for an intern dinner I planned.

Bourbon Bread Pudding from Bell Ranch Steakhouse,
in the Hilton Hotel.  Very very sweet and very large portion.

Pho Bo Tai - rare sliced beef pho - from Rosie's pho. This was so good.
I never realized pho could rival or exceed my mom's homemade pho.

Japan vs US cake made for the Women's FIFA Final game.

Cream cheese frosting....Japan or US. Who would win?....

Hard to celebrate after, since most of my friends were rooting for
America, so they didn't feel like eating cake. Cake was like a cinnamon
muffin texture and flavor.

Failed attempt at beer bread (made it bland this time around), and
surprisingly delectable cornmeal cookies. Easy to snack on.

Like crisper, but still light and airy, corn bread in bite sized pieces,
lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

Secret menu item at McDonalds: Strawberry Pie McFlurry.
Only $1 in Texas. So good! Not overtly sweet like DQ Blizzards.

La Bodega crab enchiladas. Decent. Their tomato sauce is like
a strange pasta sauce.

Fish burrito. Green sauce is okay. Too much creamy topping. Red
sauce also like pasta sauce. Innards do not have enough fish >:(

Potbelly's Berry Smoothie. So many seeds, so you know
it's real fruit. Good taste, good price. So cute with the
cookies on top!

My last baking in Texas. Had to make Texas "chicken in a chive biscuit"
with my Texas cookie cutter. ^_^

That pretty much recaps my food adventures in Texas. Sorry for the lack of recipes of some of the things I made. The result of these recipes I think were only all right, not anything spectacular. I was mostly proud of the presentation for my FIFA cake and my Texas-shaped biscuits. And I had to share the Pie McFlurry with you all. Everyone has to definitely try this at least once. The saltiness of the pie crust complements the sweetness of the filling and the sweet milkiness of the ice cream.

Hope you have enjoyed my (partial) itinerary of Texas!

The BEST Sweet Cornbread

I had previously titled the last post as "Sausage-Kale Bread Pudding and the BEST Cornbread" but I finished the bread pudding recipe and totally forgot to add the cornbread. I remembered now and will correct that, by giving the BEST Cornbread its own post - which I believe is fitting.

Before coming to Texas, I imagined that I would be fed baked beans, barbecue, and cornbread at every turn. After 5 weeks here already, I have found cornbread only sold at the grocery stores and minimally at one or two restaurants. I was quite appalled. Cornbread, I guess, is more of a Southern thing in Georgia or South Carolina, whereas Texas is considered "West".

With this horrible, relentless craving for cornbread (and resisting purchasing the 8" cornbread round at WalMart), I decided to purchase a small pack of cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. The basics of baking so that I could make some of my own cornbread.

A couple weeks ago, one of the other interns at the apartment made some Jiffy cornbread, but it was absolutely delicious. Nothing like any Jiffy cornbread I had eaten or made before. The trick, she told me, was to add sugar. Well now, fancy that.

So, heeding her advice, I looked up some "sweet" cornbread recipes online. I came across this recipe that has been tried repeatedly by so many people across time and space. I read some of the comments below and made the revisions they suggested. Also, I was restricted to what pantry items I had on hand in the apartment, so my take on the original is a little different as well.

What resulted was a delicious, moist, sweet (but not too sweet) cornbread that didn't crumble upon handling. I was overjoyed. I hope you try this out yourself as well. It's definitely a keeper for when a cornbread craving hits you as hard as it hit me.

Brown Sugar Cornbread
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3-3/4 cup of dark brown sugar (I mixed some Sugar in the Raw)
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup lowfat milk
1/3 vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly butter/oil an 8" square pan.
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
3. Combine wet ingredients, then mix into dry ingredients.
4. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with brown sugar.
5. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden on the edges and light golden on top, and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.


Makes 12 squares. Each serving: 173 calories, 7 g fat, 26 g carbs, 3 g protein

Notes: I might leave the cornbread in there for 25-30 minutes next time to get a little crispier crust and bottom. Also, flecking the top more evenly with Sugar in the Raw crystals might be prettier than those crumbles of dark brown sugar (humidity made it clump). Adding chopped jalapeno, chives, corn kernels, or even cheese might make for a more savory bread. Either way, this bread can be eaten as a snack, breakfast, or an accompaniment to vegetarian chili or corn soup.

San Antonio Part 1, July 1-2

Here's that recap I promised about our fun foray into the depths of San Antonio and New Braunfels.

On Friday, July 1, I returned from a trip to HEB and proceeded to pack quickly. L+D were coming in the early evening to whisk me away to spend the night at L's place in San Antonio. I had gone to HEB to gather ingredients to make Mango Chai Bread Pudding (recipe from Eatingwell.com, where I often go to for lighter baking recipes): a fresh loaf of French bread, which never fails to delight the taste buds and warm the stomach without complexity; and dark brown sugar, the color of which is rich and gorgeous. I already had the wonderful box of yellow Ataulfo mangoes that my mom sent me a week ago, and one of the other residents was nice enough to stock the pantry with all the spices, herbs, and seasonings a cook could ask for! I packed away all the stuff to make the bread pudding, stopped by the poolside BBQ, then jumped in the car with my friends for the 3 hour drive to San Antonio.

Along the way, I saw cows and lots of land that looked the same.

Driving by downtown San Antonio

On Saturday, I met L's dad, a pretty nice guy. I really liked how he renovated his apartment. The living room portion of it was painted blue and had a blue bookshelf, and he installed some sills on the wall on which he placed photos and trinkets. After a nice breakfast at McDonalds (I must admit that oatmeal is dang good, with a copious amount of fruit), L and I got dropped off at the Alamo!

The famous Alamo!

You can't take pictures inside the Alamo, and it isn't mind-blowing, but it was better than I expected. My expectations were lowered because my roommate talked about how small it was. Truth be told, it was bigger than I expected. The coolest part with just looking at the names and origins of the people who fought on that fateful day. There were people from various states such as TN, TX, SC, FL; as well as people from Germany and Ireland. There was Davey's Crocket's gun. A man in the courtyard was telling a battle story. The giftshop was packed and had cute trinkets. My favorite was a Christmas stocking shaped liked a Texas cowboy boot.

We then proceeded to the RiverWalk, which is basically the upscale tourist attraction there. A coughdirtycough river, lined by restaurants, one end cupped by a typical shopping mall and hotel. It felt like I was back in Hawaii at a resort again.

Nice fountain-stream before the RiverWalk

One part of the RiverWalk (restaurant seating under umbrellas on right)

I wanted to check out El Mercado, the Mexican Marketplace that supposedly was 15 min away. Heat definitely makes it take much longer. But look what we found along the way! 

Trolleys!

Deer-rabbit?

Torch of Friendship - gift from Mexico to America

After that long, draining, heat-exhausting walk, we made it. The plan was to eat at the famous Mi Tierra Bakery & Cafe, but the wait was 1 1/2 hours! We wandered more, with fatigue and blisters pestering. We ended in the food court where we bought some Mexican food and watched traditional Mexican music and dancing.

See the lucha libre masks on the right?

Cute little dancers

Later, I got the tres leches cake from Mi Tierra. First time trying it! Got a HUGE slice, for $6. Ate nearly all of it and it was super filling and very very tasty. I like, I like.


We went back to the RiverWalk and took the tour boat (~$7-8) through the canals. I'll add the slideshow after I make it. Beautiful and interesting.

(SLIDESHOW TO COME...)

For dinner, some of our group wanted to go to Dick's Last Resort bar restaurant. If you didn't know, this place is known for its bad service. Literally, it is their purpose to give you rude service, throw things at you, and keep a dirty atmosphere. It was amusing at first, but then it just got annoying. It's too loud, other people are wadding paper and throwing it all over the place, the waiters don't give you really what you want, you get bequeathed with ridiculous tall paper hats with random insults. Some ladies were having a bachelorette party, and they were given a huge blow-up cartoon penis, which they paraded around the front with. Great. Classy ladies, real classy. The food was nothing close to good or spectacular. Pass.


Kinda sucky ending, but otherwise a good wandering experience. The return to San Antonio and tubing down New Braunfels tomorrow!

Quick Soccer Check In

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th weekend! I know I did. It was quite a tiring but fun adventure. My friends and I drove down to San Antonio and New Braunfels, slept over at cousins' houses, and explored. More on that later. I am quickly giving a check-in on today.

So, I've been trying to keep up with the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. It's difficult because the games are on at 7 am, 11 am, or 1 pm daily, but I am often in lab so I cannot watch. I go to the FIFA Women's World Cup page where I catch up on the highlights. Here's a quick run-down on what the matches have been like:

What's crazy is that Japan scored four goals against Mexico. Germany beat France today; if you didn't know, Germany and France have a rivalry rooted deep in their history. For me, I say "Deutschland Vor!!!!!" North Korea has lost all of its games so far. USA won all except against Germany, so I'm a bit torn on who to root for. Tomorrow, we have Equatorial Guinea vs Brazil, Sweden vs USA, North Korea vs Colombia, and Australia vs Norway. US and Germany has been super strong so far. We'll have to see who comes out on top.

What's awesome is that I played a pick-up game of soccer today with some REU interns and their Civil Engineering grad students. It was pretty awesome. We played on the field by ISLB at 7:30 till close to 9ish, when the sun was almost completely set. I have not played soccer since...maybe elementary or middle school. I was super surprised when I found myself running back and forth across the field, trying to steal the ball, blocking, shooting. I somehow managed to keep running and hustling despite never playing before.

Best of all, I got two goals.

Boo-yah.

It was crazy. Many times I was by the other goal, tussling with the other team to try and get the ball in. We were kicking back and forth right in front of the goal for a good minute. Twice I was on the ground in some weird position, kicking in an even weirder position to try and get it in.

My star quality is being the small and swift one. They said I had good positioning, and I really tried to book it to get the ball from others and block. Only thing, small is not good for goalie, haha.

Anyhow, today was the perfect summer day. We played soccer through the sunset, with a good breeze, and some intense players. Ozzi was a little squat, but man does he have bursts of speed. He's a real star player. Him and Berto were awesome. Ozzi was great with his speed and head and passing. Berto was all crazy footwork. He was a real powerhouse. Then there were the two intense girls, Liz and Mara. They kept cheering me on, "Keep on it!" They were real supportive in that sporty way.

This was such an awesome day. I made about 15 hydrogels during the day, made 2 goals in the evening, and am watching "How the States Got their Shapes" on History Channel as I blog (awesome show. Check it out). I will definitely play soccer with everyone again on Thursday.

Updates on July 4th weekend to come up soon too! I've got lots of fun pictures of the Riverwalk and such. Till then, enjoy the night!

Texas Fourth Week Part 2

Thursday June 23
At lunchtime, I went to Joy Luck Delivery Chinese restaurant with S. This place was one of the few Chinese restaurants around College Station with really good reviews. I checked the menu out, and it looked pleasing, with an enticing lunch menu to boot. The place is really cheap too. $5.55 lunch specials? $6.50 seafood and combo meat? Yeah yeah! It comes with soup (egg drop or hot and sour) and a vegetable eggroll.

Egg drop soup - why so yellow?

The egg drop soup tasted so much like eggs, a little TOO much like eggs. It was okay.

I got the Yu shan shrimp, which is some sweet and sour gravy with shrimp, water chestnuts and mushrooms. This was good, a little salty if you ate all the sauce, and there a was a bit too much sauce. Good spiciness. Glad I didn't get the spicier Hunan shrimp. LOVED the eggroll. I must admit, though, I love a good Chinese eggroll, and this place was fried perfectly, crisp. Delicious cabbage and other veggie innards, with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Yushan shrimp with vegetable eggroll

This was enough for two meals. Very filling. Yup, those other Yelpers are right; this place is a good eat in College Station.

Afterward, I wandered around and went shopping around World Market. Man, this place has some awesome stuff! Their image is that of the exotic and eclectic from around the world. Check out the randomness below:

They have New Orleans King Cake Mix and Cafe Du Monde Beignet mix too! My two Louisiana friends here told me about these and maybe we'll make these one day!

Spotted dick = British dessert. Such a funny name.

I had so much fun going around World Market, eying things to put in my fantasy house in the future. They even have clearance shelves where I bought a bunch of chocolate and some cute, sturdy paper boxes for pastry and confection giving!

Friday June 24
The next day, I got out early again, and decided to go to the mall. Post Oak Mall is the closest one nearby, and houses JC Penny, Dillard's, Hot Topic, Aeropostale, A&M stores, shoes stores, a legit comic book store, and others. I walked through the entire place and enjoyed the store selection. The food court has Chick'fil'A, Taste of the Tropics (smoothies), Sonic, Toll House Cookies, Japanese, and Chinese. I got a mango smoothie from Taste of the Tropics. It tasted weird at first but it grows on you. Only $1.60 for a small too. Cheaper than McDonald's. The smell of Auntie Anne's pretzels was such a temptation, I forced myself to not buy one.

The Puppy Store only sells cute puppies, like these baby Chihuahas

Antoine Dodson: Bread Intruder Video and song:
http://youtu.be/y54yESyq6Io
http://youtu.be/hMtZfW2z9dw
Tribute to ma' sister!

I ended up buying boots, a raccoon beanie, and a moustache purse from Hot Topic, all on sale. The boots were only $10! Come on; tell me who can buy boots for only $10?


For dinner, we went to Layne's of College Station, a fried chicken finger place. Almost right next door is Raising Cane's chicken fingers, so these two have a rivalry. So, we came, we ate, we left.

What a deal! lol

I really didn't like it.

Maybe fried chicken fingers isn't my thing, but the chicken was dry, the black pepper sauce was weird but you get used to it. I like the thick and wavy shape of the fries, but they're just a little too thick and starchy for me to eat much of it. The Texas toast was yummy with its lathering of butter, but a bit salty. Meh, I don't think I'll come back every. The cole slaw was the one redeeming factor, but not amazing either. A bit much on the mayo.

I think we went dancing again this night. If it was Daisy Duke's or the Social Lounge or Luxe or something, it was really fun.