East Side King @ Liberty Bar, Austin TX

After being in Dallas for six months, we finally made a trip to Austin, an easy four hour drive (short for Texas). Austin is such a free-spirited place, which seems odd for the Texan capitol. We think Dallas needs to lighten up a bit and take a note from Austin. What an unique culture! Most importantly, the food experience was incredible. I don't have time to talk about all of the places we ate at, but this one food truck was very memorable. Our friend Lindsey, who lives and breathes Austin culture, took us to Liberty Bar where they have an East Side King food truck parked in the back patio. I still miss their pan fried brussels sprouts which was amazing!

We ordered and shared Poor Qui’s Buns (roasted pork belly in steamed buns, hoisin sauce, cucumber kimchi, and green onion), Fried Brussels Sprouts ( in a sweet-spicy sauce, shredded cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, basil, cilantro, mint, onion, jalapeño), and Thai Chicken Karaage (deep-fried chicken thigh, sweet-spicy sauce, fresh basil, cilantro, mint, onion, jalapeño). Everything was deliciously mouth watering. Can't wait to go back there again!

Ham Orchards, Terrell TX

Our friend told us about this peach farm in Terrell, TX. We were so excited to take a trip there. It was only an hour drive from our place. The town of Terrell is nothing special except the fact that Jamie Fox was born there and they have a large mental institution :)

You can visit the Ham Orchards website at http://hamorchard.com for more information. They operate from mid May - Mid August so check the times before you go. They have over 30 varieties of peaches that are grown from May-August. Their store also has many other fruits, preserves, pies, ice ream and other goodness that you can purchase. We bought whole fig preserves which was really good! Another fun thing you can do is pick your own blackberries. And, of course, we had to sample the BBQ shack next to the store, even though we already had lunch!

Grimaldi's Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria

We were looking for a good pizza parlor in Dallas and came across this place. They claimed to have the best wood grill pizza in town so we gave it a try. You can choose from many toppings and add as many as you like. We ordered a pizza with onions and anchovies. The standard ingredients were fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce. The anchovies were a little too salty, which I guess you'd expect considering how they are generally preserved in packaging, but the rest was delicious. The crust was thin and crispy, just the way we like it. The restaurant is at Watters Creek in Allen, which has lot of shopping and restaurants. They also have many events, such as concerts and festivals on the lawn. It's a great place to bring your family and enjoy the festivities.

Sea Breeze Fish Market and Grill, Plano TX

This was an absolutely delightful restaurant! Their seafood comes directly from the East, West, and Gulf coasts and is never frozen. The atmosphere in the restaurant is casual and it's clean, but it certainly presents a strong fish smell upon entry, akin to being in a fish market. They also have fresh fish available for purchase from behind a counter. The food we ordered was amazing! I had a cup of lobster bisque, which I strongly recommend, and Brian had seafood gumbo. My main entree was the popular lobster roll and Brian's was the salmon burger with Asian purple-cabbage slaw on the side. Both were quite tasty.