Love day x6

I can not believe this was our 6th Valentines day together! I had to recount several times because I was so surprised. I would love it if time would just slow down! As I have stated a million times over, Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays. I sent my sister a text of all the things I was doing for Lyle’s love week and she sent back a text saying “I’m mad you just said Valentine’s week.” Go big or go home right?! Lyle has always made this day so special for me. From renting a puppy to a lobster dinner on the beach in Cancun to a shopping spree in Park City to a romantic night in New York City and a fun getaway in St George he has always gone above and beyond. This year Lyle took me to Vegas/California for a warm getaway! I wanted to celebrate him every single day so when he fly into town I had decorated our room so cute and put all these sticky notes on our bathroom mirror saying all the things I loved about him. Ya know things such as “you have great taste in women” and “our babies have a shot at green eyes.” Haha I also put serious things but those are some of my funny favorites. IMG_5356

I baked one of his favorite things, my cherry pie! I put a fun spin on it this time and I was so happy with how it turned out. I’ve been baking my way into his heart since 2013 and I think he is pretty happy about that. I think that’s why he married me… 😉IMG_5352

I did a “Treat Yoself” day (if you know you know…Tom and Donna might just be my spirit animals). Anyway I did all his favorite candies and drink inside plus a bunch of other things like a foot massage or a night of Smash and just made the whole day about him and everything he loves. I also did heart shaped pizzas one night and made a special picnic so we could watch the Bachelor and some other fun things!

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The next day I blindfolded him and planned a whole date night just for him! I took him to dinner at Ruby River (where we met and a place he lovesss) and then I went through our love story. We went to the spot he accidentally told me he loved me, the place where he really told me, then I took him to Coldstone because my roommates had a thing where you had to buy the apt ice cream when you kissed a guy. When I told Lyle this he said you better get them something real good, not that generic brand ice cream. So I got the best, Coldstone. After that we went to the temple and I pulled out sparkling cider and and glasses and we just focused on us and it was perfect. Then we went to see Forever my Girl which was not part of the plan but I absolutely love it and Lyle said he wanted to see it (he was lying).

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The funniest part was we were at a stoplight and this man looked over and looked alarmed and then I smiled and he started nodding like he approved and gave me a thumbs up haha. SO AWKWARD. I mean could I have simply driven him there without the blindfold? Yes. But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. On actual V day I woke up at 5 am to go to the gym. I seriously couldn’t sleep I was so excited (you’d think it was Christmas over here…) and after that I made him this special breakfast. I saw a variation of this on Pinterest and I tried to make it my own and make it well rounded. Also, that is fresh squeezed OJ guys. I had to get on his level this year. I walked in singing  “Happy Valentines Day to you!” to the tune of Happy Birthday and he was so surprised!

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After that I unfortunately had school (ya know, adulting) but Lyle picked me up and had driven to SLC to get my favorite donuts, reeses hearts (all I said I wanted) and a bag of other goodies. I don’t think he understood the whole no presents thing…We spent the evening relaxing and watching Valentines Day (tradition) because we were leaving for our trip the next day!

I didn’t take too many pictures on our trip. I have been seriously slacking with that but the pictures I did take are mostly of food haha so I guess Lyle gave me what I like to do most as my present, eating. The first night we went and saw Black Panther at midnight (this was one of my presents to Ly) and ate at Tacos El Gordo. This place was highly recommended and it was so good.

Eats:

Tacos El Gordo (loved the alpastor one! I have a video not a picture)

Dirt Dog for some amazing elote

-Panera (okay I know this is a chain but I LOVE Panera. We probably went once a week in New Jersey. Their lemonade is so good and I love their bread.)

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Creamberry (not only did they have icecream but these had these fun cookie shots that you could put icecream, hot chocolate or milk inside and top with whipped cream, marshmellow, etc.)

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Sloan’s homemade ice cream in the Venetian (I am sure the ice cream is great but THE COOKIES ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD. I am literally yelling because this cookie was amazing. The main thing with these babies is they are kept on a warmer so when you get your cookie it is soft and warm and gooey. I was craving cookies and we were having a hard time finding them and this will be a place I go back to every time I visit. They reminded us of our all time favorite place in NYC. This was the reeses one but they also had chocolate chip and I think some other flavors too.

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Some other places that I wanted to try were Brunos Taco Bar (for their churros!), Kitchen Table (for amazing brunch) and Sid’s Cafe (for that cinnamon roll omg). We also love Shake Shack, Ghiradelli for yummy treats and Yard House but we can get those in other places so we tried to find places we could only go to in the Vegas area but if you haven’t tried them they are favs.

Also, Pink Box Doughnuts!

In St George…

25Main- Best. Cupcakes. Ever. Before I was a donut connoisseur I was a cupcake one. The only other cupcake place that rivals this one is Molly’s in NYC. These are the softest and freshest cupcakes. I love that they aren’t too sweet either and the flavors are all so so good. I always stop here. My favorite is the Strawberry Shortcake.

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Benja’s Thai and Sushi-it was my first time trying this place and it was amazing. They have such good lettuce wraps and I got shrimp friend rice. Lyle got some type of pad thai. He had been there before and he loves this place.

We also love Anasazi (fav dinner spot here), Bear Paw for brunch, and the bread twists at Pizza Factory which are way bigger than the ones up here!

and last but not least,

CrushedPB in San Diego- For these cinnamon roll pancakes. Game Changers. I live for breakfast food. In the words of Ron Swanson, “there has never been a sadness that can’t be cured by breakfast foods.” No truer words.

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We laid on the beach, wandered the walk of fame, explored the strip, ate yummy foods and played with puppies. The weather was not too great on Monday or we would have gone on some hikes but we can’t complain. We kind of just did whatever we wanted each day. I couldn’t ask for a better man who supports me in everything that I do. This basically turned into a food log so sorry about that. Hope all of you had the best love day. Oh and I can’t forget my other valentines. How cute is he?!

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XO Cait

Food Guide: Spain Edition

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Well, we are back in the good ‘ol USA and my waistline is realllyy happy about it.  People keep asking me to tell them all about it and I don’t even know where to start. I usually spend half the time talking about all the amazing food and sounding like a chunk because that’s the first thing that comes to mind. Lyle and I have traveled to a lot of places and I think this trip (Spain/Portugal) was the best trip food wise we have ever been on (and maybe in general too). We had so much fun and quickly fell in love with both places. Before going on the trip we got a lot of advice from friends who served missions in Spain, Pinterest and food bloggers when it came to food. In all honesty, I sometimes have problems trusting food bloggers because a lot of times they are endorsed and from experience, it’s not always good. Good thing for you guys, no one pays me to eat food so this is all legit so here goes. Also, yes it is weird to take this many pictures of your food I know, but now all of you can benefit from it and I can forever dream about it.

Barcelona

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Boqueria Market- This market was pretty close to where we were staying so we went every single day. It’s open every day but Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and it’s got it all. Gelato, crepes, tapas, fresh juices, baked goods, candy, fish, kabobs and the list goes on and on. All our friends, blogs, Pinterest mentioned this place so you have to give it a try!

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Forn Boix- One of the absolute best bakeries in Barcelona. It was SO good. The first picture is a nutella filled croissant that Lyle got and the second is like a Spanish ho-ho and it’s freaking awesome. We also got a chocolate croissant but that was eaten so sorry about that. We loved this place! It’s also closed on Sundays but open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week.

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Chok-  Obviously we had to try a donut place…I mean come on. We never like foreign donuts because other countries bake them which is probably part of the problem but these were so good. First off, they were kronuts (croissant donuts) but they did have regular donuts too. The one Lyle got is a nutella one and mine is a regular oreo one with cream in the center. Lyle wishes we ate there every day it was so good.

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Wok to Walk- yeah so this is not typical Spanish food but when you have Spanish food so much and you want a change this place is the shiz. Its a stirfry place, its cooked right in front of you and you choose whatever you want to go in it (not a new concept I know) but it was the best I have ever had. This is right off of La Rambla and always had a long line but seriously, doesn’t it look so good?!

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Xurreria Dels Banys Nous- Churro places are everywhere. I honestly wasn’t too fond of this because I don’t like nutella but the other one was filled with dulce de leche. The bottom one is dark chocolate which makes it not as sweet but thats the only kind they serve. Lyle says this churro place was one of his favorite treats, that and Chok.

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Beso De La Luna- I’m not saying this is the best place for traditional Spanish food but this is where we went. You have to try Paella somewhere. We got the seafood one and it was really good. I get super grossed out when the shrimp come this way but they do in all the paellas. We got the garlic prawns tapa everywhere because it is the absolute best. Also, these wings were so good. You have to try every tapa you can, they are amazing. The bars typically have the best ones.

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this is non alcoholic friends

Places down by Port Olimpico– If you decide to spend some time down by the beaches they have tons of amazing food spots. If you walk further past the pier they have all these cute restaurants in a row with fun casual seating. This one called Chicken or something like that was really good/cute. I would have loved to try more food here!

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Rocambolesc- This unique icecream shop was around the corner from our hostel so naturally we had to try it. I loved it, Lyle didn’t. It’s a little out there but mine was so good…and yes, that is cotton candy on the top! Lyle got like a weird honey flavor so maybe that’s why he didn’t like it.

MADRID

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Goiko Grill- You have to try Goiko Grill!! The picture may not make it look like anything fancy but it was really good. You can tell how hungry we were by how high the quality of the picture is haha. If it’s really good then I wasn’t hungry and took the time to get a good picture. We went and saw Beauty and the Beast one night and has some time before to go to dinner so we asked the local employee there and he recommended this place as one of his favorites and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere was really fun and it was packed! We had the best wings, burger and wedge fries. I would love to open up one of these in the states.

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Al Punto- MY FAVORITE BAKERY EVER. This bakery had the biggest selection of goods and I wanted to try everything. This is a croissant cinnamon roll and it was so good that I ate this one and turned right back around and bought another one. I mean I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to cinnamon rolls so I will forever dream about this and I want a recipe asap. Lyle got a Chilean empanada and said that he hasn’t had one that good since he was living in Chile so boom. Funny thing is it’s actually down in the metro but everything was bomb. I know theres tons of good bakeries but this one takes the cake.

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San Miguel Market- This is a market similar to the Boqueria but in Madrid and it has a lot more tapas and actually meals than market goods. Here we liked the pizza, paella, cream cheese thing (above, I got the Fig) once I removed about half the cheese and this marshmellow treat! I was really proud of myself for branching out and trying so many things and I was surprised at how much I liked! This market was really unique and definitely fun to check out!

Restaurante O Cacho Do Jose- This place has some really good tapas! I’m mentioning it because they had these mini bbq burgers that were unlike anything I’ve ever tasted! They had some type of marmalade stuff on them so they almost had this sweet and sour thing going on and they were yet again, amazing.

Seville

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Los Valencianos 1946 Gelateria- The main thing that comes to mind when I think of Seville besides the absolutely breathtaking Plaza De Espana, is this gelato shop. It has the hugest most unique and fun flavors I have ever seen. I got marshmellow and crema catalana which tasted like a pastel de nata in an icecream form. You can sample them beforehand too!

De Lola- Icecream and Churros- This place is right near the cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried. You can’t miss it, it’s right along the street with a ton of other food places. Lyle got a churro here and it looked amazing and he said it was amazing ha.

To sum it up, the food is legit. Try any and every bakery you see because each one has unique stuff. Most have the chocolate croissants and those are my favorite. They have fresh orange juice at tons of places too which is one of our favorites. Try kabobs, every bakery, tapas and paellas.

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Thought this was smores even though Lyle told me it was limon. No smores treats in Spain but this was still really good despite my disappointment.

XO CAIT