Kymberlie "I need a martini!" M.'s Profile

The last time I went here, Mr. C, the owner had taken my suggestion and it's now just as dark and cozy as the original.  It's definitely a great place to go, and even more so now that it's as dark as can be.  Highly recommended for dates.

I've been a pretty regular receiver of massages for about the past ten years or so, and the massages that I've received from Luis have been some of the best ones that I've ever gotten.

He's got great pressure - not too hard and definitely not too soft.  I need my massages on the harder side since a lighter touch doesn't even register for me.

Best of all, he alternated hot packs and cold packs on my shoulders which was simply amazing.  I carry the majority of my tension in this area, so this in addition to the massage that had already been applied to my shoulders made them feel absolutely wonderful.  I've never had another massage therapist do this and it was something that I definitely appreciated.

In addition, the lotions he used were scented very nicely.  I'm very sensitive to smells and in some cases they've impacted my massage experience.  This was definitely not an issue here since they were pleasant but not overpowering.

Massages are given at his house near Shepherd and Feagan in a loft area.  The room is a nice size and feels very intimate, not claustrophobic at all like some places I've been are.  His choice of music for the massage is different from your typical nature sounds (I was massages to Operatica's Shine) and is a refreshing change.  I also believe he's available for house calls, though you'll need to confirm this with him.

I can't recommend Luis enough.  He was definitely attuned to what I needed and I felt so good after my massage.  We all need more relaxation in our life, so I recommend you give him a call.  You can't go wrong with him.

When I'm craving a sweet treat, the Dessert Gallery is often a place that comes to mind, though I only go here a few times a year.

Since their desserts are so huge (a piece of cake in almost downright intimidating - I swear it's as big as entire cakes in other places), I've always gotten their chocolate chip cupcake with dark chocolate ganache and it has been heavenly.

However, I've recently found the best dessert ever and it will now be what I dream of.  Before revealing this decedent dessert's name, I'll go into a little more detail about the Dessert Gallery.

The Dessert Gallery is primarily known for the desserts, ranging from cupcakes and cookies to pies and cakes.  They also have salads, wraps, and sandwiches.

Erin N. and I found ourselves in the area last weekend and since I've always wanted to try one of their sandwiches, I suggested we have lunch there.  As an added bonus, we could grab a dessert as well.

I ordered their hot ham and swiss sandwich on sweet white bread and I was slightly disappointed in it.  The bread was too sweet for my liking and eventually I simply ate the meat out of the sandwich, leaving the bread.  The meat was good, so I'll definitely have to try it on a different bread next time.

Once we got done eating actual food, it was time to go back to the counter and pick a dessert.  I must confess, that after watching the televisions that show their desserts being made in a constant loop, I was unsure on which one to get.

I was initially going to get one of the aforementioned cupcakes, but there was a sign saying to sign up for a free slice of cake on your birthday.  Since my birthday was nine days away, I filled in the form and the manager approved me for a free piece of cake.

After narrowing my choice down to either the Jennifer's Birthday Cake, the Chip-Off-The-Old-Block Cake, or Mom's Chocolate Cake, I took Erin's advice and went for the one with the most chocolate - the Mom's Chocolate Cake.

The Mom's Chocolate Cake is a chocolate layer cake covered in chocolate buttercream frosting.  Buttercream has long been one of my favorite frostings, but some how I missed that chocolate buttercream even exists.  How have I never known that?

The cake was absolutely lovely when presented with a white chocolate pool next to it with chocolate hearts traced into it.  There was also chocolate swirls along the side of the plate as well.  I took a picture with my BlackBerry, so you can click through the images here to view it.

From the first bite, this was the most divine dessert that I have ever eaten.  The cake was so moist, it seemed to dissolve right in your mouth.  The chocolate buttercream was sweet and delicious and exactly what I wanted.  The slice was huge, so I took it home and ate off of it for the next two days.

This location also has board games (there were three twentysomethings playing Scrabble at the table behind us and we also saw Sorry, dominoes, Scattegories, and more), so you could meet your friends for some fun, games, and dessert.

In a way, I wish I could review this place twice - once for the food and once for the dessert.  The sandwich wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, but keeping in mind that this place is known as the Dessert Gallery and not the Sandwich Gallery, I have to give it five stars since this was simply the best dessert I've ever had and it was free to boot.  If you're looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth, go here immediately.

Last year, a friend of mine was going to one of the Houston Roller Derby's bouts and invited me along since I'd expressed interest in going before but hadn't yet made it out.  Despite not understanding the game for the first half or so, I was immediately entranced, loved every minute of it, and became a fan for life.

If you're not sure what exactly the rules are for roller derby, basically the pivots (the skaters in front, one from each team) and then three blockers from each team - collectively known as the pack - take off.  Then the whistle blows and the jammers take off.  The jammers have to make it through the pack then they are "jamming" with the first jammer through being the lead jammer.

Once jamming has commenced, each person that a jammer passes from the other team gets them a point.  The lead jammer can call the jam off at any time or, if their isn't a lead jammer, they skate for two minutes.

There's more information here too:
http://houstonrollerde...

Roller derby is absolutely the most awesome, kick ass event I have ever been to.  You have the skaters, all women (with names like Holla-Pain-Yo, Claudia Van Damage, BushWhackHer, and Scarlet O'Hurtya), wearing some very hot looking clothes, skating around beating the crap out of each other.  What's not to like?

Throw in the fact that bouts are cheap ($10 presale and $15 at the door) and last about four hours and I cannot thing of a better way to spend a Sunday evening.  They also have half time shows which have included ballroom dancing, belly dancers, a percussion troupe, and - my personal favorites - national champion jump ropers.  Each bout also raises money for a different charity.

The bouts take place on the third Sunday of every month, with the season running March through October.  They are played at The Verizon Wireless Theater downtown in Bayou Place.

They've changed the seating so that there are folding chairs instead of risers.  You can still bring your own stadium chairs (about $8 at Academy) if you want to be a brave soul and sit in the crash zone - the area immediately around the rink - but you can get run into as my friend that took me to my first bout can attest.

I loved the bouts I went to last year so much that I bought season tickets for this year.  I'll be there rooting on my favorite derby girls and teams and I hope you come out and support these amazing athletes as well.

Three days after Christmas, the start of a five day vacation, and hung over from a night of drinking, I go outside to find out that my car has been broken into.

Thieves busted out my Miata's driver side window, stole my iPod out of the glove compartment, my phone charger, and some cheap sunglasses that I'd had for about five years and absolutely adored.  Needless to say, I've had better holidays and thus began my search for some place to replace my glass and get my car back on the road.

My mother did some searching and found a place that quoted $250 to replace the glass, the cheapest that she was able to locate.  So I made an appointment for the next day at 1:30 pm, depressed over how much this incident was going to cost me.

Bright and freaking early the next morning (I had been out late with friends for a birthday party since the appointment wasn't until late), my phone rings.  I blearily answer to find out that it's the glass place calling to tell me that not only do they not have the part and can't see me today, it's dealer-only and is probably going to double the cost.

I freak out and my dad calls some friends to get recommendations of other places to try.  One of them recommends AAA Discount Auto Glass Incorporated, the hero of this story.

Not only were they able to see me as soon as I called, they were also able to replace the window in about two hours and for $150, $100 cheaper than the original quote and way cheaper than the dealer-only quote.  Fast and cheap certainly made them win over anyone else we talked to.

While it certainly sucked to have my car broken into and my stuff stolen (I bought a new iPod, but am still bitter about losing the best sunglasses ever), AAA Discount Auto Glass Incorporated made a really horribly experience better by doing excellent work in record time and doing it way cheaper than the competition.  I hope you never need to have your car's glass replaced, but if you do, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Collina's is a nice, simple family restaurant that a friend introduced me to a little over a year ago.  This, though, doesn't mean that you can't get a great Italian meal here.

Collina's menu is chock full of all kinds of Italian goodness.  Their house salad is particularly good, though the calamari could have used some more flavor when we were there last.

They have several pasta dishes, including vegetarian fare, and I need to remember to try their lasagna the next time I go.  The reason I haven't tried it yet is that I love their pepperoni pizza and order it whenever I'm there.  The sauce is a bit on the sweet side with a good layering of cheese and pepperoni.  It's delicious.

The location itself is pretty bare bones - just tables and chairs without a lot of fanciness.  It's a good place to come for lunch or with friends.  We had a very large birthday party here recently (almost twenty people) and they were very accommodating with moving the tables around so we could all sit together.

Collina's is also BYOB with no corkage fee, so you can bring your own wine with you, making it cheaper to eat here than if you had to pay marked up prices for your booze.

In addition, they do free delivery within specific areas, so you can also enjoy their food in the comfort of your own home.

All in all, it's a nice little place to hang out with your friends, drink a little wine, and eat some delicious food.  As a matter of fact. I think I'll go heat up some of my leftover pizza from last night and enjoy my meal all over again.

It seems crazy to me, but I can still remember how excited I was when this location opened about fifteen (!) years ago.

In high school and part of college, I worked at the grocery store across the street (it's no longer there) and this meant that there was an alternative to our creepy, horror movie set breakroom that was both incredibly hot and incredibly filthy.  I ate a lot of Subway sandwiches during this time period.

After leaving that job, though, I didn't have any for a while and it's only been recently that I've started eating here again, most recently after Super Tuesday since they were both open late and near the polling place.

By now, most of us are probably pretty familiar with their sandwiches: while they may not be the best sandwiches ever (my current favorite is the turkey cured like ham sandwich at Katz's), they're pretty decent.  You can certainly do worse.

When I eat here, I get the roasted chicken breast on white with swiss cheese and bacon.  Mmmmm.  Bacon.  The chicken isn't dry and has a good taste to it and I just love their bacon.  Let me repeat myself: Mmmmm.  Bacon.  You can also get chips, cookies, and drinks to go with your sandwich.

A year or two ago, they did a major renovation of this location and it's quite nice inside with lots of light and new booths.  Bizarrely, they also offer free Wi-Fi, so it's always good to have this as a back-up in case my own Internet goes down, especially since I work from home.  Still, a Subway in the middle of the burbs with free Wi-Fi is kind of puzzling.  As another plus, they're open until 10:00 pm every night, so it makes grabbing a quick, late night dinner easy.

In all honesty, I'd really give this place a 3.5 star rating, but since we can't do half stars, the decent food, the late hours, and it's approximation to my house (I'm literally less than three minutes away), bump it up to four stars.  It may not be the best food, but I'm glad I have it so close.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from my stay in the Super 8 in Fredricksburg, but I was pleasantly surprised with my visit.

A friend and I were sharing the room, so we got two queen beds.  First of all, the room was larger than I expected and contained a mini fridge which was perfect for storing both our soft drinks and the alcohol to go in them.

Next, the beds were soft and much nicer than I would have expected them to be.  The pillows were also comfortable and, when my friend wanted another blanket and me two more pillows (I'm one of those people that need about seven pillows), they gave them to us without any problems.

The shower was also really good with excellent water pressure.  Lots of times in hotels, it's a huge pain in the ass to wash my hair since it's so long and pretty thick, but I had no problems here.

There's also a free breakfast (which I slept through due to late night shenanigans with my friends) and a pool which I didn't swim in, though I did see it from the balcony and it looked nice, though a bit on the small side.  I also think that someone mentioned free Wi-Fi, but I didn't take my laptop, so I can't confirm this.

In addition to all of this, the motel is located within walking distance of downtown Fredricksburg, making it easy to get into the town itself.  There's also a very busy Mexican restaurant next door, though I didn't try it myself.  Oddly enough, next to that, there's a Chinese American Mexican seafood restaurant - with a breakfast buffet (!) - but I'm not sure I would recommend eating there since that's the weirdest mishmash of food types I've ever seen.

All in all, while this may not be a fancy schmany hotel, it's quite good and far better than I would expect for a lower end hotel chain in a smallish Texas town.  I would definitely stay here if I'm out that way again.

When it's late at night and you're craving sushi, Cafe Japon is definitely the place to go.  It's located conveniently on Kirby near 59, it's in a great spot to make getting here easy from either The Village, downtown, midtown, or The Galleria area.

The best thing about Cafe Japon is that they are open until 2:00 am and they do a sushi happy hour from 11:00 pm until close.  Having the munchies for sushi after being out all night and don't want to spend a lot of money?  It's like this place was invented for you.

Their gyoza is very delicious (good gyoza is what determines if I'll be visiting a sushi restaurant again or not), though their orders consist of three pieces, which seems a bit on the small side to me.

Their nigiri is also very tasty and fresh each time I've been here and I've never failed to eat all the pieces I've ordered.  I tend to be very unimaginative when ordering and only get ebi, maguro, and sake pieces, but I've always been delighted with what I've gotten.

Several previous reviews mentioned poor service, the times I've been here, the service has been, at the least, very good.  The last time we were here, they were particularly attentive and no one made us feel like we needed to leave in a hurry, even though it was 2:15 am by the time we started packing our things to go.

Bottom line, the gyoza and the nigiri are fresh and tasty, the prices can't be beat, and Cafe Japon will allow you to satisfy any late night sushi cravings that you may be having.  What more could you want?

A group of friends and I were on a road trip to Fredricksburg, but we accidentally took a wrong turn and were blithely driving down the road when I looked to my right, saw this place, and screamed, "Zebras!"

After verifying that we did indeed want to go back and see the animals, our intrepid driver whipped our Tahoe into a crazy turn (it may have even gone up on two wheels for all I know) and we hightailed it back to the animals.

Basically, the whole time we were there, consisted of the four of us going, "Ohmigod!  Kangaroos! Zebras! Baby goats! Deer! Lemurs!" in really high pitched, excited voices.

Since we were already running late, we passed on the forty-five minute tour (though reading the other review has made me want to go back some day) and instead grabbed a bucket of feed and went to go pet animals.  The nice girl who gave us the tour information even let us visit the petting area for free.

The petting area had a fair amount of deer, three lemurs, and a large trip of goats (trip being the collective name for a number of goats).  The animals loved our bucket of feed and it was fun giving them - particularly the baby goats - food.

We loved all the animals, but it was made even more special coming across all of them in just a random spot of the world.  Highly recommended if you're out in this area and looking for something different to do.