My week in Dallas has been a whirlwind of visiting with family, packing up my old yearbooks and dollhouses to ship back home, and eating all of my favorite foods.  Even though I’ve been home hundreds of times since moving to Massachusetts in 2002, it feels so different to come home with Sam.  We’ve played at my favorite playgrounds and driven past all my old haunts.  We spent our last afternoon walking around Snider Plaza in University Park, which is just a block from my childhood home.

Some of us were more interested in this trip down memory lane than others.  If only he’d known there’d be cookies.  Full disclosure: there are a LOT of pictures.

University Park is a small town inside Dallas city limits.  We have our own school district, fire, police, and mayor.  Growing up, we called it “the bubble” because it always felt like such a small town, despite the fact that it’s literally in the middle of a huge metropolitan city.  Think Hill Valley from Back to the Future and Bluffington from Doug rolled into one.

Our first stop in Snider Plaza was JD’s Chippery.  My mom used to work in the building across the street.  On days I spent the afternoon filing or sitting under her desk, I got to go get cherry lemonades and ham & cheese muffins from JD’s.  The oatmeal raisin cookie that my dad requested I bring home for him tasted exactly the same as I remember.

Click here for the rest of the post: A Taste of the Park Cities. 

Sarah Puleo

www.bettycupcakes.com