Plan Your Life

Get your calendar out for these upcoming Dallas Farmers Market events

Head to the Dallas Farmers Market for food and fun.

Photo by Kevin Marple

It might feel like 2017 is coming at you fast, so in order to get the most out of this year you'd better plan ahead. This is especially true here in Dallas, since there are so many amazing events on the docket.

A lot of them are going down in one place: the Dallas Farmers Market. You may already be hitting up this hot spot for your weekly groceries or to find that perfect present for your bestie, but there's so much on tap at this Dallas landmark. And beginning February 1 you can actually live at the DFM, as the highly anticipated Harvest Lofts will officially be open and welcoming tenants.

So get your calendar ready as we highlight just a few of the can't-miss events coming up at the Dallas Farmers Market.

Ongoing: Walkabout With a Chef
This longstanding — and free— event is a crowd-pleaser, as you get to shop the DFM with a well-known local chef as he or she shares their recipes, shows you how to pick out the right ingredients, and then demonstrates how to make the dish in The Shed. Event takes place every second Saturday

Ongoing: First Friday
From 6-9 pm, enjoy the The Market after dark by browsing local merchants and artisans, sipping brews, and enjoying food and live music. The first 50 folks to come to the information booth after 6 pm receive a $5 coupon to use that day only in any shops/restaurant in The Market.

February: Yoga and Breakfast
Each Saturday in February, open your chakras with V12 Yoga Studio in The Market at 8 am, then enjoy a delicious breakfast from that week's participating restaurant at 9 am. $30 per person, and the menus are as follows:

February 4 — Rex's Seafood
Choice of the following, served with fresh fruit and a mimosa:
• Seaside Omelet: lump crab, shrimp, spinach, grape tomatoes, red onion, cheddar, and goat cheese.
• Crab Cake Benedict: crab cake on top of toasted ciabatta with poached egg and béarnaise sauce.
• Cajun shrimp and grits: grilled shrimp wrapped in bacon on top of Southern-style spicy cheese grits with Tabasco remoulade.

February 11 — Laili
Egg skillet wrap with your choice of the ribeye, chicken, or vegetarian filling, served with a slice of custard French toast and hot tea or a Turkish or American coffee.

February 18 — Palmieri Cafe
Italian savory pastry choice of the following, with any coffee drink on the menu. Plus take home two sweet pastries, packaged and ready to enjoy later.
• Calzone: filled with mozzarella and tomato sauce (the classic), beef and Parmesan, or chicken with tomatoes and green olives.
• Rustico: filled with mozzarella and creamy tomato sauce (the classic), or ricotta and spinach.
• Cornetto Salato: filled with prosciutto crudo (di San Daniele) and mozzarella, or prosciutto cotto and pecorino cheese.

February 25 — Nammi and Stocks & Bondy
A Vietnamese inspired pairing of the following.
• 8 oz. cup of artisan bone broth with a breakfast egg banh mi, served with cilantro, cucumber, jalapeno, pickled daikon carrots, and garlic mayo on a freshly baked French baguette.

February 11: Dallas Observer Morning After Brunch
For a city that takes brunch so seriously, it's astonishing that there's never been a blowout devoted entirely to the weekend meal. Dallasites thought so too, as the event sold out quickly, but if you do have your tickets expect bottomless samples from restaurants such as Bread Winners, Grayson Social, Hypnotic Donuts, Ida Claire, Meso Maya, Stirr, and Knife. There will also be (not-bottomless) samples for bubbles, bloody Marys, cocktails, and beer.

March 25: Boho Market
Shopping at the DFM is always a one-of-a-kind experience, but the Boho Market amplifies that by bringing in even more vendors with handmade, artisanal items. Go nuts picking up clothing, decor, accessories, and gifts that you are guaranteed not to find anywhere else.

April 29: ¡Taco Libre!
Indulge in some pre-Cinco de Mayo fun with tacos from the region's best taquerias, live music, and lucha libre wrestling. This spicy event has sold out the past two years, so be sure to snag your ticket — either $16 general admission or $60 VIP — early.

shopping breakfast event-planner chefs health promoted

Movie Review

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney go off in trashy film The Housemaid

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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