More: What I've Been Eating

Greetings from South Austin! I've been doing my best to try to support South Austin restaurants, with a few exceptions. Here's a look at what I've been making and getting for take out in the past two months. Caution: may make you hungry! 😂

Homemade: pasta in light cream sauce with asparagus, bacon, pine nuts and parm.

Homemade: coconut cream tarte

Bouldin Creek Cafe veggie burger

Homemade: chili (with beans!) and skillet cornbread

Vespaio canneloni, arancini, beet salad. These were fabulous and I got about three meals out of this.

A dear friend sent me this Bokksu box of Japanese snacks! So much fun!

Homemade: air fryer churros! Easy and yummy!
 (Though not as good as the nearby Churro food trailer!)

Habana pollo salteado, empanada, tres leches

La Patisserie morning bun, croissant, almond macaroon

La Patisserie chocolate hazelnut cake

Homemade: pasta with corn pesto

Bao'd Up BBQ chicken bao

Slab BBQ pork ribs

Tarka's lamb biryani and chicken korma. I can't not get the korma! 

Homemade: raw beet salad, with fennel, red onion and haloumi

Beet issues 😀

Soup Peddler: grilled cheese + salad

Sugar Mama's carrot cupcake and bourbon pecan bar

El Dorado beef enchiladas with calabazas (squash). This was a fabulous evening, being socially distant with friends in north central Austin. Food and friends were excellent! 

A friend and I both ordered carry out from Fat Dragon, coordinated our pick up times, and sat in the parking lot with our cars dovetailed together so we could eat and talk.  Delicious lamb cilantro dumplings and below, dry fried green beans.

Coffee bourbon browned butter blondies. See my previous post!

Artipasta: bolognese + lemon cream sauces for another evening of social distance with a friend.

Thai Fresh pad thai, tom yum soup, veggies

Elizabeth Street Cafe banh cuon and pesty cat.

Oh my. This Queen Beak (fried chicken biscuit) from Bird Bird Biscuit is one of the finer things I have eaten lately! This is the naked version, as I got my chipotle aioli and hot honey on the side, and as I was eating (and photographing) this from my car, the pics with the sauces on them aren't super. This was messy. But worth every bite.

Dolce Neve gelato

Homemade: pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese balls)

Loro: bavette, corn fritters, won ton chips + dips. The bavette is quite good, but somehow I can't get these lightly seasoned won ton chips with peanut sambal out of my mind.

I've heard the buzz about La Tunita 512, and had to go check it out. The consume with birria is delicious! Should have gotten the torta special to dip in the consume -- next time! 

Hungry? Yeah, me too. Time for my next meal! And I should add (and had mentioned in my May post), I've been doing intermittent fasting, so eating all these lovelies, and I am down 20 pounds total! 

What's on your menu?

2015 Was Tasty!

Here's a little wrap up of some of the tasty things I ate this past year!

Top row: burger at Shake Shack soft opening, Indian food from Asiana, my mom's lamb chops at Christmas
Middle row: dim sum from Chinatown, cream puff from Cream Whiskers, LA BBQ
Bottom row: Gus's fried chicken, sandwich at Lucky Puccia's, pastrami plate at Pieous

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and very tasty 2016! Thanks for reading and following me on social media! Cheers!

Bits and Bites

Openings/Updates
-- Mettle has a lovely new summer menu; they recently had a media tasting which I attended. The items from Chef Andrew Francisco that we tasted are: (top row) Scallop Crudo with watermelon, cucumbers, tomato water, salmon roe;  Strawberry Basil Press; Tomato Salad with cheddar, balsamic and jalapeno puree; (bottom row) Grilled Beets with white chocolate, cashews, mascarpone, seaweed; Parisenne Gnocchi with grilled carrots, chevre, black sesame; Shrimp Gratin with Thai-infused flavors and Easy Tiger bread.

-- Hotel San Jose is partnering with Fresa's, by bringing in some of their prepared foods (salsa, guac, quesadillas, grilled Brussels, chicken skewers) for patrons.
-- The Austin Chronicle has announced that longtime food editor Virginia Wood is stepping down; Brandon Watson takes the reins.
-- Chavez is now open for Sunday brunch, 10:30 am - 2:30 pm, $32/adults, $12/kids with $2 mimosas and aguas frescas.
-- Walton's Fancy + Staple is teaming up with Dolce Neve Gelato to make ice cream (well, gelato!) sandwiches!


Events
-- Every Monday at Little Barrel and Brown is now Country Picnic Day, with a $25 all you can eat buffet including items like fried chicken, pulled pork and other country favorites. 6 pm and onward. $2 Lone Stars.
-- Tickets for the 5th Annual Texas Monthly BBQ Fest (September 14th) go on sale on July 29th. Guaranteed to sell out!
-- Josephine House is hosting a guest chef series; July 29th will feature Bufalina chef and owner Stephen Dilley with a four course meal for $50 or $80 with wine pairings; for reservations: reservations@ josephineofustin.com
 -- Eat Out for Good, August 3 - 13; a number of local restaurants will participating with special menu items, and donating 10% to a charitable organization of their choice. Restaurants and their charities are listed on the website. 
-- Swift's Attic is hosting an Alaska Seafood dinner, August 3rd, 6 pm and 8 pm seatings, $50/person with a suggested $25 donation to benefit Operation Turkey, which provides Thanksgiving meals to those in need.
-- August 6th, 5 - 10 pm, The Hightower is hosting the kickoff of the Austin ColorCancer Network; a $5 donation gets you a flight of  local beers. 
-- Pay it Forward for Daniel Curtis is August 7th at the AT+T Conference Center; tickets $75-$125, benefiting the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation.
-- Wine and Dine with David Bull, August 13th, $175/person, benefiting the Austin Food and Wine Alliance Culinary Grant Program; tickets here.
-- Hotel San Jose will feature Reggae Night on August 17th, 3:30 - 6:30 pm.
-- Fun Fun Fun Fest is now taking food vendor applications.
-- This spring, Austin American-Statesman launched their #Austin360Eats hashtag, for anyone to tag their social media pictures of meals out on the town.  This past week, they've added #Austin360Cooks for all those creating home-cooked meals! So if you're posting on Instagram and Twitter, be sure to appropriately tag your photos. Besides, you never know.... you could end up with #photooftheweek like I did this past week for my Instagram photo of a salad at Galaxy Cafe recently! Here's the Statesman's link.