Feathers and Nails

I love the idea of incorporating other textures and designs into your manicure but I'm not sure I could pull off the feathered look. However, if you do try it out, let me know how it goes :)

 

Hunger games beautified

I never read the books but I really enjoyed the first movie. The story, acting and the movie were all well done. So needless to say, I'm looking forward to the sequel, "Catching Fire" that comes out next month, at Thanksgiving. That's right, next month is Turkey day - wowzer!

I watched the trailer yesterday and it looks fantastic and I can't help but love Jennifer Lawrence. She is über talented, very beautiful, down-to-earth and so very young. Jennifer and the plethora of colours in the Capitol city must have been why Covergirl decided to create the Hunger games makeup line. I think my favorites are the nail polish and all the nail decals (no surprise there).

Beer me

Sampler cups with tickets --- ready to drink!

 We went to the Texas Craft Brewer Festival yesterday which was a lot of fun! For just $20, you are able to sample 6, 4oz craft beers from 40 different Texas brewers, in a sample glass that you get to keep. Several breweries had special beers made just for the event and there were hourly tappings at multiple tents throughout the day.

Exploring the map of 40 breweries, and special beer tappings every hour!

At Revolver brewery tent

 I found a new favorite beer called Blood and Honey from Revolver Brewery. To be honest, I was first intrigued by the name (much to what we're all thinking, it does not have real blood in it) but then as I read the description [An unfiltered deep golden ale made with malted two row barley and wheat. The brew is finished with Blood Orange zest, local Fall Creek Farms Honey and other spices that bring special flavors to this unique beer], it sounded wonderful! On top of that, the people behind me in line were there for their second serving, so I knew I would LOVE this beer.

Rain, sch-main. Gimme more beer!

To add to all the excitement of the good beer, delicious food from the local Austin food trucks, we had a thunderstorm. It didn't really take us by surprise, because it was expected to be rainy all day. However, we had a good amount of time without any rain, but crazy humidity. And then, the water works broke free, along with wind. It helped make the place cooler but mostly everyone took shelter under the covered stage area. There were some die-hard beer fans who stayed in line for the next special beer tapping. I personally enjoyed getting wet in the rain. It was too darn hot before and you only live once so there's no point being prissy, worrying about your clothes or your hair.  Al and I had a great time and will probably go again next year :)

Fall Festivals

So fall officially started on September 22nd but there wasn't the big hoorah or marketing emails that I received way back when Summer started. What I have been getting a lot of are festival emails. I get it, the weather is nicer, which in Texas means, not swealtering hot, so it's the perfect time for outdoor gatherings! Even Watson is loving the cooler weather, as shown by his multiple outdoor petitions (he taps on the door when he wants to go out).

Here are a list of festivals only this weekend, so prepare to not sleep, just eat, drink and be merry this weekend!

• Texas Craft Brewers festival (we're going to this one)
• The Old Pecan Street festival
• AUSTOBERFEST
• Texas Mead fest
• Getting Sauced! BBQ-sauce contest/festival - yum!
• Austin Teen Book festival
• Annual Grape Stomp
• Hairy Man festival - yes, I know!
• Moody Cotton Harvest festival
• Texas Tribune Festival
• Austin County Fair Kick-Off Dance & Shrimp Boil
• Capital City Black Film festival
• Out of Bounds Comedy festival
• Dharma and Yoga fest

 

Austin beer tour

Austin is a craft beer town.

There is not just one great craft brewery here but at least ten and since Al's dad was in town, we decided to do a little beer tour of our own. We went to Circle Brewery for their Smokin' Beech Open house. This is a beer tapping even for the smoky Oktoberfest beer which was good but my favorite is still the Circle Blur, a hefeweizen.

We then went to Adelbert's Brewery, which has one of the coolest indoor setups for a brewery with an actual bar, with stools/tables, Foosball and darts. I had only ever tried one of their beers, but found that I really liked the Belgian style Dubbel and Tripels from Adelbert's. 

 

We also made our way to Black Star Co-op pub and brewery the next day. While we weren't really hungry, the food smelt amazing and we'll have to come back again to try the food, which I've heard lots of good things about. They have a great selection on tap and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather. A huge plus is that it's dog friendly so we'll have to bring Watson with us next time.

Ahoy, me mateys!

Well, apparently it's the National Talk like a Pirate Day, and if you're so inclined, a handful of places are actually giving away free stuff if you talk and even dress up as a pirate! See below.

And if you're not sure where to start, get this, there are official pirate translators on the web. And just in case you need it, here are tips for the grown-ups, but this is my absolute favorite of today though.

Question: What letter comes after Q? Scroll down to find out.

 

Answer: Arrrrr!

Love it! 

Don't say cheese!

Taking good photos can be a pain,but at least with the advent of digital cameras, you have the possibility of a second take. Here's a good article from one of my favs (Real Simple) on How to Look Good in Pictures, whether they're planned or action photos! I think Al really needs to read this article.



Grumpy Al

Not Grumpy Al

'got my hair done

So I know it's not the best picture but for some stupid reason, I didn't take it right after the stylist finished, so that's the best you're getting unless you come visit me and check it out in person :p

Enjoying some vino during my haircut

I tried out a new salon, Bettie Bangs with a LivingSocial deal for a haircut, and partial highlights. There was a a scheduling issue the first weekend I had planned to go, so they threw in a deep conditioning for no cost. Brenna Sloane (who had half pink hair) cut and coloured my hair and did a fantastic job while I drank wine! It took some time to get used to having colour since I've had virgin hair for over 10 years now, but I really do like the change and apparently, so do most people, with the number of compliments I've been receiving. Really, I would have loved to go with something more drastic like red or blue or purple highlights, but the fact that I work in the corporate world and that those colours don't last for too long on dark hair, were a deterrent. Maybe I'll try Bumble and bumble's spray chalk for a quick colour fix the next time around...

A bunch of oddballs

 
When we were in the NYC area, we'd often go to comedy clubs and watch stand-up comics, but since we moved here, we haven't done too many of those. So when I heard about a touring comedy festival coming into town, both Al and I jumped up at the opportunity to go see it yesterday. The Oddball Comedy & Curiosity festival had so many great talents at it, and we also got a chance to see the new Austin 360 Ampitheatre which is part of the Circuit of Americas F-1 venue.

I really, really liked the venue (see left) and even though we purchased lawn seats, we had a pretty good view. We saw Al Madrigal and Kristen Schaal from the Jon Stewart Daily Show. Also opening were Jeff Ross, Demetri Martin and Hannibal Buress who was absolutely hilarious. But everyone was obviously there to see the headliners, Brett and Jermaine from the Flight of the Concords and of course, Dave Chappelle. All in all, the show was a laughing good time and I can't wait for the next one!

'got my nails did

Since I scan the internet like a hawk for deals, I found one to try out shellac nails at Nail Geeks. The awesome thing about shellac nail polish is that (1) they're dry as soon as you're ready to leave the nail salon (2) they're supposed to last for at least two weeks; shiny and no chips. I'm normally a red nails kinda girl, but I decided to get hot pink since it's such a fun summer colour and probably one of the few colours I do not have in my arsenal of nail polishes.

So it's 10 days since I got my nails done and they're still going strong, even with lots of scrubbing and cleaning today without any gloves. Of course my nails are growing so you can see a blank space close to the cuticle but other than that I think these will really last a full two weeks!

At the ranch on 616

I'm sure you're starting to see a pattern but this is yet another post about food! Al and I went to dinner yesterday at Ranch 616 because I had bought one of the half-off vouchers online for it. We made sure we tired Watson out at his daycare, Doggy Day Out and zipped out as soon as he fell asleep!

Grilled 5 Spice Duck Breast

Divorced Quail

The place is a little off  the west side of 6th Street which is the nicer, grown up part of 6th and it was easy enough to find (free) parking on a Wednesday evening. The venue is quite funky with a mix of Austin weird meets antique shop. We opted to sit outside since it was a cooler summer evening with a pleasant breeze.They have an interesting selection of drinks and Yelp reviews say that they're all good. Even though they claim they are not to be bucketed in with a food genre, them seem predominantly Tex-Mex using local ingredients and cooking styles. The one exception was Al's dish which had a Chinese influence with 5 spice, hoisin and bok choy. I ordered the divorced quail which allowed me to try two types of quail; one buttermilk fried and one tomatillo grilled. Both of our dishes were very tasty but I think the dessert took top prize. It was a cinnamon sugar crusted nacho platter topped with fresh berries, chocolate sauce and vanilla bean ice-cream. So simple but absolutely divine.

Cinnamon tacos with berries and ice cream

And even more s'mores!

A while back, I wrote about how much I love s'mores and my favorite way to make them at home. Today I received an email from Pillsbury that had me beat. The article was entitled 'What we're obsessing about' and had not just one recipe for s'mores but a whole week's worth! They all look delicious and I hope you enjoy trying them out.

S'More To Love™ S'More maker

Beantown again

Mimosas at Friendly Toast

Hanging out at Legal Seafoods
with Tim & Shannon

We visited Boston, aka  'Beantown' this past weekend for Al's cousin's wedding and even though it was a whirlwind trip, we made the best of it. Boston is one of my favorite places ever and I was so happy to be there again, along with the perfect weather.

We met up with two sets of friends for breakfast at the Friendly Toast and for lunch at Legal seafood respectively. That not only allowed us to meet old friends but it also meant brunch cocktails followed by New England clam chowder and raw oysters. Yay! 



The wedding party outside the
Boston College church

The wedding itself was very nice and Al's cousin, Kristina, the bride looked beautiful! Since we moved to Austin, we don't get to see Al's family that often, so this was a great opportunity to catch up. 




We were staying in Boston's little Italy, more commonly known as the North End and a trip there would not be complete without getting some Italian food or desserts. We didn't just eat there,but we brought home cannolis from the local's favorite, Maria's Pastry Shop. Yum, yum, yum!

Macaroons, many ways

So today was my first time ever trying French macaroons. I know what you're thinking --- seriously, what rock have I been sleeping under? But I've grown up knowing other types of macaroons (more to come on this) and had no inclination to try the French ones till I saw how they were made on a cooking show. Today, we found a cute little French bakery called La Patisserie in our neck of the woods and one of their specialties was their macaroons. We decided to sample not one but all the flavours. Our favorites were lemon, guava, nutella (of course) and raspberry.

Now back to the other macaroons that I've eaten. One type I'm sure you've heard of are the coconut macaroons and I'm not a fan of these at all because the coconut can make it too rich and sometimes a little oily, depending if you use the fresh or dessicated type. 

The other type that you probably haven't eaten are Mangalorean macaroons. My mother is from Mangalore, India and over there they make their own version of macaroons with egg whites, sugar and cashew nuts. I do like these when my mum makes them, but some bakers tend to be heavy-handed with the sugar and that's when egg white and sugar should never be together. Another thing is that we dont really pronounce the second 'a' and it's more of macroons :-)

My middle name should be $$$

This week has been an amazing finds week. I just don't know how people go about in the US without using the savers or loyalty programs and keeping an eye out for discounts. I have a CVS card and along with the coupons, weekly offers and personalized offers for me, I saved almost $24 from a bill total of $40. Yes, I did split my bill into 2, but the first one gave me bonus dollars to use on the second... sneaky, sneaky.

Then I happened to be at Bed, Bath and Beyond and saw these OXO Steel pop top containers in the clearance section. If any one knows me, I'm a huge organizer fan and this was like finding the holy grail (even Amazon.com doesn't discount these babies). I even had this on my Wunderlist as an optional home item, since I have a few and absolutely LOVE them. The original list price was $99.99 but was marked down to $49.98 because one of the lids was missing. Hmm, I looked inside but found all of them so I was wondering what was wrong and found one of the pop tops didn't work. I jiggled it a few times and used my keys and voila, I was able to get it to work! Woohoo! I used my 20% off coupon and got it for $39.98 - talk about a $60 savings, and did I mention I love these containers?  

What a good weekend!

Watson passed his 'Obedience 1' class at Zoom Room! Yes, he still has more obedience classes to go to, but we're so  proud of him. He even got to visit the dog park and make some doggie friends.

Watson with his "Certificate of Excellence" and my roses from Al!

Watson and friend checking out the little dog park, from the big dog park.

Al made some delicious stir-fry shrimp and I made a raisin-topped bread pudding with a yummy brandy sauce. Both were our first attempts and came out very well.
 

Painting with a twist

I love art and have always wanted to try one of the Paintnite classes. It's where you learn how to paint a wonderful picture but it's laid back and you can drink and chat with your friends. I finally got a few people from work to go and we selected this one, Gnarled tree at El Ceviche grill. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that they show you how to paint step by step, so I couldn't really goof it up. The tasty margarita also helped! Everyone's paintings came out great and even though, we all painted the same thing, they all looked unique in their own way. All in all, we had a great time and here's my finished product.

My tree topped off with a 'Corona sign'

Baby Animals

Watson as a puppy maybe?

Since we adopted Watson as an adult dog, we always wonder what he would have looked like if we got him as a puppy. I'm
sure he would have been super cute because I have been around new born boxer puppies (parents' dog) who are uber-adorable. So I googled images to see if any of them would match up and here is my best guess .

My parents' boxer's pups... just a week old

This then led me to google several baby animals pictures and I had to share this site. It's perfect for when you want to keep saying  'Awwwwww' and actually contemplate hugging a bear or tiger. It also reminds me that I would love to have a hedgehog as a pet and that I've got to play with a little duckling, that we found lost at the pool. 

Some more shoe love

I got this in my inbox this morning from DSW and had to share. I LOVE the peacock fabric and the ankle strap is a great reinforcement for the super high heel.

Homemade pizza bianca

Our favorite pizza when we visited Italy was the 'potato pizza bianca' - bianca meaning white or plain and without red sauce. It was the simplest pizza you could imagine and the tastiest too. The toppings were potato slices, rosemary and olive oil on a thin crust pizza base. We decided to replicate this and found a recipe from the NYT columnist, Mark Bittman. We made the dough from scratch which was surprisingly easy and cut up some potatoes and threw them on top with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. How easy is that! While it didn't taste like the pizza we ate in Rome, it was still very good for a first attempt and has inspired us to try making more.

Gimme some more s'more

Summer means sun and fun, but it also means s'mores! Even though you typically eat these when camping at a big open campfire, we decided to enjoy these last weekend over our charcoal BBQ.

Beautifully browned marshmallow
just out from the toaster oven

I had never tried s'mores before I lived in the US because I don't like marshmallows. However, once I tried a s'more with melted marshmallows and chocolate, it was something I had to have every summer since! I've even made a baked s'more dessert when we had lefover s'more ingredients, but my favorite way to make it is actually using the broil feature in my toaster oven. It's easy, effective, quick, safe and I can have it whenever I want and not just on camping trips.

Another great thing to do is try chocolate with other fillings like nuts, rice crispies or butterfinger crunchies.