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

 

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 :-)

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.
 

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.

Into the culinary unknown

Ever since we got back from vacation, we've been on a cooking show binge. We are currently watching 'MasterChef' but also watched 'The Taste' which is like the food equivalent of the singing show 'The Voice'. This has brought out the cooking mood in both Al and me. And one of the things we thought we'd try over the weekend was poached eggs. We've only had them at restaurants and they seem so intimidating, but after reading tips and techniques for at least 30 minutes, I decide to attempt them, or wing it. My first egg actually came out perfect, but the second not so good. By the fourth, I thought, by George, I've got this in the bag. I even noticed that one of them had a heart shape on the yolk (how cute is that), which I gave my sweetie for breakfast.

Mel x2

My cousin Melody came to visit us right after we got back from vacation and if it was any one else, I'd probably want to pull my hair out, because we haven't even set up our house up properly. Mind you, the house that we just moved into 2 weeks before vacation. Anyway, Melody is one of my favorite cousins, was a bridesmaid at my wedding and also my only cousin on the East coast while I lived there. It was Mel's first visit to Austin, so we gave her the works - BBQ, Mexican food, burgers, happy hours with our new friends, Rainey street, breakfast tacos, and as much time as she could handle with Watson. Here are a few pics of us stuffing our faces at hopdoddy and having lots of fun together!

Pizza, pasta, and more

This post is pretty self-explanatory. It's going to take you on through our Italian food journey and probably make your mouth water! 

Our favorite way to start the day with cappuccinos and chocolate hazelnut croissants

Antipasto with salamis, prosciutto, olives and pickled artichokes

Tortellini, baked artichoke and fried fish

Thin crust pizza with sausage, mushrooms and black olives

Bruschetta with some spicy pickled pepper topping

Crab pasta and steak with fresh parmesan

Two types of ravioli with more antipasti

Cicchetti and vino in venice

Calzone with ham and onions

Mussels, and homemade sausage and potatoes

Flan and tiramisu

Seafood pasta

Casatta

Gelato.....mmm

So the one thing I was really looking forward to in Italy was gelato. Yes, I know there are many other interesting things to do, see and eat, but what can I say, gelato makes me happy :)

When we visited Florence, the hometown of Gelato, I heard that there was a Gelato Festival in town that week and I was happier than a kid on Christmas day. We HAD TO GO visit it. It was in a Church piazza (open courtyard) and tastings were only 10 euros! You received 5 tasting cups, a gelato shake, and a gelato reusable bag. We chose to have an alcoholic(of course) ginger mango gelato shake which was absolutely delicious. Then Al and I walked around and tasted all the flavours before we redeemed our 5 tickets. There were a lot more experimental flavours (see Gelato Laboratory photo) than traditional but all delicious nonetheless. We got to taste a pecorino cheese flavor, several coffee flavors, one made with the Brazilian liquor Cachaça and lots of citrusy ones too.

What were they thinking?

So to some of you, it's no surprise that I subscribe to Groupon. But it's really quite surprising to see what people are (1) thinking (2) selling (3) buying? Really!? 

Banana bunkers

This may not seem that ridiculous because no one likes a bruised banana; at least I don't think so. But it's one of those items you add to your kitchen that is exclusive to one purpose and I'm more of a multi-use kinda gal.  Worse than a single use product is all the sexual innuendo you'll have to deal with, when your friends see you using one of these.

 




Finger food utensils 


There is a reason certain foods are called 'finger foods' or 'finger-licking good'. It's to EAT with your FINGERS! Can you imagine using this dinosaur teeth clamp looking thing to pick up your burger or fries?  I don't think so. And if you are you that lazy to go wash your hands after eating,  there is this miraculous invention called wet wipes, that mind you, is multipurpose.

Dog face masks

Seriously, who invented this? Dogs and all canines have been around forever without the need for human beauty products, much less a face mask. Whoever can have their dog sit still while they apply a face mask on them has either tranquilized their dog or their dog doesn't deserve to be called one. Just my POV.