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

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 :-)

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.

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.