Back To Baking. And Mailing!
Sooo #bakingbootcamp was pushed to the back-most back burner over the past couple of weeks. Perhaps it had something to do with checking croissants off my list and feeling like other recipes couldn’t quite cut it in the challenging department. But I suspect it had more to do with craving QT with Austin after being out of town so much and just wanting to explore . Either way, it was high time for me to get back to it.
After mailing out a ton of cookies last year, I asked the blogging world for suggestions on what else I could send. Cookies, although I adore the batter, are awfully boring to make. And when a few of my HLS buddies chimed in offering suggestions, I thought it would be super appropriate to bump them to the top of the list and mail them their suggestions.
I prepped batter for three coffee cakes: one for Kelly, one for Mindy, and one for Julie. And I poured the batter evenly into three adorable paper loaf pans that I bought specifically for postal goodies. I put them in the oven and waited and waited and waited.
The baking took much longer than expected, which made me nervous.
So nervous that I had to taste a wedge of one of the cakes before sending. And since I couldn’t send a sampled cake to friends, I quickly labeled that box “To: Gramma”. I went through my emails and labeled the remaining cakes with the first two addresses I found (Mindy’s & Julie’s) and made a mental note (this blog) to ask Kelly to re-send her address for the next round of goods!
I can’t wait to hear how these cakes survived going postal!
3ish Miles Of Chick Rock
You know all of the holiday traveling and guest entertaining that happened over the past month? Well, that jazz is totally to blame for my current state of sluggish brain and snuggish jeans. Kale salad lunches, green smoothie dinners, and yoga/quick jogs around town are all a part of the plan in between real-life plans (don’t worry, real-life plans include blogging about baking!). And a solid playlist… A playlist full of new and old favorites should always be a part of any plan, especially if it’s perfectly timed for a 3 to 3-1/2 mile through downtown Austin.
Enjoy!
Au Revoir Simone – Stars
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Kitten – Cut It Out
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The Knife – Heartbeats
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero
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Tegan & Sara – Are You Ten Years Ago
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Metric – IOU
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Blondfire – Where The Kids Are
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Warpaint – Undertow
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Happy Friday!
Val and I kicked off her second weekend in Austin by heading to the heart of downtown and eating some fancy BBQ at Lambert’s. Although a Texan would frown upon taking a visitor to fancy BBQ, to a Florida girl, pulled pork covered in sauce is where it’s at. We both cleared our plates and headed across the street to ACL Live to get our listen on.
ACL Live was such an awesome venue! The stage could be seen from every spot and the acoustics were top notch. It was also super easy to get a cocktail, which was important since we didn’t love the bands that were playing. We headed out early and walked down the street to Péché, which is perhaps my favorite all around spot in Austin.
I introduced Val to absinthe and, as a fellow black licorice lover, she thought her cocktail was life-changing. I stuck with my go-to’s, the absinthe god and the silver monk. Val went with the tru blood and death in the afternoon, which both were straight up absinthe and champagne. Did you know that mixing absinthe with champagne is a Hemingway creation? A bartender that can get nerdy about booze… Love.
We finished off our night with an olive oil cake desert that was served with meyer lemon sorbet, candied nuts, and cream. We cabbed home, completely satisfied with all that we packed in to another super fun girls’ night. Happy Friday!