FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Early Day

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Unintentionally waking up before 7AM on a Saturday is about the farthest thing from cool I can imagine.  I’ve been a little stress ball all week and could have totally used 8, 9, maybe 10 hours of shut-eye.  But no, I could only force myself to go back to sleep for another 45 minutes and then I was wide-eyed and ready for adventure.

Thankfully Matt is always up at the crack of dawn, so I called him and told him I was on my way to pick him up – we were going to breakfast.  We headed north to Hyde Park and found ourselves in front of a totally random strip of stores.  We popped into Hyde Park Bakery, hoping they had breakfast.

Though the coffee selection was vast, breakfast options were a totally different story.  Jumbo coffees and egg sandwiches did the trick and then we were on our way.  We took the scenic route through UT, chatted stressed Kristin back to a sane state, and broke into Max’s gate to wake him up.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that Max was petsitting Boss for the weekend.  The pup and I snuggled for a bit, I went out to a second breakfast with Max, and now…  I’ve hit the tired wall that waking up wayyyy too early on a Saturday morning brings.

Nap time for me!  Hope you all have a lovely Saturday!

On The Books

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For one reason or another, I hadn’t seen Skylar since my birthday.  There’s no excuse, but I’d like to blame it on her being a teacher and me being ridiculously jealous of her summer schedule.  But now that her vacation is almost over, I figured it was time to get a date on the books.  I sent her a calendar invite and we stuck to it.

We started out at Cru for half priced bottles of prosecco and cheaper than cheap apps.  And although I wouldn’t order food there again, half priced bubbly could be worth a second trip.  On our way to Peche, we noticed a lone musical soldier playing in the Cedar Street Courtyard.  I couldn’t help but get Miike Snow’s “Song For No One”  stuck in my head…

Peche was on point as usual.  I couldn’t bring myself to order absinthe on a Thursday, so the bartender jazzed up a traditional cucumber gimlet with some bitters.  I haven’t had a flawless off-menu cocktail since  my regular Tampa hangout.  It was nice.

As Skylar and I parted ways in 100 degree Texas heat, we assured each other that we wouldn’t let time fly quite as easily again.  We made plans for a yoga brunchtastic Saturday, plans that I plan on sticking to!

Cupcakes & Cocktails

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I officially attended my first Austin Food Bloggers Alliance event tonight!  It was a trip full of purpose: a glammed up night with Jodie before she moves to Hawaii, an excuse to eat an exorbitant amount of cupcakes, a meeting with my blogging bud Brittanie, and an opportunity to help out a local charity.  Total good stuff.

I walked in the door wide-eyed, ready to mounge on some cupcakes.  Actually, I was more like super ready – 6PM on a weekday is my cooking time.  And when Jodie and Brittanie informed me that they weren’t cupcake eaters, I gladly picked up their slack.

We walked around the room, admiring the perfect presentation.  I gave Jodie my cherries and Brittanie my chocolate covered espresso beans as I described what I liked about each mini-cake.  When it came down to it, I had two favorites in mind: Texas Tea and Arnold Palmer.

What to do when you prefer the texture of one and the flavor of the other?  Well, go back for seconds.  But when you still can’t decide, force your anti-cupcake friend to taste them and get her opinion.  The verdict?  Taste over texture, Arnold Palmer for the win!

Florida In Austin: A Dinner Party

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It seems like whenever Hansell and I get together, we combine our cooking powers like little Captain Planet-eers and invite as many people over for dinner as possible.  It’s a thing.  A really good thing.

What made this thing even better was that we were able to pull 13 people together within a day, seven of who were from Florida.  I’m not certain why there are so many Floridians in Texas, but it makes me as happy as a Gulf coast clam.

Hansell got all Top Chef-like and prepared salt crusted snapper and forbidden rice with roasted vegetables .  Naturally, he waited until everyone arrived to tell me that this was his first time attempting this technique.  And lucky for him, it turned out as wonderfully as he had planned.  Only a guy would take the risk of serving something he’d never made before to a group of people!

I, on the other hand, played it safe with pie.  White peach and rhubarb pie served with Blue Bell vanilla.  When I sampled some of the fruit goo, I knew this was going to be a personal best.  And when five of our guests went out of their way to tell me this was the best pie they had ever eaten, my thoughts were validated.  If only baking pies paid the bills…