FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

South Congress Brunch

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On Sunday morning, Emily and I swooped up my long-time friend, Shayne, from her hotel and headed to the brunchiest brunches of all brunches at South Congress Cafe. Shayne and Emily had met years ago, so it was a nice little reunion for all of us. An even nicer little reunion when the ginger mango mimosas arrived. Seriously? Seriously.

I hadn’t been to South Congress Cafe since my apartment hunting trip last February, which was totally ridiculous because their brunch is the best around. I stuck with a classic benedict that had finely sliced ham and perfectly poached eggs. I’m more of a meat-liker than a meat-lover, so the proportions of this dish were 100% my style.

Emily ordered the steak & migas and had a little love-at-first-sight moment when they arrived. Perhaps we all did, they were b-e-a-utiful.

And Shayne went with the daily special of gouda grits with pork shoulder and poached eggs. A day prior, I had just finished ranting to Emily about Austin’s inability to provide a solid cheese grit. After tasting Shayne’s grits, I had to eat my words and then eat more cheese grits – they were phenomenal!

And a little P.S. bonus… The wait will most likely be long, but the hostess will get your digits when you arrive and give you a ring when you’re next on the list. We were able to pop into a few shops while we waited, which made 45 minutes fly by.

Seasoned Kale Chips

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Last week, my friend Baily gave me an Instagram shout out when she posted a picture of her first batch of homemade kale chips.  You see, I coached her through the process a bit, using my blog archives as a reference.  It was nerdy to the nth degree.

But nerdy-ness aside, it was then I spent a few brief moments in nostalgia-land daydreaming about my old kitchen realized that I hadn’t made kale chips since last year.  Waiting the appropriate amount of time before re-blogging about a dish is a food blogger’s dilemma.  A dilemma that often results in forgetting about said dish completely.

I decided to ditch the sriracha this time around and bake seasoned kale chips, which was totally an excuse to browse the local spices at Whole Foods.  I landed on this Wildly Natural One because the list of ingredients immediately induced a drool situation.

Because these chips didn’t have the added sriracha moisture, they only needed to bake for about 17 minutes before they were super, super crispy.  And the Wildly Natural One seasoning was amazing.  It gave the chips that little extra something that made you think they were store-bought.  De-lish!

Hopfields And Burlap Bag

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Considering that I will either be out of town, have a visitor, or be moving for the next eight weekends in a row, I needed to make the most of this weekend.  So when Lauren shot me an “it’s been too long” email, I thought “man, she’s right, and if I don’t see her this weekend, it’s going to be even longer!”.  I forwarded her an event invite that Macarons by Jane had sent me for Burlap Bag‘s first birthday party and we made plans to meet beforehand at Hopfields.

Two new friends, Elonie and Anna, also met up with us at Hopfields.  We made our introductions and promptly sipped and snacked away.  Lauren and Elonie shared the cheese plate and I had the salad nicoise.  The salad, consisting of fresh greens, haricots verts, fingerling potatoes, olives, tuna and egg, was super impressive for a bar.  Fresh tuna and haricots verts?  Yum.  Between the food, atmosphere, and uber friendly staff, I’d definitely pay a second visit to Hopfields.

When we arrived at Burlap Bag, the place was already packed.  And as soon as we saw Jane’s tower of macarons and all of the other dessert filled tables, we knew exactly why.  A boat load of sweets is sure to lure in a crowd.

We poked around the shop, sweet snacking and goods browsing.

And then we found ourselves back at Hopfields so I could balance out all the sweet with a salty snack and we could continue conversation.  So let me revise my previous statement…  Between the food, atmosphere, and uber friendly staff, I’d definitely pay a second third visit to Hopfields!

AFBA Potluck

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As soon as I walked up to Springdale Farm for the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance potluck, I took a deep breath, made a crooked little smile, and found comfort in knowing that Austin is exactly where I’m supposed to be.  That’s big life stuff right there, but on a less serious note, the farm house was completely adorable and the perfect setting for AFBA members to test out recipes for the upcoming AFBA cookbook.

After signing in, my new camera and I were pointed towards Melissa, who is leading the photography effort for the cookbook.  I walked into a dream of a kitchen that was fully stocked with blogging accessories.  One day I’ll have a spare bedroom with plenty of natural light that will serve as both studio and storage, one day!

Even better than the accessories was the side yard full of tree stumps and fire pits and textures galore.  If I lived in a house with this much character, I would have a camera permanently affixed to my face.  I had the best of times shooting all of the fabulous dishes that everyone contributed.  All of the arranging and squatting, I felt like a pro.

As far as the food was concerned, I’m not the biggest fan of, say… group food.  Traditionally at a potluck, I’ll eat what I brought and stick to dips.  However, today’s dishes were the best of the best of local bloggers and I had faith that everything was delish.  And to that point, everything I had was worthy of getting seconds.  So not only am I excited about having some of my recipes and photos published, I’m also excited to own a book with recipes from amazing Austin bloggers that sure know how to cook a meal!