Planning trip to Austin

I am so excited to be visiting Austin again. Kris and I booked a hotel for the weekend of May 12th and I already want to start planning it. 

Keep Austin Weird

View of downtown Austin

We're driving up Saturday morning and leaving Sunday. On road trips, I love to stop at Christie's Donuts on Montrose. Their kolaches are the BEST and it's the perfect to-go breakfast.

Then, it's a 3 hour drive up 290. I booked us at the Hilton downtown Austin, because it's the cheapest hotel that's right downtown near 6th street, so we can walk and don't have to worry about parking.

I want to go to the Barton Creek farmer's market when we first get there. It looks really yummy, and I've never been.

Next, assuming we're not stuffed on fresh fruits and vegetables, I want to go to Shady Grove. Their turkey sandwich is the best I've ever had. Yummm! 


We can relax outside and have a beer. I really hope it won't be in the 90s yet!

Shady Grove is very Austin

Shady Grove

Shady Grove Turkey Sandwich- to die for

After lunch, we're going to Zilker Botanical Gardens, right up the street. I've always wanted to check it out. There's a butterfly garden, fragrance garden, oriental garden, rose garden... I can't wait to take pictures!

Zilker Botanical Garden

After the garden we can head back to the hotel, park the car and relax a bit. If we have time before dinner we can stroll up and down 2nd street and window shop. That street is so nice, but the stores are pricey. I love how it's lined with trees with little lights.

I really want to take Kris to Moonshine for dinner. There are no reservations, and it gets packed, so I'm thinking we can walk over there for an early dinner.

They serve popcorn on the table and the food is delicious. The beer battered asparagus is to DIE for! 

After dinner, we are going to our absolute favorite bar, Peche. It means 'sin' in French. They do amazing, high quality pre-prohibition cocktails that are out of this world. Their tag line is: "We are the reason prohibition was repealed." I believe it.

 

Peche

Dark and Stormy

The Dark and Stormy is one of my favorites. House made ginger beer with rum. Mmmm. Plus I love the name. 

After that, who knows where the night will take us. 

Maybe to 6th street. 

Likely back to bed because we like our sleep.

Pizza and tomatoes

Kris loves when I make pizza. And I love how easy it is, and easy to make tasty. 

I use a dough mix I find at HEB. You just pour in 1/2 cup of hot water to the dough, mix it, let it sit a bit, and roll it out. 

Then, I spread some pizza sauce and pizza cheese. 

Kris wanted pepperoni, and I also added some grape tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh basil, and dried thyme.

Kris has been dying to get a pizza stone for his grill, so we finally got one from Williams-Sonoma. So, instead of the normal sized pizza, I made two individual sizes.

They turned out perfectly, with a great smoked flavor.

Yummy pizza

We stopped by Central Market this weekend for some fresh produce and were not disappointed. 

 I picked up these beautiful heirloom tomatoes. Aren't they pretty?

I made a simple salad with the tomatoes to let their flavor show.

I cut the tomatoes into bite sized slices and mixed with minced garlic, chopped Italian parsley, fresh basil, salt and pepper, 1tbsp red wine vinegar, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Just give it a toss and you're done. 

Simple, flavorful heirloom tomato salad.

In the kitchen

 Man, I love my kitchen. And fresh produce. So this weekend I found excuses to cook using fresh spring ingredients.


Tomato Cucumber Pasta Salad with Dill Yogurt


Half a carton of grape tomatoes, halved
Half a cucumber, peeled and diced
About a cup of greek yogurt
Farfalle pasta
Tbsp dill
Garlic salt
Salt
Cracked pepper


I only wanted to make enough for Kris and I, so for more people, double the recipe.


First get your salted pasta water on the stove on high heat.
Next cut up your vegetables. You can put whatever veggies you want in here, red peppers, corn, snap peas, celery, maybe add some chives... mmmm.

Now, make your sauce. I just mixed together my yogurt, dill, salt, and garlic salt to taste. Simple and delicious.

Boil your pasta per the instructions and strain. I just guestimated how much pasta I'd want to go in the salad, about 3 handfulls of farfalle.

Mix it all together, and that's it! Since the pasta is hot, it's better to chill the salad for about an hour before eating, so it's nice and chilled. Then add your cracked pepper on top and enjoy.

Yummy pasta salad

Pasta salad with dill yogurt

Today, Kris and I went to whole foods, and I decided to pick up some beautiful stem-on strawberries and two stalks of rhubarb to try some sort of crisp. I googled some recipes at home and found most of the toppings required rolled oats. So to improvise, I made a topping out of flour, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and softened butter. I just threw it all together, mixed with my hands, adjusted the proportions, and threw it on top. It's great! The graham cracker goes very well with the strawberry rhubarb mixture. A little extra sweetness to soften the sourness of the rhubarb.


Filling:


Strawberries, quartered
Rhubarb, peeled and cut into 1/2 in pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar


Just mix it all up, put in pan, add topping, and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Yummmmm. Another Kris seal of approval.

Going in the oven

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with bite taken out because I can't resist eating before photographing.

Kris my bartender is inspired again. This time it's a mint flip.

Creme de menthe rum flip

1 whole egg

1 splash of creme de menthe

3 oz spiced rum

1 oz simple syrup

Add all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake until frothy, serve. 

Creme de menthe rum flip

The next night, I was inspired for him. I asked him to use some of that fresh cucumber in a drink.

Cucumber mojito

3 slices cucumber
2 sprigs mint
1/4 lime
3 oz spiced rum
1 oz simple syrup
3 oz ginger ale

1. Fill a rocks glass with ice, and pour about 2 oz ginger ale in the bottom.
2. Muddle the mint and lime in a shaker.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and ice and shake.
4. Strain into glass, top off with ginger ale.

Cucumber mojito

Beach shopping

 I am in the mood for the beach. Galveston is only an hour away from here, but it is such a depressingly brown beach, that this outfit would be wasted on it. And if I did have this outfit it would certainly call for a beach trip.

 

From right to left

1. Sunglasses, Old Navy

2. Swimsuit, Anthropologie

3. Cover up, JCrew

4. Beach tote, Old Navy

5. Beach towel, Target

6. Brown sandal, American Eagle

Ravioli and Watermelon

It's Thursday! I hope today is as good as Wednesday was. I got my Ralph Lauren red herringbone sheepskin throw in the mail!! 

Herringbone throw!

 I love it! It is uber soft, and was on sale half price. I used a Macy's gift card, so I got it for free. :) Now winter just needs to come again. 

But, while waiting on winter, watermelon is here!

 

Kris loves watermelon. Every time he goes to the store he comes back with a huger one than the last time. Last summer our fridge was full of chunks of watermelon. So to satisfy his cravings I bought an individual sized, seedless one. Then I noticed a recipe for tomato-watermelon salad, perfect! It turned out great. Super, surprisingly yummy.

 Tomato Watermelon Salad

Adapted from myrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (3/4-inch) seeded watermelon cubes
• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (I used cherry tomatoes and cut in half)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Cracked black pepper to taste

 

 1. Cut watermelon into bite sized cubes.

 2. Toss with sugar and salt, let stand 15 minutes. 

I'm so impatient, I always doubt it when the recipe asks me to wait. I let it stand, watching it thinking, is the sugar absorbing? What's really going to happen if I just put the rest of the ingredients in now? Until 15 minutes had gone by and I could keep cooking.

 3. Stir in vinegar and oil. Cover and chill 2 hours. (really?) 

Sprinkle with cracked black pepper to taste.

So of course I don't wait 2 hours, just until Kris got home, and it was cold enough then.

The original called for slices of red onion, but I left that out since Kris doesn't like onion raw, but it sounds like that could be good.

 

He loved it, and had two bowls, and I'm calling it a success.

 

Tomato Watermelon Salad

Meanwhile, I started making Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce, from my Williams-Sonoma cookbook.
The following will describe first-time, I've-never-made-ravioli-before, oh-no-I've-burned-the-sage, I-burned-the-sage-again, beginner's instructions.

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash
Olive Oil 

1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of cheese, preferably parmigiano reggiano

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Wonton wrappers

1 stick of butter 

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
10-12 fresh sage leaves

Filling:

1. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and fibers.

2. Rub cut sides with olive oil and place face down on a baking sheet

3. Bake 1.5 hrs at 375F. 

4. Let cool, then scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash with a fork.

It says the flesh should be dry. I only cooked mine 1 hour and it was runny, so per instructions, I heated the mashed squash in a pot on medium heat for about 15 minutes until it was no longer runny. 

5. Mix in the egg, cheese, salt, cinnamon, cloves and pepper. Set aside. 

The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon salt. Kris and I found it a bit too salty, so I would reduce it a tad to about 1/2 or 3/4 teaspoon.

I had pre-made my filling the night before.

Next lay out the wonton wrappers. Fill each with a smaller amount of filling than you think it should hold. I read if you overfill, they could break open, so I was careful.

Then, brush all around the filling with some water, and put another wrapper on top.

Press down all around the filling, smoothing out any air bubbles. 

Transfer ravioli to a lightly floured baking sheet. Now, I'm not sure why you do that, but I follow the instructions so I don't get in trouble.

Finished ravioli

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Gently place the ravioli in the water and cook until tender, about 5 - 6 minutes. Using a spoon with holes in it, remove and strain the ravioli.

Boiling ravioli

While you're cooking the ravioli, make the sauce.

First, burn the sage. 

Luckily, we are growing a sage plant that rarely gets used, so I kept going back to it for more. Put some olive oil in a frying pan to coat and heat to medium. The first time, I left the sage in the olive oil for about 30 seconds. Way too long, burned to a crisp. The second batch I left in for about 15 seconds. Still too long, burned to a crisp as well. The third time, I put it in the hot oil for about 7 seconds, and it turned out alright.

Burnt sage on right, OK sage on left

No-idea-how-to-cook-sage.jpg

Then, melt the butter in the pan. Stir in the lemon juice and pour over the ravioli.

Melting butter

Yummy Ravioli!

 Mmmm, so good. I didn't know how much sauce a professional chef would have poured over, so I just poured about half of the pan on each of our plates to be safe. 

Too much butter is a good thing.