Weekend Activities in Austin

• La Condesa will be hosting a Pumpkin Carving Fiesta from 3:00 to 5:00PM on Saturday. This event features three very important Ps: pumpkins, punch and piñatas. All of which can be enjoyed on a very important fourth P: the patio. While we’re talking about La Condesa, have you been there yet? If you haven’t, you need to go. For brunch. And order the huevos chilangos. In case you haven't a short memory, I raved about them just this week here.

• Don’t you love the Downtown Farmers Market? Having it in Republic Square Park really adds something that you don’t get at the markets in the parking lots at Barton Creek and Lakeline Malls. Well, this Saturday morning is your opportunity to say a little thanks for that beautiful setting. From 9:00 to 11:00AM you can volunteer, helping to weed and clean up the park. You might as well pitch in while you’re there picking up your veggies and such. If you miss it this Saturday, note that they do it alternate Saturdays. Plus, if you take a cooler with you to keep any perishables fresh, once you’re finished with your shopping and weeding, you can head the couple blocks over to La Condesa and have those amazing huevos chilangos. Doesn’t that sound like a fabulous Saturday morning?

• If you scored like a good competition AND you think you have an awesome Halloween costume (please note, us competitive folk don’t generally like to enter contests we don’t think we’ll win so the second part of this equation is key), then Hotel San Jose is the place for you to be this weekend. They are having a costume contest both Saturday and Sunday nights (if you lose Saturday, my advice would be to get an even better costume together for Sunday). The drink specials will run from 5:00PM to 12:00AM each night, but the costume contest will kick things off.

• If you don’t have a fantastic costume, but your pooch and/or kid does, you’ll want to go to Howl-o-ween at the Central Market on North Lamar on Sunday. There, the pressure will be off you to come in first place and instead you can live vicariously through your canine or offspring. Even if they don’t win (which really shouldn’t be an option), you’ll still have gone out and benefitted the Austin Humane Society so it won’t be a total waste of an afternoon.
  

• Normally, we associate fireworks with July 4^th and scary costumes with Halloween. If you’ve ever wished more holidays had a fireworks component, you’re in luck because there is actually a fireworks display Halloween night. Planet K will put on a fireworks show over on the East Side starting around 9:00PM.
  

• Also, normally when you hear something like Tour de Fat, your first response isn’t “Sign me up!” But, that should be your response to New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat as it’s actually all about the bicycle as the best mode of transportation. Saturday at Fiesta Gardens will include a bike parade and costumes are encouraged. It is Halloween weekend, after all.

~ So, I’m going to the Worst Fest this weekend!

· Why on earth would you go to the Worst Fest? That sounds terrible.

~ Not the Worst Fest, silly, the Wurstfest.

Don’t you want to go to the Wurstfest, too? This is the 50^th Annual Wurstfest and it promises to be the worst wurstest of them all. It’s running this evening through November 7^th so there’s plenty of time for you to go celebrate German culture with music, the Tour de Gruene Bicycle Classic, and other events like the Circle Arts Theatre staging of Harry Potwurst and the Order of the Opas (I’m pretty sure J.K. Rowling hasn’t given her blessing to that adaption but it’s all in good fun, right?).

Let's Talk Turkey Tuesday

For my birthday we tried two new restaurants.

First up, La Condesa for brunch.

I'm sure you gathered yesterday that the key word for my birthday is awesome. And La Condesa was awesome.

Christian and I both had the huevos chilangos because house-made wild boar chorizo with poached egg, arugula, quinoa croquette and avocado salsa sounded too darn good to pass up. If you live in Austin, go. Eat this. This Saturday. If there are two of you, just order one, though, because this thing is huge. The only thing I wish was different is that they would just sprinkle the arugula on top at the end so it would maintain the crispness and flavor. As it is now, it's in the middle of everything else and you don't really get to enjoy the wonderful fresh peppery arugulaness enough.

For my birthday dinner, we went to Parkside. This dinner was heartbreaking. Everything we ate - the garlic shrimp with smoked paprika (much spicier than you think it's going to be), the marrow bones, the pork jowls with polenta, the brussel sprouts and the fries - was awesome.

But, there was a little miscommunication in the kitchen about when everything was supposed to come out and we got the pork jowl entree at the same time as the huge marrow bone appetizer. A word of warning: trying to eat that much meat product in a very short amount of time so your food doesn't get cold (even though it's not your fault there's all this food on the table at one time) isn't a good idea. At all. It made us a little sick. So, we couldn't even finish the marrow bones, which was incredibly sad because marrow makes me happy. And, we didn't have dessert, also incredibly sad because I love dessert and they are supposed to make awesome sweet stuff.

Our waitress and the manager were very nice about the whole thing and took the marrow off our bill and gave us a gift card. We'll go back and give it another shot.

Image via the La Condesa website.

Let's Talk Turkey Tuesday

We're not actually going to talk about turkey. One of my 30 Before 30 resolutions is to try 30 new (to me) restaurants or trailers and I love food, so I'm now dubbing Tuesdays "Let's Talk Turkey Tuesdays" AKA let's talk about food I've eaten recently.

Since I made my 30 Before 30 resolution, I've tried one new restaurant: Foreign & Domestic.

I'd been wanting to try it ever since it opened but we just hadn't made it down there. I'm super happy we finally did - it's good stuff.

We had the gruyere popovers, the lardo and I had the mac and cheese for my entree (they had a fancy name for it "ditali and cheddar").

The only part of the meal I was a little disappointed in was the lardo. I had it really built up in my mind, which I totally blame Anthony Bourdain for given his constant praising of lardo. I thought it was going to taste like the best bacon fat I'd ever had in my life, but it didn't. It was still good, and it was still really rich, but just not the scrumptiousness I dreamed about.

The ditali and cheddar, on the other hand, was totally amazing. They use a mild white cheddar (always the way to go), put in oxtails and top the whole thing with a soft egg. Pure heaven. If you get it, don't look at the portion size and scoff as I did. It's plenty.

Sadly, we didn't get to try dessert, which was disappointing because they had a bacon root beer thing that sounded right up my alley. But, we'll save room next time. Clearly, we're totally going back.

Added bonuses: great service, cool space and decor, yummy drinks.

(Image via Foreign & Domestic website)

Weekend Activities in Austin

• This weekend is the Texas Book Festival at the Capitol. There will be more than 200 authors on hand and it’s free for you to get up close and personal with them. If you’re really excited about a particular session, be sure to arrive early as it is first-come, first-served and you may not be the only one who wants to hear, for example, Joseph O'Neill. I also would like to hear him as Netherland was really interesting. By the way, his session is at 10:30AM tomorrow morning. Or is it? Maybe I’m just trying to throw you off track so you’re one less person I have to fight for a seat. How will you ever know? Oh right, I gave you the link to the schedule.

• If running a marathon isn’t really your thing (too long and running shoes are so not fetch, after all), then the Stiletto Stampede for the Cure taking place tomorrow at the Hill Country Galleria might be more your cup of tea. The race starts at 10:00AM, it’s 100 yards and 2.5 inch or taller heels are required. This isn’t just an event for the ladies; guys, you can also run too. The 2.5 inch heel requirement still stands, though.
  

• I was saying earlier this week that there are few things I will run for – like that last cute top in my size, if someone’s chasing me, etc. But, I would run to this next event, if necessary. The 7^th Annual Lexington Chocolate Lover’s Festival is taking place this Saturday and will be held in the Lexington Town Square. Admission is free but there are fees for some of the tastings. Random activity also taking place at the Festival is the opportunity for your kids to “have a go” at milking a cow. There are also more run-of-the-mill activities for the kids like plinko and a bounce house (probably best to send them to the bounce house before they partake in all the chocolate tastings).

• Don’t consume too much chocolate on Saturday because that night is a really cool dinner you won’t want to miss. Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Edible Austin, & Farmhouse Delivery will be hosting a picnic, potluck style tasting as Austin Chefs prepare their favorite recipes from Hesser’s new cookbook. The list of participating restaurants/chefs is quite impressive and includes Eastside Café, Perla’s (their French toast is to die for, by the way), Paggi House and Takoba. Tickets are $35 each, the dinner will be out at Rain Lily Farm and you’ll need to bring your own blankets and chairs. All of it benefits the Sustainable Food Center.
  

• On Sunday, Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop is celebrating its 2^nd birthday. They’ll be providing the free cupcakes (big surprise) and Tito’s and St. Germain will be providing the free cocktails. Like any good birthday party, there will also be ice cream, music, face painting and prizes. There’s also talk of a cupcake cannon but I’ve yet to figure out what exactly that is. But, I’m pretty sure I would like to have one of my own. If anyone’s familiar with cupcake cannons, please enlighten me.

Things I'll Miss: Salt

Photo by Jimmy Ryan

I can't say enough good things about Salt. Not just the greatest spice ever but also an amazing restaurant in SoHo.

It's the first place Christian got drunk and said we should start dating (I declined and made him work for it for a couple more months).

We've had dozens of romantic dinners and yummy brunches there.

And, maybe most importantly, it's where we held our wedding reception dinner.

Recently, we went for our final dinner there while we're still living in the city. The cauliflower soup (my absolute favorite) was supremely delicious and I realized just how much I'm going to miss it. When we leave the restaurant, we are always stuffed to the brim because everything from the bread to the dessert to the wine is so good that we just can't stop eating. Even when we know we should!

I will miss Salt. I will miss the food. I will miss all the friendly people there who have become like friends to us. And I will miss getting to visit the place where so much happiness has occurred whenever I want.

The good thing is they gave us a great new cookbook and it has the recipe for that delicious cauliflower soup. Can't wait until Christian makes it!

Things I'll Miss: Tia Pol

Right now, one of my favorite bloggers (Maggie of The Freckled Citizen) is moving from Dallas to D.C. In anticipation of her move she did a series on things she would miss in Dallas. One of her posts was about Central Market (amazing, amazing grocery store that is also in Austin) and when I read it I was like Score! I'll to be able to go to Central Market again in addition to the greatest Whole Foods ever.

But, awesome Austin grocery stores aside, her posts got me thinking about what I'm going to miss here in New York City.

Paying a TON of money for a one bedroom apartment where I'm constantly rearranging every thing to try to accommodate all our stuff? Not so much.

The bitter, bitter cold? Nope.

Cranky people on the subway, people who think it's smart to walk 4 across on the sidewalk, or the guy always handing out cards for $6 eyebrow threading by our apartment? None of those either.

I will miss Tia Pol. Tia Pol is the greatest tapas restaurant I've ever been to in my life (so far). It's only 2 blocks from our apartment. By NYC standards, it's totally affordable. The waitstaff is super nice and they remember us when we come in (they should since we're there a lot). Which makes it the perfect restaurant.

So, I will be missing the patatas bravas (the only time I eat aioli), the chorizo and chocolate, the fried chickpeas, the bone marrow, the artichoke salad and I will miss the blistered green peppers (almost the only time I eat green peppers).

If you're ever in New York, go eat here. Don't believe people when they tell you Boqueria is the place to go for tapas in the Chelsea/Flat iron area. It's not. Tia Pol is so far beyond Boqueria it's not even funny (especially not funny when you're used to the amazingness that is Tia Pol and you pop in to Boqueria one starving Sunday afternoon only to pay more and leave less fulfilled than you ever do at Tia Pol).

P.S. Keep in mind it's a small place, you can make reservations up to 5 days in advance and the earlier you go, the shorter the wait time.