whip in, gibson yelp elite and AMH ravioli
first yelp elite party of the year was at gibson. free vodka drinks from three olives, free beer from real ale brewing (love that fireman's #4)... yes, it was good. very very good...
me and a couple of sweet-cakes... I'm like a king!
yummy food from Luke's inside out. the savory cheesecake was delicious, kat said the pork thing was good as well (I'm not eating meat so I just doubled up on the liquids). we also enjoyed cake balls from SugaPlump, rich smooth and decadent.
a friend returned a stainless steel ladle we’d left at her house. I tucked it into my jacket pocket, went on about enjoying the party. I used my iphone to check in and was rewarded with a high five to be redeemed from kelly s. (yelp community manager for austin). I found kelly, got my high five and just as we made contact, the big ladle fell out from the bottom of my jacket, onto the floor between us, with a loud clang. I just scooped up my ladle and left kelly s. slack-jawed. I figured it was best to keep my ladle with its shroud of mystery in tact.
our friend amber affixed this name tag to the back of her driver for the evening "amber's bitch". good clean fun and free vodka go together like peanut butter and jelly.... or like mulder and scully
happy good times as usual. so we left to meet up with the kids at imperia, downtown austin. sat in the Buddha ultra lounge and enjoyed happy hour half priced food.
it was good.
he loved the pad thai.
the area we occupied is more like a casual living room. two couches face each other with a low coffee table between. it's perfect for us. kat was queen of the place.
CAESARSTONE:
caesarstone and dwell are having a photo contest. I took a pic of our apple martini island for an entry.
CHAPLIN COTILLIONS:
some kids get the idea that the cotillion dances wouldn't be fun. a few kids don't enjoy it, but the overwhelming majority do. and some are having a great deal of fun. it makes me happy to see them enjoying themselves.
EQUISETUM BE GONE!
our once proud and tall horsetail plant (equisetum) has been sort of sad. its job is to provide a bit of a privacy screen between the front door and the street. we have decided to replace it with bamboo. we recently received a much needed 5.65 inches of rain in one night. the dirt was nice and soft. made easy work for the removal.
then we moved in to make tri-colored ravioli.
the daughter harvested some greek oregano from our garden.
I baked some mushrooms in olive oil and garlic. they get a bit crunchy and so flavorful. #1 son says he loves them as much as bacon.
I roasted a red pepper to add to some of the pasta, red pasta...
angel hair pasta/noodles!
fresh spinach provided the green pasta tint
I had been explaining to kat how I planned to make the tri-color pasta. she's comfortable with complicated technical writing, but sometimes I can't easily explain verbally. but once she saw what I was talking about, she was all set. kat had a firm grasp of the operation and sent me away so she could finish by herself (she works best that way). I had to go shower for our evening plans anyway.
pretty pasta!
WHIP IN!
celebrating yet another birthday, I didn't tell anybody where I was taking them. just that it would be casual. the whip in started life as a convenience store on the i35 frontage road. over years the indian family that owned it added indian food, and then they added draft beer and wine.... they even have a stage in there.
a total of 72 (yes, SEVENTY TWO) taps of beer with a very impressive assortment of belgian beers. one of the signs read "finish your beer, there are sober kids in india"
inside was very comfortable and inviting. the table next to us enjoyed their beers and played games, and we all enjoyed the music and talked to strangers....
the indian food was good too, chana masala ($8) was good as were the samosas
three belgians and a texan (guess which one is from tx). then back to austin modhouse for dinner.
sockeye salmon! ok, I'm the sort of vegetarian that doesn't eat land animals. salmon makes up a good part of my diet... a real good part indeed.
the ravioli were stuffed with ricotta and parmesan along with the mushroom crisps and oregano. I also made a salad with roasted red pepper, cayenne candied pecans, shrimp and a bleu cheese, honey and lemon dressing. it was another good meal.
some kids play with dolls or action figures. he has decided this robot is his "baby" he carries it around and cares for it. it's fitting in some way, makes sense for today's tech saturated modern family. at some point in the future it'll be the robots taking care of us, and yes, they will eventually turn on us and hack us all to pieces.... but for now, it's a cute baby he has. at least he doesn't want a snake or a spider.