cedar ch-ch-choppin! and cipollina for ARW
#1 son got a new ipad, not used like we had originally planned. so, he has a bit of a balance to work off even though summer has ended. the daughter's ipad is provided by her school. not just for use at school, but it's hers to use at home as well. they even provide her with a nice leather case.
it was hot out again. I have gone back to attacking the cedar trees at our wimberley place. I cut limbs off with the chainsaw and #1 son drags them away. he did a good job with minimal complaining.
we (kat and I) also worked in the yard at our home in west lake hills ( west austin).
we trimmed cedar trees, dug holes and planted some shrubs and thinned the agave herd. the blue agave we planted 4-5 years ago is now HUGE and was being crowded by its own babies. we abducted some, took them down to wimberley... more holes to dig.
I made a metal table frame that folds flat against the wall when not in use. we laid glass and stone tile on it. yes, it's heavy but I have a plan for that... along with that hole in the middle.
#2 son saw the improvements and said "this barn is now as nice as a regular house". kat and I stopped, thought about what he'd said, we looked at each other and smiled. it's a great compliment when it comes from a child.
lookin' good!
and that was it... we worked, worked and worked harder this weekend. no fun at all! wait, that is not entirely true. we did run over to pease park to catch a free show from the very awesome Mother Falcon.
and we did sneak in a date night for the first evening of Austin Restaurant Week (fall 2012)
Cipollina has a $15 corkage fee so I grabbed one of kat's favorites, '08 bien nacido (X-block) syrah from Bonny Doon
the scallops were PERFECT! however, the salad (arugula, gorgonzola, blackberry) was salty. I mean it was REALLY salty like sea water. it was hard to get any other flavors over the saltiness. it was so bad that kat complained to our server. the greens along side the crepes with pork shoulder (seen behind scallops above) were also too salty.
we had each of the two desserts offered (included in the fixed price of $27). one was "Chocolate Pecan Brownies". it was a brownie that was good enough, with ice cream on top... it was just as you'd expect but nothing special... sort of what you'd expect from a chain restaurant. I think I will seek out ARW participants that offer three savory courses (no dessert). I usually don't finish my evening meal with a big plate of chocolate/sugar. I love chocolate, but not right before bed time.