Austin ModHouse

his sister was playing violin with the school orchestra, he wanted to dress for the occasion.

Rachel Horvitz and the HCMS sinphonia!

kat's parents are here to enjoy the wonderful fall weather we have in central texas.  they recently went to Paris, so we took them to happy hour at Blue Dahlia french bistro....  almost the same. 

Gung-Gung (chinese for grandfather) came back from europe with a love of baguette and was pleased to find them at Blue Dahlia.  He delighted in the various preserves and nutella to spread over the baguette. 

every visit with Po-Po (chinese for grandmother) involves a lot of gift giving.  they devoted more than half their luggage space to gifts!  gifts have ranged from antique family heriloom hand embroidered dresses (seen above) to military surplus inflatable life rafts and tubs of colorful dried fruit for making fuit cakes (approaching expiration date). 

this wave of gifts included many relics from the 80's, like 32oz Mario Bros mugs and Kat's old 80's era jacket (below).

check out those shoulder pads!

#1 son LOVES the gift portion of each visit.  shown here with a new (to him) V-neck sweater and a 80's era reversible vest that once belonged to his uncle David.  he was instructed to be very gentle with the vest "it's a very good one!"  he was happy and now has a vest for varying occasions (brown or blue)

Gung-Gung soaking up the sun for a vitamin D boost.  meanwhile back in DC area, hurricane Sandy is plotting a course up the coast. 

we all went for a walk on the trail that runs behind my mom's house, lost creek austin greenbelt.

BIG

BIG

BIG

 w-i-d-e

boys throw rocks in the water, because that is what they do... 

had some friends over for dinner while the in-laws were here.  I do all my prep in the morning.  then I stand around and snack on cheeses and sip on wines with guests.  then, it's time to make it all happen.  I ducked into the kitchen and fired up all 5 burners and both ovens and in 15 minutes  plated meals for nine adults and five kids.  another land/sea combo, this one with pork loin (apple cider sauce not shown)

made a trip down to wimberley to show them the blanco river.

BIG

one of the things I love about halloween, all the seasonal stuff that you can only find once a year.  we use it year round.  I LOVE this vampire teeth bottle opener I found at west elm for $7!

enjoying the front porch of the barn cabin. 

BIG

BIG

the water is crystal clear. 

then we stopped in driftwood on the way back to austin, trattoria lisina

kat had recently discovered (GOOD) italian food, and figured her parents had not had much real italian food either. 

they seemed hesitant to dig into the delicious antipasto.  but once they saw us enjoying it, they quickly jumped in. 

"CHEERS", kat ordered them a nice glass of Moscato in honor of Uncle David. 

grilled swordfish with citrus sauce and fennel. 

#2 son knows that he can get gelato IF he eats a good meal. 

and he ate like a champ. 

Gung-Gung's favorite part of the italian feast?  the focaccia of course!  that man loves a good piece bread and I'll have to agree the focaccia at trattoria lisina is pretty good!

enjoying the beautiful warm sunny fall day, while their flights home were being cancelled due to hurricane Sandy.  it's good to be stranded in austin texas during the fall.