Everybody's somebody in Luckenbach, Texas

This past Saturday was a gorgeous mild sunny day. My sister and I both took the day to get out of Austin and explore our surroundings. We decided on Luckenbach, there was a Blues Festival, mentioned here and we thought that was a good excuse to check it out. The drive is about 70 miles and due West from our home in South Austin. We drove thru Dripping Springs, Johnson City (where LBJ is from), Albert and Stonewall. Just before you get to Fredricksburg is a little turn off to Luckenbach, which apparently we were lucky to find, because according to one of my books, the signs have a tendency to get stolen pretty quickly :).
I wasn't aware, but the entirety of Luckenbach is within the area where the dancehall is located. It encompasses around 13 acres give or take. We got there in time to check out Guy Forsyth, whom I have never seen, but he plays around Austin all of the time, so that was cool and following his band we watched Lincoln Durham perform solo and acoustic. The crowd was nice and chill, I drank some Pearl Beer and had a real good day.
We left as the sun was going down and drove towards Fredericksburg, thru town and over towards Mason and had dinner at The Hilltop Cafe, a very unassuming little spot with a gourmet menu. It was my second time there and that place does not disappoint! When we left the sky was filled with stars, something you don't see very often living in a city, and we stared into the darkness feeling very small.

Check the Luckenbach Dancehall site for the calendar
The Hilltop is open Tuesday - Saturday, reservations are recommended

Found this random couch in Johnson City.
My sister was imagining some hipster band taking their pics on it (ha)

Albert, Texas - Dancehall

Guy Forsyth 

Roosters everywhere and apparently they fly and like to hang out in trees.
Who knew?

Lincoln Durham

The security guard looked pretty comfy rockin with his boots

This lady was so cute! I complimented her on her fab jacket (thrift store buy) and it was her birthday :)

'SOMEWHERE'

I saw Sofia Coppola's latest, 'SOMEWHERE' today at The Alamo Drafthouse South. It was nice to go to the cinema by myself at 11:00am on a Sunday. I heart everything she does. The cinematography is dreamy and the story is sweet. The song featured in the trailer is sung by Julian Casablancas performed with The Strokes and I am currently obsessing on how to find on itunes.

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas...

My sister and I are daytrippin to Luckenbach, Texas tomorrow. Alls I know of it is the slogan, 'Everybody is somebody in Luckenbach' and of course, this classic song by Waylon Jennings.
There is a Blues Fest happening, so we thought it would be a fun little day to explore. I will probably take waaaay too many photos, and I can't wait to do it! Hooray weekend!

    


ps - Is it me or is Waylon pretty foxy in his leather vest? ;)

The Kitchen Project week 4 - Salmon, Fennel and Parsnip stew

Although I am rarely without my camera, for some reason I cooked my week 3 meal, this lovely recipe by one of my favorite kitchen goddesses, Nigella Lawson. It turned out great, but wouldn't cha know it, I completely forgot to shoot any of it....I definitely won't let that happen again...so I move forward with this week's meal.

I found this week's recipe via twitter, the description sounded lovely, and once I headed over to the Cannelle et Vanille and checked out the cozy sounding ingredients, I was in. :)

First time cooking with parsnips

Chopping was laborious 

As was cutting the salmon into pieces

The coconut milk has such a scrumptious aroma

YUM!

Bowling at The Highball

We had a ladies night on Tuesday at The Highball on South Lamar. I've been many times, to see performances, drink, play skeeball and sing karoke, but this was my first time bowling there.
Although, we are still convinced that our lane has warped wood from its travels from New Orleans, why else would we play so bad?....A good time was had by all :)
The Tuesday night $5 margarita special didn't hurt either...
The Highball is open daily, so check the calendar as they have a slew of events and fun stuff happening on a daily basis.

Kacy tried to tell us she was 'no good'. Kacy fibs...

The vinyl couches are super comfy to lay around on

I kept switching balls thinking that a new one would bring me luck...

and nothing....it must have been the lane :)

France + Vietnam + Yummy = Banh Mi {Lulu B's in Austin}

If you live in Austin or have visited, you know that we have just about every possible cuisine available via a food trailer. There is even this handy dandy website that helps you to locate via neighborhood or cuisine. I have yet to make a dent in this scene, but who knows what this year will bring...
Running around the South Lamar neighborhood, I was in need of a quick, easy & affordable late lunch. I decided on Lulu B's. It wasn't my first time and I've never been disappointed. I really like their Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi, the veggies are always fresh and crunchy and I am pleased with the quality of poultry, which sometimes can get a bit dicey (in my opinion) in a non kitchen environment. A little squirt of Sriracha and I was on my way to happy! At $4.50 a sandwich, it's a steal! They are open Tues-Fri from 11a-4p and they accept CASH ONLY.

The Boat House

Yesterday was one of those dreary Sundays that makes you want to cook a lazy breakfast (check), lay around (check) and eat something cozy (check). Enter The Boathouse Grill, just off 620 & 2222 by Lake Travis. It's a little bit of a drive for us South Austiners, but perfect on a day when you don't have any other engagements. It's a real casual spot, order from the window, pick up your basket when your name is called and chow down. Although, I usually order the catfish, I opted for the shrimp basket this time and it was real real good. What says cozy comfort food to you?

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It's the little things...

This week I am thankful for my pilates mat classes. I have been practicing for just over a year now and more recently I have been able to squeeze four classes a week into my schedule. I'd like to try for more, but this is good for now. My instructor, Todd, is extremely inspirational and a wonderful teacher. He has patience, is fun and always has such a great selection of music. If you are in the Austin area and looking for a great workout, please check out the Pilates classes at Nia Space. They have just added quite a few new classes to the schedule, so no excuses there! One last note, there is delicious tea and chocolates waiting for you at the end of each workout, so what are you waiting for?

Feathers in my hair

Yesterday, I got my second set of feather extensions at Mana Culture on South First and needless to say, I la la love them! Taylor took real good care of me. This time I got three 'bundles', at $20 a pop, it's a real fun way to change your look, and it only requires about a half hour of your time. While you wait, they have a gorgeous selection of jewelry for you to peruse.

The Kitchen project week 2 - Mushroom Risotto bake

Hello from gloomy Austin. We had a brief peek at sunshine yesterday, but it's back to gloomsville today. I pretty much stayed indoors all weekend because all it did was rain rain rain. Come Sunday, I wasn't very motivated to do much, but I knew I had to keep on track with my kitchen project and after a bit of searching, I settled on this recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, The Kitchn. I switched it up a bit, Central Market was out of cremini mushrooms :( and I used chicken stock instead of veggie, otherwise it would have been a vegan recipe. It was actually quite fun to make, save for the endless tears I got from slicing and dicing the onions. Boy, did that HURT! I usually have my contact lenses in and for some crazy reason, they act as a barrier and save me from the burning tears. Regardless, the bake was delicious and cozy and perfect for a rainy night in watching the Golden Globes. And, for the record, I thought Ricky Gervais was hilarious.

Cremini's were out, so I settled on these

I'm crying out in pain at this point

Garlic and onions are my happy smell

I love having a giant rosemary bush in my front yard

y voila! 

December 1980

My dad passed away three years ago today. Not a day goes by that he doesn't enter my thoughts, I've been thinking about him all week, and then today I got up and went to my normal pilates class and it wasn't until right after, my sister said something about today being the day and then it hit me. It made me feel sad and bad for some reason that I didn't wake up knowing. But, that's life I guess. We don't need to carry our grief all of the time. Life can be tough as it is. 

I tend to look at life as a glass half full most of the time anyhow. So, today I celebrate him. This picture says December 1980 on the back of the image. He was just a few years younger than I am now. He has his whole life ahead of him. He looks happy and proud. 

We miss you Dad. 

xo lisa, laura & anni 

Hot Toddy weather

It has been pretty cold in Austin these past several days. No, we don't get snow or blizzards, but for us Texans, a night in the 20's or 30's is not something that we are used to. I've never actually made a Hot Toddy, but I love to say it. It just sounds cozy and for anyone who knows me (and as my sister suggested) 'Cozy' should be my middle name. Lisa Cozy....it certainly has a nice ring to it..Anywho, I looked up some recipes and realized that for once, I actually had all the ingredients to attempt this, granted, it's a drink, but it was an exciting feeling! So, I yelled down my plan and got a 'yes please' as an answer and started on my mission. I used this recipe from Allrecipes.com, which doesn't call to use tea. I also used Scotch instead of Whiskey. Perhaps next time I will try it with some steeped tea for some added coziness :), but they were pretty deelish all the same.

My sister got this vintage shot glass for me on etsy.com

mini grater!

cozy in a cup

Currently obsessing over...DOWNTON ABBEY

For those who know me, I'm a total sucker for period pieces. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen the 5 hour version of 'Pride and Prejudice'. 
The latest on Masterpiece Theatre is 'Downton Abbey'.
Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair,  raved about it in last month's 'Letter from the Editor'. He had me at 'Shooting Party' and 'Gosford Park'. So, the DVR was set. The first episode aired on Sunday night and I gotta say, it's delicious! Lots of gossip, intrigue and drama. I love the juxtaposition of the upper class and the servants living under the same roof. Needless to say, I can't wait for the next episode.
Downton Abbey aires on Sunday evenings, January 9-30 on your local PBS affiliate.

Week One of the kitchen experiment - Pork Carnitas Tacos

In addition to my list of places to go in and around Austin, as an add on, I have made a 'general self improvement' resolution list. These are things I felt would enrich my life and make me a happier person if I stuck to making them part of my routine.
Tops on the list is to make one new dish every week, any day of the week, as long as I do it and it's new to me. I found this yummy looking recipe via Iowa Girl Eats who got it from one of my favorite blogs, The Kitchn. It was my first time EVER using a crock pot (no joke, and insert embarrassed face here) and boy am I fan! 20 minutes of prep and in it went. 8 hours later, I arrived to a wonderfully cozy smelling house and dinner was done all while I was out at a lady housewarming party drinking pink champagne and avoiding the cheese tray. Here is how it went down..

I started out by browning the pork shoulder on all sides for about 5 mins each. This process took the longest and isn't necessary, but I wanted to start out with a little crunchy color.

I only had to use my knife to trim off the fat and crush the garlic.

Both, my cutting board and the cutting mat are in the shape of pigs (totally not planned) but funny all the same. Oink!

Gotta have some veggies.

e voila! Into the mouth you go! 

Ice Capades in Austin

Well, not really. In case you didn't already know, Austin is the Whole Foods capitol of the world. I'm not sure if other Whole Foods offer ice skating, but ours does! My sister and I have been talking about going since Thanksgiving when the seasonal rink first opened. Now that there are only a couple of weeks left and  with our newfound 'let's do EVERYTHING we've EVER talked about' attitude, we are going tonight. We've assembled a little rag tag crew of ladies and we'll be on the rink at 7...let's see how long we last. Following will be a nice dinner at the Fish Market inside Whole Foods, which serve super tasty fish accompanied by beautiful veggie sides and you can even order some wine and watch the shoppers go by.

The rink is open until Jan 16, 2011.
Fee is $10
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/lamar/fire-and-ice-rink-information/