My "I"s (Iron Cactus & In-n-Out)

It was too much to narrow down my list so I settled for 2 "I"s on the restaurant list.



While I'd heard good things about Iron Cactus happy hour and since was on work travel in Dallas when I went (can you say reimbursement!) I figured it would be a great time to check this off my list. In my defense there are Iron Cactus restaurants in Austin so I didn't think I was cheating too badly being out of town technically for this one...

Ugh, what to say? The best only good part about this was the $2 house margaritas on Sundays.

The queso topping the veggie enchiladas, whose description was cleverly crafted to sound delicious, was incredibly thick and fatty with stale-tasting tortillas and not saute'd, but rather completely soggy veggies inside. The canned charro beans were better...

Austin has seen a recent invasion (no PC strikethrough) of Californians in the last few years. They've demanded their Trader Joe's and In-N-Out Burger restaurants, so of course I had to find out what the hype is all about :)

  

The double cheeseburger was good: small patties but no gristle and the veggies were crisp and fresh. I was a little confused with the thousand island-esque spread, though... Fries were cold within a few minutes (I saved calories not finishing them) but wow wow wow on the strawberry shake. They may be fooling me, but this actually tasted like real strawberries not just flavoring. Very yummy. 

McDonalds < In-n-Out < Dan's Hamburgers

Austin has local hamburger joints for all budgets to need another chain that was just so-so. 

Sorry Californians. Well, not really.

Torchy's Thursday

Tacos for me are like stranded-on-a-desert-island-last-kind-of-food-you'll-ever-eat good.

On our menu:
(LUQ) "The Vagabond"
The taco of the month was a grilled beef fajita on a bed of oh-so-sexy bacon topped with grilled onions, chimichurri sauce, feta cheese, and pico.

(LLQ) "Baja Shrimp"
Hand-battered fried shrimp with cooked cabbage slaw, beautifully done pickled jalapenos & onions and queso fresco with chipotle sauce.

(RLQ) "The Trailer Park"
Of course, when I was asked if I wanted to "Make it Trashy" I absolutely agreed.
Fried chicken with green chilis and pico de gallo topped with their famous queso (the "trashy" part)...and more cheese on top for good measure :)

(RUQ) "The Brushfire"
Grilled Jamaican jerk chicken with grilled jalapenos, mango, sour cream & cilantro. With the spicy diablo sauce because I wasn't the scaredy-cat with these tacos.

Let's not forget Lonestar Tallboys too :) A perfect compliment

Wordless Wednesday: First Solo Trip

First time ever for a solo trip: Denver did not disappoint!!

      

 

 

 

            

RAK Week 4

A week of blessings: both planned and unplanned options for Random Acts of Kindness.

My neighbor knocked on my door late one afternoon asking for $20 to get her through.

I'm typically a skeptic, especially when asking directly for cash, but her stopping by allowed me the chance to talk with her (we're usually passing each other on our way to other things) and it gave me the chance to learn and know her story.

The Blood Center offered me an orchid plant, since they'd had some recently donated to them, at the end of my platelet donation. It was pretty neat to have a blessing in return this time.

I've missed chances to donate to friends' causes because I felt I needed to do more than I really could. A terrible excuse. I didn't have much, but this week, I did help a friend get a little closer to her goal.

https://www.austinovertheedge.com/Linda/aboutme.cfm

My "H" (Habesha)

It was important to have some creative or unique cuisine on my list and I truly lucked out with a Groupon option for Ethiopian food a short drive from work!

Habesha, Ethiopian cuisine around the corner from one of my old neighborhoods, was both pleasantly delicious and fun to eat -- no silverware!! A few things to expect:

(1) Wash your hands; because...
(2) when dining family style, everyone is served dishes over injera: a spongey "pancake" perfect for soaking up meal juice as well as served for each person on the side to takes the place of utensils. A staple to the meal.
(3) Give yourself enough time to do a coffee ceremony - not really an option for a normal lunchtime.

Myself and two coworkers ordered 2 vegetarian (Gomen Watt [collards on left] and Shiro Wot/Tegabino Shiro [on right]) and a lamb dish Yebeg Fitfit [foreground]. The small salad we each had had a unique addition: jalapeno! 

My only complaint was the lamb was served in chunks with bone which made it hard to eat with hands/pick over it with teeth. The Tegabino Shiro, we all agreed, was the standout favorite by far. http://www.habesha-austin.com/

My "G" (Garbo's)

My boss kept talking about this food truck and I am so glad it went on my list...

A simple menu -- you come here to get serious with some lobster roll and/or chowder. They also have a daily homemade side. Garbo's does two different styles of their lobster roll:
Maine - your traditional roll, served cold over tender bibb lettuce after being tossed in a mayo-celery-scallion-spiced-lemoney deliciousness OR
Connecticut - straight chunks of lobster with a brushing of lemon-tarragon butter

You can probably tell from the description that I opted for the Maine roll. I tacked on the side of the day  as well which was a ginger coleslaw.

WOW!

In some cases, the trailers can be a bit pricier than I think they should be. You will most certainly get your money's worth with this truck. I honestly have -zero- complaints, the huge chunks of lobster meat were perfectly cooked and dressed with what is probably a super-secret mayo bound to make them a huge favorite in Austin (high five on the perfect hint of lemon - no need IMHO to use the included wedge).

The bun even (a friend of mine made the same comment) was light, soft, and buttery and thank goodness not a dense rock that would have ruined this roll completely! The slaw as well was solid but unique with a great touch of ginger.

I'm crossing my fingers their brick-&-mortar will be opening soon up in my area. Until then, you can track their weekly location at http://garboslobsteratx.com/

RAK Week 3

My mailman is such a sweet person I thought I'd leave a small treat one day for him.

I love getting mail. It's like a surprise (even if it is junk mail mostly) so to return the surprises he leaves and his sweet spirit every time I see him I baked up some bite-sized peanut butter chocolate chip cookies :)

The fun thing about RAK is sometimes it touches more than 1 person and sometimes you get to see the result (they were both kind enough to write a quick Thank You)