update!

Obviously many things have happened since I've been absent from my blogging...

Pippa has been growing like a weed. I attempted to introduce her to Justin's dog Buck....

Notttt too successful. She is quite the maniac lately until night time when she likes to lay across my neck like a scarf and suffocate me. Both mine and Shawn's hands are covered in scratches from her attacks. To the point where I've had multiple random people ask me if I have a cat. Luckily I can say yes, but I keep thinking about what an awkward question that would be if I didn't...

Thinking back over October and what we've been up to, I can pretty much only think of one thing: Halloween. I don't believe I've ever done so many Halloween-related activities in my life. To start, Shawn worked in a haunted house for the month of October, which involved a daily dousing of fake blood and wearing of white-out eye contacts which all began to not even strike me as unusual around Day 10. 

Then came Zombie Crawl. Thousands of people dressed as zombies rambling around the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. There were definitely some sights to see. And some sticky blood to be had, considering the fake stuff we made was mainly corn syrup. Oh yeah, that felt good :(

Sometime in the Halloween blur of October, we managed to carve what seemed like a thousand pumpkins:

Can you guess who is who?

Shawn did this one for work.

All that pumpkin meant that of course we had 2 rounds of toasted pumpkin seeds, a loaf of pumpkin bread, and are now in the process of making pumpkin soup to freeze for Thanksgiving :)

Speaking of Fall recipes.. I finally managed to make a tart with my tart pan I bought months ago... a scrumptious caramelized apple and onion tart with homemade rosemary crust. Deeelicious. I must apologize to my dear mother for hating her rosemary potatoes so much growing up because I now think it's one of my favorite flavors. Who knew?

You'd think with all this Halloween-ing we would've planned our costumes ahead of time.. but no. So basically at the last minute before we headed out to our apartment community get-together, I had the grand idea to be Goldilocks and Shawn would be a bear. Pretty much based solely on the fact that he was wearing big bear feet slippers and I have a blonde wig that I need to lower my PPW on (Price Per Wear, that is). So I whipped up this little ensemble and then got to work making Shawn into a bear.

This may have involved a brown pillowcase over his head with a cutout for his face. The two corners tied at the top to make ears. Let's just say he did not love, and thus, no pictures :( But he was a good sport and I was freezing. Very jealous of his brown snow pants and brown hoodie. The party was actually thrown by our apartment management company who owns a ton of properties around Denver. Two of our neighbor friends won $250 off rent and $500 off rent. We walked away with a $100 gift certificate. Not too shabby! For the record, it was a random drawing, not a costume contest :)

Aside from all that nonsense, I've been staying quite busy at the j-o-b's. Things are going very well at the Holiday Inn. There's been talk of putting me strictly in charge of the wedding business. Which sounds like a fantastic idea to me! I've also been working with Pink Posey here and there, which got me a little gig making a sign for a bride's ring bearer to carry down the aisle:

Still waiting to see the professional photos from that one, but I can't imagine how it was not the cutest thing ever. It also allowed me to decorate my first ice cake. Shawn actually helped with this one. The bough of flowers across the bottom was his lovely idea :)

Unfortunately, with all this working there haven't been many estate sale visits. Or perhaps it's the fact that our tiny apartment has reached capacity. This hasn't stopped Shawn from Craigslisting, however, and I am "proud" to say that we are now the "happy" owners of:

60 bottles of hot sauce from around the globe...

A cat condo larger than my own body...

A PS3 that is the reason I am undistracted enough to be writing this at the moment...

More fish and aquatic beings than I can even count...

And an iguana who basically came and went (i.e. got the boot) in one weekend. Luckily while he was here, it was necessary for us to acquire another ginormous tank so we have a home for the next "surprise" !!!

Needless to say, things are never dull. But it finally feels like we're getting into the groove of normal life for the most part, which is a nice change from the semi-chaos of the past few months. And to top it all off, there's a Jacksonville trip on the horizon! December 1-6 we'll be home to visit for the holidays. Can't wait!

blue skies

I must say, the weather here is practically perfect. (Remind me of that when January comes..) Gorgeous blue skies as far as you can see. Which means we've been taking advantage of the roof deck and the many parks Denver has to offer. After a stunning rooftop victory by Shawn in Gin Rummy, we whipped up some mango jicama salsa and fajitas. So delish. And the salsa got even better the next day. Yum.

Unfortunately we didn't get this little guy until an estate sale a couple days later, but next time we're chopping up some salsa, things should move a bit more quickly.

The other day we paid a visit to the Skate Park and spectated for a couple hours. It's actually a pretty huge place. And there were definitely people of all ages. One dad was there skating with his two little boys on their razor scooters. Couple of daredevils, those two. 

After that, we met up with one of Shawn's friends and went with him to a potluck on the roof of his mom's building. It's one of those 55 and up places so we sort of stuck out like sore thumbs but it was a fun change of pace and I always love a good potluck. So many different things to sample :) Plus I got to beat Shawn again in cornhole. Heh heh.

Yesterday morning I went for a run and had to stop to take a picture of this lady's front yard. Well, to be honest, I had already stopped anyway to catch my breath for the millionth time...

The pictures don't capture it so well, but her front yard is entirely covered in rose bushes. In fact, there are tons of roses in bloom all over the city. I think it's so fun to see so many different types of plants growing than the ones I'm used to in Florida.

To top off the weekend, Shawn and I went to Jazz in the Park, which is a weekly event at City Park. Having worked a wedding the night before, I managed to score two boxed lunches that were unused vendor meals, and we had a bottle of champagne in the fridge that Shawn was given one day at Bistro. So we brought our free little picnic and stretched out under a huge shade tree in the park. Doesn't get much better than that :)

pure deliciousness part II

Our second evening out was veeerrry different from the first. We decided to class it up big time and Shawn treated me to a 5-star meal at the Brown Palace Hotel. We weren't eating until pretty late so when Justin called wondering what we were up to, Shawn told him to come on by. He brought with him the ingredients to make Tominis which are a cocktail he used to drink with an old salty dog he knew in Maryland who lived on his boat for a while. So obviously they were the perfect refreshing summer time drink. Gin and coconut water with a squeeze of lemon. Cocktail hour delivery service? Yes, please!

We went up on the roof and ended up meeting some neighbors. Pretty soon a game of Texas Hold 'Em was underway followed by a little Black Jack. Also, after some chatting, we found out that Rose (new neighbor friend) was moving out and temporarily moving into a place with some friends who have a German Shepherd. So she was not going to be able to bring her cat, Sam, with her for that month. Obviously we offered to cat sit since I've been dying for a cat anyway. So now we have a little furry friend who seems quite happy here with plenty of fish to watch for entertainment. He does have a habit for crying rather loudly in the morning but we're working on that.

Sam, Samuel, Samtastic, Sam Adams, Samson, Samsonite, Sammi-Sam, Samilicious

Anyway... on to the good stuff. So after a mad dash to get ready after cocktail hour ran a bit over time.. we arrived at the Brown Palace and decided to go for the tasting menu since that's what we like to do. We ordered a bottle of wine and awaited the goodies to come. After an antipasto skewer for an amuse bouche, our appetizers arrived. The sommelier came by and poured us a bit of wine that he had paired with our respective dishes. Of course his trick worked and we went ahead and asked for the wine pairings with each course.

Boy am I glad we did though. (Aside from the fact that we already had a bottle of wine on the table and a martini under our belt and had more wine coming than is even slightly normal...) But the pairing really was the best part of the meal. I mean, obviously the food was nothing to turn up your nose at, but I've eaten an awful lot of good food in my life. The way the wine went with it was amazing. My soup course was an artichoke soup with a small grilled ham and cheese in the center of the bowl. As the sommelier poured the wine, he said, "It's hard to tell where the soup ends and the wine begins.." with an air of mystery. He was right! It seriously blew my mind how good some of the pairings were. The wine with Shawn's salad tasted like someone had practically made it from the salad ingredients. And the tasting menu wasn't fixed as some of them are, so we had options for each course. Obviously we ordered all different things so we ended up getting to taste ten different dishes with wine for each. Well, okay it was only nine. I opted out of my dessert course and got coffee instead. I was seriously full. But Shawn had ordered Bananas Foster which we could both barely eat a bite of.

"You guys got a wheelbarrow back there? Somebody's gonna have to roll me outta here!"

Haha don't worry, neither of us actually said that. But I understand where those people are coming from :) All in all, a deliciously fantastic meal that was a real treat. Taking pictures didn't seem quite appropriate so you'll just have to use your imagination...

pure deliciousness part I

We actually went out to eat two different nights last week (which is rare for us with Shawn usually working at night). I must say they were two VERY diffferent experiences and yet both quite fantastic.

It was sort of last minute when we decided to eat out and so were in a rush Urban Spoonin' where we should go. There's tons of restaurants that I've been wanting to try but it was a weekday and almost 9. Not wanting to be "those people" who show up at closing time was limiting our options. Plus we weren't really sure what we were feeling like. Then we remembered seeing all these Ethiopian restaurants on East Colfax one day and wondering what the deal was. I've never seen one Ethiopian restaurant, much less six in a ten block stretch. So we decided to broaden our culinary horizons and go for it.

We ended up at Queen of Sheba a little past nine. The owner was walking some other guests out the door as we walked up and My Polite One was reassured that she was more than happy to have us and we were certainly not too late. So with that stress behind us--and when I say us, I mean mostly Shawn :) we were able to enjoy our feast. 

Looking at the menu, the obvious choice seemed to be Queen of Sheba's Dinner for Two which would give us a good sampling of this mystery cuisine. And also included two glasses of Ethiopian honey wine. The owner informed us that she makes the wine right there at the restaurant but was worried we'd think it was too sweet. So she went through the trouble of bringing us a small taste test, even though we insisted it was unnecessary. She was honestly the nicest woman and I would go back there just for her, even if the food hadn't been so fantastic. She took the time to explain everything to us about her menu and I think she was genuinely excited to be serving us our first Ethiopian meal.

We started with an appetizer that could best be described as hummus made from lentils. There are no utensils used in Ethiopian cuisine, instead everything is served with enjera, which is a type of sourdough flatbread. You rip off pieces and use that to grab the deliciously spiced and stewed meats and vegetables. Also, it's called a goorsha when you you feed the bread rolled with meat to your friend. Obviously we had to do that as well.

The food has similar flavors to Indian or Moroccan dishes I've had. A subtle spiciness and super tender meats. We had chicken, lamb, red lentils, stewed beef, cabbage and potatoes, and a hardboiled egg thrown in for good measure. The spongy bread is so perfect with the heavy flavors since it has that sort of vinegar fermented taste. Yum! We left there so full and when she brought us a little box to pack up the rest of our dish, she had already put some extra lentils and cabbage in there to enjoy with our meat. So lovely :)

relaxing

After a drizzly week last week, I'm happy to say that the weather has cleared up and today is turning into an absolutely GORGEOUS day. Unfortunately I have to work a wedding tonight so I won't get to enjoy it as much as I'd like. By some weird twist of scheduling, Shawn's been off the past three days so we took advantage Thursday night and had a cookout.

Strangely enough, on Tuesday night Shawn stopped into Mellow Mushroom after work (that's definitely not the strange part..) and happened to run into a guy that he worked with on the cruise ship! Cliff was here on a short break so Shawn invited him to come over on Thursday night when we were having Robyn and Justin (and their dog Buck) over.

We had pork ribs with Shawn's Secret Recipe barbecue sauce and steak. I made veggie kabobs with onions mushrooms and brussels sprouts and Shawn made what is becoming a cookout tradition--baked macaroni made with Annie's white cheddar shells and a toasted Cheez-it topping. Only this time he added a bit of crumbled bacon and some cream cheese so it was of course even more delicious. A side note about brussels sprouts: if you've never tried them before because you once saw on a cartoon when you were a child that they were gross and have just been believing it for the past 20 years, please try them! If you cook them right and don't overcook them into slimy little balls, they can be so delicious and a good way to mix it up if you're sick of broccoli and green beans. -end brussels sprout soapbox-

Anyway, the weather was nice so we sat up on the roof deck to eat. Enjoying one of those fabulous evenings talking with friends, drinking beer and eating good food. Basically, what life was made for in my book :) I meant to take pictures but well, we were lucky to remember to even turn off the grill, so blogging was not exactly on my mind at the time..

Never one to be idle, Shawn stayed busy during his days off, surprising me by taking Civ to get detailed (she was looking a little rough since the move) and bringing home a completely scrumptious Nutella crepe that I thoroughly enjoyed. A shiny car and a delicious pastry? *swoon*

He was also able to finally get the doorknob installed on the bedroom door which has been a sore subject for quite some time now. This glass knob was another gift he had surprised me with way back in Jacksonville way back before he went to Hawaii. So it's been around a while. At the time, he had tried to install it on my bedroom door but it didn't fit with the existing hardware. Then when we got here, we discovered basically the same thing. So after two trips to the locksmith, two episodes of the knobs breaking off their base due to Shawn trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole, a failed attempt at epoxying the knobs back together, and some filing out of the doorknob hole in the door, we have a working knob! And it sure is purty :)

Our aquarium of wonders has also gained a few more residents:

Sue the bichir fish.. She has an eel-like body and just two little side fins right behind her head so her movements are usually pretty odd. But she gets along with Lord Tennyson, which is apparently a difficult thing to do. It seems like every fish we want will either eat or be eaten by him. But I caught them both together in the hiding spot in our tank, so I'd say they became fast friends. Or luvaaaas.

When we went to the fish store the other day, we saw this really cool black knife fish that we were gonna get. Then as the girl is about to scoop him out, she casually asks us if we have frozen brine shrimp, since that's all he eats. We have frozen krill, is that okay? Since that's what Sue and LT eat.. No, he really needs brine shrimp, she says, since they're much smaller. And then she says, "What I usually do is get a little of the shrimp in a dish with some water in it so that they thaw out and then I use an eyedropper and suck some of them up and reach my hand down in and just squeeze out a couple at a time right in front of him..." Me and Shawn look at each other. "Uh, can we just get a snail?"

So now we have Gary:

I was not too excited to be getting a snail since I prefer my pets to entertain me, but Gary has proven himself to be a rather adventurous snail (climbing to the tops of the trees, above) and so he's won me over.

brrrr

It's been quite chilly here this past week (freezing-rain-bouncing-off-my-windshield chilly) which inspired me to whip up some chicken soup with rice. I didn't really use a recipe but I did put to use the chicken stock we froze a while ago when we made a super big batch. Mmmm it was so good. The stock added such good flavor. I precooked the rice for a bit since brown rice takes FOREVER to cook it seems. Probably could have cooked it a bit longer, but I was too cold and hungry :)

I was laughing to myself as I was taking these pictures (especially the first one) because it's kind of weird to stop in the middle of cooking to snap some pics. But I'm always a fan of a good mise en place. Have I mentioned my addiction to thingsorganizedneatly? Full of OCD images that just make my heart happy :) 

Shawn decided to snap a picture of this pizza from the other night:

I had carefully rearranged the pepperonis and he just thought that was the most ridiculous thing. I told him that in the grand scheme of strange organize-y things I do, this one's not so weird. Who wants to eat a mouthful of pepperonis in one bite and then only cheese in the next? Not this girl. He had a lovely time eating miscellaneous slices off to ruin my symmetry while we waited for the oven to preheat.

In other food news, we finally managed to eat all the Easter ham. I had frozen it in batches since I knew we'd never eat it all in time and after the ham and bean soup, countless ham sandwiches, ham and egg scrambles, and some ham just dipped in honey mustard and dijon for good measure... it's finally gone! The ham situation was a little out of control there for a minute.

Now I'm trying to come up with creative ways to use up this giant bag of potatoes we bought before they start growing their own potato farm in the pantry. I made some super crispy spiced oven fries earlier and I think my potato and lentil soup is juuuust about done.

happy easter!

Missing my bebes today and the usual Easter festivities. The ham’s in the oven but there’s no one to dye eggs with :(

That one was a few years ago. I remember Andrew kept trying to knock the mugs over so he was not involved..

Here's what Shawn and I sent them this year for a little Easter fun:

A homemade game of memory. We split them up and drew half each, can you guess whose is whose? ;) I backed them with green cardstock. These kids are way too good at that game to have any sort of head start with see-through cards. Here’s Laina beating up on Shawn.

My dad used to let Drew get three flips per turn but promptly nipped that in the bud after Drew innocently asked him one day, “PePa do we have to keep playing until you win?”

We had a cooking fiesta last night after FINALLY going grocery shopping. I learned a great trick in all my blog reading about keeping a “stock bag” in the freezer. We’ve been putting leftover chicken bones and miscellaneous veggies in there (like the ends of carrots and celery that you would normally just throw out). So after scooping up some more ingredients from the store, we made a huge batch of chicken stock. I’ve always thought about making my own but never thought about it when I had the stuff on hand. It’s actually really easy, just takes a long time (poor planning = straining out chicken bones at midnight..). We froze it in a couple different size bags to use later. I’m thinking I’ll be making a soup with the leftover ham bone too.

While the stock was simmering, Shawn was busy with his favorite food: hotdogs. Well, this time it was bratwurst but they are both very dear to his heart. He grilled them up and fixed them three different ways. One with sauerkraut and horseradish mustard, one Caribbean style with grilled spiced mango, and one “classic” topped with ketchup and grilled mushrooms and onions. Delicious. I think I’m at my hotdog quota for life. Actually, that ham does have about two more hours of cook time...

cookin' and craftin'

A crazy thing happened the other day—I went to work! Just a catering job but it was nice to actually make a bit of money again and meet some new people. And I have a few jobs lined up for next week, so things are moving along :)

The past couple days have been full of cooking and crafting. We had an enormous pack of chicken to cook so we decided to split it up and each have a stab at it. Since it was Sunday, and well, Sundays are made for crockpot meals, I made this recipe. Just substituting the whole chicken for the halves that we bought.

spice rubbed and ready to go

It took about 4 ½ or 5 hours to cook but mmmm mm it was worth it. Like a Publix rotisserie chicken. And super simple. Luckily Shawn was working that day so it was allowed to cook long enough. He doesn’t exactly have patience for slow cooking methods. (Which is what led him to proclaim “I’m never cooking Indian food again!” the following night when it was his turn.) But the curried roasted chicken he made with spicy slow simmered chickpeas was well worth the wait.

Meanwhile, the living room and dining area have become enveloped in crafting clutter. I finally dug out the sewing machine to hem a dress and try out an Easter card design similar to this one:

found on pinterest of course

My machine had no love for sewing on paper though, so I had to bust out the trusty needle and thread. Not exactly the neatest stitches (I guess I’m more of a Laura Ingalls than a Mary..) but it got the job done. I also constructed Laina’s birthday card and then Shawn and I had a grand ole time making Laina and Andrew's Easter present. Don’t want to ruin the surprise with pictures of that yet.

And finally, since I had my sewing goodies out, I whipped together this little barrette out of extra buttons I had.

Yes, I do always keep the extra buttons they give you with shirts and pants. No, I have not ever needed them other than maybe once. Maybe. But you know, just in case :)

I also managed to motivate myself to go for a run. My first mile-high run. And wow, it was a doozy. I’m pretty sure I must have stopped about 5 or 6 times to walk during my 3 mile loop. The fact that I haven’t actually run in quite some time wasn’t helping my case either. Never enough oxygen.

dinner guests

With Robyn’s mum in town we had our first opportunity for entertaining. Exciting! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and the gas grill that our building provides and barbecue some chicken. 

I spent the morning preparing a scrumptious Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce (if I do say so myself). Starting it early in the day meant that the flavors had time to meld in my $4 garage sale crockpot for several hours. Alongside it we served asparagus and baked macaroni made with cauliflower and Annie’s White Cheddar Shells, one of Shawn’s childhood obsessions. The top was a crunchy Cheez-it crust :) Shawn also whipped up some homemade guacamole to snack on while the chicken was on the grill. Yum! 

After we chatted around the table (that had been pulled up to the couch for additional seating.. we only have 2 chairs..) it was time for dessert. I put my Silver Slipper skills to work and made bananas foster to top caramel turtle brownies with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Luckily they were small servings. So rich but oh so good. I meant to take pictures, especially since dessert was so cute in my little white Fire King dishes, but alas, I forgot. I must say I was quite pleased that there were some leftovers. Definitely excited to eat that meal again :)

Earlier in the day, while I was getting the house together and stashing miscellaneous unpacked boxes and such into any and all closets, I decided that our poor plain table definitely needed a centerpiece. Making a little trio of vases, I took Shawn with me for some greenery clipping around the neighborhood. Perhaps I should have done this a little sooner than 5:00 when everyone was arriving home from work.. not the best planning. But with Shawn as my distractor I was able to get enough pieces to fill my vases.

Don’t worry, they were only clipped from large trees and shrubs. I would never steal someone’s flowers from their bed but I was amazed at how many people were growing muscari and tulips. All kinds of flowers that you certainly don’t see much of in Florida. I took a few pics during our stroll.

hellebores!

Not sure what these gorgeous pink flowering branches are but I definitely want them

And these little guys were randomly growing in a sidewalk crack. So cute!

the job hunt

The beginning of our first real week in Denver meant it was time for the dreaded job hunt to begin. Bleh. On Monday, Shawn went out and got hired at the first place he went to. Fantastic! I knew the whole time it wouldn’t be an issue for him to start working quickly. Tuesday was my turn. Sliiightly more difficult. I stopped at a few.. excuse me, my chauffeur took me to a few.. florists where I turned in my resume and went over my portfolio. And yes, Shawn did wear a vest and driving cap to fill the role. 

A few potentials but nothing super-promising. Everyone is of course more willing to offer freelance work for events than an actual position, which is fine by me as long as I’m doing SOMETHING. I did email a few other places and make some calls to event planners, so we shall see. Anyway, enough about the tedium of job hunting.. Also on Tuesday we stopped in to Steuben’s for some food and cocktails. Someone on the ship had recommended it to Shawn so we decided to check it out and I must say it could be a new favorite. I only say could because there’s so many options around here that I don’t want to go picking favorites just yet, but we have already been back for a second time so I think that’s a sign :) 

They have an awesome spirit selection which has our wheels turning on what to add to our own little bar.. I love you, negroni, but if I think it’s time to change our relationship status. Not only are the drinks superb but the food is pretty much amazing all around. The grilled veggie sandwich I had that day came with an olive tapenade and spicy relish. On the next visit I chose a potato pancake and chicken green chili (which is everywhere around here) and have yet to be disappointed.

oh texas

Shortly after getting on the road towards Plano, we came upon IKEA which, shockingly, I have never been to. Obviously a detour was in order. I will say that my trip was somewhat less enjoyable due to my growing hunger so we sped thru to the end where we purchased a drink, two hotdogs, a bag of chips, and an icecream cone for $3!! “Are you sure we shouldn’t give you more money?” Delish and just enough snack to hold us over till dinner at Sami and Luke’s.

We arrived in Plano just in time for an amazing fajita dinner cooked by the brand new Mrs. Volcansek. Got to catch up on the latest news/projects/recipes etc. and meet the lucky Luke. Also took a peek at some wedding pictures and saw the gorgeous dress live in person since we weren’t able to make it to the wedding. And what’s dinner without dessert so Sami and Luke whipped us up a batch of toffee with white and milk chocolate and nuts to pack along for the seemingly neverending road ahead of us. In the morning, Luke had to work super early so we gladly ate his portion of the incredibly rich and oh so satisfying German Pancake that Sami whipped up. Please oh please send me that recipe. I must repeat!

While I packed the bags and shimmied everything back into its tiny space in the car, Shawn re-tied the suitcase and box back onto the trunk and bike rack—a routine we were becoming experts at by this point. Definitely started to feel like gypsies living out of the car. “Oh, you’re cold? I know there’s a jacket back in here somewhere..” “Bummer, they didn’t give me a spoon for my soup.. where’d we pack the kitchen stuff again?”

This is basically all there is to say about Northern Texas:

Fields forever and every now and then a strange little town (always, and I mean always containing a Subway and a Dairy Queen) for hour after hour, mile after mile. The original plan was to stop in Amarillo but we weren’t totally over it by then so pushed on for another hour to Dumas where the fabulous Dumas Inn awaited us. I think Nicole Kidman might have stayed there once. Oh no wait, just migrant workers. My mistake. 

austin

In the morning we headed to Austin, what I knew would be my favorite city on the route. It’s definitely noteworthy how terrible the roads were the entire time we were in Louisiana. Driving around New Orleans was similar to driving in Mexico. Once we got to Texas it was smooooth sailing. Which was important since the car was so loaded down that every time we hit any sort of bump I would let out a shriek, certain that we were about to scrape bottom. Shawn loved that. But there were no car mishaps during the whole trip and we actually still managed to get pretty good gas mileage, considering. 

With no success lining up a couch in Austin, we headed to the luxurious accommodations of the local Super 8. It was actually not too shabby and located close enough that we were able to take a quick bus ride to get dinner. Of course that quick ride did involve one drunk bum who proceeded to ask Shawn “why his lady look so mad”. Reeaal original, guy. Luckily he got booted off without incident. For dinner we had the amazing luck of randomly choosing Second Bar + Kitchen which had a superb cocktail selection and delicious food. We had the Buffalo Fried Pickles, Veal Meatballs, and Brandy Balsamic Glazed Pearl Onions. After we struck up a conversation with the bartender, one of the owners on duty gave us an impromptu tour of the place and was apparently in such a great mood (or maybe it was Shawn’s dimples) that he sent us out a dessert sampler on the house. Basically a trio of my favorite things: dessert, sampling, and free! And the desserts were not only tasty but inventive.. Goat Cheese Cheesecake, Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches with Foie Gras Buttercream, and Brownies with Campari Pop Rocks. And there was shortbread, which, while not very inventive, was di-vine. 

We strolled the main strip for a bit and stopped in for a beer and to hear some live music (Austin is after all the Live Music Capital of the World) then called it a night. The next day we had only a short 4 hour drive to Sami’s just north of Dallas so we hung out in Austin for a while, browsing antique shops and discovering the quirkier side of the city. It was during this shopping trip that I popped into Kendra Scott for a little window shopping and fell in love with this guy:

A total splurge for my normal penny-pinching self, but something I had been looking for and basically my only souvenir from the trip. So there ya go, purchase justified. Plus Shawn was happy to see me actually spend some money for once so there’s that :) I’m actually making it sound a lot less stressful than it was.. I first spotted it at the beginning of the day and himmed and hawed over whether or not I should get it all through lunch, up and down the shopping strip, and through an espresso/bathroom break until finally I decided to just get over it and go back and buy it. So that’s the truth.

new orleans

Amazingly leaving nearly on schedule, we popped into Tallahassee for lunch with Angelica at Three Guys. Yes, in case you were wondering, the Caesar salad is still the best ever. I always love seeing that girl and discussing previous/future gypsy adventures. NYC awaits you woman! 

We proceeded to New Orleans where we had arranged to stay with Aaron via couchsurfing.org. After finally speaking on the phone to Aaron rather than through email and commenting “Hm, that’s not what I expected him to sound like, and I think he said something about a wife”, Shawn decided maybe he should take a second look at Aaron’s profile so we could be slightly more informed houseguests. He had after all sent out quite a number of requests in the previous week so everyone was sort of muddling together. We then discovered that Aaron was not only married but also had a young son. We hadn’t exactly calculated a toddler into our plans for New Orleans. But it turned out to be perfectly fine as Aaron’s wife spent her every waking minute tending to Ze-ev (his name, yes) and Aaron showed us around the town after cooking an AMAZING chicken dinner with Israeli salad. 

The French Quarter was adorable with its European style architecture and cute shops and galleries. We had the requisite beignets and café au laits at Café du Monde and stopped into an absinthe bar where some chick dressed as a pirate proceeded to give us a 10 minute long schpiel on the history of absinthe. Bourbon Street, I will leave you to the Mardi Gras crowd. We did of course have to have one Hand Grenade which if I had to guess was 50% alcohol and 50% sugar. Mas o menos. 

We then headed to where the locals hang and saw an impromptu grunge show then wandered to what I thought was a pizza place, but actually turned out to have awesome live blues. What luck! By this point Aaron had gone home so we wandered some more, of course got lost, I sat in a tree, and we finally got a cab and made it safely to the lovely loft at Aaron’s house.