Southbound 35

We went out of town in late August and early September to hang out and see friends, and I keep meaning to post stuff about it!

Drew and I decided to take a weekend away in Austin a few weeks ago to celebrate...our love! Or something. We both went to UT and going back to Austin is always fun for us - especially when we make lists of restaurants to frequent while we're there. The most stressful part is picking where to eat and what to do because there's SO MUCH!

Our hotel room at the Stephen F. Austin!

Another view of our hotel room!

Another great reason to be in Austin was to see my brother. He and his wife just moved there from Berlin to get his PhD at UT - he's evidently addicted to learning. A gene/hobby/interest that I was not blessed with. We went to dinner at Mandola's, a cute Italian restaurant that has the BEST PIZZA in the city!!! (In my opinion.) And then we pretended like we were young and still living the dream and went to Cain and Abel's for a few drinks. Sigh.

The next morning we stopped by John and Lauren's apartment and this is what we found greeting us at the door. Some may say it's fitting.

My brother showcasing their awesome place!!

The cutest chair in all the land in their apartment. She just picked these two fabrics to recover the chair with and voila, the coolest thing ever.

We also went to Kirbey Lane, THE quintessential Austin/college breakfast locale, and I ordered the Kirbey Queso as an appetizer to my breakfast. That's right. I got the Veggie Scramble because I'm super healthy and food concious, and Drew got the basic breakfast thingy majig - gingerbread pancakes and bacon and eggs and deliciousness. At some point during this breakfast and all the food photography, my brother accused me of being a Food Pornographer and indulging in Food Pornography. And you know what? I LIKED it. If loving food porn is wrong, then I don't wanna be right. This continued throughout the weekend.

Next up was a trip to South Congress to hit up the weirdo beardo shops and get some more food. There are lots of weirdo beardo people walking around there too, but I guess that's part of the fun.

A pair of boots I liked for myself at Allen's Boots. Perhaps I'll buy them sometime.

We needed something cool and refreshing on the hot summer day, so we stopped at a parking lot full of food trucks. They're all the rage right now, you know. A pink lemonade shaved ice and we were on our way to the next truck....

Hey Cupcake! Oh, hi! Great to see you.

This is just your basic, run o' the mill vanilla cupcake with chocolate icing, but it sure didn't TASTE basic or run o' the mill. It tasted like something I would have made myself but BETTER.

We then stopped by Abel's on the Lake for an afternoon margarita and to enjoy the sights on the lake. And the college kids acting like they all are supposed to. Ohhh to be young again! A quick stop by the hotel to nap and change, and we were on our way to our favorite place ever: MOONSHINE.

Moonshine has the best brunch in the state, and it's worth every damn penny. Drew chose to forego the brunch, much to my dismay, because he said he'd be miserable the rest of the day. SO WHAT. I am always willing to risk misery for the Moonshine brunch. However, we decided to go to dinner instead, which is the next best thing.

This is an elementary school caliber picture of my Ruby Red Slipper martini. Vodka, grapefruit juice, and champagne. Mmmmm.

I believe in Food Porn, this would be called the Money Shot. Ooooooh baby. That was some crab stuff rainbow trout with some veggies, corn salsa, and mac and cheese, of course. I think I ate every single crumb and was tempted to lick my plate. Sorry not sorry.

Kirk came and met us for a drink at our hotel, we got breakfast tacos in the morning (another major bonus) and we were on our way. It was so fun! I think we hit up everywhere we wanted to and successfully completed our food tour of Austin. (Side note: whenever people ask me how a trip to NYC, Austin, or anywhere else was, I usually say something like "It was fun! We pretty much ate our way through the city!" I wish I could say something else about my trips, but I suppose this is the life of a Food Pornographer.) We had a great time and can't wait to go back!