Today I am thankful for:
- A husband who listens, and holds me and tells me everything will be okay, and then takes me to get oysters and champagne.
- A mama and sister who are traveling all the way to Austin for a girls’ weekend in the Hill Country.
- A supervisor who is so understanding, so supportive, and so freakin’ nice.
- The song, “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer,” performed by Amos Milburn.
- Weezer.
- Two silly cats who chase each other and generally make me laugh.
- Dancing.
- Football on TV. I don’t watch it, but I like to hear it in the background when Justin watches it.
- My parents.
- The internets.
- Rum.

26 Words I love:
- Amulet
- Brazen
- Croissant
- Dram
- Elixir
- Feint
- Grenache
- Haberdashery
- Ivy
- Jewel
- Kolache
- Lathe
- Marigold
- Namaste
- Opulence
- Potion
- Quill
- Radiant
- Sepia
- Tokay
- Urban
- Voluptuous
- Wellfleet
- Xochitl
- Yodel
- Zabaglione
So usually I try to create a full 8Tracks playlist on the first day of each month, for that month. But now I plan to make the lists retroactively… each Monday, I’ll share a song or two that I’m feelin’ at the moment. Then at the end of the month, I’ll toss them all into an 8Tracks list, and it will represent what the month felt like. Does that make sense? I’m just going to fudge it and say that today’s music goes in the September pile, since I’ve missed most of August.
Of course, you all know me, so if I change my mind and completely ditch this idea next week, you won’t be surprised, right?
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I’m dreaming of travel right now, so this song seems appropriate: Angus and Julia Stone – Big Jet Plane
Angus And Julia Stone – “Big Jet Plane” (Official Video) from Quenelle_culturelle on Vimeo.
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I’m also feelin’ funky. So, a little Wyclef Jean – We Trying to Stay Alive.
Justin and I spent our Saturday traveling all over Austin to do some food research for the book. We ended up visiting 10 places in one day.
We started out with just one rule: we could only take one bite of each dish, so that we didn’t get full too early in the game. Yeah, that didn’t work. One bite?! Of a hot and tasty migas taco? Of a fresh piece of sake nigiri? Of a cool coconut snow cone?
It was a lot of food! We didn’t eat it all, or even half of it, but it was still a looooong day of eating. We took our little Zumi camera and my Canon Rebel along for the ride, and I put together this video of our day. It’s a good 7 minutes long, so I understand if you don’t have time/desire to watch it.
For those who do watch it, lemme know what you think!
Happy Monday, everybody!
Weekend Warriors from Crystal Esquivel on Vimeo.
So as we’ve been trying out new restaurants, I’ve been taking photos. Lots of photos. Some with my fancy-pants DSLR, some with my iPhone. I finally took the time to upload a huge batch of them last night, and I added them to my flickr page. I’m not going to blog about all of them (maybe a few), but if you want to see what we’ve been eating lately, you can see them on flickr.
I did notice one recurring theme in all these photos, which I have dubbed Justin in the Corner. Apparently I like to photograph Justin framed in the corner of the photo, with the restaurant background behind him.
At Nau’s Enfield Drug…
At Rockin’ Tomato…
At The County Line…
At Asia Cafe…
At Musashino…
At Chez Nous…
Thanks, babylove, for letting me take and post your photos, and for making every meal a bajillion times better with your presence.













