Poco-Cocoa – Page 166 – Things & Stuff

Lunch at Asti

I forgot to post this a long time ago, so the details are fuzzy, but let me assure you, lunch at Asti is ALWAYS a good idea. I went to lunch with my coworkers, and we had such a lovely meal. Thank goodness I brought my iphone, so I can share these dishes with you.

A complimentary little treat of baby romaine, ricotta salata and olive oil…

Green minestrone with pesto…

Penne with grilled chicken, spinach and gorgonzola cream sauce…

Panini with oven roasted tomatoes, housemade ricotta, arugula and fried egg…

Spaghetti carbonara…

Capellini neopolitano with crushed tomato, garlic, basil, olive oil and house-made link sausage…

Seriously, can I just eat at Asti or Fino every day?

🙂

May 14, 2009

Austin, Edibles
Playing Outside

When my sister was in kindergarten, the local newspaper came by the school the week before Mother’s Day to ask kids why they loved their moms. My sister’s response was, “I love my mommy because she lets me play outside.” My mom was horrified… “people will think I never let you go outside!” My sister insists that she was just nervous and didn’t know what to say.

It’s true though… I love my mama because she lets me play outside. When it was time for college, I decided on a university that was 7 hours away from her, and she was okay with this. When I told her that I really wasn’t Catholic anymore, and that I had been attending a Unitarian Universalist church, she accepted it. When I told her that I had become a vegetarian, she cooked meatless meals for me, even on Thanksgiving. When I told her I was turning my back on my nutrition education and taking a job at a vet clinic, she wished me good luck. When I told her I was moving to Boston, she cried, and drove those seven hours to Austin to hug me goodbye.

I have to agree with my sister… my mom has always encouraged us to be ourselves, to branch out, to live our own lives. I think this backfires for her sometimes, as I have become very independent and sometimes forget to call home often enough, but still, she accepts me, and loves me, and encourages me to play outside her comfort zone. She’s the best.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom. I love you.

May 10, 2009

Random Thoughts
Cheering up

I’ve been feeling a little down this week (did you know that I feel down sometimes? I often keep that my little secret.), so I decided to write a post that would cheer me up.

Last night we had dinner at The Screaming Goat. I had a chicken adobado taco and a ground beef taco on corn tortillas. The ground beef was so juicy and delicious that I went back and got another. So I had three tacos for dinner, which seems like a lot, but maybe it’s not?

Tomorrow I’m going to a hot dog party, and I’m bringing a dessert to share: Chocolate Eclair Icebox Dessert. I haven’t made it in ages, but it seems perfect for a hot dog party, don’t you think? Also, earlier this week I asked Justin if he wanted anything from the grocery store, and he said, “can we have hot dogs for dinner sometime soon?” and I said, “Sure!” and then I promptly forgot all about it and came home from Central Market hot-dogless. So it seems coincidental and somehow meaningful that we got invited to a hot dog party.

I was supposed to go to another blogger event last night, but I just didn’t feel up to it. Instead, Justin and I walked down to The Screaming Goat, and then we walked back home and I finished The Prisoner of Azkaban, which I was re-reading in preparation for the new Harry Potter film that’s coming out this summer. I think I’ll re-read Book 4 and Book 5 and stop there, so that I’m not distracted during the movie with thoughts of “oh, they left this out” or “that’s not how it’s supposed to go” (because at the moment I don’t remember many of the details of Book 6, as it’s been quite some time since I’ve read it). Then after I watch the movie I’ll re-read Book 6 and all will be well.

We got new curtains for the bedroom, and I’m excited to put them up this weekend. I think we’ll still need some type of shade behind them, because they’re a bit sheer, but still, they’re so pretty, and they’ll add color to our otherwise white room. We also got a new white duvet cover. Actually, we got the white duvet cover so that it would create a clean slate, because my grandma made us a quilt that’s so pretty, we want to lay it folded at the foot of the bed.

Also, this makes me happy:

He’s so cute. I love him more than Hostess Donettes.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

May 8, 2009

Random Thoughts
Dinner at Fino (yes, again)

We had a lovely dinner at Fino a few nights ago, in celebration of my PROMOTION! I’m so excited… it all happened very quickly, and the last week has been pretty busy and stressful, but I’m very happy about it. I’ll be moving over to the other side of the office, which pulls me away from my coworkers, who have become great friends… so that makes me a little sad. But at least I’m still in the same office, and can still see them day to day.

So anyway, dinner was great…

Justin loved his Mexican martini, and I REALLY loved my Garden Party, made with Citadelle Gin, Paula’s Texas Lemon, Strawberries and Basil. Sooooo delicious.

The kitchen sent out a nice little bite of goat cheese and beets on crostini… their goat cheese is so mild and creamy, and I love love love beets, so this was a real treat.

We had the fried anchovy olives (I officially like olives!!! These ones, anyway) and the grilled halloumi with blood oranges. I love halloumi, and this was good, but it was really charred, which is not my favorite thing. Blackened stuff is just too bitter for me.

Of course we had to get the fried goat cheese with red onion jam and honey. One of my favorite bites in Austin.

We tried the beef pinchitos with tzatziki… Justin thought the meat was a little overcooked and bland, but I loved it. I just smothered it in tzatziki, which I adore.

I had to get the celery root bisque again… I never knew that I love celery root. But I do.

We also had the sliders, which come with the softest eggy bread ever. So good.

Justin opted to end his meal with the Meyer lemon tart, served with blackberry compote, blackberry-basil sorbet and candied lemon. The tart was so light and lemony, and the sorbet was so good.

I chose the almond frangipane, a dense almond cake topped with coconut sorbet and cinnamon and armagnac roasted medjool dates. So dreamy.

I just looked at the menu again and realized that I forgot to order the Idiazabel and arugula pizza topped with a fried egg! Oh no! We’ll have to go back again soon. Darn.

🙂

Happy Sunday everyone!

May 3, 2009

Austin, Edibles
Tasting Austin: Parkside Blogger Happy Hour

Okay, okay, so we all know how much I love Parkside. I mean, I’ve blogged about it twice before. So when I got an invitation to a blogger event there, I squealed with joy.

I was excited to check out their upstairs patio, and thankfully the weather was perfect for a bit of patio chatting.

We had a few drinks throughout the night, ranging from specialty cocktails to my good old Rodney Strong Chardonnay (if they ever take that off the menu I might slip into a depression), all of which were half-priced during happy hour. Of course it was great to see all our blogger friends and catch up on the latest food news.

The kitchen was so generous in offering us a full tasting menu that evening. I’ll use their descriptions… Parkside’s menu is fun in that it’s very minimal in describing each dish.

:: fluke, lemon, almonds ::

:: crab fritters, sauce ravigote ::

:: green garlic soup, duck confit ::

:: cotto salami, house pickles ::

:: salmon, green beans, linguisa ::

:: lamb belly, sweet potato puree, chili oil ::

:: bar steak, roast mushrooms, red wine sauce ::

:: petite chocolate crunch ::

Needless to say, everything was fabulous. Fab-u-lous.

I have to say, the restaurants of Austin have been wonderful to us food bloggers lately. Thank you, thank you, for sharing your wonderful food with us!

April 26, 2009

Austin, Edibles

Lunch at Asti

Playing Outside

Cheering up

Dinner at Fino (yes, again)

Tasting Austin: Parkside Blogger Happy Hour