Irony

Jewel box houses, meticulously built from 100% salvaged materials, cunningly efficient and elegant. As "green" as it gets.

http://www.tinytexashouses.com/

Raoul's

We had the Steak Frites. Classic New York City.

http://raouls.com/

More Candy

The Kartell store in Soho.

Piggyback

Sweets

Being in NYC always makes me do extravagant things. Usually its buying fancy clothing but my irrational fear of bedbugs kept me from trying things on. I got out this time with just $10 worth fancy handmade candies.

www.papabubble.com

Supper

Built on the love of a record collection and food. Feels like Paris but still very Austin.

Justine's Brasserie
http://www.justines1937.com/

Interloper

I was lucky to spend some time this weekend at Hotel St. Cecilia. Magic.

No Guns

An odd reminder at such a tame restaurant like La Condesa. It's Austin, but still Texas I guess.

More is More

Discovery Architectural Antiques, Gonzales, TX
www.discoverys.com

Smitty's

Lockhart is the BBQ capital of Texas about 30 miles south of Austin and on the way to Discovery/Gonzales. We stopped at Smitty's and the pork sausage alone was a life changing experience. The beef brisket was insanely good too. And I loved the place itself.

You walk right into a smoke room (there are two that I could see) and are greeted with an open pit fire and a blast of heat. Out of the frying pan and into the fire on a 102 degree day outside.

Next you walk into the (air conditioned!) dining area and order your sides.

Then you sit down family style with your brown paper full of meat. Look at the guy arching his brow at me.

Smitty's Market
208 South Commerce
Lockhart, TX 78644
512-398-9344
www.smittysmarket.com

Big Sky

102 degrees F, Gonzales, TX

Discovery

We took a road trip to Gonzales, TX to this place called Discovery Architectural Antiques. I took a million photos - here's a teaser of the most amazing place I've ever seen for salvaged architectural things - vintage doors, floors, windows, stained glass, tubs, sinks, knobs, ironwork. This place is insane.

Discovery Architectural Antiques
409 St. Francis
Gonzales, TX 78629
830-672-2428
www.discoverys.com

Supra!

The streamlined, obsolete Supra washer-dryer-in-one has been out of commission pending a wild goose chase for a replacement handle. Said handle was found and installed and today is the first time trying it. I'm a little alarmed by the rambunctious spin cycle - the whole house shook! Looks like the rpm's can be adjusted... Otherwise, I am reveling in being able to set everything at once and come back to clean and dry clothes, without the soggy transfer. And the tiny footprint. Why aren't there more of these? 

Pickled

I was invited to play sous chef to some pickling of a gorgeous pile of okra straight from a friend's garden. I was in charge of snipping the stems, organizing piles of small and large, and peeling the garlic before we arranged them in the sterilized Ball jars. Then we threw in some hot peppers (green and red), chives, dill, lemon, peppercorns and poured the hot rice vinegar and wine mixture over them.

Patience - two+ weeks before we can snack. Aren't they gorgeous?

Summertime

Rhubarb strawberry. And I'm done messing around with shortening, this crust is all butter. I'd use lard if I had some. I've got to work on my presentation though, my pies always look like a big mess. Hopefully it will taste good.

Meandering

- with a clear endpoint in mind.