Exclusively

I'm not sure if the bats are just an Austin thing - you know, the whole bat/Austin connection. Or if there are sour bats at Whole Foods around the country in honor of Halloween. If it's the latter, I hope you will go get yourself some pronto. They are not to be missed.

Moonlight Tower

I learn the coolest details about whatever new city I'm living in when Mom comes to visit. Austin was no exception - constant mumblings and requests to find one of the 17 remaining Moonlight Towers - the only ones in the country still functioning. I had never heard of them. 

Mom, you'll be annoyed to hear that we drove past this one on S 1st and Monroe multiple times a day, just blocks from my house. Oops! They are amazingly beautiful structures, even moreso at night when all lit up. More to come on Moonlight Towers in the moonlight. 

Watering Holes

Hamilton Pool.

Angel's - poker night.

Al Fresco

The heat is behind us, for now, and it's a treat to eat outdoors again. An even bigger treat to be eating a Torchy's Taco.

Sugar Mama!

This post was just a matter of time. Among the Things Ibby Likes best: cupcakes. Sugar Mama's reign supreme.

I'm eating, I'm eating! Given they are just a few blocks from my house, it's a small miracle I haven't turned into a cupcake.

Trash or Treasure

Another booth at the Warrenton Antiques extravaganza. I think I'm still amazed, overwhelmed and perplexed by the volume of stuff.

Grindstone

Not everyone was ACL-ing this weekend. Progress at Progress.

Catfish

I saw Catfish (the documentary) the other day and it made me think of all sorts of ideas and themes that are related to a story I'm working on. So I took a short drive to find me some nature, clear my head and think more about it.

And look what I found! Hamilton Pool was full of catfish swirling around. I'll take it as a sign to keep working on my story.

Overcome

A rare morning when iPhone came along on my run. From the Pfluger pedestrian/bike bridge.

Coolhaus!

I took the long way home from dinner (Uchiko, yum) hoping just maybe the tiny truck would be parked in its sometimes spot near the firehouse on South Congress. And voila!

Homemade ice cream + homemade cookies. I got the dirty mint in chocolate cookies. Next time I'll get lemon in ginger cookies. The sandwiches are huge so most of mine is sitting in my freezer.

Look out for them in LA and NYC! You can follow them on Twitter if you prefer a sure thing vs driving around aimlessly looking for them like I do.

Gully Cat

I'm not in the market for a tattoo, but if I were it'd be lucky for me that I live two blocks from one of Austin's tattoo hotspots. There are about 100* tattoo joints within a 4 block radius. They seem so cozy and charming compared to tattoo destinations I've seen in other cities.

*Not really 100.

More on Fried Pie

The concept was a new one to me - until I remembered my last McDonald's cherry pie which was maybe 25+ years ago (crap I'm old). I had my first adult taste at Perla's - a fancy blackberry version with homemade vanilla ice cream and a candied rosemary sprig on top*.

Then, the very next day while trolling Round Top:

Of course I had to try! They were all out of pineapple. So apricot it was. And then peach*. I went from zero to three fried pies in a matter of 24 hours. Impressive, even for me.

*If I were worth my salt as a blogger, there'd be photos of all fried pie examples. Oh well - stay tuned I guess.