Daruma Ramen

A couple of weekends ago, we attended an open house at Canopy, an artist compound on the east side. Besides a number of interesting little galleries, the compound is home to several artists' studios, which were open to the public on this afternoon. I was happy for our whole family to have the opportunity to chat with professional artists and hear about their creative process.

Afterwards we had lunch at Daruma Ramen, which needs to win some kind of award for being the tiniest restaurant in Texas. Get ready to dine communally because that's all there is room for! And once you have a big bowl of hot ramen in front of you, you will stop obsessing over whether you just accidentally grazed this stranger's elbow and how awkward it is that you can hear every word of their conversation while you peruse the menu.

Daruma offers two different vegan bowls. I went with the regular veggie ramen, which came loaded with greens, avocado, tomato, carrots, and onions, atop a glorious pile of perfectly al dente ramen noodles. I asked for a bowl of chile paste on the side, to make it just as spicy as I wanted. This is the best ramen I have had in Austin.

So good, in fact, that we came back the next week. Cedar fever was killing me, and a bowl of hot, spicy broth was calling my name. This time I had the veggie miso ramen, with bok choy, fried tofu, and scallions. Just as good, and my sinuses were cleared up for at least a good hour afterwards. 

On neither visit were any of us brave enough to try the soy sauce-flavored soft serve. Doesn't the cone look like he is just taunting you, daring you to try it? Maybe next time, cone. Maybe next time.

Karate and Ramen

Jackson recently took part in his first karate tournament. He can be silly in his karate lessons, so much so that we occasionally wonder if he is learning anything. However, he took the tournament very seriously.

And...

he...

WON!

We celebrated with lunch at Michi Ramen. It was cold out, so I started with hot tea.

We ordered veggie tempura to munch on while we waited for our ramen. Sadly, I realized that the dipping broth for the tempura is not vegetarian. And tempura without dipping sauce is bland as hell.

For a minute, I was as sad as this little fellow.

But then my vegan ramen bowl arrived, loaded with greens, mushrooms, sweet corn and black garlic oil.

And I was like, "tempur-what?" cause I was so busy slurping down noodles.

Xian Hand-Pulled Noodles

Today we tried a brand-new Chinese noodle place in East Austin, Xian Sushi and Noodle. Their claim to fame is hand-pulled noodles. Indeed, you can watch the noodle chef stretching the pasta dough out into long strings, slapping it on the counter, doubling it, stretching it again, and finally tossing the noodles into a giant cauldron of boiling water to briefly cook, before being ladled into your bowl. 

Xian serves a vegetarian broth that's made with seaweed. After choosing your broth, you then choose the width of noodle you prefer. I picked "fettucine." My bowl contained noodles, asparagus, bell peppers, spinach, bamboo, and tofu. It was served with a side of hot chili oil, which added just the right amount of spice.

 I dug right in, slurping and spooning the perfectly al dente noodles and hot, savory broth into my face and barely coming up for air until the bowl was empty! Love. Love love love.

When we asked about drinks for the kids, our server said they didn't have kiddie cups, but would they like some strawberry-flavored sodas? Of course they would.

We also had edamame, which I really need to make more often at home, because it's such a fun finger food and my kids will eat the whole bowl in minutes.

We also had a little plate of garlicky pickled cucumbers -- a nice, cool refresher in between hot spoonfuls of ramen.

Jackson has started arranging his action figures in a long row, facing out the window.

What are they waiting for? Zombies. Always zombies. Ever vigilant.

Birthday Ramen

I wanted to eat someplace new for my birthday. Tony, lover of all Japanese food, talked me into Michi Ramen. We started with a bowl of salted edamame, Jackson and Olivia's favorite appetizer. It keeps their little fingers busy.

Most ramen bowls are made with pork broth, but Michi offers a vegan bowl as well. It comes with chives, sprouts, cabbage, green onions, and wood ear mushrooms. I added sweet corn and mayu (blackened garlic oil). From first slurp, I was in heaven. The noodles were chewy, springy, perfectly cooked. The broth was hot and delicious. I finished the entire bowl of noodles and veggies, then slurped down the rest of the broth! 

Tony had some kind of pork bowl, and the kids had plain noodles with broth. They love using chopsticks -- they get right in there!

A cute little placard on our table advertised mochi ice cream desserts, so we let Jackson and Olivia each choose a flavor. They went with blueberry and strawberry.

Little scoops of ice cream sealed inside a chewy, glutinous rice package...they had never had anything like it. Instant approval.

"Mom, I love Japanese food!"

After one visit, Michi Ramen is now vying with Elizabeth Street for my favorite Austin restaurant!

On the way home, we swung by Capital City Bakery to pick up some birthday cupcakes. Olivia chose a confetti cupcake, vanilla with vanilla frosting and sprinkles.

Jackson went for one of the seasonal treats, a chocolate cupcake with peppermint buttercream, and candy cane pieces sprinkled on top.

I couldn't pass up an eggnog cupcake. 

I had a lovely birthday, attending a "painting with wine" class with some girlfriends, finishing up all my Christmas shopping and wrapping, and spending lots of relaxing time with my family. Couldn't ask for a better start to 37!