Grandad's Visit

My dad was in town over the weekend. He and my mom are getting ready to become permanent residents of Texas, all the way from Detroit. He came out to do some final repairs on the house before they move in. Since my dad is really into history, we took him to Pioneer Farms, one of those places where costumed interpreters pretend they are living in the 1800's. 

Lots of old buggies and carriages. Some to be climbed on, some not.

Olivia checking out a cotton gin.

One of the interpreters, explaining old-timey cooking techniques.

Jackson and Olivia's favorite part was feeding grass to the chickens.

We saw a one-month-old donkey, awww.

Petting the mama donkey.

Because it was a hot day, Pioneer Farms was a bit of a ghost town. But sometimes it's nice to have a place all to yourselves, especially with small children, because then no one cares if they are running all over the place.

For dinner, Grandad wanted pizza, so we tried out Austin Terrier, a Boston terrier-themed restaurant. The patio is dog-friendly, of course. But Monster isn't exactly restaurant-friendly, so we left him at home.

Doggie Kiss on the wall. -- I suddenly felt inspiration for Monster's Halloween costume.

We started with a trio of fries -- sweet potato, paprika-dusted, and truffle parmesan. They were served with spicy sriracha ketchup and garlic aioli. They were all tasty, but the truffle parmesan were outstanding.

The kids' cheese pizza...which went mostly untouched! My dad ordered a pepperoni pizza for himself, and suddenly my kids were insisting that they looooove pepperoni...even though they'd never eaten it before in their lives! Ha! 

I had an apple and blue cheese salad, with dried cranberries, walnuts, and vinaigrette. It was huge, and I ate it all.

We'll be back...gotta support a restaurant that loves Bostons as much as we do! But no pepperoni, kids!

Tony Returns!

Tony recently spent two weeks in Japan. He traveled there for work and then spent some additional days sightseeing. He visited Okinawa, Osaka, Kyoto, and Okinawa, returning to us with slight jet-lag and only good things to say about the country. I think he would move us there if the offer came up! I'm quite jealous, but I'm traveling vicariously through all his pictures.

Olivia dressed up to go pick Daddy up from the airport, but the excitement (or was it the long car ride?) got to her.

As Tony unpacked his bags, gifts and souvenirs made their way into our hands. This temple incense smells amazing.

Solid perfume from Lush in Tokyo. Smells like honey, and apparently the name translates as "March of the Honeybees."

Habanero snacks. I haven't opened the bag yet, though, so who knows how spicy they actually are. I just like the evil little pepper dude on the package.

Banana holder...you know, to keep your banana from getting bruised...what did you think it was?

Napkins and tissues are hard to come by in Tokyo...in restaurants, you are given a hot towel to wipe your hands, not a napkin. Instead of handing out flyers, some bars and clubs hand out little packets of tissue to entice you to visit them.

Green tea hard candy, and fruit candy.

Samurai swords!

Everything has a face on it, Tony told me. I wasn't sure what he meant, so he brought me an example.

Chopsticks for everyone! Jackson and Olivia practiced by eating edamame, one by one. They're pretty good at it!

While traveling in Japan, Tony ate sushi every day, and developed an appreciation for miso soup at breakfast. I will post more about his food adventures and our attempts to recreate them. However, he came home with a craving for two American foods: Tex-Mex and pizza. So those were his first meals back home.

Abuelos is a chain, but we've always enjoyed it. They start you with a trio of salsas. The green salsa is super sweet; it has pineapple juice in it.

Sangria swirl, yes please.

Avocado enchiladas with ranchera sauce. Papas and steamed veggies on the side.

For pizza, we chose Mellow Mushroom. Adventurous toppings, lots of veggie/vegan options, and awesome chewy crust. Although, it's little pricey compared to other, just-as-good Austin pizza options. 

We started out with a Greek salad to share.

You can do a half-and-half specialty pizza, so that's what we did. The half on the left is Thai Dye -- curry tofu, tomatoes, cheese, cucumbers, basil, and Thai sweet chili oil. The other half is the Magical Mystery Tour with portabella mushrooms, pesto, spinach, feta, and jalapenos.  I preferred this half. I've enjoyed other Thai pizzas, but this one was a little too oily for my liking. The mushroom-pesto combination was great, however. And that crust! A good crust is my favorite part of a pizza.

Have you ever visited Japan? 

Elisabet Ney Museum

Recently I took Jackson and Olivia to check out the Elisabet Ney Museum. Ney was a European sculptor who moved to Austin in the late 19th century. Her studio was turned into a museum after her death. It looks like a tiny castle.

There's a lot of sunlight shining in on the statues and it almost makes them look as if they're glowing.

This makes me think I would have liked Elisabet Ney.

The grounds seemed like they would be helpful for finding artistic inspiration.

Since there was a little family festival going on, we were able to see sculptors at work.

Then Jackson and Olivia got to try their hand. Jackson loved this experience. At home, he now asks for his Play-doh and "sculpture tools" (a spoon and knife).

We stopped at Wheatsville on the way home and picked up some popcorn tofu po'boys. The buffalo tofu sandwich is topped with vegan blue cheese dressing.

And then there's the traditional one, with red onions, sprouts, and cashew tamari dressing.

This morning, Olivia is reliving her baby years.

American Cupcakes

Happy 4th! I can think of no better way to express my patriotism than with vegan blueberry cupcakes. The recipe template comes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Red-White-and-Blueberry Cupcakes

For the cupcakes
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

For the frosting
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
3/4 tsp. vanilla
6 strawberries, halved
12 blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a cupcake tin with liners. In a blender, puree the blueberries, sugar, milk, canola oil, and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fill cupcake liners almost to the top. Bake for 22 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are baking, prepare frosting. With an electric mixer, whip the frosting ingredients until fluffy. After the cupcakes have cooled completely (stick them in the freezer to speed cooling if you just can't wait!), frost them and top each cupcake with a strawberry half and a blueberry.

Our Second Home

Another day was spent at the children's museum. Builders hard at work.

Learning to use the die-cut machine.

This vermicelli noodle bowl was inspired by the one Tony loved at Elizabeth Street Cafe. I threw in tofu, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and plenty of cilantro and spicy sambal oelek.

The perfect summer dessert, Sambazon acai sorbet. Sorry, no prettily posed bowl of frosty purple sorbet -- we just stuck our spoons in the carton!

Swim Party

Today we attended a birthday party for a friend of Olivia's. It was a luau-themed pool party. Jackson and Olivia were excited to don their swim gear and take a dip. So was Mama -- if I'm going to be outside these days, I want to be in a pool!

Birthday cupcakes were served poolside.

When we got home, I blended up some mint lemonade. Just make lemonade as usual, throw in a handful of fresh mint, and whiz it up in the blender with some ice. So cool and refreshing on a hot afternoon.

For dinner I made a trio of recipes from Let Them Eat Vegan -- Quinoa Tabbouleh with Olives, Pan-Fried Falafels, and Smoky Tahini Sauce. If you've ever had bland falafel, or deep-fried falafel that's dry and crunchy, I'm sorry. I have, too. But this falafel is neither bland, nor dry. It's one of the best I've tried. The tabbouleh is also bursting with flavor, and the smoky tahini sauce is the perfect falafel dip/tabbouleh topping, especially if you increase the amount of smoked paprika called for. I can't get enough of that stuff.

Live Oaks and Guinness Sandwiches

This afternoon we drove around aimlessly for awhile...Tony and I used to do this a lot when the kids were younger. They'd go to sleep, and we could talk or listen to our non-kid-friendly music. But these days, Jackson and Olivia rarely nap. So after a few rounds of, "Guys, where are we going?" we thought we better pick a destination. So we ended up at Central Market. We didn't need to buy any groceries, but Olivia was nice enough to sell us some ice cream.

We walked down to the lake...

Checked out the turtles...

Jackson saw a huge tree and wanted to climb it...

"Large Tree of the Year", apparently. Well, in 2008. Perhaps larger trees have been discovered since then.

Olivia, keeping her balance.

Jackson, part monkey.

For dinner, I made panini with cheese and Guinness jelly. The beer flavor cooks out and you're left with a sweet jelly that is a nice complement to the sharp cheddar.

The easiest dessert ever -- a giant bowl of cherries. I think we polished these off in less time than it took me to pit and halve them!