Soccer and Salsas

Saturdays = 8:30 a.m. soccer games. Jackson springs out of bed at 6:30 ready to go. Coach Tony needs a few extra zzz's and some Starbucks to wake up.

Go Pirates!

Olivia and the other younger siblings cheer on the sidelines.

I love watching these guys come together as a real team, assisting each other and showing their good sportsmanship.

We followed up the match with brunch at Salsas in Georgetown. Two kinds of salsa and chips to start with. I liked the green salsa. Tomatillo maybe? It had a tart, almost fruity flavor, but it was also plenty spicy.

I had spinach enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, white rice (the Spanish rice was made with chicken stock) and veggies on the side. After being delighted by the salsa, I was surprised how bland the enchilada sauce was.

The best part was dessert. We shared a plate of churros. This was our first time seeing churros on the menu at any of the dozens of Tex-Mex restaurants around here! Barely sweet, with a drizzle of honey, plenty of cinnamon, and whipped cream to dip them in. Yum.

Breakfast Fail

Sometimes a meal just does not work out. On Sunday, the Tofu Benny from Vegan Brunch was such a meal. Exhibit A, the "English muffins." Do those look like muffins to you? Yeah, they didn't rise at all. I'm not sure why because my yeast was brand new. I don't think my house is warm enough? I seem to have better luck with baking when I let my yeast dough rise in a warm oven.

Exhibit B, the Hollandaise sauce. Or, the goopy yellow mess. Like that toy slime that comes in plastic eggs. We just couldn't.

The tofu turned out fine and we rescued it to use on sandwiches. Everything else went into the trash. Sometimes I shouldn't try to do a big production in the morning. Jackson understands, Sunday mornings are for staying in pajamas until noon and playing.

Olivia thinks Sunday mornings are for being a goofball, but then, for Olivia, life is for being a goofball.

I think I redeemed myself with dinner, Hoisin Glazed Tofu and Bok Choy from One-Dish Vegan.

Renaissance Fair

Last weekend, our neighborhood was visited a brave knights and a fair princess.

Several of them, actually. It was a Renaissance Fair!

Jackson and Olivia followed their ears to find the source of the clanging metal sounds, and stood rooted to the spot until all the duels were over. 

There were a lot of duels.

There was also a blacksmith. Which meant more clanging metal! And fire!

There was also a little dog attached to a cart. Not sure what that was about. Were dogs kind of like ponies, in Renaissance times?

There was also dancing, which Olivia happily joined in.

I love our new neighborhood so much. There's always some family-friendly event going on. I also love our close proximity to Dimassi's Mediterranean buffet. This was Tony's first time trying it, and now he is also a huge fan. Let's see, what's all this goodness on my plate? Hummus, falafel, baba ganoush, spinach, green beans, okra, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, spicy green sauce, pita. I think that covers it. So much to choose from. Baklava for dessert, not pictured because I was too busy stuffing my face!

Chalk Walk 2014

On Saturday we craved pizza, so we decided to try Original Brooklyn Pie Co. It's a chain with locations all around Austin, including one by our new home. We started out by sharing a Greek salad, which arrived at our table deconstructed. Jackson and Olivia preferred it that way, since it made it easier to avoid the dreaded onions.

Thanks to a buy-one-get-one special, the kids shared a small pizza of their own, and Tony and I had this giant margherita all to ourselves. It was so good! Just the right amount of sauce, cheese, tomatoes, and basil. I could eat pizza every day, but I do have standards, and this pizza totally met and exceeded them.

Afterwards, we headed up to Round Rock for the Chalk Walk festival. As the name implies, you stroll around the plaza while artists work on their sidewalk art designs.

When we went last year, the artists were just getting started, so it was cool to see some finished creations this time around!

Jackson and Olivia also got to be pavement artists.

Jackson, of course, drew a complex laser-firing robot.

A hand/face washing station would be a nice addition to this festival next year. Chalk is quite a messy medium.

After working hard on their masterpieces in the direct sun, my gang needed strawberry shave ices to cool down.

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Maoz Again

It feels like I was just talking about Maoz. I returned today with Olivia, as we met my friend Tara and her son for lunch at the Triangle playground. This time I went for the falafel salad, since the Red Hot Vegans made it sound so awesome. And it was! You can barely see the greens in this giant bowl because A. okay, there really weren't many greens and B. they're totally covered in goodness from the fixins bar.  Pickles, green olives, chimichurri sauce, tahini sauce, and that amazing fried broccoli. I was nervous when placing my order...they'd just opened and there was no broccoli to be seen. Fortunately, by the time my order was ready, a fresh basket of broccoli was waiting for me on the fixins bar.

Afterwards, we stopped by HEB. I noticed some new soups, on sale for $.99 each. They're served cold, so you can drink them out of these little cans on the go, if you so desire. I had the cucumber mint one for an afternoon snack, and it was light and refreshing and had something like 12 calories, insanely low. I don't think I would pay more than $.99 for them, though, since they are teeny tiny!

I accompanied the soup with more liquids, in the form of this Turmeric Elixir of Life matcha tea drink. I love matcha, and the turmeric and cardamom flavors made me feel so chill, like I had just finished a super relaxing yoga class.

Jackson learned about the five senses at school. We are big on taste around here, but they're all pretty important.

Chili Time of Year

This morning Olivia and I checked out storytime at the new Whole Foods. They handed out fruit bars and drink boxes, and did crafts afterward, so Olivia gave the whole experience a thumbs up.

After picking up a Red Rabbit Bakery vegan glazed donut and Blue Monkey coconut water, as well as Olivia's free piece of fruit, we moseyed outside and Olivia played on the little playground for a bit.

Tonight I made a big pot of lentil veggie chili. It is October; there should be a pot of chili on the stove. Even if it is still 85 degrees out.

Tony loves cornbread with his chili, so I made the Appetite for Reduction scallion cornbread.

There's supposed to be a cold front coming tonight, so let's hope this chili serves as a good luck charm and we see some actual autumn weather soon!

Boardwalk Trail

Darlings! (I just watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and I want to call everyone darling, darling!) It is October! Also known as, the best month. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" and all that. 

With the advent of autumn, Tony and I felt we could finally venture down to check out the new boardwalk without ending up sweaty and grumpy.

Jackson and Olivia enjoyed up-close views of the lake.

We weren't sure why metal belts were attached to the railings. As is usually the case in Austin, it turned out to be a public art installation.

Perfect views of downtown and a light breeze.

For dinner, quesadillas filled with roasted red pepper hummus, veggie bacon, tomato and basil, with a side of smoky guacamole, all from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Roasted kabocha squash with maple syrup and ras el hanout spice mix on the side. I can't remember if I've had kabocha before. It's a little starchy for my taste. I prefer acorn or butternut.

Happy October!