Fredericksburg Finds

Today we met up with my parents in Fredericksburg for a little shopping. Our first stop was the toy store, where my little rockers laid down some beats.

Next we wandered into an old-timey dime store that contained everything under the sun. Have you been needing rattlesnake eggs? They will hook you up.

Jesus pencil sharpener? Here you go.

Instant devil costume? Check.

Creepy tea set? They got it.

Actually, I'm pretty excited about my finds (not from the dime store). I try not to be too obsessed with owls, but they are one of my favorite creepy/cute animals, right up there with sloths, stingrays, and Boston Terriers. So this little serving stand caught my eye and I couldn't seem to put it down. I also found a neat Dia de los Muertos cigar box, which I'll use to store my perfume oil collection.

We stopped at Serrano's for dinner on the way home. Christmas enchiladas again!

Dia de los Muertos Parade

To celebrate Dia de los Muertos, we took the train downtown for an afternoon of fun. Olivia loves the train. She looks out the window for the entire 30 minutes, watching the landscape whiz by.

First stop: lunch at Koriente, a healthy (as in minimal fat/sugar/salt) Korean cafe. We started with complimentary bowls of miso soup.

The kids and I shared a matcha soy bubble tea. 

I had bibimbap: tofu with raw carrots, zucchini, cucubmers, cabbage, red bell pepper, and greens, served over steamed rice. Koriente is super-minimal with their seasonings, letting you decide how you want to dress up your bowl. I mixed in some red pepper paste and soy sauce.

With happy bellies, we made our way a few blocks over to the Dia de los Muertos street fair, put on by the Mexic-Arte Museum. 

We walked up and down the block, admiring the art.

The altars are so gorgeous. A different kind of art.

The sweets vendor was selling sugar skulls and cotton candy.

Of course, a purchase was made.

Then the parade started!

I love the costumes and make-up. 

Some tall dudes.

What would a parade in Austin be without a bunch of Segways?

Loved these dancers, so enthusastic.

Ghoulish steel drummers.

Even the public transit gets in on this parade.

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Steeping Room

This morning we attended storytime at the bookstore.

It was a Star Wars-themed storytime, so my young Jedis paid close attention.

Next up, lunch at an Austin restaurant I've wanted to try for ages -- the Steeping Room. I had a hard time convincing Tony to go there. He seemed to think the menu would be nothing but cucumber sandwiches and other dainty lady food. Actually, their food is pretty substantial (which is good, because I'm not a very dainty lady.) 

At the suggestion of the Red Hot Vegans, I ordered the vegan TBLT -- tofu, tempeh bacon, lettuce and tomato -- with a vegan cashew Caesar salad on the side. I stopped talking for several minutes while I stuffed my face with this sandwich. It was kinda falling apart, which made me wish I'd ordered it on a ciabatta roll instead of the less mighty wheat toast. But still. Dude. What a sandwich. The salad didn't blow me away, but you know...it's salad.

Tony had the Buddha bowl with tempeh, lentils, red rice, greens, and sweet potato, with cashew dressing. He liked it, but said it didn't keep him full for a long time.

We also ordered a Mediterranean plate to pick at -- dolmas, olives, hummus, big squares of feta, and flatbread.

Jackson and Olivia had grilled cheese sandwiches, which came with apple slices.

The blueberry iced tea was a no-brainer for the kids. If it's blue, they want it.

I had a pot of lemon vanilla white tea, very fragrant.

I also grabbed a slice of lemon-lavender bundt cake to take home and nibble on over the next couple of days. It was just chock full of bright lemon flavor, adorned with a thick layer of lemony icing.

Couldn't ask for a better lunch, and I just learned that kids eat free on Fridays, which gives us even more incentive to return soon.

Isa Does It So Well

We had a nice morning at the park with friends. Olivia is getting old enough where she seeks out other little girls to play with, instead of following big brother around everywhere. It's cute, watching her make friends of her own.

Jackson is just this giant kid now. Ropes course? No problem!

Ice cream peddler.

I've been trying out some recipes from Isa Moskowitz's newest, Isa Does It. So far, Isa is batting 1000.  You know how sometimes you try a recipe and it's bland, or it needs a little something? Isa's recipes are the opposite of that. It feels silly to use the phrase "bursting with flavor" but that's really how I feel about all her cookbooks.

Cucumber Ranch Bowl with Breaded Tofu. A bit time-consuming but you can prepare the components in advance, as I did. Make the rice, blend up the cucumber ranch dressing, steam the broccoli. Finally, saute that lovely breaded tofu and put it all together.

Jackson and Olivia liked it, too.

Edamame Hummus and Tofu Wraps. The wasabi-spiced edamame hummus is magnificent on its own. In a wrap with marinated tofu and broccoli slaw, it's even better. Actually, the recipe called for sprouts, but I couldn't find sprouts at the store, and I'd been wanting to try broccoli slaw, so the switch was made.

Butternut Bisque with a Coconut Swirl. So thick and rich, and thankfully, no butternut peeling involved. Just quarter the thing and roast it. That's my kind of thinking. I tried to make a spider web with the coconut milk to keep it seasonal.

Can't wait to make more from this book, and I'll share it with you when I do. If you have a favorite from it, let me know!

Halloween 2013

On Halloween I made a nice, warming soup - Arabian Lentil and Rice Soup from Appetite for Reduction - before we headed out into the night in search of treats. We all love this lemony, garlicky soup.

Ironman and Little Red Riding hood were just a tad excited to collect candy.

They started out running up to houses as fast as their little legs could carry them.

But little legs get worn out easily, so we only went a couple of blocks before they were ready to return home and admire their haul.

Hope you had an awesome Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Last night I made a quick dinner with prepared foods. Tony and I had sweet potato pecan tamales, made locally by White Mountain.

I served these vegan tamales with homemade tomatillo salsa. They are so good, and easy -- you just steam them and dig in.

I warmed up some Gardein chick'n sliders for Jackson and Olivia.

This was a new purchase for us, and they gave it a thumbs-up. Perfect size for little hands.

The reason for our speedy dinner was because we had something important to do after dinner. Pumpkin carving time!

What, you don't wear your underwear outside of your clothes when carving pumpkins? 

And you don't draw a big 'P' on your chest to show your pumpkin-carving-superhero status?

The result was super, indeed. Super spooky and silly!

This morning, enjoying pumpkin seeds roasted with Magic Unicorn Salt and gathering energy for a marathon trick-or-treating session tonight.