Out And About In Austin

Warning-Picture Heavy
This past weekend, on a hunt for a very specific mustard, I visited no less than 3 local farmers markets.  When the lady who makes and sells the mustard was finally found, she was already sold out!  (It's that good!)  Bummer, but at least I know where to find her and I guarantee that I'll be first in line to get it this coming weekend, and I'm not complaining about that because Austin has some great local vendors and there's nothing like cooking with fresh foods and of course there's no calories in taking pictures of pretty food...

On Saturday the BF and I visited the Barton Creek Farmer's Market, one of the nicer and bigger markets around. Isn't this beet beautiful?  It's from one of my favorite local farms, Johnson's Backyard Garden.  They always have a great variety and a few interesting things as well, (like black Spanish radishes.)


I didn't buy any beets or radishes but I did buy some of these turnips, which I have only eaten once and have never prepared myself, so these will be an adventure for sure!  (Let me know if you have any good recipes!)

  I love this sign!  And I'm looking forward to eating some lamb.  (I go for ground.)  It's a new item in my diet and I only eat it every so often because it's a heavier and fattier meat than chicken or beef but it's delicious!

Afterwards we stopped at Gourdough's Public House for lunch, another new place for me.


Anything and everything served on or with a donut!  Burgers were actually served on donuts instead of buns.  Sounds weird because you think it's going to be overly sugary but not so!  They were a little bit on the sweet side, but without any frostings or fillings it worked perfectly with the saltier items that it was served with.


 I had 3 Little Guidos.  Pork belly, mozzarella, basil and tomato on donuts with homemade chips.  What can I say but WOW!


I guess technically this place is a bar and the rustic, industrial interior is really quite perfect, very Austin.  Afterwards, we rolled ourselves home for a nap.

  On Sunday we thought we would try to catch the mustard lady at another market, this time it was the Mueller Market, but sadly, she wasn't at this location.  However, this one had more prepared foods, and was very child friendly with a petting zoo and balloons.


You see the rectangular donut on the right?  Peanut butter frosting and jelly filling.  And it was amazing!  (Ok, so it wasn't the healthiest of weekends...) 

So after admiring some ducks we made our way out to Micklethwait's Meat Trailer, the newest, hyped up barbeque joint (trailer) in town.


 Barbeque goes fast here in Austin and to get the good stuff you gotta go early, that's all there is to it.  Usually you need to be in line by 10:30 AM.  We got there around 1:30 and they were already sold out of everything but ribs and sausage and 2 or 3 sides.  I was already full by the time we got there so after a few bites of sausage, I was done!  The BF enjoyed the ribs.

Verdict-Sometimes BBQ gets a little over spiced but we both agreed that you could actually taste the meat and it was very nice.  We will be returning to try the brisket.

As if this post isn't super long already, here's a few pics of the local scenery around the BBQ trailer...

Gigantic BBQ pit/smoker thing...I don't claim to know the process, I just eat it.  And for some reason I find these things wonderfully depressing, like oil derricks.


This little salon was right next door...


and this Airstream was sitting next to it.  I looked up the website - I'm some what intrigued by facial acupuncture.  Anyway, it was just as pretty on the other side...

Used to be that you never went to the East Side of Austin...ever...

What's going on with you?
J.

  

Late Night Offers Turned Into Lasting Memories

This weekend, I took my nephew to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I hadn't been planning on taking him but both his parents had to work, they had free tickets and I offered to take him at 11 pm the night before (half asleep,) so I couldn't have backed out. I'm glad I didn't. We had a great time!


I'm sure most of you have heard of them but for those who have not, the Harlem Globetrotters are called an "exhibition" basketball team, they are not part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and they are really quite athletic and talented basketball players.

Gotta love a good dunk!

They put on more of a show, rather than play a serious game, (they always play the Washington Generals and the Globetrotters always win,) which is very much family oriented and along with ultra flashy moves they play a lot of pranks on each other as well as the Generals and the audience.For instance, here they had stopped in the middle of the game to play baseball instead of basketball.

And here the entire team was dancing (or actually doing that head twitch thing to that song What Is Love,) with Big Globie, the mascot.

It was the first time Little J. had ever been to any type of sporting event or large stadium and wasn't sure what to expect. He was in awe of all the stairs and seats and was thrilled with the scoreboard...

Every time a basket was made he had to tell me "Auntie J! Now they're at 58," or whatever the score happened to go up to. Hooting as loud as he could when the announcer prompted the crowd to "Make some noise!" and imitating a vendor shouting "cotton candy!" It was complete sensory overload for a 5 year old!

I hadn't expected that he would want to stay the entire game, but at half time, he was still really excited, so we decided to get a souvenir ball...

He soon discovered the dribbling was going to take some practice...

As was getting it to spin on his finger. (A classic Globetrotter stunt.)

He even shocked me by wanting to stay and get autographs!

Seeing him so excited and having a good time and being silly and being a kid took me back to the days...I remember seeing the Globetrotters with my dad at the local fieldhouse in my hometown. I'm glad I got a chance to remember the past and make new memories!

J.