Time flies, eh?!
My first month in Austin was filled with organization: unpacking, apartment decorating, getting my TX license/tags, etc etc. My second month in Austin was filled with job interviews! I’m so happy that part is over since I scored a job, hooray!!
What Has Julie Been Up to Her 2nd Month in Austin!
1. More blogging! Not a ton, but trying to get better! And I was thrilled to get into Foodbuzz’s Top 9 twice this month.
2. Restaurants/Bars I’ve Been To:
Jessie Street Eats food trailers
South Congress Cafe
Tomo Sushi
Opal Divine’s
La Condesa
Red’s Porch
Elizabeth Street Cafe
The Ginger Man
Hotel Bar @ The Intercontinental
3. Concerts/Comedy Shows
Eric Hutchinson @ Stubbs BBQ
Aziz Ansari @ The Paramount
Marc Maron @ The Mohawk
4. New Experiences
90 Knots dance performance for the Fusebox festival
Austin Food Challenge X 2 – the 2nd event was just as fun as the 1st!
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – so beautiful!
I joined 2 book club groups this past month. I’m still unsure if either are the perfect “fit” for me, but still enjoyed both groups!
Cookie Decorating Class @ Make It Sweet
I joined the Austin Food Blogger Alliance too this month. Around 15 of us recently took a day trip to San Antonio to go to the Pearl Farmers Market, tour the Culinary Institute, and had happy hour at the Ocho Bar in the Hotel Havana. I loved meeting some bloggers that I already was following: Maggie, Jessica, Mary, & Steph.
I can’t wait to see what adventures I have in my 3rd month. Most importantly…my parents are coming down for a visit in less than 2 weeks!!!! :)
Happy Memorial Day all!!
**edited March 2013–Haddington’s is now closed.
My friend, Alison, and her boyfriend recently did a road trip down to Austin & San Antonio. I had plans to meet with them for brunch. They asked me where to go. {enter Julie’s mini-panic attack}
Alison’s BF is a big foodie! I’ve never met him before! What if I pick a bad restaurant?! I haven’t lived in Austin long enough to know where to go!
Be grateful you don’t live inside my crazy stream of consciousness.
I went the safe route of naming a few choices and making them pick from those. We settled on brunch at Haddington’s.
I had looked online the night before at the brunch menu. Everyone does that, right? No? I need ample time to review and plan my attack. I couldn’t decide between the fried chicken eggs Benedict, pretzel bread egg sandwich, or the gouda apple omelette.
But I knew two things for sure: $3 mimosas (keep ‘em coming) and the basket o’ donuts.
These “donuts” were more lovely little beignets. I loved the espresso dipping glaze. A great sugary start to brunch. I feel like they should be served in a basket though. Why call them “basket o’ donuts” and then serve them sans basket??
After having popped 2 donuts in my mouth, I figured that I should opt for my lightest brunch entree option.
Gouda apple omelette
Sadly, I had food choice remorse after seeing Kevin & Alison’s food. Kevin got the pretzel bread egg sandwich. it looked SO good and he confirmed it tasted great. Alison got the French toast and a side of bacon. That French toast….wowzers! It was so thick….like angel food cake thick. Which I found out that’s a thing! Yum!!!
My omelette was a bit lackluster. My apple were too crunchy for the omelette and I would have liked more gouda. I will definitely go back to Haddington’s for brunch though. Anyone want to split the pretzel bread egg sandwich and French toast?? :) Mimosas are on me.
Haddington’s
601 W 6th St
Austin, TX 78701
Sat & Sun brunch 11 – 4 pm
Bar/Dinner, Sun – Wed 4 – 1 am, Thurs – Sat 4 – 2 am
When I was visiting Austin last year, I checked out some apartments in the Domain. Although the apartments were too small for me, I had daydreams of living in the Domain. Why yes…I would like to walk across the street to the lovely, upscale, outdoor mall.
Trips up to the Domain will have to suffice for now. One of these trips lead me to have lunch at NoRTH. NoRTH is an Italian restaurant with inviting and modern decor. I enjoyed restaurants where you can fit in whether it’s a business lunch, a taking a shopping break lunch, meet up with your family lunch, or a drink with your girlfriend lunch. I was in the latter camp.
We were seated outside on the patio with ample shade. Our waitress was on top of things the whole meal and very friendly. She did tend to overly example the menu though. She felt the need to example that paninis were pretty much just a sandwich. Ummm thanks for the lightbulb moment.
For lunch, my friend, Carrie, and I split a salad and a pizza.
Calamari, arugula, and grilled lemon salad
We dug into the salad for awhile before I remembered to snap a picture! That’s a sign of good food from a food blogger when you took the picture! The salad was a great way to not feel guilty about really just wanting the fried goodness of calamari. I would advise this salad again to share. I don’t think I’d want it to be my sole entree though.
Eggplant, mushrooms, onions, and smoked mozzarella pizza
The thin pizza dough had the ideal light and crunchy crust. The middle of the thin dough was too weak to stand up to the topping though. I had to resort to eating my pizza with a knife and fork. Good flavor though.
My favorite part of the meal…..
We split a pitcher of sangria. I’m in lust with this sangria.
If anyone wants to sip sangria and daydream that they can freely shop a Neiman Marcus, I’m game.
NoRTH
11506 Century Oaks Terrace, Ste 124
Austin, TX 78758
Daily 11 am – 10 pm (11 pm Fri – Sat)
Since moving to Austin two months ago, I’ve met around 20 new people already. I’ve been a busy bee! I’ve been asked a few times about how I’m meeting so many people so fast.
A book!! A book helped me!! A book saved me!! A book has helped me and made me so happy!! Shortly before I moved from Wichita to Austin, I saw MWF Seeking BFF sitting on a table at Barnes & Noble. The timing was so great. I read this book the week I move to Austin and then I was off!
MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche
MWF Seeking BFF is a memoir by Bertsche. Bertsche was living in NYC, but moved to Chicago to move in with her boyfriend and got married soon after. She was a newlywed in a new city with a new job and a new spouse. But she was really missing her girlfriends. What do you do in a new city with no one to call for brunch or to grab a glass of wine with? You can still call your BFF’s out of state to randomly talk about stray chin hairs or confess the amount of Biscoff you ate in one sitting (enter Sarah for me, she’s my person). Woman can’t live by phone calls to friends alone though!
Bertsche set a goal for herself. She’ll goal on 52 friend dates in a year with the hope of finding a Chicago BFF. I love this book so much because I learned how to get out of my comfort zone. Is it initially awkward to ask a virtual stranger out for lunch? Yes. But if you were on the receiving end of this invitation would you be flattered and happy? I would!
Bertsche really got out there even more than I currently have the guts to do. For example, she asked out a salesperson at a clothing store to meet up. And she wrote her number on a receipt after she really hit it off with a waitress that she enjoyed. Both ladies said yes though!
I’ve had the most success with Girlfriend Social so far. Bertsche actually had no luck with this site, but I’ve met 6 ladies through this site. And yes, I do feel like I’m on a platonic Match.com site. But once again, would you rather get out of your comfort zone or sit at home alone? Of the 6 ladies, I really enjoyed 3 of them and have seen 1 more than once. There was only one that I felt was totally not a good “friend fit” for me.
Here are some highlights that I took away from the book:
–Women are BUSY. Don’t get discouraged/take it personally if you don’t hear back for awhile or if you get cancelled on. It’s frustrating, but unfortunately if a woman has a family/job/etc, friends are one of the 1st things to get put on the back burner. As a very sensitive person, this insight really helped me.
–Try not to get too annoyed if you make a friend date and the woman brings a friend with her! It’s kind of rude actually, I feel. But that woman is probably very nervous and did it to help her comfort level. This happened to me already, so I tried to roll with it.
–You’re not alone!! As a woman in your 30′s, it’s HARD to make friends. Most friends are made in school and at work. Many women may be in a same boat as you yearning to make a new friend. To be successful, you may have to make the “first move” though. Although online dating is so commonplace now, saying that you need more friends has a stigma attached still. So women may be suffering in silence, but if you’re brave enough to reach out, you may be making the other lady’s day!! I found the “first move” to be very important on Girlfriend Social. All the woman I met, signed up for the website on a whim but then never did anything about it. We’ve been conditioned to wait for a man to make the first move….so on a friend site, it was a stalemate situation. If I hadn’t have emailed the women, I don’t think anything would have come from the site.
–Follow-up is KEY! If you meet a new friend, you have to follow-up! Since you are the one making the plan from the beginning, they will kind of expect you to follow-up if you want to meet up a second time. Once again, I think this goes back to women being conditioned to wait to see if a guy wants a 2nd date. I’m now focused on following up with the woman that I had a blast with to see if they want to get together again. At some point, it has to become a back & forth/give & take situation to be a real friendship though. I think I’ll have to play that by ear.
I have so many pages that I’ve marked in MWF Seeking BFF that were light bulb moments for me. I could talk about this book for hours. My advice: BUY THIS BOOK….. and do you want to meet up for coffee?? ;)
5 out of 5 stars
As a few of you know, I haven’t been working for 2 months. It’s given me time to get settled in Austin and make some new friends. I’ve so enjoyed the break! Next week, I’m excited to be starting a new job though!!
I’ve been trying to soak in more of what Austin has to offer my last week of “freedom”. I went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on Monday and loved it!
There’s two things I love to do “tourist-wise”….botanical gardens and aquariums! Love them to pieces! I knew that I wanted to get to the Wildflower Center before it got too hot in the summer and during Wildflower Days (which ends 5/31).
Hello butterflies!
Such a peaceful way to walk around for a couple of hours!
Red yuccas
If you’re in the Austin area, I urge you to visit!!
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Ave.
Austin, Texas 78739
512.232.0100
Wildflower Days 2012 Hours
Open daily March 12 to May 31
$9 Adults
$7 Seniors 65 years and older
$7 Students 13 years and older
$3 Children 5 through 12
Wildflower Center Grounds open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Info from wildflower.org
Did you read and love The Hunger Games?
Are you looking for another trilogy to reel you in?
Look no further!
Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Similar to The Hunger Games triology, the Divergent series follows a female lead character and is set in a dystopian society. And also similar to The Hunger Games, I sailed through both books in less an a week and loved them. Roth has yet to come out with the final book in the Divergent series. Hopefully, I won’t have to wait too long! According to IMDB, the Divergent movie is tentatively slated for 2015.
Divergent is set in a future society based in the former city of Chicago. There are different factions of society: Erudite (intellectuals), Dauntless (adrenaline junkies), Candor (truth speakers), Amity (polite, happy go lucky), and Abnegation (selfless). At the age of 16, each youth takes a test to tell you which faction you are best suited for. Each youth then has the decision to make: stay with your family in the faction you’ve grown up in….or switch factions and never see your family again.
Divergent follows the path that 16 year Beatrice (born into Abnegation) aka Tris makes. During Tris’ test, she finds out she has an equal aptitude for a few factors which makes her “divergent”.
I found Roth’s two books to be so interesting! I kept thinking what faction would I be in if I lived in this dystopian world. If you know me at all, it would be Candor hands down…for good or bad. :) There’s even a quiz at the end of the book to find your faction.
I can’t wait for Roth to realize the final book!
5 out of 5 stars
**May 17 Update: Voted into Foodbuzz’s Daily Top 9.**
I went over to my aunt & uncle’s house for Mother’s Day. I was in charge of bringing dessert.
I was feeling lazy on Saturday. I choose to just go to Sugar Mama’s and buy cupcakes.
Although the cupcakes were delicious, my cousin brought up a picture of this Brownie Cookie Pie from my Instagram (sugarfooteats).
“Where’s this pie?! I thought you were bringing this!”
Oops.
I see more of this Brownie Cookie Pie in my future.
Brownie Cookie Pie
Recipe from Betty Crocker & Taste and Tell
Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix + the vegetable oil, water and eggs called for on the box
1 pouch Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix + the butter and egg called for on the pouch
Dulce de Leche topping
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set pan aside.
Following the instructions on the brownie box to make the brownie batter. Spread brownie batter in the bottom of the 9 inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.
While your brownie bottom is cooling, follow the instructions on the cookie pouch to make the cookie dough.
I used my hands to flatten the prepared cookie dough like a pancake. Lay flattened cookie dough on top of the brownie crust. Use your hands to gently press the cookie dough to fill in gaps and to even it out.
Return pan to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Then, cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 10 more minutes.
Remove pan from the oven. Cool pie for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan and slicing.
For the caramel topping, I used a can of Dulce de Leche. I heated the sauce on the stovetop, stirring constantly until it achieved a pourable consistency.
Enjoy!
I joined a book club group! Finding a book club was one of my top to-do’s when I moved to Austin. It was a fun, diverse group…very Austin-y. :) There was even a guy there!
It wasn’t the gossip & wine-filled book club that I’m used to, but maybe that’s a good thing. We actually talked about the book!!
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter follows Silas “32″ Jones. He’s returned to Mississippi to become constable in his small town. Silas spends most of his days handling traffic duty during shift change at the mill and giving out speeding tickets. But a girl in the town has now disappeared.
The disappearance brings up old memories of an unsolved missing girl from 20 years ago. The suspect was always Larry Ott. Larry still lives in the small town, but has been shunned by the community convinced of his guilt.
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter shifts from the past to the present and intertwines the lives of Silas and Larry. I enjoyed the plot lines of this novel, but it left me wanting more. I found the “surprises” in the book to be predictable. Franklin could have taken the story in a few different directions that I would have preferred. Similar to a “choose your own adventure” book, I wish I’d read through another path of this story.
I did like Franklin’s portrayal of Silas and Larry. Neither character is particularly likeable, but you got to know them well. I found myself wanting to shake Silas for some things he did. And I felt such sadness for Larry living his life of solitude.
3 out of 5 stars
Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom!!!!
Can’t wait to see you in a few weeks.
Love,
Your Pumpkindoodle
1. It’s been raining here in Austin. I know we need the rain. Be grateful for it. But my apartment complex decided to dump a bunch of sand in the parking lot right before the rain. To help soak up the oil spotches from cars, I guess?? Cut to this sand + rain + oil creating a slippery mess in the parking lot! Cut to Julie eating it in the parking lot & falling…hands full of grocery bags. UGH! At least no one saw me. Someone witnessing your fall is way worse than actually falling.
2. My new favorite smoothie….Banana Biscoff Smoothie.
3. My new favorite breakfast…Runny eggs over asparagus.
4. My new favorite ready-to-drink cocktail….Skinnygirl’s White Cranberry Cosmo. SO GOOD!!
5. Are you watching Girls on HBO?
This show seems to rile people up. People hate it….or love it….or love to dissect it. It’s a hot button issue for some reason. I happen to LOVE the show. I relate to it….or rather my earlier 20 year old self related to it. It’s awkward and real. I went through some of those experiences, self-deprecating thoughts and emotions. The show literally makes me cringe as I’m transported back in time. I love the show though because I know that I come out on the other side stronger and wiser!
Okay, I’m done.
