"have one's cake and eat it too"

Sorry about all the posts only involving restaurant reviews in Austin. I promise I will start posting recipes again soon! I still have a few more posts from when I was in Austin since I've been back twice this month, once for a bridal shower, and the most recent was for my best friend's wedding!

Everyone that knew beforehand who was making the couple's wedding cake and the groom's cake were really excited, especially if they watched Cake Boss from TLC.

White Chocolate Champagne cake

Brian Stevens of Crazy Cakes made both the wedding cake and the groom's cake. Go check out his website, his gallery of cakes is AMAZING! Some of his cakes are so intricate that they don't even look like cakes, but more like sculptures. I was amazed when I saw both cakes in person.

Double Dark Chocolate Stout Beer cake

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to meet him when he delivered the cakes because I was busy helping to bride get ready, but his work says it all. The cakes were also really tasty, and both cakes were unique flavors. The wedding cake was a white chocolate champagne cake, and the groom's cake was a double dark chocolate stout beer cake. My favorite was definitely the groom's cake, it was very moist, rich, and smooth, and the flavors were perfect together!

I never thought I would be at a wedding with Darth Vader.

Korean Food

Korean food has become one of my favorite types of Asian food. Everything is always really flavorful, and you can't go wrong with the cute side dishes called banchan that come with your meal.

Galbi/Kalbi with banchan

I went to the Korean Grill in Chinatown Austin for my Korean food fix while I was visiting. I ordered the Galbi/Kalbi (different restaurants spell it differently), which is marinated pork or beef short ribs that come out on a sizzling plate with onions, similar to how fajitas are served at Mexican restaurants. You can really smell the aromas when the plate is making its way to your table.

A fun thing when it comes to Korean food is that most entrees are served with banchan. Banchan are various small appetizers ranging from kimchi, pickled cucumbers, tofu, bean sprouts, daikon, egg omelet roll ups (I'm pretty sure that's not the correct name) etc. Don't be fooled by how small they are, most restaurants will refill them!

 

My favorite out of all of the side dishes are the pickled cucumbers on the bottom right corner of the photo above.

I'm Cookie Monster!

Fresh, warm, gooey cookies delivered to your door. What more could someone ask for?

Tiff's Treats was always so tempting when I lived in the dorms at UT, especially if there was a lot of studying involved. It was a great snack and excuse to eat sugary things when I was studying hard for exams.

Their packaging is always really nice.

  

My favorite are their chocolate chip cookies...a classic! What's your favorite kind of cookie?

Oh So Fulfilling

I first tried Sao Paulo's when I was a student at UT. I used to only stick with the Tex-Mex they had because I was intimidated by the Brazilian part of the menu, plus I really didn't understand what a lot of it was. Thankfully, I finally started trying items from the Brazilian entrees, and I haven't gone back to the Tex-Mex side since!

Feijoada (black bean stew)

Feijoada shown above is a black bean stew with a mix of sausage, beef, and pork. It is served with a side of rice, collard greens, farofa (toasted maize flour), and pao de queijo (cheese bun made with tapioca flour). The Bife A Milanese pictured below is a lightly breaded pan fried steak covered with ranchero sauce and served with a side of mashed potatoes, vegetables, and pao de queijo as well. The vegetables are a mix of corn, tomatoes, collard greens, and mushrooms; and is a great balance against the steak. I usually end up eating all of the vegetables before everything else. 

Bife A Milanesa

Sao Paulo's has such a great atmosphere in the evening. They dim the lights and each table has a small oil lamp. It's a great romantic spot for dinner!

Madam Mam's

Madam Mam's has a huge menu now! It's pretty much a book. They seem to always change something every time I go back. Last time it was their choice of tofu; they now have a choice of fresh or fried. I always go with the fried.

They have some of the best Thai tea, though it is really sweet. I usually like to let the ice melt down a bit before drinking it. I also love the color of Thai tea...maybe I'm just easily amused.

Thai Tea

One of my favorite go to dishes is the Pad Sea Ew with the flat noodles. This time I got fried tofu with it, but I also like the beef and shrimp versions as well.

Pad Sea Ew with fried tofu

With their new menu now, it feels even more intimidating to decide on what to order than before. It's great they have such a great selection of Thai food, better than many other restaurants, but it takes me forever to choose something.

If you have a SWEET tooth

Cold sweet treats are always great if you don't want something too heavy. Rita's Italian Ice is just the place to satisfy that sweet tooth and to cause a brain freeze.

Gelati = frozen vanilla custard and key lime Italian ice and mango Italian ice

Their Italian ice is made fresh daily with fresh fruit, which adds some dimension to the texture and flavor. It doesn't taste fake like many ice cold treats. They also have a good variety of frozen custard flavors compared with other places. The frozen custard is very smooth and creamy, but it's a bit too sweet for my taste. I can only take small doses at a time.

The highlight of Rita's is definitely their Italian ice!

It's Sushi Time!

Anytime I'm around the UT campus, I'm nostalgic. 

I have to go to Sushi Niichi whenever I'm around campus. It has always been one of my favorites because of their great lunch specials and happy hour. Of course they're not the best if you compare them with places like Uchi, Mushashino, etc. but for the price, they're fantastic. At least for me.

My favorite roll is the Blue Moonlight, which has spicy tuna and tempura shrimp inside, and salmon, tempura flake, and spicy Japanese mayo on the outside.

Blue Moonlight

We were too hungry and I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we started eating. We got the Blue Moonlight and Dragon (crab stick, avocado, cucumber on the inside, and grilled eel and avocado with teriyaki sauce on the outside) rolls; and a few nigiri pieces (Unagi - grilled eel, Binnaga - white tuna, and Masago - fish roe).

Do you like sushi?

Your Mom's!

"Get Stuffed at Your Mom's!"

If you want to go somewhere quirky, I recommend Your Mom's Burger Bar. They're known for their unique stuffed burgers. These burgers are fairly messy, especially mine because not only did I have a 1/2 lb. stuffed beef patty with monterey jack cheese and chorizo, but also a fried egg with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a guacamole and chipotle lime spread. I chose to have it on white bread, but you can also get your burger with wheat.

Frida Kahlo with fries

The Marie Laveau was more Cajun in its flavors. This burger was stuffed with monterey jack cheese and boudin, blackened Cajun style, with lettuce, tomato, onions, and a roumalade sauce.

Marie Laveau with onion rings

Overall, I liked the quirkiness of this place and the variety of burgers you can choose from, but did not really like the atmosphere. The seating is in a covered outdoor area that gets insanely hot, especially during the summers and also on top of the heat coming from the kitchen...it's not very comfortable. I recommend getting take-out instead.

Weird Food of the Day

I always find the weirdest food at grocery stores. This time, I was at MT Supermarket in Chinatown Austin and found this:

This candy powder looked like dirt to me, especially with the lovely green grass printed on the bottom of the picture. According to the ingredients though, it was just sucrose and water. I have no idea what this is suppose to be used for.

Anyone know?

Can I have a bowl of rice with that?

Rice Bowl Cafe opened after I moved from Austin, but I heard many great things about this place from friends that I knew I had to try it when I was in town. The noodles for their noodle soups are made fresh, so they have a distinct chewy texture that's delicious and filling.

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup

The portions are also very large. I can usually get two meals out of an entree. I ordered the Pork on Rice which has this really flavorful sauce that's perfect with the crispy pork, and comes with one of my favorite Asian veggies, bok choy. And yes, it came with two huge pork fillets!

Pork Chop on Rice

My friend ordered a tofu dish. I believe it was the Bean Curd Homestyle, but I'm not positive. Tofu can be really good if you know how to make it correctly, and Rice Bowl knows exactly how. This dish has a good balance of flavor and spiciness, but it's also light because of the great mix of vegetables. I had to help myself to some of my friend's food. That's what friends are for, right?

Bean Curd Homestyle

There are so many other dishes I want to try in the future. Hopefully I'll have a chance to go back soon.

I Heart Queso

I've been insanely busy with traveling to Austin (for a bachelorette party) and preparing for a major presentation. Thankfully the presentation is done and over with! Sadly, I wish I was still in Austin. I lived in Austin for many years and a part of my heart will always be there. *sniffle* Okay, enough with the sappy stuff and onto the mouth-watering food!

The bride-to-be and I went to one of our favorite places to eat, Kerbey Lane Cafe. It has some of the best queso in town, awesome breakfast that is served all day/night, and many other great entrees ranging from Bacon Wrapped Pesto Chicken to Bison Picadillo Enchiladas to seasonal favorites like Pork Milanese and the Pesto di Pistachio Pasta.

Menu

I like Kerbey Lane because they always serve great tasting food anytime you're hungry (they're open 24 hours). Plus, I'm in love with their queso.

Cowboy Queso

The Cowboy Queso consists of black beans and guacamole drowned in white queso and topped with pico de gallo. I'm usually not a big fan of black beans, but this appetizer is surprisingly really good with the black beans.

I was having such a hard time deciding on what I wanted to eat that day because Kerbey Lane has such a variety in their menu. I ended up going with breakfast, which you can never go wrong with! I ordered the Breakfast Platter with chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and fried eggs over medium.

Breakfast Platter

We were both so full that we could hardly move, but it was worth it!

An Excuse to Drink Wine at Dinner?

I wanted to try my hand at a pasta salad. This was the first time I've ever made a pasta salad, so I kept everything fairly simple. I combined 5 cheese ravioli, diced green bell pepper and Roma tomato, sauteed zucchini, Parmesan cheese, pesto, and sun-dried tomato dressing.

Served with some slices of french baguette with brie cheese and a glass of red wine (Llano Estacado Sangiovese).

Soup and Salad To Go

On days when I leave work really late, I like to stop by Market Street and help myself to their amazing salad bar and soups. My favorite soup from them is the loaded baked potato soup. It's soooo good!

Market Street's salad bar has a great selection of whatever you can think of to put on a salad with a variety of different types of lettuce, cold pasta salads, unique items like tabbouleh and hummus, and mixed fruit! One of my favorites is the mixed tortellini and chicken pasta salad (shown below).

Mixed fruit, tortellini and chicken pasta salad, and spring mix salad.

And if you're wondering why there's only one pickled okra all by it's lonesome, it's because I was curious about what it tasted like. I've never had okra in pickled form. The verdict: yum!

Homemade Pizza

Pizza is probably one of the easiest things to make. I usually like to keep a frozen one from the store in my freezer at all times just for the occasions when I don't want to cook or prepare anything. Some of my favorites are California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Pizza and Freschetta's Simply Inspired Farmers Market Veggie.

When I don't have a prepared one from the stores and I'm trying to find an efficient way to use up some of the veggies left in my frig that are about to spoil soon, I make my own. I use Mama Mary's Thin and Crispy Crust from Walmart as the base. Then I spread a thin layer of pesto onto the crust before tomato sauce. I really like the mix of pesto and tomato sauce, it adds additional flavor to everything. Then you're set to layer the pizza with whatever you want! I used fresh mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, green bell pepper, Roma tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, green olives with pimentos. I also really love pizza because it makes for good leftovers!

Leftover white rice?

I tend to always make extra steamed white rice just to have leftover white rice the next day to make fried rice. Fried rice is one of the easiest and quickest things to make. You are not limited to what you want to put in the fried rice. In this case, I chose to include eggs, Chinese sausage, zucchini, and baby bella mushrooms.

One of the most important tips in making fried rice is that you want to have "old" cold white rice for it. Using freshly steamed rice will cause the dish to be soggy because of the extra moisture in the warm rice. It must be cold to prevent extra stickiness and sogginess. Also, most people think the reason why fried rice is brown is because it's "fried." Well it's technically stir-fried and not fried in the same terms like fried chicken or french fries, and the nice brown color in fried rice is from adding soy sauce as your cooking it.

In this dish, first I scrambled some eggs using butter (I know butter is unhealthy, but I like how it makes the eggs fluffy) and salt to taste, cooking until it's a bit underdone since it'll be added back into the rice. I remove the eggs and then saute the zucchini and mushrooms with some salt and pepper until they're tender. Next I crisp up the Chinese sausage a bit so I can use some of the grease that melts off to stir-fry the rice. I remove the sausage and add the rice. Add a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce at a time until you reach the flavor you want. Sometimes I add a bit of pepper and salt if I don't want too much of a soy sauce flavor. This step really depends on what you prefer. After the rice is stir-fried, add everything back in and combine. That's it! Quick and easy...and you don't have to spend money on take-out anymore!