Baby Sophie and things

This picture is real old. It's from December of 2007, right after little baby Sophie came into our lives. She still lays like that, she's just exponentially heavier.

Brendon is in Temple for his first hospital rotation and it sucks. He'll be back Friday and then gone again from Tuesday to Friday. I know I am a huge wuss and spouses have to spend much longer amounts of time away from each other, but I shesh hate being away from Brendon. I miss him so much it hurts. But he is having fun and learning all sorts of things, so I am happy for this opportunity. I just miss him. A lot. And it's only Tuesday.

Luckily today I had good entertainment! My little sister come up from San Marcos to hang. We went on a run and had some delicious lunch (btw, Blue Dahlia Bistro is where it's at). Sister time is always bueno! Especially when you're feeling lonely!

Brendon and I are running our 8k in less than a week! Sunday's the big day. We did a practice run this past Sunday and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. We added almost two miles to our usual run and it was very doable. It was my best run to date and I think I finally found my happy place while running. My lungs and legs weren't all that happy, but they were working together and it felt good. My previous two runs were real bad, so it was rewarding to have a good one, especially added those two miles! Feeling myself get stronger is the best. Although I am still sore and my poor left calf is a mess. Get it together, calf!

Now, back to the random old picture of a cat (not really that random when you consider it's me). I love animals. Seriously. Possibly more than I love humans most of the time. I have this thing, where animals, all animals, make me cry. I don't know why, but pictures and videos and actual animals make me tear up like a baby. Especially when they are not okay, or need to be adopted. It's a thing and it's silly, but it's who I am I guess. This video made me lose my cool of course. The weather is wild and it is scary. I have too many loved ones up north (in Moore, Oklahoma specifically, so glad they're okay!), those tornadoes need to chill out. There are more storms coming and it's stressing me out. Rain, rain, go away! Actually, just come to South Texas, we need you! Tornadoes, y'all can just disappear though. My thoughts go out to all the people affected as well as their four legged friends. Watching that video made me happy, but it also made me think of all those that may not have had that luck. BUH, don't think like that, don't think like that.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I miss my husband, I love all the animals, and I want everyone up north to be safe. Please be safe. I need to bake something.

And for smiles, how'd she get so fat?

52 weeks of baking: 20 - maple cream pie

Let me forward this by stating, this pie was a bit of a failure. But only a bit and mostly just cosmetically. I was in the mood for pie so I went to my go-to, Smitten Kitchen, and found this recipe for Nutmeg Maple Cream Pie. It had simple ingredients and featured the best pie crust recipe ever (seriously, get with this pie crust. It's stupid easy and stupid delish).

I had a helper this week. My handsome husband has had most of the week off so he was home to play in the kitchen. This is where we went wrong. Both of us in the kitchen is fun, it's how we usually make dinner, but fun = you don't have your baking game face on. We tend to giggle and throw spatulas at each other, not the best environment for serious cooking.

Our downfall was when we were reducing the maple syrup. Brendon was stirring it and I was grinding nutmeg and definitely not paying attention and we waited a little too long and it started caramelizing. So when I added the cold cream, BOOM, all that maple syrup just jumped up and went quickly from liquid to stringy bits to a big ball of caramelized maple syrup (thinking back now, I bet it would have been yummy) floating in half and half. Not quite the smooth mixture we were looking for. I thought it was done for, but I took our hunk of maple and melted it down into another pot while warming the cream and then mixed the two together. And it worked! A tad more toasty than it ought to have been, but it worked.

Our next mistake, well, my mistake, was forgetting that our oven apparently runs a little hot and not setting it 25 degrees lower. So we had a little burn-age on the top of our pie. The top and edges were festively blackened (the crust maaaay have been par-baked a bit too long too, oops. Also, ugliest pie crust everrrr, finishing edges is not my thing apparently). 

I got this pastry blender for my birthday! Welcome to my life pastry blender, I love you.

Par-bakin' with beans! Now thanks to this pie and Amazon, I have real ceramic pie weights!

Did you know what an actual... nut of nutmeg looks like? It's so neat! I had no idea!

Even screwing up as much as we did, this pie tastes amazing. The ugliest pie I've ever made, yes, but it is freaking delicious. I can't imagine how good it would be without the errors. And yes, it has liver spots. SO APPETIZING. On the real though, it is GOOD. We had three pieces last night.

Also, one of the many perks of having Brendon in the kitchen? Someone to help document! Too bad his pictures always come out like this:

Quality photography, y'all. And yes, that's a miller lite. BOOZIN' AND BAKIN'. JK, it was an ingredient in the dinner I was making. But I'm not saying we didn't finish it off. 

The Great Austin Burger Quest - Hopdoddy

Hopdoddy Burger Bar. If you like burgers and live in Austin (and there's one in Dallas now!) you know about Hopdoddy. If you don't, what's wrong with you? We have eaten there a gazillion times, but we still needed a burger quest visit. We went to the original on South Congress with a couple friends and it was awesome as always.

Burger:
Brendon got the Thunderbird which was the specialty burger of the day. It was a green chili chicken patty with a fried egg (always a win), roasted poblanos, chipotle mayo, pepper jack cheese, and tortilla strips. I had the Primetime, which was a fancy beef patty, brie, truffle aioli, argula, and steak sauce. Both these burgers were boss, as is every burger I've had there. Brendon loved the chicken patty, although he was a little wary at first. Between us we've had almost every burger on the menu. Brendon's favorite at the moment is the Terilingua and my standard is the Ahi Tuna Burger. That Ahi Tuna Burger is where it's at. And their buns... oh man. They bake them in house (they make every thing they serve basically, from their patties to their ice cream!) and it smells like heaven. The best thing about this place is that their ingredients are just so good. They put the best things on their burgers and everything is super fresh and super local. They even have a chalk board where they write what Texan farms the ingredients are coming from!

Sides:
The french fries. I think we've discussed how I'm not really a fan of fries, but I love Hopdoddy's fries. They're thin and crispy and just perfect. We actually kind of got a funky batch this visit, kind of like the bottom of the fry bowl. Usually they're more golden than brown, but even then they were still really good! Fries are pretty much it when it comes to sides. Although they do have milkshakes! I've never had room after my burger to try a milkshake, but I've heard they're delicious.

Atmosphere:
The only downfall of Hopdoddy is how it works. You wait in an usually ridiculous line, order and pay for your burgers at the counter, are assigned a table, and then you wait for your food at said table while a cocktail type waitress gets you anything else you need. So theoretically you'll have two tabs if you order your burger and then get say, a margarita or beer at your table. Not terrible, but not good. The line is always crazy, unless you go at like 2 or 3 in the afternoon. In the evenings it wraps around the building, although it does move surprisingly fast and is definitely worth the wait. It's a cute little place, but it's just always so busy.

Value:
These aren't the cheapest burgers in the world but they are definitely made out of quality ingredients so I think it's a fair price. Your burger comes with nothing, you order fries on the side, but the fries are a good portion, Brendon and I split the smaller order of fries and it's perfect. The drinks aren't real cheap, and I have no idea if they have specials but they have lots of fun drinks and local brews. Pricier than your usual burger joint, but not by much and it's worth it.

Bonus:
Green chili queso. This queso, y'all. Put it on everything. It's meant for your fries and but is heavenly on everything. And alone... like good enough to eat it with a spoon and/or just pour it into your mouth. It's amazing and you have to get it. I need some right now.

Overall, Hopdoddy is amazing. The awkward ordering style and insane amount of people constantly there are my only qualms, but those burgers are so damn good it's worth it. If you are ever near one, GO or we might not be able to be friends.

The semester is over (WOOO!) and Brendon's pharmacy school partner in crime, Mike (top left), is moving back to El Paso to finish his last two years of school. Last night was his going away shindig, and we celebrated good times with burgers and then believe it or not we went to 6th Street. And not even West 6th! We played pool and shuffleboard and I got verbally abused by a homeless man for wearing the Denver Bronco's colors. It was a good night and we will miss Mike. Brendon's going to be lonely without his bff here. I guess some road trips to El Paso are in order!

Mother's Day & Landa Park

First and foremost, lets take a moment to celebrate my sweet momma. I love her and she's the best mom in the world. THE BEST.

We celebrated with her on Mother's Day down in New Braunfels. We had some yummy Mexican food, chocolate for dessert, and then watched the Spurs game (sorry they didn't win!). Well we watched most of it. I have a problem with stressful situations (like stressful movies, or for example, a stressful basketball game), so Brendon and I escaped for a bit to Landa Park. We caught the last quarter but after it went into overtime we had to call it quits to have some Mother's Day time with my sweet mother-in-law!

Brendon and I split mole enchiladas and MAN they were good. So bueno.

It had been a couple years since we had been to Landa Park. Growing up I spent SO much time there, it's neat to see how much has changed and how much hasn't. When Brendon and I were dating in high school we'd come here and hang out, holding hands on the benches. You know, high school stuff.

Landa Park is pretty awesome. New Braunfels has itself a winner. It's huge, honestly it gives Zilker Park a run for it's money. It's beautiful and is full of the most grand live oak trees! And it's got: the natural spring beginning of the Comal River, both springfed and chlorine public pools, a train (!), putt-putt golf, a real golf course, a dance floor, wicked playgrounds, an awesome hiking trail, paddle boats, volleyball, horseshoes, and a snack bar that serves bluebell ice cream. Oh and ducks that love bread. I'm sure I'm missing other awesome things, but I mean geeze, that's a really legit park for a relatively small town!

And we ended our little park adventure how any day in the park should end, with a snow cone!

Sunday was a really lovely day spent with lovely people. I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you again Mom for being a wonderful human and such a good mom. You really are the best.

52 weeks of baking: 19 - grapefruit yogurt cake

A friend posted a recipe for grapefruit cookies the other day on Facebook and they sounded amazing and I'd been thinking about them since. I was about to finally bake 'em when I thought, what ELSE can I bake with grapefruit? Since I made cookies last week I figured I'd try to do something a little different. And surprise surprise, I consulted my girl Deb and she had a grapefruit yogurt cake that looked amazing.

I love me some grapefruit and I love me some of this cake. It came out perfectly. It's the moistest softest cake ever! And the glaze gives it the nicest subtle crunch. It's got just enough grapefruit flavor and unlike many citrus baked goodies, it's not overwhelmingly sweet. And I think I finally figured out the weirdness with my oven, I lowered the temp 25 degrees and for the first time in a while, my edges didn't get extra crispy! Hurray!

I highly recommend this little cake. And I'm sure you could swap out the fruit for whatever you'd like. I think it would be badass with lime, lemon, or orange. Or a fruit combo!

OH and in the midst of doing some dishes, I turned around to find this:

Cat on the counter. She's such a brat. She has to be in the middle of everything.

An update on life outside of food

I haven't blessed your eyeballs with a crappy webcam photo of myself in a while, y'all. Wish granted.

I feel like all I post these days is food. I mean, really, that's all it is. I swear that eating is not all that's happening in my little life. But honestly, there is a lot of eating. I love food. Here are some tidbits that aren't edible (and by tidbits I mean paragraphs of rambling):

Brendon and I have decided to stay in our little apartment for another year. After much debating and a little disappointing apartment and house hunting, we decided that it wasn't worth the effort, and mostly it wasn't worth the moola. Moving is expensive and rent is cray cray here in Austin right now. We have a pretty good deal where we are now, and we kind of love our crazy apartment (just not our neighbors), so we're staying put. It was a big relief to finally throw in the towel on finding a new place, because really, who has time for that?

We have started running again! We both missed running and are working on getting back into the habit of running on a regular basis. The Town Lake trail has been seeing a lot of us. My body hates it and loves it. We're running the Autism Speaks 8k at the end of the month... wish us luck. Brendon is in great shape but I've got a loooong ways to go. I forsee a lot of walking during that 8k.

I've been working more than I've ever worked in my life lately. It's kind of a normal thing, but it's taking it's toll on me. I'm exhausted all the time. There is never ever enough sleep. This may also be due to something I'll discuss in a bit, but working like I am sure isn't helping. It's worth it, but sheesh. Your girl needs a vacation, stat.

Brendon just has one more final left on Tuesday and then he is done for the semester and half way through pharmacy school (hell yes). Unfortunately his first hospital rotation starts the week after, and it is in TEMPLE, TX. Over an hour away. Thankfully it is just for two weeks and he will be home for the weekends, but it is going to seriously suck. I can't even think about it. BUH.

Oh crap, this one is food related. Brendon and I are going partially vegetarian! We are going to be almost vegetarians at home, which means no more buying meat at the grocery store. And I say almost because I cannot live without bacon. Breakfast tacos are probably my favorite food and I need bacon in them. Everything else meat related is out though. We'll be eating meat away from home (the burger quest is still on), but just in an effort to eat a little better we wont be having it here at home. I'm interested to see how it works out and excited for the culinary challenge. Bring on your veggie recipes y'all!

Prepare yourself for some TMI, but my body is in a state of rebellion these days. I have recently swapped birth controls to try to control the ridiculous adult acne that I'm dealing with (I'm 25 with plenty of grey hairs coming in, get the zits out of here), and therefore am dying via an onslaught of new hormones. I'm blaming this as the reason that I am exhausted all the time, have an incredibly achy body, am prone to bouts of sadness (like serious down days, no sunshine and rainbows at all), and surprise, am breaking out even more than usual. It sucks real bad and the future Dr. Hogan keeps telling me it will be worth it but mostly I just want to give him a knuckle sandwich. PLEASE BE WORTH IT.

And a think that's about it as far as my recent life goes. But don't let this post fool you, my life really is just food. There is something yummy cooling on the kitchen counter that I'll blog about soon, don't worry.

The Great Austin Hamburger Quest - Shady Grove

Next up on ye olde Burger Quest, Shady Grove! We drive by this place ALL the time, and it's kind of an Austin standard. It was recommended for its burgers (thanks Roxanne!) so off we went. Brendon had been once before but it was my first time there. And I approve!

Here's the run down:

Burger:
I got the Mushroom Cheeseburger and Brendon got the Green Chili Cheeseburger. These are decent sized burgers! I only managed to eat half, but I had the other half a couple days later at work and it was goooood. I love pickles and they hooked it up in the pickle department. Kudos Shady Grove. Brendon's burger had hatch green chili sauce and pepper jack cheese. He said the chili was on point but the patty was a little flavorless. I agree, the burger overall was delish, but the patty was a tad bland.

Sides:
Your burger doesn't come with any sides here, which is kind of typical these days. We split a side of "frings" which were fries and onion rings, cute! The onion rings were awesome, I don't really like fries but Brendon said they were alright. There were tons of other options as well, including veggies! Yay veggies! Most of the time I jump on board the veggie train (to justify eating a big 'ol burger, plus I don't really like fried stuff), but I was feeling extra American that day.

Atmopshere:
WOOOO I could chill at this place for a while. Patio heaven. It's covered by the prettiest trees and has the best vibe. Laid back and chill. It's clean and very Austiny, a very pretty place to relax with a beer and a burger. You can eat inside as well, but I jumped on the patio boat real quick since the weather was so nice. Gotta get it while we can before summer gets here. They have all kinds of live music also, and although live music gives me anxiety, I'm sure it's great!

Value:
Value is good. It's a tad pricy for a burger considering that it doesn't come with any sides. But the burger was huge and not your cheapo fast food variety. And the atmosphere is worth it. Aaaand they had an awesome happy hour! Unlike some places that have an unattainable random time of the day happy hour, theirs is M-F from like 4-7 plus a different drink special every week day! I'm a sucker for good a happy hour.

Bonus:
This, you guys, this:

TAMALE CAKES. I know this is about burgers, but this appetizer is amazing. It's tamale pancakes, pulled pork, queso, and hatch green chili. IT IS AMAZING. Like, I'm drooling right now.

Final verdict? I am a fan of this place. We decided that Opal Divine's burgers are better, but in the overall vibe department, Shady Grove wins. The rest of their menu looks amazing and I'm all about chillin' on their patio. I'm real sad I'd never been before, but it's officially been added to our rotation of hang out spots. Well done Shady Grove, well done.

After gorging on good food, we stopped and waved hello to downtown. Because you can never get enough of that skyline. Austin, you're so pretty! We love you!