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!

52 weeks of baking: 18 - chocolate chip cookies

PHEW, you guys. This week was a close one. I barely squeezed in time to bake, and what I did bake wasn't all that original. Chocolate chip cookies, specifically, the recipe on the bag of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chips. It's the recipe my mom made growing up and it will always be my favorite. My cookies never turn out as good as hers did, but that's typical. She has those "mom powers".

This cookie dough, divine.

They came out a little, flat? But they're delicious so whatever. I apologize for the slight lameness of this weeks baked good. Life has been all kinds of busy and I have been all kinds of tired. I think I have, as my dad likes to say, the African sleeping sickness. Not really, but really, I'm so tired. All the time. There is never enough sleep. Buh.

Aaaand I leave you with, my favorite cat butt:

Sophie is the best baking assistant. She loves being in the kitchen while I cook. She meows at me and rolls around at my feet, and while things bake she allows me to hold her. I think she just likes how warm the oven makes the kitchen, but I like to think she likes hanging out with me.

Two Years

Not in the mood for smooshy gooshy love? Don't read this.

Our second year of married life has been... good. So good. This past year of marriage has been all about learning and growing with Brendon and appreciating and loving him more than ever. Even though I swear I know him backwards and forwards, he never ceases to surprise me. I learn new things about and from him everyday. Going through life with him is the greatest and most fun thing in the world.

And goodness, the things this man makes me feel. So many butterflies, after seven plus years of messy life together and two years of being his wife. I fall for him more and more everyday. I am crazy about him like a school girl. It's wonderful and scary, in a good way. How can anyone love this much? My heart hurts when we're apart and when I'm with him I cannot get enough. I'm addicted, big time. I crave his touch and his glances and his words. I want everything about him. I want his thoughts, his dreams, his future. I want to make him smile, to make him laugh, to make him happier than he's ever been. There is never enough. I miss him. Life gets in the way. It sucks and it hurts being away from him, but it is that much better when we're finally together again. And being apart gives us good things to talk about and share, although even if we spent every waking second together I don't think we'd ever run out of things to say.

I don't know how this man does to me what he does, but I love it. And I love him more now than I did yesterday and less today than I will tomorrow. Forever and always. I am the luckiest girl in the world, because he picked me. He wants me and he loves me. He loves the bad and good things about me, and is patient and kind with me when I am rotten tomato of grumpiness. Being married to him is the easiest and best thing in the world. I know marriage is not supposed to be easy, but it is. Life is not easy, life is hard and tiring and mean sometimes, but being married to him is like breathing deep gulps of air after life holds you under the water. Having each other is our protection against the dark and crummy things that so often threaten to appear in our simple little lives. Even after or during the most terrible day, knowing that we still have each other makes everything okay. He is my safe place, he is my home. He is everything and he is mine. And I am his. Two years down, forever to go.

And so you don't think we're all serious business:

Holy pit stains batman!

Photos curtesy of Powerhouse Studios. More wedding goodies here .

52 weeks of baking: 17 - simple white cake

This week I thought I'd get back to basics and make a straight up white cake with white icing. Plain jane. I found this recipe from my girl Martha (we haven't teamed up in so long) and gave it a try. Success y'all, success.

Lets talk about this cake batter. Are you into eating your dough/batter/unbaked goodness? Are you totally not scared of raw eggs and love the perfect grittiness of creamed butter and sugar? Welcome to the club. This batter you guys. I basically had my whole face in the bowl. It was delicious. Worth baking the cake alone.

This cake is where it's at. It's pretty flawless, I wouldn't change a thing. It's really your basic white wedding cake. It actually tastes a lot like ours did (convenient, our anniversary is Tuesday). It is also probably a great starting point for more creative versions. I think it would be delicious with some pureed strawberries added into the icing. Or the cake batter for that matter. Oh, and can we talk about this icing? It's the perfect white icing. So fluffy and so delicious. It's officially my go-to for vanilla icing. And like I said, it could be easily altered. I'm really thinking of busting out a strawberry version of this baby soon.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to go cut another slice. Oh and hey, here's the rest of the baking year so far.