This and That

Ceramic macaroni necklace.

A mannequin family.

Some mornings, I really miss these sandwiches.

The Infinite Jukebox.

Anatomy of a scene from While We're Young.

Such a cute save-the-date.

(Photo via Pinterest)

Brunch: Savory Bread Pudding

S: Yesterday, Chris bought all the ingredients for me to make the savory bread pudding recipe from my Food52 Cookbook for the Sunday brunch we were planning on having with friends on the downstairs deck this morning. It turned out to be amazing and awesome and all of those other super positive a-words that you can think of. More than highly recommended for brunch. (Also note: I have a fiancé who volunteers to go grocery shopping for me when I am busy running around town with my maid of honor searching for the perfect wedding dress. Have I mentioned he's awesome? Also, finally found a dress! More on that later.)

For the chevre, I went with a firm goat cheese called Pantaleo from Sardinia that Chris bought at Antonelli’s Cheese Shop. (He purchased two different kinds of cheese, so that I could pick which one I thought would work best. That's an indicator of how much he loves me and also of how much we both love cheese.) The cheese is aged a minimum of one hundred days and is ridiculously delicious.

From the Food52 website.

Savory Bread Pudding

3 cups diced bread (I used whole wheat.)

4 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

4 ounces chevre, finely crumbled (Pantaleo)

3 ounces prosciutto, diced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme (Used dried thyme, half the amount.)

2 shallots, minced

4 crimini mushrooms, sliced

Cracked pepper, to taste

1/4 cup shredded gruyere or parmesan (Parmesan for the win!)

Toast bread cubes in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Leave oven on at 350. In a bowl, mix together eggs, milk, and cream until thoroughly blended. In a 9x9 square baking pan, toss together bread cubes, prosciutto, shallots, mushrooms, thyme, and pepper. Gently stir in chevre. Pour egg mixture over bread cubes. If desired, garnish with a shredded cheese, such as parmesan or gruyere, for a golden crust. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

 Not as perfect looking as the Food52 photo, but delicious nonetheless. 

(Recipe and top photo via Food52; other photos by Sandra)

Little Soya

S: This Little Soya soy sauce packet is soya adorable. Sorry. I had to. You can buy them here.

(Photo via Bon Appetit)

Summer Saturday: F & D Bake Sale and Real Ale Anniversary

S: Saturdays in the summer should always be full of pastries followed by copious amounts of day drinking. As such, Chris and I started this past Saturday hitting up Foreign and Domestic's new weekend bake sale. We scored zucchini bread in a can, a giant cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting, and a ham and Gruyère popover. If the description wasn't enough for you, just look at this:

Our pastry box

Zucchini bread in a can

I've become a little obsessed with the zucchini bread we bought, and I'm hoping to recreate it soon. I found a similar recipe here that's now on my cooking to-do list.

After we were fully sated from F & D, we drove out to Blanco, Texas, around lunchtime to wile away the afternoon at Real Ale Brewing Company's 16th anniversary party. (Blanco is about an hour's ride away, and just about the most perfect day trip from Austin. Head to the tasting room at Real Ale and then drive a few miles to Blanco State Park to swim away the afternoon the next time you have a free day.)

We waited in line for about thirty and were then handed packets of tickets for four beers, a bbq lunch, and a koozie. For free! Love you, Real Ale.

Ticket packet. The anniversary beer (Four Squared) was delicious. 

The warehouse

 

Firemans 4 cans

We ended up back in Austin around seven, STARVING. You would think ingesting all those calories hour after hour would have been enough for us. But no. We showered, threw on some clothes, and headed to Komè, where we shared the awe-inspiring tempura zaru soba special (soba noodles with tempura shrimp, dipping broth, and a quail egg) that basically made me realize that living in Austin is the most perfect and right thing to be doing at this moment in time. Perfect summer day. End scene.

Spicy Sriracha Fettuccine with Meatballs

S: I can’t get enough Sriracha in my life. I've made the Sriracha shrimp recipe I wrote about here twice since March and plan on doing so many more times at BBQs this summer. Once I find a recipe I like, I can't let it go. 

I recently tweaked my standard spaghetti and meatballs recipe by adding a little Sriracha toward the end, and it was amazingly good. Recommended to anyone who likes delicious food that comes from a simple recipe. And that should be EVERYONE.

Spicy Sriracha Fettuccine with Meatballs
(Serves 4)

1 slice wheat bread, torn

¼ cup milk (soy or white)

1 pound ground beef

1 egg

1 tablespoon dried parsley

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt (plus extra salt for cooking fettuccine)

1 teaspoon pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 cup olive oil

1 26-ounce jar tomato sauce

½ cup water (plus water for cooking fettuccine)

1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce

1 pound fettuccine 

1. Soak torn bread with milk in bowl for five minutes or so to moisten completely. Squeeze bread to get milk out. Set aside.
2. Combine beef, egg, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and garlic in a medium-size bowl. Add bread and mix. Shape into meatballs. (This should make between 8 and 10, depending on how small or big you like them.) 
3. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add all meatballs and brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Pour off excess fat and oil from the pot, leaving just a bit (maybe one or two tablespoons for flavor). Add your tomato sauce, water, and meatballs back in the pot, then mix in the Sriracha sauce.
5. Simmer on medium-low for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how thick you want the sauce to be. More Sriracha can be added per your spicy level preference, but 1 tablespoon does the trick for most.
6. About halfway through the sauce cooking, heat a large pot of salted water on high and add fettuccine. Cook until al dente. Drain. Mix with cooked tomato sauce and meatballs and serve.

 Step 1

 Step 2

 Step 3

 Step 4

 More Sriracha, anyone?

Short and Sweet Guide to Fredericksburg

S: Chris and I recently celebrated our two-year-versary (as we call it). (We also celebrate monthversaries, which our friends give us much deserved too-sweet flak for.) This versary will be our only yearly one as an engaged couple, so we decided to take a midweek trip to Fredericksburg, a small town about an hour and a half outside of Austin. We stayed at Hoffman Haus, a b&b that is more like a collection of adorable cottages. (When I think "b&b," a huge house with separate rooms and a large communal area comes to mind. It's nothing like that.) Breakfast is brought to your door each morning in a picnic basket, and it's just an all-around lovely experience.

The driveway of Hoffman Haus

Picnic basket breakfast

Chris in front of our room

For lunch the first day, we went to the Sunset Grill. (I had the Q Burger and Chris had the Black & Blue Burger.) We then headed to Red, one of our favorite designy stores, and ended up buying some awesome metal numbers that we plan on incorporating into our centerpieces for our wedding reception next year. We also stopped by Root and Beulah's, which are right across the street. Root carries high-priced indie designers (think Lauren Moffatt) and Beulah's is expensive cute things for the kiddos.

Root and Beulah's

We also met this cute dog at a wine store on Main Street. He was so old and wobbly I instantly fell in love with him.

My new bff

That night we had dinner at Navajo Grill and drinks at Lincoln Street Wine Bar.

Us at Lincoln Street

The next day we did more shopping after checking out of Hoffman Haus. I had to say good-bye to this sweet little guy that hung out on our porch the entire time we were there. I wanted to take him with us SO BAD.

Sweet thang (plus my red toes)

Cat-kiss

We headed to Alamo Springs Cafe, home of one of the best burgers in Texas, on the way back to Austin. This took about thirty minutes to eat, but was well worth the time and effort.

The Cover Burger, as they call it.

More (less friendly) cats on the cafe's porch. I don't judge though. 

I love all cats, even snobby ones.

So:

To stay: Hoffman Haus

To eat: Sunset Grill, Navajo Grill, Alamo Springs Cafe

To shop: Red, Root, Beulah's

To drink: Lincoln Street Wine Bar

Also, remember that you can get a glass of wine or a mug of beer and drink as you walk around town. A lot of places on Main Street have to-go cups. It's encouraged!

Kome

S: Chris and I are madly, deeply in love with Kome, the newish sushi restaurant near our place. We have been there close to a dozen times in the last couple months and don't show any signs of slowing down our dinner treks there.

S: Everything on the menu is delicious and affordable. I would eat the shrimp tempura, pork dumplings, summertime roll, and beef carpaccio every day if I could.