Pink Sun Drops

This week was a smorgasbord of breakfasts at unique local Austin jaunts, Christmas shopping, friends, and discovery of new restaurants and stores. One of my favorites was yesterday with Mai and Jackie. Breakfast was suggested, and one thing led to another as we ended up at Austin's new 24 Diner that Jackie had suggested the evening before.

I arrived first, and sat down at a table for two with seats for three, but thru musical chairs ended up in a booth. Fortunately it was a much better angle for taking pictures of their cute little atmosphere. It was also much more comfortable for four when Mai and Jackie arrived a few minutes later.

In spite of it turning out a bit dark, I love that our waitress walking by was completely accidental in this picture. Her laugh is because she thought I was taking a picture of the place we were going to sit, and makes me laugh out loud as well.

24 immediately won me over with their commitment to local foods, starting with their special Owl Tree Roasting blend of, I believe, Kenyan and Brazilian coffee. I am becoming slightly addicted to Owl Tree's coffee.

Their menu was simple, yet managed to offer many options on just two sides. Oh, how I wish I had taken a picture of the breakfast side - next time! I ended up fixating on their cute little slogan, "Farm to Table".

No Belgian waffles, so I had to branch out. I loved how they listed the ingredients they use from local farms on a blackboard above the kitchen. It was the other half of what immediately won me over, and I was excited to taste the freshness.

The prices were a little high in my opinion. $10 for breakfast, not including coffee seems steep for breakfast for one. So, Mai and I decided to split the Spinach, Cherry Tomato, and Goat Cheese Frittata. Fortunately it was large enough to be completely filling for both of us.

I ended up with the cherry tomato half, and Mai ended up with the goat cheese half, as it could've afforded a little more mixing prior to completion of cooking. Although, we did trade off a bit with our ingredients, which made for an AHmazing few bites. Mai ordered veggie breakfast patties as well with her half which, as Jackie put it were, "Savory, smoky, and sweet."

They tasted just like one of the best meat sausages I've ever had, which, as a non-vegetarian, was absolutely delicious, and Mai loved it, too. Jackie ordered a goat cheese pulled chicken sandwich with avocado and roasted tomato vinaigrette which looked absolutely delicious on it's baguette,

and from all accounts lived up to the deliciousness that it sounded. I didn't personally try it, but it sounds like it would taste and look even better than it already did with thick sliced fresh tomatoes.

Overall the atmosphere was adorable, chic, and inviting,

the food was good, filling even with splitting, somewhat affordable with splitting - my bill still came to $11 with tip, and the service was impeccable. I'd actually heard reports that their service was slow, but it seems they were aware of that and were definitely making up for it. They had an excellent balance of making sure things were being taken care of without being intrusive.

With a few improvements this place could easily become one of my Austin favorites. A little attention to taste detail as I mentioned previously would go a long way and up the taste bud experience to perfection. In lieu of upping the taste detail, or even better, in addition to, slightly lower prices on most entree items would make this a much more frequent option. This would create lines out the door almost any day of the week, I'm sure. Also, it would encourage already fantastic service to the extreme as it would leave more room for tipping. But I'm not a business owner and I certainly have no idea of the ginormous funds it takes to run a business so who am I to say that. I just eat there!

I loved it and will totally be back,

on top of recommending it to locals and out-of-towners for an Austin breakfast experience

before shopping the day away downtown at Anthropologie across the street,

or experiencing the rest of the uniqueness Austin has to offer.

Brando won a night at a hotel, the Renaissance, through work a few weeks ago so this last weekend we took advantage of it to celebrate the end of my first semester! We started off the evening by getting checked in and checking out all the fun Christmas decorations in the hotel.

Then we hit up a band, With the Punches, at Emo's. I had heard about via Twitter, and when I checked out their myspace and saw one of their inspirations was Blink 182, I knew Brando would enjoy it. I was right on. We even bought a CD which sounds AHmazing! Wish it had my favorite song of theirs on it! I can't remember the words but there was a lot of "Ooooh, ooooh, oooh"ing in it.

Of course, besides the added plus of actually liking their music, I totally enjoyed it because it was a new place and a new experience for me! The funky atmosphere made for a perfect experience.

After their set and a series of texts to friends about where to eat nearby I remembered a hot spot within walking distance that I had been wanting to try so we took off to Max's Wine Dive (wish I'd gotten a picture of their sign, but since I didn't I'll use theirs).

Oh man, did it ever live up to expectations! First of all, such a cute atmosphere

combined with amazing food that I forgot I was in Texas (no offense, Texas) to the point where I saw a picture of John Wayne above the bar and wondered outloud, "Why is there a picture of John Wayne above the bar?" Brando gave me a look and reminded me, "We're still in Texas." On top of their delicious sounding menu,

the service was superb to the point where small used napkins were swept away discreetly by a waiter or waitress walking by to the point where if I hadn't been paying attention I wouldn't have even noticed. Something I am definitely NOT used to in Texas. Brando ordered the beer battered Mesquite Calamari which was so good he convinced me to try it (I've only been eating seafood for two years and insist on only eating it when a seafoodie claims it's the best they've ever had).

It WAS delicious. I ordered the Ribs with a hoisin glaze.

Mmmm, perfectly tender and sweet flavor. It is a wine bar, but I usually get a headache these days when I drink wine, so the waiter, Clint, convinced me to try a wine he claimed had never given him a headache, Prosecco.

It's a slightly sweet, but definitely not desert like, wine that was oh so good and just right with the hoisin ribs. And he was so right! No headache at all - not even the next day. Will definitely be having that again! After Max's Wine Dive, we stopped by to see a friend of mine at Pure Ultra Lounge. Fortunately we ran into her on the street and hung out with her for quite a bit. Brando's first time on Sixth Street!

I took tons of pictures to record the moment in case it doesn't happen again. We headed back early to get back to the hotel before the indoor pool closed, stopping by Emo's along the way to see if the next band was any good. It wasn't, but it was fun to see the funky atmosphere again and catch this picture.

Back to an amazing night at the super plush indoor pool in the hotel.

We finally checked out our huge room after the pool. I had been to the Renaissance before and the room was TINY so I wasn't expecting this.

Our view was gorgeous on top of it all.

We spent the next morning in bed til' noon, with belgian waffles, orange juice, and coffee in bed watching SurvivorMan (Brando's personal happy place).

Heaven.

Mai has been wanting to try the new Snack Bar diner on South Congress. So on Friday to celebrate finals being over AND (double yay!) Mai being back in town we went for breakfast!! Do excuse the just woke up look - that's exactly what we did. What a cute place!

We had so much fun chatting I neglected to take pictures of the inside, so I will save that for next time. But we had an awesome time admiring the easy going but modern, dim lit atmosphere, and choosing from the delicious sounding menu. It's been awhile since I've stepped foot in a vegan and vegetarian inspired cafe. This is probably because the first experience I ever had at one was bland, boring, rabbit food sounding food. Fortunately, this place was the complete opposite. Their menu sounded yummy,

Before I took my finals I finished with an A in all four classes!! Whoohoo. For sure two have stuck - in history and english, and I'll wait to see what I get in math and psych, but I'm happy. I set out to be happy with a few B's if I got them. When that became a possible prospect I started to lose face under the reality. That led to really growing to accept it, even up to only studying an hour for my history final and still making an A on it (talk about a confidence booster ;) !!

Any way, I had a fabulous first semester, and even though I broke the last week thinking I NEVER wanted to go through this again, I actually couldn't imagine not having such an amazing opportunity to learn and meet new friends with similar lifelong goals taking the steps we all have to take to get there.

In the meantime to entertain you I give you YouTube. It does have to do with my psychology class, and it's funny... Extra points if you get the theory right.

I'm so there.

 

You're Invited to Mix & Mingle at Mama Fu's Holiday Happy Hour!

 

Sip Sake & Eat Asian inspired treats while touring our downtown venue. Experience the perfect party space for your next event.

 

Date: Tuesday Nov 17

Time: 5:30 to 7:30

RSVP: by Monday November 16

 

Leave a comment or email me at sundrops at gmail dot com for the link.

Tolly has done it again with the blogger meet up - raising the bar for the rest of us who get together unofficially. Good thing we have an excuse to get together and partAY every once in awhile, because we just may start to overrun each other with our own little meetups (oh, who am I kidding we'll do it any way and probably even more so as a result!) that couldn't possibly include everybody as well as Tolly has managed to do at both the bleetups. Cory Ryan photobooth, Mama Fu's edamame and ahi tuna, Tito's Vodka and Sweet Leaf Tea drinks, the Lemmings, and Built by Snow, all at the very cool Mohawk venue. Who could ask for more? Sorry I don't have more pictures of the actual event! We had too much fun taking pictures of all of us girlies together, besides I'm still working on getting back into the groove of things. Another post to come and more pictures on the pre-party at Whole Foods Taste of Thanksgiving!

On a different but related note, I am so excited that when Mai and I talked today I mentioned how overwhelmed I have been with school and exams, and she had some awesome suggestions! She suggested mixing fun classes with the core classes in order not to make the next semester so grueling and give me more time for the social support aspect that keeps me from burnout (which I'm totally experiencing right now). Thinking about not having next semester be so completely life sucking excites for the next semester for the first time since having to think about registering for classes again!! I already registered, but I think I can still switch them around. Friday will be perfect to do that since the people who haven't paid by now will be dropped then. Sad for them, yay for me!

Yay, Halloween! I am loving the idea of parties the weekend before. After a Halloween costume party AND a pumpkin carving party last weekend, I already feel like we've celebrated Halloween and we're not even there yet!

Greek Goddess and Brando as... himself.

I tried to convince him to write in silver sharpie on his shirt, "I am coming as myself."

Oh, yes, we danced. And danced. And danced.

Brando did borrow my friend's boyfriend's costume from last year. He only wore the ostrich rider for about twenty minutes, though, because the machine on his rear end keeping the costume full of air was a little hard to sit on.

The end of the night, and the Burger King. He was awesome.

And on to... the pumpkin carving party! We went to Sweet Berry Farm first for our pumpkins, and did a giant maze where the field is in the shape of Texas (you can see the field ready to be seeded here).

Afterwards, we went to a friend's house and everybody carved all their pumpkins! Shawners and I had the weekend to ourselves as Brando and Justinb had gone camping. So we cuddled upstairs and watched a movie on the half a theatre movie size screen until the crowd (with their crazy huge knives they used for their pumpkin carving tools!!) cleared and then we carved ours with one other girl that was still doing an intricate design on her large pumpkin.

Shawner's pumpkin!

My pumpkin that was extremely difficult. It took all of five minutes!