Happy Easter!

I'm kind of late on the bandwagon, but happy easter any way!! I hope you and yours had an amazing day filled with family and love.

What did you do for Easter?

We tried out a new church this morning that's conveniently across the street. Shawners has gone to VBS at this place before and I was bowled over by how comfortable he was as he is hardly ever comfortable in new large groups of people. He says, "I like this church the best. I loved playing tag in here." and "I like these seats. I like these comfort seats." I caught him smiling and paying attention the whole time (whilst folding paper airplanes out of index cards). He was so excited to run out and get the gift bag with goodies in it that they had mentioned. He opens it and says, "It's a big muffin." It was a loaf of banana bread.

Afterwards, we had brunch at Iron Cactus with my sister, her husband, and her three boys. This is the first Easter we have spent with family, besides when we lived in California. I thought of the idea of going to my favorite meal ever together, brunch, and made reservations at Iron Cactus, which has the best brunch buffet in Austin, three weeks ago, and have been so excited about it since. It was just as pleasant and wonderful as I had hoped. It was also very special, as one of my nephews is getting married in June and it will likely be the last meal we will have all together with just the nine of us.

After brunch, Brando slept for two hours on the couch while the boys and I sat next to him and played with the silly putty they got in their Easter baskets and egg hunt this morning. Who knew silly putty could be entertaining for two hours. He loved that we quietly played next to him while he napped.

This evening, we went to watch Rio which was cute, then, ended the evening with a cookie cake Shawners had picked out and candles for Brando's birthday.

It was a pleasant sort of day.

Shoal Creek Trail

I've been wanting to hike this trail forever. Driving along Lamar it looks like the most peaceful completely accessible hike alongside the road. So the other day Brando decided he was going to take us hiking and mentioned it would be somewhere along Lamar. I was so excited because I realized it was exactly the place I've been wanting to go forever. Warning: me using my new to me but Brando's old camera, plus Brando with his camera = a plethora of photos : ) .

Little did I know that just off the side of the road was a wonderland of nature that was so fascinating I didn't even notice the road just on the other side of the creek.

except for when it crossed the creek over pretty bridges.

The parking was so easy to get to and immediately you felt like you were in nature with trees budding with random flowers,

a babbling creek,

a dried bamboo forest

that was way too tempting for two little boys,

turtles,

fascinating bed rock that reminds me of the tide pools in Santa Cruz,

old stone steps that lead to nowhere (I love that mystery),

minnows and fishies,

reeds among the water,

and a Blair Witch like forest - this might've been my favorite part of the whole hike.

- that, and these adorable moments between brothers,

and the golden dried bamboo.

Fortunately flat ground hiking is one of the things that's relieving to me, and it was the perfect easy hike amongst our busy day of breakfast, a basketball game for Justinbustin, and lazily hanging out downtown at the park like we've been doing the last few Sundays.

Austin's Tasty Up Trailer Tour

Because it's rainy and ugly, and I want it to be the weather where I could do this again right now.

Jackie and Ryan joined the four of us for Austin's Tasty Up Trailer Tour,

the brainchild of Addie Broyles and Jodi of Tasty Touring. In the spirit of the latest and greatest craze of delicious and local food, the Tasty Up is a fabulous concept involving under $3 menu choices at some of the most delicious trailers tour stops around Austin. As a result, allowing one to try way more than one trailer on one budget, and one tummy. Our first stop was La Boite

for our nametags

and free french press coffee

starting the tour off right. Their concept of french pastries makes me excited to try them again.

This was the absolute fabulous scene that greeted us and made my heart smile.

Our boys joined us for this event, and surprisingly buried themselves in books

while we enjoyed our coffee then waited at our infamous second stop.

Our second stop was The Texas Cuban, a hot pressed sandwich joint that reminded me of a bbq joint mixed with a little international flair.

Unfortunately a forty minute wait ended with a refund as they were totally unprepared for the crowds that awaited them and started giving out refunds by the handful.

Hope they took me up on my suggestion of announcing via twitter another day where you could obtain their Trailer Tour specials to make up for it. Unfortunately, I'm not aware if they did. Their one redeeming quality was their Dr. Pepper with Imperial Sugar.

Quite a treat for my boys who are normally denied soda by Mommy.

Our third stop was Odd Duck farm to trailer, a fabulous concept of small plates of gourmet food, headed up by Bryce, former sous chef of Cafe 909 in Marble Falls, who also happens to be the son of the owner of Z'Tejas Grill. Fortunately we were fourth in line because the line quickly grew.

Shawners was fascinated with the cooking process,

as was I last time I came. The choices this time were equally amazing.

We ordered the grilled half quail with sweet potato puree, pecans, and sage,

the carrot soup shot with paprika,

and the gulf shrimp with citrus marinated cauliflower.

The only item I wasn't a fan of was the shrimp, with it tasting a little fishy to me, but the rest of the group loved it. The carrot soup shot was absolutely amazing. Shawners had his first quail ever in the form of a tiny drumstick, and wanted more when he was done. I had to have a picture, but he was very upset about that.

Our fourth stop was Gourdough's.

Delicious yumminess in the form of doughnuts - and in this particular case, five donut holes. If I remember what all they were - Flying Pig, bacon with maple syrup icing, Slow Burn, habarnero pepper jelly with cream cheese icing, Miss Shortcake, cream cheese icing with fresh cut strawberries, and Coco Loco, coconut filling with cream cheese and pineapple icing.

I wish they offered these on a regular basis because it's all I can handle of the overboard calorific deliciousness. As a side note, a doughnut from there does last me five days.

Our fifth stop was Austin Daily Press, a hot bed of panninis, only on crispier, crunchier, yummier bread.

Oh. my. goodness. My favorite stop on the trailer tour at this point.

I ordered the Mozzarello, Roma Tomato, and Balsamic Pesto,

and Jackie ordered the Meatball, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Marinara, both which came in their adorable and ecogreen wrapping.

Both were amazing, although I preferred mine. Especially because I gave my square of the meatball to Brando since he couldn't eat the pine nuts in the pesto.

The setting here struck me the most

with the fire pit

next to the babbling brook,

the painted spools to gather around, eat, and talk on a warm summer night,

and the fun little kid toys my boys had way too much fun with.

They have this location on South 1st during the day and are open in the parking lot of the Mohawk at night for a healthy late night alternative when you've had too much fun watching live music and drinking good drinks at the Mohawk, Stubb's, or Emo's nearby.

Our sixth stop was the much talked about G'raj Mahal, an Indian food trailer with a totally unexpected outdoor seating area

and even more unexpected art.

Even though their undeveloped website makes me giggle with! the! exclamation! marks!, I don't really think Indian food sits well with me at all. This is the second time I've had it and the second time I wasn't impressed. The first time Brando had a major allergic reaction (apparently they use a lot of pistachios in there sauces, the nut Brando happens to be allergic to most - who knew?). The second time neither of our throats or stomachs sat well afterwards and all we had was a samosa.

Also, the Kulfi was not a hit with even our most ice cream loving man, Shawners. As I read the description now "pistachio-cardamom kulfi" I'm realllly glad Brando didn't eat it. The rest of our group seemed to enjoy their samosas though.

Our next stop was not on the trailer tour, but a pleasant little surprise nonetheless. Town Market serves as a teeny little two story

natural convenience store for the apartment building above it and around it. Their selection gave you a healthy array of plenty of quick meal and snack options

and their bread display was enviable with a view of the lake on one side and a view of the high rise condos on the other.

Tiny, but adequate, we spent a good fifteen minutes in here chatting with the guy running it,

who informed us the store was an offshoot of Cissi's Market, another local favorite.

Our final stop was on the east side and involved parking a ways down the street as we attempted an unsuccesful stop prior, but the walk was enjoyable and much needed for our full tummies. I love the feel of the east side and the unique character in the buildings.

Also, I love that Mai joined us for a moment on her last day before heading off for tour for way too long.

Trailer Perk turned out to be my second favorite of the day,

with their half price coffees

and hot chocolates for the boys suckering me in,

and their way too fresh and delicious Kasey Shayne sandwich with roast beef, provolone, fresh tomato, and chimichurri.

This was my first time tasting chimichurri, which appears similar to pesto but is made of fresh parsley, oregano, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and it was oh so delicious. As our last stop we stayed, chatted,

and rested (notice Brando in the back)

for a bit.

We were exhausted after our last round and all too content to go home full and happy. The way to our hearts was definitely through our tummies that day, and I can't wait to eat at the majority of these places again.