Love Life, Hate Kittens

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Sun, 27 May 2012 21:56:00 -0700

Crawfish 101

Sun, 27 May 2012 21:47:00 -0700

I admit I don’t have a ton of experience with crawfish. Aside from the random whim when I feel like standing two hours in line at Boiling Crab only to get annoyed at the teeny little morsels and gorge on cajun fries and beer, I am so not into it. So much work for so little meat. Can’t we substitute this with shrimp and lobster tails? SO BOUGIE.

Well, come to find out. There is a technique to eating crawfish. No, really. Crawfish? I’ve been doing it wrong.

Aside from the sheer fact that people actually cook batches of crawfish at home and it’s not an Asian or LA thing (I give my people way too much credit. lol) It’s simple really and you seasoned pros can scoff and laugh but I have been putting too much work in. I always thought you peeled crawfish like shrimp. Break the hard little shell and diligently peel it on until you get to the minuscule bit of meat. No. Wrong.

All you have to do is pop the head off, suck the guts, pinch the tail and slurp. Suck that sucker out. Dip in butter, eat it plain, no more peeling until your fingers tire. All you have to do is pinch and suck.

I’m sure there’s a good “that’s what he said” joke somewhere along there.

With quadruple the speed, here’s the evidence of 40 pounds of crawfish, cooked in a humble pot in the great outdoors. See? I’m down with the people.

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Sun, 27 May 2012 12:00:27 -0700

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Sat, 26 May 2012 16:06:39 -0700

Sundays are for tacos and beer.

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:31:00 -0700

I do not like tex mex. I do not like cheese and I want to say I don’t like queso. But Austin, you broke me. When once I balked at the thought of eating a bowl of melted cheese, I’ve come to terms with my inner (soon to be outer) fattie.

Non Austinites, I sense your confusion. What is queso, you ask? It’s what you’d serve at a trailer trash party with Ritz crackers and canned meat. It reminds me of that weird three months in 7th grade when I was really into cheese wiz. Like I ate it out of the can. Needless to say it was a dark period in my life.

But I digress.

Anyway, maybe I’m not hip but I have a really hard time finding a good Mexican place in the ATX. One that serves tripas, buche, lengua and all those “weird” meats that earn me curious stares in my new state. Oh LA, welcome me back please.

And as with a lot of things in my love/hate relationship with Austin, I’ve resorted to making it at home. Grill up a pork tenderloin, dice up a little bit of cilantro and white onion, squeeze some lime and you have perfection.

Sure, it’s not El Chato at 2 in the morning but what really is?

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Sun, 20 May 2012 09:29:00 -0700

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Sat, 19 May 2012 21:37:00 -0700

Proper steak knives deserve a proper steak.

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:25:00 -0700

Have you ever cut construction paper with left handed kiddie scissors? And it just keeps “creasing” and folding the paper until you get frustrated and stab a 2nd grader in the jugular with rage?

No?

OK. Well, have you ever tried to cut a fantastically perfect steak with a old serrated steak knife that’s questionably rusty? It’s the same thing…ruining a perfectly good piece of meat hacking it up in ungodly ways.

While we’ve been buying and investing in odd things like cast iron wok, bamboo steamers, hand mixers, specialty pizza slicers, we’ve never taken the leap to invest in new steak knives.

Why?

Steak knives are expensive, yo. A really good set of four can run you from $150 - $300. FOR FOUR. But boy do they make a difference. We were so fortunate to receive a set of Wusthof classics as a gift and my mind is blown. It is like cutting through soft butter. People could get hurt. You can slice through meat in one smooth stroke.

To commemorate this event, we decided to get the most well marbled prime new york strips ever. I’m usually a rib-eye girl (esp with david chang’s rib eye recipe) but these babies were gorgeous. Aside from his usual specialty salt rub, we even grinded up dried porcini and morels to add an earthy, yummy layer.

Paired with baby carrots and truffled fries, the steak did us in. Too proud to save any for the next day, one of us is passed out on the couch and I’m drunk blogging with steak coma.

Cheers <3

Perfect sandwich is perfect. - Toasted ciabatta - Prosciutto -...

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:19:00 -0700

Perfect sandwich is perfect.

- Toasted ciabatta
- Prosciutto
- Salami
- Beecher’s Flagship cheese
- Lettuce and tomatoes
- Pickled banana peppers
- Boar’s Head deli dressing (olive oil, vinegar, spices)
- Oregano
- Freshly cracked black pepper

♥

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Thu, 03 May 2012 05:45:00 -0700

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Tue, 01 May 2012 17:10:16 -0700

pork belly and duck tacos. yes.

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:30:00 -0700

pork belly and duck tacos. yes.

It’s not a party until you have a piñata.

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:21:00 -0700

It’s not a party until you have a piñata.

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Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:50:08 -0700

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Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:11:26 -0700

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Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:00:19 -0700

Duck pastrami + kimchi sauerkraut

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:57:04 -0700

Duck pastrami + kimchi sauerkraut

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Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:18:52 -0700

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Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:32:20 -0700

gorgeous drawing by gorgeous artist.

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:32:07 -0700

gorgeous drawing by gorgeous artist.