Lone Star State of Mind

Despite having spent the better part of my life in Texas, it is still possible forget about some of the little eccentricities that can really make our homeland unlike anywhere else in the world.

Like when you expect corporate familiarity from the local Compass Bank branch and you find yourself in the interior of a Mexican adobe and the bank manager in a three piece suit and bollo tie.

 

Or when you are in a situation that allows you to discover that once a catfish gets a taste of beer, he will be your friend for the duration of the evening.

We might be the biggest and the best, but its really the litte things that make Texas a such a special place.

For the Love of the Game

As recent transplants from the land of vuvuzleas, aka World Cup host country South Africa, we have been getting super-pumped for the start of the tournament.  Unfortunately, we might have moved to the most inconvenient time zone possible for game watching- most games start at either 4:30 or 7:00 am.  Never ones to let a little thing like "time" slow us down, we jumped into the madness full force on Saturday morning. 


Jared did some serious research and picked out the perfect watch site for the 7:00 am game- El Farolito, a die hard Latin futbol club a few streets away.  Although we rose and shone in time to catch the early game, the patrons of El Farolito were not as ambitious- CLOSED.  Luckily, we found a nice little Nicaraguan restaurant to watch the game and try our very first Tona, the national beer of Nicaragua (which we hear always tastes better pre-8am). 

Having an inkling that the US- England game might be a bit popular, especially at the accessible hour of 11:30 am, we headed straight over to our favorite sports bar, the Phoenix.  We arrived a comfortable 2.5 hours early, feeling like we had a good chance to score a prime seat.  No go. All seats were already taken, save a single bar stool which we used to stake our claim on a small square of space.  Little did we know, this chair would prove instrumental in resisting the tide of people that flowed into the bar over the next few hours. Saying that the bar was "standing room only" is a gross understatement.  The amount of space we had was more akin to a moderately crowded bus in India.

If you haven't noticed by now, I have been filling this post with pictures stolen from the internet and friends in SA, rather than personal photos, which we were unfortunately not able to obtain.  We did get one photo that might not result in me being served a copyright lawsuit and sums up our 5 hours at the Phoenix perfectly: our bill.

Unable to stomach the bill and entirely too impatient to wait the 45 min it would have taken to close it at the bar after the game, we decided to collect it the next day.  The thoughtful bartenders filled in the tip for us, a conservative 19.4%.  Now those of you with jobs, families, and/or drinking problems might not think this tab is too out of this world, but let me remind you that it was just the two of us for the most of the time and no food is included on that tab. 

One week down, four more to go!
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Happy Birthday to.... ME!

That's right, another one down in the books.  The good news is that I have also entered into my 5 months of dominance over Jared when it comes to age.   Although the day didn't start too amazingly (unless you really love laundry and Target), we had no problem rounding out the day with some serious birthday activities.  First on the agenda: decadent desserts during the middle of the day.  Destination: Tartine, one of the most highly rated bakeries in town.  We settled on the chocolate bread pudding with fresh strawberries and a chocolate walnut cookie.  Both were both amazingly good, but things really hit 11 when we mixed the two together.   For the record, Tartine is totally hype-worthy. 

Later, we picked up some pink champagne, St. Germain, and just a bit of absinthe to really kick things off.   A sunny afternoon in the park, segued into pre-dinner champagne, into a lovely little Latin meal at Charanga and the night was off to a great start.  Mix in a few new compadres, half a dozen local Mission bars, one pants leg covered in paint, and things got downright celebratory.

Thanks to all of the friends and family for the well-wishes and know that if you are ever trying to find a place to show yourself a good birthday time, we can add LGD29 to our San Francisco resume.

Austin-tatious weekend

Our favorite Texas town sure put on her prettiest dress this Memorial Day weekend, leaving us aching for more fun in the sun.  Maybe because the weather has been so crappy in SF lately, but wow- Austin is awesome.  It also helped that 90% of the people that we know happened to be in town for the weekend, whether for wedding festivities (congrats Mike & Brandi!), the notorious annual "White Party" on Pierce's boat, or just a good ole Texas time. 

Let's just say that between bottomless mimosas at Taverna, boating on the lake, an awesomely fun wedding, and lots and lots of Miller lite, the weekend was a success. 

Say what you like about Texas, but no one's gonna say that town doesn't know how to have a good time....