To Market We Go

Last weekend, we made our first trip to London's famed Borough Market.  Long time readers of our blog might be curious how it compares to the Biscuit Mill in Cape Town...well, lets just say it blows it out of the water, both in terms of sheer size and offerings. Unfortunately, expanded options aren't always a good thing if you arrive hungry and overwhelmed by the choices on offer. Luckily, we found some instant winners to hold us over until more substantial decisions had to be made: fresh oysters on the half shell and a pint of the market's finest.  A few highlights from the excursion: 

Enjoying some over-sized fresh oysters

Family fun with local wildlife outside the pub

Tanked out on the tube ride home

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday with a couple thousand other Londoners....

3 decades down, many more to go...

As promised, I have a few more pictures to share from the wonderful weekend that was my 30th birthday celebration....

With lots of friends and family to help celebrate, we had....

a cake graciously transported to Austin by Carol, commemorating my extreme nerdiness,



a strong, worthy opponent of a pinata...



and a day at the lake with more than a few beers to keep the good times flowing.
(Note the "shotgun" master preparing to blow me out of the water with his skills)

All in all, it was a great weekend that not only left me feeling more than a little bit loved by those around me, but also confident in the good times to come in the next few decades...

Nerd Alert!

Those who know me well are aware that I have some, shall we call them, "less than cool" tendencies, especially when it comes to epic journeys across Middle Earth to defeat the forces of evil. 



Geeking out in full force on the LOTR tour in New Zealand

So needless to say, upon arrival in Houston, we promptly made a pilgrimage to the Hobbit Cafe, a Houston institution since 1972.  Apparently, there are some unenlightened Houstonians who frequent the cafe just for the food, but fellow "Ringers" out there will appreciate the LOTR themed menu (hungry for a Strider sandwich, anyone?) and 60's era paraphernalia lining the walls of the restaurant

So should your quest lead you across the Misty Mountains, through the forests of Isengard and beyond the eerie outskirts of chain restaurant infested greater Houston, plan to meet us at the Shire-on-Richmond and we will celebrate your arrival in proper hobbit fashion!

Ghost Face Killer

This past weekend, while celebrating the wedding of Michael "H-bomb" Henderson to Karen Sorenson with our old pals and favorite roomies Conor and Natalie, we encountered a spicy challenge like none the Dos Texpatriates had come across thus far: the Jolokia Ghost pepper. 

Originally found in India, the jolokia (or ghost pepper here in the US), was crowned the hottest chili pepper in the world in 1997 by the Guinness Book of World Records and is 3 times hotter than the spiciest habanero out there.

While contemplating the various menu options at the appetizingly-named Chunky's Burgers, we first noticed their signature menu item, the Four Horseman. This burger, featured on Man v Food, contains habaneros, serranos, jalapenos, and the ghost pepper.  The burger is so spicy, you have to sign a release and be over 18 to participate.  Our helpful waitress advised that pretty much everyone throws up and quite a few have to make a visit to the local ER.  Although we are not ones to back away from a challenge, we had a moment of maturity and remembered the wedding we were scheduled to attend that evening.  Instead, we opted for the Ghost burger, which only had the ghost peppers atop it, and seemed like a more reasonable option.

Jared definitely shouldered most of the challenge, but I was sure to crown my chicken sandwich with a few of the little devils as well.  And, wow!  They aren't joking around with the spiciness claim, although I have to say that the lasting after effects (best analogy: a laser fight in your stomach) were easily worse than the initial spiciness.

This was definitely a case of we Cowboys being seriously outmatched by those Indians.

J'Adore Paris!

That's right folks, that's me, in the shadow of one of the most famous buildings in the world, shivering, with frozen toes and a steely reserve not to wait in line to ascend to the top of the tower to gaze upon the snow covered city below.

My week-long trip to Paris to visit Michelle and Joseph, students of the French language and tour guides extraordinaries, was too short to say the least. Despite Michelle's ability to keep me awake for longer than I had ever thought possible, I still feel as though I barely scratched the surface of the culture-packed French capital.  Visits to major museums, shows, excellent restaurants, cathedrals, monuments, and innumerable wine bars only left me with the feeling that I must come back.  And that I must learn a bit more French before doing so. 

Here are a few photo highlights from the trip:

Les amoureux at the Arc de Triomphe

The IM Pei pyramid at the Louvre

Checking in with some of the 6 million residents in the Paris catacombs

Running on pure adrenaline (and a bit of champagne) after lots of traveling and little sleeping

Too hungover for more champagne the next morning at Moet & Chandon?

Never!

Le Moulin Rouge

Feeling the love in the City of Lights

Victory Lap

Before heading back to Texas for the Thanksgiving holidays, we celebrated Jared's 29th birthday with a collection of friends we have made since moving to San Francisco. 

We kicked off the rainy evening at Tony's Pizza, universally recognized as the best example of Neapolitan pizza in the Bay Area and according to our Northeastern friends in attendance that evening "not as horrible as most pizzas on the West coast".  Several delicious pies and more than a few bottles of Italian red later, we dashed through the rain to nearby Mojito, to check out a local funk band, the Grease Traps. 

Although the music didn't exactly blow any one's mind, it was the perfect backdrop to a rowdy evening with friends and a great way to ring in Jared's victory lap through his twenties....

Problematic Produce

Do you feel confident that you could identify all of the above types of salad greens?  If so, could you then describe the flavor qualities of each and rank them on a scale of preferability (readers from Central Texas Specialty Growers excluded)?  Although I myself am an avid salad eater, I have usually been pretty amiable to whatever type of green the chef feels is most appropriate and haven't spent too much time pondering the desirability of each.  As we approach the date of the luncheon I am planning, I have learned that not only are there people in this world with more refined salad palates than mine, but the answer to the question "do you have any special dietary restrictions that we should be aware of when planning our luncheon menu?" can get quite specific.  Here is a response from one guest:

Hi Lindsay.

Patty cannot tolerate anything very spicy. She also doesn’t care for “mixed greens” in a salad, she prefers romaine or spinach but that is much less of a problem. I think Bill is pretty open.

Thank you for checking!
Cynthia

Cynthia Wilson
Assistant to Patty Davis

It frightens one to think about what type of greens could end up in your salad without the intervention of personal assistants, doesn't it?

Dinner and a Movie

Although we had always known it was pretty awesome to live right on one of the most popular parks in town, the stars aligned on Saturday night and its awesomeness was skyrocketed to a whole new level.  To make a perfect San Francisco evening follow the following recipe:

Add 1 brand new mini-grill

 A very excited and often well prepared crowd

An awesome movie

and a handful of good pals

Mix well with a generous portion of alcohol and voila! a perfect Indian Summer night!

Looking Westward

Sometimes its easy to forget that we once again live in a seaside city facing West.  Theoretically, we should have 365 days of glorious sunsets over the ocean.  But then add one hefty dollop of the notiorious San Francisco fog that creeps into town late in the afternoon and add a healthy palette of grey to the gloomy Pacific beaches and you don't  usually get crowds of people clamoring to watch the sun sink down over the Western horizon.


Enter Indian Summer and a week of fog-free afternoons and you have a mad dash westward to catch big orange retire for the evening.

Our trip to Baker's Beach not only allowed us to discover a gleeful nude beach but also gave us a glimpse of one of our most popular, yet elusive residents: the Golden Gate bridge.  For those of you that have visted SF, you probably saw this ole gal covered in her traditional white shroud.

Never ones to feel constrained by traditional definitions of how things "should" be done, our sunset picnic for that evening consisted of Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches from the questionably sanitary Saigon Sandwich in the Tenderloin. Top that off with a little rice-banana-dessert-suprise, and you have a pretty perfect little Monday night.

Weird Frozen Goodness



Almost six months into our tenure here in San Francisco, and we have finally made it to one of the city's alternative food meccas.  Like most cities, there are a number of ice cream parlors that vie for the title of the city's best.  This particular title was not of concern to us- we were more interested in the city's weirdest.  And weird it was.

With rotating flavors such as foie gras, strawberry black olive, and boccalone proscuitto, Humphrey Slocombe's is certainly a unique place.  My personal favorite choice thus far is the Secret Breakfast- a mix of bourbon and cornflakes.  So next time you are in San Francisco, seeking a refreshing frozen treat, but just wish that there was more than a hint goose liver in your dessert, you know exactly where to turn...

Hidden Food Foe

Beware health-conscious eaters!  There is a new danger lurking in the refrigerated aisles of your local Whole Foods. For shoppers mindful to nutritional content, there are certain food items that are considered generally safe: fruit, vegetables, lean meats, yogurt, whole grains, etc.   Other food items are filled with danger: "homemade" baked goods, ice cream, breakfast sausages, cream-based sauces- you get the picture.  But don't be lulled into this type of thinking- you must always be alert, lest you fall into a similar fat-filled trap as I did last week.  

Probiotics, Greek yogurt, healthy bacteria- all the health rage, right? Wrong! Inside of this little Greek Gods yogurt container promising calcium, protein, and healthy intestinal flora was almost half the DV of saturated fat!  wtf?!?  And in a product that is purporting to be a healthy snack.  Appalling.  I really almost puked as I read the label on the back of my just-empty cup.  This completely negated all healthy choices that I had made for that day- for the week that matter.  And it didn't even taste like pizza!

 

Greek God? Not with this in your diet. I can assure you that this is not what Adonis was eating as he was working on this six pack.

Eggplant Parmesan

At some point in time, someone told me that cooking was an art and that baking was a science.  Connecting this adage to my surprisingly resilient sponge-textured cake ("Baking powder? Baking soda?  Same thing- right?") and my inherited inability to cook bread without setting off the fire alarm was not difficult.  In general, when I look at recipes in magazines and cookbooks, I usually see them more as "suggestions" than strict guidelines.  Clearly, I fit more in the "artist" category than the "scientist."  For this reason, I have always been kind of scared of the oven, seeing it as this intimidating appliance that required compliance to rules and special instruments to master.  Nevertheless, I have had a lot of free time on my hands and have recently been trying to work within the stringent rules that the oven requires.  Following a recipe to the tee is probably never going to happen for me, but lets just say that I have been taking some of the recipes' "suggestions" a little more seriously. 

One of my more beautiful creations of late was this lovely eggplant parmigiana.   Created with homemade bread crumbs (not because I am super crafty, but more because I didn't decide that I was going to create this masterpiece far enough in advance to purchase actual breadcrumbs) and eschewing Martha's 7000 calorie suggestion of 2 cups of shredded cheese, this little guy came out looking and tasting pretty good.  Enjoy the fruits of my boredom....

All Aboard the Breakfast Express

Before departing Cape Town, Jared and I decided that another must-do was to revisit one of Cape Town's quirkiest breakfast spots, the Atlantic Express.  Tucked between the barber shops and Chinese food restaurants on hectic Main Road in Sea Point, the Atlantic Express had peaked my interest from the first drive by.  When I saw a sign advertizing pancakes a few weeks later, I knew that it was meant to be.

One Saturday morning a few months ago, I convinced Jared to let me blindfold and escort him to a mystery breakfast. Although the importance of the blindfold took a bit of convincing, I managed to keep him in the dark until we were directly in front of the old school train.  Needless to say, he was suprised to find this overlooked gem parked on the sidewalk. This morning, we were happy to re-discover this magical carriage ready to transport us to a world of breakfast bliss.

Competitive Eating

Since arriving in Cape Town, one of our favorite weekend activities has been to head to the Neighborgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturdays for brunch.  Overflowing with delicious prepared foods, baked goods, meats, cheeses, and sauces, the market offers almost anything you can imagine would be delicious to eat.  A mistake that we make time and time again is to show up to the market hungry. Sometimes ravenously so. Sometimes this hunger is exaggerated by an accompanying headache, a reminder of Friday night's activities out on the town. Needless to say this is not the ideal state to show up in at a jam packed market with literally thousands of food options and very little seating.  For some (i.e. me), these choices can become quite overwhelming.  I will often wander around for 20 min, usually to return with either enough food to feed an army because I was unable to decide or just a beer, having been repeatedly defeated by the more ambitious diners.  Both Jared and our friend Liz, on the other hand, always head straight for the stand selling the rump steak sandwich, a messy but delicious meal that has them raving until the next fix.  Despite having eliminated the "what to get today" problem that plagues me so terribly, fighting for a spot in line and a place to sit can certainly get the competitive streak in those two going.  Despite the momentary rage at the person slowly lingering over their savoury crepe or Thai breakfast stirfry, no one leaves hungry and everyone leaves happy.

White wine extravaganza

Cute picture, huh?  I thought so too. Unfortunately it is the only picture from the Sauvingnon Blanc festival in Costantia last weekend that is acceptable to post. 

We have truly found friends here that fit our style, there is no doubt about that.  Not content to accept the unlimited offers of free tastings from the 30+ wineries on site that day, we decided to make it a competition to see who could con the hapless winery representatives into giving us full bottles instead.  Now we have quite a charming group, so when we stumbled walked away from our area after the sun had set that evening, approximately a dozen empty bottles littered the ground.  Add that to the unlimited tastings, the pre-event cocktails, and the totally necessary after party, and you get one excitable group. 

So, if any of you readers were nervous that it was all work and no play here in Cape Town, think again. 

Mix Master Mzoli

Pretty soon after moving to Cape Town, Jared and I began to think more about the fact that not everyone in the city lived in a high rise apartment paid for by their company.  Some people didn't even live by the beach. (gasp!) Or have lovely views of the mountains. Or friendly guards to ensure their safety at home.  Now I don't want to present us as totally ignorant, blissful Americans completely unaware of the substandard conditions in which many South Africans lived, but there is still something different about seeing it for yourself.  As you leave the airport, the highway is lined with shacks piled together and stretching back for miles and miles.  The largest of which, Khayelitsha, is home to over two million people by some counts.  I am not going to go into the full history of how these townships were formed or why they still exist, but the fact of the matter is that many people that you will encounter while in SA either currently live in a township or have in the past. 

To me, it was weird living in Cape Town, trying to get to know the city and completely avoiding a huge sector that represented the daily realities for the majority of the population.  In general, people who don't live in the townships don't like to go there (reasons include: terrible crime rates, unlabeled streets, and general uneasiness).  A popular way for tourists and visitors to see first hand what the inside of a township looks like is to join a township tour. Jared had been on one such tour when visiting SA last year and said that while it was informative, it was kind of awkward, viewing these people and their lives as if they were a tourist attraction.  So that was out.  Through the organization that I volunteer with (the Kay Mason Foundation), I had the opportunity to go to Khayelitsha twice to visit a boarding house that we were setting up there, and that was great.  It was cool just to drive in and see how the city was laid out and drive around through the neighborhoods. 

Although this was a good start, we still had an itch to get inside and spend some time with the locals.  Not only that, we had heard about some great restaurants. Drinking beer and eating random food seemed like a good way to start.  

Last Saturday, we finally got around to visiting the most famous restaurant, Mzoli's, located in the township of Gugulethu, with our friends John and Liz.  And... it was awesome! Probably one of my favorite things that we have done in SA thus far.  Jared wanted to go back the very next day and deemed the meat the best he has had in Cape Town, which is quite a prestigious honor.

Mzoli's isn't just a regular restaurant, it is a full day event. Everyone dresses up, there are bands, DJs, a dancing contest, and even a magician!  Add this on to one of the most impressive grilling setups I have ever seen, good beers, friendly folks, and some excellent people watching and it is a pretty killer combination for a Saturday afternoon.

 

Although I don't think that we can now claim that we know what living in a township is "really like," it was just nice to spend some time in a part of the city that is usually overlooked.  Leaving that day after having made some new friends, tried some awesome food, and been fully entertained for hours, we understood that township life is not all about the overcrowded shacks or the stories of rampant crime, but is more about making the best of your situation and living life to the fullest. That and being able to whip up some mean bbq chicken with top-secret seasonings.

Life, as advertized

When booking our champagne sunset cruise in Knysna during the Drakeley's visit, I have to admit that I got a bit nervous when remembering how the previous sunset cruise had turned out.  Luckily, this nautical journey was less "A Perfect Storm" and more like this Grey Goose commercial which demonstrates clearly how awesome is to have a lot of money and drink straight vodka.  Just kidding.  What the commercial actually shows is how awesome it is to be out on the sea on a lovely day with good company.  It doesn't hurt to throw in a little bit of bubbly and some live oysters either.  Luckily, our cruise around the Knysna lagoon supplied both. 

Although for a short moment, it did look as though things were going to get a bit rocky as the captain steered us toward the crashing waves of the open sea, we remained in the lagoon for the duration of the journey, with not a drop of water splashed.  Easily the highlight of the trip was learning about the oysters from the captain: how and where they are grown, and how to tell if they are good to eat.  I was happy to know that there was actually a way to tell if an oyster is bad or not.  Up until that time, it had previously seemed a bit like russian roulette for me when choosing that particular menu item.  Jim, on the other hand, did not seem reassured that your gastrointestinal fate was in the hands of a kitchen staffer.  Whatever your stance on the indulgence of bivalve mollusks, I have a feeling that just about anyone would have enjoyed this cruise. 

Christmas in Cape Town

For Christmas, our fellow ex-pats invited us to join them for a lovely Christmas lunch at Backsberg wine estate in Paarl. Although it wasn't exactly what I would normally think of as a Christmas lunch (traditionally for me this means mimosas and bourbon balls at Aunt Linda's), it couldn't have been a better way to spend our first Christmas away from home.