No Grocery Store for a Year – Last 2 Days January 1, 2011

The last few days certainly didn’t happen as I’d expected, but I did my best.  Friday, the day following my dad’s surgery, I had Kocurek Czech Bacon for breakfast.  I had to take my mom South for a hair appointment, and picked up lunch (and a snack) at La Boite to take to the hospital.  So, for lunch I had half a chicken salad sandwich, and a bite of one of Barrie Cullinan’s fabulous almond croissants.  Delicious.  I’m not sure if Barrie makes the bread for La Boite’s sandwiches, but I know they buy local and organic products, so I was happy.

I was able to sneak a hour of friend time in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve and met some folks at Black Star Co-op for a beer and some English Chips a/k/a garlic french fries.  Very cool place, and it was so nice to see friends.

By dinner time, we were so dang worn out, we didn’t know what to do.  I defrosted some ribeye steaks from my parents’ freezer, (from Omaha Steaks), and brought over some Boggy Creek Farms new potatoes, and farmer’s market lettuce.  I cooked the steaks on the grill, made a lettuce, Springdale Farms green onions, and Milagro Farms tomato, salad,  and roasted the potatoes in the oven.  I smashed the potatoes with salt, pepper, CKC Herbed Chevre and butter.  Dinner.  Not totally local, but the best I could do given the circumstances.

 

Steak Dinner

 

Actually, I think Friday was the last day, but I’ve lost track.  Breakfast Saturday, was a slice of Kocurek Czech Bacon.  I was able to go to the Barton Creek Farmer’s Market and the SFC Market downtown early, before spending the day at the hospital.  We left for lunch and drove out to Jack Allen’s.  I had the poblano burger and sweet potato fries and it was delicious.  I had purchased the Black-eyed Pea Cassoulet from Kocurek Family Charcuterie, and had some of their Rabbit Pies in the freezer, so for dinner a la Kocurek Family, we had the Cassoulet, Rabbit Pie, and salad.

 

Casoulet, Rabbit Pie, and Salad

 

The Rabbit Pie is more delicious than the photo does justice.  The crust is amazing.

 

Rabbit Pie

 

Think grown up, gourmet chicken pot pie, only really delicious, all local and, and with rabbit.

Trying to plan the next couple of days of local meals for my mom and aunt, but I’m dog tired.  I’m very much looking forward to lots of good, fun and delicious things in 2011.  Can’t wait to get back to my normal schedule which doesn’t include spending the day at the hospital.  Very soon.  Happy 2011!

No Grocery Store Challenge, Getting Close December 22, 2010

Since my day count is off, I’m not sure what day this is.  Monday, no breakfast.  My parents have been through multiple health problems, with a surgery for each of them looming in the next 2 weeks.  My dad will have his hip replaced next Thursday, so it’s going to be a Seton kind of New Year.  For lunch, I decided mom and I needed a short road trip, so we headed out to Jack Allen’s and had the enchilada special.  I see Jack Gilmore at the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown every Saturday, appreciate his efforts to source for the restaurant locally.  Dinner was actually happy hour food at an other local favorite, Jeffrey’s.  They have half priced appetizers in the bar, and we split the Fish and Chips, which was flounder with Boggy Creek Farm potatoes and a delicious aioli, and the famous oysters, a split of half the old recipe (my favorite) and half the new.

Tuesday 12/21/10, again no breakfast.  We had a visit with the surgeon that turned into a 4 hour deal and prevented me from eating lunch.  I poked around the medical office tower to see if there was anything edible, and looked in the pharmacy.  Chips, candy bars, cokes, and absolutely nothing reasonable to eat.  I think that is odd, that you can’t get decent food in a medical facility.  But, I guess people still eat that stuff, or it wouldn’t have been there.  Late afternoon, I had some cheese and smoked salmon at a holiday open house.  Then dinner at La Condesa with friends I haven’t seen in a while.  I normally would have gotten the seafood special, especially since it was grouper.  I was excited to ask if the grouper came from San Miguel seafood, and was surprised that it did not, and was pacific grouper.  La Condesa is well known for sourcing locally, so this was interesting. I had carne asada.

 

No Grocery Store, Day 322 – Slow Food, Big Reds, Fast Bubbles November 19, 2010

Day 322 was a big day, which began with some fresh squeezed tangerine juice.  The tangerines from the farmer’s market are wonderful, and I need to remind myself to freeze some juice for when they are out of season.

For lunch, I had a fried chicken breast sandwich, and sweet potato fries at Monument Cafe in Georgetown.  More details on that adventure in my previous post.

Late afternoon I attended the Slow Food Austin Happy Hour at Peche.  I don’t get down to the warehouse district very often any more, because I get annoyed by the parking situation.  I had never been to Peche, and only thought of it as an Absinthe Bar.  Come to learn, it is also an upscale restaurant that sources ingredients locally, and the menu looked delicious. The passed appetizer that I had was a Braised pork and cabbage crostini, and it was great.

 

Peche

Menu Board

 

 

Local!

Not every restaurant that touts locally sourced status, really walks the walk.  (There are quite a few that don’t).  I didn’t do any homework on Peche, but I have faith that Slow Food did before they brought us here.

 

 

Apps

From Peche, I headed over to the Wine and Food Foundation’s event Big Reds and Bubbles at the Driskill.   I pondered taking the camera in, but was glad I didn’t, because it was very crowded and juggling drinks, food, overloaded purse and the camera would have been a nightmare.  The event filled all of the ballrooms on the second floor of the Driskill.  The first room I wandered into was the Champagne room, wherein most of the food was dessert.  My first bite of the night was a chocolate begniet from Fete Accompli.  These tasty bites made their debut at the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown last week, and will continue.  Next to Fete were the Antonellis, pairing a couple of their popular cheeses with Confituras lovely preserves.  Delish.  Of the dishes I tried, the standouts were a very tasty scallop from Truluck’s, Jack Allen’s Ravioli in cream sauce, Garrido’s beef taco bite, and Moonshine’s mini lamb pot pie.  There were lots more restaurants represented that I didn’t try, lots of sweets, and red wine and champagne all around.  It was a good day.

 

No Grocery Store, Day 263 September 21, 2010

After my walk, I was uninspired for breakfast.  This is a bad habit, and I really need to change it, so I’m going to try.  Lunch was a very tasty favorite – the Twisted Cobb Salad at Jack Allen’s with mom.  I had dinner at East Side Show Room with my friends Kristi and Donaji, for Austin Restaurant Week.  I didn’t take a camera, but Kristi did and will likely post her thoughts with pictures in the next few days.  We had the same entree and dessert.

Lots of restaurants participate in Austin Restaurant Week, and offer a 3 course menu, from which you can choose one of several items for each course, usually for $25 to $35, which is substantially less than their regular menu.  I like to try a restaurant I’ve never eaten at during Restaurant Week, but the 3 course meal usually includes a dessert, and I’m not a big dessert fan, so I don’t normally try more than one.

East Side Show Room is doing an all locally sourced menu, so this was the obvious choice for me, and I’d never been

The First Courses offered were Okra & Lemon Tempura, with Jalapeno and Cumin; Shallot & Pear Salad of Bibb Lettuce, Feta Vinaigrette, and Pecan; or Lamb Rillettes, with Tomato, Arugula and Mustard.  I have been really missing Bella Verdi Lettuce, since they are no longer at the farmer’s markets, so I ordered the salad and it was delicious.  The lettuce was so tender and sweet, and the light dressing was perfect.

Second Course choices were Axis Deer & House Cured Bacon, with Bourbon, BBQ and Curried Grits; Chicken Fried Rabbit with Cayenne, Basil, and Frites, or Elephant Garlic Potage & Farm Egg, with Arugula, Tarragon and Brioche.  I opted for the Rabbit.  Oh my, after a long wait for this dish, when it did come it was amazing.  Crispy crust yet juicy and tender inside, and it was dressed with a fine basil puree.

Third Course choices were Kefir Pear Tartlette with Housemade Ice Cream, Lavender, and Brown Sugar; or Cheese Plate, with Honey, Pepper Jelly and Pecans.  The 3 cheeses were from Brazos Valley and Pola.  The Brazos Valley Cheddar was good, but isn’t my favorite cheese.  I didn’t really care for either of the Pola offerings.

Great dinner and I like East Side Show Room.  I didn’t want to, but I did and I would go back.

I’ll be eating light for the rest of the week, in anticipation for a big food event on Saturday.

http://www.restaurantweekaustin.com for participating restaurants and their menus