So Miserable

Please, Make her stop...


Why???

Huge Turkey

Coolest

Home

We knew we didn't have time or meals enough to eat at all the places we wanted to in Austin, so we knew we'd be taking Rudy's back home to share with the folks - along with assorted other leftovers. It's hard to seee in the bottom left corner - but that's some of the best brisket ever.We also got some chicken and sausage.

This is breakfast back at my folks' house. Mom makes the best french toast - I can't even come close to making it as good. It doesn't look like much, but is sure tastes good.


Then dad grilled us burgers and hot dogs at Nerdstar's request. Plus the homemade potato salad and beans and such.


And to top it all off - homemade ice cream and brownies.

Hoover's

If CoCo's can bring tears to Nerdstar's eyes - Hoovers can bring them to mine.

These are the best, spicy wings you've ever smelled or tasted. You can smell them from fifteen feet away.

Nerdstar just got the veggies - which I guess makes sense after the wings. Macaroni and cheese, collard greens and sweet potatoes.
And this... sigh... this is the best chicken fried steak with sausage gravy. This is why I didn't eat the wings - so I could save my tummy and taste buds for this!

Oh yeah, we also took some pecan pie to go - which I forgot to get a picture of... it was simply delicious!!

East Side Cafe

East side is a great little restaurant. It's a converted old house and they have their own herb and vegitable garden. Talk about fresh. There was a table of about 8 UT professors next to us, very entertaining.

This is a pesto ravioli with baked squash and a ginger sauce.
I was still so full from lunch that I just got some jalepeno cornbread and their yummy french fries.

CoCo's

As far as we can remember, we found this through an article in the Austin weekly rag. It was our very first stop this trip to Austin - even before checking into the hotel.


The appetizer is an onion pie - a taiwanese style dish Nerdstar ate while living in Taiwan. I give her a hard time that she can't cook these for us at home!
The drink was actually a to g0 thing - it's coconut milk with tapioca pearls. Just one of dozens of flavors.

This dish will make tears of joy come to Nerdstar's eyes - literally. Just looking at this picture is about to make her cry... It's spicy beef noodle soup - taiwanese style.


This is a simple fried chicken and rice dish - but whatever sauce they pour over it is amazing. This is what I always get.

Just a simple little cafe. But they have several locations around Austin.

Breakfast

I can't tell you how much I miss breakfast tacos. And no, McD's attempt at them isn't even close.

It might not look like much - but it sure is tasty!

Nerdstar had the egg/chicken breafkast fajitas.

Whataburger

Every time we fly into Dallas, the very first stop we make is at Whataburger. You might think you've had a better burger, but you'd be wrong.

Nerdstar had the chicken strips - with good ole county gravy.
Done.

Shoes

Happy 4th!!!

I hope you don't end up with fireworks coming out of your butt today!!

(This is from the Hello Kitty calendar I got for Nerdstar.)

Baltimore

We learned how just one turn down one street can land you somewhere really odd! We weren't that far from the harbor we were heading to, but this one little block had all these adult clubs. It was really interesting!

And of course, of course, we loved Gay St!!

Dented

Six

If you can't tell from his t-shirt and bday cake - this birthday was all about dinosaurs. He picked everything out himself!



We added two more movies to his Godzilla/Gamera dvd collection.

He's so much like Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes it's not funny. Everything is about Godzilla, dinosaurs, and many, many car crashes and major disasters.

Silly Cat

Life is good. But, she's about 9 years old and has started having trouble jumping up onto things. It's time for all the pets annual vaccinations and such, so we're going to try to get them to the vet in the next week or two.

Why??

Ramen always wants to know why the cats get all the lap privileges and he doesn't.

Simple answer: I love the cats more :-)

Travels

As you can see, this is a big map of the US. We got it several years ago, but haven't always had wall space to put it up. The big, blue lines we marked all over it are all the road trips we've taken. The route from Austin to Wichita to Denver to Boise to Seattle is where I drove to meet up with Nerdstar after she came home from Iraq, other than that we drove all of this together over the past 8 years.

Blogging View

This is the new view from my desk as I sit and surf and blog.

Welcome!

I have a hard time posting pics on my regular blog, and Blogger seems to make it pretty easy, so I thought I'd give this a try.