Category Archives: reminiscing

Last dinner party

May 25, 2012

The timing seemed quite right when just a week before my roommate and I move out (still a month before I leave Austin, so yeah I get to move 2 times) a friend of Katie’s (roommate) came to visit. Before he moved we would get together and share our love of food. It was something I always looked forward to. So with him in town I couldn’t resist the suggestion that we do a little dinner party.

The food was a bit more random than other parties we’ve had but we enjoyed it no less. We ate cheeses (even a freshly made ricotta), some meats, roasted carrots, stuffed peppedews, fruit and nuts with honey, and fig spread with bread. The honey, I should mention,was  rather unique as it was put into the container you see by the bees themselves. Not just the honeycomb but the actual container. Pretty cool huh? I had been waiting for just the right time to try it. It was obviously a hit!

A little later on we had a blind gin tasting since we realized we had 3 different kinds of gin in our house. Weird. I was the only one to get guess all 3 correctly. Hmm… Then I brought out the fruit and mint mini frozen pops I made. The could have been sweeter but I enjoyed them.

Duck soup!

May 24, 2012

Oh duck soup from Kim Phung how I love you and will miss you.

A few years ago Walker mentions something about duck soup and how his sister used to eat it when she was in college and it was really good. Mm ok. One day we find ourselves at the very restaurant he had mentioned with the duck soup. We ordered a bowl to share and I was more than pleased with what arrived. The duck was so rich and delicious and the broth was equally tasty and there was a pleasing variety of vegetables. It was a hit and I was hooked.

Sometime after that we drove by (Kim Phung) the restaurant while running an errand and I had it in my head I wanted the duck soup. Walker said well it’s way out of our way now but is there something else you’d like to eat? No, there is nothing else. We went to the store to search for something else and found ourselves at the meat counter asking for duck legs, of which they only had 1!

At this point I was getting hungry and cranky and I wanted was the real duck soup from Kim Phung. Finally Walker agreed that’s all he wanted also. We drove all the way back, got 2 orders to go, and happily ate our soups while watching Alton Brown talking about cooking duck.

With our impending move I knew I must have the duck soup once more. So Walker and I got 2 soups to go (1 turned out just not to be enough) and had a picnic in the park. Yum!

New Orleans Part 2

May 3, 2012

After a long night of my body rejecting that tiny bite of oyster I slept in and once I was feeling a bit better and rested we headed out for a day of exploration in the city. I had a large list of things I wanted to eat and do but the eating list seemed a lot less appealing after the night I had. We did make it to Hansen’s Sno-Bliz, apparently famous and had been making snowballs for 73 years. I would have tried a more daring flavor but fresh lemonade sounded so refreshing. I was pleased with my choice. Christina got the same flavor.

Then we headed to the French Quarter via a trolley car. It was actually way more fun than I was expecting. It’s pretty cool that you can change the seat direction and I like how eerily quiet it gets when the car turns off at a stop. We strolled around the French Quarter. I love the look of the building and the balconies and the sky was extra marvelous that day.

I suppose it wouldn’t have been a proper trip to New Orleans without trying a beignet and a coffee at Cafe Du Monde. We got a plate of beignets and coffee all around. It’s funny since I don’t like coffee but it was all part of the experience. I drank a few sips.

The last day we all went to Jazz Fest together. The only act I was bent on seeing was Iron and Wine. I left the comfort of the camp that was set up for Bruce Springsteen and made my way to see the show. I got pretty close since I’m small and can sneak pretty well. It was a wonderful show, a bit nostalgic for me.

I fought my way back to the camp, always so stressful, and enjoyed the rest of the festival listing to Bruce jam out. Then we got in the car and drove the 6 hours back to Houston, most of which I slept for.