Shade, Houston TX

Traveling for work can be a grind, but it’s always a little less dreary when you can work a nice meal in. Earlier this week I was in Houston and with the help of the iPhone Yelp app, I found a lovely restaurant called Shade. The menu was what you might call new-Southern, with plenty of good options. It reminded me of Watershed in Atlanta and made me realize that we could use some more southern influence in Austin. It had been a while since I’d eaten a fried green tomato. There was even a bacon, lettuce and fried green tomato sandwich on the menu, which is not the sort of thing I can easily pass up. A deviled egg on the side was the clincher.

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Diner, New York NY

I’m realizing that nearly every post from our New York trip begins with some variation on “We were freezing cold…” But seriously folks, this day took the cake. I was having visions of some future civilization excavating our frozen bodies from some Brooklyn side street. But against all odds, we survived and made our way to Diner, located in the World Hipster Headquarters otherwise known as Williamsburg.

The restaurant is in a 1920s Kullman Diner car. Very cozy.

Our waitress sat down next to us and wrote the daily specials on the table. Nice touch.

Add this to my list of New York food surprises: finding one of the best biscuits I’ve ever had. This one ranks up there with this one and this one.

Eliza had the ham sandwich, which was served on a scone.

I loved not only how our meals at Diner tasted, but also how they looked: elegant, but effortless. Whenever people talk about “presentation” in the context of food, it always seems overly fussy to me. On the other hand, I suppose it’s not actually the idea of presentation that bugs me, just fussy presentation. It’s not about an oddly shaped plate or a random squirt 0f some mystery sauce, but just about letting the ingredients shine. And that’s exactly what’s so great about Diner. It’s simple, fresh and satisfying. All in all, a great way to avoid death by hypothermia while visiting New York.

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King of the Hill

Eliza’s crafty streak continues. This time she made a bed for little Stevie. It looks great, but may be slightly overstuffed. It seems like more of a doggie trampoline at this point. Stay tuned for the downsizing…

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New India

We recently paid a visit to Austin’s newest Indian restaurant, New India. They say their menu is “inspired from Mumbai to USA via Goa,” so there’s everything from your standard curries to the Angus Mint Burger and quesadillas. They share space with Eva B’s bakery and you order at the counter.

No one likes to think they’re predictable and I’m no exception to that rule. But look, these fried “chicken lollipops” are one of their specialties. So obviously we had to order them. And yes, they were awesome.

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Made with Love

I adore the purl bee and all the fun projects they post. Here are some Valentine pins I made while watching way too many episodes of Lost on our Netflix instant queue.

Ben and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day at the Alamo Drafthouse with their Gone with the Wind Valentine’s Day Feast. Five southern-inspired courses with drink pairings will hopefully sustain us for the nearly four hours of Scarlett and Rhett. The Valentine’s Day Feast is becoming a tradition for us – last year we saw Casablanca and the year before it was The Notebook. Despite his best efforts, Ben loved The Notebook and sobbed right along with me at the end.

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