Food & Texas

Visiting Gerred in Texas for Spring Break was absolutely fantastic. It was so nice to spend time with my fiancé again, running, beaching, and exploring. We tried our own hand at cooking new recipes and enjoyed all the fun and food Texas had to offer on nights out.

From the moment I stepped off the plane, I was greeted by a big hug followed by, "There's this Bar-B-Q place in San Antonio we have to try!" Now, I never was a huge BBQ fan, until my southern road trip with Danny and Sam back in December. After pone trip down south and my tastebuds got hooked on all things BBQ. And OMG BBQ was Augies Barbed Wire Smoke House good. Sloppy. Meaty. Everything. I kept joking, that I couldn't be happier to share BBQ with my BBQ-T.

The first night of Spring Break we picked out a few recipes to try over the week. We started off with a Quick Lime Cilantro Chicken that neither of us were too thrilled with and we think it had to do with the bottled lime juice instead of actual limes as well as the overpowering cayenne powder. We learned that we won't be making that again. At least we had a side of honeyed brussels sprouts (we are wild about brussels sprouts) and wine followed by Disney's Frozen. My takeaway was that the film was cute, but overall did not deserve all the hype surrounding it.

The next day Gerred and I headed to the beach across the street from his house for a picnic. Essentially, it was super chilly in Texas, but the sun came out at one point and we enjoyed sandwiches, chips, and fruit. After that I feel like I'm 100% ready for beach life when we get married and that everyone should take more picnics.

Gerred and I went shopping in the only mall in Corpus Christi so I could get cheap disposable running clothes for the Jailbreak 5K. Well when we went out I saw sale upon sale and realized I had a gift card at Victoria's Secrets. Basically, I snagged a Union Jack sweater and necklace from Forever 21, a cute Brooks running shirt from Dick's Sporting Goods, and a bikini that actually fit me from Victoria's Secrets all for under $50. In short, I'd say it was a good haul. After returning from our shopping, we cooked up some delicious Hawaiian Chicken. Delicious and Paleo!

When I think Texas, I think cowboy boots. So Gerred and I had to stop at Cavender's Boots to witness the seriously Texas boots that lined all the shelves. We got a kick out of just how cowboy the place was. Then we made the most delicious Rustic Tomato Kale Stew ever. We had so much we wound up having it for lunch over and over. I'll be making this again, I can tell you that.

Another night, we decided to venture away from the kitchen and explore downtown Corpus Christi. It all seemed very deserted, but clean and safe. It looked like there was a ton of renovation going on and I hope to see some great things from the city. My favorite part of downtown, was this robot mural that I proceeded to dance in front of. 

"There's only one kind of dance,

The robot

Well, the robo boogie…

Oh yes, the robo-

Two kinds of dances."

- Flight of the Concords

Once we sufficiently explored the town we headed to this small Thai restaurant called Thai Spice. I ordered the Red Curry and it came out in an actual coconut. Let me tell you, they weren't kidding around when they called it Thai Spice. My mouth was on fire and I was so confused, but it turned out that the whole restaurant was made sure everything that was in the curry was natural. So the curry's I've had before at Lemongrass had never amounted to the spice I witnessed that day.

Before Gerred and I visited the Alamo Draft House to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, we stopped by this perfectly hip restaurant in downtown Austin, Second Bar and Kitchen. I highly recommend it! We sipped out blood and stone cocktails up on the balcony overlooking all the South by Southwesters. Ah we absolutely loved it and even better, we shared some of the most mouth watering brussels sprouts ever. Brussels sprouts + mint +goat cheese + bacon = Yum.

That night we watched the sunset over Lake Travis and in the morning we found waffles in the shape of Texas. We gave it a chocolate center so we could say "Deep in the heart of a texas waffle is a chocolate center."

Loved the trip. Loved the food. Loved the company.