Austin Food Carts (1)

It was a beautiful evening with nice cool Spring weather! (Last week was very hot with temperatures soaring to 32C) but it had dropped back to 16C now. The highway was not that congested this evening.

Austin is a pretty small city and the East side of Austin is usually a shady place but now with all these food carts sprouting all over the place. The east side is actually getting to be pretty cool and “in” place now.

So trailers of these sorts dotted around the city and you do sometimes do find little gems and some places are so popular that you have to get there early to have a taste of their food. You can read more from this link for the best around Austin.

The choice tonight would be Lucky J’s, where you get waffles and chicken. It was definitely a 1st time for me, who would have thought that the breakfast waffle would taste so heavenly wrapped with fried chicken. The sweet/salty taste of the waffles pipping hot with fried chicken…Yummy! The sauces could either be maple syrup for the waffle or ketchup for the chicken 🙂

There was still room for some more food, so cross the street for some Hawaiian food from Luaus

An order of Musubi (spam sushi) and Kalua pig (banana smoked pulled pork with rice with some Hawaii mac salad)

Most of my friends in Austin have pretty much moved on (or upgraded) in their lives and living in houses or downtown condos on their own instead of sharing apartments. Pretty view of the Austin downtown skyline (which had pretty much changed with more high rise living buildings).

But personally, I love the swimming pool and that there are a few nice food establishments within walking distance and not right in the madness of the downtown traffic. Most importantly, with their pricing which could only get you a flat in Sengkang, you get a nice and big apartment of your own over here. Sigh, America……(and my woes in the rising property costs in Singapore)

Photo of the bar right beside the condo complex, I was amazed at how the photo turned out (made me want to invest in a tripod!) The shutter speed and aperture were adjusted that more light was captured and I could have a photo of a completely dark room, impressed!

Austin Randomess (1)

1st work lunch out would be Tacos!! Torchy Tacos is cheap and great for your quick taco fix. Of course, with my yummy queso.

Address:
4301 West William Cannon Drive, Austin

LA Madeleine offers healthier choices and a french styled family restaurant.

Address:
5493 Brodie Lane, Austin

1 of my favorite hobbies in Austin, is grocery shopping. In the past, I go to 3 different supermarkets to do my marketing to pick up my Asian, Korean and Western groceries. This time as I am staying in a extended stay hotel with a small kitchenette which offered breakfast and light dinner for 4 days a week. I decided to get minimal groceries so I can pack my lunches and have lower calories dinners when I feel like it.

Yes, I love the space in this side of the globe. I really like grocery shopping here as there is so much space and so much choices.

The essentials to living here (at least for me), rice and instant noodles. Since this is a short trip, only sesame oil and soy sauce for me to whip up my food. Shirataki noodles on days I want no carbohydrates and yet can fill me up. You can drink from the tap here but I prefer to drink bottled water as I personally feel the water have a taste to it. 8 chicken thighs for only US4.50 which the meats could be used for cooking and the bones for soups. My essential survivals in the US of A 🙂

Howdy Adventures…..again.

In case, you do not know…I am back in the US of A for an extended business trip.

It had been 890 days since I last came to Austin, Texas and this would be where I would be calling home for the next 8 weeks. It was like walking back into my memories when I 1st arrived and took to the roads. Everything looked so familiar and yet so distant. But it would all work out considering that this is my 5th trip here.

So what I have been up to? Driving daily……i don’t get much chance to get behind the wheels but being back here I get to practice my driving…and drive a little faster than usual than back at home 😛

it is sometime quite fun to drive here since the roads are wide and car-less at times. Though it get a little boring at times on long road trips and you just want to nod off to sleep.

Getting myself stuffed with cheese…chili con queso here are really awesome by the way 🙂

Not helping much when i get access to my favorite snacks here…..Oh no *staring at expanding waistline*

The people who stand at the roadside asking for money is still about the same number of people but you do get interesting variations along the way. I am so glad that he is in this costume since the Spring weather is cooler. Although the temperature did go up to the 30C this past week.

Happened to be SXSW, a really big event here but it was so crowded so I just opted to go for the movies screen during the festival times.

The hill country area of Austin and the sun sets at 8pm now

Unfortunately, I haven’t have much time or opportunity to take photos yet…hopefully this would change in the next few weeks when I am making my road trips. (Not, not my dSLR) but this was taken with my GF2

But I am definitely very much contributing to the USA consumers index. 😛

Jaan

Each bite, each sip, each moment ends on a high note at Jaan. Delightfully modern and idyllic, this jewel has received innumerable awards for excellence, serving a distinctive menu of neo-classic, essentialist cuisine crafted by Chef de Cuisine Ebbe Vollmer from Sweden.

– Jaan

For sister’s 30th birthday, which she wanted to celebrate in a big way and lot of hiccups along the way. We all finally made our way there to start our degustation meal.

After tucking into our seats, and chose the menu of our choice. We were served little teaser of beetroot, carrot, melon and radish with a dash of pairing topping. Since it was birthday celebration, we all had some rose wine to toast. Followed by some fresh home made bread.

The twilight view of the Singapore skyline from the sea side view. I really like this photo from that night.

Some cheese and green leaf to start.

Followed by some avocado with caviar and walnut, I thought that this was a piece of art with the plate as a canvas.

Boudin Blanc, a white sausage made of pork without the blood. Pork liver and heart meat are typically included.

Next would be duck foe grais with some cherry yogurt.

Langoustine, a small lobster grilled on rosemary.

Grilled sea bass with a crispy side with some pumpkin orange sauce.

Medium cooked vension with some charcoal (yes, charcoal) coated potato.

Dessert mousse!

Dark chocolate mouse cake with some vanilla ice cream.

Some tea to ease the food.

and surprised with the chest of chocolates that was presented to us, i thought we could have the whole chest of it :p

The staff prepared a cake for the birthday girl.

some sweets before the end the night

Address:
2 Stamford Road Level 70 Equinox Complex Raffles City Convention Centre

Nandos

Nandos is apparently a franchise from South Africa, Nando’s specializes in chicken dishes with either lemon and herb, medium, hot or extra hot Peri-Peri marinades. This place has had long lines since it opened but personally, I felt the service there is very much to be desired. *roll eyes* We had to like ask for our order which never came, repeated our orders like 3 times before they came after we ordered more pita bread and the place was not busy at that time too!

Green tea with lime was not the best combination, not too sure about the other order though.

Pitas and hummus, the hummus was tangy with a tinge of lime in it. Very refreshing that we couldn’t help but to have another order of pita bread to finish it.

Wanted to eat more light food beside I start my all heavy American diet.

Finally the grilled chicken came into sight, it was not too bad but personally not worth the wait. Although, I got to admit the hot sauce was really spicy though

Address:
200 Victoria Street, #01-85 Bugis Junction

Paradise Inn

Another chain from the Paradise group from my xiao long bao adventure with them. The concept here is causal dinning for local delicacies.

I was definitely impressed with the soup, came in a clay pot which was kept warm on the table. The soup was packed with the pork ribs and ours apple and fish too. Definitely had my fill of soup and collagen 😛

Stir-fried vegatable, salted egg yolk steamed meat and steamed milk pudding for desserts. Yeah!

No Menu

Italian chef Osvaldo Forlino has made a name for himself, so to speak, at eponymous restaurants featuring upscale cuisine (at Forlino) and then a more rustic culinary blend (at Osvaldo).He recently left the latter and has now teamed up with family members to create the new No Menu restaurant where the main concept is, for a set price of $98, diners will leave it to the chef to feed them.

No Menu is primarily a family-style restaurant in a shophouse space. The decor is homey, the atmosphere is warm and the service is friendly. More importantly, the food is up to scratch as well. Regulars of Osvaldo the restaurant will know that the starters and pastas are the most appealing aspects of the menu there.

– SoShiok

We chose the $98 degustation menu which meant we did not know what would be served as everything would decided by the chef but we do know we would be having 5 appetizers, 3 starters, 3 pastas, 1 entree and 2 desserts. (Which was way too much for 4 ladies, advice is to share the degustation menu and get a lighter order for the other person). Bread was fresh…..and this that went with the bread was a little spicy and salty but I don’t know the name for it.

Cold cuts with salad, everything from No menu is either home made or imported from Italy.

My favorite param ham with melon. The meat was cured just right.

Another appetizer of 3 different types and flavors of cold cuts. I only recognized the middle one as Salami.

Next would be fresh tomatoes with olive oil and home made cheese.

This was my favorite where param ham wrapped a light flavored cheese and lightly warmed, which was really a enlightening taste.

Bruschetta with chopped tomato.

This was supposed an Italian vegetable which would be grilled and lined with balsamic vinegar. The vegetable was little bitter to our taste. I would term this as exotic taste.

This was very good, omelette with cheese and truffles. Really really yummy.

By this time, we were really FULL but we still had so much food. I could barely finish the risotto

Neither the home made fettuccine.

But I devoured the ravioli

I was super stuffed but I just tasted the best beef cheek which was so soft and just melted in my mouth with so much flavors.

Last but not least, our desserts and extra serving of other desserts because the chef got inspired and made some on the fly and gave them to the customers.

Oh gosh, I was literally crawling out of the restaurant with bursting seams…….and felt so full for 2 whole days….

Address:
23 BOON TAT STREET