And off we went to Austin Texas Texas Texas Austin
Since there were five of
us out-o-towners, it was much more fun and cheaper by far to rent a house than
sign up for a string of motel rooms for nearly a week. Cute little bungalow in
the middle of South Austin, all vintage 50’s décor and a cold six-pack of Lone
star in the fridge.
Beautiful weather,
beautiful bride and a beautiful wedding, but you know me… I’m here to talk
about the food & drink…
Travel being what it was
we arrived very late at night and hungry. Hey, look, right down the block is a
late night taqueria with a drive-thru.
We bought a whole bag full, took ‘em home, scarfed ‘em down and hit the
pillows.
Up at a reasonable hour
the next morning began the age old “where do you wanna eat breakfast?”
debate. Our local faction handed out a
couple of favorites and we settled on The Magnolia Café where they serve, among
many other things, breakfast all day.
Gingerbread pancakes, Migas and breakfast tacos with eggs, cheese, black
beans and thick, diced chunks of smoked bacon. We dined outside with birds and
dogs and children scurrying underfoot and felt like we were back in Costa Rica
Since we ate late, as it
were, we just nibbled on bits and pieces until dinner time when we headed off
to Green Mesquite BBQ, an old time favorite in south of the river Austin. By now we had added the last of the
out-of-town contingent – the youngest child and his girl friend so we all sat
out on the patio, ordered big plates of all kinds of BBQ and beers by the
pitcher. Sausages, brisket, ribs, pulled
pork, chicken, a multiplicity of sides, piles of spongy, white bread and more
pitchers of beer. Well, we wound up
staying for three hours, a band started playing texas swing and we ordered more
beer. As we were handing our car keys over to the designated drivers someone
mentioned having the munchies… well, as it happens, right across the parking
lot from the BBQ joint was a P Terry’s, a long time local burger drive-in. Cash was pooled and a team was sent off to
acquire a sack-o-burgers and some fries to carry back to the house. Although several members of the dinner party
had pooh-poohed the burger run, they were soon hovering around whining that
there were none left because those of us with a penchant for such delicacies
and hoovered them all up without hesitation.
Saturday was the wedding
rehearsal and its associated rehearsal diner.
We had paid a caterer to bring in Mexican food for 20 and I guess they
were covering their bases in case the 20 people were all a football team of
giants… everything came in 9 x 13 pans – one each of barbacoa, beans, rice,
pico-de-gallo, chicken tamales, pork tamales, vegetarian tamales, onion &
jalapeno topping, a double pan of al pastor, a double pan of fresh tortillas, a
pillowcase-sized bag of chips, a gallon of really good salsa and a 2 gallon
bucket of that strange, semi-runny nacho cheese stuff. We did our best, ate like troopers and washed
it all down with more Lone Star, but it was a losing battle. Since we had a
house and a fridge we took the mountain of leftovers back to our place… which
meant homemade huevos rancheros for breakfast.
Sunday was the wedding and
the reception. More Lone Star and the
food was all about texas BBQ. Baked
beans, gumbo, rice, cole slaw, sausage, brisket, chicken, pulled pork and ribs
with the ubiquitous white bread for sopping and chin wiping. I hear that there
were three different wedding cakes but I only had room for a small bite off
someone else’s plate…
Monday morning was just
feeding off scraps from the fridge… and lunch was Japanese food for a bit of a
switch-up for the old taste buds… Kirin instead of
Lone Star and shrimp instead of ribs.
We went light on dinner so
we would fit in our plane seats the next day… another patio evening at a bar
called Gourmand’s Pub. Sandwiches and
soup in bread bowls and a nice selection of local beers.
We did not eat again until
we were safely out of Texas
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