Luvs 2 Eat

On-ception: Growing an Onion from an Onion

Wed, 27 May 2020 23:49:00 +0000

Have you ever learned something that you felt embarrassed that you didn’t know? That’s how I felt after watching Ron Finley’s Master Class.

The food scraps I’ve been throwing away for years could be regrown? What? When I heard this I felt silly and wasteful.

The best part is, it is super easy and you can regrow (aka propagate) so many types of vegetables, fruit trees and flowers. I’m going to focus specifically on onions.

Start by cutting and saving about a half inch from the bottom of your onion.

Place in a container with enough water to cover the base. Eventually, roots will grow.

Once you have a decent set of roots growing. Shove your onion into some decent quality garden dirt.

Keep the soil moist. And…

Eventually your onion will regrow and produce another onion (or two).

Dalgona Coffee: Don’t Make the Same Mistakes I Did

Sun, 17 May 2020 20:30:00 +0000

Dalgona coffee is all the rage right now. Just a few ingredients? It should be super easy, right? Just five minutes to make? Not for me.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp cold water
Ice and milk for serving

Directions

Whisk coffee, sugar and water until light and foamy.
Fill glass with milk, leaving room for coffee “foam.”
Pour or spoon foam on top of milk and enjoy.

The Mistakes I Made

Short ingredient list. Just a handful of steps. 5 minutes tops. Should be easy, but don’t make the mistakes I made.

I used a 1 cup measuring cup. Don’t do that. Give yourself some room to work. Use a medium size bowl.
I used the world’s smallest whisk. Don’t do that either. If whisking by hand, use a normal balloon whisk.
Read mistake number 2 then do yourself a favor and use a mixer to whisk. It’ll save you a ton of time.

Would I make Dalgona Coffee again? I’ll stick to my homemade cold brew most days, but Dalgona Coffee is a nice treat. I’d make it again, but use a mixer next time.

Snooze Finally Opens in Austin, TX

Sat, 28 May 2016 18:50:10 +0000

We first stumbled upon Snooze on a trip to Denver back in November of 2014. At the time, we felt like it would fit right into the Austin dining scene. I mean who in Austin doesn’t love all-day brunch? Well, back in April of 2015, Snooze announced they would be opening an Austin location and we have been waiting (im)patiently ever since. After several delays (hey, they wanted it perfect), Snooze is finally open on South Lamar! The manager also mentioned a June opening for the North Lamar location.

Pro tip: don’t get lost

First word of warning. Don’t just type ‘Snooze South Lamar’ into Google Maps and then drive. Google doesn’t seem to know where Snooze is yet. That’s probably why we ended up at Zilker Elementary instead of brunch. Oops.

Actual photo from Google Maps. It appears Zilker Elementary has really upgraded their cafeteria.

Brunch at 6:30 a.m., really?

Not knowing what to expect on their first, full-service day, we decided to show up early. But John, who on Earth would wake up at 5 a.m. and drive 30 minutes for brunch? Well, I’m glad you asked. If Austin folks are ok with waiting in line 4 hours for Franklin BBQ, how long will they wait for a delicious brunch? And in my defense, there was a line when we arrived. Yes, it was only 10 people, but I’m not the only crazy person.

But what about the food? Did I mention how much I love brunch? The food was great.

Pancakes

Snooze offers a wide-variety of food, but the pancakes were a popular choice. My personal favorite is the blueberry danish pancakes, which are topped with blueberry coulis, sweet cream and almond streusel surrounding a center of lemony cream cheese filling. Our servers favorite was the Cinnamon Roll Pancake, which is super hard to find on the menu (it’s listed in the a la carte section), but definitely worth trying. We also tried ‘The Goodness Cake’ which is a pancake made with Whole Wheat and quinoa topped with blackberry maple syrup, honey-lemon yogurt and seasonal berries. Sounds gross, right? Wrong. It was SO good! That’s probably where the name came from.

So between 4 people, we ordered 11 pancakes. Technically we ordered 10, and then our sever gifted us with a bonus pancake. Clearly, 10 pancakes didn’t seem like enough. Let’s just say 11 pancakes was way too many for 4 people. Did I mentioned we ordered other food?

Not Pancakes

Snooze apparently makes more than just delicious pancakes. They also make other great brunch foods. I’ve had the Corned Beef Hash before, and I had a hard time resisting the urge to order it again. But alas, I did not order it.

I decided to try a Benny Duo, which was clearly added to the menu for indecisive orderers like myself. (Technically orderers isn’t a word, but I’m running with it.) The Benny Duo allows you to order two Benedicts on one plate. Two Benedicts, one plate! I went with the Chile Verde Benny which is slow cooked pulled pork over a stack of green chile sauced tortillas and melted cheese with poached cage free eggs and green chili hollandaise, pico de gallo and cotija cheese. My second choice was the Bella! Bella! Benny which is thin slices of prosciutto, Taleggio cheese, and poached eggs on toasted ciabatta, topped with cream cheese hollandaise, balsamic glaze and spinach. They had me at balsamic. I would totally eat both again.

Benny Duo: Chile Verde Benny and Bella! Bella! Benny

Atmosphere

Snooze has really adopted that Austin vibe using local ingredients, and serving Cuvee coffee. I love the atmosphere. The decor is great. I really liked the round booths. The staff was so friendly. I mean our server told us how proud she was at the amount of food we ate. I left full. I left happy. I left wanting to come back again in 6 hours when a normal person eats brunch. That’s a successful first dining experience at a place that I had very high expectations for.

Location, Hours and Stuff

Hours:

Snooze is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Address:

This is John. Don’t get lost like John. Plug this address into your phone: 1700 S. Lamar Blvd suite 301 Austin, TX. It’s in the same plaza as Picnik if you know where that’s at.

Stuff:

Visit Snooze online at http://snoozeeatery.com/. The Austin menu isn’t online yet, but is similar to the Denver menu.

Restaurants We Luv: Pieous – Austin, TX

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 01:51:12 +0000

Normally when I think Neapolitan pizza, I don’t think Austin, TX. I think Italy. I think Tony’s in San Francisco. But Neapolitan pizza in Austin? That thought never crossed my mind. That is until I tried Pieous.

So, what’s neopolitan pizza? According to the chalkboard at Pieous, Neapolitan pizza:

Originated in Naples, Italy in the 16th Century
Features a 12”, thin and puffy crust, chewier along the edge and softer in the middle
Is baked in an 800 – 1000 degree wood fired oven for less than 90 seconds
Is minimally topped, not over-loaded with cheese

When we arrived at Pieous, we were there before the doors even opened. We were glad we arrived early because a line had already formed. The interior walls of the restraurant are lined with chalk boards filled with information about the restraurant, pizza and a corner of quotes to live by including one of my favorite quotes from Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain

I loved the atmosphere at Pieous. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. You could tell that several of the patrons were regulars and the staff talked with them like they were friends. It definetly had a warm and friendly vibe.

The food was amazing. You can tell that Pieous stands by their motto of being “devoted to great food”.

We started with the pastrami. Do yourself a favor and try the pastrami. It was amazing. Possibly the best pastrami I’ve ever eaten. Yes, pastrami at a pizza place. Just do it.

The pizza was fantastic. I’ve eaten Tony’s pizza in San Francisco, which won Best Pizza Margherita at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy. Pieous is just as good, if not better. The crust was perfect, the cheese had great flavor and the pepperoni was delicious.

We finished the meal off with a piece of brownie cheesecake. It was fantastic. You can tell this isn’t a no bake cheesecake. So much time and effort went into this dessert. The quality of the food, from start to finish, was top notch.

If you’re in the mood for pizza, or pastrami, I highly recommend making a trip out to Pieous. You won’t be disappointed.

Address:

12005 Hwy 290 Austin, TX 78737

Restaurants We Luv: Lucky Robot Japanese Kitchen – Austin, TX

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:05:33 +0000

Friday is a very important day for me. Not only is it the last work day of the week, but it’s also the day my department typically goes out to lunch. Being located downtown, we have so many options for great food. Sometimes, however, eating with a group can be a challenge, especially when it comes time to split the check and tally the final bill. Enter Lucky Robot. Not only does the recently opened Lucky Robot Japanese Kitchen have tasty food, their iPad ordering system makes splitting the check a breeze.

iPad Ordering:

iPad Ordering

Lucky Robot features a really cool iPad ordering and payment system. I was curious how to see how the waiter’s role changed when the iPad ordering system was used. Even though our orders were entered directly into the iPad, our waiter was attentive and was there to answer questions, deliver food and keep our drinks full. This system made it really convenient to split checks between our group, pay by credit card directly from the table and didn’t leave us wasting time waiting for a check. We were all very impressed with how smoothly the iPad ordering worked and it helped create a unique dining experience.

The Food:

Brussels Sprouts: The Brussels sprouts were crispy fried and tossed in a lemongrass soy sauce. These were really good and I would recommend them as a starter, or even a side to an entree.

Brussels Sprouts

Seaweed Salad: This was a traditional seaweed salad. If you like seaweed salad, you’ll like this.

Seaweed Salad

Quesadilla: The quesadilla was pretty amazing. It included candied bacon, ginger scallions, goat cheese, mixed cheese, and topped with queso fresco. How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

Quesadilla

Okonomiyaki: I have a hard time pronouncing Okonomiyaki. Luckily, since I was ordering on an iPad, I didn’t have to embarrass myself trying to say it when ordering. Okonomiyaki is a “Japanese Street Pizza”. The Lucky Robot dish is made with shrimp & krab, topped with QP, tonkatsu, pickled ginger, scallions, bonito and sesame. I really enjoyed it!

Okonomiyaki

Salted Caramel Rice Crispy Treat: This was a nice way to cap off a great meal and we easily shared it between four people (it was much bigger than it looks in the picture). It hit the spot, and was a great dessert for only $2.

Salted Carmel Rice Crispy Treat

Overall, the food was fantastic. I’ve never been to Zen, so I don’t know how it compares to the previous menu, but I really enjoyed everything I tried (which seemed to be the consensus in our group). I would highly recommend checking out Lucky Robot.

Location:

Lucky Robot is located at 1303 S Congress Ave Austin, TX 78704 across from Jo’s Coffee and next to Amy’s Ice Cream.

Gallery:

Paleo 101

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:01:16 +0000

Earlier this week I attended Paleo 101, which was held at Whole Foods Culinary Center. Fellow Austin Food Blogger Alliance Member and all-around Paleo extraordinaire, Melissa Joulwan talked about the foundations of the paleo diet and demoed receipes from her cookbook, Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat. Her cookbook is absolutely fantastic. You can find out more about Melissa over on her blog The Clothes Make the Girl.

I won’t go into too much detail about the Paleo Diet itself. There are so many resources available on the web. The quick and dirty is this. Paleo focuses on eating animal proteins, healthy fats, veggies and fruits, while avoiding grains, dairy, legumes, soy, sugar, alcohol, added sugars and processed stuff. I’m not into fad diets (my Dr. actually recommended this diet to me), but it’s hard to argue with something that tells you to eat meats/fruits/veggies and cut out all the processed crap.

Here are a few pics of the food. (Sorry for the cell phone shots. I didn’t have my DSLR on-hand)

Sunshine Slaw:

Paleo Pad Thai (No that’s not noodles):

Ginger-Lime Grilled Shrimp:

Disclaimer: When you purchase something through Amazon using one of our links, we receive a tiny commission.

Whole30 Wrap-Up: Days 6 & 7

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:43:21 +0000

For the next 30 days, I’ll be participating in my first Whole30. Check back for daily updates about my progress.

The first week of Whole30 is now behind me. I feel pretty good about where I’m at. Now that my body is more acclimated to my new eating style, I’m going to try to incorporate some exercise in week 2. I’m also not going to bed early enough, so I’d like to get more sleep in week 2.

Day 6 was pretty exciting for me. I finished up my physical therapy, where they had a little graduation ceremony. It was awesome. It’s hard to believe that I spent the majority of this year recovering from my knee injury. In fact, I was on crutches for more than 3 months. Now on to the food.

Breakfast Day 6

Egg whites
Sunday Bacon
Leftover Coleslaw from day 3

Lunch Day 6

I had a delicious grilled salmon salad with mixed greens, capers, olives and a homemade vinaigrette. You’ll have to take my word for it though, because it was so good I forgot to take a picture.

Dinner Day 6

Mixed green salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Chicken seared on the stove top and finished in the oven
Roasted spaghetti squash with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper

Breakfast Day 7

Egg whites
Sunday Bacon
Spaghetti squash (Yep…for breakfast)

Lunch Day 7

We went out to for my co-workers birthday to one of my favorite lunch spots, Sushi Niichi. I had Sashimi Sampler C (Salmon, tuna, white tuna, and yellow tail).

Dinner Day 7

I had a grilled chicken salad, but got home late and didn’t take a picture before dinner.

What I’m Listening to Today

Mumford & Sons has a new album coming out September 25th, which I’m pretty excited about. I’m really liking the new song I Will Wait, which they released on YouTube yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kS8RTRi7HA

Today’s Inspiration

“I Have Not Failed. I Have Just Found 10,000 Things That Do Not Work.” – Thomas Edison

Whole30 Day 4 & 5 Wrap-Up

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:35:14 +0000

For the next 30 days, I’ll be participating in my first Whole30. Check back for daily updates about my progress.

My first weekend on the Whole30 and it went well. I’m feeling pretty good and I can already see my midsection tightening up a little bit. It’s hard to believe it’s only been 5 days. I got over my fear of eating paleo at restaurants during the Whole30, and had lunch at Threadgill’s celebrating my cousin’s, uncle’s and mom’s birthday.

Breakfast Day 4

2 Central Market organic eggs with onion and Canadian bacon.
3 Heavenly Villagio Marzano tomatoes

Lunch Day 4

Leftover grilled chicken breast
2 cups mixed greens
Cucumber
Kalamata olives
Capers
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Dinner Day 4

Salmon
Left over cauliflower rice from day 3
Broccoli with garlic sautéed in olive oil
Watermelon, grapes and cantaloupe (not pictured)

Breakfast Day 5

Eggs again. I really need to start coming up with new options for breakfast
Left over Cole Slaw from day 3
Bacon
1/2 Large Hass avocado with kosher salt and smoked paprika

Lunch Day 5

Lunch at Threadgill’s. This was my first restaurant meal since starting the Whole30. It wasn’t too bad, since I looked at the menu at home and planned what I would eat.

Grilled Tilapia with pineapple salsa
2 sides of steamed broccoli, which I doused in lemon juice
(Don’t worry. I did not eat the tortilla strips)

Dinner Day 5

Dinner was at Galaxy Cafe. I did not plan ahead and had a minor melt-down when trying to decide what to order that would fit in the Whole30.

I had the Zocalo Burger which included grilled onions and jalapeno. I had no cheese and substituted the chipotle mayo for yellow mustard.
Side salad (no pictured)

What I’m Listening to Today

Atmosphere – Sunshine: I been listening to Atmosphere since my brother introduced me to the group many years ago. This track is one of my favorites and a perfect Saturday morning song.

Today’s Inspiration

This is my favorite scene, from one of my all-time favorite sports movies, Cool Run nings.

Whole30 – Day 3 Wrap-Up

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 03:03:27 +0000

For the next 30 days, I’ll be participating in my first Whole30. Check back for daily updates about my progress.

Day 3 was rough. I woke up and my allergies were terrible and I was tired most of the day. Apparently that’s the norm for Day 3 of the Whole30. It didn’t help that Friday is typically our Marketing Department’s go out to lunch day, which I’ve elected to skip during the Whole30. I’m bummed I will not be attending for the next 30 days. Oh well life goes on (at least I’ll save some money).

Things got a little more exciting when I got home. A paleo cookbook I ordered recently, Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat, was sitting on my door step. I quickly glanced through it and I’m already excited about all the recipes I will be making. Who knew eating paleo could be so exciting.

Traffic wasn’t bad, so I got home a little bit earlier than usual. This allowed me to spend some quality time in the kitchen (as you can see from my dinner below).

Breakfast

2 pasture raised scrambled eggs (from Pasture Verde) with sweet wild onions sauteed in olive oil.
1/2 of a large Hass Avocado sprinkled with a little bit of salt and smoked paprika
2 pieces of Canadian Bacon
1 Cup Watermelon

Lunch

Lunch was just left overs from Day 2 except I had paleo approved Santa Cruz apple sauce.

5 oz. Grilled Chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder
Grilled veggies including asparagus, yellow squash, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and shallot
Santa Cruz Organic Apple Sauce

Dinner

I was extremely proud of dinner. My wife is a rice-aholic so I wanted to make something we could share. The paleo rice turned out great!

5 oz. flank steak
Paleo “rice” (it’s really Cauliflower and onion cooked in coconut oil) inspired by Nom Nom Paleo. This stuff is awesome! Diana couldn’t even tell it was cauliflower.
Paleo friendly cole slaw (Olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard). I’ll be posting the recipe once I perfect it.

What I’m Listening to Today

Trampled by Turtles – I randomly found this band browsing through songs on Spotify. My current favorite track is Wait So Long. (Trampled by Turtles and the band I mentioned yesterday, The Lumineers, will both be playing at Austin City Limits (ACL) this fall).

[youtube id=”Xjdkc14-zwQ” width=”600″ height=”350″]

Today’s Inspiration

“You’re going to find naysayers in every turn that you make. Don’t listen. Just visualize your goal, know exactly where you want to go. Trust yourself. Get out there and work like hell. Break some of the rules and never ever be afraid of failure.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Whole30 Day 2 – Wrap-Up

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 03:16:21 +0000

For the next 30 days, I’ll be participating in my first Whole30. Check back for daily updates about my progress.

Day 2 was relatively smooth. We went grocery shopping last night, so I had many more options to choose from today. I had a little bit of a headache in the afternoon, but my hunger level hasn’t been too bad. I overcame my first challenge today. We had a going away party at work today for our intern, which happened to be an ice cream party. I stayed strong and passed on an ice cream sandwich. One small step for man, one giant leap for me.

Breakfast

I woke up a little bit earlier today to throw together a heavier breakfast this morning.

2 pasture raised scrambled eggs (from Pasture Verde)
1/2 of a large Hass Avocado sprinkled with a little bit of salt and smoked paprika
1 strip of bacon
3 Heavenly Villagio Marzano tomatoes

Lunch

I totally flaked and forgot to take a picture at lunch, but I had a tuna spinach salad. It looked pretty much the same as the salad I had on Day 1.

Yellow fin tuna in olive oil
2 cups spinach
Balsamic vinaigrette – 2 tablespoons Macadamia Nut Oil (from what I can tell it’s paleo approved), 1 1/4 teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon organic brown mustard, a pinch of salt, a pinch of dried dill.
1 cup Watermelon on the side

Dinner

For dinner, I braved the 100 degree heat and spent some quality time with my BBQ grill.

5 oz. Grilled Chicken seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder
Grilled veggies including asparagus, yellow squash, yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and shallot
12 Bing Cherries

What I’m Listening to Today

The Lumineers – The Lumineers have quickly become one of my favorite bands. I have been listening to this CD pretty much non-stop since it came out earlier this year. One of my favorite tracks is Ho Hey.

[youtube id=”zvCBSSwgtg4″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

Today’s Inspiration

“Invictus” by poet William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.