Piquant Ginger & Spice

andy and i took a little work trip over to Marble Falls, TX. truth be told, he was on the job and i was lounging and reading by the lake that robbed this little town of its namesake. when the Colorado River was dammed in 1951, the water level rose to cover the shelves of limestone that formed the water falls. also noteworthy is the fact that all the pink granite used to build the Texas Capitol building was mined from this city.after asking some locals for recommendations, we debated about which of the 2 ‘real’ restaurants we wanted to try. we chose well.


ginger & spice is a fairly new addition
to the town which is about 40 miles northeast of Austin. upon entering we immediately recognized its authenticity echoed in the staccato thai language being traded behind the long wooden bar that ran the length of one wall. our cute and somewhat awkward server greeted us with a mixture of trepidation and eagerness. after discerning that he was a reliable source (he’d moved to Marble Falls from Bangkok several months earlier to work at his family’s restaurant) and questioning him about several menu items, we settled on masaman curry and ginger beef.


the masaman was a thick stew of potatoes, peanuts and carrots in a coconut and curry spice blend broth. really tasty even though it lacked the layers of flavor that can elevate rich curries to a truly fabulous level.

the vegetables were as perfectly crisp as the meat was tender in the ginger beef. slivers of aromatic ginger were plentiful and could’ve run the risk of overpowering the thin gravy had we not been lovers of the tangy tuber.

our server’s uncle approached the table and plucked andy’s camera up explaining that he’s a photo-graffer. they talked about picture taking as i discussed travel with our waiter. the employees were constantly berating and joking with each other in a good natured, broken English kind of way and warmly invited us to join in the fun by explaining cultural tidbits and inside jokes.

andy snapped these shots as we had an after-dinner beer overlooking the water at river city grill. a nice view but none of the charm of the Thai restaurant.

we had a really great experience at ginger & spice. what the food was lacking in depth was more than compensated for by the warm personalities of the family who own the place. if you’re ever in Marble Falls, i recommend you stop in.

Magnolia's Cafe - Don't believe the hype

magnolia’s café was an utter disappointment. after it was profiled on the food network’s ’diners, drive-ins and dives’ and discovering that it was just a couple blocks down the road from our place, we decided to try brunch there. this was actually our second trip and we were hoping for an improvement over the rushed lunch we’d eaten there back in November on our scouting mission. after a bit of a wait (cannot believe people line up for this place), we were seated but given no menus or greeting until we flagged someone down, which was after a neighboring table that had been seated minutes after us already had drinks. we noticed that all the cute, sparkly cupcake paintings that hung on the wall months before were m.i.a. and unfortunately replaced by nothing. right away we were confronted with another table’s conversation about cold food that needed to be returned to the kitchen. we ordered water, which came with limes instead of lemons, that we would have rationed had we known it would be the only glass our server would deliver. the menu consists of standard sandwiches, lunch specials like meatloaf and fish, and some unique dishes like the magna cristo (a club sandwich on battered French toast style bread) and the mag mud nachos (a heap of avocado, queso, chips and beans). that table that had to send back cold food…yep, there they went again…eventually they just ordered something totally different.

i should have known better than to try my first migas (eggs scrambled with tomato, onion, pepper, cheddar, jack and tortilla chips) here. i can’t imagine how rough they would’ve been had i not paid the extra 25cents for a serrano and garlic LOVE butter upgrade. the veggies were really firm and crunchy, the eggs were watery, the cheese wasn’t melted and the whole thing was bland. it’s supposed to be served with tortillas, which took asking and waiting and asking and waiting to actually get my hands on.

same went for andy’s hot sauce, although he scored a little better on his meal. he had the house special omelet with home fries and an English muffin. the omelet was average but the home fries were crunchy and salty.

when i finally got up to corner our server and ask for the check, i refilled our drinks. the server realized how terrible the whole experience was, or maybe he was just lobbying for a decent tip which would not have been commensurate with the service, but he gave us a $5 ‘good patron‘ discount. still wasn’t enough to make up for the whole lousy experience. yeah, magnolia’s café, we’re sorry you’re open too.

toobin'

birthdays rule. especially when they involve 18-wheeler tire inner-tubes, lonestar tallboys and 6 hrs in the wilderness like this...

this adventure down the guadalupe (don't you dare mis-speak...it's pronounced guad-a-loop) was recorded on an old, waterproof disposable camera. so old that it actually accompanied ben and i on our rafting trip in costa rica. yikes...that was november of '07. no wonder the pics look ancient.

like water into wine…

i do love to cook but baking has never really taken up residence on my radar. don’t get me wrong, i’m quite fond of quiches and casseroles - i’m talking more about the sweet treats kinda baking, with sugar and cocoa, that you are required to consume with either coffee or milk to temper their sucrose content that i haven‘t ever gotten in to. but a couple of times recently i’ve put flour and sugar in pan and marveled at the miraculous results. it really is a mind-blowing event in culinary chemistry if you think about it. magic. like sawing an audience member in half…no, more like putting a dog into a box and pulling out a scantily clad woman. since i don’t understand the exact chemical reactions yet, i’m left in awe when these goods turn out puffy and delicious like they‘re supposed to. we recently had fresh, organic blueberries from the farmers’ market and andy had a hankering for muffins. unfortunately we didn’t have all of the ingredients called for in the recipe i‘d found, so i winged it. here’s how it happened…

preheat oven to 375°

grease the muffin pan

in a bowl, mix 1/3 c. sugar, 2 c. flour, ½ tsp. kosher salt, ½ tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. baking powder

in a separate bowl, beat together 1 c. sour cream, 1 egg, 1 tbs. oil, 2 tbs. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla. make a divot in center of the flour mixture and pour the liquid mix into it

carefully fold it together, taking caution not to over mix, as i read that makes batter tough. better to be lumpy than tough.

then fold in blueberries

pour into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes or until the ole’ clean toothpick trick works.

presto! bravo! if i do say so myself…

oh no... here goes our poor lil' blog... limpin' along...

andy's been so busy with work, which is a great thing. and now i've got a new job with these people. if you divide and multiply all that it equals less time for the blog. there's stuff in the pipe though... any minute now...

When in Texas, do as the Texans do and eat BBQ

austin restaurants seem to love austin food bloggers. so much so, they occasionally invite them to dinner. it’s really awesome that we’ve now become them. that's how andy, logan, rachel and i ended up at the county line, a bbq joint with locations in texas, oklahoma and new mexico.


honestly, after our first visit with andy's family during our texas scouting mission, we probably wouldn't have given it another try. on that trip i'd opted out of the all-you-can-eat madness, choosing a couple of meats, a salad and macaroni and cheese without being impressed. after inquiring about the mac and cheese, i was encouraged by the waitress to try their 'homemade' version. it was a dish of runny cheese sauce and noodles more akin to the stuff out of the box. the brisket and ribs were passable, the salad was fresh and the bread was springy and good. not exactly high marks in the categories that bbq restaurants typically aim for.

when the nice folks at the county line invited us back, we went hoping for the best, and hoping this talk about a tub full of shiner bock was true. the set-up was awesome. we were hosted at the county line location ‘on the lake’. looked more like a river to me…the narrow body of water lined the courtyard that was dotted with tables.

they made our menu options easy by laying out a spread. there were turkey and pork sandwiches, potato salad, pulled pork enchilada-thingys, baked beans and pickles from which to make a plate.

the sandwiches were dry and sent me looking for the bbq sauce that I had surely missed on the buffet.

the salad was a tasty take on the standard recipe and the beans were firm and pretty good. the pulled pork wrapped in tortillas, topped with all the tex-mex fixins, drizzled with a house-made spicy tomato and jalapeno sauce were the stars. I’m not even sure if these are a regular menu item; they definitely should be.

andy is a huge vanilla ice cream fan (how funny and plain jane huh? cute.) and said this fresh made version was rather icy and unmemorable.

the rumors had been true, ice cold texas-brewed shiner bock made an appearance along with wines produced locally by Fall Creek Vineyards which had a really nice representative on hand and a cute tag line, “where the sky fell in love with the earth and gave birth to wine.”

The drinks proved to be a great accompaniment to the view and we loitered and lingered on into the evening.

our soco neighborhood rocks

andy and i had an awesome date in our neighborhood the other night. started out at doc's motorworks, a slightly ramshackle eatery with some of the best outdoor seating, 20 or 30 tables snuggled together on a patio right on s. congress avenue. perfect people watching. monday night- we were kinda in luck...it was 2 for 1 burgers, but they weren't all that stellar. the patio more than made up for it. then we hit the continental club- a fabulously retro, old school country music, rockabilly, punk-y, red velvet curtains and miller high life having bar right up the street. it was crazy; i couldn't quit smiling. there were 70-year-old jimmy buffet look-a-likes and 20-yr-old hipster tattoed chicks doing the texas two step together. the dance floor was full all night to the sounds of dale watson on stage. he's a crazy ole country singer with a silver pompadour, and a voice that's a cross between merle haggard and johnny cash, who employs a stellar guitar player in his band. ah, sweet austin...