Sixth Street, Austin

Over the 4th of July weekend, we decided to pop up to Austin to hang out. We keep meaning to do that more, and never get around to it. For lack of any better ideas, we decided to try Sixth Street, which is where all the bars are. It was pretty crazy. We didn't really get sufficient photos to show how crazy it was, but you're gonna have to trust me. It was nuts.

Sixth Street gets blocked off by the police every Friday and Saturday. No, this was not special for 4th of July, it's just like that every weekend. No cars are allowed. The streets are flooded with people bar-hopping.

There are a lot of different types of bars and clubs, too. Some raunchy ones, some nice ones, some classy ones, some cheap ones. There's really something for everyone. Lemme show you the few pictures we did take:

Brandon neglected to tell me that my hair was crazy. -_-

Resting our feet.

Not sure what's going on here.

We didn't go in, Brandon was just really amused by the name.

One place we did stop in for a while was Casino el Camino. It was a demon-themed bar that's been on the Food Network for its burgers. Despite the ridiculous theme and the fact that every staff member was covered from head to toe in tattoos, this place was amazing. The food was phenomenal, the service was friendly, it wasn't too loud. We actually really enjoyed it. 

Now, Brandon insists he didn't have much to drink, but our photos get kinda fuzzy after this. I'm gonna go ahead and say maybe the camera was on the wrong setting? We were also walking fairly fast for a while, because a bar fight broke out in the middle of the street and we needed to get out of the way. No joke.

Sure, Brandon. Didn't drink that much. I believe you.

We spent more time just walking up and down the block, observing all the crazy drunk people, than actually drinking. It was a pretty fun evening. Sixth Street is really something that needs to be experienced. Even if we got better photos, I don't know that they would have done it justice.

Embroidery

I finally bought a backup lab coat. I took this as an opportunity to work on a project I had been putting off for some time. I've wanted for a while now to embroider my Hebrew name (Shoshanah) onto my lab coat pocket.
This is partly for show, and partly just to make it easier to find my lab coat amongst all the others. Also it seemed like a fun excuse to teach myself to embroider.

I still have to erase the pencil marks. 

 Modeling the coat.

I think it turned out alright. Keep in mind, this is my first ever attempt at embroidery. Now my mom is all excited and wants me to learn more advanced sewing skills... We'll see.

Tiny Rat Pancakes

Brandon and I have gotten into something of a tradition: we make pancakes or crepes on the weekends. It's not every weekend, but it's pretty common.

When I was in high school, my stepmom would cook an egg every Sunday morning for her dog Princess. Princess would wake up on Sunday mornings and race around the house, waking everyone up, so excited for her egg. It was a fun little tradition that really brightened the weekend. We all loved seeing the dog so happy.

When I was REALLY little, my dad would make pancakes for my brother and I every week. Sometimes the batter would drip in the skillet, making tiny droplet pancakes we referred to as "itty bitties." I think you see where this is going.

Fast forward to now... And you have rat pancakes. Almost every weekend. PHOTO DUMP!

That's a chocolate chip. Yes, we give them chocolate chip pancakes sometimes.

Some weekends I forget to make the itty bitty pancakes when we're done making ours. Brandon always, always remembers. It's almost as adorable as watching them eat the pancakes. ^_^

New Armchair!

One weekend, I said to Brandon I needed some fresh air. So we went to Goodwill and poked around. We were there for less than 10 minutes before I saw a big, cushy armchair. It was in really decent condition, and it was only $25!

I know I recently joked that we need an armchair. And yeah, we really kinda needed one. But I honestly wasn't actively looking. We're only going to live in Texas for another year, two at most, and I don't want to invest in real furniture if we're just going to ditch it here. That's why this chair was so serendipitous. Cheap. Decent condition. Suuuuuuuper comfy.

So we stuffed it in the car (Impulse buy! No time to measure! Pray it fits! It BARELY fit.) and wrestled it up the three flights of stairs into our apartment. I spent my Saturday going over it with a lint roller, the vacuum, and scrubbing it with upholstery spot-cleaner.

This is my impulse-buy happy face.

Brandon  finds a comfy spot to work on his solar panel project. 

My new little sanctuary in the corner.

Our living room is considerably more cozy now that we have some proper furniture. Brandon liked it so much, I was able to convince him to FINALLY let me hang some things on the walls. A year into our stay in Texas, our apartment is starting to look like a home. ^_^

Tiny Pies in Jars in the Mail!

Remember the tiny pies in jars? And how I hinted that you could be expecting a surprise soon? Well, it's here. I made a batch of tiny apple pies in jars, and I'll be sending them out to people who made the Facebook mailing list.

This is actually an experiment on my part. I want to test to see if you can seal the jar, ship it at room temperature, and have the pie keep safely. So, everyone on the mailing list has been informed of the inherent risks in this project. You guys should be aware that you are all, in fact, my guinea pigs. MWAHAHAHA. (Kidding. Love you.)

You can expect the packages soon (actually, by the time I get around to posting this, you should already have received them.) Please respond by Facebook, IM, email, or letter informing me of the following:
1) Was the jar sealed upon arrival?
2) Was the pie fresh? Soggy? Stale? Smelly?
3) Did you heat it, chill it, or eat it at room temp?
4) How was it? Did you get sick? PLEASE DON'T GET SICK.

If this project works, this might be a mainstay of care packages from me. Or possibly a small business idea. We'll see where it takes me. 

I had some leftover pie crust and apple filling (I ran out of jars), so I made Brandon a tiny pie. He was very pleased.

As usual, the obligatory happy customer photo.

I hope you guys are happy customers, too. 

Chili Sauce

Chili sauce is a Canadian food; it's a tangy, sweet sauce that is used in place of ketchup. Honestly, it's basically ketchup before ketchup gets pureed. It evolved as a way to use up the tomatoes at the end of the harvest, so they wouldn't go bad. It also happens to be a major family tradition to get together in August and make a big batch of chili sauce to last the whole year. Unfortunately, we haven't done it the last few years, and I've had to make my own batches.

Since it's hot in Texas year-round, we figured we could do our chili sauce weekend pretty much any time during the summer. We did some searching and tried a couple farmer's markets. We've had issues with the farmer's markets in San Antonio in the past, and this was no exception.

We tried the Pearl Brewery district Farmer's Market. It was more of a hang-out spot than a place to get serious produce. Which is fine, but I needed a bushel of tomatoes, soooo... We moved on.

Pearl Brewery Farmer's Market. 

We ended up getting the produce we needed at Sun Harvest, which is like a bulk food store/produce market. I didn't get photos. We got the canning gear and the rest of the ingredients at HEB. For some reason, I remembered to get a photo:

Everything else.

We've made chili sauce before, but I borrowed my mom's canning gear. So this time I had to buy my own kit. Now that I have it, my mom informs me that I need to learn to make jelly and jam. It would last forever, as I detest it, and Brandon only uses it once in a blue moon. 

Anywho, Chili sauce is one of those "throw everything in a pot and boil the ever-loving hell out of it!" recipes. So, photo dump!

So many onions. So many tomatoes.

Oh, did I mention that Rory helped?

Brandon got artsy with the photos.

Tomato dis-assembly line.

Work-in-progress.

Jars awaiting their contents.

Canning setup.

Getting redder.

Canning time.

Yay!

And now we have chili sauce to last us all year. So, we discovered that I need to alter my recipe a bit. The card my mom gave me calls for 30 tomatoes and 10 onions. But I think our tomatoes are small and our onions are big. This is the second year that I've made chili sauce myself, and the second time that it has been overly oniony. So I need to watch out for that next time. 

But other than that, it was a major success! Chili sauce is a big comfort food for me. I kept a jar in the fridge in my dorm in college. I'd put it on my eggs in the morning - yes, I'd bring it down to the cafeteria with me at breakfast. It helped with homesickness. 

And anyway, now we can stop buying ketchup. ^_^

Coffee Table

Brandon built us a new coffee table! This project has been going on for a few months now, but it's finally finished! We designed it based on the old coffee table we had in Kalamazoo (which was actually a dumpster dive find). It's in my mom's basement at the moment. Anyway, Brandon designed it based on my specifications, and some old table legs we had sitting around from when he constructed his computer desk. Here we go, photo dump:

At Lowe's, getting the supplies.

Mocking up the pieces.

Cutting the pieces to size.

Final mock-up.

Sanding.

Sanding.

Staining.

Staining.

So, we forgot to take photos of the finished product. We started using it, and now it's cluttered (of course). I'm too lazy to move my stuff. Sorry. Here it is!

Finished product.

In front of the couch.

 

The funny part is, so far, the pieces of furniture that we've made ourselves are the most substantial pieces we own. Our couch is kinda flimsy, my desk is flimsy... But Brandon's desk, which he made himself? Heavy, solid. This coffee table? Hefty. It clunks loudly when you put stuff down on it.

I like it! Now we just need an armchair...