2 Birthdays, 1 Night

We met up with friends last weekend to celebrate Nick and Natalie's birthdays! Nick and Natalie are siblings and have a birthday that is almost one year to the date (she is 364 days younger than him). They usually have great combined birthday parties and this year was no different. About 30 of us met up at Maria Maria for dinner, then we headed off to a bar to finish the night.

Here is Nick and Natalie,,, having "Happy Birthday" sung to them. Nick is the guy on the right, doing the "Zoolander Face", and Natalie is the brunette in the picture (Magen, Nicks girlfriend is in the middle of them).

Nick, Chris, Jason and Jim... with Joe in the background

Jenn, me and Lindsay at dinner

Large group dinners scare me because it is always a nightmare when it comes to paying for the bill. Frequently the amounts that people pay and what is on the bill never match up which results in a huge headache trying to figure it out. HOWEVER, Maria Maria separated the bills for us (we asked before we even ordered if they could do it) so this big group dinner didn't have the stress at the end of the meal.

Maria Maria started off on the right foot... Chips were crispy, salsa was a nice garlic flavor (which I love) and the Mojitos were spot on tasty. Their Mojitos were almost as good as Jims, and that is saying a lot. I ordered the Carnitas (Slow baked adobo marinated pork shoulder, topped with cured red onions and cucumber, served with smoky black bean sauce and fresh tomatillo salsa verde) and Jim ordered the Chipotle Shrimp (Grilled Bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with julienne Jalapinos & Poblanos peppers topped with White cheddar, swiss and Monterey cheeses served with Roasted Red Bell pepper butter).

Jim's dish was pretty darn good... a couple of the shrimps were halfway burned, but it wasn't so bad that we needed to send the dish back. He said his rice and beans were average, nothing that stood out. I was very hopeful for my Carnitas... I have been in a pork mood over the past few months and I am always on the look out for a good pork dish! I was so disappointed, The meat came out in chunks and it was very, very, very dry. The meat had a nice flavor and the cured red onions and cucumber helped give the meat a little moisture. Jim had left over roasted red bell pepper butter from his shrimp and I used it to help out the pork... which actually tasted pretty good, but then again what doesn't taste good when butter is added??? Plus my dish (for $16) was just the cast iron pan filled with meat and tortilla's and a small little ramekin full of black bean paste (hard to describe, it was so very smooth and had a nice flavor) and a tomatillo sauce.... there could have been a side of rice to help out the dish. Of course, if the meat had been stellar I couldn't be bitching about the lack of a side dish.

After dinner, we stayed and listened to the salsa band (very good, and fun!) for a bit while finishing up our drinks. Jim, me and Jason

We headed over to Speakeasy after dinner (I think the lower part of the bar has a new name, but can't remember what it is).

Lindsay, me, Tiffany, Erin, Vannessa and Jenn....

and John as a sneaky guy getting into the ladies photo

Looking down from the 2nd floor at the bar...

Tammy, Jenn, Charlie, Natalie's husband (DAMN, can't remember his name), some random dude in a white shirt making a "I'm tough" face, Nick, and John

Do you know why I love my friends?? It is because they are complete hams and will always pose for pictures :) Which is perfect for me!

Chris, John, Jim, Tammy, Matt and Vannessa

Nick, Natalie and Jason

And of course... the couple self portrait to end the post :)

Sunday Funday

Last Sunday we all needed to get out of the house and our "funk" and go enjoy the nice weather. Jim, Chewie and I loaded up in the car and went to find lunch. Since we had Chewie with us, we knew it would be some type of trailer and I had heard such good things about Franklin BBQ so we headed over there. We found the trailer (behind Owl Tree Roasters on I-35 on the bottom) and easy parking on the street. Jim went to check out the menu while I kept Chewie with me at the table. He still gets rather excited when we go out, and doesn't really relax while we are out. We are working on training him to sit/lay and stay while we are eating and not try to jump up and say hi to everybody that walks by.

On to the food.... I ordered the brisket sandwich and Jim ordered the pulled pork with coleslaw. The brisket was delicate and had a great flavor, that wasn't super smoky. I ended up pulling most of the meat off of the bread so I could enjoy the meat without the bread as filler. There were 4 different choices of sauces that you could use. The most unique was the espresso bbq sauce... the sauce added a depth of flavor that I haven't experienced with BBQ before. I noticed the coffee flavor right away but then it finished with a slight smoky flavor. It was a strong sauce, so I used it sparingly. I also tried the other sauces, which were good but they didn't really stand out.

Jim loved his sandwich and after begging him, he finally gave me a bite. It was really good, but I still liked my brisket sandwich better :) . We will be back in the near future to try out their ribs, cause if they are anything like the brisket and pork, they will be fantastic.

After our sandwiches we headed over to Town Lake (I just can't get used to calling it Lady Bird Lake, sorry!) to let Chewie release some energy at the leash less area for dogs.

He is not a water dog,,, he has never gone in by himself, he always followed Taylor. I am curious to see what happens this summer! He was happy just to watch all of the dogs run around and play. We let him off of his leash, but he kind of went around and did his own thing.

Like a good boy, he always comes running when his mama calls him :)

Since it was such a nice day outside, we didn't want to end our outdoor time. We headed over to Cuatros (which is dog friendly) to get a couple of drinks and relax. This is Chewies first time at a bar but he did okay. The waitress brought over a bowl of water for him as well as some treats. After checking out the area he finally laid down and observed everything going on around him. I know after a few more times of going out and training him, he'll be the perfect companion for our day time outings.

Cuatros has happy hour specials all day on their drinks which I think is $1 off bottles, $2 domestic drafts, and $3 Well drinks.

Yes, we got nachos, don't judge just because we had BBQ sandwiches 1.5 hrs before :)

We are the type of people that want our nachos overflowing and messy. We don't want the dainty little chips that the restaurant prepared the nacho toppings on individually. We want the toppings sloshed on, and we want more toppings than chips. Cuatro's nachos were really good!! We did a good job of putting a dent into the nachos before the wicked cold front hit Austin. We had no idea that at around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, Austins' weather would drop about 15 degrees in 5 minutes.... and I'm not even exaggerating, it got damn cold! Plus big black clouds blocked the sun, which made it even colder. Our patio time at Cuatros was cut short but we'll be back. They made sure Chewie was just as comfortable as we were.... I love dog friendly bars!!!

Flavor Explosion in my mouth

Sarah and I have been talking about going to Gourdoughs for months now. Gourdoughs is a trailer on South Lamar that sells gourmet doughnuts. I'm not sure gourmet is the right word but they are so much more than just doughnuts. They share the lot with 2 other trailers, Brevita (coffee) and Odd Duck- Farm to Table. I definitely want to go back to try Odd Duck, they had some good sounding food. The reason we just didn't run over as soon as we heard about them is because they are really unhealthy. Like super duper, will add more junk in your trunk than eating an entire cake bad for you. Gourdoughs makes homemade doughnuts with various toppings. They are made to order, so you know your doughnut is right out of the grease and on to the plate. I was debating between a sweet doughnut and a savory doughnut... the savory won out.

Here is my Porky's doughnut. The doughnut is topped with cream cheese, Canadian bacon and jalapeno jelly. It was wonderful... There was a good balance of sweet and savory. The jalapeno jelly didn't have much heat, but it was still tasty

Sarah ordered the Flying Pig, which is a doughnut topped with maple icing and bacon. It tasted like a yummy breakfast

The Menu:

Next time I'd like to try either the Granny Pie (caramel, pecans, bananas, and graham cracker) or the Funky Monkey (grilled bananas, cream cheese icing, and a brown sugar baste).

http://tinyurl.com/yknjgx9

This is the Odd Duck trailer, and i can't wait to give it a try. Their food sounded wonderful and almost pulled me away from trying Gourdoughs... almost :)

I wanted to try the grits and the pulled pork sliders. I'll be back in the near future!