One Month(ish) Later...

So, Thirty plus days have passed since I last updated and plenty of things to report.

The Job:  Three Legged Willie's is going well.  I like it alright and I get the hours are good.  The plan and simple truth is that I am happy to be back in a kitchen.  I'm paying my dues to establish myself as a worthwhile person to have around the place.  The crew is fun and lively and I like to think I fit in fairly well.  Still,  if everything falls into place, I may end up leaving to take a paid internship at a local farm.  I have a few things I need to accomplish before that dream comes into fruition.

The Food:  I have to say, even only after a few meals, Austin has some simply amazing and innovative restaurants.  I finally had a chance to get some sushi.  A little place on the north side called Maru (not the major chain, more of that later) that offered up a very satisfying dinner in a cozy, vacant setting.  The kind of place I could see myself chatting up the chef from from a stool at the bar.

I briefly talked about my visit to Fino, an upscale Mediterranean joint, but let me elaborate a bit further.  We started the meal some anchovy wrapped, panko covered olives and Za'atar potato chips with lemon chive yogurt for dipping.  This paired well with our pitcher of sangria rosa.  For our main entrées, we split an order of paella ($45 for a 2 person portion amongst 3 people). Julie also ordered a salad though the paella has taken over any memory of it. We finished with Churros y Chocolate, sweet dough deep fried, covered in cinnamon sugar served with a chili and chocolate sauce.  I was not ashamed to use my finger to eat the remaining sauce before a server came over and offered me a spoon.  True story.

I got to heart of Texas BBQ when visiting The Salt Lick.  A place where you order open- pit meat by the pound, sides by the pints or quarts and bring your own beer.  As you walk in, you are struck directly in the eyes by a large, one-of-a-kind, barely legal barbeque pit covered with ribs, briskets, whole chickens and sausages.  The food, 1/2 lb of brisket and potato salad, was decent, though next time I'll remember to diversify a little more.

There so many places I've yet to visit.  Austin has a very strong mind to keep things on a local level.  On more that one occasion fighting corporate giants on behalf Ma and Pa shops.  It's incredibly easy to avoid eating at large, national chain restaurants, a plus for any locavore.  The food is so good, most shops don't even have to offer seated dining to sell their fair.  Food trucks riddle the entire city, offering scrumptious and transportable  haute cuisine on compost safe plates.  The people ask for it and Austin happily provides.

Social Integration: I've visited a few bars and I have had a few drinks.  I am mostly socializing through mutual friends and through online meetup groups.  One evening, there was a 50 person meeting of Apples to Apples players.  A2A was only the beginning.  People started to break out Taboo and Balderdash and soon all hell broke loose and we resorted to dominoes and cards.

Social bike rides happen nearly everyday here.  I hope to make my way to one soon.

Haven't to been to any big shows but the bars offer live music of all varieties.  Just walking down 6th Street you're bombarded with so much aural stimuli it's ridiculous.

That's my review after one month and one paycheck.  Good things are on the horizon.  Some of my favorite people will be visiting me soon, hopefully more will do the same in the future.

I May Have Just Made A Huge Mistake...

After reading an ad on Craigslist for a line cook/sous chef position and then researching the company, I sent them the following email along with a copy of my résumé.  You can check the ad here and see the restaurant's website here.

Cartharsis

When I heard the news Saturday night, it didn't really sink in.  It wasn't until the next morning while sitting alone in front of the computer that I finally broke.  I couldn't help crying, feeling so incredibly far away from my family with only the kind words of Facebook and a bluegrass soundtrack to console me.  I left Lansing as soon as I could arrange a ride with my sister, Kristi, and pack a bag.

Everything Happens For A Reason

I awoke in a frenzy at 11:45PM last night, frantically searching for my phone.  I knew something was wrong.  I had fallen asleep early in order to get a good night's sleep before departing for my trip.  I had known for a while that this may happen, and tonight, it did.

Just around 10PM, my great-grandma, Audra Myrle Armstead, passed away at the age of 90.

I am by no means happy about this, though I am glad that I wasn't already on the road at this point.  That would have added a whole other set of complications.  Silver lining, I guess.

I will update again once I return from West Virginia.

Bike & Gear

Just a couple of pics I have at this point of my bike and gear.  Let me know if there is something specific you want a picture of!

DIY Pannier

The New Plan

So, a lot of changes have occurred since I last updated. Trips planned, cancelled, re-planned and subsequently cancelled again.  For a while, I became disheartened.  I wasted my nest egg and gave in to despair. I resigned myself to internet fantasies of someday travels.  Then, an epiphany.  Why feel confined within national boundaries when there were boundless opportunities for me to explore from within?

There are a lot of places I've yet to see on this side of the globe, let alone on the other. Michigan excluded, I have immersed myself in 4 of 48, 2 of which involved permanent addresses.  I decided to discover America's food potential stateside rather judge it from abroad. It began as a trip to Portland, OR for a friend's wedding and mutated into something completely different at an incredible rate.

I assume by this point, you are asking just what this monster of a trip entails. Bear with me, as this about to get a bit ugly.

Think Globally - Eat Locally

This is a paper I wrote for my Organization and Management of Food Systems class.  For those of you familiar with my status updates, this is the class that make me want to hurt myself.  I had to write an analysis of the movie Food Inc. I got a 100% on it so I figured I'd post that here.



                                                               Think Globally – Eat Locally

“A culture that just uses a pig as a pile of protoplasmic inanimate structure, to be manipulated by whatever creative design the human can foist on that critter, will probably view individuals within its community, and other cultures in the community of nations, with the same type of disdain and disrespect and controlling type mentalities.”
-Joel Salatin, Food Inc.
That quote solidifies and strengthens the ideology I believed even before viewing this film. I had always had a passion for food. I have spent a majority of my time in the workforce in food-service industry with only a few exceptions. When that was coupled with an overactive metabolic rate, it became clear this was to the recipe for inspiration for the rest of my life.