Giggity Christmas

Hot Air Gun

After dinner my brother and his girlfriend decided to make cookies from the most amazing cookbook ever. We got it when I was in elementary school and it teaches you how to make knock off big macs, twix, etc. They were making some Keebler's chocolate chip cookies with molasses. They started combining the ingredients before softening the butter. We could have taken the butter out and softened it in the microwave, however we decided to be a little more unconventional and use the hot air gun that my brother uses to melt his hockey stick glue. It was awesome!


Tupac Giggity Gillings Christmas Cookie

This was the end result. My sister thought it would be a good idea to make a cookie cake out of the thing so we decided to go for the gold. It turned out pretty well. We decorated it and I must say we did some good work. It was a pretty wonderful bonding and cooking experience. Also, the cookie tastes perfect, but it makes me feel like I ate a ton of lard. There were FOUR sticks of butter in the recipe!!! I admit I was the one that spelled "mommy" wrong. But my brother thought "fizz" had only one z, and there is no excuse for that either.

For the People

I studied through breakfast this morning. At lunch time I turned my phone off to avoid distractions before my last final, but I made a hummus and cheese sandwich and edamame. Since my phone was off I don't have a picture for you. I didn't eat it anyway because I was too nervous about the final.


Galaxy Cafe's Chicken Chipotle Wrap

For a farewell Christmas dinner the gooze and I went to Galaxy Café. I tried something new! Well, I got a wrap (on a wheat tortilla) and it was delicious. The black beans were the perfect texture and the chipotle sauce was very good too. There were a lot of onions in it though and I felt I suffered from that the rest of the night.


Galaxy Cafe's Pesto Pasta Salad

I was this close to getting the sweet potato fries when I decided I really ought to just get the pesto bowties because I knew I would love it again. I did. The olives and the roasted peppers and the pesto just work so well together.

The gooze got Mexican Lime soup. I tried it but blogger refuses to let me upload the picture of it. It was really good though. The perfect amount of lime for a soup.


Feast for the Eyes: Christmas Lights

Galaxy Café is in the cutest neighborhood in Austin over by West Lynn. Afterwards we drove around looking at Christmas lights. This house was insane! There is a house similar to this one in Coppell where the owners sit outside and play music, chatting with the passerbys and handing out candy canes. But this one had twice as many decorations as that one. And we still got candy canes!!


Candy Canes

After we graciously accepted the candy canes, I took a picture of Maggie enjoying hers. She decided to "strike a pose" by hooking her neck with the candy cane. Unbeknownst to us, the owner was still watching us and my window was still rolled down, and he started cracking up, and then we did as well. It was wonderful.


Coors Light

After that I went over to Stephen's for a quick goodbye that turned into many hours of playing beer pong with his housemates.

Something Tasty

Flight Path's Iced Coffee

After breakfast, I booked it to the coffee shop. Flight Path's iced coffee is notorious for tasting like bacon, which is why I like it. Note to coffee shop patrons: don't stand in front of the milk, sugar, and spoon stand and talk with your friends. You're making everyone around you miserable including yourselves. I got a lot of work done and the caffeine made me hungry so I went home and made lunch.


Art History Prof's Warm Apple Cider

Speaking of great things around the holidays, my Art History Professor brought us delicious warm apple cider to take with us when we finished our final tonight. It was delicious, I want more right now. It's definitely best warm, when it started to cool down it was too sour. I had to crouch down by one of the lights on the outside of the building to get a picture of it because it was so dark outside. Then I stood there and drank my cider and looked at Orion's Belt and I was really happy to be in Texas.

Tacoz

Rolling Rock

Last night was my first time trying Rolling Rock, and I enjoyed it. I usually prefer bread-ier tasting brewskies, and this one was more on the sour side. It did the trick though, that's for sure.


Kiwi

I'm so glad that cereal is gone. This kiwi wasn't ripe even though the sticker that came on the outside said it was. Maybe it's not the right season for kiwis. I hear it's not the right season for Turkish Figs either. Also it was way too much work cutting the skin off for not very much fruit. My knife skills are weak at best. Culinary Academy, here I come.



Chuy's Soft Chicken Tacos

The chicken tasted a little funny, but otherwise it was good. I'm just not used to pollo. The tortillas were good. There wasn't enough cheese or tomatos, and the guacamole was a little runny. The best part about Chuy's is that they have lime hard candies instead of mints. Also I went with matthew and that was fun. The people sitting across from us were engaged in way too much PDA.

Different Temperatures

No breakfast today.


Cozzoli's Cheese Pizza

Cozzoli's is down Congress a block from where I work so I met Becky at the Capitol and we walked there. It was overwhelmingly purple. Purple booths, purple flowers, purple paint. Their pizza is so good!! The crust was perfect: warm, crispy on the outside, but soft inside. I went for the cheese because it has been proven that the best way to judge a pizza parlor is by how good their cheese pizza is. Amazingly, there wasn't an excess amount of grease on top of my slice, which I really appreciate. And there was just the right amount of tomato sauce to compliment the cheese and bread. The girl left it in the oven a little too long when she was heating it up so it took me a few minutes longer than I would have liked to sink my teeth into it. I'm not a fan of burning the roof of my mouth off and having dead skin flaps hanging around for a week so I was willing to wait, and it was worth it. I also got a root beer because that is the quintessential pizza parlor drink to me.


Nestle Push Pop

At Cozzoli's, they have an ice cream freezer with lots of random offerings, including push pops. When we saw them we knew we were going to have to get them after we finished our pizza. It cost two dollars, which is definitely the most expensive push pop I've ever had in my life, but this one time it was worth it. It was almost hot outside, and the orange sherbet was exactly as I remembered it from my childhood: tangy and sweet and cold artificial orange flavor. Perfect.


Flight Path's El Salvadoran Blend

I reunited with a friend at our old hangout Flight Path tonight. Flight Path is my favorite coffee shop in Austin, they keep it real while still being ass holes and attract the most random crowd which is great for people watching and pretending to study. Tonight there were a lot of frat boys doing crude things, as well as a group of hipster girls with homemade vests. The coffee tasted very good, however, it is one of those pump-your-own things. That's fine, I got to show off my massive arm muscles, but the thing was a little taller than me and I couldn't really tell when my cup was getting full. The one bad thing was that the coffee was lukewarm when I first got it, so after five minutes it was room temperature, which is not what I wanted. I wanted scorching hot coffee to warm me up. Oh well. It was still a good night at Flight Path.

A lot of food for one day

Orange Tea from Jester

So I am still sick and between classes this morning I decided I wanted some tea. Thankfully my marketing class hasn't lasted for more than 15 minutes these past two weeks so I went and got some in my old 'hood. This tea is so good. It has so much flavor, which is something that I usually would be reluctant to say about tea. The cups they have there don't give you any protection from the heat though, so you are much better off the take two or three to build a protective layer.


Haagen Dazs Mango Sorbet

This is nothing compared to what they serve on the streets of New York. But it isn't bad. I doubt I will get through this entire pint though...Unless I train myself to enjoy it. The mango flavor is too strong, there needs to be more sugar. And the texture is not like a normal sorbet. It is creamier or something.


Thai Noodle House Shrimp Spring Roll

I hesitated about getting a spring roll because I knew the main course that was waiting for me. But the foodie in me told me to go for it, and I kindly obeyed. Overall it was very well put together, and a poorly wrapped spring roll can be its greatest downfall. My only complaint about this one was that there was only one piece of shrimp in the entire thing. That was a little frustrating.


Thai Noodle House Pad Se-Ew with chicken (more commonly known as C5)

This is flat noodles with broccoli and your choice of chicken, beef, pork or tofu. This was my first time having it with something other than tofu and I still really enjoyed it, but it is definitely better with tofu. The flavors turn out entirely different. The broccoli was a little brown, but I'm not complaining. The dish was more sour than I remember it, because in my mind it tasted exactly like the black noodles at Spice and Sea in New York. The service was really slow. Like, we were done eating and thirty minutes later they brought us the check. Oh well.


Mutant Fortune Cookie

This was a siamese-fortune cookie. It looked pretty awesome. As you can see, there is nothing separating the two distinct cookies. As far as fortune cookies go, this one wasn't bad. But my fortune was horrible: Keep in touch with some form of the arts. I think my fortune was meant for a frat boy.

A Good Day

Taco Cabana Tortillas and Queso

I had a long list of errands to run this afternoon, which concluded with dropping off my rent at my apartment management's office, which is around the corner for Taco Cabana. I turned the corner and saw it, and I knew what I needed to do. I decided it would be a bad move to get black bean tacos so soon after having a bad experience. If they had been bad today, I might never eat them again, and that would be really horrible. So I did what any sensible bread and cheese lover would do; I just ordered tortillas and queso. I might be imagining things but something about the queso burned my throat after I swallowed, and it isn't because of the temperature. Oh well, I'm not complaining. The tortillas were excellent as usual. I'm pretty sure Taco Cabana makes the best tortillas in the world. Although if anyone has had any that are better, I would love to hear about them.



Galaxy Café Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Mozzarella and Bacon and Bowtie Pesto Pasta

Galaxy Café is the funnest restaurant I've been to in a while. Not fun in a Chuck E. Cheese way, fun in a grown up way. Everything about it is really relaxed, except for the three giant dogs tied to table legs outside. You order your food at the counter and then they bring it to you, which makes for a great meal if you aren't in the mood to be bothered by waiters. I went with my friend Becky, but it really strikes me as the kind of place I want to take my mom when she visits. Also, it should be said that there was ample lighting to see the menu where you ordered, and the lights were very dim and pleasant in the rest of the place. AND the papers that have your order number were interesting enough to keep me occupied for a minute, with made up words and their definitions. We go "telecrastination" and "jukejitters."

Okay, so the food was very good. I had some problems with pieces of my sandwich falling out. And in one place, the chicken was so sinewy that I had to spit it out (sorry about that). But everything tasted great. The mozzarella was a little lost between the chicken and the bacon, and it was fresh and had lots of mozzarella juice dripping out. Also the girl told me I really need to try it with mayonnaise, so I got it on the side. It really was good mayonnaise. And then there were tomato slices and onions on the side. I don't really like to eat onions because I hate onion breath. The tomatos I chose not to put on my sandwich because it was truly the best tomato I've had since the big tomato pesticide fiasco of '06.

The Bowtie Pesto Pasta was so good! It had lots of roasted red bell peppers and Greek olives on top. All of it was delicious on its own and together. The olives were a pretty strong contrast to the pesto, but after a few bites I grew accustomed to it and enjoyed it.

I really want to go back and try other things at this restaurant. It is one of those super cool Austin restaurants that isn't a nasty hippie place. The furniture was from Ikea. And they are right next to the best Christmas decorated house I've ever seen. Four stars