#92 - Aquarelle

Oh my goodness. It was so, so yummy. And such a cute, little place.

I had soft shell crab as an appetizer, snapper with shrimp for the main, and then carmelized poached pears for dessert (I'm drooling again just thinking about it). Greg had melt-in-your-mouth foie gras, smoky scallops and profiteroles. And they also brought out these little complimentary bits and pieces throughout the meal - a bisque, a sorbet and then these tiny little pastries. Very nice touch.

Of course, everything was to die for.

Now I just wish we could make the other 17 new restaurants that we'll visit be of that caliber. Of course, we'd be flat broke... and probably quite fat. But it'd sure be fun.


p.s. As we were sitting there, an older couple came into the restaurant quite late and just ordered coffee and dessert. Is this done? For some reason, I've just never thought of that as an option for nicer restaurants. But what a fantastic idea for when you feel like treating yourself but don't want to break the bank! Maybe we'll try that some time for some other swank restaurants in town.

#93 - Cap City Comedy Club

One of Greg's coworkers won 20 free tickets to Capitol City Comedy Club a few weeks ago and gave us two. It turns out our free tickets were for a charity event benefiting some local children's organization.

How guilty did we feel when we heard that? But we tried to make it up to the kids by ordering a surplus of drinky-drinks. Anything for the kids, right.

So there were about a dozen or so comedians that each did 10-minute bits. There were several who were hilarious and a few who were just downright painful to watch. Its a small venue so the slightest bit of chatter tends to carry. People sitting a few tables away from us seemed to have gotten an early start to the evening festivities and so were a little careless about their noise level. Needless to say, this prompted a few comments from the comics. When the dumb guy (someone named Kenny) didn't take the hint, a few of the comics took the opportunity to completely berate him. Not that he wasn't deserving of a lashing, but it got a little uncomfortable at times. Luckily, they always seemed to follow up these times with a really good act to get everyone laughing again.

I wish I could remember the names of the ones that had me rolling. I'd love to catch them again sometime. Overall, it was a great night and at times I was laughing so hard I couldn't breath. Good stuff.

Aquarelle

Oh my God. I just looked at the menu.

I'm drooling already...

#92 - Visit new restaurants

Greg eats out way more than I do. He will usually have fabulous lunches with his coworkers, while I'm eating leftovers in my office. Blah. (Okay, correction. Greg just snuck up behind me and pointed out the fact that he only goes out twice a week most of the time -disputable- and one of those is Double Dave's for pizza so its nothing special. Whatever. Its still more than me.) And when we do go out, its usually to the same restaurants we know we like. Boring...

So one of my goals is to try new places.

This wasn't exactly the level of quality I had in mind, but its new to me so it counts - Red Robin for burgers and bottomless fries. We were out shopping and drove by so Greg insisted I needed to try it. We split a spicy buffalo chicken burger (delish!) and a turkey burger with feta and lots of good stuff. Very yummy.

The second place was Bombay Bistro. Its right next to our local HEB so we'd see it all the time and say that we needed to try it but never did. Well, we finally made it. I was having a really bad day from work so Greg suggested we go. Its Indian food (obviously) with a nice ambience and decent food. The best thing though was the margarita and the mango martini. :)

18 more to go! And one of them is tonight. Tomorrow is our 5-year anniversary from when we first started seeing each other. (Honestly, I don't know how he's hung on for this long...) Greg is treating me to dinner at Aquarelle, a fancy-schmancy French restaurant here in Austin. I can't wait! Yay!

#60 - 5 down, 45 to go

So I can cross three more books off my list.

The first was The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Its an amazing memoir about the author's childhood, growing up in extreme poverty with eccentric parents who shun all semblance of conventional life. The stories are incredible and would be hilarious if you didn't know they were true. Very good read - I highly recommend it.



The second was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (finally!). I somehow managed to avoid hearing anything about the last book of the saga for all these months and read on in great anticipation. I've loved these books throughout the whole series so its with a mixture of sadness and relief that I've finally finished them. I won't say anything about the plot so I can't spoil it for anyone else, but though it wasn't my favorite, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Harry Potter.


The last was Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I just happened across this title while I was in the library and recognized it from a recent movie. I picked it up to see if it was the same and, what do you know, it was. I have actually read another Neil Gaiman book (Good Omens) before and liked so I picked it up. This could easily be another one for the kids' genre with the exception of a few bits of gore and sex. What can I say, its no masterpiece, but its entertaining and a quick ride.


Now I've started The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield for a book club meeting I'm hoping to attend. I'll let you know how that goes.

Major, Major Catching Up To Do

Since I've been a slacker at blogging but have actually accomplished a few goals, I'm going to make separate entries for all the things I've done rather putting it into one massive post.

Hopefully I'll catch up and be better about my updates...

Blog Neglect...

To the three people who read this blog: I realize how boring I've been lately. And I apologize.

Work has reared its ugly head, and I've kicked into ultra-frazzle mode. The tension in my brain has gone so far as to manifest itself into physical discomfort. My chest feels tight, my back and shoulders ache, and I can't seem to take a deep, cleansing breath no matter how hard I try. Right when I quiet myself down enough to go to bed, all these nagging doubts creep into my head so that I'm too buzzed and agitated to fall asleep. I've also been distracted by fantasies of beating my boss about the head with rolled up scientific journals every time we cross paths. Maybe its the sleep deprivation. At least I can still control my swinging arm.

Anyway, I promise to post a massive, comprehensive post of all the things I've crossed off my list in the last week and a half. And to do a better job of regular posting.

(hopefully)

Re: #1 & #42

I talked to my little brother on the phone tonight. He informed me that apparently my mom didn't quite understand what FMB stood for. Or TTC either. So my dear, sweet sister took it upon herself to explain these things...

Thanks, Mel! Are you trying to give the woman a heart attack?