#19: Furniture Around Austin

I've been living with my sister since the beginning of April and my room is still a mad swamp of clothes. I've been in the market for a chest of drawers or a small dresser that would fit in my closet, but due to my previous experiences, my standards have risen from a particleboard box to something with a little more structure and better material that won't cave in; however, with my rising standards, my price range hasn't risen as much ($100 +/- $50).

It was a bit of a surprise to see at the places that sell "real" furniture, the prices were high for good quality in bad style. Given that I live close to IKEA, in trying to find a good chest there, I found some lower quality for prices that were not that much lower than the high end places. The best looking chest also happened to be the highest quality and the most expensive out of all the suitable ones...how do I say this? I'm a woman, perhaps if I just went there just looking for something to put my clothes in, I would've picked the cheapest thing and went home. End of story. But no, I need high quality, low price, good style. At IKEA...I felt like I was trying to pick the best out of the reject pile and I just can't do that. So what are my options?

Secondhand stores, flea markets, vintage stores, Goodwill, and the Salvation Army.

As of late, I've found that chests of drawers happen to be one of the less commonly carried items at flea markets oppose to chairs and desks...yeah...this is a college town. On top of that, flea markets are kind of hard to come by in this town.

Second hand stores are a little less conspicuous in this town. Slowly driving up Burnet, I discovered that it's a haven for furniture shops. I found this furniture consignment shop called It's New To Me. Upscale furniture consignment they say. For one thing, upscale furniture just means someone else paid a lot for it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's in good taste. I also found the welcoming crowd rather unsociable and unfriendly. Or perhaps they're shy. Either way, the rather boring furniture and unwelcoming staff made me cross this place off of places to consider.

Exposure to a lot of places is important, you never know what you're going to find. So, near the intersection of Pasadena and Burnet, I found this place called Second Hand (unfortunately, no website.) The man in there is nice, easy to talk to. I've visited this place a number of times and I see how the stock changes daily. They have a lot of wooden furniture, good quality, shelves, chests, dressers. The prices can be a little high at times and some can be reasonable, but, as the man will tell you, they all can be reduced. This place is worth multiple visits.

Goodwill and the Salvation Army are great places. I've found more often that Goodwill doesn't carry bedroom furniture as much as the Salvation Army. Salvation Army can vary from area to area. I've been to the one off of 45 and I tend to never find anything there. The Salvation Armies in San Antonio (if you're willing to do the drive) are goldmines for good quality vintage pieces just shy of being dirt cheap (for furniture). I'm not really sure how this happened, but I'm not complaining either. What's the downfall with the Salvation Army? If you see something you like that's part of a collection, you have to buy the whole collection. It's still reasonably priced and could easily be $100 more at any vintage shop, but do you need the whole collection? I was looking for a chest that would fit in my closet.

Given the non-sucesses listed above, I resorted to one of my go to places: Room Service Vintage. Given the style I was looking for, it could've gone two ways: pay a lot of money for a new reproduction or pay a moderate amount for something used. Contrary to the thought that vintage places sell old, used things at beyond retail prices, if you take into account style and quality - many of Austin's vintage stores are quite reasonable. The good thing about Room Service Vintage is that they have a website that updates the stock in the store. It saves gas. It also allows you to see when something goes on sale. That said

SCORE!

Solid wood, there are shelves in the cabinet, I'm going to sand it and re-stain it. It was also on sale.

More general commentary on why crawfish is awesome

First off, while I don't know if it's cheaper to buy live crawfish and boil them yourself, I do know that the smell make any outdoor party become heaven, but any indoor kitchen becomes hell. I don't have any experience with crawfish in my kitchen, but I do know that crabs can make any kitchen smell for days.

The benefit of going out for crawfish is the money and time you save on having to buy everything and then prepare it...then clean up a massive smelly mess afterwards that will lurk in your kitchen. When you go out, you can make a mess outside of your house.

I know that there are a number of people out there that find crustaceans to not be worth the work involved in eating them. Maybe I'm just an oddball who doesn't like having a plate of food just placed in front of me so I can easily gorge, but I feel that the work makes the eating process even more enjoyable. It's like eating a meal that you've cooked, or a treasure hunting game. Or maybe I'm just addicted to crustacean meat.

Messy food just tastes better. Things that are a little more safe and convenient just aren't...fun. You can't have great success without taking a risk: crawfish, ribs...I don't order food because it won't make a mess, I get it because it tastes good.

#18: Finger exfoliation - it's crawfish season!

Ever since my first crawfish boil about 2 years ago, I've made an effort to go out and eat a pound or two of boiled crawfish. My original go-to place was Fish City Grill in the triangle area, but they unfortunately have closed down.

I'll admit, I didn't take moving out of my old neighborhood very well and now it seems the more I get the know this area, slowly but surely, I'm starting to like it; however, one thing that severely sucks is how this new place seems to be far away from everything...except IKEA.

Irritated by both the move and the lack of a new place to indulge in crawfish, on my way to work I was very surprised to see the words "Boiled Crawfish" and "Crawfish Shack." Not only do I have a new resident seafood joint, it is a crawfish shack - anything with "crawfish" in the name has got to be special.

So, I had my seasonal 2lbs of crawfish and as a bonus, I also broke in a pair of jeans in the process of eating. Crawfish, does take some effort and when your fingers feel spicy, you've broken some skin. When I had finished thoroughly washing my hands, the first layer of skin was peeling off. I really regretted not bringing my camera. It's one of the most awesome feelings to be at a crawfish shack and the people there lay out a large sheet of paper because you ordered the boiled crawfish. What's even more exciting is if they ask you if you need a bib! I thankfully had my mess hoodie on for that purpose.

Here's a pic borrowed from Yelp:

heck yeah!

I know normally I post up the link to the websites of the places I go, unfortunately, the website for the Crawfish Shack & Oyster Bar is down, but here's their menu:


It should have everything you need.

#17: Chicken Tortilla Soup

So, this isn't a critique of any place in particular. I'm sure that Austin Java is a place that most people have been to and enjoyed to some degree...oh fine, I'll make it a critique.

I suppose we don't think twice about the places we constantly go back to, the fall back, the plan b. Well, I'll give some homage to Austin Java today. They have really good deserts. Normally, I feel iffy about 3 different flavors in a cupcake, but pumpkin, chocolate, and cream cheese go together awesomely! Austin Java also has a very awesome Eggs Benedict. I think their pasta dishes are good, though a little overpriced, but anyway, the main point: I make a better chicken tortilla soup!

My Pumpkin told me so after he had tried their soup: "Ugh! I shouldn't have gotten this, the one you make is a lot better!"

Now, this took me by surprise because I didn't even know that he ordered the soup because I was busy giving my little sister a hard time about my paying for her food. Anyway, upon asking why, Pumpkin responded that theirs was kind of thick and spicy...and then just said that mine was better :) Now, I've had my fair share of chicken tortilla soup, the thinner ones and the really really thick ones (Twin Sister's, San Antonio TX) and I must say that anything in between just doesn't taste as good as one of the extremes.

One of the best tortilla soups is Don Pedro's in San Antonio, TX. The soup is thinner and it has avocado floating on the top when you open it - seriously - nothing is better. My recipe was based off of this soup and really it was a sort of crack recipe that I put together really fast, so - to not leave my Austin folk hanging - here's my tortilla soup:

Fast & Dirty Chicken Tortilla Soup:

(in the pot)
1.25 - 2lbs chicken (amount is a matter of preference)
28 oz can diced tomatoes (the big one)
1.5 Tablespoons of oil
1 onion (diced)
1 zucchini (cubed)
1 yellow squash (cubed)
1 large hass avocado (cubed)
2 pouches of Goya Brand chicken & tomato boullion
1 pouch of Goya Brand chicken bouillon
approximately 6 cups of water (more or less)
fresh cilantro (chopped)

(serving)
tortilla chips
shredded Mexican white cheese

What to do:

Ok, first off, the chicken makes the biggest time difference here and this is probably the only time I ever use chicken breast meat.

Saute the onion.

Slice raw chicken meat into small pieces and add to the pot. Cook until it's no longer pink.

With cooked chicken (leftover or whatnot) pull it apart or shred it - this is ideal, you can also use less oil to cook.

Now, add the water (6 cups) and bring to a boil, then simmer. Add all the bouillon pouches, stir, then bring the soup back to a simmer.

Add the can of diced tomatoes, juices and all - then stir and bring the soup back to a simmer. At this point the simmering time is dependent on the use of raw or cooked chicken. You'll have to make sure the chicken is cooked if you used raw so let the soup simmer for about 10-15 minutes and test the chicken. If you used cooked chicken, just bring the soup up to a boil and then back down to a simmer. Also, taste the broth, if it's too salty, add more water. You may want to taste the broth as you add more ingredients from this point on.

Add zucchini & yellow squash - simmer 3-5 minutes

Add approximately 1/2 a cup of cilantro (more or less depending on taste), simmer 30 secs to 1 minute. Turn off heat and add cubed avocado.

Pour soup in a bowl and add cheese and tortilla chips. Enjoy.