#25: Why Austin rocks

I'm in Dallas right now. I was trying to find a grocery store earlier and having strong ties to Austin and San Antonio, my first inclination was to search for an HEB. What sucks about my current location is that the nearest HEB is 32 MILES AWAY!!! Pardon me, but WTF?

Next, I resorted to Yelp since it can be pretty useful in these situations. I'll admit, before I was always wondering why people would review simple places such as HEB, or any other regular grocery store. Seriously, I never saw a point in it because it was so common place, but now that I think about it, not all HEBs are created equal, likewise, not all grocery stores are created equal. HEB trumps Albertsons, Kroger, Tom Thumb, and Randalls. There's more overall selection. The produce quality is better. And the prices are much better. Back to Yelp, as a result of the lack of, what I would've considered over-Yelping. WHERE MAH AUSTIN YELPERS AT? Austin's Yelp scene is considerably more fleshed out. Thank You Austin.

#24: Pork Belly

I was at Central Market today looking for pork belly. I was going to attempt to grill it to make my ideal bacon steak...thing. Central market had pork belly, they just had to get it from the freezer (minus 1). After that, I started lurking around for some kimchi only to find that Central Market's Asian section is not as extensive and some of the other regular HEBs.

I ended up going to the MT mart to get my kimchi and then realized that I probably could have gotten better quality pork belly there too given the nature of the task I was going to use it for (minus 1 for me).

If you need pork belly, go to the Asian market.

#23: right-hand man

Truthfully, I haven't been going out much. Last time I went out to eat was, yep, you guessed it, crabs. I can only elaborate on the pleasures of eating crab for so long before I end up writing a manual on the pleasures of eating crab.

What has occurred to me is that there are places that I go out to eat on a pretty regular basis and I never write about them because they're so familiar to me that I don't even notice when I go there. It just happens. For instance, Kerbey Lane Cafe always slips my mind just because I'm there pretty often. It's always open when I'm hungry, and there's usually something on the menu I'll be in the mood for. I much prefer their winter menu with the boar chili and the pozole.

I've also mentioned this before, but Starseeds Cafe has a really good veggie wrap and also good vegetarian tacos. I have a feeling that their specials are no more than tv dinners, but their vegetarian fare is pretty good.

Makeup & Crabs

My sister got married 4 days ago. At this time, 4 days ago, I was dancing to "Rhythm of the Night" by El Debarge. So, I haven't been around for a while. I accept that. I also haven't eaten out at too many new places. Right now I'm addicted to crabs and makeup, so that's where my money's been going to.

Crabs have been my $10 a week habit as of late. See: Crawfish Shack. It's been good to hear that the oil is moving away from the area where they get their Blue Crab from. Silver lining? All I can say is that offshore drilling should be more heavily regulated. It's off shore for crying out loud. Think of those crabs. Please, think of the crabs.

As for makeup, that's something I can review. Lately, I've been finding that Sephora is a place where I can drop $50 real easily. When you're addicted to eyeshadow and lipstick, you can justify buying ANYTHING. Also, I'm at the development stage in my makeup usage where I'm trying to find uses for any color and I'm also developing my eyeshadow color palette. I'm not too picky, I'll pick up any cool color that looks interesting. So why pay retail for that?

Semi-recently, I wrote about the staying power of two different brands of eyeshadow and MAC won over certified organic Smashbox. Aside from eBay and having an insider at MAC, my most convenient option for reduced price MAC eyeshadow is the Cosmetics Company Store. For about $10 a pop (vs. $14.50), I can get eye shadow from previous seasons that's been discontinued or it was a part of a seasonal promotion. No, it is not defective or old, or testers for that matter. It's also very easy to find pink lipstick.

If you live in Austin, you're in luck. There happen to be TWO Cosmetics Company Stores in the outlets surrounding Austin in San Marcos and Round Rock.

When I first started messing around with makeup about 2 years ago, my cousin's boyfriend who's a makeup artist at MAC suggested that I go to Sally's Beauty Supply to get some makeup brushes to practice with before buying the more expensive ones. I was able to get a pretty nice starter set of MAC brushes at the Cosmetics Company Store for $36. Considering that some MAC brushes alone can get that high, it really isn't bad for a starter set. The cheaper prices allow me to get more for my money...it's not like I'm going to spend less anyway.

# 21: WTF Whole Foods

Sometimes, I just don't understand vegetarianism. Food...yes, to a much greater degree, but vegetarianism - not really. Let that be the disclaimer.

I understand liking animals enough not to eat them. I get that some people think eating meat is just so close to eating people, it's like cannibalism. If it's for religion reasons, fine by me.

I understand the veggie wrap at Starseeds Cafe to be a very fine specimen of of good vegetarian fare.

What I don't get is tofu stroganoff. Seriously, it's food like that that gives me the impression Whole Foods thinks vegetarians care more about the statement their food makes than how it actually tastes. For one thing, the stroganoff flavor relies on the beef a good deal. It needs meat. Why would you want something that shows you're willing to stoop to low levels to get something that's so meat like, but probably tastes like ass. I suppose in general, I just don't get meat-like vegetarian products. I understand that some people transition into the lifestyle, but in that case, if there's no appeal in meat, drop it like a bad boyfriend.

#20: It's Blackberry Season!

I feel bad in that I've been slacking in getting out the time sensitive material. Blackberry season is well underway and as such, blackberries are on sale everywhere :D!

The inspiration for this posting is my dear boyfriend who, in claiming that all the berries looked the same, brought home a rather sour pint of blackberries. I, on the other hand, examine the berries, open pints, and (if no one's looking) pick out berries to switch into other pints. It's most certainly a longer process for me. Being someone who's rather anal when it comes to produce picking, for the benefit of everyone:

+How to pick out sweet blackberries+

The main things to consider are:

color
overall berry size
globule size
globule packing

1) Color

~ Look for all black ~

blackberries with any specks of red in them are going to be more sour than the berries that are all black

2) Size

~ the bigger, the better ~

if given a choice between berries with specks of red, the bigger one will be less sour.



3) Globule Size

~ look for big and soft (right) ~

I call each little round fruit that composes a blackberry a globule. Smaller ones are more likely to be sour, uptight, and unpleasant.

4) Globule Packing

~ look for somewhat loose and soft globules ~

In conjunction with the thing to look for above, you'll find that big soft globules are highly incapable of packing as tightly as the smaller, sour, less juicy ones.

Overall, you're looking for something big, all black, and soft.

And now you should be set. I might actually regret doling out this advice since blackberries are always on sale now and I may be left with all the small sour berries if people want to go and test out their berry picking skills. Such is life. Happy berry picking!

Ugh...& Crabs

There might be an observable slow down in the output of this blog only because...bearing the brunt of being a college graduate in a recession, I really just haven't been going out as much for budgets sake. I'm saving up for a rainy day and despite the sunny days we've been having, I'm always expecting rain.

I've been thinking about crabs most of the day. For the past week, I've been contemplating going down to the Crawfish Shack and getting a pound of crawfish and a pound of crab before that mess in the gulf starts to take effect. I had their boiled crab not too long ago and it was awesome! Given that me and my sister are addicted to crab, seriously, at the Crawfish Shack it's like crack. Given my current economic situation, I'm going to have to cold turkey eating boiled crab until my sister offers to pay. (sigh)

You know you're a poor college graduate when you think "hmmm, that dollar I'd spend in the vending machine could buy me 3 apples at the grocery store." I really want to kick this recession's ass.