Austin Bakes has organized a city-wide bake sale at eight locations around Austin on Saturday from 10am-2pm. The goal is to raise $15,000 for the town of West, and I think the supportive, food-loving community that is Austin can do it!

Here is the official flyer with location info:

Like Austin Bakes for West on Facebook and follow @AustinBakes on Twitter for updates and to easily spread the word!

If you can’t make it to any of the locations but would like to help, you can make a donation online.

Special shout-out to Austin Bakes’ Co-Founder and AFBA President, Kathryn Hutchison (aka The Austin Gastronomist) for organizing this awesome effort, and of course to the hundreds of participating volunteers and bakers.

There are bound to be kolaches among all of the delicious goodies… :)

While I don’t usually write review posts, this is my contribution to the 2013 AFBA City Guide. If you are heading to Austin this year or live here and want to find some new places to eat, please check it out!

A year and a half ago, I moved from San Antonio to the east side of Austin. I didn’t know much about this part of town, but it was a successful Craigslist match that led me here. Since then, I’ve grown to love the area. While the USDA labels parts of it as a food desert, there sure are a lot of good restaurants over here, minus the parking meters you find on the other side of the highway.

The (brick and mortar) restaurants in this guide are east of I-35, between Cesar Chavez and 51st Street. Most are located on 6th, 7th, 11th, and Manor, west of Airport.

Egg Salad Tartine

Blue Dahlia Bistro

1115 E. 11th Street
Having never been to France, I felt like Blue Dahlia provides an atmosphere similar to what one might experience at a bistro there. They even have a strolling accordion player! If you’re into eating breakfast for dinner, you can do so here, even if you eat gluten-free. They also have meat and cheese platters, tartines (I love the egg salad!), and heartier dinner plates.

Hours: Mon-Thurs: 8a-10p | Fri: 8a-11p | Sat: 9a-11p | Sun: 9a-10p
Happy Hour: Mon-Fri: 3p-6:30p

Quattro Gnocchi

Buenos Aires Cafe

1201 E. 6th Street
I just recently tried this place after a few recommendations! At the corner of E. 6th and Waller, this cafe serves up fresh Argentinean fare in a chic, yet warm environment. Their lauded Quattro Gnocchi is fantastic and keeps you interested with each bite. Beverage-wise, look for the South American cocktail list, and the extensive wine menu is hard to miss.

Hours: Mon-Fri: 11a-10:30p | Sat: 12p-10:30p | Sun: closed (except for RSVPs)
Happy Hour: Mon-Sat: 3p-6p

Nor’easter by the fire pit.

Contigo

2027 Anchor Lane
This restaurant was modeled after Contigo Ranch in south Texas, so it has a pleasantly rustic feel, even though it’s not far from downtown. It’s one of my favorite spots in town, and this video captures its essence perfectly. They have a rather meat-heavy menu, but I’m always able to find something, like their awesome cauliflower gratin. For those planning their feast through Austin, know that they open at 5pm every day except for brunch at 10:30am on Sundays. Read about their brunch and cocktails in guides by A Taste of Koko and Metropo Chris, respectively.

Hours: Mon-Wed: 5p-11p | Thurs-Sat: 5p-12a | Sun: 10:30a-2:30p
Brunch: Sun: 10:30a-2:30p
Happy Hour: Mon-Thurs: 5p-7p (plus $2 Austin beers on Tuesdays)

Hillside Farmacy

1209 E. 11th Street
Opened by the East Side Showroom folks just about a year ago, Hillside offers farm-fresh fare in a visually appealing atmosphere. In addition to interesting homemade sodas, boozy punch, and cocktails, great espresso drinks are available. If you’re into oysters, go on a Monday night to order them at half-price. Also, the late-risers might like to know that their weekend brunch goes until 4pm. Keep up with their daily specials via their Facebook page.

Hours: Sun-Wed: 8a-10p | Thurs-Sat: 8a-11p
Brunch: until 4p
Happy Hour: every day from 4p-6p (plus half price oysters on Monday nights)

Hoover’s Cooking

2002 Manor Road
Hoover’s has been serving up “made-from-scratch Texas cooking” for over 15 years on the east side. This includes offerings such as barbecue, chicken fried steak, and catfish. I enjoy their mac ‘n cheese, but was most impressed with their homemade garlic vinaigrette and buttermilk ranch dressing!

Hours: Mon-Fri: 11a-10p | Sat-Sun: 8a-10p
Brunch: Sat-Sun: 8a-11:30a
Happy Hour: Mon-Fri: 3p-7p

Not Specifically Restaurants

Cenote

1010 E. Cesar Chavez
Cenote (seh-noh-tay) is a relatively new establishment, situated in a darling old house that’s been whimsically updated. They have a kitchen serving up food all day throughout the week, though I’ve only been for breakfast. For those not interested in espresso or pour-over coffee, they offer mimosas as well as beer and wine. Feel free to bring your dog and sit at one of the tables in the yard.

Hours: Mon-Fri: 7:30a-12a | Sat: 8:30a-12a | Sun: 8:30a-8pm

Cherrywood Coffeehouse

1400 E. 38 1/2 Street
This cafe’s sign boasts REAL FOOD and it’s real good. From breakfast tacos and sandwiches, to burgers, salads, and customizable smoothies, there’s a little something for everyone. I am fond of the migas tacos! There is ample seating both inside and out, and you can even catch some live music here. And yes, they serve beer and wine here as well.

Hours: Mon-Fri: 7a-12a | Sat-Sun: 8a-12a
Brunch: Sat-Sun: 10a-3p
Happy Hour: every day from 3p-7p

in.gredients

2610 Manor Road
Yes, this is that new, package-free micro-grocer on Manor Road. And yes, you can eat here at their outdoor picnic tables! They make in-house sandwiches, salads, and such, and also carry locally-made goodies from places like Cake and Spoon, mmmpanadas, and East Side Pies. Beer, kombucha, and iced coffee are available on tap here. See their facebook page for daily offerings, specials, and events.

Hours: Mon-Sat: 9a-11p | Sun: 10a-10p
Happy Hour: yes, though I’m having a hard time finding specifics… (plus $1 Lone Star pints on Wednesdays)

Recommended by AFBA Members

(places I haven’t been to yet)

Franklin Barbecue
900 E. 11th Street
If you eat meat, this is an important place to seek out. I always hear about how long people wait in line in the morning to eat at Franklin’s for lunch (they close when they run out of meat), but I have yet to hear anyone say it wasn’t worth it. Read about their food in addition to other in-town barbecue spots in this super comprehensive guide from Full and Content!

Takoba
1411 E. 7th Street
When I asked the other AFBA bloggers about which east side restaurants were their favorites, many mentioned Takoba, but a few disagreed. Some said that they preferred it for brunch or happy hour, so I’ll be sure to at least check it out during one of those times. Check out Mad Betty‘s review of their happy hour, which looks to be awesome!

…and more AFBA recommendations:
Angie’s
Casa Colombia
Eastside Cafe
East Side Pies
East Side Showroom
El Azteca
El Chile
Justine’s Brasserie
Mi Madre’s
Paco’s Tacos
Papi Tino’s

What are some of your favorites?

Here are the other East Side posts from the City Guide:

• Food Trucks from My Well Fed Life
• Gluten-Free from Salt’s Kitchen
• Tacos from My Well Fed Life
• Vegetarian from aneelee

Yesterday I had lunch at the new fancy Thai place in Austin with Julie and Mary Helen. There were large, communal tables.

pok pok som – tamarind drinking vinegar with sparkling water

green curry with pressed tofu, english peas, potato, baby corn, thai eggplant, pickled fresno chili

yes, those trees are sprouting leaves already…

Sway
1417 South 1st Street
Austin, Texas 78704

Sunday – Wednesday 11am – 10pm
Thursday – Saturday 11am – 11pm

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough! Delicious!

Some people go on yo-yo diets while I seem to partake in yo-yo blogging.

It feels like a lot has happened in the past six weeks, but maybe not. Highlights include playing in a band, fracturing/healing a rib, acquiring a boyfriend, turning 31, and the realization that I have an obsession with donuts. D O N U T S .

In the meantime, I’ve been a bad blog mother, partially due to writer’s block, but mostly because of bad planning/time management/laziness.

It’s also been awhile since I last completed a Daring Bakers’ challenge, so the January challenge seemed like a good task for ending this slump. Let’s pretend that this wasn’t supposed to have been posted 8 days ago, shall we?

I’m guessing a lot of you don’t know how to even pronounce Gevulde Speculaas either, but probably concluded that it was related to speculoos, right? If you’re into cookie butter (I’m not), you would love this treat (I do). It’s got all those gingerbready spices in it, yet I don’t really know how to describe it otherwise. Maybe it’s somewhere between a cookie and a bar?

Contrary to the late posting date, I did actually plan ahead for this one and made the almond paste, speculaas spice mix, and dough on the days leading up to the actual baking. It turns out that making almond paste not only tastes better than the pre-made kind, it’s cheaper!

The most challenging part was assembling the thing. Maybe the dough wasn’t moist enough, but it kept crumbling. My solution was to press it into a tart pan, which I was planning to use anyway.

Since I’d never had this dessert before, I really don’t know if it came out as it should have. What matters most is that it tasted good, right? I mean, it looks about how it should based on photos by others. It also made my car smell like Christmas!

If you’d like to make this Dutch treat (ha) yourself, check out the recipe in Francijn’s write-up.

Oh, hi. Remember me? Sorry I spammed your inbox/RSS/etc. for a month. Maybe we all needed a break after that.

Honestly, I kind of miss NaBloPoMo and the forced purpose it gave me as a blogger. I feel like I had been in a blogging funk for the past year, and needed something to shake me out of it. If you find yourself in a similar place, may I recommend doing your own NaBloPoMo? It’s oddly refreshing and exhausting all at once. You learn a lot from it, too.

One of my first realizations was that blogging daily would force me to get out more. One might assume that the opposite would be true, but there are a lot more things going on outside of my house than in it! Sometimes I’ll be on the fence about doing something/going somewhere, but in November, there was no question: “I can blog about it!” The first example: the JBG farm tour. I found out about it the day before and thought it would be fun, but then almost didn’t go. Thinking of it as a freebie blog post led to a last minute mind change, and I’m glad I went!

Hey, Austin, hey.

I seem to be a pretty spontaneous (read: unorganized) person, especially with the blog, but NaBloPoMo forced to plan ahead. For the past couple months, I’ve been making weekly to-do lists, and last month, blog subjects were added to these. (I have never looked forward to Wednesdays so much.) This is a practice that I should definitely keep up, and recommend trying it if you haven’t/don’t do it already.

Related: worried that I’d run out of things to blog about, I came up with a list at the beginning of the month. Not only did I not run out of ideas, I didn’t get through all due to new ones/events cropping up.

While I ended up enjoying the experience, it’s not something I think I could do every month. I had hoped that daily posting would lead me to 1) write more quickly and 2) procrastinate less. Nothing really changed with either aspect, meaning I’d most often start posts late at night and finish in the wee hours of the morning. Yawn…

That said, would I do it again next year? Absolutely. (we shall see…) If you’re a blogger who doesn’t already post daily, you don’t have to wait 11 months to try it on your own!

And yes, on November 30th, I had a drink. But then I went home and wrote the last post.

Typical.

Taken at the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Deb Perelman (aka the blogger behind Smitten Kitchen) came to BookPeople today in Austin! She did a Q&A and then a signing for her new cookbook. So many books…

The event was scheduled for 7:00pm, but I got there around 5:45pm because Julie had heard that it would probably be packed. She actually got there right before me and snagged a front row center seat! Stalker? Of course I sat next to her.

The room began to fill up, and fill up, and fill up some more. I mean, I knew her blog was super popular, but dang! The number of people present seemed like it probably violated some sort of fire code. It was also interesting to see how her audience compared to Joy’s: definitely a much larger age range and a lot more guys.

Poor Deb had lost her voice the night before, but that didn’t stop her from answering questions. A lot of these had to do with recipes from her blog and book. It almost felt like a live reading of blog comments, with instant answers. I really want to try her lemon bars and hot fudge sauce now!

After the Q&A, it was time for the signing. Julie and I were in group C out of at least five groups, each made up of about 50 people. I’m not sure how one signs that many books!  I had two books: my sister’s and my own.

Jill’s book had actually already been signed…by my three-year-old niece! I decided that Deb needed to see that page since she also has a toddler, and she got a kick out of it. Also, my sister needed a little motivation from Deb.

It’s fun seeing one of your favorite bloggers come to life! Deb is just as she comes across in her blog: sharp, funny, and totally obsessed with what she does. She must also have a hand of steel after tonight!
p.s. OMG LAST POST OF NABLOPOMO

I still remember that day.

Five years ago, a friend and I were driving back to D.C. from an audition in Raleigh. Neither of us had advanced. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was shining brightly when I got a call from my mom.

“Honey, I have some bad news.”

Something inside me knew exactly what she was going to say.

“Your dad has cancer. We found out a few days ago, but I didn’t want to upset you before your audition.”

Yep. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 60. At this point, I don’t even remember what stage it was or the sort of outlook they had for him. I just remembered when my grandpa, his father, lost his battle with cancer.

Post grad school graduation, on tippy toes.

People survive, though. After months of radiation treatments, my dad’s cancer was in remission! Thankfully, this is still the case.

With my family, it feels like it isn’t a matter of if you’ll get cancer, but when. Along with my grandpa and my dad, both of my uncles have had it (and survived). Having that kind of family medical history, I feel obligated to speak up about the cause of Movember rather than simply talk about some cookies that I made.

But seriously, I made mustache cookies. (or moustache biscuits for the UK/AU/NZ/etc. crowd) How rad is that?! I spotted the cutters for these a year ago while Christmas shopping at a favorite store. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to make these for Movember.

When you can’t grow facial hair, you do what you’ve gotta do.

The recipe I went with was an obvious choice: Brownie Roll-Out Cookies from Smitten Kitchen. (Coincidentally, these are also in Deb’s new cookbook which she will be signing here tomorrow!) This is the third time I’ve made them, and it was as if they were meant for these cutters: the impressions remain clean even after baking! I’m sure Deb’s mom had visions of mustaches whenever she made these cookies. More importantly, they’re chocolate and soft in a brownie-like way.

Tips for successful ‘staches:

• Cold dough holds the best shape/details while baking.
• After chilling the dough, I rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper.
• Stamp the cookies before cutting them. I found that you want to press pretty (but not too) firmly with the stamp which flattens the cookie quite a bit, so it’s better to roll out the dough on the thicker side.
• I did occasionally run into the issue of the dough not releasing from the cutters, but wasn’t using any flour. A toothpick probably would have been helpful.

Added bonus? Almost all of the cookie ‘staches can hang out on the lip of your glass. I think Santa would be stoked to get a tray like this.

And yes, they are appropriately sized.

I could have baked these with cake pop sticks in them, but meh!

In the spirit of Movember, get yoself checked!

Also, make silly cookies.