Archive for August, 2009

August 31, 2009

Items You Must Own Because They Are So Absurd

In honor of my impending birthday (tomorrow!), I’ve put together a few items that are too absurd NOT to own. I already own the Cap-Sac, a fanny-pack for your head. And who wouldn’t want to “in the spirit of the Wild West, keep his beer ready for a quick draw whenever the need arises” or have his t.p. dressed in shiny, globe-like fashion? Yes, the world is pretty ridiculous.

If you go to polyvore’s site, you can see all the product info and link to the sites when you’re ready to show someone the love by buying that Keystone Light Beer Belt.

Also on the Absurd Scale: my friend undertook an experiment on baking cookies on the dashboard of her car. Gotta love Texas summers. Check out the cookies, and whimsical blog, here.

Note to everyone: I don’t actually want these items, so if you are getting me something for my birthday, please don’t let it be these.

August 28, 2009

The Weekend Usual: Free CrossFit & Sugar Mama’s

You know, the Free CrossFit Workout Central holds Under the Bridge at Town Lake once a month on Saturday morning at 8:30am. Details here.

And you also know how much I love Sugar Mama’s cupcakes, so you might call me obsessing over how delicious they are “usual” too, but it’s UNusual for them to be throwing a birthday party with FREE cupcakes, booze, and other fun:

Sugar Mama'sFortunately, the universe is in synergy as one can first CrossFit to work off the cupcakes she/he will then be consuming later in the afternoon.

Also note that this is Wicked’s last weekend at Bass Concert Hall, so try your hand at the WICKED LOTTERY, where a limited number of $25 orchestra seats are set aside for each performance and 21⁄2 hours prior to each performance, names will be collected for a lottery, then 2 hours prior to each performance, names will be drawn. Winners get up to 2 tickets and must be present (with valid photo ID) when their names are called or they forfeit their tickets. Worth a shot!

August 26, 2009

Cool Stuff You Shouldn’t Go To If You Write For Austin Post

Austin Post is throwing a Writers Event on Thursday, so if any of you dear readers already write for or have an inkling of writing for the Post, you better be at that event (email me for the deets). If, however, you are not one of the chosen ones, I suppose you can go to one of these cool events:

  • Bubbles & Boots

    Bubbles & Boots invite

    A Toast to 25 Years: Looking Ahead to the 2010 Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival

    6-8pm at Kodosky Lounge at the Long Center

    A private preview of the 25th Annual Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival. Over 10 sparkling wines along with select reds and whites with food tastings from some of Austin’s top restaurants.

    Tickets are $40. For more information & tickets call 512.249.6300 or email info@texaswineandfood.org

  • The Young Women’s Alliance Fashion Show

    Hit the Parish for a fashion show with clothing from four local boutiques–Beehive, downSTAIRS Apparel, Soigne and SoLa–and music by Austin singers and songwriters. Complimentary cocktails from Savvy Vodka, Treaty Oak Rum and Paula’s Texas Orange, and decadent hors d’oeuvres from Abel’s on the Lake, J. Black’s and Zen are yours for a $35 ticket.

    This year marks the 5th anniversary of the YWA Foundation Fashion Show. Previous fashion shows have been crucial in raising money to provide scholarships and grants to many deserving young women in Austin.

    Sched:
    8-9PM            Cocktail Hour
    9-9:30PM       Intro and Fashion Show
    9:30-10PM     Music and Silent Auction
    10PM-2AM     After-Party

    More info here.

  • Lanai One Year Birthday Party

    Lanai Invite
    All of Lanai’s Resident and Guest DJs will be spinning, and there will be free cocktails and other goodies from 8-10pm.

    **Special thanks to: Polkadots Cupcake Factory, Hypers0nic Radio, Milk+Honey Salon and Spa, Real Pretty Flowers, Austin Tidbits, Licksamba, Wish, Avalon Salon, nurspace.com

  • Dueling Glamazons Trunk Show w/ Swag & Free Cocktails

    Glamazon invite
    The poster pretty much speaks for itself, eh?

Luckily, Austin Post‘s awesome event will be over in time for me to pop on over to my fave bar in all of Austin for some great times! … and the hop on over to the Fashion Show … so the headline here is really misleading.

August 25, 2009

Imperia 2nd Anniversary Party – Free Cocktails & Sushi

I can hardly believe it was 2 years ago that I hit up Imperia’s grand opening–and almost immediately bounced because it was SO CROWDED. One of my fave happy hour joints sure knows how to throw a party, but I can only hope for my own sake (and the sake of my free-sushi-loving-wallet) that this iteration is a little less packed.

The deets: On Wednesday August 26, they’ll have regular happy hour (by regular I mean Award-Winning 2 for 1 Happy Hour getthefreakinseabass) from 4-7pm.

In reverse Cinderella fashion, at the stroke of 7, complimentary martinis and cocktails will start to flow with passed hors d’oeuvres and live music.

Imperia Invite Can’t read anything on that? Neither can I, but I told you all the good stuff anyway.

August 24, 2009

Finally, a hot Tuesday

Hot as in happening, kids, because we all know this Tuesday will be hot as hell as our 65th day in a row in triple digits. (Literally. 65th.)

Big ticket: Matisyahu’s “Light” CD Release Party

Starts at 9pm at Speakeasy, and here’s the big schtick: Matisyahu will be attending. He’s ready to meet and mingle with fans. As the album drops nationwide, it’s a pretty big coup that we’ve got him here in Austin. Especially since there’s no cover and part of the proceeds benefit Charity Bash, you can save your $ to spend on a drink that helps kids throw parties to support charities. That’s a long reaction chain to make you feel good about boozin’ on a Tuesday with a Hasidic Jew reggae/rapper.

Little ticket: Talladega Nights at Third Base

If chillin’ with a beer and watchin Will Ferrell is more your style (and whose isn’t?), tonight Third Base downtown is hosting Steak and a Movie night and showing Talladega Nights starting at 8pm. Thanks to ever-resourceful Jude at Downtown Austin Blog for the info, but if you’re not downing Mountain Dews like him, take comfort in the fact that since it’s a Texas Tuesday, you can enjoy $2.50 Lonestar bottles, Fireman’s, & Shiner, and $3 Treaty Oak Rum, Savvy, & Tito’s vodka.

August 24, 2009

SXSW Interactive Panel Picker & Me

Warning: shameless self-promotion ahead. Please help my SXSW Panel get voted into SXSW 2010! http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3405

Austin Post’s Proposed SXSW Interactive Panel – Newspaper v. Oldspaper: Redefining The Local News

If people can write it, shoot it, video it, twitter it, and post it, does that make it news? Real-time news by, of, and for the people is redefining journalism. What do new newspapers look like, how do they work, and can they be trusted?

We propose to answer (or at least discuss) the following questions:

  1. How do we define news?
  2. How do you establish credibility?
  3. How can twitter be a news source?
  4. What happens to the role of a traditional reporter?
  5. How are articles edited and fact-checked?
  6. How does the notion of real-time news change journalism?
  7. What will happen to “old,” established newspapers?
  8. What is Austin Post’s revenue model?
  9. Is this hyperlocal crowd-sourcing contributing to the dumbing-down of America?
  10. Is Austin Post the harbinger of evil?

I’d appreciate your help in getting our panel into 2010 SXSW Interactive. Again, you can vote for it here:

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3405

August 21, 2009

Weekend: Hello Zilker, Tax Free Workouts, and Cheap Sushi

This weekend is a doozy: Zilker Park officially reopens at noon today (Friday), so expect a giant crowd of volleyball-loving early-risers Saturday morning. Of course, there’s also this little festival going on called Bat Fest, so expect giant crowds of Keep-Austin-Weirders there.

Awesomes: Chon Som celebrates its 3rd Anniversary

Never heard of Chon Som? Me either. Probably because it’s on Wells Branch Parkway. But what I have heard in the past couple of days is 1) how great the food is, and 2) how great this 3rd anniversary weekend-long party with specials is. Behold:

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Happy Hour All Night Long

Menu

1/2 price selected appetizers, $5 noodle bowls, $2 beers

5-10pm

Reservations Suggested

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Anniversary Dinner

Menu

Special Anniversary Menu

Anniversary Champagne Package

Thai Classical Dancers

Reservations Suggested

5-10pm

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

Sushi Me Crazy

Menu

1/2 price starters, $1 nigiri sushi, 1/2 rolls

selected menu

noon – 9pm

Looks worth the drive, right?

Last but not least, a free workout called SLASH at lululemon Sunday morning (10am) to work off all the birthday partying you did this weekend (is it just me or is EVERYONE celebrating a birthday this weekend? I’ve got roughly 37 parties to attend …)

Slash Event Flyer

And you’ve been living under a rock if you didn’t know that this weekend–starting right now–is Tax Free Weekend, where clothes and other school-supply-like-items under $100 are tax free. That’s an extra 8.25% savings!

Check out c3 Outfitters event at the Crockett Center, where everything is $5 AND tax free.

August 20, 2009

And this is our generation

So apparently I have nothing to tell you guys as far as events this week, so I’ll post this hilarious email forward I got …

UPDATE! These are the “All-Time Best” from the site Ruminations.com, meaning they represent the collective wisdom of our generation. Check it out here.

Some Random Thoughts of the Day that really embody how “our generation” (who is that? Millenials? X, Y, Z-ers?) thinks and feels in general:

I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

That’s enough, Nickelback.

I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase “Regards” again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQs. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*ck was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that’s is when I realized, yup, that’s a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.

How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I would like to officially coin the phrase ‘catching the swine flu’ to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: “Dave caught the swine flu last night.”

I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories

Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don’t win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I’m trying to have a kid, I find out that I’m sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

I started to try and bold my faves, but then I bolded about 6 out of the first 8 and decided it was sort of a fruitless endeavor. Feel free to add yours in the comments!

August 19, 2009

Piranha Killer Sushi Opens Today

But the ladies and I nabbed a spot at Piranha Killer Sushi‘s packed soft opening last night and got a chance to sink our teeth deep into the sushi (and martini) menu.

In contrast to most of the other sushi places in town, Piranha is bright with lots of light and light-colored wood–the wine racks are even clear, giving the illusion that the bottles are floating on the wall. I was surprised at first, but it makes sense with Piranha’s whole attitude. The sushi bar is in the center of the room, with low-slung wooden tables scattered about. We had a small table at the front, but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s talk food and drinks.

They have an extensive martini menu organized by flavor: straight, semi-sweet, sweet, dessert, etc. We tried a few and found that all were delicious. They fit pretty well within their descriptions, and contrary to convention, even the sweet weren’t TOO sweet. Which was awesome. Faves were the Naught Asian (no really) and Cowboytini (what man would order that?).  Perhaps even more importantly, our waiter could talk about the drinks and recommend them, and his recommendations were spot on.

Same goes for the food. Tony, our charming if slightly nervous waiter, recommended their spicy tuna roll, and it didn’t disappoint. I don’t generally like spicy tuna, but this was  panko-encrusted and flash fried, which gave it a tasty crunch to counteract that mushy spicy tuna inside. We ordered several others, including Tony’s recommendations the Latino and the Spider, and they were delicious. Creative and totally different than most combinations in rolls. Many of Piranha’s rolls rely heavily on cream cheeses and tempura, but we managed to steer clear of most of those while ordering all of this:

Piranha Sushi

In the foreground, you see the Marry Me roll, an interesting roll topped by strawberries. Works surprisingly well. Then the Latino roll and a rainbow roll. We did step slightly out of the roll comfort zone and try a sashimi salad appetizer (tasty but a little too mayo-y) and some red snapper nigiri. It was amazing. Fresh and light.

Our other apps were crab cakes and mussells. The mussells were in a buttery saffron sauce, which was really good. But they didn’t give us the proper utensils, so trying to eat mussells with chopsticks proved to be an interesting endeavor. Same goes for the crab cake: we divvied them up by splitting them with chopsticks.

At the end, Tony convinced us that we MUST try the fried ice cream. So we did:

Fried ice cream at PiranhaAnd it was divine.

Cons: back to that small table, it was too small. And I hope it’s just because we were at the front, but I think not, it was really, really loud inside. Like, horrible-place-for-a-second-date, great-place-for-a-first-date loud. But with the brightness on the inside, no one really thought it was lounge-y anyway, right? You’re there for the innovative, creative menu that actually isn’t like anything else in town.

With martinis at $9, the spider roll at $11, most rolls between $9 and $13, nigiri between $2-3.50, and lunch bentos between $10-$14, Piranha is in a pretty good spot for Killer Sushi. They don’t have a happy hour right now, but keep your fingers crossed (and they’d have to in order to compete with Imperia’s badass 2-for-1).

Downtown next to Max’s Wine Dive.

August 17, 2009

Remembering Brown Bar and Discovering Gumbo’s

Long ago, I used to frequent Brown Bar. I was barely 21 (ok, so it wasn’t that long ago), why would I hang out in a low-lit lounge best known for harboring Capitol cogs and pouring stiff martinis?

Jack. My beloved bartender/buddy/reason I always write about how much I love Lanai (where he is now GM). As three giggly 21-year-olds pulled up stools to his bar, Jack talked to us, gave us advice, teased and flirted with us, and taught us many things about life. We also infused breathy, girly energy into his sometimes staid bar, dancing when no one else would, requesting Rhianna songs to the chagrin of his cooler-than-thou DJ. Occasionally, we came in hungry. You could order food from next-door Gumbo’s, but the brie plate was the extent of our culinary forays into the Louisiana-Style Cafe.

When Jack left Brown Bar, so did we, and I haven’t given the old Brown Building much thought since. But when an invite to sample some of Gumbo’s wares crossed my inbox, memories of those summer (and fall, and winter, and spring) nights flooded back, and I decided I MUST go, to try the things I never did when we were boozing at Brown Bar.

Enter the fried oyster pictured below.

Fried Oyster at Gumbo's
The meaty oystery part is fried, served atop a bed of creamed spinach that fills the oyster shell. It makes me feel somehow more complete, like I’m really eating a full oyster despite the fact that oysters in their natural habitat probably don’t have spinach growing in them.

As someone who has tried quite a few oysters lately (thanks, Perla’s, and I’ll be seeing ya soon, Shuck Shack), I can say with some (very little) authority that this is the best oyster I’ve had. Sure, it’s fried and it’s hard to mess up something fried. But fried things often give me the heebyjeebies, because you never know what’s hiding under there, so when I think a fried thing is good, it MUST BE.

They also served a tenderloin (sad, unhappy cow BUT the BEST unhappy cow in the nation … the top 5%) where the meat was delicious but the sauce was plain. Which is fine with me, you don’t even really need to sauce my meat. A fellow reveler revealed that she comes here for the meat–and thinks it’s better than anywhere else in town. That’s some bold talk right there.

Crab cakes were next: Crab cake at Gumbo's
And like fried things, crab cakes are hard to screw up mainly because crab is so dang delicious. Luckily, this crab cake didn’t disappoint. Yum.

I heard the redfish was delish, but I didn’t nab any, so I can’t really speak to that.

I think Gumbo’s, like Brown Bar, is often thought of as an “older” joint, but we (twentysomethings? thirtysomethings?) need to take it back as our own. I hope to make it back for a full dinner soon. (Pssst: Brown Bar serves Gumbo’s apps at Half Price from 5:30-7pm every weekday)

Plus, they’re opening in Westlake in the old Chili’s at Davenport Village. That 2222/360 area features few good restaurants, so I can imagine the lunch and dinner crowds will be brisk. Opens within a month!

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