In Search of…bakery food!

I’ve been looking for good bakeries in Austin since a couple Sundays ago, when I failed at finding one. On my way home I can stop through West, TX for kolaches and rolls but I haven’t found a good bakery here yet. So in a new series, I’ll be visiting different bakeries to check out the pastry scope in Austin.

The first is the Phoenicia bakery & deli on South Lamar (there’s also a location on Burnet). This Mediterranean and Middle Eastern place offers imported groceries, packaged sweets and of course a bakery and deli. The main attraction of the place seems to be their deli, serving falafels, gyros and a variety of sandwiches including their celebrated roasted chicken at only $3.99.  This time I just bought some hummus and a Danish meltaway pastry (awesome).

[Yummus!]

If you love Mediterranean food or haven’t tried it yet, check out this place. The people are friendly and the food is delicious and cheap.

Al Gore will love you

Recycling at an apartment or even a house isn’t the best or easiest situation, but complaining about it doesn’t save cans and plastics from sitting in landfills forever. Thanks to Ecology Action in Austin, giving those recyclables a new life is easy. Located on 9th and well…the highway pretty much, this recycling center welcomes recycling of about anything. They accept #1-7 of plastic, glass (this is the place to shamefuly deposit all your jose cuervo bottles, alky), paper, metal and newspaper any time. During business hours they take plastic bags, cell phones and ink cartridges.

The program is a worker collective, so everyone involved makes decisions about the organization and what to do with the materials.

The place isn’t much to look at, I’m pretty sure it’s a converted gas station and though employees sweep regularly, don’t expect anything classy. And anything they don’t recycle, they have links on their web site, e.g. the Yellow Bike Project and One World Running for shoes.

Check out their low budg web site or visit them! You can buy a  t shirt inside to give them a little support for $15.

The Art of Biking

These are pictures of more mosaics and a pole to match the skyscraper behind it on the biking trail, this time on the west side of town lake near the South 1st bridge. The wall had tons of heart-shaped rocks and after this there’s a bridge which continues to more trail and a small picnicking spot I took advantage of after my trip to Whole Foods.

Here’s some pictures of the spiral ramp at what I think is called the Pfluger bridge. It’s the one by Sandra Muraida Way with a view of the Gothamesque City of Austin Power Plant and of course, the lake.

Oh, and this baby…fabulous. Easy water access for biking in July heat and I have a place to store the essentials.

Take a ride

My new passion this summer is bike riding. Not this kind

but this kind.

[Note: that might or might not be me.]

Anyway, campus snobs may think badly of us Riverside-livers, but one of the great things about the area is trails and more trails. Town lake (east side of course) is right across the street and in minutes you can escape from city to just nature. The Country Club Creek trail runs behind my apartments as well and it’s pretty nice, starting out with these mosaic pieces, though I’m not sure why they’re there.

If you go around the lake right by the Holly Power Plant, you can experience beautiful murals and not so beautiful smells. And crossing to the west side of the lake is easy and leads to plenty of trails up to Zilker park.

I love running, but biking provides an easier way to explore more trails and go farther. And sometimes I just happen to end up at Dairy Queen.

Some tips for the gear:

If you’re into casual biking, Wal Mart has pretty cheap mountain bikes (around $100), which you’ll definitely need for trail terrain. Buying a comfier seat or a gel seat cover is also advised, your butt will hurt so much, especially after its ten plus year break from biking. A U lock is also the safest way to lock up the bike and these can be found easily at Wal Mart and Academy. Stay hydrated, and get off your butt and on your butt again…on a bicycle seat.

Good Specs

With one less job, family vacation over and a lot of boredom comes my return from blog hiatus. Apologies all around to the five of you who read this. Moving on to business…

Today I went to Spec’s, a liquor/wine/foods store based mostly in Houston but slowly moving into Austin as well. My favorite part and the only real reason I wanted to go to this one is because it’s in what used to be an Academy Sports and they didn’t bother to change the signature blue stripe on the outside of the building.

The visit started out fabulous, because before I even went in, a man carrying what was obviously an Academy return walked up to the doors, stopped, looked really confused and walked away. Embarrassing for him, but hilarious for me and my friend. Inside, fishing poles and treadmills have been replaced with a lot of booze and it’s overwhelming. They pretty much have everything and a big plus is the 5% discount you get for paying with cash, which I don’t believe they advertise other than inside the store. The downside: all of the employees I saw were men and some were kind of creepy. But I got the 5% discount even though I paid with my card, so it wasn’t all bad.

Thump your melon

This weekend, people everywhere are reminded or notified for the first time that Luling is a real town and this weekend, it is the realest. Because it offers a musical, seed spittin’, watermelon face stuffin’ good time. Today admission is $2 and free for kids 11 and under. My favorite part however is that Randy Rogers Band will be playing tonight at 8 p.m. , though I wish the concert wasn’t $20 and the town wasn’t 45 minutes away, depending on traffic. If Texas music and watermelons aren’t for you, the fest also features a parade, a rodeo, beer garden, tons of food and carnival rides and games.

Free Jack in the Box Day!

Yes, that’s right kids. If you saw my “tweet” earlier, or have been to Jack in the Box, you know that today is free taco day at JITB….with a gas receipt. Crap. I don’t know about you but I haven’t gotten a receipt at the gas station since 1997. My mom let me draw on it in the backseat of our minivan.

[Waiting for my tacos]

But today, miraculously, because God wants me to have these tacos, my gas tank was on empty. So for most likely the first time ever, I pressed yes when the pump asked me for a receipt. And then I got in the long drive-thru line at JIB, wasting about 10 minutes worth of gas while I’m sure they were frantically making tacos non-stop inside. But it was worth it. Mmmhmm.

If you haven’t had these things, today is the perfect day to try. Because they look gross, they’re greasy, they have fake meat in them and like 3-day lettuce, but some how all of these nasty things combined make something magical. Don’t try to understand it, just go.

Also, since I’ve worked too much, slept too little I’m hopped up on Sudafed, and had a lot of time to think in the drive-thru line, let’s talk about JB’s design. Jack in the B-Fish? Jack in the B-Christ? Really? I can’t read that people. The red cube, good idea, but combining letters, not so much. Also, why have we come to accept a toy name as a place to eat? Weird. I can’t feel my lips.

[I didn't take this picture but it shows both nasty tacos and poor text choices]

Actually watching TRL

Right now there is something on MTV that both feeds my Jason obsession and provides the one reason I’d watch TRL ever. It’s some weird FNMTV Feedback new blah blah thing but the Carson Daly disappearance doesn’t fool me, it’s still TRL. But Will Smith and Jason Bateman, stars of misguided -superhero movie Hancock, are on.

Celebration in California

[Photo from latimes.com]

[Photo from latimes.com]

It doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay, for or against gay and lesbian couples. These people are happy. On the first day with the gay marriage ban overturned in California, 2,300 marriage licenses were issued. These couples have been together a few years to decades or half a century for some, waiting and/or fighting to have equal rights as straight couples. Some protesters have said that tolerance is OK but same sex marriage isn’t. I respect those opinions but I also respect equal rights for everyone and I view this recent ban overturn as the largest act of tolerance that could be given.

The most surprising news for me was that six of the California Supreme court judges are Republicans. For me, that says this issue crosses political divisions and is an issue of equality more than personal beliefs.

DAVID SEDARIS!!!

I love the fact that the BookPeople Web site put David Sedaris’ book signing event in all caps with three exclamation marks. Well done, BP.

Date: Jun 19

Time:7:00 PM

Event: DAVID SEDARIS!!! - When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Description:

David Sedaris! At BookPeople! Our dreams are coming true!

What I love even more is DAVID SEDARIS!!! I’ve read all of his books, minus his less humorous short story collection (eh) and own most of them. Tonight he will be at BookPeople signing his new book, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” which by the title alone I know will be hilarious and well-deserving of multiple exclamation points.

Sedaris is evidently all business in the real world; the BP Web site explains that he doesn’t like having his picture taken and will only sign books. But this is serious business though, and for Sedaris lovers it’s a rare chance to not have to pay $40 plus to hear him read selections from his books or to watch stage adaptations of The Santaland Diaries at the Zachary Scott theater.

The signing is at 7 p.m. and book vouchers will be sold all day, but the store will be more than packed. Now to think of an excuse to get out of my jobs and camp out in the parking lot at noon…