So I'm back home for a couple of weeks and it's definitely summer time. It's currently 97 degrees at nearly 7 pm and it's supposed to get up to 100 for the next few days. Ugh. The last two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. From moving out of our house in Jacksonville (which took 4 days) to traveling back to Texas with stops in Alabama, Houston, and College Station, there hasn't been a whole lot of time to relax. After staying a night with my grandmother in Alabama, my darling husband (DH) and I drove on to Houston where we stayed with some friends from college for a night that we haven't seen in a couple of years. Then we stopped in College Station to stay with my sister for a couple of nights.
Monday night, the three of us drove in to Austin for dinner at Parkside, on 6th street, the new restaurant our friend Harlan works at. (If you're looking for it, it's just around the corner from the homeless man who has trained a cat to ride on top of a dog with a mouse on top.) Yes, I'm serious and apparently he'll be on tv at some point in the near future. Dinner with Harlan is always a fun experience. Back when DH and I first started dating, for special occasions we'd go to Cafe Eccell in College Station where his friend Harlan waited tables. He gave me such a hard time for trying to order my steak medium-well that I gave up and learned to eat it medium. And having him say, "Geez, what's next? Are you going to ask for ketchup with your steak?" cured me of that bad habit :) Since then, he's always ordered our food for us, and of course, we've always loved it!
My sister had eaten at Parkside before and said everything was great, so we couldn't wait to give it a shot! We were allowed to pick two appetizers and then he sent out the rest. We had the garlic shrimp and braised baby back ribs to begin with, both of which were simply amazing. I'm not really a fan of ribs, but I can't begin to describe how tender and delicious these were. We also tried the Salmon and peaches from the Raw bar, as well as what I believe was Veal tongue? Now I'm not usually one to experiment with food, but I learned long ago, to trust that whatever he put in front of me was going to be good. As always, he was right and it was great! I just wish I hadn't known what it was beforehand. Oddly enough, one of our favorite things was a new dish they were experimenting with, some kind of chicken croquettes. Though my husband swears that he doesn't like oysters, he actually enjoyed the ones we tried. They have several different types, and sadly I can't remember which one we had. And then came the entrees. Shiny requested something that wasn't fish, but that was all the input we got to give. She ended up with the most amazing roasted chicken I have ever tasted, and I got the summer basil risotto with baked fluke. It was the first time I'd ever had risotto, but let me tell you, I'm now a huge fan. DH had the grilled venison and being a typical meat and potatoes kind of guy, loved it. We were given sides of mac and cheese made with gruyere and cheddar, squash that was cooked with bacon, and fried okra. Keep in mind that I lived in south Alabama when I was younger and grew up eating my grandmother's fried okra. Hers still ranks as the best in the world in my opinion, but this definitely was a close second. And my husband, who usually hates squash, actually ate and enjoyed theirs. (Anything that tastes like bacon is always a winner with him). Needless to say, everything was fantastic. As usual, everything Harlan picked was perfect and I left completely stuffed! I think we had the cinnamon doughnut as well as the goat cheese cake for dessert, but to be honest, I was in such a food coma that I can't be sure. If you're ever in Austin, you should definitely give Parkside a try. There are so many amazing things on the menu that I would never have tried on my own, but ended up loving them!
So now, I'm back at home and the husband is off for SERE school. It's getting late so I need to run, but I'll write more later! The next few weeks are going to be busy and exciting, so I'll have lots to add! Goodnight!
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