The gorgeous Austin weather continued on Monday and I was surprised by a very rare occurrence. My wife declared that she had a break in the middle of the day and invited me to go to lunch with her. I jumped at the opportunity before a meeting filled in her open slot and we enjoyed a lovely lunch on the patio at Shady Grove. I’m working hard to enjoy al fresco dining as much as I can before the summer weather arrives. We even had time for an after lunch coffee on the patio at Opa. The surprises continued when I got home to find work had been completed for the day at the apartment. Wow – I wonder how long this might last?
On Tuesday we tried the restaurant Zax, which is located right next to the Catherine and has what they describe as a “perfect patio”. We sat at the bar 
and shared a “Blues Burger” – blue cheese and crumbled onion rings. The visit was actually a scouting trip to see if this would be a good place to meet our friend Rob and his wife for dinner on Wednesday (he ended up having to cancel). Somebody told us a few years ago that the easiest test of a restaurant is to see if they make a good burger. Zax passed the test with a tasty and nicely cooked burger. The ambiance inside was a bit quiet and dated but the patio looked fun.
My friend Rodrigo from Guatemala met us at the Sky Bar on Wednesday night. He was having such a good time getting to know Diana and catching up with me that we ended up closing the place down. K was quite sleepy on Thursday.
And speaking of Thursday – something strange and wonderful happened. Can you guess what? There was a hint early in this post. That’s right – my wife was free for lunch for a second time in the same week. This time we enjoyed another perfect weather day on the patio at Opa with lamb gyros and a greek salad. I was really sleepy after that.
Having selected our apartment for the shortest possible (within reason) commute to the office, I was irked to see the news on Thursday night. A new high rise building going in next to us is requiring lane closures right next to the Catherine building for three months. Ugh! I’m sure it won’t add too much time to my commute, but I’ve really been enjoying getting to the office in 10 minutes rather than the hour it took in Dallas.
It happened again on Friday! What a surprising week. McD had time for a Target run in the morning and so dropped me at the office and then….wait for it…met me for lunch again. I didn’t have a lot of time and so we had a quick bite at Cava, a Mediterranean place where you select the ingredients for a salad or grains bowl – all very fresh and tasty.
My official birthday week kicked off when I got home on Friday evening with a bowl of one of my favourite food groups presented by BP (Baby Penguin). All of the penguins also put together a very creative card to recognize the birthday week.
Diana pulled together a tasty kickoff dinner of gnocchi with a garlic mustard aioli. I just enjoyed the leftovers for lunch as I was writing this post.
I tried something new on Saturday morning – swimming laps in the apartment pool. The temperature was a bit bracing initially but I had a nice long swim, followed by some relaxation time in the sauna. Swimming really eases my back pain and so I look forward to repeating this start to the day until the pool gets too hot.
I chose a new destination for coffee and a crossword with Keith. High Note is a new restaurant from the Kerbey Lane group and features fresh and healthy breakfast and brunch options with a Mediterranean flair. We shared blistered shishito peppers and I enjoyed a Kale Mary (very green and healthy). We both liked High Note and the food coming out around us looked very good. Another good coffee and brunch option in walking distance.
My official birthday dinner out was on Saturday night. We tried a french restaurant in East Austin called Justine’s Brasserie for the first time and were very pleased.
We shared steak tartare as an appetizer and both agreed it was the best we’ve had in a long time – very tender and perfectly seasoned. I followed that with a scallop special dish with corn and beurre blanc – again very good scallops and perfectly cooked. Diana’s rib-eye steak was very tasty but just a little bit too rare for me – she’s turning into quite the rare meat connoisseur. Brent will be proud.
Arriving home after dinner, I was presented with this excellent gift. It’s a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a 19th century poet most famous for “Paul Revere’s Ride”. It makes me think of the Playing for Change series that I shared a couple of weeks ago where musicians from around the world collaborate on songs.
Sunday started with a swim and sauna. While Diana sunned herself by the pool, I walked down South Congress to the Continental Club to see the matinee show (3:30pm) with the Marshall Hood band. It was interesting to step into the dark and well air conditioned club from the bright, hot day outside.
This was a very enjoyable afternoon jam session. The piano player was particularly impressive.
The band would have a short discussion after each song about what they would like to play next. I have the sense they have an exceptionally large repertoire.
I was checking to see if my favourite Austin band, Western Youth, were playing anywhere close this week and came across this video of them playing on Balcony TV – a show filmed up at the Catherine Sky Bar. It’s interesting to hear how much this song has evolved from this early performance.
I heard this Split Enz song on the radio this week. Made me think of the Leaky Boat song and how this band was the precursor to the excellent Crowded House band.
The National’s new album has been on heavy rotation on my office music playlist this week – very good and quite different than their previous offerings.
Eric Tessmer is playing at the Granada theater where they do a good job of advertising, “Goes Great With…a list of similar artists”, as a way to introduce us to new artists. The list for Eric Tessmer included several of our favourites and so I gave him a listen on Spotify. What do you think?
I agree, not bad, but not someone I’m going to go out of my way to hear.
Western Youth on Balcony TV.