Category Archives: Travel

Travel

Fredericksburg

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Our gentle friends Kari and Mike are tying the knot in Fredericksburg next month and we had the pleasure of accompanying them for a venue site check for their big day at Kairo’s just outside of the town (beautiful by the way, if anyone is looking for a wedding venue). After the site and food check (nom, nom, nom) it was time to explore Fredericksburg, and explore we did. Of course we always have a blast with our friends Kari, Mike, Raul and Leigh and decided to hit up House.Wine. for a celebratory beverage. I’ve been here before, but forgot how much I love this little place right off the main strip. It’s a little more modern in decor that other spots in the area and they offer some pretty delicious wines, especially from California, including one of my favorites L’Aventura…it’s too expensive to enjoy unless you are celebrating an anniversary or passing a kidney stone but I will admit for about five seconds I was tempted, you know, for Kari and Mike of course.

 

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Travel

Zilker Botanical Garden

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I know my blog 99.99 percent of the time focuses on food but another true passion of mine is travel. Since some of Cooking Inside the Lines’ readers may not be in Austin (Nakiya I’m waiting on you to come down to the ATX!), I thought I would share a wonderful little adventure David and I had this morning at Zilker Botanical Garden to encourage you to visit the next time you come to town or if you do live in our wonderful city and have never been…GO. In a nutshell, from the website:

Zilker Botanical Garden is located on 31 acres of varied topography on the south bank of the Colorado River near downtown Austin. Its diverse topography is especially suited to depicting different habitats and displaying an array of native, hybrid and exotic plants. The Garden is the centerpiece of Zilker Park and the Town Lake (Colorado River) corridor and is its most extensively used facility. Over 300,000 people annually visit the gardens from across Texas and the U.S., as well as over 100 countries.

I’ve lived here for four years now and have never visited the ZBG…what a horrible thing to miss! This was so serene, educational (come on now in a fun way) and beautiful. I can’t wait to go back in the spring to see everything in bloom. If you are coming to Austin be sure to stop by this tucked away treasure right near downtown. Of course, pictures always tell a story better and this is just from a part of the park (all pics taken on my iPhone with the Hipstamatic app).

Isamu Taniguchi Japanese Garden
Hartman Prehistoric Garden
Pioneer Village
Isamu Taniguchi Japanese Garden
Hartman Prehistoric Garden
Everything is better fried, Travel

Gobbling Up Portland Food Trucks

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I visited Portland in April, yes April, and yes I’m aware it’s mid-June so this is a smidge late but who cares it’s delicious food! I have been dying to post my food adventures in one of the coolest cities I’ve visited in a while. If you know anything about Portland, you know it’s a funky, small city with a thriving food truck scene that reminded me very much of Austin. Living in Austin, I know we have a great food truck scene here but I was blown away by the amount and variety that Portland has to offer…they are literally everywhere like little food truck hives.

I visited a few trucks and like true fat kid managed to stuff myself with Creole Pie from Swamp Shack, an awesomely fresh Caprese Sandwich from Built to Grill, and peanut butter/chocolate and tangerine/marshmallow flavored doughnuts from Voodoo Doughnuts. While all of these were excellent, the one thing that literally almost made me fall over with sheer glee was the YouCanHas Burger from Brunchbox. Get this, it’s two Texas toast grilled cheese sandwich “buns” with a burger and bacon between them. A burger and bacon between two grilled cheese sandwich buns. Burger. Bacon. Two grilled cheese sandwich buns. Yep…think about that one for a minute while you stare at the photo.

Hands down BrunchBox was my favorite but I know I missed out on some fantastic ones due to my short trip. I will be back poodles so send me suggestions of where I should go next!