Lunch: Squid ink spaghetti tossed in olive oil, garlic, and leeks topped with reheated left over salmon and spinach with fresh cherry tomatoes.

Dinner: Tina made Chicken and Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce, Parnips, and Mustard Greens with Sausage which we ate over rice.

I made a banana bread late last night and we ate some of it throughout the day.

Lunch: Made myself a roast beef sandwich on rye with sharp cheddar, baby greens, and loads of Grey Poupon.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: May 21, 2009

Lunch: "Breakfast" tacos (lightly toasted corn tortillas filled with eggs scrambled with chopped bacon)

Dinner: Forgot my camera - used cell phone. We had a coupon for buy-one-get-one-free pizzas at Papa John's. We bought a Meat and a Works and brought them over to Tina's parent's place to share.

Lunch: Quesadillas made with corn tortillas, shredded cheese, and deli sliced turkey.

Dinner: Fion Wine Bar (2900 N Quinlan Park Rd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 266-3466‎) in Steiner Ranch with my friends Greg and Yachi, Greg's super-cool parents, and Greg's sister and brother-in-law (who graciously paid for our dinner). One of the best dinners we've had in Austin thus far. Great company, lots of laughter, and surprisingly well-prepared food.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: May 19, 2009 (Fion Wine Pub)

Lunch: A large bowl of peanut butter flavored Puffins with whole milk.

Dinner: Nachos, tacos, and something called a muchaco from a Taco Bueno. Tastes similar to a Taco Bell, but with fresh salsas.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: May 18, 2009 (Taco Bueno)

Lunch: Potluck with the Austin Food Bloggers

Dinner: Squid Ink Spaghetti Pasta with Pan Fried New York Strip Steak… didn't get to eat all of it because I had to stop to fix a few server issues with Fanpop - by the time I was done it was 10:30pm and I had lost my appetite. You'll probably see this dish in the next day or two eaten as lunch.

Lunch: We met up with a Jason Vierzba, a college friend I hadn't seen in almost ten years who was on a business trip near Austin. I decided on Chen's Noodle House (8650 Spicewood Springs Rd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 336-8888) because Tina likes noodle soup and I was curious about the dao xiao mian. (Noodles made from cutting dough directly into the soup or boiling water - usually the dough is formed into a loaf on a wood board and held in one hand while the other wields a knife or scraper that shaves off thin strips of dough into the soup. Advanced practitioners will shave the noodles off in such a way as to cause them to jump off the block and fly directly into the pot.)

Overall, I wasn’t pleased with the food we received. After chatting with the staff in Chinese for a while, we learned that it was their opinion that Westerners ordered the dao xiao mian (which was one of the reasons why we went there) but they preferred regular thin noodles in dishes like the beef noodle soup and the combination noodle soup. The only one they recommended to eat with dao xiao mian was the lamb noodle soup. She also suggested that we do a combination of the zha jiang mian (noodles with black bean sauce) with the combination noodle soup (which is served with regular thin noodles) which is not on the menu, but something that she’s found that the customers from mainland China seem to really enjoy. We agreed to try a small bowl of that in addition to the lamb noodle soup, stir fried noodles (which I chose because I didn’t think anyone had tried it yet), scallion pancakes (cong you bing), and an off menu item that the staff mentioned to my wife – yang rou chuan (lamb skewers).

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: May 16, 2009 (Chen's Noodle House)

Lunch: Leftover Truffled Macaroni and Cheese from Eddie V's, a large glass of whole milk, and a large salad.

Dinner: I cooked a simple dish of Maestri Pastrai's squid ink spaghetti (the longer past I've ever worked with measuring in at four feet per strand!), olive oil, garlic, and shrimp. This was the most amazing pasta we've ever had. Tina and I both agreed that we didn't need the shrimp to go with it (I could have saved it for another dish or a salad!) and just eating the pasta alone was incredible. I'm not sure what it was, but the texture and the subtle flavors in the pasta just made it insanely good. We bought out 1 pound bag for $4.95 at Cissi’s Market (1400 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 225-0521‎) and I was skeptical at first if it would justify the huge price jump from our normal dried pasta of $1 to $2 per pound. At $5 a pound, it's totally worth it - this is the pasta to use if you want the pasta to be the center of the dish instead of the other stuff.

Lunch: A makeshift sandwich made of corn tortillas, smoked provolone, salumi, Butterball Deep Fried Turkey Deli Slices, and baby lettuce.

Dinner: Tina made stewed pork (with Chinese five spice powder, soy sauce, and fresh fennel bulb), kale sauteed in rendered bacon fat, and white rice.

Lunch: I made some "breakfast" tacos with corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, and pan fried sausage slices.

Dinner: Steak leftovers from Eddie V's augmented with some random food we had. We cooked some corn, toasted some bread, and made a lettuce salad.