Dinner: I cooked a rib-eye steak in the convection oven and finished it on a pan with olive oil to form a crust. I served it with red potatoes and zucchini.

Lunch: Ate lunch at Pho Thaison (5401 FM 1626, Kyle, TX‎ - (512) 268-3205‎) because we needed to get supplies at the HEB. I had a spring roll and fried crispy noodles with beef and broccoli.

Lunch: Left over chicken and woodear stir-fry, boiled fatty pork, and spinach, tofu, and ham soup.

Dinner: I pan fried some halibut in a lime syrup and dijon mustard glaze and served it on left over dal soup that I made into a thick paste by putting it in the convection oven and running it at 200°F for thirty minutes. I also made crostini with thin slices of ciabatta, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some garlic juice. The vegetables are swiss chard.

Dinner: Tina made Indian food - aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes), chicken and tomatoes (with a ton of different spices), and a dal soup (using masoor dal - red lentils)

Lunch: Costco lunch - Polish sausage and a slice of combination pizza

Lunch: Tina made a chicken salad from the remaining roast chicken breast and we put together some open faced sandwiches.

Dinner: Tina made a stir fry dish of pork, celery, carrots, woodear, and shallots and paired that with a spinach, ham, and soft tofu soup.

Dinner: We met up with a bunch of other Austin foodies at Addie Broyle's Eat-up for this month. Everyone met up at The Cathedral of Junk (4422 Lareina Drive, Austin‎ - (512) 299-7413‎) for drinks and paletas (fruit ice pops).

The Cathedral of Junk is in the backyard of Vince Hannemann's house. Hannemann built the three story building/sculpture out of junk that he's collected as well as pieces brought to him. Any part that you look at contains what seems like ten different recognizable objects… then looking closer reveals twenty or thirty more objects that take a little longer for recognition to set it. It's like a fractal of junk that you can walk through, climb up to the top for a view, or just sit in the shadow.

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What I Ate: July 19, 2009 (Whataburger at The Cathedral of Junk)

Lunch: I prepped some leftovers for lunch - broccoli, chicken strips, and made crostinis out of some bread.

Dinner: We headed out with the intention of trying Nubian Queen Lola's (who is supposed to make the best fried chicken in Austin), but her place was closed (again - we had last been there over Christmas and she was on vacation). Talking to the barbershop next door, they said she left a little while before we showed up. We'll have to try again later. We went to the Victory Grill (1104 E 11th St, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 472-3700‎) nearby for our Southern food fix.

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What I Ate: July 18, 2009 (Victory Grill)

Dinner: We went to the self-proclaimed "most romantic restaurant in Austin" Romeo's (1500 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 476-1090‎) for dinner. It was a dinner of contradictions. First, it was a more of a family restaurant than a romantic restaurant with plastic coated table coverings (you know the type with the almost sticky plastic coating and the white fuzz on the other side), wooden lattice on the walls and ceiling with white Christmas lights (I think it's to make you feel like you're outside while sitting inside), and a wall mural of rock & roll cupids. The place has a few hearts (it's their logo) and cupid statues, but that doesn't really make the place romantic - just tacky. There's no privacy and the place is packed so it's loud.

Service was both fast and slow. The moment I opened the door, the receptionist greeted me by name and showed us to our table. That took me by surprise, but I was secretly pleased (hoping for great service). Then we got our waiter. She wasn't unfriendly, but certainly not friendly. She would also disappear for long stretches of time as we waited to ask questions about the menu, order, and eventually request the check. Food did arrive quickly once we ordered, but after we were done eating it took ten to fifteen minutes to get her attention again.

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What I Ate: July 17, 2009 (Romeo's, Home Slice Pizza)

Lunch: Today was a really busy day, so we ended up grabbing a roast chicken from the HEB near where we live as well as a loaf of ciabatta. I had a leg and thigh with salad and toasted bread.

Dinner: I went to a potluck event held at the Austin Museum of Art called the Feast of Memories.

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What I Ate: July 16, 2009 (Feast of Memories)

Lunch: I breaded the chicken tenders we had left and baked in my countertop convention oven. Tina prepared some broccoli with garlic to go with my chicken strips.

Dinner: We went out to Haiku (9600 S Interstate 35, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 291-5600‎) for some sushi rolls. We started off with sake nigiri and unagi nigiri.

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What I Ate: July 15, 2009 (Haiku)

Lunch: I made tuna salad for lunch and ate it with crackers and chips.

Dinner: Tina cooked mushrooms with chicken tenders, tomato and eggs, and white rice.