Dinner: Dai Due Butcher Shop's made a cider-braised pork belly with pastured pork from Richardson Farms in Rockdale just northeast of Austin braised 8 hours with local apples from Love Creek Orchards in Medina, southwest of Austin. The pork was juicy and fell apart in the mouth. The fat was slightly sweet and succulent without any of the nasty taste of the clumps of fat you get in supermarket pork. Instead of the fat being gross - it was heavenly. The meat tasted of subtle cinnamon and cloves. We ate it with rosemary, olive oil bread and spinach.

Lunch: Leg of a rotisserie chicken from Central Market with sweet corn and spinach.

Dinner: In the afternoon we headed over to this month's Austin Food Blogger's Potluck. Today's potluck was in celebration of the Hatch chile, so I had brought Hatch chile infused chocolate truffles and a Hatch chile cheese spread and a box of Triscuits.

The spread we had for the dinner was pretty incredible with dishes ranging from sushi to cornbread to meatballs to baba ghanoush. Desserts were just as far ranging with brownies, cobbler, pecan brittle, and ice cream topped with a Hatch chile sauce. Food bloggers ate, drank, talked, laughed, and pretty much a good time was had by all.

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What I Ate: August 30, 2009 (Mighty Fine Burgers, Hatch Chile Themed Austin Food Blogger Potluck)

Lunch: We ate lunch at Costco - the standard Costco set for us: Polish sausage and a slice of combination pizza.

Dinner: I was busy making Hatch chile infused chocolate truffles so we ended up just heating up zong zi for dinner.

Lunch: We had a light lunch of tuna salad with crackers (Ritz and Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits).

Dinner: Before watching Ray Wylie Hubbard and Elizabeth Cook perform at the Cactus Cafe, I grabbed a couple gyro pitas from The Pita Pit (2350 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 474-7482‎). I took a couple quick pictures while they were finishing the stuffing of my pitas since it would be too dark where we would be eating them.

Lunch: Tina and I grabbed a quick lunch at Which Wich. Tina had her normal - the gyro sandwich - and I decided to try another sandwich. I ordered a crab salad sandwich this time. I don't know why I was surprised it was imitation crab (especially when the sandwich is $5). It was a bit bland in comparison to the other sandwiches I've had at Which Wich - it's doubtful I'd get it again. So far, my favorite is their muffaletto.

Dinner: We went to eat chalupas at Manna From Heaven Restaurant (602 W Center St, Kyle, TX‎ - (512) 268-6900‎) in downtown Kyle. Manna From Heaven is probably our favorite place to eat so far in Kyle. The chapula is flavorful (if you get the meat ones - we found the non-meat chalupa to be a bit bland last time) and the tortilla is so crispy. We each had a chicken and beef chalupa and a side salad.

Lunch: I ate a Reuben Sandwich at Whole Foods Market.

Dinner: I headed over to the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant (301 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 476-8300‎) for a margarita and food tasting event. They had freshly made guacamole, appetizers, and a few different tacos (I only tried the beef tenderloin one).

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What I Ate: August 26, 2009 (Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant)

Lunch: Tina whipped up a rice dish using left over butter rice, tomatoes, onions, shredded chicken breast, sweet peppers and peas.

Dinner: I cooked a ribeye steak and served it with mild hatch chiles, broccoli, and a potato and sunchoke hash.

Lunch: Tina made an unexpectedly delicious stir fry out of some udon with broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, with shredded chicken.

Dinner: I pan fried a fish fillet (I don't know what it was - we had purchased it fresh, frozen it, and forgotten about it for a couple weeks - it tastes like real sea bass) and sauced it in a soy sauce, rice wine, chicken broth, and sugar mixture (thickened with corn starch). I served it with buttered rice (cooked with heatless jalapeno chiles and garlic) and asparagus with prosciutto.

Dinner: Having gotten home in a pretty tired state, I decided not to cook dinner but to go out and get it from somewhere. After going through the list of restaurants that we knew of in Kyle, we were feeling pretty discouraged. I suggested that I swing by KFC to grab some of the grilled chicken that I had last time and liked so Tina could try it. I was going to get the grilled hot wings for myself (having seen the commercials all over TV). I drove over to the KFC and found out that they did not have the hot wings at that location. So, I got two orders of grilled chicken (leg and thigh meals) with seasoned rice, corn, cole slaw, and potato wedges. This particular KFC was also a Long John Silver's and there was a bit sign up for Buttered Lobster Bites, so I got some of that as well.

The grilled chicken wasn't as good as the last time I had it - but it did look better. It was just a bit dry this time - not super juicy like last time. The Buttered Lobster Bites tasted a bit like artificial butter, but otherwise were pretty tasty.

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What I Ate: August 23, 2009 (Alamo Drafthouse, KFC)

Just a public service message: if you are going to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and are wondering if you can bring your camera - the answer is YES. The box office told me NO. The back of my ticket told me NO. The website is unclear (it just says no commercial photography - which I took to mean Yes, but not if you make money off of it - which is why I called the box office). At the circus itself, they informed the audience that photography was allowed as long as you don't make money off of it (for personal use).

So, bring your cameras!

Of course, since I was told by the box office that no photography was allowed during the circus performance and no cameras were allowed during the pre-show and no cameras were allowed during the Animal Open House - I did not bring my camera. So, no pictures to share. Click here to read the rest of
Photography is allowed at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus