Dinner: It always amazes us how much amazing food is coming out of food trucks in Austin. We ate at Not Your Mama's Food Truck (2209 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX, 78704) (see their Facebook page for times) and had the best beef tongue ever. Go now or tomorrow and order the beef tongue. Trust me - it's excellent.

We ate one of everything on the menu:
Korean Fried Sliders scallions, cucumber, hoisin, on steamed buns ($4). Excellent. Crunchy, sweet, and salty, and delicious. Do not hesitate to order this with your beef tongue.

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What I Ate: October 2, 2010 (Not Your Mama's Food Truck)

Lunch: We had several small sandwiches made of English muffins, gouda, capicola, and Dijon mustard which we ate with Dai Due pickled okra.

Dinner: We went back to Taqueria Taco More (9400 Parkfield Dr, Austin, TX (512) 821-1561) to try a few more of their soups.

Menudo

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What I Ate: October 1, 2010 (Taco More)

Breakfast: Corn Puffs with Whole Milk

Lunch: Which Wich Muffuletta sandwich with a Bueno Bueno crispy beef taco

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What I Ate: September 30, 2010

Dinner: We tried Bess Bistro on Pecan (500 W 6th st, Austin, TX (512) 477-2377) for dinner. The food was good enough that I expect we'll return when we're looking for some pleasant comfort food.

Fried Freen Tomatos served atop a caper and crab salad, garnished with sriracha ($10). Fearing too much sriracha, we asked for ours on the side. Tomatoes had a thick crunchy crust. Worked best when eaten with the crab salad and a dab of sriracha.

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What I Ate: September 29, 2010 (Bess Bistro)

Lunch: Craving the flavors of the Lox Sliders from Urban, I decided to make my own version.

Dinner: I served up sous vide rib eye steak (55°C) and 24 hour short ribs (57°C). The short ribs were tender, but I cannot say if they were more tender than the 3 hour short ribs from the night before. I wasn't sure if connective tissue had broken down into gelatin or not.

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What I Ate: September 28, 2010

Lunch: Leftover egg sandwich and hash browns from Urban. I heated both in a convection toaster oven on a sheet of parchment paper for 12 minutes at 350°F and it worked remarkably well. The cheese melted (causing the egg to slide off a little), toast was toasted again, and egg was hot but still had a flowing yolk.

Dinner: By request of Papa to see what the minimum time for cooking beef short ribs sous vide, I cooked a couple pieces at 55°C for 3 hours. The result was very tender and flavorful, but the salt doesn't seem to penetrate very far and none of the excessive connective tissue was broken down so there were stringy and chewy bits. Still, if one is not willing to wait a day for sous vide short ribs, it's possible to prepare it in about 3 hours, but I would probably recommend waiting 24 hours. I've got another bag of short ribs in the water bath at 57°C that will have cooked for 26 hours by the time we eat it, so stay tuned to find out if the second bag is better in texture.

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What I Ate: September 27, 2010

Lunch: We were invited to have brunch at Urban, An American Grill (11301 Domain Drive, Austin, TX (512) 490-1511) where we had a very good meal of what I would describe as North American comfort food. Chef Mizael Saucido (from Bess Bistro and Fonda San Miguel) puts together a remarkable combination of Southern flavors with interior Mexican flair that really resonated with my palate. The lighting was a 50-50 mix of outdoor sunlight streaming in from the large windows and incandescent lighting which made for some challenging color balance issues when photographing.

Mini Chocolate Croissant. This was a small (but well made) croissant served along side a nutella sauce. Simple, but delightful.

Mini Breakfast Tacos and Lox Sliders. Both of these small bites are amazing. The tacos had a perfect balance of eggs, cheese, chorizo, and salsa that allowed you to taste every ingredient without any single one being dominant (and yet all were assertive). The lox sliders were genius - of all the food we tasted, this was perhaps my favorite (the avocado tres leches cake we ended with is the only possible contender). Quail egg, hollandaise, lox, spinach and a honey wheat round - it's the perfect bite-sized Salmon Eggs Florentine.

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What I Ate: September 26, 2010 (Urban, An American Grill)

Lunch: Pastrami Sandwich and Roast Beef Sandwich from Dai Due and Banana Peppers from Milagro

Dinner: We got hungry heading back to Austin from Kyle and stopped at Chili's in Buda. It was not good. We started with the chicken and chile soup which was much too salty. After asking for a glass of hot water and pouring that into the soup (doubling the volume) it was somewhat edible.

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What I Ate: September 25, 2010 (Chili's)

Dinner: Leftovers from El Pollo Rico

Lunch: Leftovers from Foreign & Domestic (Mac & Cheese and Crispy Chicken Thigh)

Dinner: Picked up a whole chicken and carne asada from El Pollo Rico (704 W Stassney Ln, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 326-1161).