Lunch: Throughout the afternoon, I ate several bowls of corn soup with brioche.

Dinner: By dinnertime, I was craving a burger, so we went to Mighty Fine Burgers. I had a Jr. Cheeseburger with Bacon.

We celebrated the completion of our tax return by going out to dinner at Ryu of Japan (11101 Burnet Road, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 973-9498‎). I had eaten there once before with the Fearless Critic Austin Council, but Tina missed out on that occasion because she was taking care of Hairy. I ordered some items I had before and some new ones. We started with a seaweed salad.

Followed by miso soup.

Nama Kaki (Raw oysters) - these were HUGE oysters which were sweet with a creamy meatiness.

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What I Ate: April 15, 2010 (Ryu of Japan)

Today's dinner was a bit of a failure. I had been cooking oxtails sous vide at 55°C for 40 hours - but the controller I have was registering the wrong temperature (it was reporting a higher temperature than what the water actually was when I checked with my Thermapen). So, I think the oxtails were heating in 49°C for most of that time (which isn't hot enough to break down collagen into gelatin or pasteurize). I prepared pan fried garlic-sage polenta (made polenta first, set it in a mold, cut it, and then pan fried for texture), and Tina sauteed some spinach to go with the oxtails which turned out to be a bust. I tossed the oxtails into a pot, added some water and beef broth and started it simmering on the range. Meanwhile, we ate polenta and spinach for dinner.

Later… much, much later, I ate some of the oxtail that had been cooking for 3.5 hours.

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What I Ate: April 14, 2010 (Failed Sous Vide Oxtails)

Lunch: Tina made Tuna Salad Sandwiches.

Dinner: We ate leftover fried catfish, sweet potato, and hot wings before heading to the Long Center to watch Lang Lang perform. (The Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra performed Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 first, then Lang Lang came out and performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17. Lang Lang left and the orchestra played Beethoven's 7th Symphony. I enjoyed Prokofiev and Beethoven more than Lang Lang performance during which I nodded off once or twice.)

A couple of shots of Hairy from yesterday.

Lunch: Leftover Domino's Pizza.

I also prepared some eggs by cooking them in a water bath set to 62°C (144°F) and then fried them. I did this because when the yolk is cooked to about 65°C it's almost set and still in a gel, but the whites are almost too solid to come out of the shell (they stick to the shell) but also too liquid to peel the egg. I was hoping that at 62°C they would be lose enough to crack into a fry pan and fry for a minute to get the whites to form a crispy edge but still have the yolk just flowing.

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What I Ate: April 12, 2010

We discovered Texas Teas about seven months ago (on September 18, 2009) while having dinner at Whip In. Texas Teas are phenomenally good bottled teas which come in five flavors. Our favorites are Fredericksburg Peach Tea and Poteet Strawberry White Tea. These fruit flavors are especially good (particularly when compared against other fruit flavored teas) - they taste like fresh fruit. And no wonder - they use local fruits and no artificial flavors. These don't taste like Snapple - the sweetness and flavors are milder and well balanced (the flavor of the tea is not overwhelmed by the fruit or mint or honey). It's simply the best bottled sweetened tea beverage we've ever had.

If you've had us over to your place or been over to our house in the last six months, you've probably gotten a bottle or two of Texas Tea (we've been giving them out to everyone in hopes of building a fan base) from us. At first, we bought our Texas Teas from Whip In. Then, I discovered that 7-Eleven carried it, so we started to buy it there (often buying their entire stock during each visit). I talked to Whole Foods (the stocking clerks and the corporate buyer) and Central Market (three different employees in the tea and grocery section as well as leaving a voice mail message for their corporate buyer) about carrying Texas Teas, but always received either no response or a "sorry". I contacted Texas Tea where I got a list of where they were distributing their teas. It turns out Spec's (a local wine and spirits chain) carries Texas Tea and will sell at a slight discount if you ask for a case. We've been picking up from Spec's until now. Last night at Central Market, we discovered them selling Texas Tea!

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Success! Texas Teas now available at Central Market!

Lunch: I attempted to recreate a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich at home. I toasted Mrs. Bairds hamburger buns lightly so the Borden American cheese product just began to melt and stacked fish sticks (brushed with olive oil and cooked in a convection oven until cooked through and crispy on the outside) and topped with homemade tartar sauce. It worked - sort of. The biggest difference between my version and the McDonald's version lay in the cheese. They use a cheese product that they call a "Sharp Pasteurized Processed American Cheese" which I think is unique to McDonald's. It doesn't taste like Borden or Kraft (both of which I think tastes slightly acidic and a little unpleasant when heated near melting). The McDonald's cheese tastes lighter and is less heavy (I thought the Borden American cheese was almost overwhelming and hard to stomach near the end). In addition, my tartar sauce is a little more sour than McDonald's version - but that's an easier change than the cheese.

Dinner: We had dinner at Central Market Cafe before grocery shopping. I had the Char Sui Chicken Salad.

Lunch: The Austin Food Bloggers got together today for a potluck. I made Orange Bars (think Lemon Bars but made with fresh squeeze Texas oranges).

Dinner: I ordered from Domino's Pizza because our kitchen was out of commission for the evening (it had been temporarily converted into a poultry processing area due to a miscalculated purchase of 40 pounds of chicken backs that came as one solid frozen cube). After staring at all that chicken, I felt like buffalo wings again, so I ordered a batch (these were tender and juicy compared to last night's).

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What I Ate: April 10, 2010 (Austin Food Blogger Potluck, Domino's Pizza)

Lunch: I had leftover pork and rice with sliced English cucumber.

Dinner: We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse where I started with an order of Buffalo Wings (dry and chewy, but flavor was good).

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What I Ate: April 9, 2010 (Texas Roadhouse)