Lunch: We ate leftovers for lunch. I had chicken parmesan with grilled zucchini and a breadstick.

Dinner: I cooked sous vide skirt steak for 48 hours at 55°C (131°F) to convert all the collagen in this normally tough and chewy cut into gelatin. Before vacuum packing it, I seasoned with onion powder, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, olive oil, and soy sauce. After removing it from the bag, I seared it to give it a flavorful crust. The end result was an incredibly tender piece of beef that tasted like it was a much more expensive cut (had the luxuriousness of rib meat). I served it with grilled asparagus and white rice.

Lunch: We made rotisserie chicken salad sandwiches (with sliced cucumbers) for lunch.

Dinner: Tina used a pressure cooker to prepare pork in soy sauce. She also cooked savoy cabbage in bacon grease with a splash apple cider vinegar.

Lunch: I ate leftover pork with mushroom sauce and potatoes. I also had a bowl of corn soup.

Dinner: I cooked Chicken and Mushroom Marsala.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: April 6, 2010

Lunch: I made tuna salad and served it on toasted potato bread.

Dinner: We felt like Olive Garden, so we went there for dinner. We started with the salad.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: April 5, 2010 (The Olive Garden)

Lunch: We tried to go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, but forgot they don't open on Sundays. So, we walked across the parking lot to Burger King where I had a Whopper and Tina had a TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich (and we shared a small order of fries). While eating, I remembered the last time we ate at Burger King and how we had decided never to eat at Burger King if there were other fast food options (including McDonald's). One look at my meat patty was enough to jar that memory, but it was too late. I wonder if we'll be able to remember next time.

Dinner: I prepared a meal somewhat similar to my Burger King lunch, but completely different. I cooked a grass fed beef filet mignon (from US Wellness Meats) sous vide at 55°C (125.5°F) for three hours and then seared it until the exterior was a deep brown. The beef was seasoned with applewood smoked sea salt and ground dried porcini. I prepared roast potatoes to go with the steak as well as mushrooms and grilled zucchini.

Lunch: I had a couple of brisket tacos from The Zubik House at the Austin Farmers Market. There were very tasty and I loved the ample amounts of cilantro.

Dinner: Both Tina and I wanted to eat crawfish and crab, so we headed off to Joe's Crab Shack where both can be had without us dealing with the inevitable clean up from shellfish guts splattering everywhere. We ordered a "Sunset Fire-Grilled" Steampot (Dungeness crab, Alaskan Snow crab, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes) which is normally seasoned with their Fire-Grilled flavor but we tried it with Joe's Dry Rubbed BBQ instead. The crabs were very flavorful, but we preferred the flavor of the Fire-Grilled seasoning that we tried last time.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: April 3, 2010 (The Zubik House, Joe's Crab Shack)

Lunch: We ate leftovers from last night's Indian dinner.

Dinner: We watched Clash of the Titans at the Alamo Drafthouse where I ordered the Lamb of the Gods (lamb chops, orzo salad, and grilled zucchini). Tina had the Kraken Crab Cakes (served with Athena's Caper Mayo) and we shared a basket of chips and queso with pico de gallo. I couldn't take a photo during the meal, so here's a blurry shot of the credits scroll and our empty plates.

Dinner: Tina and I went to dinner with the Fearless Critic Austin editors and review council to celebrate the publication of the 3rd edition of Fearless Critic Austin (a guide where we honestly review Austin's restaurants without pulling any punches). In this photo of the group, you can see Erin McReynolds (the managing editor) holding up the cover art. The book should be available in a few weeks.

We ate at G'Raj Mahal Cafe (91 Red River, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 480-2255‎) which serves excellent Indian food from a trailer. The lighting was very dim but the food (we tried what seemed like nearly every item on the menu) and company was excellent. We're definitely going to go back to eat some more Indian food.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: April 1, 2010 (G'Raj Mahal Cafe)

Lunch: I cooked ten frozen fish sticks in the convection toaster oven after brushing them lightly with olive oil. I also whipped up a tartar sauce with mayonnaise, capers, paprika, and garlic powder.

Dinner: We went to Mighty Fine Burgers for dinner to get ourselves a free Mango "Champagne" Shake to celebrate K&N Management (Mighty Fine's parent company) winning this year's Texas Award for Performance Excellent (TAPE). This award is given each year to a couple companies that have demonstrated excellence in customer service, business practices, leadership, and strategic vision. This is the first time a restaurant group has won the award. Mighty Fine will continue to give out these shakes between 5pm and 8pm through Friday, April 2, 2010.

Click here to read the rest of
What I Ate: March 31, 2010 (Mighty Fine Burgers)

Lunch: We had some venison burger patties that we purchased from HEB, so we cooked them and served them on Pepperidge Farms Deli Flats with mayonnaise and ketchup. The burger had a really bad texture (grainy and mushy) and the flavor was pretty bad. I don't know how to describe the flavor but on top of the bad taste there was also the taste of a lot of iron - like it was part liver.

Dinner: I prepared some pork that I found in the freezer (I think it was pork shoulder) sous vide with rosemary and thyme at 55°C for 18 hours. The texture was good, but not as tender/juicy as when I brine pork before cooking. In addition, the seasoning I prepared wasn't strong enough, so I made a sauce for it and added some roasted poblano chile. I served it with grilled broccolini. Later we had some sweet potato as well.