Dinner: I was trying to finish something at work, so by the time I was ready to leave the house to get some food it was pretty late. Escarpment Village is only a few minutes away for us, so we decided to shoot for Natural Planet Grill (5900 Slaughter Ln W, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 394-1111‎) because on our first visit there I had a pretty good experience with their Tuscan Pesto Pasta with Chicken. When we got there, it was exactly 9pm - closing time. I usually don't try to squeeze in at closing because restaurant staff works pretty hard without tardy customers showing up and making them stay later, but the guys at Natural Planet Grill welcomed us in (after checking that the grill hadn't been turned off yet). They said, "the kitchen hasn't shut down yet and you two are hungry, so come on in!" Service was exceptionally friendly even though we were eating after hours. I enjoyed the Tuscan Pesto Pasta with Chicken that I ordered again tonight, but more than that I enjoyed how welcoming and accommodating the staff at Natural Planet Grill was.

Lunch: We stopped in at Texas Pie Company (202 West Center Street, Kyle, TX‎ - (512) 268-5885) for lunch and I had a spinach quiche and poblano potato soup.

Lunch: I had some leftover stir-fry and rice that was in the refrigerator and a toasted cong you bing.

Dinner: We had originally intended to go to Torchy's on William Cannon, but after making trips to Lowe's, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Kohl's, we found ourselves near Red Robin. Since the last hamburger I had was unsatisfying, we decided to eat there (because we know it's not going to suck - as opposed to some randomly chosen place, it's a familiar taste, and they put fried eggs on their burgers). I got a Sautéed 'Shroom Burger with a fried egg. I didn't realize that it didn't have any veggies on it, so I asked for a side of lettuce and tomatoes and stuff it in. There was no shortage of sauteed mushrooms and as usual the fries were good.

Lunch: We tried Guero's (1412 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 707-8232‎) for lunch. Sitting at the taco bar, we couldn't help but get excited about the food as three Latina women made fresh corn torillas before our very eyes.

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What I Ate: December 6, 2009 (Guero's Taco Bar, Central Market Cafe)

Lunch: We were on our way to Austin Plumbing Supply to take a look at some Toto toilets (they have an amazing inventory of Toto's in their showroom including the Neorest 600 - the most awesome toilet that I know of) when we almost passed Phil's Icehouse. Since it was there, we were hungry, and we had a pretty good meal there last time, I decided to pull over for a burger. I ordered The Brentwood Burger (A bacon cheeseburger w/ lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, pickles, mayo, mustard, 2 slices of bacon, cheddar cheese on a toasted sourdough bun) while Tina had The Crestview Burger (A chili cheeseburger w/ chili, cheddar cheese, sliced onion & mustard on a toasted jalapeno cheese bun). We both felt our burgers were not as good as the first time we had eaten at Phil's Icehouse. Tina's burger - which we had a mini version of last time - was coated with too much yellow mustard to the point of overwhelming the chili and burger. My Brentwood Burger was made horrible by an overly sweet bun. It started off okay - the bun was just a bit sweet. But, that sweetness grew with every bite until about half way through the burger I couldn't take another bite. I ended up getting a knife and fork and eating the rest like a hamburger salad avoiding the bread. The fries were also kind of stale tasting - not a good experience.

Dinner: We went to IKEA to shop for a cheap table to use as an auxiliary desk for my office (as well as a desk for Tina). Whenever we're at IKEA, it's like we're at a Las Vegas casino - I have no idea what time it is or how much time has passed. By the time we wandered through the showroom, figured out which tabletops to buy and which legs and for what purpose, and got to the midway point of IKEA - the restaurant/cafe - it was 7:55pm. It was then that we realized the IKEA restaurant closes at 8pm and no food was left except the Swedish meatballs (which I was going to get anyway). I got an order of meatballs, mashed potatoes, and gravy, and we shared a side of overcooked vegetables. I suppose one benefit of being the last customers is that we get a LOT of meatballs. Of course, when at IKEA you have to get the lingonberry juice (which I usually like to mix with some Sprite/Sierra Mist, but strangely enough they had all sorts of sodas except for a lemon/lime soda… closest thing was Mountain Dew which I didn't think would mix well with the juice).

Lunch: Tina made a bacon and eggs over medium sandwich for each of us.

Dinner: Tina used the pork that I cooked but didn't use in last night's eggplant dish by spicing it up a bit and cooking it with zucchini. She also cooked an eggs and tomatoes dish and served them with white rice.

Lunch: The last of the leftover pizza.

Dinner: I stir fried thinly sliced pork loin with eggplant and made a simple carrot and celery with sesame oil dish. We ate these with congee and cong you bing (scallion pancakes).

Lunch: I heated some left over Domino's pizza in the toaster oven.

Dinner: While running errands (Home Depot - the constant destination of new homeowners), we stopped at a Schlotzsky's for dinner. We each had half an Original as well as a Turkey, Swiss, and Bacon (actually, that was the plan but I ended up eating 1/4 of the Turkey, Swiss and Bacon and 3/4 of the Original), a bag of jalapeño chips, and iced tea.

Breakfast: After dropping my parents off at the airport around 6:30am, I picked up a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Hash Brown, and Orange Juice from McDonald's. Then I went back to sleep.

Lunch: Tina and I made sandwiches out of some beef tongue bloodwurst we had.

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What I Ate: December 1, 2009

Lunch: We had a lot of leftover rice from the previous night's dinner (we had so much food that I don't think anyone had any of the four cups of rice we made - about 8-10 cups of cooked rice) so my parents converted some of it into congee and served it with a variety of leftovers and a couple new dishes that served very well as small plates.

Dinner: Tina and my parents converted more of the rice into BBQ pork fried rice (with egg, green beans, onions, and carrots). This was served with leftover duck, chicken, peanuts, soybeans, green beans, and freshly prepared cabbage.

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What I Ate: November 30, 2009

Lunch: After church, I took my parents to Fortune Chinese Seafood Restaurant (10901 N Lamar Blvd # D, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 835-8889‎) for Cantonese dim sum. We had a variety of dishes ranging from shaomai (steamed pork and mushroom dumplings) to chicken feet to congee. Overall, Tina and I felt that the dim sum was significantly better than what we had at Shanghai Chinese Restaurant on Middle Fiskville Rd. The tofu skin wrapped meat and vegetable rolls really missed the mark while the pork ribs were underseasoned (a bare hint of black bean sauce was detectable), but the rest of the dishes were quite decent. At this point, if I want dim sum while I'm in Austin, this is the place I'm going to go to fulfill that desire.

Dinner: We had another family gathering for dinner tonight (my parents, Tina's parents, Tina, and myself) at our new house. We had picked up some roasted and barbecued (Chinese-style) meats from First Chinese Barbecue Restaurant (10901 N Lamar Blvd # D, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 835-8889‎) earlier in the day - half a roast duck, half a soy sauce chicken, and a pound of Chinese barbecue pork. The duck and the chicken were quite good, but the pork was a little low in flavor (the seasoning hadn't penetrated deeply enough into the tender loin). I cooked a dish of turnip greens, Tina made a tomato and egg soup as well as a vinegared potato and celery dish, and Tina's parents brought over some shrimp cooked in Chinese BBQ sauce, potatoes and green beans, & cooked soybeans, and my parents provided the cong you bing (scallion pancakes) and cooked peanuts. It really was a family meal with everyone contributing a little.