This past Tuesday I held a Vietnamese sandwich tasting. 5 restaurants (Thanh Noi, Lee's, Don's, Givral's, and Alpha Bakery), 15 tasters, and a variety of preferences and dislikes.
Our favorites for grilled pork sandwiches were Givral's and Don's. Thanh Noi was a close third. My top two favorites were Givral's and Thanh Noi.
Our favorites for combo sandwiches were Givral's and Lee's. Thanh Noi and Don's were tied for third. Surprisingly, a lot of our tasters didn't like combo sandwiches at all. My top two favorites were Don's and Givral's.
Will's thinking, "I could do this as my day job".
I was reviewing my tasting notes to determine my top choices.
Here are all the tasters! What should we taste test next?
Seven years outta high school and we still look pretty much the same.
Looking at my last post, it's hard to believe I haven't met up with those folks again. I had envisioned more get-togethers, but student teaching really sucked up a lot of my free time. Not that I'm complaining. I know work-life balance is important, but I think it's inevitable, for me at least, to focus more on work at the beginning.
I am glad though, that I finally coordinated a weekend trip that forced me to get out of the apartment, take a break from lesson planning and grading, and enjoy time with friends.
First up was my first dim sum experience in Austin with Nancy, Cristina, Corrine, Jack and Shelly (sp?). Corrine suggested Shanghai restaurant.
We ordered shu mai, ha gow, lo bo gao, chicken feet (made them try it!), black bean pork ribs, congee, sticky rice, shrimp stuffed jalapenos, rice noodles stuffed with shrimp and beef, bbq beef buns, egg custard, and tofu pudding.
Nancy: "Hurry up and take that picture so we can eat!"
While we were eating I tried to tell the stories of the lady on the moon (Chang E) and the story behind why we eat zhong zi, but I only remembered bits and pieces so totally bungled them :P.
After eating our fill of dim sum, we walked it off at McKinney Falls State Park.
Doesn't it look like they're walking on the surface of the moon?
At one point we bumped into a guy painted in all white who was apparently shooting a music video. He was gyrating and moving like a drunken ninja...
From left to right: Bianca (the dog), Corrine, Cristina, Nancy, and Boo (the other dog).
We had to walk over some logs to cross a few puddles and streams. Getting the dogs over actually proved to be quite a challenge!
Check out the fall foliage in Texas! Nancy is modeling for the J. Crew catalog.
Picture of Nancy before she dove in. ;)
I contemplated jumping across the gap, but then figured I'd probably split my head open.
More photos:
The Upper Falls.
Sid Girls to the rescue!
Sid Girls chillaxin'.
Some people were swimming in the falls.
This was interesting looking succulent. Reminded me of sea beans.
Cristina and her babies.
Even though Cristina brought the dogs water, they couldn't resist drinking from the bacteria infested puddles.
Bianca's sexy pose.
Corrine enjoying the view.
Places to visit next: Franklin Barbecue, Enchanted Rock, Ethiopian restaurant.
Last night me and a few of my UTeach mates (and siblings/friends) came out to "Not Your Mama's Food Truck" to eat and catch up!
I got the bbq beef tongue. Mmmm lengua!
from left to right: Katie (aka Ms. Smith), Dave (aka Mr. Walker), Yamina (Katie's roomie), and Veronica (aka Ms. Twining).
Not pictured: Diane (aka Ms. Wu) and Jessica (Veronica's sis)
Take 2!
The food was awesome, but unfortunately the recent downpour caused the mosquitoes to come out and eat us alive (those of us with shorts on at least).
Here's Dave's itchy mosquito dance:
Food + Monopoly Deal + UTeachers = awesome Saturday night. You know you're with a group of teachers when you disband at 9pm to go do some work (aka grade or lesson plan :P).
My yogurt was expiring in a few days, so I thought about how I could use it all up. Thought about a chicken marinade, but then I'd have to buy chicken... so I settled on making yogu-pops!
"yogo-pops" sounds so much catchier, as does "wi-fi"...I personally say "wi-fee" and titter to myself :).
Strawberry-Yogurt Popsicles makes 4-6, depending on the size of your molds
1 pint strawberries, cored and quartered 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 cup Greek style yogurt*
I just used Dannon low fat yogurt and it turned out fine. I also quartered frozen strawberries (since they were going to be frozen anyway) and it tasted good.
At first I was just going to blitz everything in the blender and then throw the mixture into the molds, but Will insisted that boiling the strawberries in water with sugar would help the berries release their natural pectins, so I reluctantly followed the directions. It's worth it, brings out the strawberry flavors.
I'm not sure if my IKEA popsicle molds are unusually tiny, but I had a lot of mix left over after filling all four slots. I resorted to pouring the rest of the liquid into ice trays, thereby creating yogu-cubes!
Hannah, you should try this recipe, it's really delicious!
