Smoked Salt & Pepper

My husband and son picked out pretty flowers for me and I picked out some groceries, then son played in some dirt next to chickens, then we (probably broke a rule 😬) and played pretend on some small Kubota farm equipment. It was a nice morning to visit  https://www.boggycreekfarm.com/  .  I also got 2 beautiful handmade ceramic cups (along with local ground beef, green eggplant, honeycomb, red jalapeño, coffee, pastries and sparkling water)

Reid and I know some of the coolest people. Maybe I'm biased, but we think our friends are cool. One of our friends is named Josh Eilers and he has a Wagyu beef ranch in Austin. For those who aren't huge meat eaters, Wagyu beef is a very special, very expensive type of beef with insanely high intramuscular fat marbling. That's what makes beef really tender and flavorful. So Wagyu beef, which is a Japanese breed of cows, make really good and amazing steaks. Among other things. My son, John, is about 2 years-old. He is going through that, "the cow says..." phase of his development. We know dogs bark, and cats meow, and chickens...make chicken noises. And tigers ROAR!!!! As do dinosaurs. As do bears...etc. John's been to a few zoos. So we've seen some of these animals in real life, but besides our long car rides through the Texas state, we've never introduced John to a cow up close. And I want my son to know about food. And where food com...

Custom cookies or baked goods are a sure fire way to my heart. Hayley Cakes and Cookies were randomly introduced to me via Instagram and my Insta-savvy cousin, Yvi. Yvi lives in the Los Angeles area of California. How she stumbled upon Hayley Cakes beats me, but once she shared their instagram page I was sold. So since I was the designated 'local,' I had to peep into their store and buy some cookies. Ok, I bought a ton of cookies. Like a bucket-full. Or pants-load full (Dragons Love Tacos reference here for those who aren't in the know ;) ) I was like that's cute. and that one. and that one. ooo that one, too! They weren't for me, so they were guilt-free cookies. The first box I purchased were for Reid's grandmother, Mimi. Mimi, or Margaret Bolding, is amazing. She's like, this super-hero woman who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live ( no joke, check those commercial breaks) and can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. Mimi is one o...

Every year for Christmas, and sometimes for Thanksgiving (our family aren't huge turkey eaters), my mom makes her famous roast beef for my entire dad's side of the family.  It's something everyone has come to look forward to.  I think once she said she was going to make Osso Bucco or something else and I was like, No!!!!! you can't not make the roast beef!!!!  Many people have asked for the recipe and a few have tried to replicate, but no one in our family will be the roast beef queen like my mom is.  So, we definitely need to have this recipe here for prosperity. It's a relatively simple recipe but the key is to buy a really good quality piece of roast.  My mom says the key is to get certified black angus ribeye bone-in roast.  The best cut is between rib 6 and 12 so it's good to befriend your local butcher :)  Mom says it's pricey, maybe a little over $100 for a 6-8 lb roast, but that's what makes it so good. Mom's Famous Roast Beef For one 6-...

We celebrated Tet this year in Houston with my family and it was loads of fun and excitement for John.  I made red longevity noodles for the first time and looked with forlorn envy as everyone ate my aunt's bun bo hue, I skipped out on my mom's homemade banh tet,  and even bypassed my birthday cake.  Ok, it was only 1/3 of my birthday cake.  It was the 'February birthdays' birthday cake within my dad's family and I actually brought it so there was no surprise there.  All this sacrifice and withholding is due to my new resolution to try a month-long elimination diet trial. You heard right, I'm attempting Whole30! But Christine, you freaking love grains, alcohol, added sugar, legumes and dairy! Why yes, I do, but for the sake of my continued health, and to see if there is a nutrition-related link with Bell's Palsy (every holistic health person tells me this), I'm going to do some self-experimentation.  Let's see if cutting out sugar, grains, alcoho...

(This is an update of my 2017 Austin Best Eats guide) When I moved to Austin over 10 years ago from Houston, finding Vietnamese restaurants helped me with my homesickness.  When I don't have the time to cook or want to eat out, some of these places have been solid!  I think the Austin Vietnamese scene has really blossomed over the last few years as Vietnamese food has become more mainstream.   Vietnamese food in Austin is plentiful! Sometimes, you just need to know where to look.  Here is just a SAMPLING of a few popular places around town.   The  hours and addresses are listed and website linked when possible.   If I left out your favorite, please  comment below! In an effort to keep this post from being  repetitive  or way too long, I left out places my fellow food blogger over at  The Smoking Ho has included in his Banh Mi roundup .  888 Pan Asian Vietnamese Cuisine * 2400 E. Oltorf Suite 1A, Austin, TX 7...

I took a road trip with my dog, Jake, to Marfa, TX a few weekends ago.  It was a much needed recharge/self-care retreat and good bonding time with my #1 buddy.  Jake is 13 years old, which is getting up there as far as lab mixes go.  I adopted him from the Austin Humane Society when I was in undergraduate and volunteering as a dog walker and dog trainer there.  He was so smart and picked up commands so quickly, I easily fell in love with him.  Jake moved with me to College Station and endured the tortures of being a vet student's pet (helping me with anatomy by letting me palpate his bones; allowing me to practice surgery when I volunteered him for a stomach tacking surgery called a gastropexy).  He was my first buddy before I met Reid.  In fact, I always have to remind Reid that if it hadn't been for Jake, we would never have started dated.  We had Jake in our wedding. He has welcomed a cat in our household.  Well, not so much as welc...

Another year of feeding ourselves is behind us, and here we are, scraping the dried bits of dough off the kitchen counter, scrubbing the sheet pans that worked so hard, or replacing the 9-by-13-inch casserole dishes we forgot to retrieve at summer and fall potlucks. Anyone who cooks knows that it’s often a thankless job, yet one so necessary. But when there is creativity or inspiration... http://www.mystatesman.com/lif estyles/food--cooking/readers- instagram-posts-help-inspire- holiday-cold-weather-cooking/u cTNxQFqcWaDMEcG6LVkTN/ My photo was in the Austin-American Statesman newspaper! love, C

I have only made pho on my own a total of two or three times ever.  Mostly because making it means committing to having a giant pot's worth and babysitting the broth either overnight or the entire day.  But, it was starting to feel like fall recently and so, I bit the bullet.  Plus, we had help in town to finish up some of it! Pho bo , or beef pho, is relatively simple to make.  Probably the hardest part is acquiring all the ingredients and scheduling some time to make the broth.  And having a giant pot.  I bought all the ingredients at my local Vietnamese grocery store and it costs less then $30!!! Can't beat that.  Although braving the parking lot and streets in Chinatown are no joke.  I literally had to translate Vietnamese/English for a lady who hit an old man's car while trying to back out of her parking spot. They were trying to file a police report as I was walking into the grocery store and flagged me down to help.  Thank goodness...

Getting together the Austin Foob Bloggers' 2017 City Guide and checking out some Vietnamese places I hadn't been yet.    Mi Xa Xiu at Cyclo Restaurant

I am so excited about the upcoming Austin Food Blogger Alliance's Colossal Curry Cook-off on April 16th!  The event will help us fund raise a little and we all get to eat all kinds of delicious curry. Win-Win! You can buy tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/colossal-curry-cook-off-tickets-22359130762   Hope to see some of y'all there! I haven't admittedly always been a fan of curry (must've inherited that from my dad), but hubby is and he's slowly converting me over to a curry lover.  Curry has such an aromatic quality to it.  I'm not going to even get started on how good it makes your house smell! It's all warm and soothing.  Really filling, too!  I especially love how diverse curry is.  I'm sure every family has their own blend of spices and ingredients to make their curry special. This is my Vietnamese curry, Ca Ri Ga .  What makes it a bit different from Indian curry is the addition of lemongrass.  This recipe is a cross betwee...

This year, like every year, Reid and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day in.  I think there is very little desire, for most people, to fight the crowds, reservations and hastle of going out on Valentine's Day.  Heck, if you've been together for more than a year, or are older than 8 years old, you probably don't even celebrate Valentine's Day anymore. Well, we still celebrate Valentine's, even though we know it's a stupid, not-historically-accurate, Hallmark-sponsored holiday.  Mostly because it's an excuse to eat chocolate.  And pamper each other a little.  And give each other cheesy cards like this one I made Reid: From Julius So we often end up just having a nice meal in.  This year I'm making a cheese plate (thanks to my Antonelli's cheese of the month subscription), linguine with lobster in garlic cream sauce, and chocolate molten cake.  I also made some last minute chocolate covered strawberries. So excited about my...