St. Phillips Plaza Farmer's Market

This Sunday event brings a ton of veggies and other goodies to buy.  It's a great way to start the morning and peruse the fresh produce.

This is not a monastery

Settled in the foothills, The Abbey has a great atmosphere with a great menu for hh!  Definitely ask how they got the name 'the abbey' when you go.  I thought it had something to do with Catholicism but it doesn't.  It has to do with the owner's daughter and it's a really cute story.

May 10, 2011

Celebrate and grab a Corona, 

b/c I'm moving to get my Master's at The University of Arizona!

Texas Wine Country

The Texas Wine Lovers Trail consists of all 27 wineries offering 1-3 tastings with a box of chocolates for $60 per couple. the tickets are good for 2 weekends in a row in case you really feel the need to attempt them all!

Mandola's Resturant

We started off with lunch at Mandola's, a restaurant next door to the Duchman Family winery.  We not only were greeted with a waiter who thought he was the next Elvis by his gigantic bouffant, stylish true religions, and visible wife beater under his white button down but this rosemary heart in oil for our bread dippings.  I'm not a big bread person but this had some great flave.  I ordered the asparagus salad which was amazing.  Not only were the asparagus roasted to perfection but the salad also had a delicious pesto  and sun dried tomato sauce.

The Duchman Winery, Driftwood, TX

This is listed as number 8 on the wine trail map and is roughly 25 minutes outside of Austin.  Here are a few favorites from our tastings:

Whites

1. Pinot Grigio: light in body with a refreshingly crisp and clean finish; offering slight hints of green apple, pear and citrus notes

2. Trebbiano: a poolside must! extremely light and cooling.

Reds

1. Montepulciano: A medium bodied dry red and one you can easily take to a dinner party without knowing the main dish. 

2. Aglianico: Spicy aromas of earth, tobacco and dreams of hearty 'Paul Bunan' man.

2nd stop: Driftwood Vineyards, Driftwood, TX [#6 on the trail map]
This place had incredible views--definitely the best we saw all day despite the 3 chosen wines for wine lover trail tasting.  I really don't understand why some vineyards choose their least favored wines or choose the 3 selections. People have such different palates and while some prefer sweet others prefer dry.  I think most people would agree they enjoyed the wineries giving them an array of options and actually providing the opportunity to purchase a bottle.  Needless to say we weren't very impressed with the sweet wine tasting at this vineyard but that's not to say their drier wines aren't good.  We didn't have the opportunity to try those.

3rd stop: Solaro Estate Winery, Dripping Springs, TX [#20 on the trail map]

As you drive up along the dirt road you're greeted by moos of the numerously playful black cows in the pens by the parking spots.  Don't be alarmed by the moos as we thought it was a small child yelling!  There was a polka at this one but more impressive was their outdoor setup for actual wine goers.  We got the shaft a bit being on the tour and were sectioned off to an outdoor tent for our tastings.  The Riesling here was great and surprisingly, not too sweet!

4th stop:  Texas Hills Vineyeard, Johnson City, TX [#23 on the trail map]
The Cabernet Franc: 'noble grapes' of France and are definitely something to write home about!  

5th Stop: William Chris Winery, Hye, TX [#26 on the trail map]
Nestled back in the woods in Hye, TX this quaint little winery was filled with good ole boys to greet you as you walked in and provide you with a detailed tasting selection.  They even had your typical, mellow bird dog roaming around inside with outdoor seating if you wanted to enjoy the scenery.


6th stop: Pedernales Cellars, Stonewall, TX [#14 on the trail map]

This was a quick stop seeing as though we still wanted to make it up the road to one of our favorites, Becker Vineyards.  We really enjoyed several of the reds made here:
1. Cabernet 2007: not as strong as what you typically think of when you hear cab but still exceptionally good.
2. Tempranillo: Winner! Their top seller for a reason as noted at first sip. It's full bodied and balanced with black cherries, coffee and a mineral finish.
3. The Family Reserve: heavily based with a merlot with portions of tempranillo, cabernet and sangiovese.  This red was good but not worth $50/per bottle.  The tempranillo out performed this one by a long shot in my book.
7th stop: Becker Vineyards, Stonewall, TX [#2 on the trail map]
I wrote about this one a while back at their annual grape stomp.  As usual this one did not disappoint and still remains a favorite.

Snow Day = Wine & Weed

Julia finally came by after being scared of the ice but with a little reassurance she braced the melted snow:) It was an afternoon of wine and 'Weeds.' This show is completely new to us and I had no clue the show was actually based on growing pot!

Winter Wonderland

It was a well wanted official Snow Day in Austin Friday! Majority of the schools were closed as well as many roads. First thought that came to our minds was Murchison Hill! A school close by with an awesome hill leading onto the track. We layered up, 'borrowed' a plastic pool from Sally's neighbors, grabbed a few cardboard boxes, a trashcan lid and we were off to sled the morning away with many others. People got really creative! This first pic is of a family who brought a surf board! We saw people on cookie sheets, in laundry baskets, a kayak, boogie boards and a nice bronze circular tray(this kid's mom probably doesn't realize her dining room centerpiece is missing just yet!). It was a really fun morning and I'm sad the snow has melted but thank you mother nature for the day off:)

Soap Nuts!

They’re actually the shell of a berry grown in the Himalayas and produce saponins (the ingredient which actually makes all the grime and stains release from our clothes).  These berries provide an organic way to wash your clothes without all the other harmful chemicals.  I recently purchased a sample bag of these and was pleasantly surprised!  Although they have a slight smell of vinegar your clothes do not take on this aroma and you can add ½  a cup of baking soda to get your stuff a little extra clean!

Check out Nature’s Wash for more details!