Food trucks in Austin

A visit to Austin is never complete without a visit to the “Hey Cupcake” food truck. The yummiest cupcakes from the cutest trailer on South Congress Ave.; the mecca of all that is trendy and hip in Austin. On a recent trip we discovered that the Hey Cupcake trailer now has a few new friends and having just returned from a food truck filled weekend in Austin I can confirm that the food truck explosion in Austin is a great thing!
We sampled the following:
G’raj Mahal: Okay technically this is not just a food truck. It is a food truck with lots of sheltered seating, you have to be seated and you are served by one of the wonderful wait staff. We went at 8 pm on a Saturday night and we had a 45 minute wait, but we waited at the nicest bar across the street, Clive Bar. The bar was quiet, softly lit and we noticed many people at the bar had ordered in food from across the street, yup the G’raj Mahal! The G’raj Mahal does not have a liquor license and so you can bring your own wine and beer or do what our fellow drinkers at the bar did! We waited to be seated, and I am really glad we did. The ambience at the G’raj Mahal was perfect, all candlelight’s and soft lights, the live music  was perfect Austin laid back folksy and the food was so good and we were so full we really enjoyed the walk back to hotel.

G'raj Mahal

The following late morning /early afternoon we made our way to South Congress Ave. and decided to try out some of the different food trucks, we grabbed coffee/chai at a friendly coffee truck and we split a Mighty Cone. I had thought this was a slushie place, but it is not! Special recipe breaded, (including sesame seeds, almonds, arbol chili flakes, sea salt, sugar and corn flakes) chicken, shrimp or avocados or a combination thereof in a tortilla in a cone with a mango and and jalapeno slaw and ancho sauce mmmmmm! We then walked down to Crepe Mille and sampled a savory omelet crepe which was green (different for a crepe) but delicious. Fed and watered we ended our food truck adventure wandering around the random market stalls and window shopping and just basking in the artsy funkiness that is South Congress Ave.

Crepe Mille

The Mighty Cone

Why did we love the food trucks so much, sure the novelty was fun! But the food really was very good, which is probably the most important factor, it is not just a bunch of hot dog and donought/donut stands; there were plenty of choices and healthy and vegetarian options too. But for urban dwellers it is a joy to see vacant unused sad parcels of land suddenly fill up with colourful trucks and trailers serving delicious food to crowds of people on foot. This is another major factor, the foot traffic, brings the community outside, you no longer drive from home to restaurant and back again you walk around, you mingle you may stop by one of the stores and buy something and everyone is a winner. Finally all of those food truck owners and employees are able to develop a business with few overheads and from what we witnessed soaring profits.

Baking with vegetables

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/computix/59405056/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/computix/

The title of this blog needs no explanation. But to give some context; we have been committed to Urban Acres for some time now. They are our local organic farm store, which provides a co-op style produce (fruits and vegetables) system. We are members of the co-op and every fortnight (2 weeks) we pick up a box of produce, most of which is local; all of which is organic and in season. The joy of this system is that it has introduced me to cooking with many vegetables that I would never have cooked with including turnips (great turnip, sweet potato and potato recipe here), butternut squash (the BEST recipe ever involving butternut squash, chick peas and a zesty lemon and tahini dressing; here). Mustard greens, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, fennel the list is endless……..

The other joyful aspect of the veggie box is that as we share it with our friend, LizinBigD, we are constantly exchanging recipes and on the lookout for new and wonderful things to do with our veggies. (No need to be dirty *eyes rolling and exasperated sigh*) She has recently been gifted with a juicer and so is happy juicing away the dozens of carrots and beets we have been in receipt of recently.

We are sadly lacking in a juicer but I have discovered a new and probably not so healthy ways in which to consume the carrots and beets we have been overwhelmed with recently. This brings me to the slightly frustrating aspect of the produce box, as it is seasonal we are literally overwhelmed with carrots or beets or kale and then we get none of the above and are overloaded with apples etc.

This frustration of mine clearly indicates the times in which we live. In moments of weakness i.e when I see two dozen carrots in my box for the third week in a row, I do get frustrated with the seasonal aspect of our veggies! But this is how people lived for thousands of years and it is literally only in the last 50 or so years where we have been able to fly the kiwi fruit across the planet for my eating pleasure and we have been able to hot house strawberries throughout the winter months. As we all know an organic seasonal fruit or vegetable can tickle our taste buds in a way a hot house tomato fails to do and carbon miles on our greens is not helping our planet stay healthy. So being seasonal, local and organic means that we will get two dozen carrots for the third week in a row and in my stronger moments i.e after a big slice of carrot cake, I am grateful for this. Not only do I feel healthy (erm obviously not after having obliterated the carrot cake), I feel I am doing my bit for local farmers, local businesses, the organic farming community and the earth.

Ahem; apologies for the distractions and finally moving on to the baking aspect of this blog post and how to consume carrots and beets in an unhealthy way. Although at least you know how much sugar goes into your deserts and a little of the sweet stuff is always always a good thing?  Carrots are easy; a yummy moist carrot cake with a wicked cream cheese frosting, recipe link here. I recently tried to bake carrot cake “cup cakes” with a certain degree of success.

The odd combination of beets and chocolate intrigued me. However these yummy not too sweet earthy cakes or to be more specific muffins went down a treat with many. The golden yellow beets that I used were gorgeous baked and I set some aside for salads with goat cheese, another match made in heaven. I failed to take pictures; if we are blessed with beets again I will recreate and post pictures.

Where in those from Old England experience New England

We recently returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Boston. We had a wonderful visit, the Thanksgiving feast was prepared primarily by our wonderful hostess and it was amazing! I think there was only one American at the table, but the turkey, cranberry, sweet potatoes; pie etc would have made any American proud! Thanksgiving in the US celebrates the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony giving thanks for surviving their first brutal winter in New England. But as ever with traditions and legends, history is often a lot more complex and controversial. If you care to; you can scroll down to the section headed, “Controversy” in the above wiki leak. Also an interesting BBC podcast about the issue can be found here. We did listen to this podcast on our trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts 

The trip to Plymouth was interesting for all of us, including our 6 year old companion (nephew of our friends) who had just been learning all about the pilgrims and Thanksgiving at school. The weather was beautiful, it was a little chilly but the blue skies and the sunshine did little to remind us of the brutal winter the first pilgrims would have given thanks for back in the 17th century. It is always an interesting reminder that these first pilgrims came out of Oliver Cromwell’s religious separatists and puritans. The Native Americans story is now no longer relegated to the footnotes of history as it once may have been. The pilgrims would have encountered the Wampanoag tribe when they disembarked from the Mayflower, although their encounter did little to remind them that this New England was not an unpopulated land. We did do the tourist thing in Plymouth and visit the Plimoth Plantation. An open air museum, which is slightly expensive and a bit contrived but an interesting experience nonetheless.The Mayflower II was the second old boat we saw in Boston. The first was the USS Constitution, we were shown around by a US Navy Sailor. The USS Constitution the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. The HMS Victory is the oldest naval ship still in commission, but she sits in dry dock in Portsmouth, UK.

Our friends are active and interesting tour guides, even more impressive as they have only just moved to Boston. There is no need for an official guide when you have well informed friends; as we walked parts of the Freedom Trail. We climbed the 296 steps of The Bunker Hill Monument , we were rewarded by the pretty views of Boston from the top. The Bunker Hill Monument (A National Park) marks the first major battle of the American Revolution, this is the site of one of the most famous battle orders; "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" Another famous quote from the American Revolution is the cry, “The British are coming.” This warning was provided by Paul Revere and we stopped by his house near Little Italy.

Whilst in Little Italy or North End we enjoyed a delicious warming Italian feast and splurged on cannelloni’s from Mikes Pastry Shop. And the food did not stop there, I think I had the best hot chocolate ever as we walked around Cambridge. The nicest surprise was that we discovered that Boston is not home to one but two Wagagmamas. Of course we indulged and it was superb! The other reminders of home were the terraced red brick houses, Quincy Market similar to Covent Garden, Boston Common and Boston Public Garden similar to the parks in London, and the shopping; Hotel Chocolat, H&M, Zara and French Connection UK. On a side note I decided to boycott FCUK due to their sexist window display which read, “The Man endures the holiday season and the Woman prepares for the holidays.”

We also made it to the venerable academic institutions that are MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where we saw the Frank Gehry building and Harvard. Finally but not least we also went to the JFK Presidential library. Living in Dallas for the last (gasp) nearly 4 years, we have visited the Sixth Floor Museum  a few times. So it was really nice to spend so much time at JFK’s library, which is a must see; if you are ever in Boston. (As a side note I am still trying to locate President Bartlett's library?)

We also returned to the Library to listen to a very interesting lecture on, “Voting Rights in the Kennedy Years.”  It was a fascinating and moving talk by Judge Gordon A. Martin  who discussed his new book Count Them One by One:  Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote, about the 1962 court case that resulted in one of the first victories for voting rights in the South.  Judge Martin was joined by John Doar, who worked for the Justice Department under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and successfully tried the case.  

And so ended our wonderful tour of Boston, New England a historic, beautiful and fun place; our friends provided the warmest welcome and whilst we are sad that they are no longer around the corner from us here in Dallas we are very thankful that they were able to host us in their new home, Boston.

why cheese is great - or 'just one cheese'

Jigna's post about supper clubs has inspired me to do another 'why *** is great' post.  CHEESE is brilliant.  NO really stop and imagine a life without cheese.  There are so many different kinds of cheese, unique and different and yummy, can be eaten by themselves, with bread, biscuits, crackers, as part of a main meal, starter or dessert, paired with fruit nuts chocolate and booze. its brilliant.

Now ask yourself this question:

If you could only eat one kind of cheese for the rest of your life, which cheese would you pick and why?

I ask this as it is something I have often discussed with many of my friends, and everyone has a different answer....

some say Mature Cheddar - cos its so versatile, melt it, sandwiches, etc

someone said Hallumi / Helim - because its salty goodness is unrivalled

another person said Stilton - just cos its a fave

someone I know said they couldn't live without feta

I think I'd go with Camembert - gooey ripe and perfect.  But it would be an incredibly difficult decision really cos I LOVE all cheese.

I have been surprised by some people saying they'd pick Parmesan (parmigiana), smoked cheese, Boursin, Edam, Gorgonzola, mozzarella - but there is of course so much choice and people all have different favourites!  

It is getting wintery and cold here in London and perfect cheese and biscuits weather  - my favourite right now is some Stilton, Brie and Port Salut with a yummy glass of red wine or port. Delicious, I am so glad I don't have to pick just one cheese!   This year I am going to get cheese from neal's yard  at  Christmas - I am really looking forward to it!!

Supper clubs

Picture credit: 

http://dublinbusdisco.blogspot.com/2009/06/

neal-schtumm-guestmixes-for-dancing.html

-stay-healthy/

Traditionally Supper Clubs have different meanings according to where and when in the world you are, at least according to Wikipedia . We went to a “Supper Club” last month, hosted by the fabulous: Light Bulb Oven. The modern take on a “Supper Club” where a professional chef cooks and entertains guests at a private residence or space, there is a “donation” but it is not a restaurant and it is not permanent, the menu, location and times vary, chefs get to experiment and show off their skills without having to make a long term investment in a restaurant and the guests get to chow down on a yummy feast hopefully amidst great company too. The concept has become hugely popular in major cities, across the US. When I mentioned to Dhara that we were planning on attending a Supper Club, she was excited, apparently it is becoming popular in London too, and so a promise was made that we would try to go to one next time we are home. It is a strange concept, part private dinner party, with people you do not necessarily know, and part restaurant, a strange hybrid. We have to admit we were a little nervous going to spend a precious Saturday evening with strangers. We have experienced pretentious foodies in the past and so we were a little wary. But we had committed so we went along and we are so glad we did. The feast was indeed fabulous and we did indeed luck out on the seating as we ended up sat with the host and her friends, who were lovely and we look forward to seeing much more of them all! The chef was brilliant and she taught us how to present a cheese plate. Your cheese plate is set out like a clock face and you start with the mildest at 6pm and then onwards around clockwise ending with your strongest, which is usually the blue, in between the cheese you have the pair-ings, grapes etc. The chef had paired a blue cheese with dark chocolate which sounds weird, but is really good. Love cheese! Our first Supper Club was a very satisfactory culinary experience.

Picture credit: http://www.wdexpo.org/2010/05/28/eat-cheese-stay-healthy/

Books 2010 - Pratchett

I genuinely haven’t been reading that many books over the last couple of months, just enjoying reading newspapers and magazines (particularly at the weekend), catching up with blogs and also watching lots of rubbish telly. But the other day a book arrived that I’ve been keen to get for a while: Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook - A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information including Astonishing Recipes

Nanny Ogg is a discworld witch – and who is basically a bawdy, pervy, smart and hilarious woman. This book is a discworld spin off, and has some recipes and etiquette guide, and as its 'written' by Nanny Ogg its basically just a load of innuendo, quasi-phallic, nudge-nudge-wink-wink type stuff, with strong feminist and anti monarchist undertones, and can really make you laugh out loud. I haven’t tried any of the recipes out but I plan to, and I think I’ll start with the chocolate delight with special secret sauce, and also maybe the sticky toffee rat onna stick….

Whilst it does stand alone, I recommend that you read this book after you have enjoyed a couple of the witches discworld novels so you get the in jokes and shout outs. It’s quite easy to dip into every now and then, or read in one sitting, as I did.

In search of the perfect gin and tonic

Have you ever found yourself in a pub or bar feeling a little disappointed with your drink? A spirit with a mixer that’s a bit flat? Not enough ice? Could have done with a squeeze of lemon or a wedge of lime? How about a drink that is served a glass that you’re not sure is right? Or how about the opposite – when you get served a drink which has been mixed, fixed, shaken or stirred exactly as you like – even if you didn’t know you’d like it that way when you ordered it? have you ever been blown away by the sharp taste of lime that’s been rubbed on the rim of your glass? or ridiculously enjoyed a drink served in a frozen glass?

Well, as far as spirits and mixers go, the great Gin and Tonic is a firm favourite with all three Vyas sisters - and with many of our friends too. Its fresh, refreshing, light, specific tasting and very yummy. By the power of twitter (and as a result of numerous late night conversations down the pub over the years) we finally got round to holding a G&T club a few weeks ago – with our esteemed friends and co conspirators (and hosts for the night) @headbones and @DeepaUnadkat - also @Stef_W and the non gin fan @anish_rana were in attendance. We’ll be taking it in turns to host, as we continue on our quest to find the perfick G&T, but here is a quick rundown of what we tasted and tested at our first club night:

Gins:	Tonics:	We also had a choice of:
Tanqueray Martin Millers Bombay Saphire, Gordons Greenalls	Fevertree - diet Fevertree – regular Fentimans Waitrose own Tesco’s own with a hint of lime	Lime Ice Ice with grated lime zest frozen in it Stemless martini glass Lowball glass

Winner:

To tell you the truth (and unsurprisingly) there wasn’t a clear cut winner – although we all agreed that Martin Millers (has anyone heard of it?!) was a surprisingly good gin, with a fresh yet smooth cool taste – almost cucumber like. I think my second favourite was tanqueray. Fentimens tonic was the most exciting (cos of the packaging) and fever tree tasted crisp.

We need to draw lots on whether me or @roopavyas host the next one…watch this space for results. (photo credit - squaremeal.com)

Walking in Spring

Over the weekend we went out with friends, dinner and a play. Not so unusual, except for two things:

1. We walked to dinner and the theatre

2. The play was by university/college theatre students.

This is Dallas, walking anywhere is unusual, unless you are walking as a form of exercise and wear the appropriate clothing. It was a great way to enjoy the lovely spring weather and I am so glad our friends suggested that we walk. The total distance walked was around 4 miles, a nice spring leisurely stroll. On the way to the theatre we enjoyed a lovely Italian dinner sitting out on the porch and to finish off the night we stopped to enjoy a yummy chocolate desert. The walking definitely counterbalanced the cheesy pasta and rich chocolate, very nicely.

“Theatre” is not exactly the best way to describe the small room where we ended up watching the play, “The Pillowman”, but the very cosy “theatre” was perfect for this dark comedy, which was well preformed by the students. It was a little strange at first to be a part of an audience for such a small production, but you never know we may have just witnessed the early first steps of a successful thespians career?

Not knowing anything about the play before showing up, the first act was tough going and that shock really did jolt us; especially as we were in the front row and about as close to the actors as you could get without actually being right up there on the stage with them. During the second act the actors and the play itself comes into its own and you are sucked into the narrative and the storytelling, which are the true stars of the play.

The walking also assisted in the post show analysis, the conversation turned to why Football (American) should be a major in its own right, but I think that topic will have to be another post for another time. Jigna

Why I love hotel bars.......

• quiet - so you can have a conversation
• nice drinks
• seats
• nice service

All the above was true in my 20's and is true now. I am aware that the above may make me seem older than my years. However when I am out for a drink with friends, the above over-rides any desire to be young, hip and trendy in a crowded, noisy bar with crappy drinks. Of course nowadays with trendy bars in hotels not all hotel bars fit the above category. But when I am looking for a quiet place for a nice drink and a natter with friends, the hotel bar in the Radisson in Leeds was always our default. The other night we ended up at the Library Bar at the Melrose Warwick hotel in Dallas. We ended up discussing the joys of hotel bars. I thought, well this is something I need to share. Jigna

Why jacket potatoes are great

We haven't done any 'great' posts for a while, and this is a dish truly worthy of being described as 'great'.

The humble potato can be cooked in many many ways – mashed potato is the ultimate comfort food, and chips are phenomenal, but you can also boil, sauté and roast them. You can make thin french (or freedom) fries, or thick chip shop style chips, potato wedges, potato dauphinoise, potato salad – with seasoning, herbs and spices the sky really is the limit. And that’s before you even begin to consider the varieties of potato you can get – jersey royals, new potatoes, king edwards, maris pipers, anya’s – and those are just the few I know – according the British Potato Council there are thousands grown around the world, including 80 commercial varieties in Great Britain (I know – hilarious: and it was only set up in 1997, not, as I’d assumed seeped in some historical urgency, demonstrating the centuries old British love of the spud. No – this administration set it up and the next will probably abolish it. And then they wonder where political apathy stems from: success governments who piffle around the edges, political parties who cannot just agree on the need for some basic and important independent state funded organisations.)

Back to the matter at hand - why single out the humble jacket potato? Because it is, quite simply unbeatable. It’s a great hangover lunch. It’s good for an easy- yet filling- supper. how can anyone not enjoy a jacket spud??? But I think its quite a British way to eat a potato: my best mate said they were the one thing she missed whilst traveling. And the fillings: oh where do I start on the fillings?? Lets start simply and build it up:

• Butter, salt and pepper – simple yet satisfying, and a great carb side with a steak.
• Sour cream – very American, nice on its own, or again as a side.
• Grated cheddar cheese is where the spud comes into its own: a meal within itself, you need nothing with this, great when you are getting over a tummy bug and need simple filling food.
• Grated cheese and baked beans – oh how I love this filling. So quintessentially British. Who else would put baked beans into a baked potato fill it with cheese and squidge the lot together? My mouths watering already. This is often my hungover lunchtime choice.
• Tuna (often with mayonnaise and sweetcorn) – nice – I find you have to be in the mood, and not too much mayo. Corn adds a nice sweeness.
• Chilli or veggy chilli nice for dinner, particularly in the winter next to a roaring pub fire, with a big salad or some steamed veg and glass of red wine….
• Broccoli and cheese (the kind of cheese you use changes the taste of this completely – mature cheddar is great, but a salty creamy blue cheese, like stilton is phenomenal) – an amazing summer supper, with a crisp green salad and cold glass of dry white wine. This is a firm fave with me and S this summer.
• A nice spicy twist is to stir fried peppers and mushroom with chilli and spices, and grate some red Leicester cheese– split the potatoes, scoop out the inside leaving the ‘jackets’ to one side: mix it all together then carefully re-fill the jackets sprinkle some cheese on top then grill.

I won’t go on, but you get the idea – so many variations its too difficult to attempt to even list them all, but some others include garlic mushrooms, coleslaw, baked beans, gooey cheese like camembert, steamed green beans, stir fried veg, and many more classic combo’s such as cheese and sweetcorn, bacon and brie etc etc. you can mix it up and there are NO rules - just try different things and see what you like: most things taste better in a jacket potato.

“What kind of potato and how do I make this simple feast!?”

Choose the spud you want (the potato council has some ideas) and then stick them in the oven for as long as it takes to have crispy shells and soft fluffy insides. In my view, microwaved jacket potatoes are an abomination and should be banned.

Every mouthful of a good jacket potato is a joy - and that my friends, is why the jacket potato is great.

a belated birthday weekend for the best mum in the world

Last weekend we gave the supremely wonderful woman, our mother Surekha Vyas a very belated birthday present. She began the fun filled weekend on Friday night with a glass of gold champagne on arrival in st pancras. This was swiftly followed by a lovely picnic for me S and mum watching the weird and wonderful fous de basin . The next morning the sun was shining brightly, Roopa arrived early and off we went. The tomcat wasn’t very well so we took S’s car and went from London to kent to sussex to kent to sussex….and ended up at Carr Taylor vineyard in east sussex. We were taken on a tour of the vineryard, learnt lots about wine and then (our favourite bit) some wine tasting!! The wine was lovely, and it was interesting to talk about the different tastes (we didn’t all enjoy the same ones at all, but the one we all agreed one and I think we would all recommend is the carr taylor brut - third one down. Its crisp and quite dry with a very slight fruity finish. Yummy).

We then had a lovely big ploughman’s lunch and went on to do some art. The artist Katie Sollhub was great, and she took us through some different techniques which we all enjoyed trying out.

We purchased lots of wine (naturally- Vyas’s on tour etc etc) went to our hotel drank a bottle then ended the day with a wander round winchelsea (pretty but dull - see pictiure) and a big dinner.

The next was it was ridiculously sunny again, woke early and went to Rye – but the weather so gorgeous we ended up in Camber – golden sands and sunshine.

All in all a fantastic weekend (with thanks to Ben, Georgie, Katie and all those at Carr Taylor who helped make Saturday fab)

Roops – add some photos to this post?!

Introducing Texans to hot tea, one by one

We are British and of Indian origin which means that our hot tea (with milk)/chai drinking is really rooted in our heritage, culture, background, basically in all that we are, (when I say we, here I mean my husband and I). When we arrived in Texas we were astonished to find that some people had never heard of drinking hot tea (with milk), imagine our shock, our horror! 

We have since introduced a few Texans to hot tea with milk (well, okay one). We switched cable/internet service providers, they had to come out to connect it all up and the nice guy that came out, entered our home just as the kettle was switched on (serendipity, happy coincidence, fate or kismet?). As he had never had a cup of hot tea (with milk), we offered him one and he accepted. It was a chilly day (yes they do happen in Dallas, once in while!) and so he really appreciated the hot drink. He really enjoyed it, and we polished off his cultural experience, by offering him a chocolate digestive - we showed him how to dunk. Jigna.

Vital cocktail information:

Vital cocktail information: please refer to Victoria Moore's article/blog on the Guardian website, thank you Ms Moore. Mmmmm could murder a G&T. I dunno why but the tonic water in the US just tastes funny, I have to get the imported expensive kind from "special" shops? Jigna 

Picture credit: screaming-eagles.com/ 2009/03/benny-and-the-nets