Downtown Austin Graffiti

Rediscovering Austin

today R, I, A and Mummy went to Town Lake Trail / Lady Bird Lake trail to kick start our four day weekend. Since our trip to Santa Fe was cancelled because of the wildfires in New Mexico, we decided to enjoy some local scenery instead. Of course with triple digit temperatures almost everyday and one of the hottest Junes on record behind us, we left for our little excursion early in the morning. Even at 8.30 am, the day felt warm and humid, though tolerable in the shade. We enjoyed feeding the ducks, turtles, fishes and of course the pigeons and crows, a first time for me and R since there are some things you can only do with kids. Its revealing how much the presence of A in our lives has made us slow down and enjoy the moment more than before. Earlier we would have walked along the trail briskly, with a passing glance at the ducks, and the beautiful vistas of downtown that you can see from various points on the trail. Now that we have to adjust A's much slower pace and his curiosity of the world around him, we see such things anew and come to appreciate it better. We were able to take plenty of photos of the serene waters and the gleaming skyline, made all the more beautiful because of the cloudy skies. In some ways, we felt like we saw something new in Austin. Taking Mummy around town has also had a similar effect. We pause and look at the trees and the terrain, and see it as not just the background for our lives, but something beautiful that should be appreciated and rejoiced in. 

Corn Chilli Soup

A long time back, R and I had gone to Austin Java Cafe for dinner. We always order their soup and sandwich special. I love soups and they always have a good soup on their daily specials. Our perennial favorite is the African Spicy Peanut Soup, but they had a jalapeno corn chowder that particular day which sounded intriguing. So I went ahead and ordered that. (I am the culinary adventurer of the couple, as you might be able to tell). It was fantastic. A smooth , slightly sweet corn soup with an underlying spicy smoky taste of jalapenos. I don't know how they make it, but I have been dying to recreate it or at least attempt it ever since. I finally got to try it out a few days back. I think theirs was a smooth corn texture, but I let about 1/4th of the corn stay whole and I ended up using Thai Birds Eye chillies instead of jalapenos.

I used about 20 ounces of sweet corn kernels and 8-10 Thai Birds Eye chillies. I covered the corn with about double the amount of water in my soup pot and set it to boil. While the corn was boiling, I stir fried the chilies in a little oil in a pan. When the corn boiled over once, I turned of the heat and let it cool a bit. Then I put about 3/4 of it along with the water from the soup pot in the blender along with the chillies. After pureeing it to a smooth consistency, I put the mixture back in the soup pot along with the remaining 1/4 of the whole corn kernels. I added about 2 tsps of salt and about 2 ounces of Velveeta cheese and let it boil for 10-15 minutes.

Living in Tacoland

After spending almost four years in Tacoland (Austin) with it's umpteen number of Taco Shacks, Taco Delis, Taco Cabanas and of course the ubiquitous Taco Bell, one tends to take the taco for granted. Though I did fall in love with the first ever potato egg cheese breakfast taco that I ever had (lots of hot salsa on the side, of course), nevertheless I have never gone somewhere just to eat tacos. Till I discovered Torchy's Tacos on South First - a humble mobile food place, it reminded me of the Chinese ( really Indian Chinese) food vendors near University Circle in Pune. Though our moms frowned at our eating there, and the food was not perhaps the best (nostalgia makes everthing taste better), it was always a fun place to go to with my friends, sit on our two wheelers, munching chicken lollipops and eating spicy chicken Manchurian with fried rice.

Torchys reminded me a little of the same, though it is located at a much prettier setting, by the side of a creek with red lanterns strung on tree branches. However the rest of it is bare basic functional with a few plastic chairs and tables between the two mobile foot eateries. The food is good and justifies the line of people always seen there. The first time I went there, I had the monthly special Cool Runner taco comprising of Jamaican Jerk Chicken, avocado, mango, cheese and freshly squeezed lemon in a flour tortilla. It was so good that my Ranch Hand ( I hope I remember the name correctly here) taco paled in comparison and I don't recollect it at all. It wasn't bad at all, but the Cool Runner just completely overshadowed it. The unusual combination of the spicy Jamaican Jerk Chicken with the sweet- sour mango flavor and the smooth avocado and a squeeze of lemon juice was just delicious. I was left thinking if only I had ordered two of the same. Two were plenty of food for lunch and more than enough motivation to convince R to make the trip back with me some day.

The next time we went, we also had our friend A ( always willing to try something new), all of us ravenous after a 5k ( to be honest, I walked). We got done with the 5k around 11 am, a perfect time to eat some tacos. After a long and circuitous drive from Mozart's to South First (for some reason, many streets were closed downtown), we reached Torchys only to discover to my great dismay that they had changed the monthly special (yes, it does change every month). So no Cool Runner this time. I ordered the Baja Shrimp and a potato, egg, and jalapeno breakfast taco. R ordered the same while A ordered the breakfast taco along with a fried avocado taco ( highly recommended by vegeterians), all on corn tortillas this time). The Baja Shrimp was yummy with fried shrimp in a creamy sauce and shredded cabbage and carrots. The creamy sauce probably had crushed jalapenos in it. The breakfast taco was good too, but I ll opt for a flour tortilla for the breakfast taco next time as the corn was a little too strong a flavor for the egg and potato mixture. R and A liked their tacos enough to order one more. Go Torchys! I ll be coming back for more.