Austin Food & Wine Festival 2014

As many of you are aware, I geek out over food. It's somewhat annoying to be such a food geek in a town like Austin, because there are many people always trying to out-geek you on all things culinary. Kind of like how people who are really into obscure bands try to show you up with their music knowledge, and look down on you if you enjoy certain mainstream bands? That also exists in the world of food.

I don't flaunt my food geekery or knowledge of the subject. I don't challenge people when they bring up certain foods, so I can see if I know more than them. I just adore everything about nourishing myself. I take cooking classes because I honestly think they are fun. I bake and share my creations with friends and coworkers because I find it relaxing to create something spectacular from a few random ingredients, and if I ate all of it myself, I'd be 300lbs. I take pictures of dinners I make because I truly think they are, at times, a work of art and I want to be able to look back at that photo and remember that "oooooooo" feeling I got when I ate it. I watch shows revolving around food because I find them terrifically interesting - yes, even after nearly 20 years of cooking shows. Simply put, I love food.

Because of my love for food, I have always, always wanted to go to the Austin Food & Wine Festival.

If you haven't heard of this, it's a 3-day festival put on by FOOD & WINE magazine, chock full of demonstrations and tastings with world renowned chefs, as well as Texas' most celebrated chefs and restaurateurs. When this thing was born three years ago, I read about it and could barely get to my computer fast enough to buy tickets. In my naiveté regarding this sort of shin-dig, I fully expected to hop on, click a few buttons, spend a little money, and go revel in all things food. My dreams were quickly shot down when I saw the exorbitant price tags on the two options of passes, and my heart broke a little. I knew I would never be able to afford, let alone justify spending either $250 or $850 to enter the fest. (And that was per person - meaning $500 or $1,700 if I were to drag my husband along.) My would-be plans instantly morphed into just a fantasy, and I closed out the site kind of bummed out, but not before having signed myself up for their festival email notifications. I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say.

Fast forward two years of salivating later, and I got an email notification about this year's festival and dates in January or February. I was perusing the site, reading through all the chefs that would be in attendance this year with copious amounts of drool dripping down my chin, when I saw a tiny link that asked something about being interested in volunteering. I instantly got a chill. Really? You could just be a volunteer at this thing, simply by clicking this link? I hastily clicked the little magical link and was taken to a tedious application that would end up taking me a good 30 minutes to complete. Was this a volunteer sign-up, or a job application? After filling it out, I hit "send" and immediately got an automated response telling me that they get far more applications than they have spots to fill, so please keep an eye out for an email from them around late March. If I hadn't heard from them by the first week of April, that means I wasn't chosen. Well, pffffffft - I figured I would never hear another thing about this again, and I had just used up 30 minutes of my life I would never get back.

That is, until March 25.

Exactly one month after I submitted my application into the black hole of the internet, I was thrilled to get a response from them, welcoming me to this year's festival, and congratulating me for being chosen to volunteer. ME?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I squealed with glee so loudly upon reading that, my boss came down the hall to see what I was so excited about and squeal alongside me. I am thrilled to report that I have been chosen to work at "Chef Demo A", whatever that means, and I get to be there for the entire festival. Being chosen as a volunteer also gets you admission to the festival in its entirety, so when you're not working your shift, you are encouraged to walk around, taste things, watch demos, soak it all in ... my goodness. To say I'm excited might be the understatement of the century.

What does all this mean? Is there a lesson in it? Patience is a virtue. Or maybe good things come to those who wait. Hell, I don't really care whether there's a lesson in it at all, to be honest. I'm just grateful and crazy excited. I wouldn't walk across the street to meet 99% of the celebrities out there, but I would definitely walk across Butler Park to meet a few chefs.

☮✝✿

Easter

Busy busy week leading up to Easter - whew.

Aside from the regular day-to-day occurrences, we wrapped up our week with all things Easter. The 8th graders at Z's school put on the Living Stations of the Cross, as they do every year, and it was just as moving and lovely as ever.

Kids were dismissed afterward, giving them a half day. Then, they were out Good Friday and today, as well, so you could definitely say this is a good time of the year to be Catholic. Days off galore!

We spent lots of time with my parents, my sister, Ken, and close friends over our few days off, and it was a joy, as always. Easter happened at my house this year, so I prepped and cooked the ham, the kielbasa, the potato salad, the beans, and two pies. No kudos necessary - it really wasn't as much as it sounds like, and it was a fun way to unwind after the work week. Cooking is therapy for me, so it was pleasure to create nom noms for our family. I got to decompress, in the mean time. Not a bad deal.

I was busy shopping for food, menu planning & cooking, my boys were busy cleaning up the house for our guests, but Cody got to do a whole lot of nothing. Lucky dog.

Lots of napping.

Lots of leisurely sniffing.

Lots of hoping and dreaming. He began the stare-down of the ham only four seconds after I had taken it out of it's packaging.

He told Keoki about the ham, so then they swooned together. 

This is Cody, pleading with his eyes.

 

Keoki, testing out the pleading with his eyes to see if it'll work any better for him.

 

Patiently waiting for said ham to come out of the oven.

 

Once dinner was over and everyone had gone home, we all felt a little like slobby blobs. Aaron suggested we go for a nice family bike ride to digest our yummy meal, and to enjoy the beautiful evening breeze. We have to soak up as much time outside as we can, since it's almost May, and we all know what's coming. (Think: hot, humid, balmy, sweaty, awful.)

 

Overall, a busy, but soul satisfying week. Now I get to switch gears and start thinking and studying my favorite topic: food! I am happy to report that after a lengthy application process and lots of waiting around, I was chosen to be a volunteer at this year's Austin Food & Wine Festival. [I must let my inner teenage girl overtake me for a second here while I squeal OMG! Whew, ok, she's gone.] They have emailed me my volunteer packet, filled with lots of information to sort through, memorize, and digest. I will be happy to study this thing over the next few days! More on that later, though ...

 

Hope everyone had a tummy-filling, as well as soul-filling Easter weekend.

☮✝✿

Mary Ann and Garrett

This about sums up how I'm feeling today. Sprinkle in a teensy bit of sadness, and I guess that would be a bit more accurate. Happy, with a tinge of sad. Well, and grateful. And reflective. Ok, that's it -- happy, grateful, reflective, with a tinge of sad.

I have lost two friends over the last month, and it's impossible not to be at least a little reflective when these sorts of things happen. One I hadn't talked to in several years, but we were very good buddies during our formative years, the other a co-worker that I hadn't heard from since the new year, because she fell ill and left work. Both hilarious human beings. Both an asset to the people who's lives they touched. Both sorely missed now.

I have always made it a point to be in the moment, and truly grateful for all I have attained, been given, and enjoyed. Finding out about these two friends just helped reinforced my attitude of gratitude, and made me, as well as a few others, realize again  how important it is to love and hug to the fullest. I am thankful to have shared embraces with mutual friends over the passing of these two individuals, and I'm sure our late friends would be happy to know they helped stir up those feelings of love and wanting to show the people who are still here how much we care about each other. These two loved big and laughed big, and today, I honor them both.

Garrett Cassel

August 23, 1976 - March 18, 2014

Mary Ann Spittler

August 14, 1964 - April 9, 2014

Cheers to you, guys. We love you.

☮✝✿

Cruise recap - spring break 2014

I have been meaning to post my cruise pictures, but Blogger and I have not gotten along lately when it comes to photos. Therefore, I've been putting it off. But, I have a little time to kill, I have silence, and I have a steamy hot cup of coffee, so I'm willing to go to battle with Blogger and give it a try. I've waited so long to attempt this, I'm almost positive everyone in my life has lost interest by now (we got back from the cruise 24 days ago), but hopefully they'll still tell a good story. If nothing else, they'll be something for me to look back on, when I'm drowning in my own sea of desperation born from wanting to get out of town again. Yes, that desperation is bubbling already. It's-a coming. Ack!

This year, we went on the same ship as we did last year, Navigator of the Seas. Out of all the cruises we have taken, this ship is probably my favorite. I don't have an exact reason why, but it speaks to me. Royal Caribbean had done some cosmetic renovations shortly before we got on board, and those little touches just made her that much more beautiful. It was so good to be back!

Our cabin this year - no balcony (sniffle), but it was still fantastic.

 

Our room.

 

My folks' room.

 

The grand main dining room (where we never eat). We aren't the dress-up type, so we prefer the casual buffet up on deck 11 at The Windjammer.

 

The main pool deck, with a newly added giant screen TV.

 

The Solarium (adult-only pool), where we never get to go since we cruise with our kid.

*crying into my vodka tonic - I can't stand other people's kids*

 

The views from the Solarium are awesome.

 

The Royal Promenade, which is the heart of the ship. Several bars and small eateries line the main thoroughfare, and they added the touch of making it change colors every so often. This was the normal color of it ...

 

This was when it was blue ...

 

And this was when it was red. The only color I didn't catch on camera was when it turned yellow, but that's ok. Guess I'll just have to book another cruise to get that shot.

 

This was taken from deck 11, looking down, during one of the blue periods.

 

This was taken standing on deck 5, looking up.

 

This was Izumi - a delicious new Asian restaurant on board. For those of you know me well, you know I usually avoid seafood at all costs, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried something new -- and LOVED it. We ate here twice. And I didn't puke! Yay me!

 

The other side of Izumi.

 

My crispy Philly roll.

 

A's crispy shrimp roll.

 

My Dad's ACTUAL hard-core sushi plate. Nothing fried or disguised here. And no, I wasn't that ballsy - I just stuck to my panko crusted, flash-fried Philly roll.

 

The newly added Flowrider. It's a simulated surfing area that gushes out like 30,000 gallons of water a minute, and makes it really difficult to do anything. But, Z loved it, nonetheless! As did every child & teenager on the ship -- the line was always super long. (Groan ... I still dislike other people's kids.)

 

Z, testing it out.

 

Of course, there were several opportunities for shots of sunrises and sunsets. The amazing views are never far away when sailing on a cruise ship ...

 



 

This one was a sunrise, believe it or not. Yes, we actually got up early to run one morning.
(Notice I only said "one" morning ...)

 



Then there were the places we stopped. Since we've gone on several cruises, and all but one has been to the Western Caribbean, we've seen a lot of places more than once. But, we were very excited this time to go to a Caribbean spot we had not yet seen -- Roatan, Honduras. We chose a beach excursion that was utterly perfect -- they had a bar, some food, great views, and the chance to get a massage on the beach. All for $25 a person? Sign us up!

 

 

My view for the day.

 

Happy Z and even happier Mom.

This was $35 well spent. If you ever get the chance to get a massage on the beach in Roatan, I would highly suggest it. Pinch me - did that really happen?

 

Thanks, Z. 

 

Such beauty, everywhere you look. Happy sigh!

 

The other two stops were Belize and Cozumel. We've been to both before, so I didn't take a lot of pictures, since we just walked around with the sole purpose of finding local things to eat. Here are the few shots I did take, though, as we wandered around, happily.

The first thing we saw when we got off the boat in Belize.

 

A content Lawson clan, on the tender boat back from Belize.

 

Took this in Cozumel - our ship parked at the pier (on the right), and one of Royal Caribbean's giant ships (Allure of the Seas) parked next to us on the other side of the pier. Just when you think you are on a mind-blowingly large vessel, you see there is something even bigger out there. Wowsa!

 

Then there were the towel animals and the general lounging around on board ...

 

 

 

Suffice to say, it was a fantastic, wonderful, fun-filled week of laughter, food, and adult beverages. And of course, we cannot wait to do it all again next year. No solid plans have been made quite yet (hence the blank cruise ticker at the top of the blog page), but that's only because we are waiting for them to post sailings taking place next summer and next Christmas. We know we want to tackle a new part of the globe on the next trip, as well, so we have to narrow down which destination looks most appealing to everyone. In the front running now are the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. We've done Alaska once and the Western Caribbean four times -- time for something new. And you know I'm excited, because new adventures are what get my blood pumping! CANNOT WAIT!

PS - I'm the most grateful girl in the world.

☮✝✿