Date Night: The Peached Tortilla

If you haven't heard about The Peached Tortilla and you live in Austin, you must be living under a rock! The Peached Tortilla is the love child of Asian classics and Southern comfort food. I first heard about Peached back in 2011 when my Twitter game was real strong (hah!). I was really eager about trying the place out!

When Peached first started, they were a food truck stationed at Star Bar (West 6th Street) on the weekends. I remember being greeted by a kind, charming face. That face was Mr. Eric Silverstein himself. He asked me how I heard about Peached and I said "TWITTER!!" Lol thank god for social media!

Four or so years later, Eric opened his brick and mortar and I couldn't be happier for him. I didn't know how hard it was for him to start out until I read this article on Business Insider (click). I knew it was difficult, but I didn't think it was that difficult! Eric even talks about wanting to give up. Boy am I glad that he kept up the fight! I can't imagine life without The Peached Tortilla.

I just turned twenty six and what better way than to celebrate with good food? The honey is all about Peached too! I'm so glad that they accept reservations. That was probably the only way for us to get in to eat. When we arrived, the place was flooded with hungry folks. And luckily, the businesses across the street allow for customers to park there after hours. The parking would be horrendous without that option.

We ordered five dishes, one being the famous JapaJam burger, for two people... We asked our waiter if that was enough to fill us up. He said oh definitely and that the JapaJam burger is a meal in and of itself. I told him, "we can eat!" Oh yes we can!

Margarita de Peached
(habanero infused tequila, thai basil, cointreau, lime juice)

Charred Brussels
(bacon jam, Parmesan, lemon oil)
this photo does not do these brussels justice... just sayin'!

Mom's Toast
(chopped shrimp. ground pork, gochujang chili sauce, fresh herbs)
**WOW! I felt like I was eating upscale dim sum!**

Crispy Umami Chicken Wings
(fish sauce vinaigrette, herbs, shallots)

JapaJam Burger w/ Fries
(tomato jam, 6 oz all beef patty, pepper-jack cheese, fried egg, tempura onion rings, chinese bbq sauce)
**Possibly mine and honey's favorite dish!**

Lush Pork Belly Bowl
(five spice pork belly, house kimchi **TO DIE FOR!!!! RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!!!**,
pickled daikon carrots, 45 minute egg)
**This dish was so rich and packed with flavor! Wowzaaaaaaaa**

The food was amazing, the service was great, and I got to celebrate another year with the honey. But one of my highlights was getting to see Eric! It was so great seeing an old friend and it makes me so happy to see him become so successful. It warms my heart to see people who work hard and strive to succeed, do exactly that... Succeed. I cannot say enough good things about Eric and his delicious creations! Thank you for a splendid evening!

Birthday girl gets to have dessert right???
I was thrilled to hear that Lick had a food truck at their future location.
We were INCREDIBLY stuffed to the MAX MAX MAX.... but who could say no to Lick?!?!??!!

My current favorite flavors from Lick are the Texas au Lait and the Caramel Salt Lick... OOOHH TO DIE FOR!!!!

The future home of the new Lick Ice Creams!
CAN'T WAIT!
6555 Burnet Road   |   Austin, TX 78757

The Peached Tortilla
(Food truck changes location daily... Check website & Twitter for updates!)
Brick and Mortar:
5520 Burnet Rd.
Ste. 100
Austin, TX 78756


Lick Ice Creams
2032 South Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78704
*Burnet location to come!


Til next time my friends....

Happy Eatings!!!!

Good Eats for a Good Cause

If you live in Texas, you are aware of the floods we had a few weeks ago. It is such a devastating and helpless feeling watching these floods take people's lives and homes. When I heard that Hopdoddy was going to be donating 100% of ALL SALES (not just profit!!!!) all day on June 4th, I knew that I had to join in for the cause.

Of course the lines for June 4th would be massive, as if the lines weren't already massive..... LOL! I asked my boss and co-worker to tag along for the deliciousness. We have it all figured out. We leave the office by 10:30 and get to Hopdoddy around 10:45 then stand in line for a little bit. When we pulled up to Hopdoddy that day around 10:45, there were already about 20 people in line ahead of us. Hopdoddy has such a huge following! (I already knew that... but just WOW!)

I decided on getting the Continental Club: turkey patty with provolone cheese, apple-smoked bacon (because BACON), arugula, mayo, and basil pesto on a wheat bun. Let me tell you... The wheat bun at Hopdoddy is just a thing of beauty, along with the spicy arugula, fatty bacon, and salty cheese. You have one amazing burger. You don't even miss the mooooo! And you feel just a little bit healthier because you got arugula and the wheat bun.

We also got the chili cheese fries with ground bison and the truffle fries to share among the three of us. I have never had the truffle fries before, but I quickly fell in love after trying the truffle aioli. YUM!

Kennebec Fries with Chili Cheese + Ground Bison

Truffle Fries with Parmesan + Truffle Aioli

Continental Club

Look at that marvelous burger!!!!!

AMAZING Hopdoddy + Austin!!!

I love my city!!

Happy eatings!

Hopdoddy Burger Bar

(Multiple Locations Throughout Texas, One in Arizona, and One in Colorado)

I went to the one on Anderson Lane:

2438A W. Anderson Lane

Austin, TX 78757

(In the same parking lot as Precision Camera)

Bribery Bakery

Happy hump day!!!!!!

I heard there was a new bakery that opened near my house not too long ago. I thought, "SCORE!!!!!" There aren't that many noteworthy bakeries in Pflugerville/Round Rock. Sure there's Tiff's Treats and I LOVE their cookies, but there are no cupcakes, no cakes, no pies, no quiches!!! I was so happy to finally get to try Bribery Bakery!

Tuesday night is girls night where two of my sweetest girlfriends and I gorge our faces and watch "Married At First Sight" on FYI. We usually order Pluckers to go so we don't have to be embarrassed for being fatties. I missed last week's girls night and thought I would make up for it with dessert from Bribery Bakery. 

My office is not too far from Bribery and it's kind of the middle point between home and work. I am so glad that I decided to stop by! I got there around 5pm and was lucky that there were even goodies left. (They close at 5:30pm). As I was about to enter, a lady was coming out and told me there was one more thing of chocolate cake left! I had to take make sure I got that last piece!!!!

I was just mesmerized by the bakery when I stepped in. I felt like I was at home and felt so warm and welcome. The ladies at the counter were so sweet (no pun intended!) and helpful. I had to ask what a bunch of things were since it was my first time. 

I decided to get the chocolate cream cake (of course), carrot cake, and lemon-strawberry cake. One of the honey's favorite cakes is carrot cake. Which is weird because he hates carrots! But I guess if you add it into a delicious cake with amazing frosting, what is there to hate? I love anything lemon & berry so the lemon-strawberry was calling my name!

I dropped off the carrot cake and the pups with the honey and I was off to the girls' place. We were stuffed to the brim with chicken, but still managed to make room for dessert. Everyone has a second stomach for dessert right??

Surprisingly, the desserts were not too sweet. They looked like they would be a sweet tooth lover's dream, but I have to say it was just the perfect amount! 

Look at the delicious treats!

Look at how damn cute this box is! 

The carrot cake and chocolate cream cake were enough to feed 4 people!!!

This was my favorite :)

If you have not tried Bribery Bakery yet, what are you waiting for?!?!?!

Bribery Bakery

2013 Wells Branch Pkwy.

Suite 109

Austin, TX 78728

(It is two doors away from Crawfish Shack)

"Productive" Weekend

I had a pretty productive weekend... If you count lounging on the couch with my three chiweenies, grocery shopping, cleaning and cooking new recipes as productive, then yes. It was productive. HAH!

The honey was out with the guys for a bachelor weekend so I was left to my own devices and the three pups. I decided I would try making one of his favorite dishes and desserts. I was pretty nervous because the two dishes sound a little intimidating.

So what were the recipes you ask? Lasagna and a fruit tart. SCARY! I have NEVER made lasagna before OR egg custard for a fruit tart. I was freaking out a little on the inside. But I took a deep breath and knew that The Pioneer Woman would not do me wrong.

What does The Pioneer Woman have anything to do with this? If you know me, you know that I am totally UHHHB-SESSED with Ree Drummond! I watch her show religiously and re-watch my recorded episodes again and again. To get to my point..... I used her Lasagna Rollups recipe. Her recipes are dummy proof and her website has step by step photos. I have never failed once when using her recipes (which is surprising! I'm not a "great" cook.) I was hoping the lasagna rollups would come out great as well.

The only thing I changed with my lasagna rollups is that I added mushrooms and I used low fat ricotta and wheat lasagna noodles. I probably would have used lean ground beef and low fat Italian sausage if it didn't cost so much money! Gah, why are "healthy" ingredients more expensive?! Anyhow, those were the only things I changed/added.

Before the deliciousness happened.

Sauteed onions, garlic, mushrooms + ground beef + spicy Italian sausage

Low fat ricotta, two eggs, Parmesan cheese, basil, Italian parsley, salt + peppah

Sauteed onions, garlic, mushrooms, meat + diced tomatoes + tomato paste

Pretty herbs

Simmering sauce... Smelled amazing

Smearing the ricotta mixture onto the lasagna noodle

Serving for two or one REALLY hungry person

Now for the fruit tart! One scary recipe done, one more to go! I used this recipe from food.com. It looked pretty dummy proof.... Until I started making the dough for the crust. I wish I had a flour cutter instead of trying to incorporate the flour and the butter by hand. I think it would have came out much better. I just had a feeling it wouldn't come out well. My fruit tart craving and making gut was right. It did NOT come out right!

Here's a photo of my fail.....

It just fell apart and would not form into the dough I was hoping for. :(

The only good thing about this fail was that I got to play with my food like Play-Doh! Hehe...

I ended up buying a pre-made frozen pie crust from Target.

The egg custard made me nervous while I was making it. I made sure to temper my egg yolks with the warm milk so that the egg yolks wouldn't curdle. All these years of watching the Food Network taught me some valuable kitchen skills. I was finally able to start using some of my knowledge!

The egg custard came out perfect. Now it's not the prettiest fruit tart, but it tasted darn delicious! If I had to compare it to a "store-bought" fruit tart, I would compare it to La Madaleine's fruit tarts.

Cooled egg custard and macerated berries

Lol.. The store bought crust looks awful, but at least it tasted good with the egg custard and fruit ;)

I got the honey's stamp of approval. I think he was actually really excited that I made these two dishes for him. I'm pretty proud of myself as well for venturing out and making dishes I have never made before.

Stay tune to see what I'll make next!!!

Happy eatings!! :)