The Hungry Engineer

My cooking life has changed quite a bit since having kids. I try to plan menus that minimize the number of hours I spend cooking while still providing a nutritious and flavorful array of foods. Some weeks this is easier than others.

Our three-year-old daughter Maya has a stuffed octopus named Oddipuddy that she’s carried around with her since she learned how to crawl. It is her comfort object. We cannot leave the house without hearing her exclaim, “Where’s Oddipuddy?” He goes everywhere with us.

The day after Thanksgiving, a wonderful thing happened. The Noble Pig, a favorite local eatery of ours, opened their deli counter and began serving charcuterie. Shortly before that, we were fortunate to be invited to a preview event where we were able to sample a wide variety of these offerings for free.

Everyone has heard time and again how awful British food once was and how it’s much better now. I cannot attest to the former, but I can say that we had no trouble finding a delicious meal during our stay in London.

In the middle of making an effort to write about some of the food and travel things that have been going on in our lives the past few months, we were interrupted by something wonderful that we just have to tell everyone about. It’s called the Butcher’s Box.

I swore when I started writing about our trip, I wasn’t going to torture folks with a play-by-play of our vacation, but it seems I haven’t done a very good job. Unfortunately for you, I’m too far in to quit now! Luckily, in my weariness, my notes are much more sparse through the remainder of the trip.

In late May, early June of this year, Sean and I headed out to London for a couple weeks. We took a few side trips, but generally, we spent the majority of our two weeks hunkered down in London, taking in the sites and tooling around the town. We utilized the services of HomeAway and booked an apartment for the duration of our two week stay. The apartment was small, but functional and very conveniently located near the Elephant and Castle tube station. Amusingly, we were repeatedly told we were not staying in the nicest part of town. I will say, the crowd was young and the sounds of revelry often nudged their way in through our windows, but I never for a moment felt unsafe.

Yeah, we’re totally still talking about things that happened in March. But no matter, this one is worth talking about. Second Bar + Kitchen. It’s part of a trio of what I’m certain are top notch eateries tucked into 200 Congress Ave, but this is the only one we’ve managed to visit. And we’ve visited it more than once. Part of our SXSW respite was to take a break in the afternoon to rest our weary feet and consume grown-up beverages. Second Bar + Kitchen proved to be a lovely oasis.

There’s a place in north Austin where, for a few dollars (very few), you can get a beautifully constructed Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. The filling of choice, often some sort of meat, is topped with lightly pickled daikon radish and carrot and sprinkled liberally with fresh cilantro. All this is encased in some of the most perfect French bread I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat. Some mayonnaise ties it all together and slices of fresh jalapenos are offered on the side so the heat may be adjusted to your liking. It may not look like much from the outside, but Baguette House is well worth a visit.

I had been babbling about the opening of Haddingtons for a couple weeks before we finally made our way down to try it out. Sean and I had been deep in the throes of our new cocktail habit, and I tried to lure Sean downtown with the promise of “seeing how the professionals do it.” We were seated nowhere near the bar at the time, but we certainly enjoyed the fruits of the professionals’ efforts. The craft cocktails were the draw for me, but the food is every bit as enticing. We’ve been back repeatedly, at all hours of the day and night, and have yet to leave disappointed.