The Hungry Engineer

Dia de los Muertos has to be one of the more interesting holidays out there. Since it’s celebrated on November 1^st and 2^nd, I have to wonder why it’s not Dias de los Muertos, but who am I to quibble. The holiday is celebrated in Mexico as a way to honor family members and friends who’ve passed away. Custom holds that the dead are easier to communicate with at the this time, and to entice them to do so, offerings are made of favorite foods and drinks. Often, these offerings include Pan de Muertos.

As promised, here’s my almost-certainly-not-objective review of Alton Brown’s latest book, Good Eats: The Early Years. But first, indulge my food-nerd glee (or maybe more nerd-who-cooks than food-nerd) and check this out.

My husband’s family remembers Zoe’s Kitchen as a local restaurant in their home city of Birmingham, AL. Zoe was often in the kitchen, and the chocolate cake was moist and topped with fudgy icing. Well. Zoe’s Kitchen is all grown up and several locations now dot the southern United States (though as I understand it, Zoe is still heavily involved). And now, Zoe’s Kitchen has a location in Austin.

You remember when the Food Network was just plain old Food TV and you could learn how to cook by watching it? One of my absolute favorite cooking shows to watch was Good Eats and its crazy host Alton Brown. With AB’s help, I developed a hatred for uni-taskers (except for the fire extinguisher, of course), learned how to make chocolate syrup, and above all had gobs of fun.

You remember how in college it was a funny joke to buy the box of wine from Wal-Mart and stick it in your fridge? And it was extra hilarious that it was dispensed via a spigot in its side? Well, now the joke’s on us. As it happens, our first experience with a more recent boxed wine offering was actually pretty positive.

An outdoor festival in October when Austin’s temperatures are at their finest – sounds good. A festival at which dozens of the area’s food and wine purveyors provide a wide range of samples – a food-lover’s dream. A festival that costs $100 a pop to attend – wait, what? But given the breadth and quality of culinary establishments present, it may well be worth it to attend La Dolce Vita, the Austin Museum of Art’s annual food and wine festival.

Several weeks ago, Austin saw its first Cupcake Smackdown. This past week, the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau held the 6th Annual Cocktail Throwdown. First, bars were invited to submit their version of the “official drink of Austin” (made with Austin’s own Titos Handmade Vodka). Then these were pared down to just the top five. And finally, on September 24th, we got to try out those top runners and vote for the one we felt best represented our fair city.

Recently, we took advantage of a gorgeous weekend here in Texas and spent an afternoon in Wimberley. Our intention had been to head down to tour the olive orchard at the Bella Vista Ranch, but we wound up staying for a late lunch / early dinner at The Leaning Pear.

This is mostly Sean’s post. I’m writing it, but he’s supplying all the information (just so you know who to blame later). Recently, a media event was held to kick off Flavors of Austin, a “52-Week Food Frenzy.” Each week a different local restaurant, caterer, or supper club will offer up a discounted multi-course meal. Austin gets to try out a variety of restaurants at a discounted rate, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Sustainable Food Center of Austin. The first restaurant in the Flavors lineup is Frank, a hot dog and artisan sausage restaurant-bar-market in the downtown area. Yeah, no need to wonder why Sean was so willing to attend the media event without me.

Ah, sausage. Ruhlman entitles the sausage chapter of Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, “The Power and the Glory: Animal Fat, Salt, and the Pig Come Together in One of the Oldest, Divine-yet-humble Culinary Creations Known to Humankind.” And no, I don’t think there’s any misplaced glorification. Turns out though that making decent sausage is easier said than done (at least for me … at least so far).