Quality Seafood

When I was in middle school in rural Iowa, my hairdresser made her first trip out of the state to go to Hawaii on her honeymoon for a week.  She told me all about how they went out for this fancy seafood dinner, but somehow the seafood didn’t really taste all that great to them.  But they took the leftovers home anyway and decided to try them a day later and, much to their surprise, they loved the leftovers!  Only after they got back to Iowa did they realize that the reason they didn’t like the meal was because they had never actually had fresh seafood before. When a friend suggested having dinner at a place called “Quality Seafood,” my hairdresser’s story jumped right into my mind.

Oysters

The place was packed and the line to order food went all the way into the fish market side of the space.  After standing in line, I finally reached the menu and the reason for the line became apparent – there wasn’t any kind of seafood that wasn’t on the menu!

Fried clams, fried okra, and mac & cheese

Between the 3 of us, we ended up ordering fish, lobster, clams, and two kinds of oysters.

Nightly special – black drum

Even the sides were amazing.  The mac & cheese was anything but the cliche orange cheese and shells.  It was a tasty mix of spaghetti noodles and several kinds of cheese.  And the fried okra really hit the spot.

Lobster

We had a nice chuckle at the presentation of the lobster – it looked like it was hoarding the melted butter 🙂

Grilled oysters

But the absolute best dish of the night was the grilled oysters with fresh grated parmesan cheese.  Scoop it out and eat it on top of a slice of french bread and voila!  Seafood heaven.

Pieous

“Wait, is this place all the way out in Dripping Springs?” I asked my friend. “Yep, right off of 290,” she texted back. Yikes!  Then I read the description – owned by a former attorney and CPA who hung up his suit and pursued his passion for pizza.  That guy was instantly my hero, and I just had to make the drive for a Pieous pizza pie.

I didn’t know what I expected.  But the one thing I didn’t expect was the former-attorney-gone-pizza-slinger to actually be slinging pizzas on a Sunday morning.  And yet there he was, serving food, coming up to each table to make sure everything tasted OK, working back in the kitchen…  I suppose if you’re living your passion, why would you want to let someone else actually do the living?  Or in this case, the cooking.

And it looked like a fun place to work.  All of the walls were painted with chalkboard paint and covered with happy quotes and pizza art.  There was even an entire corner dedicated to Pieous’s youngest patrons – a children’s art corner where the kiddies could occupy themselves by drawing literally on the walls.

The pizzas were perfectly sized for one person.  I ordered the Shroom pizza and instantly fell in love.  Whatever mushrooms this guy chose were an excellent choice – full of flavor but not over-powering the fresh mozz or the crushed tomatoes.  And the brick oven crust…phenomenal.

Lucky for me, my friends are the sharing kind and I swapped one of my Shrooms for one of my friend’s Brussels sprout and jam slices.  Yes, you read that right – Brussels sprouts and jam.  Such a surprisingly perfect combination of sweet and bitter!

We all agreed that we are coming back and, because the owner was there, we told him so as well 🙂

Salt Lick – Take II

JP’s dad flew into town for the weekend from Missouri. So naturally we took this Kansas City BBQ fan out to get his first taste of Texas BBQ, and Salt Lick left him talking about it until he boarded his flight home…and it wasn’t just the “Wizard Academy” we passed along our way that had him chatting.

Yes, this is real…

This time we went for a Saturday lunch, which I highly recommend. The wait was under 20 minutes and our waitress wasn’t too busy to offer us some of the “off the menu” extra options, like combination berry-peach cobbler. Definite score there!

Berry-peach Cobbler

Turkey sandwich – Salt Lick style

After our meal, we wandered over to the Salt Lick Cellars, which we hadn’t had the time for on our last trip (after our over-an-hour wait). Their little gift shop/wine tasting room was completely adorable! And the outdoor space, with its lookalike Navy Chairs and outdoor string lights (Edison bulb style), looked like it would be the perfect location for an outdoor wedding reception or special event.

Salt Lick Cellars

Salt Lick Cellars side-patio

In a few months, after the food coma finally goes away, JP and I will be ready to take our next round of guests to this BBQ favorite.

JP and his dad

The Salt Lick

When JP and I moved back to the US after living in Liberia, we became completely addicted to The Travel Channel’s Man v. Food. I don’t know if it was being away from Americanized cuisine for so long or the fact that we were living in a 500 sq ft studio apartment with a kitchen capable of no more than boiling water, but we zipped through all of the previous seasons in record time. One of our favorite episodes was (surprise, surprise) the Austin episode and Adam Richman’s trip to The Salt Lick.

The Salt Lick BBQ

Needless to say, it has been at the top of our Austin Bucket List since we arrived. Teamed up with our foodie-adventure partners in crime, Mike and Shelby (and another of their friends), we headed out to the Hill Country to the original of The Salt Lick’s locations – Driftwood. And it seemed like the entire population of Austin had the same idea…

Cars as far as the eye could see

As we came down over the hill leading to The Salt Lick, all we could see was a giant gravel parking lot completely packed with bicycles, cars, and people. All five of us instantly crossed our fingers that we weren’t going there. No such luck. Or actually, lots of luck because we just so happened to pull in right in time to snag a prime parking spot. And that was just the beginning of the amazing-ness of the night.

JP with our over-sized cooler aka waiting room seating

The Salt Lick is cash only, no reservations (for parties under 10), and BYOB. None of us owned a small cooler, so we put a few bottles of beer in our giant “icebox on wheels” and felt embarrassed about the size for the few minutes it took us to register our name with the hostess and realize that there were no available seats in the waiting area – except (drum roll please) our awesomely huge cooler!

The famous Salt Lick BBQ pit

An hour later, we got a table and placed our orders. Shelby and I opted for the turkey plate, while the three guys shared the all-you-can-eat family style option…plus an order of beef ribs and half a chicken.

The turkey plate

As you can imagine, the BBQ meat and sauce was out of this world. But all five of us raved about the Cole slaw and potato salad. Neither were mayo-based, and both perfectly complemented the meat. We all cleared our plates…or three or four, in the case of the guys, and, despite happily sore bellies, opted for some home-made cobbler.

JP and Mike…after half a chicken and all-they-could-eat meat

Best. Decision. Ever. I don’t know what it was about the cobbler, but instead of making us all more full, it actually cut the sharpness of whatever was in our tummies and made us all feel quite normal again.

JP and I have had some amazing BBQ (I mean, his family is from the birthplace of BBQ, Missouri), but I cannot wait to go back to The Salt Lick again…and soon!

Weekend in Breckenridge

My sister is getting married this year and, as her maid of honor, one of my jobs has been the bachelorette party. Neither my sister nor myself are “bachelorette party people” – our brainstorming looked a bit like “spa weekend, beach, or foodie experience.” We settled on two out of three 🙂

DIY Laser-Printed Gift Bags

With the Denver International Airport, and its many direct flights, only a few hours away, Breckenridge is a convenient and central vacation spot for all of the out-of-state guests to reach. Neither my sister nor I ski, but there was still a lot to do in “Breck” over a weekend.

Good times with good friends

– Vacation Home – Finding a place to stay for 18 ladies ended up being quite easy with the help of VRBO. VRBO connects homeowners with temporary renters in cities and towns all over the US. Although most owners in Breckenridge preferred to have renters for a 4-night minimum, the fabulous couple whose home we ended up booking were completely willing to work with our 2-night stay. And what a home it was! It fit up to 22 adults, had a beautiful fireplace, amazing view, and a hot tub.

Oven roasted red peppers, coming right up!

– Food – Armed with fresh pizza dough from Boulder’s Pizzeria Locale, assorted grocery items and wine from Costco (perfect for feeding large groups!), and made-fresh cupcakes from Tee & Cakes, the 18 of us spent a wonderful first night getting to know each other over a glass of wine and making personal pizzas from scratch. The next night, we all headed into “downtown” Breckenridge for some Mexican food at Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant & Cantina. The staff at Mi Casa were so easy to work with to coordinate a meal for such a large group – a selection of group menus, individualized beverage tabs, gluten-free by request, and really great communication. And everyone in our group (literally!) loved the food.

Mi Casa margarita – fresh lime juice and agave. Yum!

– Fun – You know you’re in a high altitude when your ears pop at least half-a-dozen times driving up to the house. We were lucky that nobody in our crew had a case of full-blown altitude sickness, but everyone, including the Boulder-ites, was feeling a bit more fatigue and easily winded. Our solution? Relaxing spa services and an oxygen bar (and lots and lots of water!). Several ladies spent Saturday afternoon enjoying massages, wraps, and/or facials from the Blue Sage Spa and Mountain Sanctuary Spa. Everyone – the mommies taking a break from children all the way to those of us flying in from big cities – enjoyed the down time and pampering.

Freezing in Colorado

It did snow quite a bit while we were there, which was an unwelcome surprise for at least this Texan, but the biggest surprises often make the best stories…and we are all still laughing about pushing this lady out of the snow not once, but four times in one day 🙂

Teamwork!