a very austin weekend

fresh from the whirlwind that was my business trip to Munich, I had the pleasure of hosting the lovely Erica Lloyd in ATX this past wknd. a dear old friend and loyal reader of JMWT, she rolled into town on Fri afternoon and asked me if we could "everything that I write about on this blog." so I did my best to oblige. what follows below is a recap of our oh-so-Austin wknd:

HOW TO EXPERIENCE JMWT'S AUSTIN IN ONE WEEKEND:

friday, aka "wow it's nice out" and "where are all the people of color hiding?"

• pick up E from airport
• E marvels at warm weather
• E marvels at ability to venture outside without a) down jacket b) whale blubber or c) both
• roll to apt. introduce E to cowboy. everyone is happy.
• dinner @ manuel's, downtown restaurant with interior Mexican cuisine. drink excellent margaritas at jam-packed bar while waiting for table. lament lack of color in restaurant, as I seem to be the only non-Caucasian person in the place.
• eat delicious food: corn gorditas with tomato/cilantro/tomatillo, pork enchiladas with complex and delicious mole sauce, fresh chips and salsa
• out to bars in the warehouse district: caramel apple martinis @ apple bar followed by more cocktails @ cuba libre (where we started an Official Minority Count and got up to 15 at one point, I think) and even more cocktails (and some water) @ lucky lounge, where the music was hip-hop and the Official Minority Count was much improved

saturday, aka "how much can we cram into one day?"

• wake up relatively early (I can do this when other people are waking me up), go for long run on town lake, marvel at weather
• put on eating pants, stretch out belly and head for family-style bbq @ salt lick bbq out in driftwood, texas. wait outside for table and get tortured by tantalizing bbq smells.
• the gorging begins: bottomless ribs, brisket, and sausage with fresh cole slaw (surprisingly good and non cole slaw-y), awesome potato salad (also non-mayo-y), pickles, onions, habanero bbq sauce, soft white bread, and beans.
• slowly begin the drive back to austin, notice that car seems much more heavy on the way back than it did on the way there
• stop at random hindu temple along the way, wonder what the hell a beautiful hindu temple is doing in the middle of driftwood, texas
• head to downtown for a whirlwind afternoon tour: visit capitol building, visit flagship whole foods market, visit my office
• time for THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE! order some food and drinks and sit back to enjoy master pancake theater, in which they take a deliciously bad movie, do a funny comedy routine at the beginning, sit in the front with two mics, do a funny comedy sketch in the middle and more comedy at the end. the movie was titatnic, and every time there was a close-up of jack and rose entertwining hands you had to yell "hand sex!" and take a drink.
• roll selves home and call it a day.

sunday, aka let's spend some money

• roll out of bed and decide hey, one day of endless gorging wasn't enough, let's make it two! climb into car, avoid marathon runners and head for stubb's bbq for their sunday gospel brunch (stubb's = famous restaurant / live music venue in austin). enjoy PILES of delicious brunch (eggs, sausage, grits, bacon, pancakes, biscuits with gravy, bbq, fruit, home fries, the list goes on and on) and live gospel music. i sing with the band for a few measures. everyone is pleased.
• head back to south congress ("soco" for those in the know) and wander in and out of the stores
• head to zilker park (home of ACL festival and the famous barton springs pool, supposedly the heart and soul of austin) for a brief restorative soak in the sunshine
• drive down to san marcos outlets for a quick retail break
• come back to austin and end the wknd with some southwestern cuisine @ z'tejas (specifically: more margaritas and mojitos, chips and queso, shrimp quesadillas and enormous salads)

i think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all. and that i'm going on an all-vegetarian diet for the next few weeks... the thought of bbq makes me want to be ill.

who wants to come visit me????