Wink

Day: 151

High Temp: 60F

My birthday was last Sunday (if you were not one of the legions who wished me a happy happy over Facebook, let it be. I know you love me.) I turned 29. My last year in my 30's, and my last as a "single" lady.

Many years ago, when I first started celebrating my birthdays in Chicago with the Foxes, we started a tradition: Birthday girl chooses the location of celebration dinner, friends pay. This led to many amazing and memorable dinners in Chicago, including one evening when 4 of us managed to eat and drink over $500 worth of the goods from MK. This tradition also introduced me to one of my favorite restaurants in the known (to Lindsey) world, Green Zebra. I can't recall whose pick that was... Camilla?

Anyhow, Tom and I now carry on that tradition, and last Saturday night we had our first Austin birthday dinner at Wink. As well known to Austin foodies as any of the Tramonto restaurants are known to Chicago food lovers, Wink is a mecca to the slow-food enthusiasts in the city, and owned/operated by two truly gifted chefs.

We had an amazing meal, a nice bottle of wine, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. And to top that all off, we were greeted by first name by a really nice host, there were menus specially printed for us that said "Happy Birthday Lindsey" AND our waiter had the chefs in back sign my copy of the menu. One of the best, most special restaurant experiences I have ever had, anywhere!

For the curious, here is what I ate:

First Course

Seared Foie Gras with apple upside down cake and local honey

Main Course

Roasted duck breast served atop toasted bulgar, winter greens and shiitake mushrooms

Dessert (shared by Tom and I)

The Wink Trio: Lemon Meringue "egg" (a crispy meringue orb filled with amazing lemon curd)

Mini Creme Brule

El Rey Cake (Dense Chocolate cake served with port cherry sauce)

Everything was to die for! And we ate every bite. I hope each one of you will come visit me soon so that I have many reasons to go back!

We REALLY Love Football

Day: 145
High Temp: 39F (unfortunately, its only 30F right now)

The love of football by Texans is a cliche of epic proportions. While I am not saying every cliche is true, this one most definitely is. Here in Austin, the state capital of the second largest state in the land, we have no professional athletic teams. That's okay, though. We content ourselves with athletic teams of the collegiate variety, especially of the college football variety. Literally the entire city, and surrounding areas, root for the Longhorns. Add to that the fact that UT graduates somewhere in the realm of 10,000 students every year and you gotta figure that UT fans number well into the millions.

As you may have heard, the Longhorns are playing in the BCS Championship tonight, and as I have already established, college football is a BIG deal here. Just how big? Well the dean of the nursing school (a brilliant woman who has a PhD and is a Fellow of the American Association of Nursing - an elite group) was wearing her burnt orange today. They are selling burnt orange sourdough boules and baguettes at the local HEB. The anchor woman on News 8 Austin last night was wearing a burnt orange blazer AND had one of those little metal long horn charms hanging from her necklace. Not to mention the Burger King special featuring "Burnt Orange Sauce"...

I like football, a lot. And am this year, for the first time ever, starting to appreciate how fun it is to root for a college football team (I have, of course, for years understood the joy of being a Chicago Bears fan). I am happy to have a chance to witness the end of bowl season mayhem. It scares me a little, but it's fun to get into the spirit of things. And I know that a season like this one might not come around again for the Longhorns while I am here. Hook 'em horns!

New Year, New Outlook

Day: 142
High Temp: 47F

If should be no shock to any of you that much of last year was hard for me. I was out of work for five months, and that itself tested my patience, relationship and bank account. On top of that, I found myself in a strange city where I didn't know anyone but Tom. I am happy to say that today represented a huge milestone in my time here in Texas: I started my new job!

Yes, today was my first official day as a longhorn, and I have to say I am thrilled at the possibilities. I have a parking permit, a photo id, and a handy longhorn post-it cube. No offense to the non-profits of Chicago, but the benefits are amazing. Among the best perks are the tuition reimbursement that will allow me to take on class a semester for free (in any degree program that I can get accepted to!) and the free health insurance is pretty nice too. And it seems as though I am going to have my very own office. This is a first for me, and I am excited at the possibility.

I am sure I will have a lot more to say on this topic as I settle into the new position, but for now, I am sleepy from my brutally early wake-up call. Here's hoping I am able to quickly readjust to the alarm!