Good morning! Happy Day! Sunny Sunday! All the good vibes have arrived!

I’ve been struggling with this website for many months. It’s been extremely difficult to create a post on my end because the site was being uncooperative and dropping content, photos, etc. And I know that on your end the site was taking FOREVER to load. Not just for you, but for me. When I needed to search for an old post, it would take up to five minutes for the search bar to appear. I’d nearly given up … but it’s all fixed! I hope you notice an immediate difference.

In celebration, let’s make some decadent lobster tacos!

On Sunday in Austin, I did something I’ve done on my last three visits and something I’ve never done before.

The first outing of the day was our traditional pilgrimage to Radio Coffee & Beer. It is just down the road from Marissa and Jeff’s house and we’ve walked there before, but not this time. It was far too hot and humid for that.

I’m sure the coffee is good, I wouldn’t know personally since I don’t drink coffee. But what we go there for is the food truck with breakfast tacos.

Breakfast Tacos are a big damn deal in Austin! It’s their staple, they obsess over breakfast tacos. So much so, that a taco place on South Congress has a sign out front that clearly states, “No Breakfast Tacos.”  I suppose that cuts down on people being disappointed when they read the menu. I mean, you know it’s a big deal when you have a sign that says what you DON’T have!

Photo credit: Eater Austin

So yes, Tram got her first taste of one of the favorites of all the breakfast tacos in the city, The Migas, from the Veracruz All Natural food truck.

I posted a recipe for Migas back in November 2013, long before I laid my eyes and tongue on the Veracruz version. Since then, I’ve recreated theirs for an all-taco cooking class I did last fall. I’ll need to make that again in the near future and get the recipe up here for y’all.

If you’re heading to Austin anytime soon, here is an article with the 22 Essential Breakfast Tacos in Austin.

After breakfast, we did a new thing. We toured the Texas State Capital. Marissa works right down the street from the Capital, so I see it every time I visit but have never gone inside. It is beautiful! The building was constructed from 1882 to 1888.

Tram and I went crazy for the gorgeous details. The front door tells you what to expect when you walk inside. That hardware!

The door hinges were my favorite thing. This bulky heavy piece of metal is beautiful but wait until you see what is revealed when the door is open.

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Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

For the last post of the week, I have another fun wildlife story to tell and Howard family photos to share. Plus a recipe for chicken tacos is thrown in for good measure. Rest assured, more wedding recipes will be posted next week along with beautiful photos of the gorgeous couple.

Late on Friday afternoon, while in the kitchen alone, another visitor came by. This majestic elk. He didn’t seem to care about the food, he was just walking by. No harm, no foul.

Paul and Kim’s fabulous four.  Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

Fast forward to Saturday. Kim had hired three servers for me for Saturday night, two women and a man. They were all in their late 20’s.

While the ceremony was happening on the hill above the kitchen, the four of us were busy loading my car to take down the hill to the reception site, which was in front of the three camping cabins on level ground.

First, we loaded up the signature cocktail mixtures, a huge stock pot full of boiling water that would be used to fill the seven chafing dishes, along with the nearly four-foot-long Harmony Board I created for the appetizer/cocktail start of the reception. As you might imagine, it was slow and steady driving down the hill with the boiling water in the front, between the male server’s feet, and the fully assembled Harmony Board in the back.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

Chanté had a long table set out in front of the “Bar Cabin” for me to place the board on.

It was on the far edge of that area and just behind it were two pine trees that had a curtain of twinkle lights strung between them. I was busy setting up the board while the servers unloaded the cocktail mixtures and filled the chafing dishes with boiling water.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

We were just about to hop back in my car and go up the hill to load all the taco bar food when one of the band members, who was on the porch of the cabin next to the Bar Cabin, alerted us to the elk.

The same elk that I had seen the day before was now standing on the other side of the curtain of twinkle lights between the two pine trees with his eyes dead set on my Harmony Board!

I instructed the male server to stay behind to guard the food and reception area. I was too busy to ask how that went or how he scared him off but it easily could have been one of those horrible wedding stories that get told over and over … “Yeah, remember that time when the huge elk destroyed the food at our wedding reception.”

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

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I want to wish a very happy birthday to two of my sweetest friends.

Happy Birthday, Tram!

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Love you both! xoxo

Ahi Tuna Tacos with Pickled Slaw and Wasabi Cream & Chipotle Mayo

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Tacos at home are one of the most economical, quick, easy, and kid-friendly meals you can make. If you add rice and/or beans to the meat; not only can you stretch the dollar, but also increase the nutritional value. But that’s not what this recipe is about!

Those are poor man tacos (“not that there’s anything wrong with that”, as the crew on Seinfeld say). These are rich man tacos. Not only due to the cost of filet mignon, but also the avocado and bell pepper, if they happen to be out of season. Splurge and serve with a nice bottle of Cabernet and… paper napkins; things are bound to get messy. And that’s a good thing indeed!

On a side note: Marissa had a root canal yesterday morning. On the way home, we picked up yogurt, bananas, and cottage cheese. In the meantime, Connor requested steak for dinner. Perfect, I thought, she’ll have her smoothies and we’ll have steak. She rallied once she heard what we were having and enjoyed these fabulous tacos with us… although I did cut up the meat and peppers for her like I used to do when she was a toddler. Honestly, who wants to have “poor man” soft food when you can have “rich man” tacos!?!

(don’t know what this picture means? Go back to yesterday’s post)

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I don’t know why, but I can’t get enough fish lately. Just the other day in a post, I said I was not into frying fish … two days later – here I am doing just that, go figure! I dedicate this recipe to Tram Mai, the host of Valley Dish (weekdays at 4:30 on Channel 12). When I was on earlier in the month making sweet jalapeño mini corn muffins, Tram asked what could be done with the rest of the jalapeño jelly in the jar.  I stammered and said something stupid about putting it on cream cheese and serving it with chips – hey that’s good stuff, but it was a totally lame answer!  Since then, another guest has used jalapeño jelly on the show. So, Tram here’s another one, especially for you…

The recipe calls for self-rising flour. If you don’t have any handy and don’t feel the need to purchase a one-pound bag and then only use the one cup needed here, you can make your own. I’m not sure if you know just how much valuable information is on this blog. Let me tell you, a lot! If you look over to the left, you’ll see a “Tip Index” and that puppy is loaded with good stuff…. including the very useful “conversion and equivalent charts”  Check it out sometime, and if you want to make that self-rising flour now, CLICK THIS LINK and it will take you to the conversion chart… scroll down until you see “Flour” and there it is, easy as pie!

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