Well, April finished with a flurry of activity.
Went to the Slow Food happy Hour at HausBar Farm (owned by the East Side Cafe people). I think both owners are patients of Mollie's. They have some nice donkeys and a goat:
Next up, Ron rode into town as part of the MS150 finish. He crashed spectacularly 50 yards from the finish line, but I arrived too late to see or help him. He did get some sympathy from the ladies, including Dotsie Baush (ex-road racer, current Olympic track racer), who was at the BP tent signing autographs. I knew Dotsie by sight, because I bought her T-Mobile team bike years ago on the internet (back when she was Dotsie Cowden). I had a chance to say hi, chat about her old bike, introduce Ron's sore shoulder, and take a quick picture:
Towards the end of the month, I rode the Hill Country Ride for AIDS with Pete's law firm team. They had a couple of teammates who could not make the ride, so I rode for one of them - a lady, but I forget her name - which was bad because I had to sign in at the medical tent to get a couple of ibuprofens, so I just made up a name.
The ride did have some nice rest stops, including an old hall, and a make-shift roller rink (complete with roller derby girls):
And last, but not least, Jill and I went thrift store shopping at the end of the month. Jill found these naked GI Joe's. I, on the other hand, was happy to find out that most Dell swag gets donated and recycled:
My sister had a legal conference in town earlier this week, so my brother and my mom tagged along for the ride. Jill asked my mom if she'd teach her how to make a traditional Taiwanese dish that I grew up with. They decided on seaweed salad, since it takes few ingredients and can be easily converted from vegan (for Jill) to non-vegan (for me).
Here we are picking up supplies at the MT Supermarket in Chinatown center. The ceiling high stacks of dry goods makes for a colorful background. It's like the Costco of Asian foodstuffs:
Most of the time was spent in preparation (as with most recipes), with lots of chopping and slicing. And here we are finishing up the salad (the roses are from Jill's garden):
Usually, my mom adds sliced ham and sliced egg omelettes, but I can add those to my portion.
The weather Saturday was cool, overcast, and breezy. Very breezy - like it is just before a big storm blows in. In other words, it was a great day to be outside.
After having lunch with Dustin and Emily Sue at the Hyde Park Grill, I met up with Mollie at Art City Austin:
There was some interesting stuff to see, but with so many vendors, the art and booths got mind-numbing and repetitive after a while - which is just a good reason to break for dessert. Luckily, Trace in the W Hotel has a nice patio and even nicer desserts. It didn't hurt that it was also happy hour. This would be my Deep Eddy sweet tea vodka martini, which was quite tasty:
And for proper desserts, a dark chocolate pot de creme (Baileys Ice Cream, Fried Truffle,Roasted Bananas & Toasted Banana Marshmallow) and some drunken doughnuts (Vodka Whipped Cream, Tequila Chile Fudge Sauce & Bourbon Dulce de Leche):
They were incredibly good:
This being Easter week, Jill has a lot on her mind and a number of services to attend.
I spent the week with a new pizza choice from East Side Pies. This is their Moon Dingo Pie with added spinach:
Saturday, I went to see The Hunger Games with Mollie and Maurie. The movie reminded me a lot of The Running Man and several others of that genre. But it was entertaining.
It was a long movie, and when I got home around 1:AM, the Easter Bunny had left me a surprise Easter basket on my front door:
Sunday afternoon was spent at Pete and Maria-Elena's place for their annual Easter pot-luck. It's always good to see the Kennedy clan - with a surprise visit from Doug this year. Also surprising this year was the oak aged beer that was served. Pretty strong stuff - and I did good just to finish one pint of it.
Jill and I went for a hike and picnic in McKinney Falls State Park Saturday. It was the first time there for each of us, which seems odd given how close the park is to us (it's actually in the Austin city limits). We purchased a year long Texas park pass, so we'll be visiting it and other parks soon.
Jill had some fun with the rock shelter:
It was a short but pretty hike to see the falls (bonus - there was actually water going over the falls). And we got a chance to wear our matching Alvin High School t-shirts (goofy, yes - but it's where Jill went to school and it's the obvious self-reference for me):
and finally, we settled down for a light lunch - all sourced from Costco (where we stopped on our way to the park):
It's SXSW time again in Austin, America. If there was ever a year for me to get a badge, this would have been it. Bruce Springsteen gave the keynote address this year and also played a showcase with his band. And he also made a special surprise appearance at the Austin Music Awards show, playing with Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely (pic from linked Rolling Stone article):
Alas, I didn't have a badge, so I occupied myself with some of the free shows. Saturday afternoon, I met up with Mollie and Pete at Rachael Ray's party at Stubbs. We were there a little late, so we didn't get any of her signature food dishes. But the Blue Moon beers were cold, and we did get to see Train perform:
Leaving Stubbs, we passed by the Belmont, where Dre and Dustin were hanging out on the roof at a Shiner sponsored party.
Mollie and I grabbed a quick bite at Walton's on 6th before taking the bus to the LBJ library to see the Big Easy Express movie and show. We met up with Glenn, Karen, Benjamin, and Madeline in line and got in pretty quickly:
It was a really great night to be outdoors - cool, breezy, soft lawn, and bug-free. Pre-show music was provided by an ensemble of band members from Mumford and Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros:
Afterward, Emmett Malloy came out to present his movie, The Big Easy Express - about the week and a half railroad trip and tour with the 3 bands playing later that evening. Good band movie, with lots of shots of Austin for local color:
About 9:PM, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros took the stage:
And around 10:15PM, Mumford and Sons:
Here's a video I shot of the band playing "Roll Away Your Stone." The video quality is ok, but the audio sucks. The microphone on my camera hasn't been the same ever since I dropped the camera a few months back:
Both bands united, along with guests from Old Crow Medicine Show for the last couple of songs before leaving the stage:
It was a nice nightcap to a very full day. Btw, the bus is THE way to get around during a huge event like SXSW.
Monday was our last full day in Amsterdam, and we made the most of it.
While Pete went out in search of fresh bread, Glenn and I found a small diner to have a quick breakfast:
Next up, we headed to the Anne Frank Museum. As you'd expect, it's a humbling place:
The day looked nice, so we decided to rent bikes to explore the city. However, we had to first find a bike rental place. While searching, we passed some frozen canals - which I understand is not that common in the city - which also explains all the excitement of the skaters:
We passed another open market with vendors selling typical local fare - like egg rolls:
We finally found a shop that rented typical Dutch bikes. By typical, I mean steel city bikes - nothing fancy - no carbon, no titanium, not even aluminum:
We made our way through the city and to Vondelpark, Amsterdam's central park:
Leaving the park, we stopped by an Italian cafe for a spot of coffee (real coffee) and met a local tradesman who is in the home construction industry. I was struck by how well and world informed all the people we had met had been. They knew about our government, our primary races, and our financial landscape. And this guy had a cool dog to boot:
After 3 hours of biking, we turned in our bikes and headed to our last pub - In de Wildeman ("In the Wild Man"), where we ran into a couple from the UK that we had met earlier in our trip:
The bartender was friendly and knowledgeable about beer:
But the craziest thing was running into 2 other people at the bar who grew up in Austin - a tech guy (now living in Phoenix) and a real estate agent (now living in Amsterdam):
