Today marks the end of my two-year term on the board of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance and I’m feeling a lot of emotions this morning — a lot of pride, a little sadness, and overall I’m very grateful to have been a part of the founding and growth of this amazing organization.
This Sunday I will hit “publish” on the 2013 Austin City Guide — a coordinated list of blog posts with recommendations for the best eats and drinks in Central Texas. The first year we published the guide was …

According to Forbes, Austin is the fastest growing city in America. Even more impressively, Austin has held on to the number one spot on this list for three years in a row.

It’s my honor to share with you a list of some of the restaurants to make a splash in our fair city over the past year for The Austin Food Blogger Alliance’s 2013 Austin City Guide. I sourced the list from my own research as well as by combing through posts from Addie Broyles Openings/Closings category in Relish Austin and Andrea …

Most of the people I work with are really into our dogs — since most of us don’t have kids yet, our dogs are our children. When Courtney came across a “paint your pet” class benefiting Austin Pets Alive earlier this year, we jumped at the chance to try it out.
Unfortunately, all of the classes that were offered to benefit APA either didn’t work for our group, or were already sold out. However, we came across a class at Painting with a Twist on Burnet and 183, and decided to check it …

My mom is a great cook, and like most great cooks, she has signature recipes that are family favorites. Her strawberry thaw is one of my dad’s favorite recipes, and I’m guessing that I have cousins who love it also, because the recipe my mom sent me was titled “Aunt Linda’s Strawberry Thaw.”
I made the strawberry thaw last week for Valentine’s Day as I had frozen strawberries defrosted for another recipe, and because the thaw is stored in the freezer, and we were going away for the weekend the next …

Today, I read an amazing article in the New York Times starring Brandon and his boyfriend, Benn. The article details how Brandon and Benn decided to move to London together (Benn is British) after Benn was unable to renew his work visa. The article poignantly shows — through interviews with Brandon and Benn, a photo slideshow, and audio, the painful experience of leaving your country, line of work, family, and closest friends in order to stay with the person they love.
I was reminded how lucky I am to know my friend …

What better way than food to share our love for one another? My dear friend Emily of Wild and Crazy Pearl combined her love of food and photography to put together, along with writer Beth Kanter, Washington, DC Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from the Nation’s Capital.
It’s a beautiful book, and Emily spent much of 2012 photographing each and every image that appears in it (other than her head shot of course), at visits to Washington, DC restaurants either early in the morning, during lunch, and after work, while still managing to excel …

We recently were in Los Angeles for a whirlwind wedding weekend, and while we didn’t have time to check out any of the father-of-the-groom’s eating recommendations, I wanted to save them for future reference, and share them with all of you.
Here’s a photo of the guest blogger, David Gorney, on his sailboat. He can be found wearing his signature mustache, shorts, and crocs most places he goes. And he even wore crocs with his suit at his son’s wedding. David is a total character who is passionate about good food. …