Georgetown, Texas seems so far away in my mind — and it’s only a 1/2 hour drive from our house. And because a total of an hour in the car seems like such a schlep now that I don’t live in the gridlocked east coast, it took me more than a year to visit the Monument Cafe since I’d added it to my list of restaurants to check out.
This spring, the PR firm that represents Monument Cafe invited me to come meet the owner and take a tour, so Adam …

Austin is kind of a grocery store mecca. Just consider that:

Whole Foods Market started in Austin almost 30 years ago — and is home to the corporate headquarters and flagship store.
Central Market opened it’s first store here — on North Lamar in 1994.
Wheatsville Co-op is the only retail consumer food co-op in Texas and its right here in Austin!

Others in town include HEB, Randalls, Fiesta, Royal Blue Grocery, Asia Market, Fresh Plus, MT Supermarket, Newflower, Sprouts, Sun Harvest, and more.
Last week alone, I visited the Triangle Farmers Market, Central Market, …

I generally try not to mix business with pleasure on this blog, and most of my business doesn’t happen in Austin. It generally takes place on an hour-long conference call  with clients in other time zones, via e-mail chains, and at occasional out-of-town meetings.
The weekend before last, I happily mixed the two parts of my life on a road trip from Capitol Chevrolet down to the Pearl Farmer’s Market in San Antonio with a group of local food bloggers. Below is a slightly edited version of a blog I wrote …

Today I’m at the mercy of the food and beverage marketers of the world. My level of fullness is completely dependent on the plans for today’s grocery store merchants and food publicists to offer tasty and nutritious snacks. Adam and I are heading down to meet David Becker at the downtown Farmer’s Market to begin our quest for free samples.

The mission: Live off of free samples for a full day and live blog the experience on both Tasty Touring and The Forty Days.
Please feel free to follow along here or …

While I may not be blogging about the restaurants on this particular trip to Colorado, I did enjoy some amazing fried chicken at Southern Vittles in Lake City, fresh salsa and enchiladas at Buen Tiempo in Ouray, fish tacos at Steamworks Brewery in Durango, and an Elk burger at Handlebars in Silverton (pictured below).
At Handlebars, I was trying to decide between Elk and Buffalo after I realized I wouldn’t be able to stomach the Rocky Mountain Oysters. I was sick the night before after going four wheeling at 13,000 feet …