Thursday, December 31, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.31

Amy's Ice Cream
Austin, TX local favorite
This was the maple walnut flavor. Sweet and already pre-mixed with nuts. Noms.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.30

Curved building ceiling
Lakeline Mall food court in Austin, TX.

Step away for a few years, and this seems pretty cool. Sadly they took out the hot air balloon though.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.29

Cajun seafood platter
From Mulate's in New Orleans, LA

Clockwise from the 12 o'clock - Cheddar mashed potato, stuffed crab, coleslaw, calamari, fried oysters, grilled catfish atop grilled crawfish, grilled shrimp.

The catfish, shrimp, and potatoes were superb. Stuffed crab was pretty good too. The calamari was terrible. The unpictured fried catfish appetizers were pretty tasty though.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.28

Laura Plantation
The gallery in front of Laura Plantation, a Creole style plantation near New Orleans, LA with a very storied history

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.27

St. Louis Cathedral
Jackson Square in New Orleans, LA

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Friday, December 25, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.25

Force Awakens movie posters
Star Wars The Force Awakens
Good movie. Way more satisfying than the prequels. And dare I say, Rey is a badass.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.24

Fried tofu
From New Fortune Chinese Seafood in Austin, TX

Sadly, these were not very good... but the rest of the dishes we ordered were very tasty.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.22

Sand people gingerbread village
Sand people in gingerbread village form (as seen at Sheraton Seattle's annual gingerbread village)

All edible.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Friday, December 18, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.18

Sweet Hello Kitty
As seen at the Hello Kitty Exhibit at the EMP Museum in Seattle, WA

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.15

Legacy of the Void
Ain't gonna lie, this will probably consume my life for the next few days...

Monday, December 14, 2015

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.13

Small potluck
Missing from this picture is the curry and spiced apple cider

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Friday, December 11, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.11

Retail center tree and star

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.10

Liquidy lime tarts
Failed lime tarts. May not be easy to see, but these "tarts" are mostly liquid... the curd was too thin from the start. I thought baking would cure it, but nope I was wrong.

Been on a streak of failed baking projects lately. First it was flat macarons with this same runny lime curd, then it was burnt chocolate and greasy fudge, now this... sadface

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Monday, December 7, 2015

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.06

Tidying Chinese
Snapped from The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy by Ursus Wehrli. Seeing this made me literally laugh out loud

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.05

Lime macarons
Vanilla flavored macarons with lime curd filling.

These look great, but they have many disappointments behind them.
The lime curd was too runny and borderline too tart.
The 1st attempt at the macarons was actually a different recipe. I had to throw them out because they were completely deflated and burnt.
Thankfully I had all the ingredients for my usual macaron recipe, and while many of them stuck to the pan, they inflated properly enough to pour the (runny) filling in.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Photo-a-day 2015.12.01

Morning sun
Hmm... not the best exposure on this photo. I'm taking rather meh photos lately... sigh