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.

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.

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.

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

Photo-a-day 2015.12.27

St. Louis Cathedral

Jackson Square in New Orleans, LA

Photo-a-day 2015.12.26

Kiddie train

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.

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.

Photo-a-day 2015.12.23

Christmas cookies

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.

Photo-a-day 2015.12.21

Polar bear

Photo-a-day 2015.12.20

Snowy mountain

Photo-a-day 2015.12.19

Snowy forest

Photo-a-day 2015.12.18

Sweet Hello Kitty

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

Photo-a-day 2015.12.17

Carnation

Photo-a-day 2015.12.16

Moonlight

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...

Photo-a-day 2015.12.14

The setting sun

Photo-a-day 2015.12.13

Small potluck

Missing from this picture is the curry and spiced apple cider

Photo-a-day 2015.12.12

Cozy owls

Photo-a-day 2015.12.11

Retail center tree and star

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

Photo-a-day 2015.12.09

Lamplighter lampstand

Photo-a-day 2015.12.08

Rainy day

Photo-a-day 2015.12.07

Downtown construction

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

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.

Photo-a-day 2015.12.04

Christmas decorations

Photo-a-day 2015.12.03

Smoke trails

Photo-a-day 2015.12.02

Dried mango slices

Photo-a-day 2015.12.01

Morning sun

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