Wow. With Logan taking such good care of the blog, feeding and watering it and teaching it to do little photographic tricks, I had no idea that it's been almost three months since I'd written anything here.
Welcome back, me!
After a Saturday that was overflowing with much-needed pouring rain (which didn't keep Tasty Touring and TacoJournalism from putting together a taco truck bike tour), Sunday was cool and sunny. Perfect for a series of outdoor parties centered on eating, eating, eating!
First, we went to the Casa de Soup Peddler for the second of a hopefully continuing foodblogger potluck series. As before, the food was varied and invariably delicious, from a perfectly cooked vegan potato and corn salad all the way up to a whole brined ham boiled with hay. Our contribution was strawberry and pea shoot tea sandwiches, based on a bit of gastronomic insanity Logan learned about at Apicius.
Our other contribution was our college friend Jackson, newly arrived in town from South Carolina. I'm completely thrilled that she and her man are starting a blog (Austin By the Horns link here), most especially because I loved keeping up with her doings during her three and a half years in Japan, which she blogged at Japan by Storm.
Jackson brought a lovely-looking mushroom galette that disappeared so quickly I didn't get a bite. Late bird doesn't get the mushroom pie. Ah well.
This time around, lots of bloggers had brought pretty little sandwiches and bruschettas, so easy to eat while standing (and drinking). There were stunningly appealing gougeres from Everyday Foodie, which she stuffed with the makings of a caprese salad - mozzarella, tomato, and basil,
and springtime little bruschetta bites prepared by Penny (whose recent Vietnam pics you should really check out on her blog - wow), topped with an edamame pesto full of wonderful garlic flavor.
Mando from Taco Journalism continued his streak of arriving with unusual cooking devices (last time, he brought a disco, like a big Mexican wok for cooking over open flame) with this anafre, made to keep sauces and dishes warm. His enchiladas were another dish I missed out on because I was too busy visiting, but I heard they were tasty.
A friend of our hosts provided three Cajun style deboned and stuffed chickens from three different meat markets in Lafayette, Louisiana. They were just awesome - spicy, sausagey, chickeny, crawfishy, with so many layers of different texture. I'm going to have to get the list of markets from them, because I think we might need to buy a few the next time we head in that direction to visit Logan's folks.
And that's but a small portion of food wave #1. We all took a short break to chat about the current state of Austin food blogging (status: good) and to enjoy David and Meredith's newly redone backyard. Someday, we'll have outdoor space.
It's always fun geeking out about food with likeminded people.
And oh, we weren't done. On to the desserts. There was such a bewildering array that I didn't know where to start. There were at least four types of cupcake, several beautiful fruit tarts, little fruit cups, Texas-shaped sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, a peach and blackberry cobbler, strawberry cake.... get a little of everything, and it's overwhelming!
But oh, the foodbloggers of Austin weren't done yet. Ryan of Nose to Tail at Home had tackled a particularly time-consuming recipe, involving a whole fresh ham, a superlong period of brining, and then a trip to the pet store. To buy hay to boil with the ham, of course. He brought rich mashed rutabagas as a side.
And then Adam from Cissi's Market showed up with homemade duck confit... boudin. No, you read that right, these sausages were full of rice and duck confit. And they were great, after a turn on David's big green egg. (Not a euphimism - the world's most awesome birthday gift, smoker, and grill.)
At this point, less dedicated eaters (and polite people) started trickling out. We stuck around, chatting and drinking pastis and watching a heavily researched YouTube playlist of culinary videos. Eventually, though, it was time to leave before David threw us out on our ears. Thanks to those guys for hosting such a wonderful potluck!
Our day, however, was far from over. A couple of friends of ours who live over on the East Side were hosting a Cuban-style pig-pickin' which had been delayed one day by Saturday's torrential downpour. But Sunday, it was on.
By it, I mean a pig named Oreo, from Green Gate Farms. Even I had a half-second of sadness when I came face to face with Oreo on the grill, and I wasn't one of the crew who picked him up from the farm and drove him out to the slaughterhouse in Johnson City.
This pig was just amazing. It was juicy, succulent, and savory from five hours of roasting over an open fire. This was some setup.
People gathered happily around the fire pit, eating slices of pork. This was some of the best pork I've ever had, and I can't thank Adam and Shelby enough for inviting us over (and being patient with our camera!).
Thanks to all y'all wonderful people for throwing such fun food parties yesterday. Now I'm completely intimidated - I don't think it's possible for us to put on anything approaching either of these celebrations in our 600 square foot condo! But we're always game to try...
Wow! I really wish I'd accepted Shelby's invitation--what a feast!
Posted by: Lisa (Homesick Texan) | Thursday, 21 May 2009 at 10:54
It was a lot of fun! And we'd of course love to meet you the next time you roll through town. :-)
Posted by: Rachel @ Boots in the Oven | Friday, 22 May 2009 at 18:02