Thursday, March 29, 2012

Girls Weekend

Last weekend was the annual family turkey hunt all the way out near Sonora. Katy and I took advantage of the missing men to have a girls weekend with Our Little Princess and Her Highness.

We started out on Friday afternoon with a trip to Jo-Ann Fabric. I've been wanting Katy to help me with some fabric choices and designs for quite a while. She has a designer's eye that I just don't have. I can't wait to get them made and show them to you. We were also working on ideas for Her Highness' first birthday party. Can you believe she'll be a year old on April 11th. The year went by so fast.

As usual, we stayed way too long at the fabric store. This is a long-standing problem for me. When our kids were little, there was a huge fabric store in Corpus Christi called Cloth World. Nick would cry any time he had to go with me to Cloth World. To this day, he considers fabric stores to be a horrible punishment. By the time we left the fabric store, everyone was hungry and the baby was cranky. We decided it was time for dinner.

For quite a while now, Katy has been telling me about a place where the gourmet food trucks all park in the evenings and serve dinner. We decided to give it a try. It's called The Boardwalk on Bulverde and is a really fun place. They have a play area for the kids and a big screen television which was showing a Spurs game on Friday night. Picnic tables are surrounded by about about a dozen food trucks. We ordered two different items and split them so we both got to try a couple of different things. The burger from Toastie Buns was awesome. If you go, it's BYOB. Non-alcoholic beverages are available on site.


While the girls played, we discussed our ideas for what we should do on Saturday. We decided to drive to Austin and do a little antique and junk shopping.

We drove up IH 35 from San Antonio to Austin without too much traffic and chose to start on Congress Avenue in the SoCo shopping district, an area that has several interesting shops. Katy wanted to take me to a store called Uncommon Objects. This store is jam packed with interesting objects and is a junk and antique shoppers dream. It's kind of a nightmare if you are shopping with a one-year-old and a three-year-old. You also have to leave your strollers outside because it's just too tight a fit.

As luck would have it, there is also a gourmet food truck park right across the street. So we took a break for lunch. Katy and I both had six inch subs from The Short Bus. I had "The Bully" which has Genoa salami, pepperoni, capocolla, mozzarella, provolone, lettuce, tomato, pepperoncini, and oil & vinegar. It was awesome. The bread is fresh baked. I ate a little bit of bread and then ate the inside of the sandwich. Delicious! I'm not sure, but I think Katy had "The Teacher's Pet" which has turkey, swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and ranch dressing. She also thought it was good. The Short Bus has a large selection of sandwiches available including quite a few vegan and vegetarian options. Our Little Princess had fried macaroni and cheese which she was not crazy about. I think she's a food purist when it comes to mac and cheese. She only likes it the usual way.

Then we couldn't resist dessert. Actually, Our Little Princess couldn't resist the giant cupcake on top of the Hey Cupcake! trailer. And, since it was right next door, Katy and I decided to try some pie. I don't remember the name of the pie trailer, but oh my goodness, the pie was good GREAT. Instead of slices of pie, you actually get a little pie of your own. I guess they are technically tarts. We had a buttermilk pie and a bumbleberry pie. If you're not southern, you may not be familiar with buttermilk pie. It's a baked custard pie and is almost always my first choice for pie. It's cheap and easy to make and this one did not disappoint. It was almost as good as my mother-in-law's buttermilk pie. This was my first taste of bumbleberry pie which is a mixed berry pie with blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries. It was only a little bit sweet and still had the tartness that berries should have. Both Her Highness and Grams LOVED IT!

There were a couple of downsides to eating at the South Congress Food Trailers. First of all, it was hot and there was not enough shade. We ate in the glaring sun and all of us were a little bit pink by the time we finished.  The second has to do with having the kids along. There is no play area and no seating for kids and it is right on the side of the street. We had to keep a tight hold on both kids, but it was so worth it.


After we did a little more shopping, it was nap time. We buckled both girls in their car seats and headed toward Zilker Park. Since both girls were sleeping long before we got to the park, we didn't stop but instead drove North to Round Rock and Ikea. We both love Ikea and had such a good time there. On the way out, we passed a young man whose wife was calling him to help put furniture on a cart. He looked at us and said "Nine hours!" Katy posted on Facebook "Ikea, where relationships go to die." It was good for a laugh.


We finished they day with dinner at Chuy's in Round Rock and the drive back to San Antonio. We tucked both girls in and went to bed ourselves. We were worn out, in a good way.