Labor Day in Austin

After several years of persistent nagging, Alex, one of my closest friends from college, persuaded me to visit him in Austin, Texas. I left right after work on the Friday before Labor Day and spent the weekend relaxing with him and his brother, Will.

Everyone says that Austin is a very cool city, and I'm happy to confirm that everyone is right. It's not a very big town, and I got to see most of the major highlights during me three days there. Austin is getting bigger as more people discover it and move there, so while 6th Street is still the most well-known area to go out for a drink or a meal, East 6th Street and the warehouse district are starting to become hot spots, too. Alex took me to all of these places. We had tapas at a chic Spanish place downtown, a southern-style brunch complete with grits and biscuits at a quaint restaurant called Moonshine, and martinis at a gritty hipster bar. Food trucks are all the rage in Austin, so we visited one of those too (it was outstanding) and I attended my very first Texas tailgate. I have never seen so much burnt orange. We also drove out to Barton Springs, a natural spring filled with icy ground water, where we ventured in only waist deep despite the triple-digit temperatures outside.

One of the best parts of the trip (and just about the only part I photographed as it turns out) was Monday morning when the three of us got up early to prepare for the barbeque Will was hosting by the pool at his apartment. As Puerto Ricans, the boys took great pleasure in showing me how to cook plantains. I was less attentive when it came to methods for cooking chicken, though I must admit it smelled pretty good... I was in charge of guacamole. It was fun to cook for a crowd in a big kitchen. In my bathing suit.

Plantains for a crowd! Will says the browner (or blacker!), the better.

Alex cuts them out of their skins and slices them into strips.

Mmmmmm.

 Alas, I got to stay at the barbeque for only a few hours before it was time for me to head back to the airport. From the air, I got some pretty dramatic pictures of the wildfires that had just started blazing their way through tinder-dry Texas. My hopes that the fire is put out before it does any major damage are partly selfish; I haven't had nearly enough of Austin, and am anxious to go back again before too long.