Road Trippin': San Antonio & Greune, Texas

About a million years ago, some crazy cowboys took a stand at the Alamo. A lot of them died, and San Antonio was founded. As a side trip over the weekend, Alex, Cristiana, Aunt Afina and I went to San Antonio to check out the awesome history, the famed RiverWalk and some tasty tasty guac!

Alex and I in front of the Alamo - Remember the Alamo, y'all.
(wearing a Charlotte Russe top, BCBG linen shorts, payless gladiators)

On the RiverWalk

Here we are in Gruene, another "old" town in Texas, with a quaintly uncomfortable dancehall (open during the summer, no air-conditioning!).

said dancehall, and a little infoz

with happy graduating cousin, about to nom some BBQ in Gruene

Leaving tomorrow :(

Goin' Prowling in Austin, TX!

Graduation is a four-letter word for college seniors. The endless questions from anxious parents, praying hopefully that their 120k investment pays off for the kid…mostly in the way of a Ferrari and a New York City penthouse.

For masters’ graduates, the future has been swept under the rug for far longer. When their peers were scurrying, crying, and worrying about their interviews or faltering job prospects, these captains of industry (in their minds anyway) retreated into their books, thesis writing and nights of drinking. My graduating cousin, Cristiana, in turn, felt liberated. From Tulane to UT-Austin, non-stop, she’s actually relieved to find work and a new environment when she moves to Seattle in the fall. She asked me to come visit for the graduation weekend, arguably the busiest time for UT-Austin’s 50,000 students. People graduate, people move out, people move in, the expiration of the last year reverberates through the town.

From the major delays prevalent in the US airline industry today, I unfortunately never even made the graduation ceremony. Landing in Austin after missing a connection from Houston late in the evening, all I wanted to do was grab a slice and drink a brew. But this is Texas, and they do things differently here.

I walked with the graduate (my cousin, Cristiana) to “The Parlor” for a late nite pie & brew with Boyfriend, her parents, her roommate’s parents…you get the picture. We ordered the Dejay & Pete’s, and while I loved their vegan options, no one would go in with me.

It is Tejas, after all. I’m a pizza baker’s daughter, and while this pizza - think crispy, thin crust and a mountain of toppings - did impress, I’m siding with my parents on this one.

The happy graduate and her father enjoying some pizza pie

Staffed by the famous Tony Sansalone and Scott Halverson, the 1886 Café & Bakery simply has the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had. I know I probably shouldn’t say that, but I don’t have the patience for indecisiveness and redundancy. So, I applied for one university early decision and visited two others in the event that I had failed so horrifically in high school that I didn’t get into my first choice. University of Texas-Austin was one of those schools and 1886 was a major deciding factor.

I went to Texas with my father some time before the applications were due. We share an affinity for chocolate in the way monks love God. Hell, isn’t chocolate a religion anyway?

1886 is a classy, white tablecloth sort of place nudged inside the Driskill Hotel with a beautiful patio overlooking the pedestrians on Sixth Street, the main thoroughfare. Since vacation is no time for a diet, I proceed and order the “Hippy Hollow” skillet and the aforementioned chocolate cake.

My cousin gives me a knowing smirk as I tuck into my egg-and-potato skillet delight. What I don’t know and what comes to light later, the “Hippy Hollow”…might actually be an elderly nudie beach near Lake Travis.

In this badass, not-monkeying around hard-drinking establishment, Chris Marsh has made a shrine to Johnny Cash the likes of which have never been seen (outside of a private trailer park, that is). “Mean-Eyed Cat”, named after one of Cash’s classics, has been lauded by everyone from Conde Nast Traveler (my personal fave…well….I think we know why) to CMT News.

Growing up in Maryland, we have loads of crabs, and crab-smashing parties. BBQ escapes me somewhat and I guess I can’t be called a real Southerner for that. Trying to make for my lack of eduation, it’s been my goal to (try, anyway) visit the best BBQ smokehouses in the country. At Syracuse, I always was a sucker for the Chicken Diablo platter (before I was a red-meat eater) at Dinosaur BBQ and haven’t been able to find a decent BBQ place (besides Dino) in the city since I graduated. Needless to say, Salt Lick was a delicious, delicious surprise.

Boyfriend with a delicious plate of snaaasauge!

Salt Lick is about 25 minutes outside Austin proper but it’s so worth it. Just look at this sausage! We pulled into a extremely large (think state-fair large) parking lot where, literally, the Po-lice was helping park cars. There were 18 of us in our party, sitting around huge platters of BBQ chicken, grilled sausage, coleslaw & brisket, savoring every last bite.

With my delicious Lone Star beverage...love those riddles!

Ohh baby when I came back to Manhattan I was cravin’ some TEXAS bbq (the only BBQ in my opinion)…lucky for New Yawkers, we have our very own Salt Lick bbq stand, courtesy of Big Apple BBQ Block Party . Yes, I waited for 30 minutes to enjoy a delicious brisket & white bread sandwich. If you know what I’m talking about, who wouldn’t?

More pictures coming!

Now Departing, Delta Flight 76 to Berlin

It’s summer again, so it’s off to Europe I go. Having the majority of my family in Romania makes for some pretty interesting tales - like, hopping a jet, zipping into a bridesmaid’s dress for my cousin’s beach wedding.

So I just booked my tickets for Berlin for Aug 13 - 28th. This will be the third time I’ve been to Germany, but I have this major major desire to creep into the capital of East German socialist nostalgia.

Maybe it’s because I went to the Statue Park in Budapest two years ago.

What It'll Turn Into

Many American airline operators are cryin’ about high oil prices. By August, there will be hundreds of cut flights and you’ll be lucky if an airline even circles Topeka. Once again, flying may the dominion of the rich and wealthy and that means we’re all stuck here, hitchhiking to the border. But don’t count AirAsia in on all that fun. CEO Tony Fernandes is brushing his shoulders off and thinks this is all some fun ‘n’ games. He says: “We are comfortable even with oil at US$200 (a barrel). There is a silver lining. We have taken a very different approach in that we will market ourselves out of this problem. We think that just putting your head in the sand and crying about oil and cutting routes is not the solution.”

I tend to agree. It’s business! Things come up, you have to figure a way out. Charging everyone $15 is just going to get people mad at you. What if everyone just up and said “what’s this talking picture business? Silent films are great!” Airlines: change happens! Adapt!

Summer Breeze, Makes Me Feel Fine (In A Dress)

As East Coasters know, the weather has been, well, unseasonably warm. 90+ degrees in May? Thunderstorms? Humidity reaching 90%? Being forced to leave my air conditioning unit has me kicking and screaming, but also scratching my head when it comes to outfitting.

This slideshow from the New York Times would have benefited me two weeks ago and since. Aside from picking up some nosegays to protect my delicate olfactory sensors from the pungent aromas of garbage dumpsters, the only way I seem to figure out how to beat back my sweat glands is to revert to wearing a dress.

I love a good dress. The weight, the color, the length. Everything about it screams “easy chic”, which is what I strive for (but rarely achieve, it seems). The trick to a dress is garnering the right accessories. A cute belt, cute shoes, a bracelet or two, boho earrings.

While I love a dress, I never experiment and get the perfect outcome. It’s always missing something. That’s why the women in the slideshow make me so happy (especially Ms. Trump, from who I will soon gather inspiration!). They are simpe, not laden down with anything heavy, obtuse or ornate, just easy chic. And that’s how summer should be. So I shouldn’t have a heart attack when I’m getting dressed in the morning. I’ll slip on my havaianas, throw on some gold eyeshadow & be out the door in 5 minutes flat. When there are busted fire hydrants outside your apartment, you run!

Here are two gorgeous examples from ModCloth.com

Move-Ment

I’m moving out of Harlem today!! Into a lovely location on the Upper West Side, a block from the Museum and the Park. It’s much smaller overall, but there are certain perks that are well worth the massive headache.

1. My closet. In the brownstone, there were two big closets. 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the main room. 1 closet for the bedroom? My thoughts exactly. Alex doesn’t take up much space, but I often fretted and huffed about where to put my beloved shoes - which were banished to the main closet! The new Closet (it deserves the C) is my own. It even has shelves in the back for all my shoes! It seems a little empty, so I’ve bought a pair of Christian Dior white patent leather pumps and a gauzy Malandrino to try to fill more of it.

2. Big Living Room. I love to entertain, so a dealbreaker is a bad living room. My bedroom is half the size of my old one, but I’m never in the bedroom! What do I care? The living room fits our massive, comfy couch, the TV, the bookcase (which I never got a good look at before because it was in the kitchen, but it is a beautiful and massive piece - and FULL of books!), my desk, Alex’s desk, our DVDs, and gave us the opportunity to purchase a bench - something I’ve always wanted! It’s from the Island Collection by Target (which, apart from our horrible TV stand, isn’t too too bad on the affordable home furnishing end).

3. Greenflea. Alex & I discovered this farmer’s/flea market browsing the interwebs and it stole our hearts. We used to venture “downtown” (for us anyway) and shop, buy produce and then go to Jacques-Imo’s Cafe on the corner of 77th & Columbus to chat up the bartenders, nosh on fried green tomatoes and shrimps, eat po’boys and drink the best Bloody Marys this side of the Mis’ip. Sadly, Jacques-Imo’s is no more (broke my heart!) and I have yet to go to Bourbon Street Bar. But…50 cent beer is almost as good as the Marys are. Almost.

There’s probably plenty more - what with my new gym (Jewish Community Center), my amazing gold BCBG strappy heels REPAIRED (after going to 5 different shoe places no less!) at Planas, my new laudromat, new dry cleaners…I could go on and on. And there’s sushi. A Planet of Sushi.

Now if only I could get this pesky recession to work itself out…