On the road again: Austin, day 3

More interesting meetings, more I can't discuss.

Dinner really is the only part of the day I can talk about.  Tonight, we'd hoped to eat at newcomer and hot Austin restaurant, Qui.  The menu looks interesting, and the place is getting national attention, but it doesn't take reservations.  When we showed up about 8:15 p.m., the wait was at least ninety minutes.

I had too much piled-up work to be able to waste that much time, so we headed off to an Austin institution, Fonda San Miguel.  They seated us immediately, and the food was delicious, as always.

As I've noted in past blog entries, I particularly like the lights in the trees outside this restaurant.  The blue tree to the left of the building is a definite favorite.

Click on an image to see a larger version.

This photo is just as I took it with my phone; I've done no work on it, but I love how it came out.

This visit, the red up-lights mixed with the blue tree lights in front of the entrance to create an effect I found delightful.

You can't go wrong with Fonda San Miguel.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

In the late afternoon, thunder cracked the air and a hard shower briefly fell. Listening to nature from the dry safety of drinks with clients in a local bar, I realized with a start that in the times I've come to Austin, I've never heard thunder. I found this storm rather a nice change.

Dinner was at the wonderful Fonda San Miguel, a place I recommend highly.

My plea earlier today for votes in Baen's SF buddy team poll may have helped, because Jon and Lobo now have a tenuous hold on second place. Given the enormous lead of Honor and Nimitz, however, I see no real chance of my guys winning. Still, I appreciate those who voted.

As longtime readers know, I can't say much about these business trips. By way of compensating a bit for the short entries, here's a song that ties both to travel and to my youth, a tune I loved the moment I heard it and still love today. The interlude is particularly wonderful. Enjoy.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

As usual on business trips, I can't discuss the business side, which is a shame, because we meet with a lot of interesting people on a lot of interested topics. Ah, well, so it goes.

Lunch was at Rudy's barbecue, where the meat was tasty and tender. Texas barbecue is awesome.

Dinner was a light, appetizers-only meal (remember the lunch barbecue) at Fonda San Miguel. Nothing there is exactly like its Mexican-food counterparts back in NC, but that's probably, according to the menu, because they focus on the foods of different parts of Mexico. In any case, the dishes were quite tasty.

A trip to Amy's capped the evening out, after which I hit the hotel room for many hours of work.

I don't want to end with such a boring entry, so I'll offer you this, a fun song from a man I'll be seeing live in less than two weeks. Enjoy.

On the road again: Austin, day 2

As is usually the case for these business trips, the days are incredibly long, and I can't talk about most of what I do in them. Sorry about that.

The weather here is absolutely gorgeous, and I feel quite lucky to be able to enjoy it. May in Austin is transition time, when you might get high heat or rather moderate temperatures, and this trip I've been enjoying the latter.

Dinner tonight was perhaps the best Mexican meal I've ever had, courtesy of the well-reviewed (and deservedly so) Fonda San Miguel. We sampled a house speciality appetizer, Angels on Horseback, which featured three perfectly grilled shrimp with white cheese, jalapeno, and a bacon wrap. Wow, were they good. We also tried a benchmark starter, the Chile con Queso, and it was excellent. My main course, which you can see below, was tonight's special entree, a poblano stuffed with pork pecadillo and covered with a walnut cream sauce and pomegranates.

(As always with my images, click on any of them to see a larger version.)
It was excellent, mixing spicy and sweet flavors with both soft and crunchy textures. I meant to stop halfway through the course, but I ended up eating it all.

To finish the meal, we had to try two more benchmark dishes: the tres leches cake, and the flan. Both were superb.

Something most folks don't know about me is that I am for no good reason a huge fan of trees wrapped in lights. The folks at Fonda San Miguel wrapped their trees in blue lights, which is both unusual and awesome, as you can see in these two pictures.


Magic is indeed everywhere.