UCHIKO

A few weeks ago, a few friends and I decided to try out the new Uchiko - the new sister restaurant to the famous Uchi. Let me say this first, we went on a Tuesday night, and there were only two empty tables in the whole restaurant...that should attest to how totally delicious this place really is.

We started with some tempura nasu - japanese eggplant crisps with some sweet chili sauce - Uchi's own version of chips and dip. Needless to say they were addicting and incredibly tasty. We also ordered the hot rock - wagyu beef served raw with an extremely hot Japanese river rock on which you cook the beef strips. We also got some grilled edamame which had so much flavor you didn't even need soy sauce.

Next we were served a little tasting from the chef - a slice of strawberry paired with a slice of yellow beet. I'm not a huge fan of beets, but because everything else had been so, so tasty, I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. The complimentary tastes exploded in your mouth for a special little treat.

After all of our various appetizers, we ordered our sushi rolls - the infamous Shag roll with tempura fried salmon, sun dried tomato and spicy sauce - simple yet amazing; the crunchy tuna roll with bigeye tuna, jalapeño, cucumber, aioli and tempura flakes; and the tiger cry with grilled wagyu steak, toasted rice and cilantro. I cannot tell you which was best because they were all so delicious. I could have eaten 4 more of each.

To finish our incredible meal, we ended with the fried milk. While it sounds a bit strange, it just might be one of my favorite desserts of all time after eating it. It comes with two tiny little donut hole looking things (the fried milk), a chocolate torte, some chocolate cocoa powder and some plain milk chocolate.

After my first time at Uchi, I want to go back until I can try every single thing on the menu, as I'm sure they are all equally as unbelievable as what I had on my first visit.

Funding for Texas Heritage Cut

In light of our new client, the Heritage Society of Austin, I decided a little coverage of the new budget cuts wouldn't hurt.

On February 7, Gov. Rick Perry eliminated all funding in the Texas budget for the Texas Historical Commission. In doing so, this new budget cut will eliminate up to 80% of funding that backs historical sites making it extremely difficult to keep up with preservation strategies.

While its true that the government is facing tough budgeting decisions, it would be a mistake to cut the budgeting backing the historical commission.

The mission of the Heritage Society of Austin is to preserve historical sites and keep Austin from turning into a city full of skyscrapers and high rises. If there was no one working to preserve all of these sites, where would we be today? We would be living in a city with many fewer signs of what Austin used to be and to many people still is - a city rich with history.

Have you ever heard of the Driskill Hotel?? I bet you didn't know that the Heritage Society of Austin raised money to save the Driskill way back when they were trying to tear it down....pretty cool, huh?

The history of our city really is an exciting thing if you take the time to appreciate it.

For more information on the Heritage Society, please visit http://www.heritagesocietyaustin.org/.

Let's Rodeo San Antonio

Tonight after my exciting 3 hour lecture, I plan to drive home to San Antonio for the weekend to enjoy one of my favorite Texas traditions - the stock show and rodeo.

While this may seem totally Texan - cliché, it really is one of the most fun things about San Antonio. People do wear cowboy boots and there are some real hardcore cowboys there, but there are also people like me just there for the fun experience and to drink a few beers and eat some junk food.

Tomorrow night we are going to go see the stock show (which starts at 8 p.m.) and then stay afterwards for the Train concert. Then on Saturday we plan to go to Clay Walker. Not only do I love seeing the shows, there is also the fair ground...

With rides and roasted corn and gorditas and funnel cakes and beer, its like paradise.

The Hunger Games

Since the weather has been soooooo chilly the past few days, its given me a chance to catch up on one of my favorite activities...reading (non-school related books that is).

Over the break I finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett which was incredible. This historical fiction is about 1,500 pages long, but took me only two weeks to finish. With the intertwining stories of a multitude of characters, by the second half of the book, its hard to put down. Although gory and sexual, Pillars is ultimately about a monk, Phillip, whose ultimate goal in life is to build the most beautiful cathedral in the world. If you're a historical fiction buff, this is definitely a must read.

Although I'm not big on sci-fi, one of my friends suggested I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last week and I am already two books deep and 20% into the third - notice I refer to it in percentages (yaa Kindle). I really cannot put these books down. Basically, they take place in a country called Panem which was built on top of the ruins of America after the country was eliminated. From the 12 districts of Panem, two children are chosen from each annually to be placed in an arena to fight to the death leaving one remaining victor. I know, sounds extremely barbaric and weird, and it is, but it is also one of the most captivating books I've read in a long time. Right now I'm on the final book - Mockingjay. I'm entirely obsessed and highly recommend reading them all.

Next on my list...Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo

Hop-duddy??

This past weekend was our mom's weekend and on Saturday after a night on the town, both my mom and I wanted a greasy burger for lunch. Instead of sticking to my all-time favorite, Counter Cafe, we decided to branch out and try Hopdoddy, a new burger bar on South Congress.

Congress is always a beehive on the weekends, but I was blown away by the enormity of the crowd this past Saturday. It took us around 25 minutes to find a place to park, but we finally found one a ways town the street for 5 bucks and a long walk. When we finally got up there (its next to Guerro's and the new Kendra Scott store), the line to order was about 15 people long but we figured it couldn't take too long - its just a burger place. We were wrong.

The atmosphere is very hip - typical of any new restaurant on South Congress. They even have a new method of ordering and sitting down...when you walk in and get in line, a cocktail waitress will serve you drinks while you wait and then another waiter finds you a table, gives you a number and places the number on the table that is ready for you after you're done ordering. Its a nice process in that no one has to stand around waiting for other customers to be done, hovering over their table. The drinks were pretty good too, we had a bloody mary but with their twist; it was a fuschia color with black salt and tasting a little more fruity than usual but with a kick.

After we waited around 25 minutes to order, our stomachs already growling, we sat down. The first to arrive at our table was the Mexican Vanilla milkshake that I ordered. Served with a little whipped cream and cinnamon on the top, it had the perfect thickness and flavor.

..then, about 35 minutes later, our food arrived. They have a nice presentation, each burger comes on a metal platter, the fries wrapped and a paper cone, but after an hour and 15 minute wait, everything could have been better. I had ordered a classic cheese burger, cooked medium rare, plain and dry with chili cheese fries. The fries were the best part. Although the burger was cooked perfectly and the bun was great, the meat had a funky taste that could only have come from their "in-house grinding." It wasn't a rotten or rancid flavor, jut something distinctly different that didn't quite suit me. The fries were not what you would expect when you order chili cheese fries, instead they were plain salted french fries with a bowl of "chili-cheese" that narrowly resembled and tasted like queso to me...good, but strange. My mom ordered the Terlingua - their version of a chili burger with fritos and cheese. While much, much better than mine, it still wasn't phenomenal.

The entire experience wasn't horrible, the atmosphere was fun and the drinks were good, but overall, definitely not worth $40 and an hour and 45 minutes.