Yesterday following my last interview, I decided I should be a good big sister/tour guide and try to show Caroline another part of the city, rather than just drag her to Target for the eighth time or force her to wander the aisles of yet another grocery store.*
*Although, we did eventually do that, too. My new roommate has clearly already figured me out, as she called at one point and said, “I figured there was a 90% chance you were in or on your way to a grocery store right now. Can you pick up some eggs?”
Being a tour guide upon moving to a new city is difficult, as, although I have done a lot of research and was able to explore quite a bit when I was here in March, I am still learning as I go. However, I did know one place she had to visit:
We headed for South Congress, the neighborhood just south of the lake [slash] river (I’m not yet a true Austinite I guess, since I still want to distinguish it as being not really one or the other…), which has a reputation for being the quirky part of town (although isn’t all of Austin a little quirky?), the home of the hip and the hipster.
(Clearly Caroline was excited to be let out of the apartment.)
There are, of course, a plethora of fine dining establishments functioning out of trailers. What would Austin be without them? Even I know that…[I did pretty much mandate that Caroline must eat something from a trailer while she is here, regardless of if she is even hungry at the time. I figured it's not a true "Austin experience" if she doesn't.]
We spent some time wandering through the incredible boutiques, where I was able to talk myself out of making quite a few irresponsible financial decisions…as well as into some of the fun vintage collector shops…
…and I went to Tesoros! 
This might not seem exciting to you, but if any one reading this went to the Middlebury Spanish Language Institute with me, you might recognize the name from our textbook, Punto y Aparte. Remember “the five friends”? And how one of them lived in Austin and owned a shop called Tesoros? I’m almost positive this is the real one….and the fact that I was excited about something I read in a textbook clearly makes me a huge, huge nerd and someone who does not fit in in South Congress…
There was also a moment where I fell in love with this dog:
His name was Milo. I wanted to take him home. Irresponsible decision #14 of the day avoided. (The first 13 occurring in the various shops we entered…just in case you missed that. I wasn’t suddenly trying to vandalize buildings or procure illegal substances, just feeling a little free with my debit card.)
Upon recommendation from my friend Shannon, the Tex-Mex Queen of…well…Texas(?), Caroline and I had lunch at Guero’s.
I figured it was slightly blasphemous/sacrilegious/just plain silly that we had been in Austin for so long already and I had yet to take her to eat some Tex-Mex and/or Mexican food! After all, as I so brilliantly said, “We have really good Tex-Mex here…because it’s….Texas…” [Standard case of saying something ridiculous and not realizing it until Captain Obvious flies through your brain mid-sentence.]
We were able to watch them making the in-house corn tortillas behind the bar as we ate. It was fabulous. I did consider jumping back there and helping out, as I have been trained by a true Mexican mother in the fine art of tortilla making…but she did always laughed at mine in their terrible imperfection, so I figured I’d sit this round out.
Caroline ordered the shrimp fajitas…
…served with frijoles refritos, rice, salsa, guacamole, cheese, and sour cream. I forced her to get corn tortillas, since they were made in the restaurant, and because they are much different than the ones you buy back east. [She didn't really like them I don't think...but at least she had an authentic experience...;)]
I, of course, could not decide what to order, so I did a little a la carte-ing, and chose a Taco Al Pastor and a Fish Taco.
The fish taco was incredible! The fish was amazingly delicious…I have no idea how they cooked it, but it was perfect. It was topped with shredded cabbage, fresh corn, and chipotle tequila mayo that was out of this world good.
The Taco Al Pastor was a marinated pork taco covered with a salsa of pineapple, onion, and cilantro. Also amazingly flavored and fresh tasting.
I did end up ordering a salad as well because I wanted to try both of the salad dressings: feta chipotle and cilanto vinaigrette. The feta chipotle was awesome, but cream based, so I couldn’t eat much of it…and the vinaigrette was good, but much heavier on the oil than anything else, so I really didn’t have much. (If I could have had a salad shaker to shake it up, things might have been different.)
Tacos!
Yum!
“Please stop taking pictures of me while I eat…”
We were clearly satisfied customers…
Fabulously fun restaurant to go to…good ambience, and a salsa bar! (Not the dancing type…although that would have pushed up Guero’s on the awesomeness scale…but the type where you can get as much as you want and bring it back to your table…)
Best part about it, though? They only serve limes. Just as in Mexico…it’s like lemons don’t exist.
There were other adventures yesterday afternoon…but I’ll save those for later. Inspired by our adventures in South Congress, we decided to watch Whip It last night ,as it takes place in Austin and there is a scene where Ellen Page walks right across South Congress where we had walked today, making us (me) feel really cool.
Caroline made herself some eggs, and I made a cottage cheese bowl o’ fun…topping cottage cheese with a mess of veggies (cukes, tomato, carrots, green bell peppers)…
Stirring….
…and then for kicks, adding some broccoli and Roasted Chipotle Salsa from Whole Foods. (I am in Texas now…I should constantly spice up my life.)
Movie viewing required that I pop the random bag of Newman’s Own Natural Black Pepper & Buttery Garlic popcorn that I discovered in a side pocket of one of my bags while trying to unpack. Perhaps questionable in how long I had actually owned it, it nonetheless tasted good. (This is my favorite instant popcorn by the way…SO GOOD.)
Off for another busy day….I promise you I will be really cooking again soon. I’ve got my eyes on my kitchen boxes just waiting to be unpacked… 
