Hellloo! How are ya?! I am poppin’ in here to my biannual blog post (hah!), but for real with the pace I’m moving this year, it is not far from the truth. Anywayyy, I just wrapped up my fall semester and am back in Austin! Oh real quick- I was having some security concerns with the blog, so it was offline entirely for about a week, but I think we’ve got it figured out now. Fingers crossed! Also, WP- what the heck is this new block editor? I am not a tech savvy one, so this whole new format is intimidating me, haha.
So, I’m not sure where to begin. This year has been heavy & soo challenging- emotionally, physically, mentally. Every time someone asks “how are you?”, it is hard to answer honestly. And I know my problems are minuscule in comparison to what others are experiencing right now…But I do empathize if it has been an extra tough year for you too. I’m hoping the next few posts can highlight some of the good that has occurred this year though. And I do think I’m now in a better head space than I’ve been in for a while. Also, I always think I’m generally more thankful when I blog because it really does help me focus on the good even in the most difficult times. So I say it is time to get back to it!!
Shall we rewind to April? I believe that’s where I left off, LOL. Since early on in this thing we were using primarily Instacart for groceries, we tried foods from different stores we haven’t tried before. One of the delicious finds from Central Market was this vegan calamari. Of all vegan foods, vegan seafood always makes me a bit wary (and I eat seafood, so I usually just get the real thing), but this was surprisingly yummy!
The highlight of our days between studying was taking walks around Austin.
At this time I was going through the process of getting everything ready for my RN travel assignment in New Orleans.
On April 10th, We decided to have a last “date night in” before I was scheduled to leave that Monday. I was craving Italian food, so we checked out some take out menus and settled on North Italia. We started with their white truffle garlic bread <– have you ever seen so many tasty words strewn together?
It was out of this world delicious!!!
For their pizza, we tried the Bianca with smoked mozzarella, aged provolone, ricotta, arugula, and lemon oil. Just like the monster cookie from Henbit, this touch of lemon oil was a unique and tasty ingredient I would not have thought would go so well on pizza.
For my main dish, I ordered the squid ink malfaldine with white shrimp, calamari, acqua pazza, mint, fennel pollen, and calabrian chili. This was good, but actually a little bit dry. I think it could have done with a bit more sauce, then maybe would be perfect! You could tell the pasta was high quality.
DJ tried their burrata tortellini with cherry tomato, basil, pecorino, and rustic tomato sauce. He loved it!
While running some quick errands before my trip to NOLA, I decided to stop by Cuvee coffee as I noticed they had an outdoor to-go coffee bar.
This was easily, hands-down, one of the best cups of coffee I think I’ve ever had. Definitely the best coffee in Austin yet. It reminded me of Facebook’s insanely good Saint Frank coffee a little bit!
On Easter morning, we watched church while enjoying a breakfast of omelettes and english muffins.
Easter was gorgeous! I was feeling a bit anxious awaiting my departure to New Orleans, but tried to be present soaking up the day with DJ.
We also Facetimed family that day which was awesome and helped alleviate the nerves a bit.
Below is a picture from our evening walk.
Although I was scheduled and ready to go Monday, the hospital moved back my start day one day, so I had an extra day at home before heading out. We ordered a few meals from Snap Kitchen so DJ would have leftovers for the week. I also tried to do some food prep and froze a few different meals to have on hand too.
This meal was okay- not sure we will order from Snap again, but was definitely worth the try!
Thanks for stopping in 🙂
Question for you:
- Please tell me how you have been/any life updates on your end!
xo <3
