They came in on Saturday but we didn't meet up until Sunday morning. Long flight, trouble finding a restaurant, long wait to eat, etc. Travel issues. Not fun. They came to pick us up Sunday morning. We got to see the crazy house they rented in South Austin. It was built by a couple of architects and had a lot of neat features. I didn't like it very much, though. Kind of had the funhouse effect going on. And there were SO MANY doors. If I lived there I would feel extremely insecure about so many ways through which a burglar could get into my residence. But anyway.
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| Crazy rental house interior. I am imagining sneaky ninja thieves peering through each of those windows. |
The drive back seemed a lot longer than I'm sure it was. We stopped at our place so the fam could meet the dog. He was excited that we did that, for sure. We headed out shortly thereafter and had dinner at Hula Hut on Lake Austin Blvd. Chris and I split some vegetarian fajitas. It was okay. Nothing special. The ambiance is great, though. We spent time at their rental house after that and went home after that.
We got a late start Monday morning. All of us headed down to San Antonio. They had to see the Alamo and do the Riverwalk thing. It's imperative for first time visitors, you know? Chris and I have lived in Texas for about five years now and we still enjoy going there.
Our gang separated for lunch. The fam went to Cafe Ole on the Riverwalk while Chris and I shot up to a new juice bar on Commerce Street. Juice Central has been in business for a few months with that location opening just a few weeks before now. It smelled very new inside! She and I loaded up on healthy food and drink. It tasted great but ended up being pretty pricey. My medium sized juice was about $2 more than it would have been in Austin at Juiceland. Either way, I enjoyed it a lot and was thankful we could find something healthy to eat with all of the treats we had eaten since VegFest a few days before.
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| Sweet Green and Heart Beet juices from Juice Central with a to-go salad. |
We walked the Riverwalk after that. Bought souvenirs. You know the deal.
Then we went to GREEN for dinner! If you're a vegetarian in San Antonio it's almost required that you eat there. Every time I go I am impressed by something new. This time I ordered the Italian Enchiladas. The combination of coconut rice, smoky refried black beans, and sweet tomato sauce was unique but so awesomely good. I had a bite of Chris's BBQ sandwich. Their faux meat dripping with spicy, sweet sauce is to die for. I can't resist dessert there, either, so I ordered something different than my norm; a chocolate brownie. Literally, this was the best vegan brownie I had ever eaten. And I don't know how Chris and I missed it before, but apparently they've been serving vegan soft serve for years. She got herself a bowl of the flavor of the day (chocolate peanut butter). This stuff kicks the pants off of every vegan ice cream I've had. It hurts me to say it, believe me, but it's true. I didn't think I could like anything more than Sweet Ritual but Green's vegan soft serve is exquisite.
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| Italian Enchiladas from Green at Pearl Brewery. |
While I'm talking about them, I should mention that the folks at Green are putting together a vegetarian fast food restaurant called Earth Burger. I feel like if any meat-free endeavor has the possibility to succeed it's one created by this company. They have three Green eateries now and will be opening Earth Burger later this year. They haven't said anything about expanding this idea to anywhere beyond San Antonio but, man, it would be huge. I dream of it happening. If you'd like to help them make this a reality, they're accepting pledges via Kickstarter. More photos from Green and other Texas restaurants can be found in my Texas Restaurants album on Google+.
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| Here I am, trying on dresses. This is one of those that I indulged my family in wearing. I think you can tell by my face that I think I look pretty silly! |
My family's visit ended with us spending Tuesday together, too. I worked a half day before meeting them for lunch. They had grilled, kebab style veggies waiting for me when I got there. After we ate we headed over to David's Bridal where they helped me pick out my wedding attire. They all knew going into the experience that I would not come out of it ordering a huge bridal gown. I tried a few on to humor them (see the enclosed photo) and I left having purchased something I really like. I'm not going to show it to you but I will tell you that it's going to be a nice light green color. Which will fit perfectly into our foresty theme!
I am grateful to have had the experience. I don't feel like I'm a very conventional bride necessarily and I don't think there will be many opportunities for me to have a genuine bridal experience considering a) we're having a destination wedding and b) I don't foresee us participating in many heterosexual wedding traditions. This doesn't leave me with much to work with if I want to partake in some sort of wedding custom. I was also very pleased with the staff at David's and my attendant, too. She made some recommendations for me that I didn't necessarily like but she listen and seemed truly interested in what I had to say, what I wanted, etc. She didn't hesitate when I told her I wasn't there for something traditional and immediately asked about colors instead of trying to pressure me into something white, sparkly, and expensive. Bravo.
Honestly, a part of me was not looking forward to it. I've had some body issues in the past and they all stem from being told I'm too skinny for about all of eternity. I hate being told I am too skinny. I have also, until recently, disliked looking at myself in the mirror because I'm not comfortable being so thin (what, with everyone constantly bringing it up). I'm not trying to sound like one of those girls who complains about eating whatever I want and not being able to gain weight. I'm not condescending like that. But skinny shaming used to bother me a lot. Perhaps because I also thought I was too skinny. These weird issues were why I decided to start lifting weights when Chris started running. There were a few instances during the dress shopping experience that I felt like I was being teased regarding my size, but for once in my life I found myself looking at my body and actually appreciating what I saw. If you would like to read about the other stuff I've been doing to get ready for my vegan wedding, click here.
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| Some more images from playing dress up. |
The trip culminated with my making dinner for them back at the house. Or rather, I created the menu and mom, Chris, and I prepared the food. Nothing hugely special. Bruschetta with vegan cheese, pasta with homemade marinara sauce, grilled asparagus, and drunk berries for dessert. They all seemed to like it though Chris and I felt like it wasn't our best work. But so long as they liked it I guess I liked it, too.
While I very much liked seeing my family this week it was exhausting having them here. We were constantly going somewhere or doing something. It's like I worked or volunteered over the weekend instead of taking time off. Chris and I are both looking forward to doing nothing this weekend. I'm sure Rusty is, too. And by nothing I mean I'll be cooking all weekend. I spotted Field Roast's new breakfast sausage links at Whole Foods on Tuesday. They will go most excellently with the pancakes I'll be making to photograph for my next submission to All About Vegan Food. I'm creating another recipe for them this weekend, too, a bonus for their monthly newsletter. We also need another loaf of bread made up and have a ton of veggies leftover from our CSA box from last week! Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the weekend, don't you think?
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