Obviously, a few trips to the local park and pool were obligatory, which Sue and Pete really enjoyed! Then on their first Thursday here Goreti offered to babysit the twins, so we took them out for a meal at The Olive Garden, an Italian restaurant. It’s odd in there as the waiters treat you as if you were sitting in a posh restaurant, and the food and restaurant itself is very nice. Yet it has a very relaxed feel to it so you don’t have to get dressed up too much unless you want to. (In fact its becoming apparent that its not necessary to get dressed up in many places in Austin.) We had a very nice, relaxed evening and for Geoff and myself it made a nice change to go out without the twins.
On the Friday night Sue and Pete offered to babysit so Geoff and I could finally go to see Sex and The City at the Cinema. However, when we got to the Alamo Drafthouse it was sold out for the evening so we saw The Happening instead – maybe we will get to see Sex and The City one day!!! Saturday we spent much the same as we do every Saturday. In the morning Geoff took Sue and Pete and the Twins to Zilker Park (I had to stay behind due to lack of space in the car), then Geoff came and picked me up to join everyone for lunch at Jims Diner. Jims has become a regular Saturday Lunch tradition now, we tend to go pretty much every week. Afterwards, Sue and I went shopping at a local mall for some last minute birthday shopping for Geoff. We also picked up some bits for Thomas and Charlotte’s birthday while we were about it.
Sunday was Geoffs birthday. He turned … umm … older ..! After present opening and a quick trip to the local park we went to Wendy’s for lunch and then Geoff and Pete headed to the pub for the Euro Soccer Final. That night Geoff and I left the twins with their Grandparents again and went out for a meal with some of Geoffs closest friends. Goreti, Tim, Ian, Shazi and Stuart – unfortunately Anne Marie couldn’t make it – joined us at NXNW (pronounced North by North West) for a fairly posh meal. Geoff likes it there because not only does it do really good food, it has a great selection of beers. Not a lover of beer I stuck to Long Island Ice Tea – but the food was really delicious!! We had a really lovely night.
The following Wednesday Tim babysat (again! We do return the favour with Agnes, guys! ;-)) and we went to Mongolian Grille. This was a real experience! You are shown to a row of fresh raw vegetables and salads. They had everything you could imagine, even some fruit, and you pile your bowl as high as you can with whatever u want. Then you pile raw meat on top if you want to – choose between chicken, pork and beef – grab a separate bowl and fill it up with pasta or/and noodles and then comes the best part - mixing your own sauce! There is row upon row of all different sauces and ingredients and also a wall full of recipes above in case you need ideas. Now, I’m not a chef by any means so I checked the wall and added all the parts for sweet and sour sauce carefully into my bowl. Then I handed my bowl to this guy behind the counter who threw it all onto a giant hot plate to cook. I was first up so mine was the only one on there, but they usually cook lots of peoples food on this hot plate all at once and gradually more meals were added. It was real experience to watch this, and also the reason for piling your food high became apparent as it cooks down into half the size.
When we got to our table with our huge bowls of food we were also presented with small bowls of rice, chicken and vegetable soup, dumplings (not the kind made of suet, like you get in a good old English stew!) and a plate of pitta bread. Only Americans could eat that much food! It was finished off with fortune cookies, naturally. Desert was a no go, as we were all too full, but I did notice that they sold a Turtle Cheesecake – mmmm, yummy …. !
It was definately a different experience and the food was great.
The yummy Turtle Cheesecake ... mmmmm ...!?!
Afterwards we went out to try and buy some liquor from a liquor store – but we were just a few minutes late as they all shut at 9pm! This is one thing I have found very bizarre here. You can buy wine and beer in any store – even in garages. But when it comes to hard liquor like they don’t carry it – you HAVE to go to a liquor store. If it was all alcohol that was banned from the shops then I'd understand it, but its not ….
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