Leslie an Austin icon will be forever missed

Today a man named Leslie Cochran passed away at age 60 here in Austin. Oh man did this guy just make you smile. He was widely known for being an attention loving, thong wearing, and cross dressing homeless man who use to roam around downtown Austin. He was always kind and friendly to everyone, and truly enjoyed just being himself.  This article today by the Austin Statesman here does a far better job in detailing this man's journey than I ever could. 

    I just wanted to share one of my personal stories with Leslie. I never really thought twice about the statement Leslie made with his attire and demeanor. I honestly always embraced him as part of Austin's personal slogan " Keep Austin Weird".  Until my mom came to visit Ricky and I a few years ago. We had just moved into a small loft in the downtown neighborhood of Clarksville, and I took my mom on a walk with Chloe to show her around the little neighborhood. Then in the middle of the walk, out of nowhere, a man wearing nothing but a thong and ladies high heels came strutting down the street.  I laughed so hard that I seriously had to stop and sit for a minute once I saw my mom's reaction to Leslie in public. She just didn't know what to think, but quickly laughed it off once she came to her senses again. Ever since then she traditionally keeps an eye out for him whenever she comes back to visit. I know she will be sad as well to see that tradition laid to rest. At least his memory will be kept alive since the mayor will later on today declare today "Leslie Day", and march downtown will be held in his honor. 

 I pray you found peace today Leslie - Love Di

Weekend Wrap Up

Oh man do I have a lot of pictures for you today : )  On Saturday we made a small road trip out to Lockhart, TX for some of the best Texan BBQ in the state.

 Anytime someone comes into town Ricky automatically tries to figure out how we can get out to Lockhart, TX and have a BBQ tour. With Joey here in Austin for the weekend- it was a no brainer.

 Texan's are serious about their BBQ I mean SERIOUS about it. There are three well know places out in Lockhart, but really there is only a competition between the two owned by rivalry siblings ( Kreuz and Smitty's). There is a really good back story of a huge family feud between the two if you are ever interested in googling more info about it. Also check out the Food Network's show Food Wars because they did an episode about these two places too.

Our first stop was Kreuz Market

Ricky, Joey and Anna in front of the menu board

When you order here you walk straight into the smoke room where  all the meat is being prepared and cooked. You then proceed to order by the pound and cash out all in the same room.

This place was packed, and after standing in line for over 30 mins. we were all starving. Our eyes  were definitely bigger than our stomachs when we ordered, but don't worry we weren't wasteful : )

Round two was at the Smittys, but I'll be honest we were pretty much in full on meat comas by the time we arrived at this place. We weren't really able to make a complete comparison.

 My yard work buddy for the afternoon : ) She also had a lot of  fun playing around with the hose

It may not look like much but the small circular tree wells took me a good couple of hours to create. and I'm pretty darn proud of them! Ricky normally does most of the lawn work, but he was inside working on our new concrete floors on Sunday morning. We attempted the Kite Festival downtown that afternoon, but it didn't happen. After an hour of trying to find parking we finally threw in the towel and headed to Home Depot, lol.

We had such a great time with Joey in town this week and we were pretty bummed to see him go, but at least we get to see him this weekend in San Francisco , yay! On Thursday we will be heading with a few friends from college to Yosemite National Park and getting know Joey's city of San Francisco. I'm so excited!!
Have a great week- Love Di

Arroz con Pollo

 TGIF! Wahoo!We've got some great things in the works for this weekend. We are making a small trip out to Lockhart, TX for some amazing barbeque and the downtown Kite Festival too! But I'll get to that in a later post ; )

This week has gone by faster than usual. Our awesome friend Joey has been in town for the week while he attends and speaks at a conference here, and because he is traveling a lot for work lately I thought a home cooked meal might be a nice change for him. 

 So I decided on Arroz con Pollo for dinner last night.

  This is more of an American take on the traditional Cuban meal. I recommend this for people who are just stepping into Caribbean cuisine or just want to try it with a different twist to it.

The original recipe I used can be found here at Realsimple.com 

(and was originally submitted by Greg Patent)

You will need the following: 

* my personal tweaks to the ingredients are highlighted next to the originals listed

• 2 large tart unpeeled apples, such as Granny Smith - I only use 1
• 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 green pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, coarsely chopped - I usually substitute red because they are easier to find
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced- I use two to three tablespoons of already pre minced garlic in a jar
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup long-grain converted rice
• 2 cups chicken broth-I use from concentrate packets instead of store bought cans or cartons



I hate buying broth for only one recipe to only have the excess expire in the fridge. I stumbled upon this one day in the story, and I've never gone back to regular stock since. It works great and fixed the problem perfectly.




• 1/4 teaspoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped- I just omitted this it is not really necessary

 

Directions

1. Quarter, core, and slice the apples into 1/4-inch-thick pieces; set aside.
2. Season the chicken with the salt and black pepper. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan. 
3. Add the green pepper, yellow pepper, onion, and garlic. Stir well and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and apples to the pan. Cook 8 to 10 minutes more. Stir in the paprika and red pepper.
4. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, arrange the chicken on top of the rice mixture, and cover. Cook about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve hot. 

It should look like this

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Love-Di

 

Downtown Volleyball

Good morning! On Monday a friend of mine asked me if I could substitute-in for her regular volleyball league. Normally, I shy away from playing sports or anything related to me playing sports . It is not that I don't enjoy playing sports, but mostly because I'm awful at playing them. Some people thrive on competitive pressure; I'm the complete opposite and tend to crumble under that pressure. This time I decided to step out of my comfort zone and play.  I figured if I suck ( which I did) then at least it would be mostly around people who I don't know, ha ha.

Luckily for me the rest of the team was really great. They were kind about my mistakes, and seemed to just really enjoy playing. So Thanks for a great night guys! I'll substitute-in anytime :)

The league takes place at a restaurant and bar called  Aussie's, and it's located downtown near the Congress Bridge. I've been there a few times to grab a drink and cheer on friends, and it's a really great laid back atmosphere. Hope your week is going well : )

-Love Di

PS- sorry for the bad pictures, but as usually I only have me I-phone on me 

Weekend Wrap Up

Wow, this weekend flew by fast : ) My mom came in right on time Friday night! I wish she could have stayed a little longer of course, but I think we used our time wisely. We woke up semi- early on Saturday and headed out to get grab something to eat. Brunch by far is my mom's favorite type of meal, and it just so happens to be very popular in Austin on the weekends . So we headed over to one of my favorite spots on a sunny day- Ables on the Lake.

 We stuffed ourselves silly, and decided we needed to enjoy the beautiful day outside. We grabbed Chloe and headed out to the Austin Green Belt.

**Side note** the Austin Green Belt is a large area of protected park that is approx. 8 miles long  and is filled with creeks, trails and cliffs. It's also right next to downtown ; )

We honestly could not have dreamed up of a better day to go out on the trails. It was around mid 60's, not a cloud in the sky, and best of all the water was flowing in all the creeks. It was beautiful, and Chloe had a blast playing in the water.

We finally wrapped up her trip watching the sunset at happy hour and ordered take-out for a good old fashion girls sleepover with a great chick flick and Sugar Mama cupcakes for desert. 

 Before we knew it I was at the airport dropping her off for her flight home. Hope you guys had a great weekend too!

Love Di

TGIF

Happy Friday y'all! Sorry I have been so MIA this week. Between Ricky getting ready to go out of town and getting ready for my mom to come into town, it has been a little hectic. Luckily, last night I was able to grab a few drinks with the ladies at a cute little Greek bar called Opa. It's conveniently located in south Austin near South Lamar and West Oltorf. We were officially the warmest place in the U.S. yesterday topping out at 90 degrees, so we could not have found a better excuse to hang out outside and have a few drinks : ) Thank goodness we took advantage of the weather yesterday because I woke up this morning to find that a cold front had came through last night, and the high is now in the 6o's - gotta love Texas's bipolar weather, lol.

A few weeks ago Ricky surprised me with letting me know that him and my mom split a ticket for her to come out this weekend. I am so excited for a girls weekend with my mom : )  Ricky and I are pretty good with seeing both of our families periodically every couple of months, but I am really looking forward to just having "me & mom time" this weekend;  I can't remember the last time we had this. My husband is a very clever man- he conveniently scheduled my mom to come into town while he isn't here, but I can't be suspicious about it because it's wrapped-up into a surprise. I'm on to you De Camps!

The place is perfect for some small appetizers and drinks

Most places with outdoor seating = pet friendly in Austin. Poor Chloe was so excited to be out and about last night that she tuckered herself out pretty early. She ended up passing out under Anna's feet, lol. Doesn't she look so cute with her hometown Team's collar - Go Noles!

I hope you have a great weekend- Luv Di

Weekend Wrap Up

The weather continued to suck throughout most of the weekend. It became salvageable with a great game night at our friend's house. Honestly how can you go wrong with home cooked food, decent boozes, and a competitive round of guys vs. ladies in Taboo ; ) Then we finished strong by having Sunday brunch @ Annie's downtown. Sprinkle in a little afternoon work around the house, and I think it came out to be a great weekend after all. I can't wait to the end of this week to see my mom, yay! I hope everyone has a great week!
Luv D
The pics below are of Annie's downtown. Sorry for no pictures of the food, but we were wrapped up in a conversation and before I knew it we were already done, oops. I thought about sneaking a picture of a stranger's plate for a second, but ultimately decided i didn't want to be the creepy l-phone camera lady, lol.