Boots in the Oven

Lenoir Birthday

Lenoir, you little jewel-box of a restaurant... you precious salon. Thank you to you and your chef, Todd Duplechan, and your on-point waitstaff (Hi, Melinda) for making my birthday so wonderful.

Lenoir is pretty terrific, guys. They have a prix-fixe menu, where you can choose three courses for $38. Considering that most of the items are local and everything is so carefully considered and prepared, this is a screaming, honking deal. I don't know how it's possible that we'd missed going here for so long.

Reservations are an absolute necessity because did I mention, tiny? The six of us took over just about the entire center of the restaurant.

Erin and Crystal, adorable as always.

Pose, gentlemen. 

Nat, Logan, and Justin are thinking deep thoughts. 

Much of the menu changes often, and has in fact changed almost entirely in the two and a half weeks since we visited. On the night we were there I fell in love with ceviches and poached char, salads and soups. 

Logan had called Todd before our meal to chat with him about menu items, and Todd pulled out all the stops. WHAT A FREAKING TREAT, GUYS. Can you say quail prosciutto? How about... goat terrine?

Desserts were gorgeous! Panna cotta!

And of course, much birthdaying was had, and the restaurant all joined in. It was... well, embarassing, yes, but also really nice to be in such a comfortable place, surrounded by loved ones, who are all singing ridiculously at the top of their lungs over a strawberry pie.

For special occasions or date nights or, well, just because it's a terrific neighborhood restaurant and you're in the neighborhood, I can't recommend Lenoir highly enough. Go there to find out what's fresh and in season and happening locally. 

Thanks, Mueller! (We LIVE!)

Life goes on! Obladee, obladaa, et cetera. Logan's working, I'm working (well, actually, strike that - I'm temporarily unemployed as of this morning, hooray end-of-project!), the cats are freeloading, and we've mostly been good little homebodies.

What else is up? Well, we clearly have not been feeding and watering this here blog.

It took us a bit of time after we got back from the trip to start hitting Austin's terrific array of farmers' markets (farmer's markets?). I like my litte Wednesday afternoon operation at the Triangle, which is usually nicely uncrowded and a perfect size, but a few weeks ago we chanced the one over in the sparkling new Mueller development.

The Mueller market has quickly become a new favorite. Always crowded, yes, but it's on Sundays (love), starts later (double love) and has had a great array of foods including at last count 10 separate egg vendors. And seafood! And multiple types of cheese from all manner of barn animals, not to mention veggies and meats!

Here's our take last week.

So many greens. Shallot AND garlic scapes. Shrimp. Dehydrated strawberries for adding to... well, I haven't decided yet. ARTICHOKES! And some truly terrific Indonesian food from Algiani's Indonesian, which I can't recommend highly enough. 

Well, that's us, lately. Logan's given me some more pictures to sift through, and you might be seeing those here... at some point. Meanwhile, a happy Mother's Day to you and yours, and we hope you're enjoying May!

Singaporean Pepper Crab! In Singapore!

Today here in Austin it's sunny and cool, a perfect Southern winter day. But I would chuck this glorious day and its eye-piercing brightness in a moment for Singapore's humidity and heat, if it meant I could stuff my face with crab.

Perhaps Singapore's most famous dish, chili crab (or pepper crab) can be found at any number of outlets around town, from the down and divey to the fancy shmancy. We tried the crab at Eng Seng, a metro ride and short walk away from where we were staying.

Eng Seng is famous, and we had to wait a bit before seating. It's also an early dinner kind of place; if you get there much after 7, don't expect there to necessarily be any crab left! So eat a light lunch and getcher butt down there.

You'll want some starch to go with that crab (the Singaporean version of "fries with that shake", perhaps?), at least if you're us. Enter the Mee Goreng. Hello there, fried noodles! And yes, those are greens in the back. Have I ever mentioned how much I love a quick wok-tossed Chinese-style green veg?

And then the star of the show, the pepper crab. Eng Seng, like many places, has a minimum order of two crabs, and these mud-crabs are quite large, almost ridiculously meaty, and not exactly cheap. Thus, we had to make the heart-wrenching decision between chili or pepper. After a bit of a wait, during which we covertly eyed nearby tables to familiarize ourselves with local crab-eating customs, this fantastic platter was set down before us.

Luckily, the crab comes efficiently and thoroughly cracked for you, but still be prepared to stickify your hands and face trying to get at the choicest bits.

The crab itself is plumply sweet and salty. The sauce is a sugar and spice amalgam that plays up the nose-tingling floral notes in the pepper; like crushed violets, nettles, and pine. It took us awhile to eat because we found ourselves licking the little bits of shell clean after hollowing out all the non-crunchy bits. It was time well spent. 

(Logan with the crab platter, for scale.)

We left Eng Seng just as they ran out of crabs. Dodged a bullet!

Across the street from Eng Seng, there was a little durian joint. We wandered in, because I'm always interested to learn more about this, well, polarizing fruit.

They had a selection of durian sorted by sweetness level, something I'd not seen before! We had to try one, so we got a medium-sweet. They cracked it open for us right there and handed us plastic forks.

So, I'm still not completely sold on durian (though I think Logan is!), but places like this could change my mind. The flavor is mild, but the scent can be overpowering and not immediately appealing to people who aren't used to it. I think of the flavor and texture as being much closer to a strong cheese than any kind of fruit I grew up with. 

Too bad neither of these places deliver. Of course, I'm pretty sure the 9800-mile journey wouldn't do either of them any favors!

Eng Seng is at 241 Joo Chiat Pl, Singapore 427932. Phone +65 6440 5560.

Labor Day Weddings!

September! A time when young folks' minds turn to... well, as it turns out, marriage. We went to two weddings in September, one in Denver and one in Boston, and, hey! here's the evidence that we were in Colorado. 

Or at least a place that looks very much like Colorado and has "critter" problems similar to Colorado's.

(and, yes, this post is stepping back from the travelogue for a bit, since I clearly completely lost my motivation to talk about Singapore. I still plan to, yes, but I'm done letting the fact that I still need to do that keep me from talking about ANYTHING.)

So! How do you feel about slideshows? Rather than pack a post with pictures of... Me! with my brother! Me! with my cousins! My aunts and uncles, in various combinations! People in rental condos, and in sushi restaurants, and belting along at top volume with dueling pianos while occasionally banging away at cowbells (yes, seriously)! I will slideshow this bad boy, and you can then feel free to look, or not, to your heart's content. There are only 18 photos, so don't feel like you'll need to stock up on provisions before taking a look.

But, basically, congratulations to my gorgeous cousin Kim and her Sporty Spice hubs Nick. We wish you all the love there is in this great wide world.

How've you been? Oh, so glad to hear it! Coffee? Tea?

cough cough cough HELLO!

How is everyone?  Doing well, I hope?  Enjoying the beginnings of fall - well, at least you fellow Northern Hemisphere-ers?  Drinking cider and all that, fighting off the first of the hopefully few winter colds?

I've been casting around at what direction to take this blog for a while now, and while I've been doing that I've just sort of been letting it fester quietly over here in our tiny corner of the internet.  

So, while Boots in the Oven ferments for a while prior to reemerging as a butterfly or something, I've blown the dust off my old Tumblr at Bootlings.  Please come visit over there - have some tea, set a spell.  I'll see you back here soon!

-Rachel