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#NoFilterShow, Austin, & Friends

August 24, 2014
General
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haymaker austin texas

Day-drinking @ Haymaker with the bestie

I’m going to say it: I do Austin day trips pretty well. I’ve only taken one, but…
If there was an award for “Best Austin Day Tripper,” I’m 100% a nominee.
I lived in Austin for 4 years and if I learned anything: Austin knows how to do Austin best.

If I were to write in an application that further detailed my day trip, it would go something like this:

Day-Tripping in Austin, TX 101:

  1. Head to Pieous for lunch. You’ll never go wrong with a pizza and a plate-sized cookie. Why am I even telling you guys, this place is the best and I don’t want it to get huge and have to wait 3 hours for bbq–I mean pizza. No, I’m okay with sharing this gem with you guys because I want other people to support them like I do.
  2. Go down 2nd St. District for a specific shopping mission. Don’t go to dilly-dally, that’s dumb. Our shopping mission? Flash Tattoos. I planted the seed for the tattoos and before we knew it, we weren’t going to walk away until we found some. We went to Luxe, Hemline, Langford Market, UO, Toy Joy– we came up empty, but we made a commitment and were going to stick to it. Finally, we found some at maya* (bless maya*).
    Sidebar: by this time, I was DYING at the fact at how much I missed this dumb city.
  3. Get caffeinated with LOCAL coffee. You can’t miss this opportunity and if you go to a Starbucks, you’re going to have to give me a damn good reason as to why you went. Caroline is a Starbucks Gold Member…and I made her go local. This time, we headed to Jo’s on 2nd St. because we were in the neighborhood.
    Fact: They now roast Stumptown (and not Cuvée *tear* both are great roasters though)!
  4. Day-drink. Since it was a Tuesday, Haymaker had $3 Texas Pints and Texas Liquor. This included ABW Pearlsnap and I was a happy girl. More missing, more nostalgia, more pints. Haymaker is in a good neighborhood, has a good crew, and good design.
  5. Go to a show…we are the World’s Music Capital after all. This time around, I didn’t come for a music show. I came for the No Filter Show ft. Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart, & Grace Helbig (+ Chester See). If you don’t watch YouTube, you’re missing out. If you do, well…bless you. It was a fantastic show. If you have an inkling to go, take your YT-watching best friend and go.
  6. NEXT MORNING: Have breakfast. At Cherrywood Coffeehouse. Breakfast is the best and spending time with friends is cool too. Cherrywood Coffeehouse allows you to have both.

And there you have it, my day in Austin. Holy guacamole, I’ve missed this place. I had to blog about it, because who knows when I’ll be back? (Spoiler alert: next week and hopefully forever [again].)

Now that I’ve told you all my secrets, the least you could do is Follow me on this blog, right? Share your favorite place in your city? This is my call-to-action, I’m not very good at it. BUT WORKING ON IT.

 

#NoFilterShow, get yourselves educated.

#NoFilterShow, get yourselves educated. They are my heroes.

Let’s talk coffee.

November 3, 2013
Sidebar
13 Comments

coffee
After getting back from church this morning, I automatically walked to my kitchen, filled my kettle with fresh cold water, and turned on the stove. You know what time it is? It’s coffee time.

I enjoy coffee, but I lie somewhere between those who drink it because they need it and those who drink it on occasion (i.e. to stay awake). I also lie somewhere between coffee snob and police station coffee drinker. While I do not enter myself in world barista championships, I do like to support our local coffee shops around the city. How can you pass up Vintage Heart Coffee’s iced vanilla latte or even Central Market’s regular hot coffee? I’m sorry, but my allegiance will never be with Starbucks. I am not a gold member (but Caroline is).

But I want to talk coffee because I’m in a bit of a dilemma. A couple of months ago, I broke my beloved french press. I bought that special one that Starbucks made (I can hear the irony, but I bought it because of the ‘special size’) and I chipped the glass. Upset by tragedy, I threw it away. What I later found out was that I could have easily replaced the glass. I thought they didn’t make replacement glass for that particular “model,” BUT THEY DID. Lesson learned… I guess.

Right now I brew my hot coffee in a makeshift pour-over-type-coffee-vehicle. You can see it in the picture above. And after seeing the price of french presses increase, I decided that perhaps this is an opportunity to explore other ways of brewing coffee. I didn’t expect there to be so many options. From different types of french presses to an Aeropress to a Chemex to different types of pour-over’s, I didn’t know of the various ways I could make coffee. I refuse to get a Keurig or a regular coffee machine; this is where I ask for your help. What do you use to make your coffee, people-that-make-coffee? Should I stick to a french press? Should I drop some mad $$$ for a Chemex? Those things aren’t cheap, but since I’m transitioning to buying things that last longer (aka might cost more), I figured that I should ask for the advice of the smart people around me.

I’m currently obsessed with “Houston Blend” coffee at HEB right now. Also, I will never stop putting condensed milk in my coffee (I love Vietnamese coffee, of course). But I need something cool and awesome to brew my coffee. HELP.

Thank you in advance,
Thu