Lunch: We heated the Philly Cheesesteak from Natural Planet Grill in a toaster oven. It was decently flavored, but Tina's half had quite a bit of the browned stuff that you scrape off the restaurant flattop grill - not particularly appealing. Otherwise, not bad.

Dinner: We went over to Tina's parent's place where they had made pan-fried buns.

Dinner: We tried another restaurant in Escarpment Village: Natural Planet Grill (5900 Slaughter Ln W, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 394-1111‎). At first we were not going to eat there because natural food tends to be bland and unappetizing, except I thought I was parking in front of a bistro/cafe but instead found myself in front of Natural Planet Grill. We thought we'd be adventurous and give it a try.

We ordered a Philly Cheesesteak and a Tuscan Pesto Pasta with Chicken. We ended up splitting the penne and taking the cheesesteak home. The penne which is "tossed with fresh baby spinach, sauteed onions, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini and [their] homemade creamy pistachio pesto sauce" was not bland at all! In fact it was quite good with vegetables cooked just enough to be cooked through but retaining some crispiness and texture and an incredibly tasty pesto sauce. We might have misjudged this restaurant by their name. We're glad to find that the restaurants in this shopping center nearest our new home are pretty decent so far.

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What I Ate: October 19, 2009 (Natural Planet Grill)

Dinner: We headed out to the outskirts of Wimberley, Texas to Montesino Farm for a Venison dinner with Dai Due Supper Club.

At this dinner, a sixty-pound field harvested deer from Broken Arrow Ranch fed thirty-five diners. The deer was dressed and butchered the day before as part of a Dai Due workshop on how to process deer and utilizing the whole animal. (Unfortunately, our schedule was such that we could not attend this workshop.)

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What I Ate: October 18, 2009 (Costco, Dai Due Venison Dinner at Montesino Farm)

Lunch: We tried a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in Escarpment Village - Blue Bamboo (5900 W Slaughter Ln, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 288-8688‎).

I started with the shrimp spring rolls which I thought were not bad. Often spring rolls are filled with water logged rice noodles and completely flavorless despite the shrimp. These were pretty decent and had excellent texture. Each rice noodle was discrete and cooked just right so a whole clump of them didn't taste like a clump - it tasted like it was supposed to. The peanut sauce was also quite good. Tina's unfortunately had a hair in it (which she wasn't going to say anything about since she views it as a mark of an Asian restuarant) but I mentioned it to our waiter who brought her a replacement and took the spring rolls off our bill.

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What I Ate: October 17, 2009 (Blue Bamboo, Red Robin)

When I started the day, I had no idea that it would be a day full of fried foods.

Lunch: I picked up lunch from Gill's Fried Chicken (101 Hall Professional Center, Kyle, TX‎ - (512) 268-1357‎). I got several pieces of dark meat, fried okra, gizzards, livers, and corn. The gizzards and livers were quite good - full of flavor and nicely textured. The chicken was pretty decent as well - better than the other chicken places we've tried since we moved out here (Church's and Golden Chick, both of which had bland flesh). The corn was waterlogged but the fried okra was pretty decent.

Dinner: We headed over to the Kyle Fair & Music Festival for some street fair food.

I started off with a corn dog (always have to get a corn dog). This picture is of the corn dogs on display - not the one I ate. I drown my corn dogs in yellow mustard - one of the only times I enjoy yellow mustard.

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What I Ate: October 16, 2009 (Gill's Fried Chicken, Kyle Fair & Music Festival)

Lunch: Grabbed a foot long Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sandwich from Subway to split with my wife for lunch.

Dinner: I had some chicken thighs defrosted in the refrigerator, so I cut them into small strips, marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce, ground white pepper, garlic powder, and salt for fifteen minutes, and stir fried with julienned broccoli stalks. I cooked the broccoli florets with ground black pepper, dried porcini salt, and a little olive oil in the microwave for two minutes.

Lunch: After going through our pre-carpet walkthrough/inspection of our new home, Tina and I went to check our a new Santa Rita Cantina (5900 W. Slaughter Lane Ste 550, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 288-5100‎) that opened up in Escarpment Village just two months ago.

I ordered the Fish Tacos where were quite good. Tillapia is grilled (not fried) and served with lettuce and pico de gallo on corn tortillas. A spicy, but incredibly flavorful avocado-lime sauce comes on the side.

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What I Ate: October 14, 2009 (Santa Rita Cantina)

Dinner: We've been driving by a restaurant called Cannoli Joe's (4715 U.S. 290, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 892-4444‎) for months now, so we decided to stop and and see how it is. We expected it to be like an Olive Garden, but instead it's an Italian-themed buffet. Dinner during a weeknight is $14 (we then got 20% off with our GoLocalAustin card) and the food is worth it. There restaurant is split up into different stations, each decorated like a Disneyland version of different Italian food vendors or cafes. There are a bunch of dining rooms too, each one themed in a different manner.

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What I Ate: October 13, 2009 (Cannoli Joe's)

Lunch: We ate left over eggplant and pork over white rice.

Dinner: I whipped up some troffiette with wilted arugula, habanero sausage, and crushed guanciale (like pancetta but made from pork jowl instead of belly) that I had crisped. I also put a couple pieces of crisped guanciale on top as well as raw guanciale.

Dinner: Tina's mother made jiu cai he (garlic chives with egg and mung bean noodles wrapped in a flour pocket and pan fried). They were very tasty.

Lunch: We tried Z'Tejas (1110 W. 6th Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 478-5355‎) for brunch. The server recommended Eggs Benedict which I decided to go with (since I really enjoy a well made Eggs Benedict). The hollandaise sauce was smooth, creamy, and buttery. The eggs were poached very well with a fully runny yolk but solid whites - however they were a bit messy looking. A little trim would have been good. The ham was very thinly sliced and cooked until crispy and set ontop a very thin English muffin half. Both the ham and the muffin were too thin contributing only the crunchy and crispy texture and none of the chewiness that helps make Eggs Benedict that wonderful combination of all sorts of textures. I could have also used a light sprinkling of salt. The roasted potatoes that came on the plate were very well crisped but lacked flavor. I could barely taste any potato flavor and there was no detectable salt.

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What I Ate: October 11, 2009 (Z'Tejas)