American, Korean(sorta), and Italian Adventures

Thanks for reading again with me, I hope you continue to read!

So my friend Thomas came and visited me this weekend!  He's my first visitor!  It was great having him here and catching up with him.  He got to tag along to almost all of the following events.  Just remember, like Thomas, YOU can be a part of the adventures down here too....*nudge*

An American Adventure at the Alamo...and Amazing Alliteration

On Saturday night, a bunch of us went to go see Captain America.  I liked it a lot, but what was really cool was the theater.  It's called the Alamo Drafthouse.  I've never seen a place like this in Illinois; they serve food and drinks to you during the movie!  It can be mildly distracting, but they do a good job of staying out of the way and being quiet.  They had all kinds of stuff, from pizza, burgers, and chicken to beer, cocktails, wine, and pop.  This is kind of what it looked like:

It was pretty legit.  Also, they have a strict no-talking policy.  Danny DeVito himself told us so.  Click here to see what I mean. Seriously. Watch it.

The Korean Karaoke

 Have you ever felt like only Madonna knows how you feel and you just need to belt out one of her tunes?  Or maybe you feel like Bon Jovi gets you and you just need to scream "Livin' on a Prayer"?  Well, I think we did. After the movie and dinner, we decided we really needed to sing our hearts out. 

We traveled to the north part of Austin and found this Korean Karaoke place.  We went into this enclosed room, and there was this big TV, sound system, and big book of songs.  When I noticed everything was in Korean, I started to freak out. "I don't know Korean.  How will I sing the Hall and Oates that my heart yearns to proclaim?"  But, the sound system was well designed, with the green button meaning "Select" and the red button meaning "Cancel."  Whew.  Also, we found a huge section of American songs in the book.  So it worked out.

Let me tell you, Karaoke in an enclosed room with friends is hilarious.  Especially when you've got tambourines.  And access to Gangsters Paradise.  I never realized how much of that song I actually knew.  The whole is experience is the most ridiculous thing ever.

Everyday Italian, with Giada De Laurentiis

And we close with a cooking adventure!  Before I went shopping, I thought, "Hey, my mom used to watch that one pretty Italian lady on Food Network.  Giada De Laurentiis! Maybe she knows awesome cooking recipes!"  So I looked her up, and she had a ton of stuff, with difficulty ratings included.  It was then I decided it was time.  I must try an "intermediate" recipe...

Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs.

Ok, so maybe I'm being dramatic about it.  But it was hard, ok?  I don't even know what freakin' Orecchiette is.  So I said, "What, EVER," and I used tortellini instead.  If you read the recipe, you'll know it's not entirely straightforward.  My roommate G was really crucial in helping.  I did lots of preparing.  I chopped my own fresh herbs, grated my own fresh Romano cheese, and took all this chicken mash and mixed it with a bunch of crap (ketchup too!) 

Eventually, I had to pseudo-braise/fry/sear/sauté the meatballs in the pan with olive oil.  G started to put them in while I was looking away.

"Yeeeeeeeagggggh!!"
"Wha, what?"
"It's burning, yeeeagggh!"
"Wha, FRICK......FFF...FFUDGE INA...BUCKET!!"

The olive oil was furious, and lashed out at us in little tiny blazing droplets of "F-U-CHEF".  We didn't know what to do.  I turned down the heat, and I was freaking out, wishing I had one of those meshy splatter screens.  But then I nobly took up my protector, and all was not lost....
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Steve Rodgers lent me a little something to help in times of need.

Jealous?

In awe?

Decieved by my photoshop skills?

Thought so.

Anyway, it was REALLY good.  By far the best thing I've made.  And the toughest.  But it was totally worth it...plus leftovers!

Well, thanks for reading. Leave a comment!  Let me know you stopped by!  And if you have any favorite recipes you suggest for me to try next, post those too! Maybe I'll try it, and I'll post my results here!

Post ALL THE THINGS!!!

(The title is a reference to Hyperbole and a Half once again)

Hello there, thanks for coming back!  I know it's been a while; I've been traveling, getting lazy, getting busy, and all other sorts of stuff.

Alright, so last post, we were talking about "tubing".  It's not that big of a deal I guess, and a few of you got it right.  But I think a lot of you will understand exactly where I'm coming from here.

So people are like, "Hey Brandon, tubing this weekend?"  My mind instantly floods with the possibilities....

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Yeah, um, I don't wanna do that...but then I thought, "Wait, this is TEXAS." My mind fills once again....
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The horror of just such a thought was enough for me. I politely replied to my friends, "Um...yeah, I'll pass, I'm not really a huge thrill seeker."


"What?"

"Yeah, I don't like thrill things like that, it just kinda stresses me out."

"...uh...alright?"

Later, I find out this is what they mean by "tubing":

An excuse to drink gratuitous amounts of beer.

Apparently, I can't handle the excitement of floating down a river with friends, chatting and having refreshments.  Who knew?  Maybe I'll muster up the courage someday.

 Now that we cleared that up, back to the rest of life. Since so much actually happens in life, I can generally only post very little of what goes on, and I try to post the more relevant/exciting/interesting parts of my life here in Austin.  But so much has happened, I feel like I have to just spam it all at once, so...let's try this....

Cooking Casseroles, Shopping in a Toys 'R Us Like an Adult, Delicious Food + Cupcakes = Taboo, Mini-golf, Trivia Night, Meeting an IV'er at the Magic the Gathering Tournament, Just Love the Downtown Scavenger Hunt, Wedding Weekend in Champaign, Friday Night Karaoke at Best Buy, and the First Car Accident That Wasn't My Fault!!!

You understood...part of that....right?  Well, I wanted to give you a glimpse of how much is going down here, and I'm not just spending every night at my computer, wallowing in my sorrow as I miss people from home.  That's what Thursday nights are for.

I'm almost saved up for a camera, so I can start really sharing some photos of what this place is like.  I'm really excited!  However, I did take some pictures with my phone at the scavenger hunt...and I must say, I'm pretty proud of my little camera phone, it takes decent pictures!  Make sure to click to see them bigger!

 

 The scavenger hunt in downtown Austin was with my church. There's this "series" of sorts, called Just Love, and this was the first week of it.  It was pretty fun, and we even met a guy from South Africa to take all of our pictures for us!  It was pretty cool.  The items on the hunt list that we got above are...

•  Picture with a non-team member with a sports logo.  I'm doing the "Hook 'em horns" sign! 
•  Picture with whole team with state capital in the background.  Definitely click that one...this guy absolutely wanted to be in our picture for absolutely no reason...it was awesome.
•  Picture with whole team doing the YMCA on a stage.  Thanks Friends!
•  Picture with whole team pointing to evidence of wind.  Thanks Texas Flag! 
•  Picture with whole team in elevator.  Since it was late, all those super plaza places were closed.  But we found a Radisson hotel!  
•  Picture with a team member with a funny sign.  Austin, you're so funny, with your signs and stuff.

Well....this took entirely too long to prepare.  Hope you guys enjoy reading about my life.  Till next time!  Miss y'all!  Leave comments and such!