Our Experiment

Mike and I are scientists at heart. Well, at least I'm a scientist at heart and I drag him along with all my crazy ideas.  Last week was momentous for us. We *gasp* got rid of our cable service. 

We decided to cancel our cable for the following reasons:
1. We wanted spend more time participating in other activities, rather than vegging out in front of the TV.
2. In the (far far away) future when we have kids, I'm debating whether we want to have cable TV. I'm testing this "no cable" rule first.
3. We save about $90/month without cable--extra bonus
 Of course there is a clause in this experiment that if we cannot handle the absence of cable, we can order it again.

Unfortunately, the major downside to this transition is that we lost our Internet in the process.  This was not planned at all; I made sure that I overlapped the installation of our Internet and disconnection of our cable by one week.  But ATT messed up our order, so Mike and I have been without Internet at home for about one week.  Now THAT's a big deal for us.  I cannot even remember what it was like before there was the Internet.  So yes, we're currently going through withdrawals (which sounds mildly pathetic).

Austin, TX~Round Rock Donuts

Mike and I had planned a drop down south to Austin, TX (~ 3 hour drive from Dallas) during Labor Day weekend.  Then the night before we were supposed to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to make the trek down to Austin, silly Lauren burnt herself.  We debated whether we wanted to still keep our plans since we had booked our hotel, booked our bat cruise, and were excited about all the restaurants we would check out.  My frugality won over the pain of the burn, so I popped a tylenol and we left at around 8am for a weekend full of shopping and eating. 

We arrived in Round Rock, TX (a city just north of Austin) at around 10:45am, and this begins our weekend of stuffing our faces.  Our first stop was Round Rock donuts. 

Mmmm....donuts. Everyone, I mean a bunch of people at work and a friend that I run with were telling me that I had to stop at Round Rock donuts on the drive down.  Boy did they steer us in the right direction! Donuts and breakfast pastries are not on the top of my list of favorite foods, but maybe these donuts might creep their way up my list. 

We didn't order these huge donut. We knew that we'd be eating all weekend, so we refrained from purchasing this donut. 

I ordered the original donut and it was AMAZING!  I think Mike only had two bites of it because I was hogging the whole thing. Visually, I would not consider this donut an appealing or attractive donut.  But, the light airy texture of the donut was wonderful.

The donuts are an unnatural shade of orange (due to food coloring), but do not let that deter you from partaking in this soft fried dough ring of deliciousness.  For those of you back home in Hawaii, think of the softest malasada that you have ever eaten and cross it with soft potato bread.  These donuts were lighter in texture than Krispy Kreme donuts.

Apple Fritter...Mike loves apple fritters. He enjoyed this one because of the large surface area of fried batter. 

Jalapeno, Cheese, and sausage (I think that's what was in it)  kolache.  Mike enjoyed this too. 

Round Rock Donuts

106 W. Liberty
Round Rock, TX
(512) 255-3629

Texas Restaurants~Nobu

I picked this restaurant without knowing very much about the Nobu restaurant.  I told my mom that I was thinking about canceling this reservation and she mentioned that the Nobu's Hawaii location was receiving good reviews.  Mike and I decided to make this past Saturday a date night and went to the Dallas Symphony's Gershwin Favorites concerts after our dinner at Nobu. 

Here's Nobu's Restaurant Week menu.

Mixed Green Salas with Matsuhisa "Soy Onion" Dressing and Miso Soup.

For a few minutes, I could not figure out why I wasn't enjoying the salad as much as Mike. Then I realized there was wasabi in the dressing (I do not like wasabi).  Mike realized it before me and was surprised that I had been eating the salad.  My salad was then transferred to Mike's side of the table.

 Appetizer: California Roll

Appetizer: Chef's Choice-Rainbow Roll

Beef Tenderloin with Wasabi Pepper Sauce

Mike chose this against his instinct.  He knew that another beef dish would wane in comparison to the steak we ate at Tim Love's Lonesome Dove. 

Chef's Choice Restaurant Week Special Dish-Sea bass cooked tempura-style with two dipping sauces and chips.  I think this was a upscale version of Japanese fish and chips. 

Green Tea and Mango Mochi Ice Cream

Nobu's recap. We enjoyed d the food at Nobu's and probably would have liked it more if we hadn't gone to Lonesome Dove the week prior. The sushi was at par to your average sushi back home in Hawaii (yeah, we are spoiled), and overall, it's hard for us to compare mainland Japanese food to Japanese food served in Hawaii.

While we were enjoying our dinner at Nobu's, Mike and I ranked our favorite restaurant that we dined at.  We decided that Lonesome Dove was the overall winner for our favorite restaurant.  Nobu's won for best ambiance. Loft 610 came in a close second for best main dish, but Mike's complaint was that the portion was smaller than he wanted. 

Oh and here's a random anecdote:
A few weeks ago, I was asked how Mike and I can afford to eat at all these expensive restaurants.  I replied that it was "Restaurant Week" so the meals were cheaper.  Then my co-worker said, "Are you guys DINKS?"  I gave him a blank stare.  He then replied, "Dual Income, No Kids."  Never heard that term before, but yes, we are DINKS.

Nobu
400 Crescent Court
Dallas, TX 75201
(214) 252-7000

Burner or Cutter?

I once had a conversation with a few friends about whether I was a "burner" or a "cutter" in the kitchen. I immediately answered that I was a cutter because I end up slicing pieces of my nail or my finger when I use a vegetable peeler.  Well times are a'changing, because in the past month, I think I have become a "burner."

 See that picture above...it's a picture of a second degree burn on my stomach on Friday night a few hours after I somehow managed to splash some boiling water on myself as I was draining some spaghetti noodles. I screamed a shrill cry of pain, lifted my shirt off my skin, and Mike came to my rescue with cold water.
I then found comfort in a few bags of frozen vegetables (mental note to self-keep frozen veggies in the freezer for emergencies), until I had to take those vegetables off and go to sleep. Then I found comfort in a few aspirin.  If you all know me, I hate taking meds unless I absolutely need them.  Well, I needed them that night. 
Over the past couple of days the blisters have burst (the largest one had about 1.5T of fluid) and it hurts to run. I will probably have a large crescent scar near my belly button, but I guess that's better than the horse-shaped steam scar my dad received years ago when he opened the double-boiler before he released the pressure.