Lunch at Flower Child
Flower Child makes me feel bougie. There I said it. Go ahead and make fun of me for eating my kale salad and grain bowl but the joke’s on you because it tastes so good AND it’s better for me than other foods. There’s nothing wrong with liking healthy food and while some might think it’s too trendy, I think making healthy food popular is a good thing!

Boiled Shrimp and Appetizers at TLC
My blogger friend Kate moved from Austin to Phoenix last year, so of course, we had to get together the blogger gals for happy hour when she visited. We tried out new restaurant TLC in the Lamar Union complex. This family-friendly spot has a spacious patio and good eats. We enjoyed happy hour drinks, deviled eggs, fried pickles, hush puppies, and boiled shrimp. The seafood boil is the big thing here, so if you’re craving it, this is the place to go!

Chinese Food Lunch at Old Thousand
Second time at Old Thousand and I am still a fan! Can I eat the brisket fried rice every day? The pork belly bao was also a favorite. I wasn’t obsessed with the spring rolls and the Taiwanese chicken but they were good. The sesame balls with red bean paste were the perfect way to end the meal. Chinese desserts aren’t overly sweet, so it’s more savory than sweet.

Homemade Chocolate Pecan Pie
What happens when I have guests coming to visit? It’s the perfect time to make a big pie so they can help me eat it. HA! This was a pretty easy and tasty Smitten Kitchen recipe. I’ve been inspired by pie art so when it came time to do the top crust I tried doing something a little more unique than the traditional criss-cross? (This recipe was part of my Cookbook Challenge.)

Ramen at Yoshi Ramen
Can you ever get your fill of noodles? No. No need to twist my arm when it’s time to try a new ramen shop in town! This bowl of Old Classic Shoyu, which is a Tokyo-style chicken broth with the typical additions like chashu pork and ajitama, was so satisfying. I also tried the pork belly bao, which was surprising because the bao was fried and a little sweet. It was different but I liked it!

Pizza and Pastrami at Pieous
We don’t make a trip out to the Dripping Springs area without visiting Pieous. This is the pizza and pastrami of my dreams. I did list it as one of the best things I ate last year.

Cider at Argus Cidery
My cider first love. Argus is making moves with more canned varieties and testing new flavors at their cidery in Dripping Springs. Ginger Perry has been my go-to (they sell it at the grocery store) but I was surprised and disappointed to find my drink on this day had a lot more subtle ginger flavor than usual. I like their new updated cans though!

Beer at Family Business Beer Company
The reason for our trip out to Dripping Springs was to try some new beer and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. We ventured out to the much talked about new brewery – Family Business Beer Company. It’s co-founded by Jensen and Danneel Ackles, which you might know from the shows Supernatural and One Tree Hill, respectively. I went for a flight of IPAs and yep, there are definitely hops in all of these beers. My favorite ended up being the Hamilton, a pale ale, which was a lot more subtle than the IPAs.

Korean BBQ at Chosun Galbi
Boyfriend and I had just watched a show that featured Korean BBQ so the cravings were strong. We went to try Chosun Galbi for the first time, and we ordered it up! Kimchi pajeon, marinated beef short ribs and brisket for the BBQ, and Haemool Soon Doo Boo (spicy seafood tofu soup). I didn’t love the banchan (where’s my seaweed salad?!). I would definitely go back for the kimchi pajeon and marinated beef short ribs.

Homemade Braised Pork Belly by StreetSmart Kitchen
My friend Sharon of StreetSmart Kitchen is pretty awesome. At her going-away party, she made us this amazing braised pork belly. The thing is, she was getting ready to move around the world in 24 hours and here she is making US food! Food is a love language and I’m so glad we got to spend time with our friends enjoying it before they left.

3rd Annual Crawfish Boil
We hosted our annual crawfish boil and it was DELICIOUS!

Happy Hour at Barley Swine
It’s been too long since my last visit to Barley Swine. My friend Luan was in town so I suggested we do a quick happy hour before he left. The happy hour (Swine Time) menu was great and I loved all our dishes. We got the Aged Akaushi rib meat, Fried Chicken, Chocolate pecan chunk ice cream, and daiquiri from the happy hour menu, and added the pork belly dish. I’d get all of them again!

Other Food Stuff

• I posted about two Austin restaurants this month. Did you see them? Café Nena’i and 101 by TeaHaus.
• Think you know Tex-Mex? Think again. Here’s a good read.
• There are more kinds of pizza than we know. This article features some from Southern Italy.
• What happens when chefs work to create global solutions? This is the power of what World Central Kitchen is doing.
• In the world of diets, food trends, and click-bait headlines, it’s hard to navigate what we should and shouldn’t eat. This article is trying to be the end-all solution. What do you think?

What’s one thing (food/restaurant) I should try this month?

P.S. Want to see the best foodie events in Austin? Check out this list.

Keep up with my food adventures! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

The post Flavors of the Month: March 2018 appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

A crawfish boil is one experience you need to have in your lifetime. It’s possibly the best spring party that includes food, drinks, and fun. Since our friends were so enthusiastic about our first crawfish boil last year and we love crawfish, we went bigger at our 2nd Annual Crawfish Boil!

Check out all the details and the 10 things you need to host an epic crawfish boil.

1. Location
My backyard was the setting for this big shindig. We spent most of the time outside because crawfish is messy! We had plenty of space to boil the crawfish, eat the crawfish, and play games.

2. Equipment
We borrowed a tent, big boiler, table, benches, big trash cans, and a drink trough. We had extra tables and chairs, and we asked friends to bring their own lawn chairs and coolers also. We had a big cooler for storing the crawfish as it was ready to eat. We wrapped trays in foil and had a pitcher to scoop the crawfish. The size of the boiler will depend on how much crawfish you’re cooking. The bigger the boiler, the bigger the crawfish batch, which means less time spent cooking! We had a pot for crawfish and another for veggies.

3. Crawfish
Ah, yes, the star of the show! We got our fresh crawfish from a local restaurant and picked it up the day of the event. ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS. Yes, we ate all of it. They were boiled with a crawfish boil seasoning in the pot, and butter and cilantro was added afterwards.

4. Sides
Crawfish boil sides are like the whipped cream on top of a sundae. We had batches of mushrooms, potatoes, green beans, and corn on the cob boiled separately from the crawfish. I suggest getting more sides than you think you’ll need. We definitely could have doubled (or even tripled?!) what we had. (We had two large containers of whole mushrooms, six ears of corn, two five-pound bags of potatoes, and one bag of green beans.)

5. Drinks
While beer is the typical drink that goes with crawfish, we also had plenty of ingredients for mixed drinks. Margaritas, Moscow Mules, spiked Arnold Palmers, jello shots, and almost every flavor of Deep Eddy Vodka showed up.

6. Dessert
My rice krispies have become the expected dessert at parties. I made two pans last time and they disappeared in a minute, so I went for four pans this time around. Four pans of rice krispies makes for a gigantic tower. They still disappeared too early! Why are they so good? It’s the Smitten Kitchen recipe and the secret is the brown butter. You’re welcome and enjoy.

7. Music
Of course a party has to have music! We owe it all to Spotify.

8. Yard Games
What do we do when we’re full on crawfish and need to take a break for a bit? Yard games! KanJam, cornhole, and flip cup kept us occupied.

9. Unique Touches
You can have all the above but the unique touches are what help you go the extra mile. Since the party was in the backyard, a sign on our front door led the way. Dessert is always a necessity in my opinion! In the past, we’ve gotten these crawfish bibs and I almost got these cute crawfish beads. If you want to set up a photobooth, this crawfish tablecloth can serve as a step-and-repeat backdrop.

10. Friends Who Love Crawfish
And possibly the most important ingredient for an epic crawfish boil and the reason for the event in the first place are friends who love crawfish! We had 135 pounds of crawfish, which was roughly four pounds per person, though some ate more or less. Thankfully, we had nearly 40 people there to help us eat all of it!

If a nine-hour crawfish boil isn’t epic, I’m not sure what is! Thank you to all our awesome friends! We couldn’t have done it without friends volunteering to help and friends celebrating a beautiful Saturday and crawfish season with us.

Where are you indulging in crawfish this season?

P.S. Want to see all the other parties I’ve been hosting lately? —> Celebrations

Keep up with my parties and adventures. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to the exclusive email list.

The post How to Host an Epic Crawfish Boil appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

Charleston
As you’ve seen from my previous post about the Best Restaurants in Charleston, we had many, many great eats during our four days in Charleston.

La Pepita Salad and Kale Nachos at Vinaigrette
Vinaigrette is a health-focused restaurant with a new location in south Austin. This salad was SO GOOD. Chopped green kale with shredded chicken, black beans, crumbled cojita, diced avocado with spicy crispy pepitas and a lemon-cumin vinaigrette. It was a big dish but one that make you feel healthier and healthier as you ate it. I loved the mix of flavors, subtle spice and crunch of the pepitas. I also loved the Kale Nachos appetizer.

Gelato at Dolce Neve
Dolce Neve is always a treat when I’m in south Austin and looking for a sweet treat. It might be a strange combination but I got scoops of salted chocolate and lemon.

Crawfish Boil
You may remember we hosted our first seafood boils last fall. We had borrowed a boiler but since my boyfriend got a boiler for Christmas and LOVES crawfish, we wanted to host a crawfish boil. It was a BIG success – 63 lbs of crawfish boiled and eaten. The crawfish were big and spicy. Sadly, this is the only photo I took during the party; I was too busy peeling crawfish!

The Domain’s New Rock Rose District
Some friends and I checked out the new Rock Rose district one night. While only a handful of places are now open, the late-night favorites seem to be Kung Fu Saloon and Lavaca Street Bar. I recommend the chicken nachos at Turf N’ Surf Kitchen at Lavaca Street Bar. Since I live up north, I’ve been looking forward to more food and drink options in my area, and it looks like the majority of places in Rock Rose will be open up by the fall. Can’t wait to try them all!

RA Sushi
For our Austin Food Blogger Alliance happy hour, we enjoyed dishes at RA Sushi downtown. The dishes were plated beautifully and the lighting was perfect on their patio. I tried a few of the many dishes that night, and my favorite was the chili ponzu yellowtail (on the appetizer menu). We also enjoyed a variety of rolls, RA chips and salsa, potstickers, edamame, shishito peppers, mochi balls and dessert rolls.

Any noteworthy eats in your life last month?

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