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Eating our way through Austin, one delicious bite at a time. |
It’s baaaaack! Home Slice Pizza is again offering $15 special-edition pint glasses (filled with your choice of beer) as well as socks in celebration of Pride month. Y’all those socks are colorful and fun rainbow striped with a pizza design, giving off retro vibes. The popular pizza joint will donate $3 from each sale directly to Out Youth in Austin and the Montrose Center in Houston. Show your support for these fine non-profits, and grab a pint and socks today!
Whether you call it a White Elephant party, a Dirty Santa gift exchange or some other name for this holiday gift swap, you know you have to bring your A game. The goal is to end up with the best gift of the bunch, but shopping within a budget can be challenging. Here’s a few of my picks, based on current seasonal sale items and food, of course.
$50 Limit: Dinner & a Movie. Amazon has Fire TV Sticks on sale for as little as $15 as part of their Black Friday sales. Pair this with a gift card to Homeslice Pizza, sit back and watch your gift be fought over by the eggnog-fueled masses.
$40 Limit: Deck the Halls & Pass the Snacks. I found the cutest food-related tree ornaments at Food 52, especially the grilled cheese half sandwich, but the stick of butter most definitely has a place on my tree. Since buying two will put you over the limit, consider gifting one with a Holiday Hot Cocoa Bar Kit, for that festive feeling.
$30 Limit: Happy Hour Happiness. Grab a sixer of your favorite craft beer and one of these delightful puffer jacket koozies like the ones sold by Uncommon Goods as Cold Beer Coats. They just make you smile.
$20 Limit: In the Mood for Noods. Wrap up this multi-pack of Nongshim Shin Black ramen noodles and a set of training chopsticks. You’ll get a few laughs but trust me, someone will want these noods that Bon Appetit has dubbed one of the best instant noodles.
What is your go to White Elephant gift?
It’s common sense that drinking and driving should never mix, and no one wants to risk a costly DWI, much less the possibility of injuring themselves and/or others by getting behind the wheel after consuming alcoholic beverage.
George Dickel, the smooth and mellow Tennessee whisky distillery has generously offered an Uber credit for Austin Food & Wine festival attendees, to help them journey to and from the festival safely. The voucher is good for up to $25 off one trip, and is available to the first 400 to claim it. Use this link for the voucher code to be applied to your Uber app: https://r.uber.com/r3K5PU5hOh7.
While at the festival, look for the George Dickel pouring their bourbon in the Grand Taste tents. When you have your taste poured for you, try the “Kentucky Chew” method of bourbon tasting: first, appreciate the color. It’s a warm, rich color that makes you want to pull up an easy chair, relax and sip the evening away. Next, sniff deeply, really put your nose into your glass and keep your mouth slightly open while you inhale the aroma. It’s okay. No one is watching, or if they are, it’s to learn how to properly sample this small-batch bourbon. You’ll notice the light smell of vanilla, clean and sugary, followed by a bit of cherry and citrus and ending with a bit of toffee and oak. Take a sip and roll the bourbon around in your mouth (the “chew”) to hit all areas of taste buds for maximum flavor. Then smile, and make a mental note to add a bottle to your bar collection.
Enjoy the fest, and remember Dickel is “Mellow as Moonlight” and you should be as well, using a rideshare or other means of transportation to find you safely home afterward.
