thrillerburrito

Man, despite all of the rain we had this weekend in Austin, I managed to hit up two kickass BBQ’s.
I had heard the reviews about Stoney cooking at our buddy Chase Hawk’s place back in the day, and since its been awhile since they’ve gotten together to cook the rain this weekend was a great excuse! I finally got to indulge! Homemade mashed potatoes with hatch chiles, plump brined chicken grilled to perfection with homemade BBQ sauce, corn on the cob, burgers and steaks our friend Scotty brought from Austin Land & Cattle some jalapeño cornbread.. Everything was SO good!!

Chase and Lauren’s English bulldog Lucy just got back from the doggie groomer and got her “nails did” haha

Ha!
As Chase and Sean’s bartender at Shakespeare’s, I know if they are out that they usually order 3 Olives Rootbeer flavored vodka w/coke. So I brought them a bottle 100proof rootbeer vodka made by Smirnoff. This discovery was made courtesy of Mason Fleet at the Cedar Point shows in Ohio ha! I warned everyone, this stuff is no joke! Our friend Hollywood had been watching football all day drinking beer got into it and drank about half of the bottle! 😲
He seemed okay but when we dropped him off at Stoneys and came back from pedaling around town, the dude at thrown up all over..even worse; all over Stoney’s dog!!!! Poor dog!! And poor Stoney for having to smell that for the last few days wooF!!

Then Sunday afternoon i got a phonecall from Portland homie Shad Johnson that he was in town with lady!! I met up with them Forrest and Allan (other nice Portlanders living in Atx) at Home Slice for some delicious Pizza!!! Even though they do not have Canadian bacon at Homeslice (Shad’s favorite) he still seemed to enjoy it 🙂

Later that afternoon i got a picture message from Aaron Ross, he got his new smoker running, and cooked up a storm of smoked brisket and ribs! I fired out some veggie kabobs and boom! Another feast among BMX homies!

Some veggie Kabobs I made

In a slight food coma, I managed to start my application to be a substitute teacher in Austin; a way for me to use my degree in the meantime! Woohoo!! College transcripts are on the way! I spent yesterday running around mailing stuff working on my resume and reconnecting with friends and former co workers who are also teachers. I don’t have a degree in education but hopefully having a Bachelors Degree, being world traveled, bilingual and spending several years at summer camps with kids and a clean background check will help me get the position.

So I spent most of last night preparing cookie dough to help with Yeah Zine sales at Interbike for the next two days.

My buddy Ryan Corrigan (master ramp builder) hit me up about a “soft opening” for the new concrete ramp park in Pflugerville! (north east Austin) my toe has been SO painful and mad at me but of course I couldn’t say no and stuffed a shoe on well enough to try to ride! This park has been done for the last few months but no one has been allowed to legally ride it because the city hadn’t yet finished the landscaping!! Torture for the locals! Well today is finally the day, It will be open to the public, BMX and skateboards. A heads up to fellow grinders out there either remove or switch to plastic pegs before you go! There aren’t many rules at all, not even one about helmets!! (which I highly recommend along with a mouth guard-this place is fun but SLICK!!!) So be sure to at least respect that one rule about the stinky plastic pegs so there won’t be any beef and the city will hopefully continue to build more parks.

Well, I made it to the airport and so Las Vegas here I come! stocked with cookies and Flat Track Coffee. Hoping to network it up!

Speaking of which, I already met a gentlemen on the plane named Emil who is Lebanese and as it turns out he and his wife run the huge “Mediterranean Festival” here in Austin the end of every September! AND!!! Its next weekend!! I am SO psyched!! He gave me the lowdown on the few Lebanese food spots around town, and shared a bit of the history of the Lebanese families here in Austin how long ago they made it here to TX back in the 1800’s, and how most of 6th street used to be owned by the Lebanese. Pretty interesting! He filled me in on what parts of town they predominantly lived in back in the 1930s and 40s. I shared with him what little Arabic I do know and he said my accent is great! Feeling a bit inspired! There may be a trip to half price books in my future- soon! Even more confirming why he looked so familiar ha! Lebanese brother! Haha he looks like a bunch of relatives on my moms side. Craziness.

Anyway, I am killing the rest of the time on this flight by finishing this update. I packed a bike lock (heavy duty kryptonite U-lock) with me in case I am able to borrow a bike to go to Kinkos off the strip to pick up some business cards I had made for Yeah Zine. Getting through TSA with it on my carry-on wasn’t too bad but I wouldn’t recommend it. It seemed to depend on how that particular TSA agent personally felt about bike locks ha! Somehow I got lucky and made it though, phew! I learned something new!

Vegas, (sigh), I am already tired.