Friday, June 4, 2010

Woman v. Food

Before we leave the great state of Texas and the US of A, David and I have decided to eat as much “American” food as possible. We are dreading the day we have to say goodbye to Pillsbury crescent rolls, queso made from creamy Velveeta and Rotel, crunchy Wheat Thins, and probably many more items we won’t realize aren’t available until we cross the pond!

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been on a mission to try out new Austin restaurants, enjoy the oldies but goodies, and even gorge on fast food we can’t get in the UK (hasta la vista Taco Bell).

After we saw Yann Martel at Book People last week, we headed down the street to a new taco bar. It’s called TNT – Tacos 'n' Tequila. It was delicious! The authentic street tacos and sides were amazing. For dessert, I had a push pop. You read that correctly, a push pop. It was just like the ones we used to get as kids from the ice cream truck, except this one didn’t have Flintstones paper around the ice cream. It was classier with chocolate gelato with cocoa nibs and a sturdier, prettier push pop contraption. As we were finishing dinner, the restaurant manager invited us to sit in on their monthly employee tequila lesson/tasting. A representative from Cazadores Tequila flew in from Guadalajara, Mexico and taught us all about tequila. Then she showed us how to drink tequila by offering us 6 different shots. That’s right – 6! I was driving, so David had to take the shots. After all those shots, he still doesn’t understand how tequila could ever be considered a drink by itself, like scotch. We had fun though and we got free river hats!

We also tried Maria Maria, a fairly new Mexican restaurant in downtown Austin owned by music legend Carlos Santana. I ordered the chicken enchilada suizas with a refreshing caipirinha and I was not disappointed. It was not only the best enchiladas suizas I’ve ever had, but also the best caipirinha.

We’ve grabbed sandwiches at Thundercloud Subs, ordered smoked boudin and chicken creole at Louisiana Longhorn, started off with Botticelli bread at Botticelli’s, snacked on popcorn at Moonshine, caught dinner and a movie at Alamo Drafthouse, and licked the icing off our fingers at Hey Cupcake.

Ever since I saw the breakfast episode of Man v. Food, I have had a goal in mind. That goal is to eat a Texas-sized donut from Round Rock Donuts. I heart Round Rock Donuts. They are so close to my office at Dell, but I still get excited whenever anyone brings them in to share. There’s a Round Rock Donuts in the Austin airport as well. So when we’re not grabbing breakfast tacos from the Saltlick taco stand, you can find us in line at Round Rock Donuts.

David, unfortunately, has not been supportive of my dream. He's more supportive of my healthly BMI, I guess. From the very beginning, sitting on the couch watching the makings of a Texas-sized donut on Man v. Food, he said I couldn’t do it. “There’s no way!” I heard it over and over.

But last weekend, it was time to make my dream a reality.

Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat, but I didn’t care. I had a craving for donuts and nothing would stop me….. David and I began sorting through our house to make a donation pile for Goodwill. Then we mowed the lawn and trimmed the hedges out front. After a hard day of work out in the hot sun, we had to make a run to Home Depot for some fencing. On the way home, we stopped at Round Rock Donuts. I had called ahead to order my Texas-sized donut, but there was no need. They have them available all day every day (which actually kind of worried me because I hope not a lot of people are eating these huge donuts, especially all by themselves). Then we got home and I had 30 minutes to complete my challenge.

Box for the Texas-sized Donut

A little scared at first, but I knew I could do it

For those of you that have not been to Round Rock Donuts or seen the breakfast episode of Man v. Food, a Texas-sized donut is essentially a dozen glazed donuts, with the option of chocolate on top, rolled into one massive donut.

Whoa! That's a big donut!

23 minutes and a belly full of glazed, fried dough later, I was done….

AND I HAD TRIUMPHED!!!

4 comments:

  1. We love to eat, so we loved this post! Jeremy didn't think you could eat the Texas Sized Donut,but I believed in you! I am sure you and David will find delicious places to eat in London.

    P.S. Jeremy wants to know if Kirby was playing dead on purpose in the video or if David told him to do it. =)

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  2. Kirby was playing dead as his way of begging to try and get some food... but it didn't work because I needed to eat the WHOLE thing by myself.

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  3. Holy crap, Sarah! I have a new respect for your gastrointestinal prowess!

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  4. We laughed at Kirby, Boomer does the same thing we call it the full monty. That donut looked yummy, good job Sarah!

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