I often concoct rather interesting late-night/early-morning snacks after returning home from the bars: canned tuna and white rice remains my most notable failure. Last weekend, upon waking at 7:30 a.m. after a wedding to find all my usual breakfast taco haunts closed (who is open at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday, anyway?), I once again took matters into my own hands, and ended up making the best damn gourmet breakfast taco I’ve ever had. Might this be a chance to turn my tendency toward the drunk munchies into a career?

Ingredients:

• Eggs
• Feta cheese
• Cracked pepper
• Portobello mushrooms
• Marinated artichoke hearts
• Roasted red bell peppers
• Pine nuts
• Olive oil tortilla wrap

Directions:

Sauté Portobello mushrooms in olive oil. Beat feta cheese and cracked pepper into eggs; scramble. Brown tortilla in pan. Wrap scrambled eggs, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, bell peppers, and pine nuts into tortilla.

While preparing food, bitch and moan about how no person in their right mind wakes up at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday (after a wedding, at that); continue mumbling and grumbling that no taco stands are open that early (of course they’re not), that sometimes you just have to do it yourself if you want it done right. Upon completion, shut up and forget about the world of hangover hurt you’re about to enter as you enjoy ridiculous, unadulterated deliciousness. And then go back to sleep.

Band: Metallica
Album: Death Magnetic
Producer: Rick Rubin!

Believe it- The Four Horsemen have risen from the ashes of peer-to-peer purgatory (see: Lars makes peace with Pirates) and late-career mediocrity (see: the last 4 albums) now fully embracing the unbridled, epic, head-banging Pre Bob Rock (PBR?) era that cemented them as the undisputed Kings of Metal.  Perhaps the recent chainsaw noises of Austin’s The Sword or the ever-heavy Mastodon have awoken this sleeping giant.  Clearly the results ROAR for themselves: Death Magnetic is 80 minutes of relentless, triumphant, punishing, whiskey-chuggin RAWWK!

Lars Ulrich puts all haters six feet deep with his most ferocious performance in 2 decades.  James Hetfield is angry yet melodic, Trujillo breaks necks and steals bikes, and Kirk Hammett drops the bullshit – preferring to trample on graves before masterbating on them.  All i can say is Thank God (or Satan)…I wanna break somethin.

Listen to “All Nightmare Long” from Death Magnetic

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Listen to “My Apocalypse” from Death Magnetic

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Rating:
I dribble the Source onto my balls while air-drumming to this
- Cabeza

More info:
Metacritic | iTunes | Official Site

Lisa Fain of the Homesick Texan blog gives an entertaining and informative recap of her experience as a preliminary judge for the 2008 Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival.  There’s even a bonus tomatillo salsa recipe at the end of her post..

There were about 30 of us gathered around the table, and as there were over 1,000 salsas for us to work our way through, we didn’t try each one. Instead, each little group seated in the immediate vicinity would go through a stack of salsas with three votes of yes meaning the sauce moved on to the next round to be judged by local food celebrities, and three votes of no meaning that salsa was out of competition. Read the Full Post >

Tio Rolfo is a fiarly new stand that has shown up on along our morning work commute.. Its in the parking lot of the Shell station at South Congress and Crocket st (north of Oltorf).. Lucky for us, its actually a great stop for morning tacos.. $1.50 for 3 ingredients.. of which we have tried Chorizo, Egg, and Cheese.. and Bean, Bacon, Egg.. The salsa’s are outstanding.. especially the tomatillo verde, with a hefty jalapeno kick.. This place is definitely worth a try.

Want to check how your favorite restuarants in Austin have done on their inspections?

The TacoTown TacoSleuths have uncover’d the restuarant inspection scores for Travis County.  

Check out the full sortable list of austin restaurant health inspection scores here.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong is ready to swear off the chips and salsa, climb back on the bike and win an eighth Tour de France. Three years after retiring, the 36-year-old says he’ll return to competition and the Tour de France in 2009, giving up relaxed days of a few beers and Tex-Mex food for a self-described monk’s life of disciplined training and punishing races. [AP Article]

Congrats to Lance on the comeback, but we are sorry to see him leave behind the chips and salsa.. thats no way to live…strong..

We visited the newest Torchy’s location today and I have to say the new digs have a lot of potential.. You can find the new spot just south of the original location on S. 1st St and also houses a new burger trailer called Shuggies.  

Formerly an auto shop and used car lot.. they’ve managed to repurpose the shop into a covered eating patio that overlooks bouldin creek, quite nice.  Other renovations were still in progress..  Read the rest of this entry »