Gardening 101

Good Morning! Happy Sunday! It is a glorious day here in Austin and I slept in until 8:00am and feel well rested and excited for the day ahead.



We had a really fun day exploring Austin yesterday and ate at one of the best restaurants we have been to. We went to The Eastside Café which sits on an acre of land surrounded by dozens of pecan trees. One third of the land is home to a gorgeous organic garden. For 15 years vegetables, herbs and flowers have been organically grown and harvested for use in the Eastside Café kitchen.













This is such a cool restaurant, it is in a converted old house on the eastside of Austin and not only has great food but is provides you with a dining experience. They have cute shop called Pitchfork and Tablespoons . Put gardening and cooking under one roof and you have Pitchforks and Tablespoons, Eastside Café's gardening and cooking retail store. This quaint little shop offers gardening books, tools, plants, and even instruction. They also sell cooking utensils, cookbooks, herbs, and spices.









The store sells mostly local products such as Buddha's Brew (Kombucha) and other local products and artist's works. So cute... you can also hang out there while waiting for your table. Their T'Shirts are awesome and I found many things that I want to come back for....



You can also take a nice walk in the garden itself. As I may have mentioned, we live in the country (about 8 miles from real civilization) and have some land that we would love to turn into a mini organic garden. We have many plans but tend to get overwhelmed and not sure where to start. I was lucky to be able to talk with one of the gardener's at The Eastside Cafe yesterday. They have taken their land and showed everyone that anyone can do this.... she walked me around and showed me all sorts of simple ideas of where to get started. Containers, building the compost, keeping deer out and what grows best here in Texas were some of the things we discussed... and I am truly inspired to go for it!



I am going to get through my yoga teacher training exam and then get to work on my next project... Gardening 101! I am so excited and my kids are as well. I think this will be a great family project.



Okay... enough about gardening let's get to the Awesome food!



Homemade Blueberry Bran Muffin





Mixed Field Greens Salad

Mixed baby lettuces and bitter greens, toasted almonds and pecans, and green apples tossed in Eastside Café Raspberry Vinaigrette and topped with warm breaded goat cheese rounds.







Blue Plate Special- Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Cakes with Poached Eggs with a Spicy Chipolte Hollandaise Sauce.





Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

A flour tortilla filled with shrimp, goat cheese, jack cheese, and cilantro. Served with our own Eastside Café Salsa* and verde sauce.







The food was outstanding and very fresh! I ordered the Mixed Salad and the Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadilla and it was amazing. The quesadilla was perfectly spiced and they serve it with there own homemade salsa. Yum!



My son, Emmet ate every single bite of his Beef Tenderloin with Garlic Mashed Potatoes. (he took the pic)







Zoe enjoyed a Kids' Meal- of penne in butter and parmesean cheese.



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We can't wait go back to The Eastside Cafe!



Classic Flower "Bed"