Red Fest 2014

What is Red Fest you might be asking yourself? Well only the greatest redneck festival in the world!!! (That I know of). Basically my fav little Texan Nicole aka Bus, texted me with 'Red Fest in May. Look it up and book your ticket here now!'. Country music, BBQ and excessive amounts of 'Murica pride??? Um yea soooo down! I packed my best USA gear and got my spray tanned butt on a plane.

Off the Grid: Twilight in the Presidio

There's a blog called Fun Cheap SF and I follow it like a champ! Some of the events aren't really my thing but their goal is to find fun and cheap events in SF which is exactly what I love to do. When I saw an event that promised campfires, cabanas, booze and food trucks I knew we had to check it out! It's called Twilight in the Presidio and its going on every Wednesday in October- next week is the last one...major sad face that its already over. We went for the first time on the 9th which also happened to be Rebecca's birthday! Since all birthday girls need a cabana (seriously- I only want to spend my birthday in one from here on out- cabana on the lawn, on the beach, by a pool...many options) I got there suuuuper early to snag one of the cabanas since we figured it would be packed. I swung by the amazing Suzy Cakes to pick up some cupcakes and who do I run into but the birthday girl herself! After picking up pretty much all the cupcake flavors available (hands down favorite was the flourless chocolate cake with espresso frosting) we headed over to the main lawn to set up camp. We got there at 4 (event started at 5) and weren't even the first ones there! Umm yea this is the view by the way:

#2 Learn how to BBQ

My favorite food? Hands down answer is BBQ. I love it all: the meat, the sides, the sauce...bring it! I especially love how it always feels like summer when you're eating a delicious BBQ meal. Anyways as part of my American list I decided I needed to learn how to BBQ and my friend Kelda (aka K-sista) makes a mean BBQ chicken. What makes her BBQ chicken the most American? That would be the Bud Light beer can up its butt...'Merica!

Austin in 36 Hours

I love living in SF but so far the hands down winner for favorite city to visit is Austin- friends, food and music...what more could you ask for?!? I've done a pretty good job keeping track of all my trips to my favorite southern city here on this blog but this time was a little different- I was only in Austin for 36 hours so I had to make it count! I flew in to oversee a job for work so I had to spend time at the jobsite but luckily my friend's apartment was 5 minutes away so I got to spend lots of time with her. During my lunch break, I met my co-worker over at Z Tejas in the Austin Arboretum which was a super cool spot and AMAZING, TO DIE FOR cornbread...for serious.

Keeping busy...

Its been an usually hot SF summer (so far) so I've spent less time on my computer and more time outside- which is never a bad thing but means I've been way behind on posting. I haven't been overly American lately (although I technically did jury duty- even got paid my whopping $15). Instead fun things like a visit from Dog have been happening- just check out his adorable face! He even let me put slippers on him before a bedtime cuddle sesh (he may or may not look unhappy about the situation).

Hi Lo BBQ

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE me some BBQ...like legit obsessed with BBQ. I talked about it for weeks leading up to my last trip to Austin and was not disappointed...actually I was disappointed that I physically could not eat more of the deliciousness that is Black's BBQ. So when I read a Serious Eats article (totes thought I had read it in Sunset magazine and spent a good 20 mins trying to find it before realizing it was SE) about Hi Lo BBQ opening up in SF, I was all over it! As a post- exploring the Dogpatch dinner we headed over there Sunday night and I was literally struggling to contain my excitement. All my pics are blurry because I was moving so quickly just trying to get to the counter to order- per usual I had already looked up the menu and decided what I wanted to order.

Eating my way through Austin

Last year I was all about taking pictures of the cows we saw in Austin but since they're not there anymore (boo), I decided to try and take pictures of everything I ate. I would like to say that these are just the highlights but in reality for the meals not included, I either: 1) quickly forgot this photo-taking goal when food was placed in front of me or 2) was so desperate to eat what was in front of me (hello strawberry cheesecake ice cream from Big Top) that the picture was blurry and unusable. Oh well, you get the idea.