Last Night in Austin

On our last night in Central Texas, my son took us out for dinner again. He told me intention the night before that, but he made a mystery of it by telling me that he had invited a friend to come with us. He would not tell me the friend's name. Just that I had never met her. He added to the mystery by announcing that he did not know where we would be eating dinner because his friend would be choosing the restaurant. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued.

Late in the afternoon of our last day there, I heard the muffled sound of my son speaking to someone on the phone in his bedroom. After a while, he came out and asked, "Mom, wasn't
there some Italian place in Austin where you said you missed eating? What was the name of that place?"

The name of the place is  +Carrabbas. I really love the fresh bread with herbed dipping oil that they bring to every table. (Their tiramisu is also really good -- much better than Olive Garden's.) I do not know how authentic it is because I have never been to Italy (Florence is on my bucket list), but it is what I imagine authentic might be.

I had pretty much decided to skip Carrabbas in favor of the local Mexican food. But my son remembered a late-night conversation we'd had while he was driving "Over the Road" where I had mentioned missing Carrabbas, and he chose to veto his friend's selection in favor of taking me to someplace I missed.

Unfortunately, there was no Carrabbas between his friend and us. So we went to +Johnny Carino's, instead. It was a good selection and would have been my second choice if I'd had the option. It was about a 45 minute drive along back roads to get there but we met at a middle point between my son's place and his friend's.

A few minutes after we arrived, a slim young woman with chestnut hair entered the restaurant and came to sit at our table. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked a bit about her. Then, because my son had given me leave in the car to tell as many stories about him as I wanted, I launched into story.

I have lots of good stories about my son and I think the young woman enjoyed them. As the evening progressed, both Anne and I noticed that my son called this young lady "honey." He also wrapped his arm around her shoulders a few times and paid for her meal. After we were on our way home again, Anne tried to call him out on their relationship. But I deflected for him and said, "He does that to all the girls." He quickly agreed and the subject was dropped.

Ah, Austin. Our visit came to a close far too soon. (On the other hand, I am pretty sure I put on about ten pounds in our short visit. So maybe it is a good thing we did not stay longer.) While we were there, we got to visit with a few old friends (I did not write about these interactions), eat lots of yummy food, enjoy the weather, meet a neighbor, go sightseeing and visit our old home. We cut costs on accommodations by staying with friends and family but my credit card still took a big hit.

Believe it or not, my favorite part of being close to Austin was not the delicious Tex-Mex or even the barbecue. Though, I will say, I did love those. Nor was it the weather. (Oh! How I miss the mild winter weather!) Of everything, my old friends who visited with me, meeting with my son's friends, the friendliness of complete strangers and, most of all, daily morning chats with my grown-up little boy were my very favorite part of this early winter holiday.

~~~ Side  Note for those who plan to visit the Austin area ~~~

Tortilla soup from +Serrano's Mexican Restaurant in Austin.

One restaurant I did not mention but we made a special point to visit while we were in town is +Serrano's Tex-Mex Mexican Restaurant. It is one of the better places to eat in the North Austin area. The flavor of the salsa is good, the portions are good sized and the menu prices are reasonable. I particularly enjoy their tortilla soup. In the old days of 2007, when I was last there, they used to put a short corn cob in the soup as well as a slice of avocado. The corn was not in my soup this time. I don't know if the policy has changed or if it was just the server's oversight. Still, the soup was very tasty and chock full of vegetables, cheese and tortilla strips. If you plan to visit North Austin, this is a really good place to eat. We went to the Lakeline Mall location. It is not in the mall but on a street just outside the mall parking lot.