Celebrating my pal Sharon's birthday: Friday, July 6, 2012

So my pal Sharon and I (I'm The Other Sharon) decided we'd  celebrate her birthday in Austin.  We worked at the Williamson County Sun in Georgetown together back in 1986-87.  She and her husband Jimmy still live in G'town.  Sharon and Jimmy drove to Leander to catch the light rail.  They got on the 6:19 p.m. train; here we are waiting to join them at Crestview Station, near our house, at 6:54 p.m.

Here they come!

Jimmy sat in front of Sharon so they could save us seats.  She said people would stop and ask Jimmy if the seat next to him was taken and he'd say "yes."  Then they'd stop and ask Sharon if the seat next to her was taken and she'd say "yes."  They must have wondered what was going on.

We ate at the East Side Kings food trailer on Sixth Street east of I-35.  The owner is Paul Qui, who is a Top Chef: Texas winner and took home the award for Best Chef: Southwest at the 2012 James Beard Awards (equivalent of a culinary Oscar). He is the executive chef at Uchiko and also cooks at Uchi, here in Austin.  

Sharon and Jimmy

The only free table was next to the outhouse.  Oh well.  Papa Tom enjoying the fried brussel sprouts salad.  Included on the menu at the food trailer:  deep fried beets, roasted Japanese sweet potato, and curry buns (peanut butter homemade curry in a deep fried bun, fresh basil, cilantro, mint, onion, and jalapeno).  Everything we tried was delicious.  We will definitely go back.

Dogs are welcome.  The establishment even provides bowls of water for pets.

We then walked 1.9 miles (according to Google maps) from the East Side Kings food trailer on East Sixth Street to Amy's Ice Cream at Fifth and Lamar. 

On our way home.  Strange how, in the reflection, it looks like Papa Tom's hand is touching his chin when, in reality, it isn't.  We were at the Convention Center station, near the Car2Go parking spots.

The train was only running once an hour by the time we finished at Amy's, so we walked a mile to the closest train stop, at the Austin Convention Center, and caught the 11:25 p.m. train home.