The title is borrowed from the July/August issue of Texas Gardener magazine. Clicking on the magazine link will take you to the cover photograph.

The similar photo shown here was taken a month ago. Even though the camera is a toy-like Concord 1500, the image is true to life, and the reality is so surreal as to seem unbelievable. These were growing at the Austin Sunshine Community Gardens. I had never seen such a sight.

The magazine reports that A&M has been working in Uvalde on growing artichokes in Texas. I’ve seen with my own eyes that it’s possible right here in Austin.

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• The Austin Monthly June issue in its guide for newcomers recommends Web sites, and, under the heading for Austin life, names Austin Metblogs as a resource.
• The June 29 issue of Business Week, with a cover story “Housing Market 2012,” highlights the Austin real-estate market, naming it “the price magnet” and describing it as “affordable” and therefore attractive to price-conscious buyers from elsewhere. In fact, the on-line version of the segment devoted to our town is entitled “Affordable Austin.” Sound like anyplace you know?
• Metropolitan Home employs Austin’s SOL development as an example of sustainable subdivisions, highligting the work of Chris Krager and KRDB, his design-build firm (”The New Village Green,” byline Karrie Jacobs).
• The Atlantic calls its current July/August issue “the ideas issue” or “15 Ways to Fix the World,” and Austinite Bruce Selcraig has something to say about long-distance high-speed rail travel.

I’ve skipped over national coverage of the high-profile Voting Rights Act opinion handed down by the Supreme Court, as well as the sad story of the couple who paid for health insurance but found it to be lacking when they needed it and the results of an appeal in an Austin murder case that continues to make news, plus the lighter story of the couple who married frugally by serving sno-cones to guests at the wedding reception.

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Garrido’s is open and serving food continuously from opening to closing. In July, brunch will be added on Saturdays and Sundays, but otherwise the same menu is available all day long, with a soup special and a taco special each day.

We were burning some vacation time but it was mid-afternoon before we could consider where to dine. Garrido’s was humming and buzzing with activity even after the conventional lunch-hour. Today’s soup was a delightful shrimp concoction in a lobster broth. The oyster-lover at the table was more than pleased.

This was our first visit. We did not try the chips and salsa (these are not free) because we were interested in the lamb “pops,” which are delicious chops, frenched to make a handle of the bone, seared on the outside and just pink enough on the inside. The lamb was of the best. The ancho sauce was delicious and so were the tiny leaves of green dressed with a tasty vinaigrette that took a portion of the same plate.

The carnitas were the very best that I have ever tasted, better even than my former favorite version, served by Tula of fond memory just off the drag. That’s all I’m going to say about them, other than to recommend them highly. The tortillas are tender and made in house; the black beans and the lime rice are delicious. The espresso equals the best in town. The little dessert offering of cookies, chocolate mousse, and chocolate-coffee truffles makes great sharing.

The musica was tropical. The acoustics are busy but do permit conversation. Garrido’s deserves to stay just as busy as we found it today.

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Illustrated with the distinctive sun-and-moon sign of El Sol y La Luna, this year’s U.S. News 2009 top-ten list of best places to retire includes Austin. We’re placed in such company as Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Loveland, Colorado, so I’m not sure it’s an honor.

We’re not included in the best places for diners-out to retire, though.

The criteria for this year’s selections are said to be affordable communities with strong economies and plenty of entertainment. We’re cited for our music venues and our “warm climate.” Coming in for special mention are the Lions Muny golf course, Barton Springs, and the nearby Hill Country.

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Once again I failed to capture an image of the H-E-B giant shopping cart. Half the time the toy camera isn’t on when I think it is, and the same is true for the FlipCam. But it doesn’t matter. No pictures of any kind are ever truly needed to establish memories of this annual event. Many were the elected officials to be seen in the procession. Police Chief Acevedo walked the route distributing goodies to children along the way. My personal favorites, as always, were the kids playing music (the Austin All-Star Band was out in force) and the fancy-gaited horses, all beautifully groomed and seeming to enjoy showing off as much as we all loved seeing them. Additonal photographs and short videos have been uploaded. Although we marched down Chicon with the All-Star band, it can be seen that most of the time we kept quite close to the Fresh Up Club.

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ACL Okkervil River Program

The past year for Okkervil River has been full of some pretty big milestones. They released their latest album The Stand Ins only a few weeks before playing the Austin City Limits Festival last September. They played The Late Show with David Letterman this past January and were at both the Coachella and Bonnaroo (where they apparently “killed”) festivals this summer. Their latest achievement is an Austin City Limits taping last night for Season 35 to air later this year.

I’ve heard a lot about the band (pronounced “awk”-ervil not “oak”-ervil as ACL producer Terry Lickona did introducing them last night) over the past few years both in the media and from friends. Their sound is somewhere between folk and pop and they’re often lumped in with bands like The Decemberists and Arcade Fire. It was a decidedly local crowd last night. We ended up sitting next to bassist Patrick Pestorious’s mother and father. Jonathan Meiberg, former Okkervil member who left to focus on his band Shearwater which started out as a side project for both he and Okkervil frontman Will Sheff, was on hand for “Lost Coastlines”, a songn they had to do twice for the taping due to some mistakes in the first attempt. They also added a horn section and a string section to the normal 6 member line-up. Okkervil River have backed Roky Erickson, another local performer and recent Austin City Limits artist, and are slated to go into the studio with him later this year. Read more

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Among the delights of the current production of Iolanthe are a 15-piece orchestra, a singing and dancing cast of over 30 by my count, and delightful staging and costumes. The Gilbert & Sullivan Society has brought its annual grand productions to venues all over Austin; in the Travis High School performing arts center it may have found the best one yet.

Yesterday’s children’s matinee was so delightful that I hope to attend another performance of Iolanthe before the run ends. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (June 18, 19, and 20) at 8 pm and on Sunday (June 21) at 3 pm. There will be supertitle captioning on Thursday and Friday.

H.M.S. Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado are performed more often, and the opportunity to see a fully produced and laugh-out-loud production of Iolanthe is a precious one. When the peers of the realm (who are threatened by the possibility of competitive examination), along with other, lesser mortals, meet the fairy sprites of the woodland, merriment ensues. And so does beautiful music, vocal and instrumental.

Iolanthe is a true labor of love. I think that only in Austin is to be found the combination of multifaceted talent and concerted volunteer effort required to mount performances of such excellence.

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Tucked away unobtrusively in a small strip-mall center on Research, Hwa Yuan still attracts customers to its buffet, even on a Monday, as we discovered yesterday. Everyone was going through the buffet line and it was only later that we found that it’s possible to order from the menu.

Food comes to the buffet in small portions, straight from the kitchen. I thought it was unusual to find elegant little steamed dumplings at a buffet, and presented in a bamboo steamer. Many people were going through the buffet line and filling takeout containers to carry away. The posted rules for doing this were elaborate and arcane. I can remember only that at least three different items must go into the container and that there is a weight limit (although I saw no scale).

There are items for children especially, and everyone was enjoying the ribs, which seemed to have been coated in five-spice powder somewhere along the way. I thought that the hot and sour soup was particularly fine. There’s a darker adjoining room with a bar and a television. Some were dining there, and it appears that it would make a good place to adjourn after work. The Web site seems to list most of what I saw on the menu. We were happy with our lunch (buffet price $6.95, I think, but at any rate a good value). Find Hwa Yuan at 11150 Research Boulevard, Suite 201, Balcones Woods Shopping Center; telephone 345-9781, not all that far from the Regal Arbor Cinema.

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This is food for the famished; they won’t go away hungry. We hit the downtown Thai Passion, ground floor of the historic Capitol Hotel, in the middle of rush-hour. We walked over from Nueces, having found that Garrido’s wasn’t open, although it will be for dinner this evening.

Thai Passion was busy, but nothing felt rushed. Salad came to the table right away. We enjoyed spring rolls, a standard soup (tom-yum) that was not ho-hum, the curry of the day, and, my favorite, a ginger-chicken stir-fry. It was studded with countless delicate morsels of appetizing white-meat chicken, crisp celery and carrots, and much else from the vegetable realm. We polished everything off, but the portions are so generous that many resorted to takeaway containers. Nobody was leaving anything on the plate.

During the daytime, one room is brightly lit by the sun from above and the other is more dimly lit by a well designed electric lighting scheme (bright enough for reading the menu, but without glare of any kind). Restrooms are spotless. The staff is friendly and professional. The music is easy-listening instrumental and bright, not boring, allowing for conversation and permitting privacy for the diners. The napkins are cloth.

We paid lunch express prices for appetizing and restorative food in generous portions, a real bargain to be enjoyed in this serene location.

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Reinforcement is necessary after a visit to the dentist, or a person might never go again. I learned all this from B. F. Skinner (ask me, sometime, about my trained pigeon).

At Frugal Media I treated myself to a duplicate copy of a favorite guide to the birds, plus a book of maps and a Madhur Jaffrey book of Indian recipes printed in the U.K. In stock right now is a very good selection of guidebooks to Austin, a valuable resource when inspiration fails and there are visitors in the house. There’s plenty of comfortable seating for those inclined to browse before buying, and a sign on the door reported that there’s free WiFi.

Then it was on to lunch at the Frisco Shop. I lucked out, since there were still a few choice items of baked goods from the breakfast menu (biscuits and cornbread, those non-pareils). The Frisco, the slaw, the Top Chop’t, and the superlative pie were as pleasing as ever. New to the Frisco are mixed drinks, and the margarita is an excellent value that in no detail disappoints: fresh lime juice and honest ingredients in the proper proportion.

Favorites at booths and tables within sight were the special-of-the-day meatloaf, CFS, catfish, jalapeno spinach, and slices of pie. We saw familiar faces, and could overhear much juicy gossip: personal, political, and business. I love the Frisco!

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Those of us who are home owners, or at least pay for our utilities directly, will have received a “newsletter” with our latest bill. However, I’m aware that Austin has a high number of apartments and other rentals where the occupant doesn’t get directly billed by Austin Energy. So Figured it would be worth a quick recap of some important points.

Energy Efficiency Oridinace

Starts June 1st. This will impact sellers and potentially buyers of homes, apartments and non-residential properties more than 10-years old, which will in most cases be required to have energy audit before they are sold. Details and a list of auditors can be found here.

Ozone

We’ve never really had four seasons in Austin, at least that’s what people I talk to tell me. There’s just summer and “not summer”. You can guess when it’s spring, it’s not-summer and the plants all come alive. Still, one of the new seasons seems to be ozone season. This runs from April 1st to October 31st, which means it just about trumps summer, giving Austins’ seasons as not-summer and ozone.

Well Austin Energy take time to point out that Austin is going to be added to the EPA “non-attainment” list for ozone compliance. There are though serious implications for this. It means “potentially  expensive regulatory consequences such as emissions offsets before new companies with potential emissions can locate” in Austin.

Austin Energy advise:

• Plan errands efficiently to avoid extra driving.
• Reduce idling. Skip the drive-thru and turn your engine off when waiting for someone. [Triman: hopefully someone will tell the coach/buses that sit and idle for hours downtown.]
• Keep your car tuned up - reduces emissions and saves gasoline.
• Refuel after 6:00pm. - prevents gas vapors released during pumping from “cooking” all day.[Triman: Huh?]

You can get the latest newsletter in English here and the Spanish version here.

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No rear entry here, the back of Sinsations

Next in a series of semi-random, occaisional updates on whats going down on S 1st St.

Well it looks like the financial crisis has killed off any hope the realtor/developer community had to turn South 1st St, north of Oltorf, into SoFi has died for now. This is a good thing, and a bad thing. It’s good because at least for now, a number of commercial properties are back on the market, the rents etc. will be somewhat stabilised. It’s a bad thing in so much as there are now a number of key properties sitting idle and gathering non-permissive graffiti.

In the last South 1st Watch, I mentioned I’d got in trouble for referring to this bit of South 1st as “downtown”. There were a few comments on the blog entry and an offline email flurry started. Turns out this is really undesirable. The business community has had this area in their sights for a long time, 30-years or so at least. This is because while there are still many lots downtown, their existing CBZ zoning makes them expensive, where as developers hope to capture Bouldin Creek properties at Residential Prices and then get the developer friendly council to rezone as appropriate.

One exception to this seems to be the proposed development on the south west Corner of Live Oak and South 1st St, 603 Live Oak, the former home of Las Manos Magicas. I wrote about this almost a year ago today. Dated May 20th, the City wrote to tell me that the Administrative review of the plans is now finished and the plans approved and the applicant has paid all the required fees. So, next up is to get funding for development and actually break ground.

And so, here is what’s changed since the last update:

Sinsations, 2008 The graffiti wall pictured above is the back wall of Sinsations. It is as the graffiti community would describe it, a permission wall. I didn’t check with the Sinsations owner/manager, but I did stop by earlier in the year when there was a massive mural on the north side wall. I went to take a picture and it had been painted over. When I asked why, I was told there had been some confusion, they had given permission for the rear wall.

1906 Formally a residential home, has been taken over by a “sharpest” that now offers knife, razor and mower blade sharpening. More interestingly, they are out on the front lawn throwing knives at targets a couple of evenings a week. 1906 is next door to La Mexicana bakery.

1708 Calavera Skate shop is now open, selling all things skating.

1502 Both development here, and the Live at Elizabeth development, on the diametriacally oppsoite corner from Bouldin Creek Coffee shop have “tanked” since my initial reports a year ago. The development on the north-east corner of Elizabeth and South 1st has now much more modest ambitions called Bouldin Creek Square. Meanwhile over the road, they are simply trying to rent out the existing warehouse.

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It’s peach season, and it’s a great year judging by the tasty peaches out there.

We found fine ones at Central Market (all gone), and then again today, this time at South First and William Cannon. Today’s are not quite ripe yet, but promise to be excellent. Everyone’s been saying that the crop isn’t large this year, but each peach that has survived seems to be a good one.

Look for this stand near the H-E-B, in the parking lot of the gas station on the corner. It’s currently open seven days a week, from 9 am to 7 pm.

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This picture shows outdoor seating at Perla’s Seafood and Oyster Bar after 1 pm at lunchtime today. It’s shady there, and remarkably quiet. We, however, dined indoors, where the paint colors are subtle and watching fish in a giant aquarium seems more relaxing than observing the hurly-burly of South Congress. I thought that the people with children who chose Perla’s over Guero’s were being smart.

Little crunchy hush puppies made from coarse-ground meal came free to be snacked on while ordering decisions were made. Perla’s serves the best gazpacho I’ve enjoyed anywhere for a long, long time. It’s $6 and arrives in a large portion that’s worth every penny. All tomatoes served in any context today seemed to be home-grown. The oysters and the fish were very fresh and very tasty. The accompaniments to fish and seafood were great complements without in any way overpowering the main attractions. What seemed to be freshly grated horseradish was one of the condiments that came to the table. The hand-cut French fries are in shoestring form and a wonderful treat.

Mixed drinks from the bar weren’t tried, but as described they are novel and sound appealing. The desserts weren’t sampled today, either, but include blueberry shortcake, a homemade lemon ice, and more than one flavor of homemade ice cream. Port and sherry are available.

Many tables were ordering from the appetizers and then enjoying one of the popular items from the sandwich portion of the menu. We saw beautiful bouillabaisse and also a handsome plate of octopus.

The rooms benefit from pleasant natural light in the daytime. The sound was not overpowering. I discerned Smokey Robinson and Bob Dylan before I stopped paying attention. Don’t let this one get away, people! There’s real value here and no fooling around with “small plates.”

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This is window art at the Metropolitan 14 South. I always photograph window art when I see it if I have my toy camera along with me. The artist’s name in this case appears to be Poliakoff. Ditching other responsibilities, I wasn’t there to see the Star Trek movie. I joined the laughing audience for Next Day Air. I do like this sign though: “Have a Trektacular time.” Who is the mysterious Poliakoff?

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