I am officially on HOLIDAY! For 10 full days, I am away from London and more importantly work :-) I am in Austin right now for part one of my US travels. Why Austin you wonder?! Well for those of you who don't know. Most of my immediate family from my Mom's side live in Austin; her older and younger brother are there with their families and her youngest brother's son lives there now with his wife. I think I just made that sound more confusing than it is. I absolutely love Austin. It was the city that I went to almost every year whilst growing up during April break. It was the one place that I wanted to celebrate my birthday; in Texas, dinner at Antonio's with fatijas and IBC root beer, celebrating with my family with two cakes (one to shove my face in and the other to eat) . That is what birthdays in Austin were about - - and then we grew up.
So what brought me back to Austin this time? Well it certainly wasn't April break and my birthday. Rather it was a family reunion to celebrate the graduations of my two dear cousins: one graduating from UK with his undergrad and the other from UT with his MBA. It still seems surreal. I can hardily believe that these two gentlemen have grown up so much, the younger of the two especially. I was 7 when he was born, so I have the benefit of remembering him as a baby. I remember the little bundle of joy that he was when he was 2 1/2 years of age with his pilot's jacket picking up the ladies at the playground. Now he is all grown up and the only 2 1/2 year bundle of joy in the family is my nephew.
I left on Thursday for Austin, travelling via JFK airport. It was a rather different feeling landing at JFK and not taking the bus into Manhattan. Instead, I took the train to the domestic terminal and checked back in for my flight. It was a rather long day of flying (15 hours in total), but well worth it when I was welcomed with the midnight Austin heat and my cousins waiting for me at the airport.
Friday was a rather low key day spent catching up with Mom, visiting with the family and spending the evening with my cousins. We started with lunch and Texas martinis at Chuy's. This place has the BEST chili queso (it is worth a trip to Texas). After lunch, I kept my word with my baby cousin (not really a baby as he is 20) by making him Gulab Jamun (aka Sticky Balls). May not have met my Mom's definition, but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. .
That night, Bhai, Jamila and Kadin arrived thus officially commencing the family reunion weekend. After everyone came and settled down a bit, the cousins were off to Trudy's - the home of the Mexican Martini. Aside from seeing my family, the only other thing on my agenda was to go to Trudy's. Not usually a "martini" fan (unless it is a Manhattan), but Mexican Martinis are always an exception. Earlier that day, when we were at Chuy's, my cousin and I split a jalapeno infused mexican martini. Took a bit to get used to the spice, but will say definitely delicious and worth a try if you ever have the opportunity.
It was nice evening catching up with the brothers. I don't remember the last time that we all got together and chatted. Bhai shared some of his life stories, which solidified that Bhai should NOT mentor students. With advice of "oh I never studied for an exams, but still managed to graduate with honors", "grades are about negotiation", it is clear that his techniques don't translate to everyone else. I wish I had his skills, but definitely lacked those growing up. I was still suffering from jet lag, so only had one of the allowed two shakers. Probably a good thing as those martinis will destroy you. You don't realise it, but there is a reason why Trudy's has a two shaker limit. The last time I was in Austin, we tried to sneak in a extra one, but we were caught :-)
The great thing about jet lag is that it allows me some alone time with Kadin. He shared the bed where Mom & I slept, so at a bright 0630 is kindly woke me up, stating that he was done sleeping - "the sun is up Tini Foi, time to wake up". We had a good couple of hours playing with cars - how I miss playing with cars (seriously). Every time I see Kadin I am truly amasing by how much of a little person he really is. I left NYC and him when he was 9 months. The coolest thing he did at the time was crawl and hold his own milk bottle. Now he is walking, running, laughing, talking, singing! I feel bad using my "baby voice" around him cause he certainly is not longer a baby.
That afternoon, after feeding the ducks and a short run with Bams and Bhai, it was off to Ski Shore cafe for lunch in the Austin sun. Ski shore is more laid back version of the Boat Basin in NYC - if you can get more laid back. Located on the water Ski Shore is the ideal spot for sunshine, boat watching, burgers, fries, chicken fingers, and cold beer. If you are lucky, you will catch a trick or two from a water skier passing by. Being outside in the sun was nothing less that divine, but it also made me realise that my skin and body are not quite used to the sunshine and heat. By the time lunch came, I hit that point where I was too hot to finish my burger. Granted, if you put a 5-scoop banana split in front of me, I would not have any problem devouring lunch. They have commented at work that it will take me hours to finish my lunch, but put ice cream in front of me and that is gone within seconds. I have no reasoning for it, nor will I apologise - I love me some ice cream :-)
On Sunday we celebrated the first of two graduation parties with an afternoon on a boat floating in the Austin lake. It was a chill-axed afternoon of sunshine, catching up with the family, sunshine, pani puri, sunshine, some swimming and did I mention sunshine. I really cannot express how nice it was to be out in the warm sun. It was not appropriate to fully tan, but it was good to get some color.
Swimming in the lake was good fun. Literally everyone on the boat went into the water (Mom included) To be honest, I don't know who had more fun - the aunts and uncles who jumped in fully dressed or Kadin who enjoyed laughed hysterically every time someone got splashed with water. You honestly cannot beat an afternoon filled with laughter and true family fun. A big thank you to SG for having pani puri as part of the lunch - it must have been tremendous work to get that sorted, but it was so very delicious!
That evening we celebrated the second graduation with an intimate family party at the house. After the afternoon in the sun, eating, drinking and swimming a relaxed evening at home is just what everyone wanted. Given that the majority of the family were driving back to Houston, we all made sure to "behave" that evening. It is hard for our family, but if we put our minds to it we can accomplish anything ;-)
Like parents with their children, I am rather protective of my cameras (all four of them). That said, when Kadin showed his desire to take photos, I could not resist the opportunity. I figured in addition to "teaching" Kadin to say "Yankees Yuck Yuck", and other delightful phrases for my brother, it would pass on the photography gene. It is quite sad how quickly he grasped the concept of turn the camera on, point at what you want a photo of and click the button. Granted the pictures may have been of people's feet and legs, but he had it under control. I cannot wait to buy him his first camera!
Well I think this entry has been rather long. Hope you all are well and enjoying the weather wherever you are
xoxo
T
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