whoa gone a while

I keep meaning to keep up, but this is why I will never be a famous blogger or blog for dollars. I am, at heart, forgetful.

wanted to let everyone know about a few places we hit while we were on Christmas break

We went to Fredericksburg TX a few weeks before Christmas to do their German Christmas Fair. We ate at a good many places and had little trouble, though a lot of our choices were limited to hamburgers and eggs. Kelly's Cafe, though, at 505 W Main, had amazing dinner food. I've seen some reviews about poor food and bad service, but I have to say, we arrived without reservations on a Saturday night, and they were gracious, got us a seat, and the service was perfectly acceptable. I have to wonder what folks think is good, but then I was a waitress, and I tend to sympathize with food service folks... We have luscious pork loin with sauteed apples, and amazing mashed potatoes. The best thing is that they were utterly willing to accommodate any food allergy, as it's a small, local, chef owned place.

We went to Maine for Christmas proper (Cold! Oh, the cold) and we had some bad moments (stuck in Newark at the airport overnight anyone?) but we ate at this amazing bakery in Portsmouth New Hampshire. It's called Popover's on the Square http://www.popoversonthesquare.com/index.html and Gluten Free bread is available for all of their sandwiches. The bread was lovely, not beany at all, and they made paninis on a dedicated GF press. Joy!

For some local joy, we went to the Wildwood Art Cafe in Austin for New Years Dinner. http://www.wildwoodartcafe.com/cafe.php All of their baked goods are GF now, and they have a ton of vegan and vegetarian options. They had a prix fix menu for New Year's, which you had to call ahead and sign up for. We had tomato soup, ossu bucco, and cheesecake, along with one L trying the scallops and S trying the pear and apple tart. It was a lovely, candlelit dinner, and the food was amazing. The veal for the osso bucco was obviously free range, which is the only kind I'll go with, and the sauce was unreal. The creamy polenta was to die for, and the cheesecake had a crust that tasted like graham cracker, which I miss.

Finally, Viva Chocolato in the Domain http://www.vivachocolato.com/ has amazing fine chocolates, and all but two varieties are gluten free. Nut allergies should probably avoid it, and dairy allergic folks would have to be careful, but oh, yum!