So last week we attempted to make croissants. It was a three day process. There were some scary moments in the baking when butter was pooling our pastry babies. Lessons were learned from that. But, they survived being drowned in butter and as I learned from a friend who sampled them – “there can never be too much butter!”

They really did come out quite well. I also made some pain au chocolat with 70% dark chocolate. Wow.

So, being tired of bread, I think I am going to start dabbling more in pastry. It was quite satisfying. Without further ado, the pastry porn I promised.

Some lovely moments from last Sunday.

Working through this depression I have found home to not always be the best place to be, especially on a day when I am down and we have nothing planned. And so a few weeks ago, I was determined to get us out of the house and ride the metro Downtown and have some fun there. The MetroRail runs all day now, so much easier to do.

But first, we pause for a picture Quinn wanted me to take:

And so off it was to ride the Metro. I must say, the trains are gorgeous! The ride was smooth and really lovely. We parked at Highland Mall for this trip. Unfortunately, there is really no official urban parking.

And so we arrive in Downtown. We walked from the station to Congress and headed to the Austin Museum of Art. Tyler commented about Downtown always being busy with hustle and bustle. Yes, it is. And it is fun to be in the middle of it.

The museum was great featuring 15 new artists to watch from in and around the Austin area. It featured so many different styles: performance art, video art, sculpture, photography, drawing, mixed media, and so much more. I love how it illustrates the diversity of mediums. There are so many ways to express ones self and I love my kids being able to see that.

In the kids area, there was a place where the kids could use stencils to make patterns or just do a drawing of their own. So of course, we left our mark!

After that, we moseyed into a souvenir shop on Congress. That was fun. It is always interesting as a native Texan to see what they are peddling to those that visit our state. After that we headed to the Hideout to have a snack. That place has so much eye candy. I really enjoyed the art that was hung there and the ambiance in general. I got some delicious chai tea and the kids enjoyed some ice cream. After that it was back home.

I love Downtown and I loved riding the metro. It was the perfect thing to do on this particular Thursday. I just love being out in the world and thankfully so do the kids.

They seemed to be all the rage this year! So we gave it a go too. I was really impressed with how they turned out.

Note to self:

– red cabbage makes an incredible blue (pictured)
– when the recipe said 2 cups of matter, it meant vegetables. 1 cup of turmeric to 4 cups of water creates more of a yellow sludge. So use less with the powdered slices.
– rubber bands = fun
– white beeswax crayons make a good resist too!