Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Happy Club


After very little deliberation, I decided to create dining club with some fellow food-loving friends in Austin. A single girl's got to find a way to keep her expensive, dining habit in check so The Happy Club is dedicated to such: Weekly, and when I say weekly I mean almost 4 or 5 days a week, we visit various hot spots (and a few undiscovered gems) in Austin's growing restaurant scene to take advantage of their happy hour specials or everyday great dining prices.


It all got started when a few of my friends went out to Mangia's on The Drag for some pizza to fill up time on another humdrum summer day. Of course, I've always known about Happy Hour, but it wasn't until I saw that sign among their tacky decor that a light bulb turned on in my head: Why can't it always be happy hour? And so I set out to find a way for all of us stuck in Austin for the summer (while the other half of our friends are off in Europe and South America on adventures) to enjoy our evenings without zero-ing out our savings accounts or resorting to PB&J and EasyMac. So here's a toast to Mangia's (even though I hate their pizza) for inspiring me to start making the most of my summer!

This blog will likely turn into something of a restaurant guide so that I may keep track of the fun, delicious places to eat for those dire times with no idea of where to go - Why is it that when my friends and I are starving, we can't ever seem to think of nice, affordable place to end our empty stomach misery? Or when my parents make their surprise visits, it would be nice to have a few places up my sleeve. Naturally, there will be intermittent entries containing recipes gone well (and surely some gone wrong) for the few times I'm allowed to take over the kitchen of a friend's apartment. Well, all this food-talk is making my stomach growl so I better get to it - this time, however, I won't be sinking in the red as I'm off for home-cooked, italian dinner in Round Rock with my second family. Arrivederci!