Austin Restaurant Weeks 2019

Dear Friends,

Carissa and I are just back from a lazy few days at the farm. Mostly we sat out on the long stone patio above the swimming hole at Rocky Creek, the two littles, Gus and Lula lounging near our feet - the borzoi sleeping off the day somewhere cooler. She was still smarting from her encounter with the skunk (don't ask - it was as bad as it sounds).

The days were warm, but surprisingly pleasant for August in Texas. Out there away from the concrete and the traffic, we were tucked under the shade of large oak trees. The sun dappled and danced between branches, shimmering on the swimming hole below us. It was blessedly quiet and every so often a breath of air from down the creek pushed up the breezeway where we sat, ceiling fans turning lazy circles above us. In the evenings we took walks with the dogs and cooked leisurely dinners while meaningless August baseball games droned in the background.

Laurence, Mom, and Ms B beat it out of town a few weeks ago - set their compass for Maine leaving the farm empty. That being the case we elected to avail ourselves of their beautiful, peaceful space out near Lampasas for as many days as we could manage.

But now the energy and activity in our campus neighborhood are returning. The students are reappearing with their U-Haul trailers and rented scooters. It feels like a struggle to wrest my focus from our time in the country and look forward as the rhythm of the school calendar begins to impose its will.

And at some point, fall will arrive. With any luck we'll get a few of those stunningly sharp days - when the lingering remnants of summer haze will be driven toward the coast and the sky will turn a dark, almost cobalt shade of blue, trailing the wake of an early cool front. The sound of drums from the UT band will waft over from DKR, filling me with memories and an indescribable sense of longing.

In celebration of the oncoming change of season, for the next two weeks, we will participate in Austin Restaurant Weeks which raises money for the Central Texas Food Bank. We hope this will provide all of you with a good reason to reengage and get out of the house. Starting tomorrow (Thursday), in addition to our a la carte dinner menu, we will offer a Restaurant Weeks prix fixe menu at dinner for $35 per person, $5 of which will go to support the food bank. We hope that many of you will come out and take part. It's a great event for a great cause and we'd love for you to join us. We'll be running the prix fixe menu at dinner through the end of the month.

In the meantime, Carissa and I wish all of you a gentle transition out of lazy summer mode and back into the world of goals and intentions - if we all do this together, it's going to be a breeze!

bon appetit,

murph