Aspen: Mountain Naturals $6.50 Burger

Burgers aren’t hard to find in Aspen (LOVE Belly Up’s double and sweet potato fries!!) But burgers under $10? Rare. So when Mountain Naturals, the crunchy store in the ABC, announced lunch specials like a $6.50 burger, I had to check it out.

Served on an english muffin with as many toppings as you’d like, the grassfed local burger is delicious. It’s not huge, but it’s good. I ate it sans muffin:

Still delicious like that. That speaks to the quality of the meat, the flavorings, and the perfect cooking technique!

I took guests that were in town to lunch here and to the airport immediately after. It was the perfect send-off! They also happen to sell frozen free-range breaded chicken tenders, something I’ve NEVER seen before, and one of the best trail mixes I’ve had (up front by the registers).

I lived in ABC for 5 months and never ate at Mountain Naturals … don’t let that happen to you! Take advantage of a little hippie store gem in the ABC and stop by.

Austin: New Year’s Eve Start to Finish

Ah, the start of a new year. If you don’t have plans already, don’t fret, Austin is totally a cool town to be plan-less in. Aspen, not so much. Where did my Caribou Club membership card run off to? Anyway, here are my suggestions:

Pre-Party: From 4-7pm, let Lovely Austin Boutique help you get ready for your big night out … $10 airbrush makeovers and eyelash application from award winning makeup artist Lecia Harkins with Beauty on the Go, plus release the stress of the holidays with $10 chair massages and complimentary cocktails.

Click here to RSVP.

Eat: The Carillon features Chef Josh Watkins’ New Years Champagne Paired Dinners: Nine Courses, $90; Seven Courses, $75; Five Courses, $65. Seating available 6-10pm. Some of the best food around at totally reasonable prices for food and booze.

For more NYE restaurants, click here for the Statesman’s list (with an egregious example of apostrophe abuse)

Go Out (Never Pay Cover!): Now get this. This is life in Austin & Aspen synchronicities NEVER END! Skip silly sixth and hit up Gibson on South Lamar, which is turning into a winter wonderland with 30 tons of real snow! [Sidenote: I will BE IN 30 tons of real snow. In the real mountains.] This Ski Lodge party includes complimentary commemorative ski caps, appetizers from Out There Catering, festive cocktails, music, dancing, and a champagne toast to ring in 2011.

No fancy cocktail dresses or tuxedos for this party … don your comfy and fabulous ski attire–let me tell you, bibs are sexy. Ski bibs. Not food bibs.

All for a good cause, the bash benefits The Trail Foundation. Parking available. Tickets at frontgatetickets.com

Austin: Merry Tamale

Do you know how much I love tamales? I love them a lot. I love them so much that when I found them at ACL (see the tweet), I proceeded to eat them for 3 days straight and almost-but-not-quite grow tired of them.

Alas, I must travel to the Farmer’s Market and test my luck to get those tamales (possibly Gardener’s Feast? Not sure). If you’re not so free-ranging, happy meat-inclined, feel free to grab some of La Sombra’s Peruvian tamales by the dozen ($16) or half-dozen ($9). Just call in before 3p for pickup the next day, Dec 14-23!  512.458.1100

Made in-house using the finest yellow corn masa seasoned with Peruvian aji amarillo, and wrapped in banana leaves, the tamales come in Chicken and Green Chile Tamale and Pibil Pork Tamale. Tambien, puedes order traditional Alfajores, Port Meringue Cookies, and Brigadeiros for dessert. Me? I’d probably just eat more tamales.

Austin: Spice Shop Grand Opening (by the numbers)

For the longest time, I didn’t really get the spice thing. I’m slow to the cooking game, and I never understood why people went nuts for Penzey’s in Dallas … I didn’t even know Central Market had bulk spices (awesome!) until this year. But people, spices are awesome. They make boring things amazing and amazing things out-of-this-world.

And now Austin has cemented its reputation as a foodie town with the opening of  Savory Spice Shop on West Sixth. Friday, Nov. 12 will feature a fresh rosemary ribbon cutting at 10am with free spice samples all day.

• 400 herbs, spices, seasonings, blends, extracts and salts from around the world
• More than 30 different chiles, from Korean Red Pepper Chile Threads to Miniature Thai Chilies
• Nearly 40 organic herbs, spices and extracts including Organic Madagascar “Bourbon” Vanilla Beans and Organic Imported European Basil
• 19 different ways to choose pepper from Tasmanian Pepper Berries to Reunion Island Pink Peppercorns
• specialty salts including Italian Black Truffle Salt and Alder Wood Smoked Sea Salt
• more than 140 fresh seasoning blends including curries, cheese blends, salt-free seasonings and barbecue spice combinations.

Ground fresh every week, the shop will feature familiar seasonings as well as extraordinary aromatics such as Ethiopian Berbere, Cambodian Lemongrass, Peruvian Chili Lime and Thai Green Curry blends. Hello, yum? These are just spices!

Shoppers will not only be able to sample these blends with ‘tasters’ throughout the store, but also buy them in quantities as small or large as they want – from half-ounce measure to several pounds. After sampling a spice, customers are invited to toss the remaining spice sample on the floor to add to the mesmerizing blend of aromas that waft throughout the store.

See you there. I’ll be the one drooling.

1201B West Sixth Street, just west of the intersection of Blanco and West Sixth. Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 7 pm and Sunday, 11 am – 6 pm. http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/aboutus/austin6th.html / 512.524.1093 / @savryspiceon6th

Austin: GORILLA RUN

Yes.

That could be you on January 22, 2011 at 9am in downtown Austin. YOU could be running in a gorilla suit through the streets of Austin. Or rollerblading, even. In a gorilla suit. For only $99.95! Run, post-race partay, AND gorilla suit. The Austin Gorilla Run is coming soon!

Hot pink dye/rollerblades on your own.

Why? You love gorillas. Or ridiculous outfits. But you will (hopefully) be raising $250+ dollars for the gorillas, so you should probably at least like them a little bit. Especially if you’re going to be walking around in a synthetic version of their fur. More info.

My bro is organizing this race and it’s gonna be ridic–sign up in October before the price goes up!!

A friend of mine from high school made this:

I love it. It’s only $72 in sterling silver. Buy it at JulesMarie.com

Apparently this friend is a wildly successful jewelry designer … who knew?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rich Rocks NYC

… and so does Serena! Me and my fave Gossip Girl gal now share a pair of FABULOUS earrings:

I rocked these Rich Rocks NYC ‘Oversized Hanging Smokey Faceted Dangles’ earrings–fancy talk for smoking hot faux-crystal huge sparklers–to a birthday party this weekend and got a TON of compliments. Everyone loved them.

They’re only $75! I mean, could I love anything more?! I now have them in this smoky color AND the clear version, which I rode biking to town. Gotta look glam no matter what you’re doing, I say.

Here are the other goodies I got in the mail:

The necklaces are the super hip collar-style but are really, really lightweight. They’re both statement pieces, perfect for glamming up a simple tank or tee. (Left, $100, Right, $75)

Plus check out the bedazzled ring and earrings, which look super expensive but are actually totally affordable at $45 and $75, respectively!

I love how all the earrings are dangly and sparkly, which elongates the face and shows off cheekbones! 🙂

One of my most glamorous and amazingly sweet friends turned me on to these goods. She says: “Me and all my friends literally live in Rich Rocks. It’s the best stuff and so affordable. Perfect for every day and going out. I even wear some of her fancier stuff for black tie and everyone thinks they are real. When I tell them they’re like $80 they have me email them the website on the spot!”

I love this stuff! Snag some under-$100 jewels for every day and for special events!

Hope Uncorked at Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks isn’t usually my post-work happy hour spot, but tonight they’re hosting a winetasting called Hope Uncorked to benefit Fertile Hope of Austin. The benefit is from 5-8pm, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Fertile Hope of Austin. The Executive Director of Fertile Hope in NYC, Lindsay Nohr Beck, will be there too.

The event is a kickoff to Key to the Cure shopping weekend, where 2% of all proceeds from Thursday through Sunday go to women’s cancer research. If you were planning on doing any Saks shopping, get it done today so charities can benefit!

Real Estate: The Importance of an Agent

As I mentioned before, my brother and I are looking for a house. What I didn’t mention is that we’ve been through three. That is, we’ve put in offers on three, only to have something not work out.

The Blue House had been on the market for months with no activity when we put in our offer. Another offer came in the same day, and the agent (not a good one) asked us to put in our final offer. This is not how negotiating works, people. I give an offer, you respond, I respond, and so on. To ask for a final offer right off the bat was weird–though we did it. The other offer won, and we were without a house. Six weeks later, it’s closed, and we find out that they offered only $5,000 more than we did, and then got a $5,000 repairs allowance … making their offer essentially the same. If the other agent hadn’t insisted upon our final offers, she probably could have gotten us to go higher, securing her client a better deal.

Deal number two was on a house we really couldn’t afford, the Basement House, and it had some scary possible asbestos and plumbing issues, so we ended up backing out on it. Deal number three was a lowball offer on a house that had been on the market for awhile. The owner came down $5k in his counteroffer, and didn’t even bother to respond to our counteroffer. He switched agents, reduced the price, and sold the house in a week.

So, as you can see, agents play a major role in scoring your dream house–finding it isn’t the only hard part! Most agents in Austin are more laid-back than in other markets. But a good agent will always be in communication with you … “here are some possible houses,” “this is what x house you saw last week sold for,” “I haven’t heard back from the other agent yet,” etc. If you find a talkative agent, you’re golden!

More and more buyers are opting to search listings on their own, which focuses the agent’s role on negotiation, where communication is again the key skill. An agent should offer solid advice and opinions, but also be willing to do whatever you want in terms of making an offer or counteroffer. When choosing an agent, listen to friends’ recommendations, but also pay attention to your rapport with him or her–a connection will communication that much easier!