Everything is bigger in Texas: the food, the race tracks, the storms, the news… the disappointment.
Things were looking good when we rolled into Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The boys put the car back together in impressive fashion and we were quick right off the truck.
It was fricking HOT in Texas though! Who on earth decided we should race in Texas when it’s 95 degrees pretty much all day long? Probably people that work in air conditioning all day and have minions to follow them around with umbrellas and wet towels.
Apparently mother nature heard my complaint and it proceeded to rain for two days, which mostly made me cranky as a wet cat, but also made further improvements to the car tricky.
The sun came out on race day just in time for Porsche to announce that our team was chosen to be the Porsche factory team in North America next year. I know that has nothing to do with cupcakes or cookies, but lemme just tell you, that’s kind of a big deal. And also, the cookies served at the announcement were really good. Like, perfect chocolate chip cookie, I want this to be my last meal, what is the secret ingredient I taste in these, good.
So there were are, all smiles in the sun, basking in a good day of weather, an uplifting announcement and a third and fourth-place grid position. Let’s go get ’em!
Or… let’s park the car at the end of the pit lane with 45 minutes left to go. DAMNIT!!
But wait, we still have our championship leading car in this thing! Podium finish! Trophies! Confetti!
Your car has been disqualified in tech. Wait, what? DAMNIT! I’m not too familiar with the walk of shame, but I believe that’s what I did from the media center to the parking lot at 11:30 that night.
There was a bright spot though! I got to meet my favorite baking blogger! Anna from Cookie Madness is an Austinite, so I invited her out to the track and in exchange she showed me around Austin. Well, at least around South Congress anyway.
Of course that included good food, like pizza from Home Slice. The white pizza with spinach was amazing. I love a pizza with ricotta on it. And the crust was done perfectly. It’s a pretty popular joint, so while we waited, Anna took me to a nearby candy shop where I indulged in some GooGoo Clusters and Lion bars, which I’m hard pressed to find in Atlanta.
The candy would be saved for race day though, because after the pizza we stopped at Hey Cupcake. You’d think I would have been tempted by the pumpkin cupcake, but a plain vanilla dream sounded perfect. I’m usually not one for “gourmet” cupcakes, but this one was pretty good. The frosting wasn’t a giant mound of sugar on top of a dry cake like I find most chain cupcake places to be. Good icing to cake ratio, not too sweet frosting and a moist crumb. I hear I need to check out Amy’s ice cream next time I’m in town.
Of course I had some BBQ while I was in Texas. In fact, I ate at Salt Lick BBQ TWICE while in Austin. Not because I thought it was that mind blowing, but because everyone I agreed to meet for dinner wanted to go there. The ribs were quite spectacular though.
Not as spectacular as the menu at Wild Bubba’s! A buffalo burger was my first meal in the Lone Star State and it was delicious, but pretty tame compared to some of the other things on the menu…
My arteries were pretty happy to make it back to Georgia. Your sweet tooth will be happy when I share what I made from Anna’s blog later this week.
Stay weird Austin. And hot. And damp. And full of meat.
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 
That was fun to read. Thanks.
As a girl who also works in motorsport, loves food and will be in Austin for F1, I loved this post! Thank you 🙂
You’re most welcome! I’d love to hear if you pick up any good food places while you’re in Austin.
I will let you know!
next time, come to Rainey street on the southeast corner of downtown. Tons of food trailers and eateries and bars. NO VA is brand new, El Naranjo is upscale interior Mexican, and Banger’s, a suasage house and beer garden is among the best places to spend a weekend afternoon or night out anywhere in Austin.
I’ve heard good things about Rainey St. On the list!