half term break – Tango's Baking

For the first time in my 28 years, I have finally leapt across the pond of the Atlantic Ocean to visit our neighbouring country of the USA! 😂😂 This was a long trip coming but was delayed due to restrictions caused by the pandemic, and I used my half term break to grab this opportunity! 😉

For my first ever trip into the State, I decided on Austin (since I have a friend there who can help me with the navigation if needed 🧭😝!) Resting in the heart of Texas, Austin is a city with a very diverse culture and artistry. 🌃 A perfect place for someone like me!

My friend calls it the “chubby” pigeon 🤭

A beautiful building that turns out to be just a car park! 😂

Vietnamese dinner at Pho Thaison on the first night (my friend’s recommendation haha!) That lime soda was huge lol!!

Despite being firmly in winter, my first few days in Austin were blessed by glorious sunshine and heat! ☀️☀️ After finishing the hotel breakfast, my friend (being a political student) took me to a political rally featuring the amazing AOC that was reported in local news.

Never ate hotel’s breakfast on a sofa with paper plates before! 😂 The sausage was dry but the patties aren’t actually that bad (went back for seconds haha!)

Top: Queso (Mexican Cheese Dip) with Chips; Bottom: Pork Tamales and their signature chili

We then headed over to lunch at the Chili Parlour (cause I was dying to try some local Texan/American food! 😂) Really enjoyed the homemade nachos chips which were nice for a change. The cheese dip and salsa were nice too but the heat was getting to me haha! 🥵 Loved their chili especially the fact they are chucks of meat rather than mince which I was used to. 😋 The tamales were slightly on the dry side, but I did enjoy the flavourful rice and beans they came with. Following this, we paid a visit to the Capitol of Texas and UT campus at the heart of the city.

UT campus (blending in quite well with all the college students!)

The famous cat of the campus- Domino 🐈‍⬛

Eating zongzi again after so many years remind me of my late grandmother 👵😢 (Also ended up missing pretty much the whole of Super Bowl during this haha!)

After a rather early night back in the hotel (fell asleep 😴 💤 with the Winter Olympics playing at the background 📺 lol), I then visited the Austin city hall on the next day as well as the LBJ Library.

More inside the exhibition – love the old TV ads 📺

Olmec Statue outside the library (reminded of something I saw in a childhood anime movie! 😂)

So sunny in Austin today! ☀️☀️ (Quite hot too 🔥🔥! Is it really February!?)

Brunch at a sidewalk 👍 Really enjoyed this sandwich made with Jalapeño & Cheese bread.

When the night falls again, I met up with my friend for a Italian dinner in Quattro Gatti Ristorante e Pizzeria! 🤤🤤 (Also Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone lol! ❤️) FYI everything tasted amazing! 😂

A classic Italian dinner: Meatballs and rosemary focaccia; lobster ravioli with vodka sauce; truffle sausage rigatoni; and finally chocolate and Strawberry with a cookie that tasted the cannoli shells! Yum! 🤤🤤

So excited to be going out of the UK in such a long time! 😆😆 In this half term break, my friends and I decided to visit Vienna – my very first time in the city! Obviously expect plenty of good food and crazy adventure haha! 🤣 After a slight delay and a bit of a bumpy take off from London (thank you Storm Dennis! 💨😐), we finally arrived at Vienna in the early evening and were greeted by a beautiful sunset 🌅 as we landed. (Wish I took a photo on the plane!)

Our first goal upon arrival was to check into the hotel in Rathaus. We decided to take the City Express from the airport and change to a different line in the Vienna U-Bahn.

However, long story short, we basically did not realise that the City Airport Train only travel between the airport and Landstraße Wien Mitte station… (blaming on the poor guidance we got and the confusing mapping of the train lines 😵) So when we got to Landstraße Wien Mitte station, we stayed sitting on the train, and then ended up being taken back to the airport! 😖😖

Moreover, we wasted €12 on that train ticket… 💸💸 But rather spending more time taking the train and back, we decided to have a change of plan and take a taxi to the hotel. It was actually nicer in fact because I got to sit at the front and enjoy the nightview of Vienna.

Almost there! 🌃

Despite a bit drained from our little detour, we headed out shortly to dinner in Wiener Rathauskeller which was just about two streets across from the hotel. The restaurant was pleasing in the inside, but the food was a bit of a let down. The fried blood sausage I had as a starter tasted okay (just like the British black pudding), whereas the roast beef was good with the rich gravy but served with fried onions that were too salty and bland roasted potatoes. 🤷‍♂️

The beef and gravy was good, but unfortunately paired with salty fried onions and bland roasted potatoes…

We then decided to stroll around Rathauspark nearby which was dazzling with the beautiful festive lights – almost reminding me of Winter Wonderland back in London. ❄️❄️ (I was also envious of the people skating around lol ⛸⛸)

Finally, we finally managed to end the day on a high note as we enjoyed some dessert in Café Landtmann. 😋 😋 We order the classic apple strudel 🍎, vanilla slice🥛and orange cheesecake 🍊, ensuring we will be having a sweet dream tonight. 😉