Unexpected Company

Some hostesses with the mostesses just love it when folks drop by unexpectedly. They are consistently ready with frozen cookie dough and a pantry stocked with gourmet ingredients to satisfy the needs of up to 15 guests at a go. These are the women who make the rest of us more normal gals (yeah - there - I said it - so sue me!) look bad. They don't mean to put pressure on other less ambitious hostesses really, most of them are that nice and simply do whatever it takes to make a guest feel welcome.

I woke up early as usual this morning and was meandering around my house, pilfering artwork and other object d' curiositie (I think I just made that up - email me if you don't get my drift) to re-stage a condo we are currently trying to sell.

I say "re-stage" because we thought we had it sold once, and we actually did have a contract on the place, but the buyer was being financed by Mom/Dad and somehow they miscommunicated and Mom/Dad finally said "nope!".

After getting my arm out of the sling where it had been to address a sprain/strain for premature congratulatory back patting on my part, I was preparing to go over to the unit, put some art work up on the walls, and generally spiff the place back up so it would stand out in folks' minds after a day of wandering in and out of countless "for sale" situations.

Imagine my delight and surprise (and sure, a little bit of shock and horror too) when I opened my email to find a note from my friend Charlie Hills, bon vivant, man about town and author of not only an extraordinarily painless diet blog entitled Back to the Fridge, but also the book "Why Your Last Diet Failed You (and how this book won't help you on your next one)".
Charlie has been posting occasionally on his own quest to find the better burgers in Austin and on my subtle recommendation (caff caff) agreed to try out P. Terry's. Since he was blogging about it he emailed me to let me know he would link to my blog and I could expect a couple dozen additional visitors today.

Well great except I had today all marked out for a combination of CONDO CLEAN-UP and reverent meditation on the nature of life and death and the resurrection of Christ (seriously...it is Good Friday today folks and the more serious side of my nature considers this to be perhaps the most important day on any Christian calendar imaginable).

Which meant I did NOT have a clever and welcoming blog post all set up for an unprecedented bump in readership.

Ah well. Best laid plans.

In lieu of anything else, I did want to throw out the following:

The THREE REASONS I WANTED CHARLIE HILLS TO TRY a P. TERRY BURGER:
(drum roll please.....)

3) Amaaaaaazing french fries. Admittedly not the burger, but a burger without good fries is like...well you get it.

2) They are local, not a national chain. When you spend money on a local shop some 45 percent more of what you spend stays right here in our local economy. Plus, P. Terrys is a proponent of the Live Here/Give Here approach. From their website:

We've been very lucky to be embraced by the Austin community and we try very hard to give something back. So far we have donated over $46,000 to various causes within the city. From Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Texas to Dell's Children's Hospital, lots of schools and other organizations. They are a big part of who we are and we are delighted to make a contribution to help them with their sucess.

1) First and foremost? The folks behind P. Terry's care about the food. So do I. This is one of the few places in Austin I can grab a burger and still hold my head up afterward. Again, from their website:

Our Hamburgers

The patty is the foundation of a great hamburger. So we spent a lot of time deciding what to serve. We chose All-Natural Black Angus beef from Harris Ranch. Here is the rundown on what that means:
100% hormone free
100% antibiotic free
100% vegetarian fed
All cattle are verified by certified ranchers and humanely treated
USDA Approved
We then inspect and season each patty in our store. 

So yeah, this may read like an extended ad for P. Terry's. Well, honestly, if it is a good burger you are looking for, you can do a lot worse, you know? I am not related to the Terrys and I don't get a discount or a kickback from them for any of this, I just happen to be a huge fan (which is why I try to stick to salads at home but that's another post for another day).

So WELCOME! Back to the Fridge readers, especially if this is your fist drop in on the Austin Agrodolce site. I encourage you to shop around in past posts and see if you don't stumble across something you like enough to get you to drop in again one of these days.   And, well, have a reasonable Good Friday if that is your inclination.  If not, well, have a good weekend anyway and drop in again on us here at the Agrodolce soon, won't you?  Thanks!