BY CAILIN BURKE
For our next leg of the trip we headed to the small (like really small) town of Sierpe to catch a boat to Drake Bay. Drake Bay is a part of the Osa Peninsula, one of Costa Rica’s most biodiverse sections, which made it more difficult to get to – but totally worth it. After arriving in Sierpe and leaving our rental car in a grassy knoll for $3 a day, we hopped on a boat and off we went!
As you may have seen on our Insta, we’ve been in Costa Rica! We will have plenty of posts coming up all about what we did and where we went! To get you excited for what’s to come from this beautiful country, here is a little vid we put together with some highlights.
Stay tuned and Pura Vida!
*Make sure to hit settings to change the video quality to HD!
BY TARA BURKE
As I’m sure many of you agree coffee is a way of life! Cailin and I love trying new coffee spots in the city and throughout our travels. When we were in Austin we got the awesome opportunity to tour the ins and outs of Texas Coffee Traders in East Austin. It was our cousin’s favorite coffee place and we certainly saw why! They have so many different roasts and a sampling station to try some of their varieties.
BY TARA BURKE
Brunch food is one of our favorite things to make and each year one of our friend’s holds a Christmas brunch where we each bring our own dish. This year Cailin made a delicious creme brulee french toast that we just have to share with you guys.
BY CAILIN BURKE
If you’ve been keeping up with us or follow us on Instagram, then you already know how much we love doughnuts. I have to take this chance to link back to some of our old posts on Dough, Dun-Well, and Montclair Bread Co. so you can see how our artisanal doughnut hunt has gone so far. When looking up doughnut shops in Austin, I saw that Voodoo Doughnut had opened only two weeks prior in the Sixth Street District. I have been wanting to try their crazy looking doughnuts so this trip was the perfect opportunity! Since it is relatively new, the lines can get a little long but we got there early in the morning and beat the rush.
BY CAILIN BURKE
As Tara mentioned in one of our previous Texas posts, South Congress, otherwise known as SoCo was one of our favorite areas of Austin! On our first full day in Texas, we started off by grabbing coffee and breakfast burritos at Jo’s, an Austin staple. They’re famous for their Iced Turbo which is a delicious combo of hazelnut, chocolate, coffee and cream. We had to try it and as the contents elude to, it definitely didn’t need any sugar added.
BY TARA BURKE
Our flight landed in Austin, TX just in time for dinner! Lucky us, since there are so many great places to eat in Austin. We heard a lot of good things about the burger bar, Hopdoddy, and since it was fairly close to our Airbnb we decided to give it a try. The menu and setup reminded us of Umami Burger in the city, and being major fans of Umami Burger we had high hopes that it’d be as equally delicious.
![IMG_5378[1]](https://castlefoundationsdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_53781.jpg?w=620&h=827)
Happy Feature Friday!
We absolutely love today’s feature with the amazing baker, Vickie Liu. We can’t get enough of her creative, adorable, and often funny cookies amongst other treats! She gives cookies such personality and her Instagram filled with cookie characters and shapes is sure to keep you looking and “wowing” for hours! We talked to her to find out more about how she found her baking talent as well as how she creates epic baked goods and a picture perfect Instagram feed.
: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got your start in baking.
: Baking has been an interest of mine since high school, but back then I just made (un-appetizing looking) cupcakes for friends or family when I had the chance! After graduating university from courses I wasn’t passionate about and no full time job – I decided not to do my Masters in Architecture, and instead rekindled my love for baking and have been addicted ever since.
I’m currently working a part time job unrelated to my field of study, and baking part time. This includes taking custom orders, working with small businesses and brands, collaborating with other creatives, guest blogging and a little bit of styling.
BY TARA BURKE
As our long time readers know, Cailin and I love finding new NYC cafes to work in. It can be a tough task since seating is usually scarce and hogging a spot for an extended time isn’t the most courteous thing to do. Another hurdle is finding cute independent coffee shops in walkable distance from Midtown West. So when we found Culture Espresso we were super happy! We went to their original location at 72 West 38th St., but they have a second location called Culture 36 on… you guessed it 36th St. between 7th and 8th Ave.
We both got flat whites and shared one of their famous chocolate chip cookies. Both were really delicious. If you’re looking for quality espresso and baked goods, Culture Espresso is a great place to find it. The seating is a little limited with three small tables, a few window seats and one communal table in the middle, but if you go in the late afternoon you can sit and chat for several hours!
BY TARA BURKE
I’m always on the lookout for really simple ways to make salads or yogurt a little different. The other day I had a salad from a restaurant that had these delicious sweet and spicy pecans in them. I searched online for the simplest recipe I could find and found one with just four ingredients on Once Upon A Chef.
Castle Foundations 