Recently, I spent a long weekend in Austin, TX with friends and had a spectacular time trying the best food places and most famous tourist attractions. Our main purpose of going to Austin was to attend a conference, but we tried cramming in whatever we could when we had spare time. And trust me, we sure got hungry.
Halal Bros.
You must have heard of the famous Halal Bros. that got its start in Brooklyn. They opened up another location on Guadalupe St. in Austin, and I have to say, it’s pretty darn good. They have amazing hummus, falafel, shawarma, gyro, and chicken over rice with a side of fresh salad. The picture above is of the combination plate. And don’t forget to ask for extra white sauce!
Gordough’s
Gourmet + Doughnuts = Gourdough’s, get it? This little dessert truck is an Austin classic because of how crispy and delicious their donuts are. They have a variety of options on their menu, from The Nutty Valentine with strawberries and nutella, to Black Out with brownies, fudge and chocolate chips.
Lick Honest Ice Creams
Lick Honest Ice creams has fun flavors on their menu like Horchata, and Roasted Beets and Fresh Mint. Ask for their waffle cone!
Popbar
What’s cooler than handcrafted gelato on a stick? Create your own popsicle or get a pre-existing combination from the menu and design it with sprinkles, coconut shavings, cotton candy, milk, dark, or white chocolate. Do it for the gram!
Austin Chai Wala
If you’re on-the-go and looking for an Indian breakfast, this is your best option. Austin Chai Wala is a food truck that serves anything from samosas and kashmiri chai to nutella parathas.
Arpeggio Grill
This may be a Mediterranean restaurant, but they are well known for their 30-inch halal pizzas. Yes, it’s bigger than your face.
Longhorn Chicken
If you’re looking for food past midnight, this is the best place to get halal fried chicken and waffles.
First thing’s first, let’s talk about how fast this summer has swung by. Life took over and the next thing I knew, I hadn’t blogged in months. College has me back in the rhythm of things and this fall weather is looking oh, so good. Hold your horses. It’s not boot season yet, folks.
So what have I been up to lately? Don’t worry, I wasn’t just lazing around all summer long on my couch binge watching Grey’s, as tempting as that sounds. I wouldn’t be putting this baby on the backburner if it wasn’t something big. If you’ve been following me on Instagram and Snapchat (@rafafarihah), then you should know that I was spending my time as a news video intern at BuzzFeed New York. That’s right. New York City. You know, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of?
Did you show your patriot-ism for the Falcons last Sunday? Am I funny yet?
It was a one of a kind game, making history for the first Super Bowl overtime. As a Patriots fan, I was undoubtedly disappointed during the first half. I nearly gave up hope (until Gaga’s halftime performance of course), but when my Internet resumed to stream the game after a brief lag, I noticed the Patriots went from 12 to 20 on the scoreboard. Like I said, Gaga makes everything better. The Patriot’s comeback was mind-blowing.
I sat on floor in front of my LCD TV, legs sprawled out, moping till the fourth quarter while I snuck in whatever few homework questions I could during the commercials. Unfortunately, most of them weren’t even good. What I did notice was that many of them centered around the topic of inclusion and diversity. Budweiser, on the other hand, straight up made a commercial about immigration. Subtle much?
I have to admit the Skittles ad was my favorite, mainly because that was the only remotely engaging commercial that genuinely made me laugh out loud (and I don’t mean a courtesy chuckle).
Living in Houston, Super Bowl fever was prevalent in my life, whether I liked it or not. Super Bowl propaganda, radio promotions for free concert tickets, significantly longer commutes to college the week before, constant construction to widen highways and revamp the bridges are among some of them. The constant buzz about all eyes being on Houston was kind of empowering, though. When does Houston ever get this kind of exposure? The city officials even had the downtown homeless population relocated to the outskirts, to give tourists the illusion that downtown Houston is pristine beyond gentrification.
Now that it’s all over, it feels weird. What now? What happens on December 26 after you hype up the entire month for Christmas?
So I started my fellowship at Houstonia Magazine this past January. I absolutely love it because of all the new experiences I get, and interesting people I meet. One of these amazing events I was privileged to attend was the 2017 MAXIM Super Bowl Party on Feb. 4, which happened to be at a new venue around five minutes from my house.
I bought myself a Tadashi Shoji gown from Nordstrom Rack for $87 that morning. What I realized during the party was that there was an inch-long thumb tack embedded within the dress which poked out the entire night, scraping my arm. I now have a 2-inch scab by my left elbow. There is no way I am keeping this dress.
The party was phenomenal, and probably my once in a lifetime experience being invited to a celebrity event as a member of the media. I had a press pass and everything, granting me access to every nook and cranny of the arena. Even VIP backstage with free valet parking.
Six rounds of security checks and a metal detector separated guests from the party entrance as celebrities waltzed down the red carpet.
Singers, reality show stars, celebrity wannabes, and fans took to the Smart Financial Center, looking like a million bucks. You could see the fuchsia-lit stadium from miles away. Stunt motorcyclists flew through the air at the Monster Energy FMX Motorcycle Show outside the center, which had been transformed into a glamorous party hall. Models danced on illuminated platforms as waiters served light bites.
Famous faces we’d seen on TV and in tabloids stood inches away. Patriots cheerleaders walked out of their bus, posing in their cocktail dresses for the flashing cameras. Pop stars Fergie and Nick Cannon were there, as was Rocket James Harden and Dallas heartthrob Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl. Chace passed by me on the red carpet, as he avoided most of the media, keeping a low profile before hopping to another party with Fergie.
Even Ludacris made the bash. Some stayed only for a bit before hopping to other parties, while others spent the entire evening in their private suites. I spoke with Texans player Andre Hal and his girlfriend. I interviewed a Patriots cheerleader, former Cheetah girl Adrienne Bailon, Bow Wow, and even Olivia Caridi from the last season of The Bachelor.
As guests entered the grand hall, they were greeted with bright red lights, blaring music, lingerie models, and elaborate displays of macarons, cupcakes, and spiked ice cream. The Monster Energy Lounge and the open bar kept the audience in good spirits throughout the night. After crowds spent hours socializing, at around eleven, the performances got underway and everyone went insane.
Agile, graceful, acrobatic dancers hung from the ceiling on red ribbons as DJ Khaled dropped beats. DJ Khaled is cool and all, but a DJ can only entertain the crowd so much before he just gets boring, as he stands behind a booth for an entire hour scrambling to find a song we aren’t already tired of hearing on the radio. It got boring after 20 minutes, and I was left there swaying to the music for 40 minutes as I prayed for DNCE to swoop in to save me from my boredom.
DNCE came on at midnight and got the crowd screaming along to hits “Cake by the Ocean” and “Toothbrush” while tossing them everything from DNCE “currency” and roses, to beach balls and sex dolls. Yes, it was weird. I was front row in the VIP section during DNCE’s performance. Joe Jonas (aka my crush since the 3rd grade) held my hand twice during his brief performance. Just when I thought I died, I was reincarnated, and died again the second time. Ok I’m done fangirling.
Me awkwardly staring at my phone despite being beside the love of my life.
Travis Scott ended the night at around 2:30 as the partiers roared along to his hit “Antidote.”
Follow me on IG @rafafarihah to see my interviews and photos with some of the stars. I will have a MAXIM makeup tutorial video out tomorrow on my YouTube channel.
Check out my original Houstonia article here with a video of the event.
No need to be scared of halal meat. Don’t worry, halal meat in no way funds or sponsors ISIS and neither are any of us halal meat-eating muslims pledging allegiance to them by eating this healthy meat. Halal meat is simply cut in a way that provides minimal physical and emotional pain to animals (hence, no other animals must be present while the butcher slaughters their friend). Draining the bad blood (preach, T-Swift) from animals rids them of many diseases that we may potentially ingest otherwise.
Halal meat is required to be slaughtered for consumption, which means you can’t just pick up roadkill somewhere and serve that on a platter. And don’t fear the “prayer” that the butchers read. It’s not some kind of black magic voodoo. They just bless the meat by saying “God is great” and then thanking God for his wonderful creations and the food he has provided us. It’s kind of like saying grace, but to bless the entire process of making the meat until (and after) it reaches your super markets.
Being scared of halal meat makes you as ridiculous as this woman here:
