Hopdoddy

South Congress is home to many famous trailer food trucks and restaurants. One of those restaurants is Hopdoddy. There are three different locations, one of them being at 1400 S Congress Avenue in Austin. What is it famous for? Burgers and beer. I'm too young for the beer part, so I'm just sticking with the burgers.

The menu is made up of 12 different kinds of burgers. Each of them are very different. I always order the classic burger with a root beer float and - sometimes - some french fries. After waiting for what seemed like no time at all, my food was handed to me. Everything was better than I expected. The float had handmade ice cream in it and the burger was so juicy and filling. It's always the best burgers that tend to fall apart at those last couple of bites, and the ones from Hopdoddy seem to always do that. 

Photo by Aimee Wenske

The atmosphere is very friendly. It can get a bit too crowded and there are always those tables with the loud, drunken people. Seating on the outside is a plus, but not when there are smokers or cheap, live music coming from the restaurant next door. But if you can't hold in your appetite for ten minutes in the line, you can always order a drink (not just beer) at the bar. 

Now I can't think of any cons about Hopdoddy. Well, maybe the fact that if you have a party of more than six people, your party would have to be split at seated at different tables. Also you can't order to-go oders. Anyway, they offer gluten free buns and vegetarian burgers (for those of you who are interested). It's very casual and welcoming. Oh, actually it is a bit pricey.

Interested? Here's a link to their website.

http://www.hopdoddy.com/burgers/

Feeling Somewhat Embarrassed

Link to Carolyn Chen's article, "Asians: Too Smart for Their Own Good?" 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/asians-too-smart-for-their-own-good.html?ref=contributors

       In Carolyn Chen’s opinion piece, “Asians: Too Smart for Their Own Good?”, from New York Times, the author explains that colleges select their students based on their race, and that they generally admit Asian-Americans. But she is stating that the Asian-Americans feel ashamed of their identity. Chen uses logos to support her claim in paragraph two when she writes, “Asian-Americans constitute 5.6 percent of the nation’s population but 12 to 18 percent of the student body at Ivy League schools.” This is basically saying that there are many Asian-Americans in Ivy League schools... duh.

       Chen also uses pathos to support her claim in paragraph eight when she says “...students tell me that they feel ashamed of their identity - that they feel viewed as a faceless bunch of geeks... When they succeed, their peers chalk it up to ‘being Asian.’” I think what the author is trying to state here is that not all Asian-Americans are the same. We can’t expect all of them to grow up and have very successful jobs as engineers, doctors, etc.

       My opinion on this topic is just like Chen’s. If colleges are only looking into admitting more Asian-Americans and not everyone else, then “we are sending a message to all the students that hard work and good grades may be a fool’s errand.” I agree with her when she states that “we are now stigmatizing their [immigrants from places like Taiwan,  South Korea and India] children for inheriting their parents’ work ethic and faith in a good education. How self-defeating.” I feel like the United States is being hypocritical over this whole issue. We let them into our country because they were very smart and very successful at their jobs. But now we are characterizing these immigrants as disgraceful or ignominious? Those ‘titles’ should go to us. South Korea was ranked with best education in the world after Finland in the Global Education Ranking. The United States was ranked in 17th place and rated ‘average.’ In a way, I feel somewhat embarrassed.

A Description Of A Cupcake

      Cupcakes. Cakes in a thin, paper cup. They are toppled with gallons of frosting and adorned with hard shapes of colored sugar. I don't know which is better, though. A square piece of cake? Or cake in a cup? Either form or shape, they still taste pretty damn good. Anyway, I got my favorite flavors. Favorite flavors for cupcakes, that is. There are probably over 100 different kinds, but everyone has their favorites. I mean, one can't like all of everything. 

      My number one favorite cupcake is vanilla. I'm not a big fan of frosting, so I won't go in to too much detail, maybe just a little. So vanilla tastes like I'm eating a soft, moist sponge with a hint of the purest sugar from the sweetest flower. The flavor is so weak and smooth and not pungent at all. Now I don't like this next flavor, but I'm going to write about it anyway.

      Dark chocolate cupcakes. Chocolate in general isn't my favorite. Now dark chocolate cupcakes can deliver a punch. Its powerful, bitter flavor powders my mouth - just like powdered cinnamon, but without the burning pain - with a boom, then a little kick at the end shows chocolate's true, sweet innocence. Now I apologize if I'm making you drool cartons of... well... spit. Cupcake flavors are just really fun to describe. Now onward!

      Fruit in bread form usually doesn't taste too good. But I'd like to disagree with that! The flavor of a strawberry cupcake is simply amazing. Strawberry milk on the other hand is just plain nasty. Moving on, the strawberry flavor grows in my mouth as I bite into the soft cake (in cup form). I like strawberry flavor cakes. I had one for a birthday cake. Anyway, the delicious flavor is so delicate and light. I can picture myself in a large field and just having fun. Flavortastic fun.

      Now the flavor of a red velvet cupcake.  I think of it as a very mature flavor. It doesn't sound childish like vanilla. So the red velvet dances in my mouth with its rich flavor, heavy cream cheese - so thick it could be peanut butter - melts and becomes sticky, holding all the flavors in place for hours until I gulp it down (yes I do chew my food, too). But what I realized (literally after making green velvet cupcakes) is that no matter the color, the flavor tastes the same.

      So I will end my mouth-watering cupcake mandatory syntax blog post here. I would also like to add in that I'm really wanting to go get a cupcake now.

About the Poems

I like writing poetry. It's not something I would do in my spare time, though. Anyway, it wasn't too difficult for me to write these poems. The revision did help in some ways, but I just ended up switching around a couple of words. But what I enjoyed most about the process is the results I got in the end.
My favorite of the three poems is "What's Tea?" because I like the tone and what's happening. It's strange, though, because I'm not a big fan of history. Now the poem that I think needs some more work is "Magic" because it rhymes and - to me - it sounds a little childish. Yet I'm keeping it the way it is. I wish, though, I put more descriptive words in the poem. The problem for me was that I couldn't find the right spot for good, descriptive words.

The voice of my poems are nearly all different. I'd say that my "Sand" poem is a bit more seriously descriptive than the other two because it's dealing with art. The "Magic" poem just sounds like an amateur wrote it. No, I'm not declaring that I'm a guru of poetry or anything. I am just an amateur in the 'art' of poetry like nearly everybody else. Anyway, the voice of "What's Tea?" is kind of laid back and friendly because historical poems can get very boring - to me - if they are too serious. Moving on now! I used a sound in my historical poem. I used splash just to make it more 'creative' in some kind of way and to remind the readers that there is water below. I'm required to write at least three stylistic elements that help convey the meaning of my poems so the last one is that I didn't really use any diction. I guess you could say that the last poem is someone or something talking to someone.

Meh . . . Look at me typing up a storm. I'll shall end it here!

What's Tea?

I think the water needs

Originally painted by Nathaniel Currier

some flavoring.

Your task?

Don’t worry, it’s an easy one.

Just board those 

three ships over there

and drop those crates into the water.

Yes, those crates over there.

You know . . . Boxes made of 

wood?

The stuff inside of it

smells strange.

I’d like for you to 

dispose of it.

Photo Credit: Boston Tea Party Historical Society

Dispose of it properly, though.

How? 

I already told you.

Pick them up 

and drop them into the water.

How many ships?

Only three.

How many crates?

Only 342 of them.

Why don’t you go gather

up your friends and

dress in a disguise? 

I’m sure you have

lots of friends.

Maybe even around

Photo Credit: Boston Tea Party Ship

130 of them.

Sorry, but am I asking for too much?

If it helps, not all of you

have to dress up.

You only have to take those crates

and toss them into the water - Splash!

How?

I already told you.

Pick them up 

and drop them into the water.

One last thing . . .

What’s tea?

Magic

Photo Credit: josieray

The sound of the snake’s tongue,

A burst of deathly green light.

The winged golden sphere,

Magical phrases now fight.

A man clothed in flowing black,                             

Photo Credit: NerdBirdWeb

Pictures come to life upon the walls.

The bathtub filled with bubbles,

A mysterious egg calls.

A cup of blue fire,

The stone of blood red.

Water that reveals memories,

Ghosts of people more alive than dead.

Part of his soul 

is trapped inside.

Of a boy with a cousin 

who is too well fed.

A wanted man he becomes 

near the end

The boy who lived 

with a scar upon his head.

Sand

Drawing done by Betsy Yang

A statue of sand

on the bank of the water.

String comes together

in a never-ending weave

feeding into the earth.

Nature adorns herself

on the hills of the clouds

where the sun meets the sky.

Eyes left an endless, blank

stare.

An emotionless face

that tells no story.

Yet a fortune is told

about a lost city

where hope shines above

and dreams flow below.