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"I'd like to hear your suggestions for where to eat"

Food trucks, food trucks, food trucks. South Congress hosts a number of the more upscale trucks, Odd Duck has everything from pork belly sliders to, I believe, duck tounge when in season.
If you can make it to the flea market on Riverside during the weekend there are dozens of trucks serving everything from Salvadoran pupusas to menudo and any kind of tacos served hot by families of Mexicans, atmosphere complete with plastic tables and a pulga that would have you thinking you're in Mexico City. You can find these trucks all over the city as well, theyre just highly concentrated at the flea market. There's a Honduran truck on North Lamar.

BBQ - The salt lick, Ironworks BBQ closer to downtown, or if you want the real good stuff, take the 45 minute drive with your friend out to Lockhart, the bbq capitol of Texas and eat at Blacks, Smitty's, or Kreutz. They do it the same way they have for a hundred years or so, and they do it right.

"Beer, whiskey and wine all sound good, too."

We get Victoria here now imported from Mexico, not sure if you've had it but it's one of my favorites and new on the US market. Tito's vodka is made locally, so is Dripping Springs vodka.

"Any good hiking trails?"

All over the place. Check out Mt. Bonnell, the greenbelt, Zilker park, and there are quite a few smaller ones around the various lakes. There are nice jogging trails that go around town lake near Zilker.

"Somewhere to dance?"

Between 4th and 6th street on the east side (of congress, not I35) there are literally hundreds of night clubs, honky tonks, wine bars, pubs, dancehalls, etc. Take your pick. The street is closed down after 10pm so peds can walk on the street. The east side (east of 35) also has a very colorful nightlife scene and numerous dive bars, wine bars, and the like.

"Where can I go shopping for clothes, etc. that I wouldn't find back in Florida?"

Like what? Cowboy boots? UT jerseys and "Fuck ya'll I'm from Texas" shirts are about all I can think of otherwise.

"And what else?"

Go to Red's indoor gun range, rent an AK47 or a couple of hanguns and shoot some pieces of paper. Loads of fun.

I live in Austin, if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.

I third (or fourth?) the collard and or mustard greens.

I'm a 24 year old Argentine-American mix. I travel, I cook, I don't post on here as much as I did 2 years ago but have always loved this place.

I stick mostly to Latin and Caribbean flavors, I grill up a storm like every Texan (and Argentinian.) For the past few years I have worked to perfect a variety of my favorite Mexican dishes with the help of my wife and her extensive family who stretch from Mexico City to Oklahoma.

Lately a lot of my focus has shifted towards travel, I got back from a trip to Panama and Colombia in February and am already in the process of planning one to interior of Mexico later in the year. So much to see, so little vacation time from work. (Oh yeah, I'm an analyst of some kind, booooring.)

I only make tamales for special occasions. That has more to do with the labor involved than the time of year though.

In some countries 2 or 3 of my meals per day are from street carts. As Tony Bourdain would say, you don't stay in business long by poisoning your neighbors.

I've had street food all over Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. I try to avoid the water, things like fruit juices, and snow cones I skip. I've caught travelers flu once or twice.
I hope to experience SE Asia and it's food soon.

For my wife's lunch I cooked asparagus fries with a garlic lemon aioli, I guess what you would call a shrimp tostada which was a single jumbo shrimp ontop of a cocktail sauce and a tiny tostada sprinkled with parsley, plus a lobster I steamed with butter drizzled over it and lemon wedges.

Everything came out pretty well except I had a hard time gauging how long to fry the tiny tostadas and they came out a bit less cripsy than I would have liked.

There's too much good beer in the world for me to make a solid top 10 list. Some of my favorites are...

From Mexico:
Victoria
Negra Modelo
Indio

Texas:
Shiner Bock
Ziegen Bock

A good cut of meat does not need to be seasoned with anything more than sea salt. Marinating is, of course, an option. However, I generally do not marinate beef unless it is a tougher cut.
My preferred method of seasoning would be to brush salt water on the steak as it grills, if that is not an option salt and pepper before cooking are fine. Try and have the steak at room temperature before seasoning and cooking.

Depending on how you like your steak you can cook it a few ways. If you like rare you can just give it a few minutes per side on the hot cast iron. If you like it a bit better done you can do cast iron, then transfer to the oven as suggested above. CJMcD's suggestion of the directly in the broiler will work too, you just won't get the blackening/crust effect that you would in a smoking hot cast iron with oil.

I used to have the same problem. My desk was like 20 feet away from the break room where every day it seemed someone would decide to microwave some fish for a few mintues followed by someone burning the hell out of a bag of popcorn.

Lucky for me they re-configured the whole layout of the building and I'm now a safe distance from the break room.

Marinating some fajita meat in pineapple juice, soy sauce, and a tiny bit of balsamic right now.

We couldnt come up with a side so its gonna be onion and potato salad. Why not..

Awesome, thanks for the tips!
I'm big on stopping at road side shacks but those are usually easy to find and I'm usually not dissapointed.
I find it easier to be dissapointed when spending big at a restaurant that ends up being just so-so.

I think I'll definitely go to the Rosario Islands too, I don't mind doing some touristy stuff as long as it doesnt break the bank.

Aya, do you remember the general price range of Cafe San Pedro?

Also, were the islands you mentioned the rosario islands? If so, how was it? I've been planning to go there as well.