When my husband, Iba, and I moved to Austin from New York City, we didn’t know how long we would stay. I had been teaching Gyrotonic, acting and dancing while Iba was running the café inside the Bumble & Bumble hair salon. When we found out we were expecting our first child, we decided it was time to relocate to somewhere a bit slower paced and peaceful to start our family. As a University of Texas graduate and with one sister living in Austin and the other in Driftwood, Austin seemed the obvious choice. It has always held a special place in my heart with some of my favorite people as it's residents and being where some of my happiest memories were made.

The diversity of Austin was also a bonus with our unique family. It was important to us that we fit in and instantly we did. We love Austin’s tranquility, awesome weather, amazing live music, swimming holes and, most of all, the natural beauty that surrounds Austin. After eight years, we’ve fallen even more in love with the city, from our home in South Austin to our Cazamance space on Rainey Street.

In Austin we truly feel we have the best of both worlds. We get to live in a quiet neighborhood, "the Birds" in a four-bedroom house with a lot of space and a large yard, yet downtown is only a five minute car or bus ride away. In fact, SOCO and SOFI feel like our "hood" even though they're on the other side of Ben White bridge. Many of South Congress' and South First' businesses employees have become our good friends and have watched our first daughter, Azula,  and now youngest, Amaimoona, grow up. At first, I couldn’t imagine myself living so far south of Ben White until I saw our neighborhood, nestled between South First and South Congress, with its with wide, country roads and unique homes set on large plots of land, some of which host farm animals and beautiful gardens. Coming from a tiny apartment in Manhattan with a fire escape for a balcony, this seemed like heaven and we could afford it!  

Our neighbors in The Birds are a mixture of families who have lived here for many years and people like us who have moved here in the last 5-10 years looking for more space without having to move outside of the city limits.  

Over the years we have become good friends with several of our neighbors. Everybody’s really creative and open-minded. Fortunately, there are no neighborhood association requirements to live up to. In fact, we support and even encourage each other's individuality and funkiness. Another perk about living in the Birds is that because there is very little traffic on it's wide roads, with rush hour being the exception,  biking, walking, skateboarding, you name it, is safe and a ton of fun!

Iba and I had always daydreamed about owning a place where he could share his talent and passion for creating food, but had not felt financially ready to fulfill that dream. He had been catering in Austin and decided to look for a bartending job to help supplement our income. As he was driving around looking for bars in which to apply, he happened upon Rainey street where Clive Bar was under construction and prepping to open. As fate would have it, the GM and Manager just happened to be there. They hit it off, he got a job, and the love affair with Rainey street began. When the lot across the street from Clive Bar became temporarily available it felt like a no brainer. My dad gave us a flatbed trailer and our brother-in-law built the walls and roof using recycled metal and wood. We opened in September of 2010 on Azula's first day of kindergarten a few months before the arrival of  Amaimoona!  It has been a lot of hard work and as a family we've made many sacrifices, but feel extremely blessed to have been given the opportunity to fulfill a dream.

Nevertheless, as much as we love where we live and where Iba creates, we also have dreams to move to Senegal and continue the legacy of Iba’s mother, who was an amazing woman and passionate activist. There we would love to open a school to teach young children about farming, solar energy and rainwater harvesting to promote healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. Iba jokes that it’s too late for us adults to change our ways, but for the kids, there’s hope. Sometimes, all a child needs is a hand to help him or her get by. But wherever we go, whether New York City or Dakar, we will never give up the roots we’ve put down right here in Austin.

Robin Hunter and Iba Thiam co-own Cazamance and Cazamance Café, where Iba is head chef. Robin, a dancer and actress on a brief hiatus, also volunteers as Drama Club Leader at Zilker Elementary, where she is blessed to guide 20 spirited and bright young actresses. They have three beautiful daughters: 14-year-old Afinatou—Iba's eldest daughter who lives in NYC—7-year-old Azula and 17-month-old Amaimoona.

Robin & Iba's Top 10

1. Thriftland (512 W. Stassney Ln.). This awesome thrift store just a couple blocks’ walk away has amazing finds for even more amazing prices!

2. Ruta Maya Coffeehouse (3601 S. Congress Ave.). We are addicted to their organic espresso beans roasted on the premises. They also have great live music, free salsa dance lessons and Sunday kids' shows!

3. Little Stacy Park (1400 Alameda Dr.). We have spent many days on this playground, shaded by a canopy of oak trees. It's a great spot for birthday parties, cook outs or a game of tennis, and after Memorial Day, you can take the little ones to splash and play in the wading pool.

4. Mana Culture (2214 S. 1st St.). This cool boutique is where I like to go to buy birthday presents, especially my own! They have an amazing jewelry selection, beautiful clothing and now even organic spray tans.

5. Polvos Mexican Restaurant (2004 S. 1st St.). We LOVE this Mexican eatery. The ceviche is mouthwateringly delicious and the salsa bar is awesome. Iba loves the Chile Relleno al Nugal sauce, and their Micheladas are the best in town. If I had it my way, we would eat there every time we go out!

6. Sap’s Fine Thai (4514 Westgate Blvd.). This is Azula's favorite restaurant. She asks to eat here at least once a week.

7. The Great Outdoors (2730 S. Congress Ave.). We can easily spend a couple of hours here, sipping on lemonade or an iced coffee from Jeanie's Java (the cafe located on the premises), as we browse the beautiful plants and garden art. The staff is super friendly and helpful, and they're always happy to let the kids feed the fish in the koi pond and talk to the parrots in the gift shop. Good times!

8. Ecowise (110 W. Elizabeth St.). We bought our beautiful cork floors and our super duper filter everything water filter from here. They have a great selection of earth-friendly materials like cleaning products, paints, stains and flooring. It's locally owned by a super cool couple who lives in our ‘hood.

9. The Herb Bar (200 W. Mary St.). This is where I like to go for all of my herbal concoctions. The staff is super knowledgeable and helpful. I always learn something new and end up leaving with a lot more than I went in for.

10. Guero's Taco Bar (1412 S. Congress Ave.). I have been eating at Guero's since my college days when it was located on Oltorf—the wait staff is practically family now. We love their queso, limeade, frozen margaritas, green sauce and chicken al carbon.