Here's Our Top Eleven!

THE TOP ELEVEN ENJOYMENTS OF CENTRAL TEXAS, SPRING 2010

OK, I know it's only supposed to be a top 10, but I don't like David Letterman particularly, so we don't have to follow his rules. Here's our TOP ELEVEN!

11. HIKING IN BASTROP STATE PARK

10. SHINER VISIT & BREWERY TOUR (FREE BEER!)

9. TEXAS GIRLS ROLLER DERBY OUTING

8. NEW BRAUNFELS RANCH DAY (THANKS, HELEN & FRANK!)

7. FAYETTEVILLE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL

6. OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY PARTY (A REALLY SPECIAL NIGHT)

5. SHOPPING FOR OUR NEW CAR (HELLO, GOLDIE)

4. PLAYING BRIDGE EVERY WEEK IN BASTROP

3. EATING IN UNIQUE RESTAURANTS

2. BUMPER CROP OF WILDFLOWERS ON OUR SCENIC DRIVES

1. FREQUENT VISITS WITH SARAH

We've really been having a good time. If you flip back through the blog posts, you can count lots of other wonderful things we did. (The only thing that should have made the list was Blue Bell Ice Cream, and I couldn't figure out how to squeeze it in.) It seemed like we went someplace almost every day we've been here. Finding Bastrop was also a wonderful unlooked for bonus of this trip. It was a lovely place to live with very friendly people. We've had a great introduction to apartment living. We've made some new friends. We're glad we came to central Texas and got to experience some of the best the state has to offer. We're also really excited about moving on, and I'm thrilled to escape the heat. Once I deal with the Mississippi sludge heat for 2 weeks, I'm really going to be ready for Washington. Stay tuned. Keep answering me back - remember, this is a dialogue. International Ballet Competition, Jackson, Mississippi, here we come.

Killa, Killa, Killa, FAST, FAST, FAST

We made it to the TEXAS ROLLERGIRLS - THE ROCK-N-ROLLER DERBY! (The tickets were my Mother's Day present - does Sarah know her mother or what?) What an experience. The title of this blog is the cheer for the Hotrod Honeys, the best team of the league. WOW! Were they fast slippery, and tough.

This 'sport', actually it was more of a 'happening' for those of you old enough to remember this term, was really fun to watch. It was fast, easy to follow, quick action - no down time - with the crashes of NASCAR, and the speed and quickness of short track speed skating. It also had the cheesecake of an old time pin-up magazine. There was lots of tits and ass - covered - but very outlined. The other constant was tattoos and bizarre names.

Interestingly, the roller derby girls don't use in-line skates, but rather the old fashioned 4 wheelers. A lot of the costumes look homemade. They reminded me of raunchy dance recital costumes. My favorite costumes belonged to the Hustlers - everybody on the team wore purple and silver. Spandex, lame', sequins, fishnet, bikini tops and/or bottoms, velour, wide silver belts, and so forth. Every girl's outfit was a different combination of the above materials. The Honkeytonk Heartbreakers had more of a standard uniform, as you can see from the picture. The Hell Marys each wore some variety of a red tartan plaid bottom, either skirt or boxer - as a send-up of a Catholic girl's school uniform.

My very favorite, favorite part of the hype were the names: Curvette 76, Pussy Velour, Vanna Whitetrash, Booty Queen XXX, Ruby Wring, RadioActive 91.7, Voodoo Doll 29, Peppermint Bratty, Slaughter Melon, and my #1 favorite name: The Killa' Sal Monella.

One of the things that surprised me about this event was that the people who attended and the people who competed were not nearly as sleazy or trashy as I had imagined they all would be. -There were lots of family attendees (like a dance recital.) All seats were general admission. You lined up to get in. It was very democratic: Get there early, stand outside in the sun, and when they open the doors, get good seats. You got free fans, and you could buy weirdly flavored popsicles to eat while waiting - you know like 'wheatberry'. The promoters controlled who got to drink beer pretty carefully. They had silly games of audience participation between the matches similar to what minor league baseball teams do between innings. At roller derby, they invited anyone in the audience to come out onto floor and do 'air guitar'. The sponsors then gave a small prize to the winner.

Some of the competing teams were like sororities (albeit with very, very visible large tattoos and clothes no housemother would have EVER tolerated) - just a group of girls having fun. Other teams were in earnest and really cared about the sport. Those teams were conditioned, in excellent physical shape, with game plans and exciting skaters who were fast and agile. Overall, it is fun to watch. You get to drink beer. They give away free stuff (got me 2 Texas Rollergirl coozies and a fan on a stick). They sell great T-shirts at reasonable prices. I'd go again in a heartbeat. Next time, though, I'm getting tattooed and wearing fishnet. Well, OK, temporary tattoos and my black Texas Rollergirl T-shirt with the glittery silver roller derby emblem.

Our other outing this week was to another iconic Texas landmark: The Little Creamery in Brenhamn - otherwise known as the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream. If you are non-Texan, this is THE ice cream everyone in Texas eats. Everyone I know has a favorite flavor. If you have access to it, because it isn't nationally distributed, try some. The tour of the plant was fun, interesting, and a much smaller operation that I imagined. (I did learn they have actually have four ice cream making plants - 2 in Brenham (the old one and the new one), one in Alabama and one in Oklahoma.) You can take your picture with both a cow and an ice cream truck, but best of all - you get a free dip of ice cream and you get to choose among 24 flavors of Blue Bell at the end of the tour. Interesting facts: It takes the daily output of 50,000 cows to make one day's batch of Blue Bell. Homemade Vanilla is their #1 seller, and Dutch Chocolate is #3. Coming in at #2 is..................Cookies and Cream. When they originally made this flavor, employees actually had to open packages of Oreo cookies by hand because Nabisco wouldn't sell them Oreos outside the traditional cellophane packaging.

One family still owns Blue Bell. They are in their third generation. As anyone can attest who has eaten their ice cream, all their flavors are wonderful. They didn't start to sell their ice cream outside of Brenham until the 1970's - using a booth at the State Fair as well as the novel technique of having employees deliver styrofoam containers with Blue Bell ice cream to all the media people in Dallas. Blue Bell exploded when a New York advertising executive started promoting it. He came up with the Blue Bell cow and girl (who still march around every carton of Blue Bell), and well as the talking Jersey cows selling the ice cream.

They've only had one product failure. Howard Krause, one of the owners, thought that a stick of frozen strawberry jello, surrounded by homemade vanilla ice cream and coated with chocolate would be a sure fire seller. Everyone in the company tried to talk him out of it, but he went ahead and made it. Let's just say that he, and only he, ate A LOT of the one time only run of that product.

Here are SOME of the Blue Bell flavors. The new summer flavor is Summer Berry (blackberries, strawberries in a citrus ice cream with swirls of blueberry and raspberry.) I tried it, and it was refreshing. My favorite is the Peaches and Vanilla - only made when fresh peaches are in season. Drake had Moolennium Crunch - the special flavor commemorating their 100 year anniversary. (Vanilla ice cream with 2 kinds of nuts, chocolate chunks and caramel swirl.) I discovered they make new flavors all the time - some based on employee suggestions. I also found out they 'retire' flavors regularly.

Finally, the fitting end to the Blue Bell experience is the company motto: "We eat all the Blue Bell we can and sell the rest."

We are almost done with Texas. We leave for the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi the 11th of June. Then, at the end of June, it's on to Washington state. Are you ready to go?

Some of Texas' Best

For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that I've decided to visit some of the best places in Texas. One of the joys of being able to spend time in the Hill County is that lots of the best Texas has to offer resides here. Settle back, have another cup of coffee (yes, you, Krishna), and read about where we've been going lately.

First, THE BOB - with it's welcoming 'big Texas star'. (THE BOB is what Sherri Purdy Wilson calls it.) For the non-Texans, this is the Bob Bullock Museum of Texas History. Bob Bullock was a major force in Texas politics for 30 years, so, I guess you could have worse things named in your memory. Actually, he's a good namesake because Bullock was known for the love of all things Texan. "The Bob" is a magnificent museum full of Texas granite, sweeping spaces, and interactive exhibits that tell the history of Texas from prehistoric times forward. This is shown over three floors in chronological order as the floors spiral up. There's an IMAX theater built into the museum, but I think the real tour de force is the inlaid mosaic on the ground floor. There's a campfire in the center surrounded by all the types of people and occupations that have impacted Texas throughout its history. This mosaic sits centered in the rotunda shaped lobby. It is lighted by the circular rotunda shaped sky light three stories up. As you leave the mosaic and move through the museum, you will find Indians, Spaniards, cowboys, cattle, horses, goats, cotton, corn, wheat, and naturally oil derricks. There is also space memorabilia, notable Texan vignettes, and small movie theaters scattered about that tell different stories about Texas such as the Spindletop oil boom or all the movies that have been made about Texas. This museum is a real visual treat that is selective about what it shows thus creating the sense of wide open spaces - which is also very Texan. This place is a 'must visit' for every Texan. You'll find it on the edge of downtown Austin.

When Texas was far, far away from any cultural offerings, the citizens of most towns decided to create their own. They built theaters, opera houses and concert halls. They not only performed their own plays and concerts, but also invited world class talent to come and perform in Texas. Last Saturday night we experienced this phenomenon in the minuscule town of Fayetteville, Texas - population 286. Fayetteville has a concert hall (sort of) in the tiny hotel in town. They put on a Chamber Music Festival each May. My first thought was: "It will be a nice chance to hear some classical music live - but it probably won't be stellar." WRONG. The musicians come from all over the WORLD. Having seen enough Cliburn piano players, and chamber music quartets, I've learned to spot the OK players, the good players, and the great players. Let me tell you, there were no OK musicians - they were all good, and a couple of them were great. The venue is a wooden room built in the 19th century. The audience is about 100 people,. The seats are general admission, so the earlier you arrive the better your seats. We sat 10 feet from the musicians.(The picture is taken from my seat.) If you've never had the opportunity to see really great musicians play up close and personal, you might want to motor over to Fayetteville next year. I swear you won't be disappointed even if this type of music is not your favorite. The festival consists of 3 concerts - Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. They play Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, etc. As an added bonus, a professor from one of the Texas universities does an informal talk before the concert about the pieces you will be hearing. To top it all off, there are three good and interesting restaurants within a stone's throw of the concert venue. We chose "Joe's Place" based on the Saturday special of BBQ brisket or handmade sausage, with two sides, plus peach cobbler. They had a really old bar which stocked Shiner 101. We weren't disappointed.

The musicians stay with townspeople (just like the Cliburn piano contestants). For some of the musicians - those from Europe especially - this was their second year to come back to the festival. At first, I couldn't understand why world class musicians would play this tiny venue - but then, I realized that it would be like a vacation. They come for the entire week. They are wined and dined. But, most importantly, they get out of the cities that most of their tours take them to and get to come out to a quiet county setting. I know one of the organizers told me that two of the musicians love to come because they can get together and go fishing! Put it on your mental calendar: Fayetteville, Texas - May, 2011 - Chamber Music Festival.

Final entry today is very, very Texan. About 20 years ago, I discovered a small museum in New Braunfels, Texas called "The Texas Handmade Furniture Museum". This museum has grown with the years, and is now part of Heritage Village. Heritage Village is the result of a small group of Texans who are determined to preserve the architectural elements of the settlement of the hill country. (This is a fancy way of saying that they buy and restore any early building they can get their hands on.)

This conservation group is centered in New Braunfels, and thus, they are saving the early buildings of the German, Czech and Polish emigrants to the hill country. Heritage Village is a collection of pioneer homes and buildings from the 1850's. The museum is in the main house which was built by an immigrating German couple in the 1850's. It is filled with furniture made by the cabinetmakers which were recruited and brought to Texas as part of communities coming to Texas to claim land and settle.

New Braunfels, for instance, was founded by Prince Solm - a German nobleman - who found the land, returned to Germany, and recruited a German community which consisted of farmers and master craftsmen and people with other specific skills to help make the new community a profitable venture from the very first. (Ironically, after the Prince got his colonists settled in Texas, he returned to Germany for his bride. His plan was to get married and return to the new Texas colony. She refused to leave Germany! He never saw Texas again.)

From 1845 to 1850, the master cabinetmakers spent most of their time making windows and doors and laying floors for the houses that had to be built to shelter the new colonists. However, they quickly turned their talents to furniture making - and oh, what furniture they made. They were excited by the walnut in abundance to work with. Freed from the strictures of European dictates, they let their creativity flow into the wood. The result is Texas handmade furniture.

We were treated to a really informative tour by the director of the museum. A lot of school children were coming the day after we came, and there was a lot of living history exhibits and demonstrations planned for the children. All the docents had the day off before the big school event, so we got the most knowledgeable person imaginable. It was a great tour given by the director whose family is descended from one of the major cabinet makers. She and her husband still own family furniture made by Scholl - one of the early cabinetmakers. She was full of interesting stories about how the museum has grown in the past 20 years, and how they have struggled to be recognized as having unique pieces of art represented in this furniture.

That's it for this week. We're going to ROLLER DERBY on Sunday - Whoo Hooo! I'm thinking I need a tattoo to fit in. Plus, we have decided to go over to the Perdenales Falls since we've finally had plenty of rain, and I want to see it when it's actually flowing. Oh, and here we come Brenham - guess what we're going to tour!

What is Your Favorite Shiner Beer?

Everyone will be happy to know that the restaurant critic is taking a break. I won't bore everyone with any more restaurant reviews - at least for a while. The restaurant blog was actually fun to write. I didn't think it would be, but it was.

I'm starting to realize that there are going to be some uniquely Texas places, vegetation and events that I'm going to miss. After all, except for a 7 year hiatus in New Orleans, we have lived in Texas since we drove across the Red River in August of 1972. We drove into Houston at rush hour in the August heat that summer at the ripe old age of 21. I particularly remember the 610West/I-59 South interchange. I'd never seen or experienced anything like THAT. I always say that once you've driven in the summer in Houston during rush hour (where your AC overheats every time), you can drive anywhere.

While Houston freeway traffic may be memorable, I'm really starting to visit some iconic Texas places. One day this past week, we drove to Shiner, Texas. I'm sure everyone realizes that the ONLY reason a sane person would make a special trip to Shiner is to tour the Spoetzel Brewery. Now, Shiner beer has become a great beer. I can remember when, if offered Lone Star, Dixie or Shiner - take anything except a Shiner which was actually green if you held it just right up to the light. It also tasted awful. It languished as a 'family owned' brewery until the late '80's when it was bought by Mexican beer makers. They revamped the beer, smartened up the brand, and really became a full fledged micro brewery before that term became common knowledge.

One of the most intriguing things about the Brewery was that it is still a very, very local operation. The current brewmaster has been there for more than 30 years. The beer has dramatically improved, but most of the people are the same. Their signature beer is Shiner Bock, and it's no longer green. Shiner also makes an anniversary beer every year. They make it for a limited amount of time, and it's different every year. Only the 1996 anniversary beer continues to be made today: Now, it's called Shiner Black, and it's the smoothest dark beer you've ever, ever drank. This is the 101st anniversary of the brewery, and you should run right out and buy a six pack of Shiner 101. It's a very tasty pilsner (you know, the yellow beer). Unless there's a big public outcry for them to keep making it, this 101 beer will only be made this year.

Yes, they do have a tasting room. They give you 4 wooden tokens - you give them a token, and they give you a beer. I think there were several 'locals' taking the tour the day we were there. I got the feeling that as long as you didn't really abuse the free beer in the tasting room too much, you could drop by a couple of times a month and get 4 cups of beer. The new beer this summer is really interesting: It's Shiner Smoky Mesquite - and yep, it has a smoky mesquite flavor that is just going to go like gangbusters with BBQ and burgers. Surprisingly, the tour was actually quite interesting, snappy, and not too long. After all, EVERYBODY came to drink free beer - DUH.

Naturally, Shiner (the cleanest little town in Texas) - their slogan, not mine, revolves around the brewery. I mean, after all, this is a town of 2000. It is a Czech town, and I asked the tour guide (Shiner native) where were the best kolaches in town. For the uninitiated: kolaches are what I consider to be a Czech delicacy. It is yeasty bread, shaped like a parker house dinner roll, with a dimple of filling in the center - usually some type of fruit (apricot is my favorite). The other kolache variation is like a pig in the blanket - which is so inadequate of a description. Think handmade sausage with/without cheese (and sometimes with jalapenos and/or sauerkraut along with the sausage ) with that yummy yeasty bread wrapped around it. The very, very best kolaches are in another Czech community known as West, Texas (Exit 353, I-35) at Gerik's Bakery which is just north of the freeway. BUT - if you are in Shiner, Texas, the best kolaches are at the Short Stop Convenience Store. Ok, Ok - I know I promised no more food reviews, but hey, I can make a case for kolaches. Actually, I could eat a case of kolaches.

Back to my original premise: Shiner is quintessentially Texas. It's especially central Texas with its Czech roots that stretch back to the 1840's. That's the reason there's a brewery there. When Germans, Czechs, Poles, etc. left Europe and immigrated to Texas, they organized themselves just like in the old country - the farmers, the cabinet makers, the sausage makers and the beer brewer all just continued their jobs when they arrived in Texas. Several Texas towns in the Hill Country have used their roots to create a tourist atmosphere - think Fredricksburg or New Braunfels. (Incidentally, one of my next visits is going to be to this superb furniture museum in New Braunfels.)

A bonus on the drive to Shiner was Chapter 2 of the Spring wildflowers. Now that the bluebonnets have faded to seed and the indian paintbrush are quickly following them, it's time for the indian blankets and the black eyed susans. They were breathtaking seas of yellow along great stretches of the drive to Shiner. It is really a banner crop of wildflowers this year. Just driving between Bastrop and Austin is a visual treat.

In the interest of not making this blog a zillion pages long, I'm going to close this chapter, but you can look forward to blogs about The Texas State History Museum, the Fayetteville Chamber Music Festival, and the Texas Girls Roller Derby Matches. I know you all can hardly wait! I certainly can't.

Food, Anyone?

A few weeks ago, I got a comment on my blog which basically said, "Hey, since you're eating out so much, why don't you write a 'where to eat' blog. The idea intrigued me since eating good food is something I really enjoy. In my humble opinion (no surprise here) the best food is ANYTHING someone else besides ME cooks. Actually, I'm slightly more picky than that, but, shall we say I pretty much enjoy everything from a $5.00 entree to a $30.00 entree as long as the food in fresh.



I was curious as to how many different places we have eaten over the past six weeks or so. The list was surprisingly long. Think of this blog as a guide to the best places to eat in and around downtown Austin as well as ranging out and around the Hill Country of Texas. Since we've pretty much stayed off the beaten Hill Country path, this list will not particularly include iconic restaurants. We have been quite surprised by the quality and variety of restaurants we have encountered. I think that is the Austin mentality about food creeping outside the city. Austinites pride themselves on 'Keeping Austin Weird'. This means in a nutshell that it's important to patronize local businesses. Restaurants lead the list of businesses that are enthusiastically patronized. I've never been in a town of the size of Austin in which the chain restaurants we all know (and alternately love and hate) are almost non-existent. When you see them inside the city limits, they are sparingly patronized.



This is not particularly scientific, logical or chronilogical. I've never attempted restaurant criticism before. Here's the list of places we've eaten with entertaining comments - at least I hope the comments will be entertaining. I've included the name of the places and the town they are located in. If they are in Austin, I've given you the quadrant of the city. In no particular order:



Cindy's - downtown Bastrop - She's made an appearance in an earlier blog, so I'll just get her out of the way. Killer, killer chicken tenders. House recipe, beer battered, fried when you order them, perfectly seasoned, chicken moist and perfectly cooksed. The tenders are served hilariously in a metal cone that looks like it belongs in a bathroom accessory set. The chairs, tables and decor are totally forgetable, and for a Sports Bar, the TVs are pretty small. I find it funny that they don't play the sports channels during the day - instead it's the Soaps and Law and Order re-runs. These tenders are soooooo good that it's one of the few places that we've eaten twice



Gumbo's - downtown Austin - The claim to fame: The best Cajun food we've eaten since we lived in New Orleans. The only thing that was slightly clunker was the bread. The Gumbo bread was OK, but in NOLA, the bread is a crucial element of the meal. It's always crusty on the outside, fresh, fresh, fresh on the inside, and never, never, never served on any day except the one it was baked. That is the only slight flaw to this Austin restaurant. Otherwise the food was Cajun hot - which means for you uninitiated - that it starts out slightly spicy and just builds throughout the eating of the dish until at the last bite, your lips are tingling. Terrific decor. Fancy. Expensive - but worth it.



Kay's Place - On Hwy 71 between Bastrop and Smithville in a totally forgetable metal building which includes the restaurant and Tri-Cheer. That means your odds of running into prepubescent and pubescent girls is fair to good - especially on try out day which was our introduction to Kay's. There were bevies, herds, flocks, and packs of teen and tween girls all running around and giggling. It was people watching at its best. If that wasn't enough, the food came, and that was the true surprise.



First, "Kay" is a real person, a slightly dumpy, slightly gray, happy young woman who 'absolutely loves to cook'. This is the place for homecooking. She personally makes a couple of meat dishes (like the delish meatloaf Drake had) a couple of chicken dishes (like the King Ranch Casserole I had) and usually something involving tilapia every day. Her vegetables and salads are excellent. (I had a marvelous black-eyed pea, avocado and tomato cold salad dressed with something unique and homemade.) The food here was really, really good in that grandma made it sort of way.



Baxter's on Main - downtown Bastrop. This is Bastrop's attempt at fine dining. The restaurant is in a really old building - tin ceilings, brick walls, etc. The dinner menu is way, way overpriced, but the lunch menu was a good value - at least until we ordered dessert. The food was good - not great - but good. It kind of miffed me that the two desserts we ordered at the end of lunch cost the same price as the entire lunch - for both of us.



Jalisco's - On Hwy 71 in the 'new part' of Bastrop. This is the local Tex-Mex. It was tired. The food was forgettable. The salsa was slightly below mediocre. The restaurant was ugly. The food was eatable, but why eat here when there are so many, many better choices.



Shiner Restaurant - In downtown Shiner, Tx. This restaurant was fun. The food was very good, and they serve every beer Shiner makes. I went with the German sausage, homemade saurkraut, fried potato lunch. That good, good Hill Country ethic food. This restaurant has an old time wild west saloon feel to it. It has interesting stuff in glass cases all around the room, and a swallow nest over the front door.



Before we leave Shiner, let me recommend the Spotzel Brewery Tour - yes, with free BEER, and as this is a Czech town, I ask the tour guide where the best kolaches were. Here's her answer: Short Stop Convenience Store - and she was right. The second best kolaches I have ever eaten - only the ones you get in West, Texas are better.



Blue Dahlia - east downtown Austin. This is a stereotypical Austin restaurant. The food is slightly strange, but of excellent quality and always better than you think it will be. There are salads, open faced sandwiches with bizarre ingredients, and great desserts. Best part of this restaurant: The patio dining - away from the street - quiet, very Zen like. It also has a resident cat who wanders around the dining room and looks very, very well fed.



Mangia's - On Guadalupe near UT - but not too close, and one in North Austin. Pizza. Best ever. Fabulous ingredients. Forgettable decor. Perfect crust - two types: regular and pan. Excellently seasoned red sauce, and again, those fresh, fresh ingredients. (This would be Drake's favorite.)

Maxines on Main - downtown Bastrop - This is one of the 40 best cafes in Texas according to Texas Monthly. I believe it. Best food: Reuben, breakfast, (best pancake I've ever eaten), and burger. DON"T order the french fries - they fry in advance and they have been cold everytime we've had them. Maxine's has traditional Texas waitresses, and if you don't know who those might be, well, they are a combination of the tiredess woman you've ever seen, your favorite aunt and a perpetual motion machine. Decor is great in this restaurant.


East Side Cafe - East side of I-35, kind of across from the UT area. This is a kitchen garden restaurant. They like to grow their own food, and they know what to do with it. This is where we had Sarah's graduation dinner, and they fed 14 people superbly. This menu is always different - but in a good way. They make you love acorn squash (if you already don't). I've never seen a poorly prepared meal here. As a bonus, it's in an old house, and you get to eat in the small rooms which are still intact instead of one big dining area.



Ronnie's Real Food - far west Austin, oh, just Google map this one. I deliberately paired this with the East Side (above). This is a wanna be East Side Cafe. It's a guy (Ronnie - big surprise, huh?) who cooks for 10 people a night from Wednesday thru Sunday. You need reservations, and it's BYOB with no corkage fee. In fact, it's $25 a person - flat and that includes the tip. We celebrated our anniversary here, and I described it in an earlier blog. This place edges out the East Side above because of its intimacy. The food is about the same - gourmet, fresh, and exciting. Surprisingly, dessert was the weakest part of this meal.

The Roadhouse - Bastrop, intersection of Hwy 21 and Hwy 95. Best burger hands down. Not only the regular burgers, but also some interesting ones such as the fresh jalapeno slices with cream cheese burger. Blue Bell milkshakes, and fresh cut fries served piping hot. It is picturesquely ramshackle place with the modern version of the stereotypical Texas waitress.

Rico's - Taylor, Texas. Now this was a surprise, surprise, surprise. Taylor is a pretty much nothing much sort of small Texas town that is a very blue collar, railroad type of place. We were coming home on the back roads after attending a Roundrock minor league baseball game when we stopped here. Rico is a Californian whose family is into restaurants in California. (Don't ask me why they picked Taylor, Texas to start this place.) He calls his restaurant - Latin food - not Mexican. The salsa is smoky and spicy. He serves a pico to accompany the salsa which is made with shredded cabbage, chunks of jalapeno and tomatoes. Very fresh, very tasty. I had pollo con arroz which usually means a chicken breast plunked down over Mexican rice with some queso dribbled over it. In Rico's it means chunks of chicken that have been simmered all day long with onions, peppers, mushrooms and rice. The sauce was hot and spicy, and guacamole cool and refreshing. Drake's burrito was equally awesome. This place is worth the detour to get to it. It's about 20 miles southeast of Roundrock. Rico's is so, so much better than anything you'll find in Roundrock to eat. As a bonus, the decor is slick contemporary paired with nostalgia - very appealing and clever.

I'm certain you're tired of reading about food. I could list another 15 restaurants, but I'll give everyone a break and stop now before you eat the contents of your refridgerator because I've made you so hungry.

I'll finish with a list of the OTHER places we've eaten: Moonshine Cafe & Patio Bar (Austin), Anitas (Bastrop), Wildflower Cafe (Bastrop), Gracie's (Bastrop), Tommy's (Bastrop - excellent HOMEMADE ice cream), Casa Garcia (Austin), Bess Bistro (Austin - Sandra Bullock's restaurant), Cedars (Bastrop), Snack Bar (Austin), Hut's (Austin), Louis 106 (Austin), Flip Happy Crepes (Austin), Annies (Austin), South Congress Cafe (Austin).

It's Festival Time!

As promised, this post is mainly about Yesterfest! This was the first annual festival planned on April 24th by the Downtown Business Alliance of Bastrop, Texas. Sarah poo pooed this festival saying that the first year was always bad at town festivals. Just goes to show you what 24 year olds know. I actually took a lot of ribbing and eye rollling as I described Yesterfest!, trying to whip up some excitement about attending it. I think Drake took me not only to shut me up about it, but also because he couldn't think of anything better to do that Saturday. Sarah, of course, refused to attend.

Here's a quick capsule description of the festival: It was held on Main Street (which was closed and became a pedestrian mall), and there were three 'areas' set up on the street commemorating three eras in Bastrop's history. Admittedly, only one was valid while the other two were something of a stretch. The three eras were: Pioneer Days (this is the valid one), The Jazz Era - featuring Bonnie and Clyde (who came thru Bastrop but didn't rob the bank), and The Rockabilly Era celebrating the music and cars of the 1950's (they had two - see the picture). There were people dressed up in costumes from each era. Best costume in my opinion: the 'salon girls' from the Pioneer days. The costumes were straight out of Gunsmoke, but they looked good. There were gunfights in the street (think spurs, 'duster coats', gunbelts and Colt 44's). The bank was robbed complete with Tommy gun fire. There was a Runaway Scrape foot race, and the Spit Off the Bridge Club offered initiations into their peculiar institution. Plus, you could hula hoop and learn to dance The Stroll.

First, for my non-Texas readers, The Runaway Scrape was when all the women and children of the Texas rebellion families fled before Santa Anna's army in 1835 and 1836. Their husbands, sons and brothers were all part of Houston's army fighting for Texas Independence and thus away from their homes. The "Scrape" was a large caravan of women and children who didn't trust Santa Anna, the Mexican General sent to quell the rebellion, to treat them as non-combatants. After the Massacre at Goliad where he lined up prisoners against a stone wall and shot them with a firing squad, who could blame them?

Spit off the bridge is just nasty. It became a town institution in Bastrop in the 1970's when some group of assine men formed a 'club' so they could spit off the bridge over the Colorado River right outside of downtown. I think beer figured prominently in the club formation. They have a song and a initiation ceremony. Well, you get the picture. I suppose we should all be grateful they didn't think of another body fluid to, shall we say, dribble off the bridge. The only good thing I can say about this activity is they turned over their $5.00 initiation fee to charity.

It was a pleasure to attend Yesterfest!. We've been at festivals where the crowds were so thick you felt like you were leaving a sold out baseball game and walking out of the stadium with 50,000 other people. Sometimes the crowds at festivals are so packed together, that if you jumped into the air, your feet wouldn't come down and the crowd would just sweep you along. Yesterfest! was nothing like that. It was relaxed with plenty of elbow room. There were kids. There were dogs. There was conversation everywhere. People were greeting friends and just having a really good time.

Another nice feature of the festival was that it was obviously a fund raiser for all the non-profit organizations in town. I bought raffle tickets out the wazoo for the Senior Center, Disabled People, Cub Scouts, Boys/Girls Club, and a couple of others I can't even think of at the moment. There were vendors selling everything you can think of. There was food, beer, ice cream, cotton candy, and funnel cakes. What's not to like? It was a great way to spend a lovely April day out in the sunshine watching people having fun. I think the most interesting exhibition was the guy showing his arrowhead collection. It was magnificent, and he had the zeal of the true collector.

The book store on Main Street also had six different authors who had written books that loosely fit in with the festival give small pep talks about their individual books and then signed bought books. I made a point to see Ken Kesselus, a Bastrop native, who I think is a history professor. He's writing a history of Bastrop from 1795 forward. He admitted that it's the Anglo history of Bastrop, so you can't expect anything in it about those pesky Commanche or Mexicans. I did find out that Bastrop is named for the Baron de Bastrop, a close friend and early supporter of Stephen F. Austin (father of Texas). The Baron had just died, so the town was named by Austin as a tribute to his dead friend. The founding of Bastrop was the reason for the second "Little Grant" - a land grant from Mexico that allowed the settlement of 100 Anglo families where the Colorado River crosses the Camino de Real (the only big time road - think interstate - within 1000 miles). Anyway, it's an obvious place for a town - but talk about the middle of nowhere at the time.

That was Yesterfest! I'd recommend it to anyone. I'll leave you with a picture of Maxine's (one of the 40 best cafes in Texas) - where we had lunch while we people watched -

Hooray for Bastrop. Good job everybody.

What Did You Do Last Week?

This past week has really been fun. As I look around the apartment, I'm realizing how comfortable it is. I'm really glad that I brought pictures - my favorite pieces of original art. I even brought some of my pottery. I loaded some pictures on my digital picture frame, and it's cycling thru over 100 pictures at the moment. Our 40" flat screen is getting ready to show the Rangers baseball game. This apartment is such a contrast to one place we saw this past week.

I have a friend that I've known since 1975. Who says that writing personal notes on Christmas cards doesn't pay off. Helen and I have been corresponding via cards and now, email for the past 25 years! We haven't seen Helen and Frank for more than 20 years, but now we live just 60 miles from them. They live on a ranch, yes a real ranch, outside of New Braunfels in a house built in the early 1900's. They invited us for a visit, and their life is a complete contrast to what Drake and I are doing.

They have 110 acres, several outbuildings, and a gorgeously restored 1900 farm house - with additions which include three exquisitely decorated bedrooms with kingsize beds in each, as well as two major dining areas, 2 kitchens, and 2 living areas - not to mention the porch as well as the upstairs 'dormer' room for their teenage granddaughters which sleeps seven. It's a life they love and have lovingly built over several years - which involved living in a trailer on the property for several years until they could get the house restored! (The trailer is now a guest house.) They raise cattle, rent out their bulls to stud, raise goats (25 of them), chickens (organic eggs, anyone?), guinea hens, have 7 horses - 5 theirs, 2 they board, 6 dogs, 3 rabbits and 16 cats - 4 of which live inside the house with the 3 rabbits.

We offered to take them out for lunch not really understanding their daily commitments........but, when you have this many animals dependent on you day in and day out, it takes two feedings a day to keep everybody humming along. Frank and Helen feed, clean and tend animals EVERY DAY until noon. Then they break for the afternoon doing various projects - such as constructing a dog bathing house. Frank is plumbing it himself using stuff he has laying around - including one of the three claw foot tubs he picked up in the Heights neighborhood in Houston. (One of the tubs graces the 'yellow' bathroom in the farm house.)

One of the reasons they have so many animals is that Helen is really an animal rescuer. As Frank puts it - she can spot a dumped animal a half a mile away, and is not above sending him into the high grass along the side of the road chasing it. Not to mention, that she marched up to a house one day where she kept seeing a horse tethered for hours at a trough - and she came out the owner of the horse.

They entertained us royally with a wonderful steak, potato, salad, asparagus dinner which included sausage made by Frank's family using an generations old Czech recipe. We toured the ranch and caught up on old times, our children, and trying to figure out exactly when we saw one another last. We finally settled they came to New Orleans and saw us when Sarah was a toddler.

The really interesting thing is the contrast in our lifestyles. I've whitled myself down to the contents of a 5x10 trailer, and 900 square feet of living space. Helen has an fabulous house filled with her collections - which include a smattering of her 500 pieces of green glass, as well as her black ameythest glass, lots of appropriately massive furniture for the giant rooms. (She confided that after living in the trailer for years - her command to the contractor who helped remodel the house was 'make big rooms'.) She has at least two outdoor entertainment areas. I really loved the separate stone building which includes the remains of the fabric store she owned for years - think fabric, notions, buttons, patterns, paints. It's a crafter's delight, and set up to be totally functional as a project room. Helen is actually a very talented painter, and has a creative streak about 2 miles wide.

After marveling at all the work Frank and Helen routinely do, we decided to figure up our 'work' commitments. We arrived at 5 hours a week: laundry, grocery shopping, car washing, house cleaning, and miscellaneous errands - like going to the post office. This is exactly the life I want. I want to go places, eat at new restaurants, enjoy the scenery, and take in the local color. Our week has pretty much been a poster child for that life style.

During this week, we have visited the above described ranch, visited Austin twice - where we had dinner at a new restaurant - The Blue Dahlia, hiked in Bastrop State Park, discovered mini-cabins on the lake at Buescher Park, found the local Tex-Mex restaurant, attended the Yesterfest on Bastrop's Main Street, as well as ate the best hamburger/fries/chocolate shake in town. I got to visit the two major thrift shops in town and found Drake a bedside table (which we will take back when we leave) for $6.00 I also brought out the sewing machine and made a "drape" for my improvised entertainment center so I didn't have to look at the numbered tubs and trunk that composes it. It looks really good.

I also went to Bastrop First United Methodist Church which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year. They have 3 services - 2 traditional and 1 contemporary. I chose the traditional this past week, and it was like being transported back in time to the church service of my childhood. I must confess that I enjoyed the old hymns, but missed the contemporary touches such as the contemporary music and the SCREEN. I also went to a Sunday School class in need of a teacher, and NO, I didn't volunteer to teach for the next 6 weeks. I'm also taking the last few weeks of the Psalms Bible Study on Sunday evenings. I do like the preacher - he's laid back and preaches a good, coherent sermon. And, YES, I embroidered thru the whole sermon.

Overall, it's been a great week. As much as I appreciate the beauty and tradition of Helen and Frank's lifestyle, I think my scaled down, transitory version suits me much better. It's working out even better than planned. Upcoming events are going to include a trip to Round Rock to a minor league baseball game, a stay on a lake in a mini-cabin (Buescher Park), showing Sarah the historic district of Bastrop - some amazing houses here, and a night at the 1889 Bastrop Opera House where we'll taking in Always Patsy Cline. There are two new restaurants in my sights for this week, and a revisit to a couple of others. Oh, and we are going to Shiner to take the brewery tour and an the way marvel over the new set of wildflowers which now include Indian Blanket, Wine Cups, and Black Eyed Susans. I'll also be looking for another festival to attend - they are thick on the ground in April and May in the Hill Country.

Finally, where are all those cards and letters you all owe me? I gave you my address, and so far only the Mary Martha Class has come through with a wonderful card signed my everyone in the class. Plus, Paula has been writing me delightful letters. I may be transitory and scaled down, but I do like to hear from my friends. Stay tuned......wait until you hear about Yesterfest.