Making the lineup...

The rugrats are heading back to town!  The rugrats are heading back to town!

The excitement is palpable and I am starting to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  You see, I have to create a schedule.  Now it is certainly not hard to come up with things to do in the greater Houston area.  That is the easy part.  The hard part is to not to cram too many things in...

On top of all of that, my lovely young lady sent me a gift over the weekend that will be sure to be a hit when the rugrats arrive.  I received a milkshake maker and a book with recipes for making syrups and sundae toppings.  She really is the best...

In my mis-spent youth, I worked at a restaurant with an old fashioned soda/ice cream station so I got good at making milkshakes, ice cream floats, egg creams, sundaes, and the like.  The book has recipes for making homemade cola syrup, New Orleans Mead (root beer), and all of the fruit syrups.  I know that the young 'uns and I will have fun.

So... we have a trip to Galveston on tap (of course), and I still have not gotten out to the NASA Space center (Johnson Space Center for those of us "in the know"), and I just found out that there is a place that has trampolines all over the place.  And then, there are all of the restaurants...

Going to be a good visit.  Guess I should clean the place up a bit...

New Orleans...

Preservation Hall before the show

Okay, I got to take a little trip last weekend and had the time of my life...

Remember when I told ya'll about one of the biggest benefits of living here in Houston is that there are lots of places to visit within a short drive.  Well, I discovered New Orleans... and boy, did I ever discover it.  It was my first visit and I walked through Bourbon Street for drinks and oysters, Frenchman's Street for some great jazz, Magazine Street for the shops and dining...

Dining in New Orleans is an event onto itself.  I went there with oysters and gumbo on my mind and it did not disappoint.  I could go on and on describing the eats.

More importantly (to me) is the fact that NOLA is a music city.  Much like Nashville (which attracts anyone who wants to be a country/western star), NOLA attracts blues and jazz musicians.  I have to admit that it was a thrill to hear the music coming from everywhere.

Gonna go back...

Group heaven

Last night, I was invited to a gathering of folks at a place called Simone's on Sunset for dinner and drinks.  I was invited by the wonderful proprietor of 14 Pews, Cressandra Thibodeaux.  She introduced me to a number of folks that were more than willing to educate me on the happenings/groups in the Houston area.

That is one of the best things about the Houston area... the friendliness.  I have frequented most of the major metropolitan cities in the US and the folks here in Houston have been some of the friendliest people to us "transplants" (ranking right up there with St. Louis in my mind).  The people I met last night were very enthusiastic about all of the happenings going on in Houston and were anxious to share.

It was also just wonderful to be sitting outside on an April evening.  I just keep telling myself "I'll never be cold again" with a big ole' smile on my face.  Having said that the drinks were a bit pricey ($5 a glass for the Happy Hour merlot) and $10 a piece for a smallish pizza that were really pedestrian in taste and had a rather chewy crust.  But aside from those nit-picky things, the evening was rather enjoyable.  The company you keep can make up for a whole lot... Salut!

Um...yeah... more about food.

A lof of cinnamon bread and a loaf of white sandwich bread.

Okay, if you have been reading these posts you know that I am a bit hung up on food.  I do love to discover new tastes and places.  But there is also another facet of my food fascination ..I also love to make the dishes.  This leads me to another benefit of living in a major metropolitan area.

My apartment is situated on Westheimer street.  A couple of blocks from where I live I have my standard Kroger grocery store, but if I travel one block further down Voss street, I run into Trader Joes and then a block (or two) further down I have a Whole Foods market.  So... on one grocery run, I can hit all three and pick and choose my items.

But the best part is the specialty markets all over the city.  Simply put, darn near every nationality has their own market.  There is the Chinese market, Mexican market, the Bolivian market by my apartment  I think I even saw a Greek market for specialty items and many more.  There is also (as there are everywhere else) farmer's markets for fresh local produce.  I am loving this...

So, when I have a recipe that I want to try I do not have to worry about finding the ingredients ..  I am sure there is a market that carries it somewhere in this city.  The only issue that can arise is that there is also a restaurant right next to the market... c'est la vie.

P.S., Yes, I made the bread in the photo (puffed up chest).  There is simply nothing better than the smell of bread baking in the house.

Breakfast in the Bayou...

First off... yes I know that when you say the Bayou, you think of New Orleans and the Louisiana coast.  But, did you know that Houston is known as the Bayou city?  Neither did I...

One of the joys of life is sleeping in on Sunday mornings and heading out for breakfast.  I mean it is wonderful to sleep in and cook a breakfast for service in bed, but really... nothing beats heading out.  So I went out in search of a breakfast and the recommendation was for a place called the Breakfast Klub.  Rave reviews... not too expensive... traditional farm food... sounded right up my alley.  So headed out about 9:30 in the morning.

One of the great regrets I will always have is that I did not have my camera at the ready that morning.  I wanted a picture so badly.  What I saw when I approached the Breakfast Klub was just freaking amazing.  There was a line at the Breakfast Klub.  No... not just a line like you see at a dining establishment during the evening hours.  This line literally was out the door and wrapped around the parking lot.  THE PARKING LOT!!  There were awnings set up for the folks standing outside.  The people were perusing copies of the menu... amazing.  Now, I love a good leisurely breakfast... but c'mon.  I would have waited an hour to get in and then felt rushed to eat and get out because I would see all those people in line...

Anyway, headed off to find another place and stumbled upon Cafe Brasil in the Montrose section of town.  Wonderful coffee and pastries.  Also thoroughly enjoyed eating pork tamales with my eggs.  I cannot say enough good things about my breakfast.  Life is good.

The Online French Fry...

You know you live in a great city when one of the online magazines does an article on which establishment has the best french fries (Culturemap.com article).  Now this could possibly mean one of two things in my mind...

- Culturemap.com is REALLY hurting for articles and are accepting damn near anything to put online.

- There is a foodie crowd out there in the city that believe in this sort of information.

I am of the belief that the latter is more prevalent.  I love this type of information.  I now have a list of places to visit in order to test this list.  I also love the fact that there is an online magazine for this and other information.

There are plenty of outlets for information about the city that is now my home.  houston.culturemap.com, socialnhouston.com, goldstar.com (for discounts on events in the city), the list goes on and on... Ooops, almost forgot the Houston Chronicle... I know that there are more, but this list is what I am working with at the present time.

...right now, I just want some fries.

A Hanoi sandwich..?

It is with a deeply held shame that I write this post...  I allowed my euro-centric mindset to keep me from allowing the possibility of something different.  I was so convinced that the Earl of Sandwich's concoction could ONLY be applied to American and European cuisine that when I saw the sign for b10 Vietnamese Cafe (on Westheimer) which advertised soups AND sandwiches, I admit to have been taken aback.  A Vietnamese sandwich?

Now, I will readily admit that I consider myself to be quite the sandwich connoisseur.   To my rather simplistic way, there are few things that can satisfy my appetite like a sandwich.  So I happily charged into the b10 Cafe to make a discovery.  What I found there was absolutely wonderful.  The b10 does have the more readily associated Vietnamese soups and rice spring rolls (I got a shrimp roll with a wonderful peanut sauce), but I was tickled to find that they offered beef, chicken and pork sandwiches.

I thoroughly enjoyed my beef sandwich.  The beef strips were prepared with what I always considered more traditional Vietnamese garnish and seasonings and it was delightful.  I will be going back.  I picked up the "to-go menu".

All about the food...

I went to eat at a wonderful Italian restaurant last night.  The service at Mancuso's Italian Table was simply wonderful and the lobster ravioli was fabulous.  The house wine was close to the edge, but acceptable.  Now, this column is not going to be a restaurant review (although if the fantastic people at Mancuso's read this and want to give me a free meal...).  I want to use my experience last night as an example of the wide variety of offerings in my new city.  Now, bear with me...

In my six weeks here in Houston, I have dined at two Italian, one Vietnamese, two Greek, one cajun, one middle eastern, one Japanese, three Mexican/Tex-Mex and two Chinese restaurants.  Now here is the kicker...all but one of them were within walking distance to my apartment and the other one was with a ten minute drive.  This also does not count the national chains (McDonalds, Subway, Sonic, Bennigans, Chipolte, Pot Belly's, etc..) that I will reluctantly admit to visiting.  Being the person that I am... it is really great to be here.  I am so enamored with the diversity of offerings that this city has to present.

Now I have only scratched the surface in my food journey.  As I have said previously, this is a vibrant, exciting city of over two million people and growing (yes, growing).  Now, I may end up weighing over three hundred pounds by the time I am finished sampling and enjoying everything but that is a risk I am willing to take...

...I have GOT to try that Fondue restaurant.  I just love the thought of that.