Road food

Back out on the road again.  Actually, I have took off last week to burn up some vacation time.  Took my trailer up to College Station over the weekend for the opening game of our football season.  I had to break my vacation time to attend a training session in Austin this week, but I did get to see junior for dinner last night in his new apartment.  He started his new career on Tuesday so he has joined the ranks of taxpaying world.  I dimly recall my first "job" in the Army and how it was the start of my journey into the world. 

From my previous ramblings, one might surmise I travel a bit.  Not as much as others in the company, but it does keep me on the road a number of days.  When traveling, I try to watch what I eat.  Too much fast food, too many hotel breakfasts, too many company lunches, I am stuffed by the time I head home.  I actually run more on the road in the mornings as a pennance to my overindulgence.  I attempt to maintain some sort of discipline, but it is hard to turn down some really exotic offerings.  I have eaten a variety of food and try to sample local foods/restaurants whenever possible. 

That said, I do venture into some interesting venues.  While in College Station for the game, we were planning on cooking dogs & burgers out at the trailers, but, honestly, it was too dad blamed hot & windy.  So we jumped in the land barge and headed 10 miles west of town to the small country town of Snook, Texas.  Not a lot to see in Snook, but they do have a great sausage store (Slovacek) and country restaurant that has some unique specialties.  Got to try some really "healthy food" I have never had before.  Their trademark specialty?  How about:       Chicken Fried Bacon.   

OMG!!!  Heart Attack with Gravy

BTW - I am currently camped out in Austin right next to all the fire activity.  Not close (30 miles east of here), but it is close enough to see the smoke & haze.  Lots of local coverage shows the fires. 
   

So much to eat, so little room

More from the road trip to Deutschland. 

The one thing that I always recalled about our time in Germany was the food was always good.  We tried to eat out as much as we could afford. Local food was fantastic. Our little town of Boeblingen was located south of Stuttgart and we had a slew of family run German restaurants to chose from. We found a great Italian restaurant that became our favorite for New Year's dinner. One Yugoslavian place served some really fantastic spicy dishes. Throw in the local McDonald's (where they serve beer), a few wurst stands and one really lousy Mexican restaurant, you could say we never starved for action over there. 

On my recent foray back to Germany, I set out with a number of agendas/objectives. One was food. It may have been 30 years ago, but I distinctly recall some outstanding meals/food over there. My intent was to revisit some of the dining experiences from the past and I wasn't disappointed.

Jager Schnitzel (first in country meal)



And, of course, it wouldn't be real with a good bier

Breakfast

The real deal - wurst, sauerkraut & a dark bier



Sehr gut

 

Volksmarch lunch

Volksmarch Breakfast

This doesn't include the fantastic Italian restaurant in Hanau (Sea Bass to die for), of the veal medallions or pork roast.  German food is not for the lite weight, but it is incredibly fresh, tasty and very filling. 

Food on a stick

Ok, Fat Tuesday is over.  Time to put the Mardi Gras beads away and start hauling out four leaf clovers and St Patrick's Day decorations.  Is it just me or does it seem that Hallmark has taken over the calendar?

I mentioned last week it is rodeo time down here.  It is actually an odd time of the year for us down here.  Lots to do.  Mardi Gras in Galveston, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Azalea Trail, Austin SXSW.  So much to see, so much do, so little time 

As with most state fairs and rodeos, one of the big draws is the food.  Things you would never consider eating all year (even drunk) are fair game.  Turkey legs, funnel cake, cotton candy, kettle corn, corn on the cob, corn dogs, cheesecake on a stick, pizza on a stick, all the normal food groups.  Of course, your traditional deep fried favorites:  fried twinkies, fried oreos, fried ice cream, fried Dr Pepper, fried beer, fried butter, chicken fried bacon, fried moon pies, fried pickles.  This year we have chocolate covered pickles and meat sundaes. 

Chocolate Pickle

5 lb meatball sandwich

Pizza on a Stick

Meat sundae

Remember, if it comes covered in chocolate or served on a stick, the calories don't count.

Traditions

There's an old saying at my school - do it more than once and it becomes a tradition. 

For the past few years, we've had Thanksgiving over here.  The wife goes all out to plan, prepare and execute a feast of ginormous proportions.  We wind up killing ourselves to make the meal and invite the entire family over to celebrate.  I am more low key on these kinds of affairs.  I would prefer to have some smaller venue, less food, less hoopla.  I was pushing for one year to go camping over the holidays (it is still warm down here at this time of year) and cook a small turkey in a charcoal oven (old Boy Scout trick).  Needless to say, that idea got voted down before I even made it to the 2nd round.  Typically, junior comes home this week, mom dotes over him (as a mom should), we get some massive bird that could feed a small country, we invite over both parents and brother & his family, eat until we are sick, drink and talk trash about the brother who is not there.  As the families have grown and the kids have gotten older, each has gone off and gotten married (how dare they?) and started their own families.  I've seen this coming for a while, but the list of attendees has dwindled each year.  That tradition is ending this year.     

This year we are not having dinner at our place.  My son is out in California on a series of job interviews and is flying back to Austin today.  Talked with him last night and he is steeling himself to brave the airport on this day.  He gets in late and won't be home until some time tomorrow.  We have been invited to go over to my brother's house for dinner and to watch the football game.  My brother has always been a bit on the excessive side when it comes to these kinds of events, so I am expecting either a fried turkey or a turducken along with your normal Thanksgiving fare.  Lots of turkey/ham, sweet potatoes, corn bread dressing, green been casserole, mashed potatoes, pecan pie, pumpkin pie.  Honestly, I could do with a snack, but I've learned not to get in the way of the cooks.  So, this year, there won't be any leftovers to munch on at 0300 or feed to the dogs.  Probably better off for my (and the dog's) waistline.   

I'll be trying to keep up my running over the holidays to stave off the calorie demons.  Only 67 days until the marathon and I am woefully behind in my training. 

I hope everyone can enjoy the week and the holidays.  Remember, only 2 days until Black Friday!!!! 

Something different

I have a confession: I like to shop.

No, not the malls and stores, but occasionally I do the grocery shopping and I actually enjoy it. Way back in the 80s when we we were DINKs, we would tend to split the shopping every week. As an engineer and manager, I liked the challenge of getting in and out of the store in minimal time. Being a tight wad, I am not embarrassed to use coupons or go for the generics. I tackle the store like going on patrol. Lay out a strategy, gear up, organize my ammo, secure the perimeter. And don't even think of touching my cart. My only pet peeve is when momma gives me some off the wall, odd request (like whale blubber) that takes me 20 minutes to find in the store.

Anyway, we were running short of dog food (imagine that) and rawhide bones this am, so I popped off to the store to for a short run and to get some gas. I was planning to hit Wally world, but decided that HEB had most of everything I needed and their prices are on par with Walmart. HEB has some really neat stores down here that have character. It a small chain that started out in the San Antonio area and has expanded into Houston in recent years. They tend to stick to the suburbs have some really great selections/prices/deals. Being a San Antonio based store, they have a lot of really good Mexican food and supplies, but they pride themselves on carrying a wide array of different cuisines and have an outstanding selection of wine and beer (local brewers). Last month, I came across some really good coffee (Caribou Coffee) that I had not seen around here before (but I heard about it from somebody up north). HEB is fast becoming my favorite grocery store, although momma still prefers Kroger.

As I was cruising the isles this morning, I can across a section I had not observed in past excursions. HEB likes to cater to a wide variety of clientele and I guess I was unaware of a large number of people who prefer English goods. I actually had to stop and take a few pictures just to make sure it wasn't my imagination. I am curious (RC - feel free to chime in here) if things are the same when we import them to the states as would be in their home country. Are some of these really popular in England, or is our narrow view of what English folk eat? I spent 5 years in Germany and, on occasion, we would come across some American items out in the local stores or shops and they were considered as "gourmet cuisine" by the locals. Sorry, but Frito's, Budweiser & SPAM do not qualify as gourmet. During our 5 year stint, the wife and I stumbled across one Mexican food restaurant in Stuttgart that, to be kind, did not quite qualify as Mexican. Maybe it is because we have some really good places down here and I am slightly jaded when it comes to my salsa, but it definitely wasn't like home.

And momma did not believe me when I listed off some of the products available. Since I am always accused of acting like a 10 year old, I had to chuckle when I spied a can of Spotted Dick. Momma did not feel adventurous enough to try it out.



OK, RC, here's your chance to enlighten/educate us colonials. From what I can read, it is a pudding best served with custard. Is it any good? Worth a shot?

So long 2009!

Vaya con dios!

Adiós!

Hasta la vista, baby!

Auf Wiedersehen!

À bientôt!!

Ciao!

Shalom!

Yadalanh!

Sayonara!

Aloha nõ!

2009's been a long & bumpy year. Lots to be grateful for. Much to look forward to.

We survived the road trip to the country. Was wet and cold most of the time. Hard to enjoy camping with a wet dog who loves to run through puddles and ditches, regardless of how cold and windy it is. I almost renamed the dog ShamWow because he seemed to soak up all the water from outside. The rally wasn't as much fun when you are servicing as host and have to do all the cooking/cleaning/party planning. By the time New Year's rolled around, I was working on a serious headache. Way too much food/drink and everyone enjoyed themselves, but I am worn out. Four fried turkeys, two batches of Wassail, and 5 Dutch Oven cobblers. Glad to have the weekend of football to recover. Not looking forward to returning to the office after a 10 days off, but at least it will be a short week for me as I have another supplier trip planned to Phoenix. I am just not looking forward to the increased airport screening thanks to the underwear bomber. It's bad enough that I have to take off my shoes...

And, No I won't bore you with any New Year's Resolutions. How can one improve on perfection?

Health food

My nephew was in Dallas last weekend watching my team lose in the new Cowboys temple.

While there, he partook in the annual tradition of cheesy carnival games, car displays, and animal exposition (aka Texas State Fair). Somewhere along the way, he & his buddy got hungry for some good, nutritious health food.

Fried Butter...Mmmmmm.