Chili today and hot tamale

LOL! That's the punch line from an old joke. I don't remember the joke itself, but I often think of the line when someone comments about chilly weather. For some reason the line comes to mind as I am thinking about the wonderful visit that I recently had with #2MIL.

After several months of one thing and another keeping me away, I finally had a functioning car and time away from elder care to make a quick run out to see My Prince's stepmom. "Quick" turned into three days and two nights of fun conversations, fun shopping, and fun eating. #2MIL, I should explain, is only "#2" because we both still honor #1, My Prince's late mother; both moms are very much in the center of our hearts.

While #2 MIL is a fantastic cook with whom we've enjoyed many wonderful meals, she's not as interested in spending quality time over a hot stove these days. She prepared fine, low-carb breakfasts for me, but lunch and dinner were eaten out (or involved certain happy leftovers).

Our first dining adventure took us to Tamale King near Buchanan Dam. Other folks have reviewed Tamale King quite highly, and I have to join in the praise.

This painting by J. McElwaine shows the old pickup truck that used to be filled with the most wonderful bounty of bougainvillea. It was parked in front of the restaurant and lifted your spirits immediately. #2MIL says a freeze finally got to the plants, and the truck was just hauled off. I'm glad that the artist managed to capture this memory before it disappeared.

I'm also glad to report that nothing has happened to the quality of food at Tamale King despite the loss of the truck with the bougainvillea. #2MIL ordered 3 dozen tamales to go for My Prince's Christmas present. (We froze them so that I could take them home later.) Then we settled down to take care of ourselves. The Tamale King platter came with 3 tamales (I chose beef), covered with chili sauce, and accompanied by rice, borracho beans, guacamole, and a generous supply of flour tortillas. Then we added a side order of a dozen beef tamales. A side order of tamales to go with the tamale plate you ask? Well, it made sense to me! This allowed me to have an extra tamale for dinner (yes, they are that good); it allowed #2 MIL to have her favorite bowl of boracho beans and still nibble on some tamales from the side dish; it allowed me to take some home for extra bites when needed. Besides, it's so tacky to eat someone else's Christmas present before they even get it, doncha know.

The next day, we went on a road trip to preview the activities for a planned excursion for #2MIL's neighborhood group. This took us to Lampasas and Eve's Cafe on the Square. A German cafe, Eve's serves various schnitzels and hearty sandwiches in a biergarten cum ranch atmosphere. The service was friendly and helpful. I ordered a Reuben. Bypassing the chips offered on the side, I tried to see what else might take their place. No joy there. #2MIL had a chef salad with dressing on the side. Both of us found our meals tasty, filling, and reasonably priced. Here's a shot of beer mats on the ceiling of Eve's.

Every other chance that I had to eat involved those wonderful leftover tamales. A friendly neighbor had brought over a small bowl of spicy chili. She warned us that it would be quite hot. I didn't find it so hot, but it was delicious and just the thing to spoon over a couple of tamales. #2MIL never had to touch the stove after breakfast! Indeed, if she had allowed it, I probably would have had those wonderful tamales for breakfast.

Home again, home again

After two weeks with Mama, it was time to come home again. Seems like I barely get here before I have to reload and return to Houston, but it is always good to come back home.

That fact really hit me last night when I was cooking us a late supper. The kitchen counters were cluttered with things My Prince had not put away and more clutter that we had just dumped in the kitchen while unloading the van, so I had to do a little shuffling to make room to work. Suddenly the thought just popped into my head that I was glad to be back in my own kitchen.

The kitchen is small. Not enough cabinets. Not enough drawers. Not the best arrangement in the world. Don't even get me started on the tatty old carpet on the floor. (I would prefer bare concrete to that carpet!)

BUT . . .

I know where stuff is, and the stuff is arranged more for convenience in cooking than for how it looks. Porque it is my stuff, my space.

When My Prince and I finally got hungry enough to stop talking, it was easy enough to go in the kitchen and start grabbing utensils and vegetables and whack away for a little stir fry. I had been gone for two weeks, had been cooking in someone else's kitchen, and had to move some clutter out of the way--but the basic arrangement that I had created and was used to working in was right there, accessible, easy, and--yes--comforting.

Ike left the water on

When Mama and I were preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard, we spent some time working on the water supply. We were so very lucky when Hurricane Ike hit us that we did not lose our water supply. We stayed in Houston even without electricity--and we still don't know that that was the best choice--but we clearly could not have survived for two weeks without being able to turn on the tap and get clean water.

Some things did, however, go well, and some of our planning and preparation worked as it was supposed to. More did not.

• We ended our two weeks of no power with 5 gallons of drinking water still in storage, so we had enough for three adults to drink plenty of water on some very hot days. The Red Cross should be proud of us!
• I filled the bathtub with water the night the storm hit. It all leaked out before the storm was gone.
• I had begun saving gallon water jugs to fill up, but then read that we should find jugs that have screw tops rather than the little snap cap that we were getting. The only screw caps were were getting were on two-liter soda bottles. So we started saving those. I only got about 9 saved and filled up before the storm, so that was some incomplete work that might have hurt us.

The first thing I did the morning after the storm was turn on the tap to see what we had. I was so relieved to see that water. This gave us water for showering, toileting, cooking, washing, and all the zillion other things that we need water for on a daily basis.

Sadly, we often combine water and electricity in order to accomplish many of those things. The dishwasher didn't work without electricity, so I spent a lot of time washing dishes by hand. True, we often used paper plates, but we did try to avoid it when we could. We had to borrow the use of a generator to wash clothes after a week. I had made sure that all of our "water work" was done before the storm hit, but I was, after all, supposedly on a short visit and didn't have a lot of clothes, especially cool and casual clothes that would see a lot of dirt as we did after-storm clean up. It was even hard to do general housecleaning--the water was there, but sometimes I just couldn't see what needed to be cleaned without electric lights.

Houston issued a couple of "boil water" alerts, but we usually didn't hear about them until too late (emergency information really stank as far as I am concerned). We had good drinking water, but the dish washing and hand washing and such were probably questionable a few times. We all ended up with tummy issues, but nothing too serious, so I guess we handled it all pretty well.

One thing that we did throughout the time after the storm was fill up every plastic drink bottle we came across with pure drinking water and stash it in an ice chest. Water was good for us to drink at any temperature, but it always went down so much better when it was cold. We reused water bottles and even Coca-Cola bottles. For the trip home today, I filled up some of the small water bottles with water and froze them to help keep our canned drinks cool on the road. I also filled up some Coca-Cola bottles with cold water. I ended up drinking more of our "homemade" bottled water than I did soft drinks. I think we may have developed a new behavior!

43 days and 3 hurricanes

Holy mackerel! What was supposed to be a short trip to Mama's house morphed into a forty-three-day stay. The long stay was because we kept anticipating hurricanes, especially Gustav and Ike.

We did some serious preparation for Gustav and breathed a sigh of relief when he passed us by. There's no ill will in that. Everyone on the Gulf Coast knows that the best outcome is for these storms to just fizzle out. No one ever hopes for a storm to do damage anywhere. But we can't help hoping for a shift north or south just a tad, to dodge the bullet so to speak.

We dodged that bullet with Gustav, but Ike hit us dead on. That was several hectic days of preparation, one night of heavy thumps and scary thoughts, two weeks of no electricity, and who knows how many weeks of recovery.

There will be lots of foodie stories from the storm, but, for now, we are pleased to say that the whole family is safe. Mama's home suffered comparatively minor damage. Our cars fared somewhat worse. And My Prince and I finally made it home today. We had some sick plants, a huge pile of mail, and the every welcoming dust bunnies to greet us, but it was all a beautiful sight. I get to sleep in my own bed for a while, cook in my own kitchen, and maybe even send some of those dust bunnies back where they belong.

Now let's hope for no more big storms for the rest of the season.

Soaring food costs

Not too long ago, USA Today did its part to offer some suggestions for surviving the increasing cost of food. Nancy Hellmich, the article's author, cites "government statistics" regarding those costs:

Overall, food prices climbed 4% in 2007, the biggest annual increase since 1990, and prices are projected to rise 4.5% to 5.5% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,016 adults, 46% said the higher cost of food is creating a financial hardship. They said they have noticed an increase in the cost of milk, fruits and vegetables, meat, bread and eggs.

I found the article interesting if a little long on "grow-your-own" solutions. I do, however, wonder at those "government statistics." I hope to do some more delving into them, mostly because the price increases that I have seen are much higher. Almonds at Sam's Club doubled in price in four years. Milk has almost doubled in price in the last few years; it is no longer economical to buy a gallon of milk if there is any risk of not using it all before it spoils.

I did find a couple of ideas I hadn't already thought of:

Instead of buying packaged instant oatmeal or fancy rice pilafs, she [Linda Vance] now gets those foods in bulk and packages them in small plastic bags. She also buys fresh vegetables in bulk, and to make sure that none of the produce goes to waste, she roasts the vegetables right away and stores them in the refrigerator.

For the first idea, I was already thinking of doing something like this. Not that it was my idea in the first place. Alton Brown (I love this man) did a Good Eats segment on making your own "instant" pancake mix, which gave me the idea of making my own "instant" cornbread mix (see my practice run in "Cornbread"). Ms. Vance is apparently applying the concept to other favorites for her family. A related issue that needs consideration is food storage for all of these "instant" mixes, but more on that later.

The second idea is, however, one of those hand to forehead moments when I wonder why I didn't think of it myself. We are buying more fresh vegetables these days in order to get more fiber and generally better nutrition. Some of it is going to waste when I cook fewer meals than I thought I would or travel sooner than originally planned. I hadn't thought about just cooking them up and storing them. I already do that for ground beef and sometimes for other meats. The problem will be storage space in the freezer (if I'm leaving town, the refrigerator won't be an option because I'm not leaving an actual cook behind in either my home or Mama's home).

Another problem will be what on earth to cook with these leftover veggies. One solution is soup: I made a big pot of it before I left Houston last week, intending for it to be used for the Friday night gathering. I heard that the "girls" didn't feel like soup on Friday and turned it into Sunday dinner instead, but either way we got a good meal for Mama and used up the veggies. Except for the broccoli, of course; Big Kid Cousin don't like no stinkin' broccoli!

Trip to Shiner (2)

Aside from the brewery, there is quite a bit to see and do in Shiner. Not that we old folks were quite up to doing much of it. We thought about going to the drive-in or even driving over to Yoakum for Country Music USA. In the end, we settled for the local museum and several naps.

But we didn't miss any meals!

While we were not as adventurous as I would have wished, i.e., we didn't try every single eatery in Shiner, we did find a couple of jewels--and went back again for another meal.

Our first discovery was the Country Corner Cafe.

We first went there for dinner, expecting to see a lot of, well, country food on the menu. We were a bit nonplussed by page after page of Tex-Mex with only a tiny corner for chicken fried steak and that sort of thing. There was, however, a large assortment of hamburgers, all given monster names, perhaps to indicate their size. My Prince managed to find the belt-buster Tex-Mex meal (which made my mouth water--I was jealous of every bite), and I, having had a high blood sugar reading, decided to try the taco salad. My Prince shared his nachos, which I nibbled very slowly, but he managed to handle everything else all by himself. This was not quite the tragedy I make it out to be, since my taco salad was quite large. Happily it was mostly lettuce (that's my story and I'm sticking to it), so I could eat it all. Well, I left most of the salad shell behind and felt quite virtuous about it. My blood sugar readings were much happier anyway.

Our second trip to the Country Corner was for lunch. As promised, there was a sizable buffet that included all sorts of meats and veggies. This time, the place lived up to its name: fried chicken, pulled pork, chicken fried steak, turnip greens, green beans, and on and on. A nice assortment of salads and desserts plus some big pots of soup provided ample variety and opportunities for most everyone to maintain their diet (sorta). At $6.25 per person, lunch was a bargain.

The Country Corner Cafe was not all that much to look at. Inside and outside, it was fairly ramshackle. Getting in and out of the ladies room was a challenge, given the way the doors bumped into each other. But the food was good, the staff friendly, and the place filled up nicely for lunch.

Our other find was Mary's Tacos. This was a tin-roof building, nicer than a shack, with corrugated parking. Mary's was only open from 6:30 to 1, so her trade was for breakfast and lunch. Both mornings that I went there, a steady stream of customers walked in and out. Inside, the place was clean and bright, with several small tables for those who chose to dine in. Most seemed to just grab and run off to work or wherever.

The tacos themselves seemed overpriced at $1.75 and up--until I saw them. They were huge. One was quite easily a meal in itself. The breakfast plates were also filling. I ordered huevos a la Mexicana and huevos rancheros (on separate days) for My Prince. Both of us were more than pleased with our food. My egg and bacon taco had the extra benefit of little green chiles, which left me with nothing to complain about. Both mornings, breakfast for two cost about $7.00, which we decided was a good deal, especially in terms of value for the dollar.

There were a few other options for eating out in Shiner. Maybe we can check them out on another trip. We did decide to stay in for dinner one evening, since we had brought along some summer sausage and crackers. What we lacked was cheese, so I went out to find it. I tried one of the (national brand) service stations which seemed to have a convenience store attached to it. That turned out to be a good place for junk food (nachos, hot dogs), but no cheese. One of the teens who had popped in for grease and calories directed me to the local grocery store. I had seen it before as we drove past, so I had no trouble returning. Sadly, it was closed (at 7:00!), highlighting one of the difficulties that come with rural life--lack of goods, services, and amenities. We found others, which we could easily survive for a couple of days, but all these little "annoyances" made us appreciate Austin (and its traffic) even more. Luckily, I found another convenience store (no national brand), complete with domino table, that had some cheese. I loaded up and went back to the Shiner Country Inn (well, we were in the country) for a nice meal of sausage, cheese, crackers, and the Olympics (we weren't that far in the country).

On the whole, we ate well in Shiner. You sure won't starve to death if you go there for a couple of days--and you will get away from every national chain you ever ate at. There is nothing Generica about Shiner, except maybe that Exxon station.

Trip to Shiner (1)

My Prince and I took a trip to Shiner, Texas, earlier this week. We've always wanted to start seeing Texas whenever we got the time. Time flies, it seems, and we decided we'd never get the time unless we made it. So, we went to Shiner for a couple of nights.

The major attraction in Shiner, of course, is the Spoetzl Brewery, where Shiner beer is made. We are not big drinkers, indeed we hardly drink at all, but we do know a good beer when we find one. Naturally, we toured the brewery.

Seeing the big copper kettles was fun. Even more fun was getting to see the bottling and packing machinery. We learned about the origin of ice cubes (the brewery made near beer and ice during Prohibition). We were pleased to hear about the inclusion of Texas products, including bottles, in the manufacturing process.

The point of a beer tour for most folks is the Hospitality Room. No matter what it is called, this would be the place where samples of the product are available for tasting. My Prince and I agreed that we didn't need the 4 cups (4 oz., I think) of beer that we would be allowed; instead we would choose what we wanted to taste and split the cups between us.

• We tried the Spezial Leicht, a low carb beer that tasted really nice. It had the full beer flavor and, we were told, 3.2% alcohol, although we never seemed to feel any effects from it.
  
• We tried the Hefeweizen, an unfiltered wheat brew. I didn't much care for it, but My Prince thought it was pretty good.
• We tried the Bohemian Black Lager, a "black beer" typically brewed in Germany. My Prince liked this, too, but I loved it. Indeed, I drank most of the cup we "shared" and part of another one--which is one of several reasons why I don't drink much. Nope. But it did taste wunderbar!

So we turned in half of our tokens and didn't drink any more. We'd had enough to feel comfy, and it was time to move on to lunch. . .

Travel day

Today is a travel day. I'm off to the Bayou City for a few days of elder care. Some posts are ready to go and will show up throughout the day. There may nonetheless be a gap in posts while I get re-oriented to the new setting. There are always surprises . . .