If you can't stand the heat get out of Texas!

This morning around 12:30 am I arrived at the Greyhound station in Houston to the smiling face of a one Mark Embree. The bus ride from New Orleans was somewhat interesting it started off with a nice greeting from our charming bus driver that alluded that he was a man of business. His idea of problem resolution was that who ever was involved in the ruckus got to step off the bus and talk to his good friend (i.e. the Louisiana Police). I also had my first encounter with another traveler that I exchanged stories with and what we had been doing in New Orleans. Her name was Gene and she use to be a social worker in New Orleans living in the Garden District (just west of the French Quarter) and was now back in town visiting some friends and spending some time in prayer with the Dominican Sisters that are down in the New Orleans area. She had over heard me talking to a couple friends on the phone in the terminal about my travels and my emphasis on different sites that I had seen and my appreciation for different things Catholic, so she had began conversation by asking me if I was about to join the seminary. The answer to that is no, but as we were boarding the bus I got to explain to her a bit about the commitment I'm preparing to make in September with Youth Apostles. How that was and wasn't like different religious commitments in the Church and what Youth Apostles was all about. She was interested to hear about Youth Apostles and how the vision for our community is to be a mixed association of the Christian faithful where Priests, lay consecrated (what I'll be doing), and single guys live in community houses together, we do ministry together, and meet weekly with our married brothers to celebrate the Eucharist and share our walk with one another and grow in Christian formation. One thing that I like to emphasize about that vision is how the consecrated brothers and married brothers both depend on and lift one another up in community through their commitments and sharing in our lives. I know one of the more frequent questions that I get about making this commitment to the consecrated life is how do I feel comfortable about the idea about not having a family of my own (and that's a very legitimate question and something that I need to carefully discern), but I'm comforted with the idea of how married brothers invite the consecrated brothers to become part of their family (having them over for dinners, celebrations, sacramental things, and even vacations) and how the consecrated brothers can offer an example to their family's about a life dedicated to Christ, which we're all called to in some manner or another. I didn't do all the talking however, Gene shared some things with me that I'll just keep to myself. If you wouldn't mind keeping her in your prayers, I think that would be great b/c she's been taking a sabbatical as a social worker and has been trying to decide if she wants to get back into it. As you can imagine it's not easy work and can be very demanding and draining on a person.


Well back to Texas.


After leaving the terminal Mark and I headed down to a favorite 24 hr Taqueria of his, La Tapatilla, in Houston and grabbed a late night snack of Tacos Pastor (marinated pork in a corn tortilla) and Tortilla chips and salsa. It hit the spot as I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in about 9 hours and was very tasty anyways. It reminded me to the authentic tacos that I had the last time I was on a mission trip in Puebla, Mexico back in the Spring of '07 with the Newman Community at Virginia Tech. Ty, Miguel (our guide), and myself snuck out late one night and grabbed some Tacos and a couple Victoria's and took in the atmosphere and each other's company.


This morning I met the rest of the Embree family: Kristine, Cora, Owen, and Becket. A very fun and good lookin' family. We took a short walk up the street for mass and I got to quickly learn why Becket's nickname was Wreckit, but he's only 2 so it's passable and he's a lot of fun anyways. I was then regally treated to join the table for Sunday morning pancakes and then Mark and I were off to tour the city. We saw where he works as an Applied Mathematics Professor at Rice University (for the people that complained about why do I have to learn this math and what good is it gonna do for me you should have asked Mark and he could have told ya why) We also saw St Thomas More college and then walked around Hermann Park till we regained our appetite and when BBQ is on the line it doesn't take long to remedy that situation. (BBQ notes below) We then toured the popular Menil collection in Southwest Houston (they're considered to be like the American version of the Medici family) as well as the Rothko Chapel and my personal favorite the Byzantine Fresco Chapel restoration effort. On the way home we stopped by the Central Grocery Store...which for you Northern Virginia people would more than give Wegmans a run for their money, besides the slogan goes "Don't mess with Texas." We were there to pick up some sides for the big haunkin' chucks of cow that Mark had picked up earlier in the week for us to feast on (it was Ignatius' feast day the other day, he was just being kind so we could celebrate together) That we did along with a ridiculous Chocolate souffle courtesy of Kristine. If I had known I was going to eat this well in Texas I would have decided we needed to swing back down here on the way home. There is however still more Texas BBQ to come tomorrow....for the sake of doing Texas a proper service I'm planning on sacrificing and have BBQ twice tomorrow. For the love of the cow.


Day 7 (August 2) notes:


BBQ Joint: Goode Company - Texas Barbeque

• I ordered the two meat combo dinner and selected the Beef Brisket (a Texas staple) and the Czech sausage
• The brisket had a good smoke ring to it (sign that the pit master knows what they're doing), tender, and very flavorful
• The sausage had some good spice to it...closer to a kielbasa if you want to compare it to something
• The sides were decent as I had dirty rice and Austin baked beans (the rice had sausage in it and the Austin baked beans had a couple slices of apple cooked in with them)
• They served unsweet tea, which I don't prefer but when it's as hot as it is in Texas you take what they offer you, you say thank you, and start eating your brisket without making a fuss (they don't put spurs on cowboy boots for nothin')