I have discovered that the best place for BBQ is in Kansas hands down; well that’s at least until June while my brother John and his friend Manjo are still in Command and General Staff College at Ft Leavenworth. There’s a chance that their next assignment might be back at Ft Bragg in NC and then we might have to do some more BBQ research, but NC does make some mighty tasty pig sandwiches. I’ve been telling people that I think Koreans are the southerners of the Asian world because their cooking style is all about the BBQ (dewegi bulgogi) and pickled dishes (kimchi) and Eun Young is a mean cook.
Last night we had a big family style BBQ over at Manjo’s house off base, and I wasn’t sure why he decided to live off base (since Leavenworth is so nice), until I saw his BBQ equipment and I had my most resent feeling of envy and I just don’t get that all that often. This dude has the most excellent outdoor man kitchen I’ve ever seen. His smoker is two 55 gallon oil barrels welded together and painted black with the appropriate doors in the right location and it seems like it was built to survive tornado season out here. Then we have his grill that he made out of an old oil drum that you would use to store heating oil for a house and then his out door sink was made from a steamer that you would use in a buffet restaurant to keep things warm. All of this he made with his Uncle that taught him how to weld and machine these kinds of things, and it really made me want to even more seriously pursue taking a welding class or two.
Manjo is also from the other side of the globe and is an American Pacific Islander from Guam, which I think also, gives him a lot of street credit already in the world of BBQ. At least in my mind of stereotypes and ignorance, I see people that live on islands as being the original BBQ pit masters since they must have been one of the early cultures that learned to master and control the fire pit. They also must be very social since they live in close proximity to one another on an island and there for friendly people {I take it if you’re not friendly you probably end up on the pit ;) }. When we got there he took me on the tour of the equipment, first up to see the tower and show me its ins and outs and that he can smoke 8 pork shoulders in there at the same time! He slices up his meat into long slices about 1”x1”x12” and hangs them over the rebar poles that he has strung horizontally, and so we grabbed a bit of meat for a snack and continued on the tour. It was some tasty meat and let me tell you if you didn’t already know that BBQ is at its best when it’s still hot and the juices flow easily. I then got to see the enormous grill that he had, which was probably which could probably hold about 115 gallons inside of it, and the custom made doors and hood he fashioned on it. He ended up throwing on a couple chickens that he chopped at the breast bone with this hunk of steel formed into a crude butchers knife that he had purchased during his tour in Korea that had a look to it that gave you the understanding that he meant business. Once the chicken was done he put it in a bath of soy sauce, vinegar, and lemon and that was awesome too. A couple of his tools that we didn’t get to use that day was this huge wooden box with a metal lid that could cook half a pig inside of it Dutch oven style by placing the charcoal briskets on top and then there was a small more portable grill that didn’t look like it got a whole lot of use.
For dinner in addition to the dwegi bulgogi that Eun Young brought with us we had the smoked pork from the tower, ribs that Manjo had smoked earlier and heated up for us (better than Arthur Bryant’s ribs), a couple different kinds of chopped chicken (I forgot to get the exact names of them), rice which I would compare to how all the BBQ places I went to served sliced white bread (where there are Asian people there is good rice), kimchi (pickled foods are a must at a BBQ), and plenty of beer to go around. It was a BBQ to remember and I’m looking forward to stopping on by on the way home for another warm meal!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Let's get this party started!
I’m getting ready to pull out of the driveway and start this great adventure! The car’s about packed, and nearly all the provisions we planned to take with us are in there (I figure we’ll pass at least one Wal-Mart between here and Iowa). Thanks to some great friends we even have some unanticipated fun stuff to take along: thanks to Helen for the snacks and games; Christine for the mix CDs (themed and color-coded!); and our great sisters at the Women of Youth Apostles community for the coffee maker and travel mugs, book, and an assortment of cards and hooha that we are to open at designated times during the trip (more on that as the adventure unfolds). Great, thoughtful, amazing people and we love you all!
Yesterday was a pretty stressful day for me. My usual overambitious tendencies kicked in early and I tried to accomplish three days worth of errands in one afternoon. Turns out, it’s not as easy to trick out the space/time continuum as they make it look on the SyFy (really? Who’s idea was that, anyway?) Channel.
I finally pulled into the house about 8:30 last night, exhausted and frustrated that it wasn’t the day I had hoped it to be. About 10pm I walked out to drop a letter in the mailbox and noticed that the sky had finally cleared as promised; the air was clear and the moon was brighter than one of those horrible CFC lightbulbs. Walking back to the house I looked up to see a very bright shooting star streak across the sky right over the house. It was awesome! I don’t look for signs from above, I don’t ask for them or expect them, and I really don’t need them. But at that moment I realized yesterday was the day God intended it to be – for reasons I still don’t understand – and today will be, too!
It would be easy to argue that this is about the worst possible time for me to be jumping in a car/truck/SUV to start a four-week trip across the country. I won’t lie – a big part of me wants to stay on the east coast and be close to family right now. But here we go! Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited about this trip – about seeing the country, seeing lots of friends, and spending time with Paul.
Thanks for your prayers and encouraging messages! We’ll keep you posted on the remainder of the journey, much as Paul has documented with great wit and incredible detail his trip so far.
Time to jump in the car/truck/SUV (seriously, we need a name for this thing!) and go! Peace!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Burnt Ends and Sunblock
Today involved a lot of Burnt Ends and a lot of Sunblock. I'm staying here at Ft. Leavenworth with my brother John, his wife Eun Young, and their three daughters Donna, Anna, and Jenna. They just moved here a month ago from Korea where my brother and his family have been for the last 9 years, so it's great to get to spend an extended period of time of my trip here and visit.
Ft. Leavenworth is a really scenic base and the remodeling they've done to the base housing are going a long way to improving the appeal to living on base if you're military. They've relocated the USDB (United States Disciplinary Barracks) to a more remote part of the base and turned the old one into office type buildings and in particular it now houses some of the Family, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation offices. Kind of a strange use for an old jail, but I guess it works. There's also a really nice memorial to the Buffalo Soldiers since this is where they got their start shortly after the civil war.
Today we all went out to a water park on the Missouri side of Kansas City for most of the day and I had a great time hanging out with the nieces and relaxing myself. I looked at Chip funny when he told me a couple weeks ago that I should think about bringing a bathing suit. I think all that ran through my mind was how am I going to make time to go swimming with all the BBQ I need to eat, but he was right and I digress. We then made our way over to Arthur Bryant's Barbecue that has history that dates back to when BBQ began in Kansas City with Henry Perry and Arthur's brother Charlie. Kansas City is another town that claims to have the worlds best BBQ and given it's popularity for BBQ contests it makes a good argument. We picked up some BBQ to go on the way home from the water park and lasted about the time it took to go from the drive thru window (we went to one of the expansion restaurants hence the drive thru) to the light at the intersection before we were into the burnt ends. Burnt ends come from the ends of beef brisket that are cooked for a bit longer and are a bit crunchier and then go swimming in a bath of Kansas City style BBQ sauce to loosen them up a bit. KC style is a slightly spicy tomato base like a good Texas sauce, but quite a bit thicker and also has a sweet molasses or honey taste to it. We also got dry pork ribs which were pretty tasty and could have compared well with the ones I got in Memphis at Neely's but I still think the ribs I had at Neely's were just excellent. Then there was the sausage and the BBQ beans, which were both good but different still then all the other places I've been so far. The sausage looked like a cross between thinly sliced spam and salami and the beans were swimming in a thinned down version of the house BBQ sauce with some brisket thrown in there to kick it up a notch. All in all it was very excellent BBQ and I'm pretty sure my brother's family just found a new spot for dinner.
Ft. Leavenworth is a really scenic base and the remodeling they've done to the base housing are going a long way to improving the appeal to living on base if you're military. They've relocated the USDB (United States Disciplinary Barracks) to a more remote part of the base and turned the old one into office type buildings and in particular it now houses some of the Family, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation offices. Kind of a strange use for an old jail, but I guess it works. There's also a really nice memorial to the Buffalo Soldiers since this is where they got their start shortly after the civil war.
Today we all went out to a water park on the Missouri side of Kansas City for most of the day and I had a great time hanging out with the nieces and relaxing myself. I looked at Chip funny when he told me a couple weeks ago that I should think about bringing a bathing suit. I think all that ran through my mind was how am I going to make time to go swimming with all the BBQ I need to eat, but he was right and I digress. We then made our way over to Arthur Bryant's Barbecue that has history that dates back to when BBQ began in Kansas City with Henry Perry and Arthur's brother Charlie. Kansas City is another town that claims to have the worlds best BBQ and given it's popularity for BBQ contests it makes a good argument. We picked up some BBQ to go on the way home from the water park and lasted about the time it took to go from the drive thru window (we went to one of the expansion restaurants hence the drive thru) to the light at the intersection before we were into the burnt ends. Burnt ends come from the ends of beef brisket that are cooked for a bit longer and are a bit crunchier and then go swimming in a bath of Kansas City style BBQ sauce to loosen them up a bit. KC style is a slightly spicy tomato base like a good Texas sauce, but quite a bit thicker and also has a sweet molasses or honey taste to it. We also got dry pork ribs which were pretty tasty and could have compared well with the ones I got in Memphis at Neely's but I still think the ribs I had at Neely's were just excellent. Then there was the sausage and the BBQ beans, which were both good but different still then all the other places I've been so far. The sausage looked like a cross between thinly sliced spam and salami and the beans were swimming in a thinned down version of the house BBQ sauce with some brisket thrown in there to kick it up a notch. All in all it was very excellent BBQ and I'm pretty sure my brother's family just found a new spot for dinner.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Remember the Alamo
As I’m sitting here in the Dallas Love Field airport, home of the sissy dallas cowgirls, I have a short layover before I head out to my next destination in Kansas City and I’m reminiscing a bit about they previous day I just spent traveling out to San Antonio and other necessary destinations along the way. Yesterday was a truly marvelous day in a number of ways. The Embree’s live about a quarter mile away from the church they attend, so Mark, Beckett, and myself began the day with a quick walk over for mass. At St. Thomas More they have a fairly universal congregation there. There is a large Hispanic population, being so close to the boarder, as well as a number of Nigerians that wear their traditional garb.
After mass we quickly packed up and began on our mission to find better BBQ (kinda like how Snapple is always on the look for better stuff). On the way we stopped in a small Texas town of Praha to see one of the famous ‘Painted Churches’ which was settled by Eastern Europeans that would now be considered from the Czech Republic. After a little bit of walking around and some prayer we quickly were reminded by our stomachs that we had business to attend to in Lockhart, TX the BBQ capital of Texas and by Texas standards that means the whole world. The town is home to 2 of the top 5 ranked BBQ places in Texas and we decided to stop at Smitty’s Market (one of those two) and get a healthy 2 ½ lbs of cow, a bit of pig (sausage links), some pinto beans, and vegetables (pickles and whole jalapeño’s) to split between the two of us. The beef brisket was mighty fine and the pinto beans were very tasty and I was under the impression that this was probably going to be the best Texas BBQ I was going to get to experience for a long time. However, as you may have noticed I’m profiling this BBQ restaurant in the body of the message instead of at the end and there was more BBQ to be had on this the 3rd of August, 2009 in the year of our Lord. The scenery in the parking lot was quite a view to be had as we pulled into the market. We stepped out of the car onto a parking lot of crushed white rocks that painted the underside and toes of our shoes and as we began to walk towards the entrance you begin to notice a neighboring parking lot about the same size that we pulled into that could probably house another 200 cars, but instead of cars it was lined and packed to the gills with cord upon cord of mesquite wood. Stepping inside the market you nearly burn yourself as upon crossing the threshold you walk past the smokers that are heated by an open fire about 8 inches from the door opening. You then notice a large barrel with an even larger man standing behind that barrel ready to take your order and carve up your meat. The lady at the counter then gathers your plates and silverware (ie rose colored butcher paper and a couple plastic knives) and weighs out your meat. We picked up a few beef ribs with a nice thick and slightly sweet BBQ baste on them, as well as a couple links of sausage, and plenty of lean and fat brisket. You then step into the dining room lined with tables that were a little higher class then say a picnic table but that’s about it. The BBQ markets in Texas aren’t about the table linens and candle lighting….no it’s a much more pure love for that black and white, and most of the time brown four legged creature that so many people are in love with down here.
After our Texas size snack was complete we wheeble wobbled back to the car looked down at our shoes and decided that this ground must be sacred so we shouldn’t shake loose the dust from our shoes. I even still have a bit of that dust weaved into the laces of my sandals. We then proceeded back towards San Antonio and arrived about an hour later to see the sights and vainly try and walk off some of the protein we had just consumed. I was really taken a back by how well the city was laid out and that the architecture and décor of the city was a fairly steady southwest theme. We drove around a bit to get our bearings and locate the best place to park to see the Alamo and get the full effect of the River Walk and its surrounding attractions. I had been briefed already that the Alamo wasn’t a massively large landmark even though it’s called the shrine of Texas, so it was a lot of what I had come to expect and it was an interesting place to walk around. The River Walk, however, far exceeded my expectations. It was built a number of years ago as a Storm Water Management device, as I like to refer to it as in the world of Civil Engineering, to control the flash floods that many parts of Texas are prone to. San Antonio as well as many parts of southern Texas is as hot as blue blazes during pretty much any part of the day and even hotter in the late morning early afternoon. However, the genius of the River Walk is that it’s slightly below the elevation of the road and it shaded by the vegetation they planted along the river as well as some of the buildings that tower over the river and so it remains relatively cool (for southern Texas standards). We also got to see a couple churches and the San Antonio Cathedral that houses the remains of the Texas hero’s from the Alamo as they’re referred to.
We then looked down at our watches and realized we must be going if we were going to fulfill our duty and make sure we left no tasty cow behind. Off we were to Luling, TX to the City Market to see if it could redeem itself from the previous visit Mark had made to test the skill of it’s pit master when it came to the beloved Texas brisket. The city market sits about 30 yards back from the train tracks that cut through the heart of the city of Luling and from the outside and even as you step through the door into the dinning hall you could easily miss the fact that this indeed is even a place that serves BBQ. In the back of the dining hall is a room that looks like it would be the office for the owner of the building with walls that close off a small section of the inside layout and seem quite a bit more dim then the rest of the place. As you step into “the office” the scene immediately changes to a smoke house with large brick BBQ pits and a few grisly large men, one even donning an orange hard hat. As Mark and I gorged ourselves at lunch instead of pacing it a bit better we only decided to order around a pound of meat between the sausage and lean brisket. We then headed back out to the dining hall and Mark got some pinto beans to go with the brisket and a pickle, he’s a bit more a man then me to go for sides on this stop. We sit down and pray over our food and then begin in on the brisket and within a few moments Mark gets this dumbfounded look on his face and exclaims how the City Market completely redeemed itself and this is the best brisket he’s had in his life. The sausage link was excellent too…very finely ground and seasoned to perfection. The market lived up to the hype that it was a top 5 Texas BBQ establishment and boy were we content.
Now I’m off to see what Kansas City has to offer in the way of dry ribs and burnt ends! I’ll be here visiting with my brother John and his family that just came back from a 9 yr tour in Korea and are back in the states for a while.
After mass we quickly packed up and began on our mission to find better BBQ (kinda like how Snapple is always on the look for better stuff). On the way we stopped in a small Texas town of Praha to see one of the famous ‘Painted Churches’ which was settled by Eastern Europeans that would now be considered from the Czech Republic. After a little bit of walking around and some prayer we quickly were reminded by our stomachs that we had business to attend to in Lockhart, TX the BBQ capital of Texas and by Texas standards that means the whole world. The town is home to 2 of the top 5 ranked BBQ places in Texas and we decided to stop at Smitty’s Market (one of those two) and get a healthy 2 ½ lbs of cow, a bit of pig (sausage links), some pinto beans, and vegetables (pickles and whole jalapeño’s) to split between the two of us. The beef brisket was mighty fine and the pinto beans were very tasty and I was under the impression that this was probably going to be the best Texas BBQ I was going to get to experience for a long time. However, as you may have noticed I’m profiling this BBQ restaurant in the body of the message instead of at the end and there was more BBQ to be had on this the 3rd of August, 2009 in the year of our Lord. The scenery in the parking lot was quite a view to be had as we pulled into the market. We stepped out of the car onto a parking lot of crushed white rocks that painted the underside and toes of our shoes and as we began to walk towards the entrance you begin to notice a neighboring parking lot about the same size that we pulled into that could probably house another 200 cars, but instead of cars it was lined and packed to the gills with cord upon cord of mesquite wood. Stepping inside the market you nearly burn yourself as upon crossing the threshold you walk past the smokers that are heated by an open fire about 8 inches from the door opening. You then notice a large barrel with an even larger man standing behind that barrel ready to take your order and carve up your meat. The lady at the counter then gathers your plates and silverware (ie rose colored butcher paper and a couple plastic knives) and weighs out your meat. We picked up a few beef ribs with a nice thick and slightly sweet BBQ baste on them, as well as a couple links of sausage, and plenty of lean and fat brisket. You then step into the dining room lined with tables that were a little higher class then say a picnic table but that’s about it. The BBQ markets in Texas aren’t about the table linens and candle lighting….no it’s a much more pure love for that black and white, and most of the time brown four legged creature that so many people are in love with down here.
After our Texas size snack was complete we wheeble wobbled back to the car looked down at our shoes and decided that this ground must be sacred so we shouldn’t shake loose the dust from our shoes. I even still have a bit of that dust weaved into the laces of my sandals. We then proceeded back towards San Antonio and arrived about an hour later to see the sights and vainly try and walk off some of the protein we had just consumed. I was really taken a back by how well the city was laid out and that the architecture and décor of the city was a fairly steady southwest theme. We drove around a bit to get our bearings and locate the best place to park to see the Alamo and get the full effect of the River Walk and its surrounding attractions. I had been briefed already that the Alamo wasn’t a massively large landmark even though it’s called the shrine of Texas, so it was a lot of what I had come to expect and it was an interesting place to walk around. The River Walk, however, far exceeded my expectations. It was built a number of years ago as a Storm Water Management device, as I like to refer to it as in the world of Civil Engineering, to control the flash floods that many parts of Texas are prone to. San Antonio as well as many parts of southern Texas is as hot as blue blazes during pretty much any part of the day and even hotter in the late morning early afternoon. However, the genius of the River Walk is that it’s slightly below the elevation of the road and it shaded by the vegetation they planted along the river as well as some of the buildings that tower over the river and so it remains relatively cool (for southern Texas standards). We also got to see a couple churches and the San Antonio Cathedral that houses the remains of the Texas hero’s from the Alamo as they’re referred to.
We then looked down at our watches and realized we must be going if we were going to fulfill our duty and make sure we left no tasty cow behind. Off we were to Luling, TX to the City Market to see if it could redeem itself from the previous visit Mark had made to test the skill of it’s pit master when it came to the beloved Texas brisket. The city market sits about 30 yards back from the train tracks that cut through the heart of the city of Luling and from the outside and even as you step through the door into the dinning hall you could easily miss the fact that this indeed is even a place that serves BBQ. In the back of the dining hall is a room that looks like it would be the office for the owner of the building with walls that close off a small section of the inside layout and seem quite a bit more dim then the rest of the place. As you step into “the office” the scene immediately changes to a smoke house with large brick BBQ pits and a few grisly large men, one even donning an orange hard hat. As Mark and I gorged ourselves at lunch instead of pacing it a bit better we only decided to order around a pound of meat between the sausage and lean brisket. We then headed back out to the dining hall and Mark got some pinto beans to go with the brisket and a pickle, he’s a bit more a man then me to go for sides on this stop. We sit down and pray over our food and then begin in on the brisket and within a few moments Mark gets this dumbfounded look on his face and exclaims how the City Market completely redeemed itself and this is the best brisket he’s had in his life. The sausage link was excellent too…very finely ground and seasoned to perfection. The market lived up to the hype that it was a top 5 Texas BBQ establishment and boy were we content.
Now I’m off to see what Kansas City has to offer in the way of dry ribs and burnt ends! I’ll be here visiting with my brother John and his family that just came back from a 9 yr tour in Korea and are back in the states for a while.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Today is the first day...
Blah, blah, blah. Seriously, if today is the first day of the rest of my life I want my old life back. The prospect of endless days filled by ninety minutes in the Ford dealership lounge in the morning and another hour plus at the DMV in the afternoon is not the sort of thing that makes me jump out of bed. But now the car/truck/SUV is ready for the trip (except for new tires on Wednesday), so it was worth it.
The funny thing is, in some respects a new chapter of my life starts this week. Friday was my last day at work, and my business partner Pete took me out for my “retirement dinner”, a label that would be creepy if it wasn’t so funny. I don’t think I’m retiring, just making a mid-course correction. But they don’t make “Congratulations on your mid-course correction” cards, so we called it a retirement dinner and had a good time. But I don’t think of this week as a new beginning – it’s more of an intermission. But a really fun one!
So, was today the first day of the rest of my life? Sure, aren’t they all? The beauty of that cliché is that you can keep using it till you get it right. And I hope that is the case in a little over five weeks, when I will trot it out again after the commitment liturgy. Till then I plan to avoid the DMV, just to be safe.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
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
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')
Saturday, August 1, 2009
A Street Car Named Desire
Today has been fairly low key as I took the street car, as they call it here, further into uptown to the west. Went to mass this morning at Loyola College, next to Tulane, in a big and beautiful church and then strolled around along St Charles Street and saw all the mansions and estate style homes near Audubon Park. I then headed back into the quarter to get some Coffee Grounds w/ Chicory for Chip and I once we meet up in Chicago and then walked around a bit more till it was time for lunch and headed over to the Acme Oyster House for some Chargrilled Oysters on the half shell with butter and romano cheese....mmmm. I also got a Fried Peace Maker Po' boy which is a combo of fried oysters & shrimp with a Tabasco infused mayo. It totally blew away any Po' boy I've ever had and was well worth the 11 bucks it cost.
In a little while here I'm packing my bags for the greyhound bus and a ticket marked for Houston, Texas. Home to the most famous Embree family who I'll be rubbing elbows with over some BBQ come this time tomorrow. Well I better go get my bags packed and say good bye to the Big Easy.
In a little while here I'm packing my bags for the greyhound bus and a ticket marked for Houston, Texas. Home to the most famous Embree family who I'll be rubbing elbows with over some BBQ come this time tomorrow. Well I better go get my bags packed and say good bye to the Big Easy.
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