We started our trip on Thursday and our family had dinner that night at Guri de Sul. It is a Brazilian Steakhouse. They have a wonderful salad bar to start. I am not a big steak eater and found most of what was served to be too salty. I did enjoy the flank steak, shrimp and lamb chops. It is all you can eat and I am sure they lost money on Jim. All you can eat and my brother paying the bill is a dangerous combination with Jim along.
The next day we went to see my nephew’s new house. We joined up with Ann’s best friend that lives in Hawaii and her Aunt and Uncle from CA. Her Uncle was there to give Ann away as her father lives in the Philippines and could not attend. We all went to lunch at a wonderful Mexican Restaurant that no one can remember the name of, could be all the Margaritas. They had the best salsa dip for chips I have ever tasted. They should bottle and sell it. The rehearsal was really fun. My brother’s ex-wife gave a whole new meaning to Mother-in-law. I think the wedding party enjoyed jerking her chain and it was entertaining for those of us just watching. The rehearsal dinner was at a nearby Olive Garden. I had mushroom ravioli that I understand is on the standard menu. I highly recommend it.
Saturday, Jim and my brother played golf and the girls went shopping. The star of the week was a restaurant called Jaspers that is owned by Chef Kent Rathbun. I had Smoked Gulf Crab Chili Relleno with Roasted Corn, Black Beans and Jicama-Tortilla Slaw. I wish I had my camera along. The presentation was outstanding and the taste was fabulous. I forgot about my camera in my phone. I will just have to go back and have it again. This chef appears to have 3 restaurants in Dallas and has been named the best chef of the southwest by the James Beard Association. If you are anywhere near one of his restaurants, I highly recommend them. I looked; apparently he has not written a cookbook.
The next find in The Woodlands was Hubbell & Hudson Market and Bistro. This market makes any market or high end purveyor of food look 2nd class. They had every product you ever needed or hoped for. The meat and seafood counters were wonderful. They had large slabs of great chocolate and I bet 15 different kinds of bacon. I am going to go on the website later today to see what they ship. They had a Jalapeno bacon that would be fabulous for an appetizer I make. For those interested it is Hubbell&Hudson.com. I can see why Jeremy has fallen in love with Texas.
The next day we visited Jim’s cousin who has lived in the Houston area since getting married after college. I think they said 25 years. She was not as thrilled about the area as Jeremy, but south of Houston near the Space center is very different from The Woodlands. They had just moved to a new house and invited us for dinner. Debbie cooks like her Grandma Marler. There was enough food for a grand buffet with 3 different meats, multiple vegetables and her husbands’ 95 year old Grandma’s mashed potatoes. Grandma and Great-grandma were visiting from IL. We had a great visit.
The next day we left for Austin and San Antonio. Our visit to Austin started with lunch at The University of Texas Club. It is owned by Club Corp that owns our Golf Club. We have a program where we can golf or eat at any Club Corp owned facility anywhere in the world. This one is in the stadium on the campus. They had a buffet that day so we ate from the buffet. This campus is most known recently outside of Texas for educating one of the Bush twins. For those of you my age you may remember what was probably our first televised terrorist event. A young man climbed the tower in the middle of the campus and then spent hours shooting at students below. Next, we visited the Johnson Presidential Library. I hate to say this but about all I remembered of this presidency was Kennedy being shot and “Hey, hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today.” The library was truly an awakening to his many accomplishments. He started Head Start, Medicare and Medicaid among others that are a great help to our young, underprivileged and elderly people today. I think it showed that the many years that he spent in politics leading up to his Presidency helped him to get things done. He was also a great supporter and sponsor of the space program. He knew how to handle the politics that goes on here in DC. It also showed that no matter how badly a President doesn’t want to continue a war started in a predecessor’s term, it is very hard to get out of what has started. The building was done by SOM and it had their signature all over it. He really believed that a great society like ours should not have starving children and uncared for elderly and he did something about it. One impressive view is of the glass wall several stories tall that holds all his presidential papers. This is my second presidential library visit and I highly recommend them. After visiting the library we drove to San Antonio. I have always heard of the waterway there and wanted to see it. We checked in just in time for happy hour and then at dark went for our boat ride on the waterway. The boat drivers are a wealth of information about why and how the waterway was developed and the buildings along it. The waterway now is basically just a route through hotels and restaurants. You can also walk along the waterway. We had guacamole and margaritas at a Mexican restaurant called Casa Rio Mexican Foods that is supposedly German owned according to the boat man that evening. It has colorful awnings and sits right on the water. There was a duck in the water below us that had a food aggression like our Max. We fed him chips. The next day we went to the Plaza Club (Club Corp.) for lunch. I had their “award winning” green chili soup and fish tacos for lunch. We again had margaritas. This club corp. club has an excellent chef. I am going to email and see if I can get the recipe for the soup. If I do, I will share it. After lunch we visited the Alamo. I think we took a photo of me in the exact place we have a picture of my Uncle Joe cooking in front of the Alamo before being deployed in WWII. He was an army cook. However, the Alamo no longer is alone in the desert. Where then was only desert in his photo is now concrete and grass. We then walked along the waterway and had drinks along the river at the Hard Rock Café. Jim had an order of chicken wings. I had a margarita Rita. It was said to be a combo of a margarita and a mojito. That evening after Jim attended Happy Hour, we had dinner at the Saltgrass Steakhouse on the waterway. I understand it is a chain, but it was good. We both had sweet potatoes with our steak. Jim commented that they were much better than the ones I make. I pointed out that it could be the pound of butter that is was delivered with. They have a verity of sauces that you can mix with any desired cut of steak. I had a peppercorn wine sauce. It was very good. I took the rest of the bread to feed to the ducks on the way home. However, I discovered that they prefer the fried taco chips. They literally spit out the good whole wheat bread.
We found some good products in Texas that we have not seen here. The first was a salt and pepper potato chip that was not fried, brand name Popchips. The other one was Kettle Style Avocado chips from Good Health Natural foods. Jim found them both at Hubbell & Hudson. Along with 3 meals a day and happy hour snacks, Jim had to have bedtime snacks in the room. I found two additional green teas to add to my favorites. TAZO brand Green Ginger tea is even better than the China Green Tips tea. The other may be harder to find. It is called Green Tea with Lemon by a UK company called Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate North Yorkshire. There is a website so if I cannot find it at Wegman’s, I will try the website.
We had great weather. Not obnoxiously hot or humid. I understand we really lucked out. I was really impressed with something I have never seen as abundantly as in TX. Not only were there American Flags flying everywhere, but the flag of Texas was always alongside. I think Texans are very loyal to their state. Great vacation!
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