Deep in the Heart of Texas

We’re in Texas, and I’m happy to say we survived driving right through the middle of Houston on I-10. It helped that we did it on a Sunday morning; the traffic was almost reasonable. I drove, Mike navigated, and when it looked like there was a bit of a jam right downtown, he called for a detour to one of the many ring roads, in this case I-610, and that kept us in traffic that was still moving.

Houston’s highway system is not for the faint of heart

(Wikimedia Commons photo)

On the far side of Houston, we exited the interstate and it was just a short hop over to our friends the Michels’ house in Katy. Specifically, in the Cinco Ranch part of Katy. I believe I expounded on the massive neighborhood of Cinco Ranch last year when we stayed here, but I’ll say it again—it is a very well-designed area for as big as it is. Although mostly everyone drives cars and trucks, it was set up in the 1990s to be very walkable. There are so very many shops, banks, schools, and restaurants—oh, my. There seem to be an infinite number of restaurants.

Shops on one of the main street corners in Cinco Ranch

We ate dinner while watching the Houston Texans beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff game not long after we arrived in Katy. Though I felt bad for Aaron Rodgers, the Steeler’s quarterback, I’m always in favor of anyone who beats Pittsburgh. It was quite a game until the fourth quarter, when the Texans surged ahead and stayed there, trouncing the Steelers 30 to 6. Since we haven’t had the chance to watch the Bengals win a playoff game in awhile, it was quite enjoyable to see a team win while watching it in their hometown. The crowd went wild, or at least we did. And the food where we were watching it was good; it was called The Local Bar, which summed it up pretty well. The Texans face the Patriots next; we’ll see how that goes.

Not Aaron Rodgers’ best game (Yahoo Sports photo)

The weather is quite variable here; warm in the sun, chilly in the shade for the most part, but usually sunny, which is nice. We did have one rainy day, and in the drizzle, Mike and I decided to head back into Houston proper to go to the Ikea for water bottles and a foam mattress pad. We have new bed cushions in the camper; same old covers but we replaced the foam with high-end dense foam. It may be a little too dense, so the foam mattress topper is supposed to soften things up a bit. As to where we’ll keep it when we turn the bed into a table, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

We’ve been eating well here; we had a brisket Gary smoked and grilled the day we arrived, and I’ve been finding “leftover brisket” recipes. One day we had brisket tacos with homemade tortillas; another day we had what the Internet calls “southern” mac & cheese with brisket and creamed corn—the corn is what makes it southern, apparently. Both meals were delicious. When we were down to just a little leftover brisket, we went with a side of salmon and a wild rice casserole, also delicious. While dinner prep is going on, there’s often a cooking show on the television. I would not like to compete in something like that; you may have heard of the “slow food” movement. That definitely refers to me when cooking. It’s usually good, but it’s always slow.

Brisket mac & cheese

One morning we had kolaches (a Polish breakfast food resembling pigs in blankets, but exponentially tastier) at a nearby coffee and kolache shop; Tina had to get back for a scheduled phone call but Mike and I walked home through the winding streets of Cinco Ranch and came across a goose perching on a rooftop. There had been a goose on the Michels’ roof earlier in the week, but it flew away before it could be photographed. This one was a bit less publicity shy and let me take a quick snapshot of him up on the roof.

Goose on a roof

Besides cooking and eating, we’ve been hanging out in the sun near the pool (though it’s too chilly to go swimming), watching some of what passes for television programming these days (not all cooking shows; we’ve also seen what we used to call prime time soap operas and a couple of funny sitcoms and movies), and otherwise just hanging out and relaxing with friends. Which is always nice!

Apparently a polar vortex has rolled across the continent, and it’s chilly even down here in south Texas. Supposed to drop to about 30 degrees the next couple of nights, and that’s cold for camping, even in a little trailer. So we’ve been invited to stay until it warms up a bit at the beginning of the week, and it seems like a good idea. Then we’ll head out, down to the coast again, following the sun and looking for warmer days ahead. For now, there’s more football and Texas chili made with the last of the brisket is on the menu!