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Book Review & ~ Lisa Wingate and her latest book Dandelion Summer

mamadoveonabox — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:19:08 +0000

I hope all is going well.

When you get back to blogging, and I know you will, I’m walking on cloud 9 because Dandelion Summer won the ACFW Carol award for Women’s Fiction. They made a big announcement to tell everyone that DS is the first book EVER to get a perfect score. All five judges gave it all 10 points. There is a picture on Southern Belle View today of us winners. Blessings during this difficult, but hopeful time!

Lisa Wingate

Fiction That’s Good for the Soul

www.lisawingate.com

Blogging at www.SouthernBelleView.com Join us on the porch!

Join me on Facebook and Youtube

Dandelion Summer, has been by far my most favorite book! Thank you for stopping by to read the interview. I cannot wait to the comments from this interview of Dandelion Summer. It is not one to be missed ~ have fun and be blessed. We might have to have a second question as I am reading it again more things pop out!

Thank you Lisa Wingate for letting me share my love of your books with my readers -

When did you first realize you were a writer?

I’ve loved to write for as long as I can remember. My older brother was a good writer, and when you’re the youngest in the family, you want to do what the older kids do. When he won a school award for his poem, “The Bee Went Under the Sea,” I was so impressed by his literary brilliance (and the blue ribbon) that I immediately went to my bedroom and created my first book, The Story of a Dog Named Frisky. The Frisky story was the start of many partially-completed writing projects.

A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, put the idea of being a real writer into my head. She found me writing a story one day at indoor recess, and she took the time to stop and read it. When she was finished, she tapped the pages on the desk to straighten them, looked at me over the top and said, “You are a wonderful writer!” That was a defining moment for me. In my mind, I was a writer. When your first grade teacher tells you that you can do something, you believe it.

Then when she read the story to the students and they turned and asked me, “What happened next?” (after the boy went into the bear cave) I was hooked! I wrote sequels to the story for days and Mrs. Krackhardt read them to the class.

Growing up, I often wrote in response to things I felt were wrong in the world. I wanted to create something that would cause people to stop and think, to treat each other and the world around them with greater kindness and grace. Those desires eventually led me to write my first mainstream novel, Tending Roses, which was published in 2001.

Share a little about your publishing journey.

I had been doing technical writing and some magazine articles after graduating with a degree in technical writing. (Not that I liked technical writing all that well, but in my family, you majored in something that would qualify you for a day job!) One day when my boys were little, I opened a drawer and unearthed a notebook of stories and life lessons my grandmother had shared with me shortly after my first son was born. I had the idea of combining Grandma’s stories with a fictional family. In reality, like many writers, I was writing my own story, relaying how my grandmother’s wisdom had produced an epiphany for me, a lightbulb moment. After writing a few chapters, I asked my husband and my mother to read them, with the questions, ‘Should I continue? Would anyone want to read this?’

With their resounding encouragement, I composed the manuscript for my first mainstream novel, Tending Roses, found an agent, the agent sold the book, and the book was published in 2001 as a premier title in Penguin Putnam’s New American Library’s women’s fiction line. In recent years, I have been writing inspirationals for Bethany House (a CBA publisher) and Penguin Putnam (an ABA publisher). Eleven years ago, when Tending Roses came out, there was very little crossover between the two markets, and Christian publishing was largely focused on historical fiction. When Tending Roses came out with Penguin Putnam, bookstore managers sent comment cards saying they had customers looking for stories like this, in which characters grew in faith, and content wasn’t graphic. It turns out that those bookstore managers were right, because the market for inspirational fiction has grown and diversified in countless ways during the past ten years. Now it is possible to have the same novel selling in the general market fiction section of bookstores, in Christian stores, and in big box stores like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. I’m thrilled to see faith-based fiction out in front of the masses!

Which of your books is your favorite?

Because of the connection to my grandmother, Tending Roses will always be my sentimental favorite. That story has traveled the world, been reprinted eighteen times to date, has been used to teach adults to read in various literacy programs, has been used in university courses on aging, and was selected to promote women’s literacy in India. Recently, I heard from a group of women in Israel who were reading and circulating the book. It’s amazing and humbling to see something you wrote, sitting at home with your computer, travel at the speed of light and reach people who live different lives in different places. It makes you realize that we are more similar than we sometimes think. Amazing also, that in this fast-changing market, the book has stayed in print all these years and is now in e-book also. Many of my fans tell me this is their very favorite of my books.

My mom, on the other hand, as soon as she read the first draft of Dandelion Summer, declared this my best work. She said DS as a movie just kept playing through her head and could take the place of her favorite, On Golden Pond. Later my sweet mother-in-law said nearly the same thing and fans have written to tell me how much the book resonated with them. It’s kind of like trying to pick your favorite child, but I think Tending Roses will remain ever in my heart as my sentimental favorite!

Will you share a writing tip that you’ve stumbled upon in your years as a writer?

First, finish the book. It’s almost impossible to sell a partial if you’re unpublished, and even if you are published, you’re asking an editor to take a much bigger risk by buying a novel without being able to read it all. Polish it, get an agent, especially if you are writing fiction, and send the manuscript out, because as much as we’d like them to, editors won’t come looking in our desk drawers. While you’re waiting for news, write another book. If the first one sells, you’ll be set for a two-book deal. That’s exactly what happened to me. I sat down and wrote a lighter novel, Texas Cooking while I was going through the process and months of finding an agent and submitting the book to several publishers. When Tending Roses sold, they snapped up both books into the contract. With new writers, editors worry whether an author can produce a second book within about a year and many can’t.

If the first book doesn’t sell, you have eggs in another basket. Your agent can shop your second book around and you may be on your way! Also, don’t take a critique too seriously if you hear it from one editor/agent, unless there’s an imminent contract involved. Editors and agents, just like the rest of us, are individuals. What works for one may not work for another. If you receive the same comment from multiple sources, consider revising your manuscript before you send it elsewhere. Be tenacious, be as thick-skinned as possible, keep writing while you wait for news. Never stop creating new material—that’s where the joy is, and if you keep the joy of this business, you keep the magic of it.

Why did you write Dandelion Summer? What was your inspiration for this book?

The story features an unlikely friendship between a grumpy old man and a desperate teenage girl who are drawn together as they try to solve the mysteries of his hidden family past. Their search takes them on a journey of discovery through historic towns of the old south and into nostalgic recollections of America’s space race during the 1960’s.

For me, this story was a joy to write, as the original Apollo moon shots are some of my oldest memories, when I sat on my dad’s shoulders watching the TV and feeling his crew cut under my chin. The history of Norman’s career in the novel mirrors the real-life adventures of my wonderful reader-friend, Ed Stevens, who helped design America’s first moon lander, Surveyor, while working for Howard Hughes.

One of the best things about creating fictional people and sending them into the world has been that they come back home again, trailing real people behind them. I met Ed when he read Texas Cooking and sent a very nice note about it. I had to admire a guy who would pick up a book with a vivid pink cover (I once spotted my book from six stories up in a hotel atrium lobby.), read it, and write to the author.

Ed, is such an encourager. He explained that he was a retired engineer and loved to do projects on his computer. He offered to do anything he could to help me spread the news about my books and he has done so much of that, I can’t even count the ways at this point. During all the emails and calls about his projects for me, he would now and then write some memories of his career and travels, and of his daughter and his favorite old dog, Huckleberry. Eventually, I wanted to include much of this in a book, and Dandelion Summer was born. All fiction contains snippets of real life, of course, and I named my character after my grandfather, Norman, and gave him some of Grandpa’s feisty Irish personality. I’ve been blessed to meet so many incredible new friends and learn about their lives, and everything I write these days seems to be a combination of fact and fiction.

You mentioned that your mom says that Dandelion Summer is your best book yet. So, how does your mom influence or encourage you as an author? Mom always encouraged my writing, but both of my parents insisted I needed to prepare for a job that would feed me. So, I majored in Technical Writing and held a couple of different jobs doing that until I decided to be a stay-at-home mom and write for publication. That was after my epiphany moment, related in Tending Roses when Grandma Rose tells about lacking time for tending her roses when her children were small. With that one little story/lesson, my grandmother made it OK for me to ignore my tech writing career for a while and just enjoy raising being a mother and raising young children.

These days Mom is my first reader. She gets the drafts when I’ve only read back through them once, so she helps with everything from spelling to spotting plot holes, to characterization — just whatever she suggests, I consider. Maybe I make the changes and maybe not, but I think about it anyway.

After reading Dandelion Summer, she said, “This is your best book yet…even better than Tending Roses! I love Epie. She seems so real and I’m going to wonder what happens next with her. The scenes in the house were soooo funny in her voice. (What a voice, BTW. So teenage, so biracial, so tentative and at-risk, and such potential.) But, it’s J. Norm who stands out in my mind. He reminds me of my dad in personality and I love how you have given him such a grand career, but also the guilt about his “failure” at fatherhood. On Golden Pond just kept popping into my head.”

There was more, but can’t you just see me doing the Snoopy dance with ears flopping when I opened my email that morning? When I trimmed the book some on the second draft, she insisted I reinstate a scene or two that she really missed. I did.

Later my husband’s mom agreed that it is my best book. Some fans have written that also, but others are still holding Tending Roses as their favorite. I love to hear from those who have read both. Maybe I should put out a poll )

Mom and I don’t always agree, of course. When I sent her a draft of the first few chapters of The Language of Sycamores she wrote back a scathing, “WHY are you writing about Karen (the somewhat detached sister from Tending Roses). I don’t even LIKE Karen.” I went on to write Karen’s story because, as I often tell audiences, ‘Sometimes when you don’t like a person it’s because you don’t really know where they’re coming from.’ Karen wasn’t living a very genuine life, fixated on her career and lacking personal, meaningful relationships. A sudden crisis at her workplace threw her into tailspin where she had to step back and look at her life. When the book was finished, Mom was happy with it.What else should we know about Dandelion Summer? It’s been amazing how popular Dandelion Summer is with book clubs. On my website (www.lisawingate.com) there is a book club pack of background information, pictures, videos, recipes, and decorating hints. There is even a video of my favorite local book club discussing Dandelion Summer with me!I love getting email from clubs who discussed the questions in the back of the book and watched the video of the father/daughter letter. That video has had over 100,000 hits on Youtube and other sites and by live audiences. Amazing! I’ve heard from teachers who show it to teenage boys who think that if they get a girl pregnant, no problem, the girl will take care of it all. I’ve heard from women who’ve shared it with their father, their sons who have recently become fathers, and friends everywhere. There are not many books out there about the father/daughter relationship and DS seems to strike a chord with many. J.Norm’s relationship with his daughter parallels the regrets many dads feel about not spending enough time with their children. And J.Norm’s friendship with Epie, depicts how so many girls and women are looking for love in all the wrong places because of lack of a good, strong father figure in their lives. Here is the link for the father/daughter letter video:Play “A Father’s Letter to His Daughter” for your book club, from this link: http://www.youtube.com/lisawingate#p/a/u/2/0p1p-0TQrmsAnd very nice working with you, Jennifer,

Blessings…

Fiction That’s Good for the Soul

www.lisawingate.com

Blogging at www.SouthernBelleView.com Join us on the porch!

Join me on Facebook and Youtube

http://www.lisawingate.com

Had to Add:

Lisa just wrote me – because I have to go out of town: I hope all is going well.

Jenn – When you get back to blogging, and I know you will, I’m walking on cloud 9 because

DANDELION SUMMER WON the ACFW Carol award for Women’s Fiction.

They made a big announcement to tell everyone that DS is the first book EVER to get a perfect score. All five judges gave it all 10 points.

WOW!!!!

Alice’s Restaurant

Earl B Russell — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:48:28 +0000

It seemed like a stroke of genius. Owner Nina Marlowe opened a new restaurant and music venue in Niederwald, Texas, somewhere around 2005. She named it Alice’s Restaurant for the famed restaurant by the same name that operated in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and was immortalized by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, the famed son of the more famous Woody Guthrie.

Well, a few months after it opened, we invited our friends Bill and Paula Kemp to go with us to check it out. We trusted that this new Alice’s Restaurant near Austin would be true to the famous line in Arlo Guthrie’s song:

You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant

Alice’s Restaurant, Niederwald, Texas (photo credit)

We chose a night of the week, a Friday or Saturday, which would find the place hopping with customers energized by the touted live music there. Marlowe had staked a big part of the reputation of this new jewel on featuring Austin-area singer-songwriters. We were in for a local cultural treat.

We arrived to find a nearly empty parking lot at Alice’s Restaurant. Inside, we saw a band off to our left playing to a group of about forty empty chairs. A friendly waiter seated us at a table on the opposite side of the restaurant. Two other patrons were seated in the dining area when we arrived. We figured we had just arrived too early for the place to be hopping, but that a crowd would begin to trickle in as we ate.

The waiter gave us menus and took our drink orders. Each of us looked over an impressive list of down-home foods that would make any central Texan proud. After an inordinately long wait, our waiter came to take our orders. Paula ordered the smoked pork chop, Bill ordered a sirloin steak, my wife Ellen ordered the catfish, and I ordered a chicken-fried steak.

After about 45 minutes, our waiter reappeared with the disappointing news that none of the things we had ordered was available. He must have been engaged in a deep conversation with the chef about this dilemma. Keeping a stiff upper lip, our waiter handed us the menus again and asked us to make new choices. After a very short deliberation—remember we were extremely hungry after the long wait—we ordered alternatives that we thought would suffice. The waiter disappeared again for about a half hour.

As we waited, we noticed a good-looking young couple climbing into a small above-ground pool that butted up against the railing by the outdoor patio. This pool was about fifteen feet from our table and easily visible. After a few minutes it was obvious that the young couple liked each other very much. There was a lot of physical contact between them, and a type of innocence that must have been part of the chemistry between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This couple at Alice’s Restaurant seemed completely oblivious to our presence, as if they were the only two people in the world–either in love or in heat! I must confess that this unanticipated entertainment by the romantic bathers did help suppress our appetites for a time.

Finally, our waiter reappeared, this time with his tail firmly tucked between his legs. He sheepishly confided to us in a low voice that the only thing available from the kitchen was hamburgers. He quietly asked us if we would like a hamburger. We basically said yes, anything, after being foodless there for well over an hour.

We laughed a lot about the irony between our dining experience and the famous line from Arlo Guthrie’s song:

You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant

The gap between our expectations and the reality of Alice’s Restaurant in Niederwald, Texas, on that particular day, was wide, to say the least. But Bill and Paula were good sports, to the extreme point that they even praised us for our bent toward trying new restaurants. Somehow our disappointment with Alice’s Restaurant in Niederwald was partly offset by the unique entertainment provided by the young bathers.

No other diners arrived while we were there. This was a dining experience like none other. It was indeed a local cultural treat. Nolo contendere.

We heard a few weeks later that Alice’s Restaurant had closed. While not surprising, I could not help but feel sad for Nina Marlowe and her shattered dream in Niederwald.

Big Tex Cantina!

digitalcornflake — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:20:39 +0000

Friday night I enjoyed happy hour a little too much, so I didn’t do to much on Saturday. I mea

Like Wild Natives Pounding Their Forks on the Table!

It's All In A Day's Work — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:54:43 +0000

From my earliest recollection, I have always loved to cook. That summer morning was no different, I quickly scanned the pages of the red and white checked cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens) for my latest breakfast creation. Although, I was only 9 years old, I knew my way around the kitchen. I chose to make a coffee cake. Not surprising…I always chose a recipe from the quick breads section; only thing was I didn’t think the recipes were as quick as they should be. Working quickly (I was hungry you know) I gathered the ingredients needed and prepared the cake. As usual, I had tasted too much batter. I know what you’re thinking…raw eggs…they’re bad for you, but I am still here. Although, my sampling had spoiled my appetite, I still managed to scarf down a warm piece of cinnamony goodness with my coffee milk or more commonly know as caffè latte.

Fast forward…years later, it was no surprise to anyone when I decided to start my own event and catering business. My business was just taking off. I had been asked to cater a women’s luncheon…a large women’s luncheon…500 plus. I was so excited to plan every detail with let’s just call her Miss Betty. The meal would be served family style. The menu: Honey BBQ chicken tenders, baked potatoes, steamed fresh veggies, tossed salad, homemade beer bread and assorted cakes for dessert. In preparation of the event, I quickly assessed that I needed temporary help. It being summer, I asked some school teacher friends of mine to help with the event. The day of the event started out just great. I had everyone lined out with their specific job duties. The tables were being set. The salads and side dishes prepared. The desserts cut. I confirmed the start time with Miss Betty…12:30 pm. Miss Betty said the morning conference session would end at 12:15 pm, but the doors to the event center would be locked until 12:30 pm or so we thought. With everything under control, the only thing left to do was for me to go back to my business location and get the chicken off the smoker. Notice I said “under control”. Well, that’s not what it was when I returned at 12:15 pm with the chicken. I entered the event kitchen to find my friends looking like “deer in the headlights”. They started stuttering and stammering about the door not being locked or something like that…it was all gibberish to me. Trying to make sense of what was going on someone grabbed my arm and lead me to the dining room. There they were…all 500 of them heifers…like wild natives pounding their forks on the table demanding more food. More food? I hated to ask what happened to the salad, veggies, potatoes and beer bread for fear that it had already been consumed and you know what…I was right! They had eaten everything and I do mean everything…even the desserts. The only thing I knew to do at the time was to serve the BBQ chicken…which we quickly did to the angry mob who were demanding sides to go with their chicken. Sides, I asked and by that do you mean the salad, veggies, potatoes, beer bread and let’s not forget the desserts…oh, that’s right you ate them…every last one of them! By now, I am positive that I too looked like a deer in the headlights, fearing that they might turn on us! The word cannibal crossed my mind…oh I needed to get a grip. Tina, I said to myself…snap out of it! Then I saw Miss Betty quickly approaching me…oh, snap…this is going to get ugly. Fearing the worst, I swallowed hard, squared my shoulders and was ready to take my tongue lashing when much to my surprise came an “I am so sorry” out of her mouth. She was taking the blame. The conference session had ended early and for some reason the door to the dining room was unlocked allowing this feeding frenzy to begin. Feeling relieved I went to offer my friends some much needed comfort. These women who are in the trenches everyday with unruly kids had never seen the likes of these women and to say the least they were in no way prepared for the onslaught that they endured. And although they survived, they never wanted to help me with any events in the future, but who could blame them.

After all was said and done or should I say eaten and gone, one could assume that they surely did enjoy there meal!

I want to share the Texas Beer Bread recipe for you to enjoy.

Texas Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 C Self-Rising Flour

1/2 C Sugar

1-12 oz Beer (Not lite beer) @ room temperature

1/2 C Butter-melted

Directions:

Mix together flour, sugar and beer. Put mixture in buttered loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes. Immediately pour the melted butter over top of the bread. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

Shiner Bock, Fat Tire or Old Chub will really add a lot of flavor to this bread. This recipe will make 3 mini loaves for Christmas gift giving.

October 31

Melinda Green Harvey — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:50:14 +0000

“Ain’t that Texas cookin’ good?”
- Guy Clark

Austin, Texas

photographed 5.30.2010

Peace, Love & Barbecue..

boscodagama — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:19:26 +0000

Our band (Leanne and the Bizarros) used to open for hers (Frieda and the Firedogs) back in Austin in the early ’70s.. get back!

Grads and Dads are a Great Reason to BBQ

texastreats — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:00:16 +0000

In Texas, June bugs debut in April and summer begins in May, but June finds its own special niche with backyard BBQ’s and graduation parties. Since this is a month of celebrations, we want to help you be prepared for whatever exciting event you have on the books!

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

No party is a good party unless there is plenty of good food and great decorations. As you prepare to host out of town family or a couple neighbors, keep in mind that Texas decorations are always in style, especially with July 4th around the corner. We have some food and decoration ideas that are sure to be a hit!

For starters, serve up some recipes from our Cordon Bubba cookbook like Armadillo Eggs in a jalapeno bowl and Spicy Jalapeno Martini’s in good ‘ole Texas mug. Then fire up the grill with some tasty recipes from Texas Barbeque 101 Cookbook. You could even give your SMU, Texas Tech, Texas A&M or University of Texas graduate a collegiate branding iron so he’ll always remember the joys of college life! Don’t forget to grab your cook a Texas Flag apron to make him stand out as the Chef Extraordinaire!

As for decorations, why not serve up some Texas-shaped chips with delicious salsa in this nifty Texas-shaped bowl? You can also spice up the party table with some Texas flag napkins or a centerpiece of Texas Candy that a few lucky guests can take home! And with all this celebrating to do, Texans have more reason than ever to celebrate the state with some personalized Texas goodies! Texas Treats has everything you might be looking for to say “Bon Voyage” to your college-bound kid with a good luck horseshoe or “Thanks a million” to the dads in your life. Whether it’s prepping your graduate for college cooking success, or giving Dad t he hint that BBQ season is here, we’ve got what you need to make sure that this summer, the spirit of Texas is hotter than coals in your smoker.

No Longer Secret Brisket Recipe for Disaster

Earl B Russell — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 03:20:24 +0000

I messed with Texas and lost. Even worse, I committed one of the biggest sins in Texas. Related information is revealed if you hold your cursor over the photo at right.

Good friends here in Austin asked us to join a gourmet cooking group. After giving it some thought, we declined. We had been members of two previous gourmet cooking groups in Illinois and Nebraska, and each became an exercise in competitive, difficult cooking. So our friends regrouped and a few days later asked us if we would join a “non-gourmet” group. How could we say no to that?

At an organizational meeting my wife Ellen and I volunteered to host the first dinner. We decided that I would cook my very first brisket on our gas grill, smoked with mesquite wood chunks. The other couples would bring complementary, simple dishes. As the grilling began, the grill on its lowest setting ran about 100 degrees hotter than briskets should be cooked, so I slathered on many coats of leftover marinade in part to cool the meat while cooking.

As our guests arrived I brought in the brisket and began to slice it. At first I thought I was using the wrong side of the knife blade, but I wasn’t. The brisket was really tough. So I sliced it thin to ease the cutting on the dinner plates. Even though our guests were warned that the brisket was tougher than most, they sawed away on their brisket servings and ate slowly and seemingly happily. As I ate the brisket, I thought it was not only tough, but that it had an unusual, unpleasant taste to it. But everyone seemed to be having such a good time that I didn’t want to make any other negative remarks and detract from the group’s fun.

As the meal concluded, I remarked that my brisket recipe would remain a secret because I didn’t want any of them to ever serve me a brisket like this one. They laughed and continued with lively conversation.

A couple of days later I decided that I would send the group an e-mail message containing a brisket recipe that I thought would reproduce the brisket I had made to a tee. So here is that no-longer-secret recipe that is my best guess as to how to make a brisket as terrible as mine:

6 lbs. brisket, from an old bull

1/2 gal. kerosene

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

8 oz. tomato sauce

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tbsp. minced garlic

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 tbsp. ground black pepper

Lay the brisket in the driveway or street, covered top and bottom with old newspaper. Run over the brisket with the car ten times to tenderize the old bull. Lay the run-over brisket on a work bench in the garage and beat it with a ball-peen hammer until you can see light through the brisket.

Mix the kerosene, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic, onion, and black pepper into a marinade. Soak the tenderized old bull in the marinade for 7-10 days. Six hours prior to serving, remove the old bull from the marinade, reserving the left over marinade as a sop during grilling. Grill the old bull on indirect heat at 250-300 degrees, over mesquite chunks, for six hours, sopping on the sop with an old paint brush not completely cleaned of lead-based paint. When the kerosene ignites on the grill, turn the meat rapidly for even burning until the kerosene burns away. Repeat these steps each time you apply the sop.

Remove the old bull brisket from grill and cut, with a dull knife, across the grain, into 1/4-inch slices. Serve while hot. Your guests will be amazed at how terrible this brisket is!

Yes, I messed with Texas and lost. A friend said I could get deported for what I did. But that would be better than being hung from a tall oak tree.

Eating in Houston for the Final Four

boscodagama — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 10:34:58 +0000

Try this from Eating Our Words, a Houston food blogging accumulator. I’m a bit late with this, but I haven’t followed sport since they disbanded the Southwest Conference.

we dance as good as we walk

Dining out this weekend is guaranteed to be mass (or approaching critical mass) chaos. Shelby Hodge, writing for CultureMap, reports that nearly all of the high-end places close to downtown are booked solid for the weekend, while just as many other popular restaurants have been designated as official Final Four viewing party locations for visiting fans. 29-95 has a full list for all four team’s fan bases, which includes spots like Christian’s Tailgate and Cadillac Bar (and a Chili’s? WTF?).

In other words, look forward to a total clusterf**k if you want to eat out. And that’s before taking into account all the road closures. So what’s a visitor to our fair city to do?

Queso Fresco (Mexican Fresh Crumble Cream Cheese)

lynn — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 23:41:31 +0000

I was watching Rick Bayless: Mexico, One Plate at a Time on PBS and saw this fast and easy queso fre

Let's hear it for bacon!

boscodagama — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:48:22 +0000

One of the 3.14 major food groups (this includes pie, too). I like the Whiskey & herbes de provence cure that Belmont Butchery does.

It's what's fer breakfast!
Image courtesy of Joe Nick Patoski

A musing on barbecue:

boscodagama — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:21:51 +0000

From EATING OUR WORDS, a Houston Foodblog collective:

Growing up, we never ate barbecue in a restaurant. The entire idea was anathema ……. You made barbecue at home. It took all day. You invited the family over when it was ready. You ate. Going out for barbecue was like asking someone other than your mother to make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as a kid: It just wasn’t going to be as good.

Saint Guy Clark

Bad Heart — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:45:39 +0000

“There ain’t no money in poetry/That’s what makes the poet free…”

– Guy Clark, “Cold Dog Soup”

When I moved to Hollywood, one of the first songs I performed in front of a Los Angeles audience was a Guy Clark song. It was during an open mike night at Café Muse on Santa Monica Boulevard. I walked onstage and played “L.A. Freeway,” a song Clark wrote while he was on his way out of Los Angeles. The crowd – mostly young Dave Matthews imitators – barely stirred but then sat up straight when I reached the chorus: “If I can just get off of this L.A. freeway without getting killed or caught/I’d be down the road in a cloud of smoke to some land I ain’t bought.”

Clark began his music career as a luthier. There’s a scene in James Szalapski’s documentary “Heartworn Highways,” in which Clark is building one of his guitars; that scene practically resembles a demonstration video. Raised in Houston, he moved first to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and finally settled in Nashville, where he perfected his other craft – songwriting.

If you want to know how to write a song, just listen to a Guy Clark song. Each one has the drama and the intensity of a Raymond Carver story – lonely drifters, haunted by regret, find solace in the simple things in life: a guitar, a Randall knife, Texas cooking, homegrown tomatoes, trains, boats, instant coffee, a parking lot, Picasso’s mandolin, Hemingway’s whiskey. Yes, especially alcohol. That seems to flow right through all of his songs.

His songs “Desperados Waiting for a Train” and “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” became hits for Jerry Jeff Walker and Johnny Cash, respectively. Both tunes are outlaw music classics, centering on old-timers desperately holding onto a long forgotten past while Death, “that son of a bitch,” come closing in.

Clark not only writes songs for other singers, but is kind enough to help out his fellow artists. In the 1960s and 1970s, his Nashville home became a halfway house for emerging songwriters, like Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell. Townes Van Zandt wrote “If I Needed You” from a dream he had while sleeping on Clark’s floor.

I first saw Clark at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Some fan ran up to him to pose for a picture. After the camera shutter clicked, Clark extended his hand to greet the young man, and do you know what that fan did? The asshole turned his back to him, ignoring the handshake, and instead jumped up and down like a small child, excited to have gotten his prize. A completely douche bag move, as far as I’m concerned. No respect for geniuses, really!

But as much as Clark is a talented craftsman and a gracious patron, he’s also first and foremost a gentleman. He just brushed the incident off, got onstage and performed a great set. He had no set list; he just took requests from the audience. One request was “Dublin Blues,” a lovelorn lament loosely structured around the traditional song, “Handsome Molly.” It starts off, “Oh I wished I was in Austin in the Chili Parlor Bar/Drinking Mad Dog margaritas and not caring where you are…”

Now I’ve never been at the Chili Parlor Bar and never had a Mad Dog margarita, but at that moment, I wished I was there in Austin as well.

“I’ll stand up and be counted,” he continued. “I’ll face up to the truth/I’ll walk away from trouble but I can’t walk away from you.”

My god, someone make this Guy a saint already!

“Dublin Blues”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQGjkBuMGAU

“L.A. Freeway”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTwUpkEK6yk

Shoulder Clod: Round 5

boscodagama — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:28:17 +0000

The meat is cut and plated for the shindig this afternoon in Faber, VA. Here are some photos of the process.

It was very good to take a hot shower after 15 hours of tending the smoker and slicing the meat.

crankin' away

Smoky pit & shoulder clod.

The end product:

This is barbecue. Not pork soup on a bun, with cole slaw.

More photos will be taken at the boda.

Shoulder Clod: Round 4

boscodagama — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:24:40 +0000

OK, here we are. I got the smoker going at 5:30 this AM and put the meat on at 6:30 AM. I will take it off around 8-10 tonight.

5:30 AM June 4, 2010

Inside the cooker..

2 shoulder clods with a goat leg behind.

This is for a wedding up in Nelson County tomorrow. I used to cook goat for 300 folks at a whack back in the day in Texas. Speaking of which, I may be able to be a judge at the World Championship Goat Cook-Off in Brady, Texas if I’m down thataway during Labor Day.

Now something from Wally Gonzalez, the Taco Kid.

Shoulder clods: Round 3 (with goat leg)

boscodagama — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:43:48 +0000

I could only get two shoulder clods from Belmont Butchery. No problem. I went to Petra Halal Market (Arch & Midlothian) and picked up a five pound goat leg.

I’m using mesquite, apple, & Jack Daniels chips for the smoke. No pecan showed up. Here are some photos.

Apple, mesquite chunks, & Jack Daniels barrel chips.

These will go atop the charcoal tomorrow in the AM.

Goat leg on the left, beef shoulder clods on the right

Now here’s the anointed goat leg in all its glory.

Goat leg ready for a nap.

Shoulder Clods: Round 2

boscodagama — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:05:26 +0000

I’m working on a wet rub for the shoulder clods. I’m testing this today on a small sirloin cap roast:

1 reconstituted Ancho chile (seeds removed)
1 reconstituted dried chipotle (seeds removed)
1/4 cup smoked paprika
6 mashed garlic cloves
1 tbs ground comino
1 oz Mexican oregano (find this at La Milpa)
1 tsp thyme
1 tbs kosher salt
1 tbs achiote/annato extract
the juice of a lime
beer (as needed to add fluid)

I ground this up in my small food processor into a paste. Fairly pungent stuff. Will add photos..

Here’s something from one of my homies. Seguro que hell yes! Time to crank up the smoker, compas!

Here’s the smoker in action:

Sunday afternoon with the smoker going

The sirloin cap just out of the smoker after 4 hours.

The finished product.

A taste test..

The first slice...

I think I’ll do this as a dry rub.. I have ancho & chipotle in powdered form. May need to hit Penzeys for granulated garlic..

Shoulder clods: Round One

boscodagama — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:13:14 +0000

In the back..

I have ordered two shoulder clods from Belmont Butchery to cook for a festivity on the first week of June.

I’m looking for chunks of pecan wood. Where can I get some?

A Rising Star (Texas) Winery

vinotrails — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 06:18:04 +0000

Outside Rising Star Winery It’s Spring Break around our part of Texas, and to close out the we

Su Vino Winery

vinotrails — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:02:52 +0000

Su Vino Wines Over the Christmas holidays, my wife and I visited Su Vino in Grapevine, Texas. Su Vi

Freezing in South Texas...

leicaman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:50:49 +0000

We are in the middle of a deep freeze…the coldest spell in over twenty years for south Texas! There is only way to beat the cold snap and that is to rummy up some homemade chili. I have used this recipe for thirteen years…hope you enjoy…serves six…

Rockin'P Turkey Chili

1 lb. lean ground turkey

3 cans stewed tomatoes

2 cans (drained) pinto beans

1 can rotel diced tomatoes and chiles

1 medium chopped onion

2 chopped green bell peppers

2 chopped & deseeded jalapeños (handle carefully)

1 tblsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. red pepper

In a large dutch oven sauté the onions, bell peppers and jalapenos in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat for ten minutes. Add the turkey and cook till crumbly, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes. Garnish with grated Monterrey Jack cheese. Just saying…

Southern 5 Hour Stew

texascooking — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:16:31 +0000

Stew has been something that always means home to me. My Grandmother we call her “Oma” used to cook stew at least once a month when I was young. It was a time that the entire family would get together and eat great. Some ingredients always stayed the same each time but a lot would change and that would make a wonderful new and familiar taste every time, if that makes sense. My Grandmother lived in a small trailer by the bay so when 20 to 30 people would stop by for stew it made tight quarters. Not everyone was family most were just neighborhood friends of her’s but she treated them all as family so she would make gallons on stew each time. Here is her recipe, I hope you like it.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. stew meat, trimmed of fat
1 tablespoon of oil
6 carrots cut to your preference, just keep them all as close to the same as you can.
2 full onion cut into sixths
3 medium potatoes, halved and cut into thirds
1 cup celery cut into 3/4 slices
1-2 cans stewed tomatoes (1-2 your choice, choose the lesser if you can’t handle to much acid. If you want even more try adding 1/2 small can of tomato paste)
1 can of water – Use same can from above for water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
(Any ingredients that you think would taste good with above mentioned)

Preparation:

Use a large dutch oven or roaster pan. *Not much prep once you cut your vegetables and meat*

Cooking Instructions:

Cut meat into small cubes – the size that you want to eat
Gather 1 onion and meat
Use dutch oven or roaster pan to lightly brown meat cubes in oil with 1 of the onions *Make sure the pot is HOT you do not want to coo the meat only sear the outside, it’s has to be hot for that.*
Add Stewed Tomatoes (paste as well if wanted) , and Water in pot.
Add all spices, remaining onions and get it HOT

* The Remaining recipe has room for you to adjust to your own preferences. When cooking vegetables the longer you cook them the softer they become. Since everyone seems to like different vegetable textures adjust times below accordingly, just keep the main stew cooking time the same or the meat won’t be tender. Below is how I like it.*

Add Celery and let cook on stove at low for about 2 hours or in an dutch oven in the oven at 250 degrees for 2 hours, Checking Occasionally that it’s not to hot.
Stir taste and add Carrots plus additional spices as needed, stew has to be your own. If you need additional liquid add now and keep cooking for an another 2 hours.
After this I add my potatoes and cook until potatoes are to the texture I want about 30min to an hour.
Your Finished, Cook some cornbread to go with and serve.

*You can freeze left overs and reheat when you want. Take my suggestion and reheat on defrost the potatoes stay together better that way.*

Texas Cooking

I hope you enjoy the recipe!

Stuffed Zucchinni

texascooking — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:34:04 +0000

Stuffed Zucchini is one of my favorite dishes. I am not sure if it a true southern dish or not. I have only seen Stuffed Zucchini in Texas, but I figure people are making everywhere. We have a restaurant in Texas called Zucchini’s that makes all different kinds of delicious zucchini plates, this is where I found a taste for it. Since then traveling around I try and pick up a recipes for it when I can. Here is one I learned while in Houston, I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini
1 lb. ground meat
onion, chopped
1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
2 slices stale bread, cubed. ( Or you can buy it ready at the grocery store in the stuffing section)
1 egg
Salt and Pepper for taste. (Use you own discretion)
1/2 teaspoon Greek seasoning
1/2 cup picante sauce (Pace is what we use this aint “New York City!”)
1 cup catsup

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut zucchini ends off and slice once lengthwise, scoop out and reserve (don’t through away) all centers.

Cooking:

Mix all ingredients *except 3/4 of the catsup* we will use it later.
Add reserved zucchini centers into mixture from above.
Place mixture in even amounts into hollowed out zucchini centers.
Add remaining catsup to top of each stuffed zucchini.
Place all zucchini pieces in a deep pan and add 1/2 cup of water to bottom of pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

Texas Cooking

I hope you enjoy the recipe.

How to Cook Southern Fried Fish

texascooking — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:42:50 +0000

Frying fish is a staple in Texas. Positioned on the the third coast, there is a rich variety of seafood at the fingertips of Texas cookers. In my personal opinion there is no better fried fish than fried Flounder and fried Speckled Trout. The recipe that follows can be used with any fish of your choosing. *Webmasters Favorite Recipe*

Texas Southern Fried Fish

Ingredients Needed:

Vegetable Oil
Fish Fillets – Depending on the fish this will very. I find 1 to 1.5 pounds of fish per person is enough.
Corn Meal – Enough to cover all pieces of fish. I use half of a 2 lb bag.
1 24oz can of Miller Light
Salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Red Pepper or Cayenne Pepper

Preparation:

Clean Fillets thoroughly to make sure all bones are removed. You will need a large skillet cast iron if possible for frying the fish. Place out two containers, one will need to be large enough to contain all the fish while submerged in beer the other will be used to cover the fish in cornmeal.

Cooking: This is were Texas Southern Fried Fish is separated from the rest.

Place all cleaned fillets (I cut mine in half first makes them easier to manage) in larger of the two containers then pour beer to cover the entire amount of fish. Do this first so the fish has time to soak before cooking.
Heat vegetable oil in skillet to 350 degrees. *IMPORTANT* OIL MUST STAY HOT..HOT..HOT. This is key to getting cornmeal to stick to your fish.
Combine in smaller of the two containers : Cornmeal, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, and Cayenne Pepper. I do not give exact amounts of seasoning to add because it will change depending on the amount of cornmeal. My rule is I add until I can smell the seasoning in the cornmeal, as well it won’t hurt you to taste a pinch and judge for yourself.
Once oil is to temperature remove a few fillets from beer and move to cornmeal. Completely coat fish with cornmeal and don’t manhandle. Only take out a few at a time I like to cook 1-3 fillets a rotation.
Place fish from cornmeal to HOT oil. Monitor your heat at this time. When the act of frying begins it will raise the temperature of the oil watch carefully you do not burn the oil or the fish. On the other side don’t let the oil get to cold. Overcrowding the pan with to many fillets is the easiest way to do this. If the cornmeal is not staying attached to your fish then your cornmeal is probably to cold
Cook fish for about 2-4 min on each side. You will notice the fillets want to float after cooked. Gauge how well there done by the color of the cornmeal, you want a nice golden brown.
Repeat steps 4 – 6 until all fish is cooked and you have Texas Southern Fried Fish.

I learned this from an 84 year old woman living in San Leon, Texas. She told me that you only use flower in your fish fry if you live in the north. She was less than a mile from the bay with leads into the Gulf Of Mexico. Another point she expressed to me witch I imagine was easier for her obtain than most was the importance of fresh fish. That’s another way you will see your cornmeal not stick is if you are not using fresh fish. I met this woman after hurricane Ike destroyed her trailer and she was living at a friends helping the rest of the community carry on. Even though she had lost everything she seemed happy as a lark to be cooking for those of us trying to help. She even found time to teach me how to cook her Texas Southern Fried Fish, and it’s a day I have never forgot.

Texas Cooking

I hope you enjoy the recipe!

El Macho Chupacabra

cw — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:54:17 +0000

I, for one, as a fatboy redneck who loves food almost as much as my kids, am bigtime excited about the opening of El Macho Chupacabra. Interior Mexican meets Rio Grande Valley meets South Texas, fast casual, with the grillmaster right out there in the open, firing up meats and peppers and everything good about Mex-Tex grub. Stay tuned for details…