And she's a nerd too.... Neko Case's new album comes out on March 3. Get yourself a listen here. The final track is 30 minutes of frog chirping. Redhead. Cusses like a sailor. Nerd. She's my celebrity crush.

More poky things....


Local wildlife....(Gray Fox)


Yes, there are live armadillos sometimes....

If you are ever driving through West, TX you need to stop here. The Czech Stop. Its about 30 min north of Waco on IH35. It's a little Czech community, of which there are many in Texas. The Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner is another Czech institution. (Shiner Bock for those familiar with Texas). The Czech and Germans were some of the first immigrants to the area. There are often two types of breakfast road food in Texas: either tacos, or kolaches. In West they do kolaches and all of the assorted pastry dishes. They do more sweet kolaches than many places, but they do plenty of sausage and cheese in a baked dough. They also sell a lot of summer sausage. I forget when I found this place. I think it was when I lived in Bonham, and was coming back from a bike race in Waco. Go. On a busy travel weekend there will be a line around the building.

Don't give me any shit. I know it's empty. It is that good. The Hacienda Sotol mescal is the best cactus squeezin's going. It's better than any premium tequila and much cheaper. Seriously, if you can find it, try it. It WAS their añejo, but the blanco and reposado are both good in their own right, too. Sotol generally has a bit of a bad name, as do most mescals. It is made very similarly to tequila, but from a different cactus. Remember, tequila is a mescal also. It's an appelation (mostly from the state of Jalisco) and requirement that it be from a specific cactus (Blue agave). Sotol is just a different agave from a different region (Chihuahua). Definitely on point.

The Basil Hayden's is a nice drinkable bourbon, and is currently my favorite. It's strong without being overbearing. A somewhat scotch like bourbon.


Zaya is my favorite premium rum. It's from Guatemala. It's a little sweet, but not too much so. Very smooth. It's for drinking, not for mixing. It's in the same league as the Barbancourt 15 or the Fleur de Caña 12.


Believe it or not, Texas makes some good vodkas. I'm not really a vodka drinker, but I like Tito's. It has beaten much more expensive vodkas in taste tests. I think it's grain based and not potato based, which is somewhat of a heresy, but it's vodka. It's not supposed to taste like anything except clean alcohol goodness.
There is also the Dripping Springs vodka, which is a little more rough around the edges. Sometimes, that's a good thing.

Apparently, the Russians invented break-dancing sometime around 1918... That, or Run DMC figured out time travel...



mash-ups are so much fun...

We had a small dinner for the baby jebus day. I don't go much for the holiday, but I do love the food. If you are tired of dry cornbread I have two tips: 1) Cook it in a cast iron, and 2) use this recipie: Texas Home Cooking, Jalapeño Cornbread (Jamison and Jamison, 1993, p. 318). It needs no extra oil or butter. It's moist. It's cheesy. It's full of sweet corn. It's yummy. It's the best stuff ever.


I did up a duck for dinner. It came out fucking awesome. I just put some lime, and sage in the body cavity, and surrounded the quacker with red and fingerling potatoes, carrots, shallots, and chicken stock. I did it in the cast iron so that I could use the drippings for gravy, which may be the most wonderful gravy ever. Before:

During:

After 3 hours:

I don't have any pics of the gravy, or Naomi's avacado pie, but they were amazing. It's a good thing I don't eat like this all the time....

As if a picture of gravy would be any good....

I was out in the field last week, and most of the fish we caught were about this size. This was a darter from the San Gabriel River. I forget exactly what species.


Then we got this one. This was a 1m flathead catfish that we got in a shallow little eddy. It doesn't seem like a river this size should have very many of these. The pics below are of it's mouth, which was huge, and of the little sunfish which was nearly eaten. I would have liked to get a sample from him, but I couldn't bring myself to take this fish for the less than 5 grams of sample that I needed. I should have clipped the adipose fin, but didn't think of it in time...




At the final site for this week's sampling, we found this. What would 14 boxes of pseudoephedrine, with no more than two boxes of any given brand be used for? Hmmm, I wonder. Meth anyone? I will not miss Tehuacana Creek. I feel violated every time I go there.


There's something in the water in Waco (well lithium, but I'm not so sure there isn't something else). I can see a West and South or East and North, or another combination of 90° off direction highways. But really, North and South on the same stretch of road, when you are travelling either due North or South?

Back in the dark ages, when I rode a BMX bike, this shit wasn't even dreamed of. Check out about 3:15 in where he pulls off a front flip-tail whip. Insane.

We are in the middle of a drought here in central Texas. A bad one. They keep putting rain 4-5 days out in the forecast. Maybe 5 drops fall out of the sky. Last summer not withstanding (where it rained almost every day in June and July) we are approaching the drought of the '50s.
That red in the middle of the state. That's us. We've gotten about 6" all year. Normal is about 35". And people insist on watering their lawns...

One of the good things about a Texas drought in the fall and winter is the great weather. I've recently been able to find the time to go mountain biking for first regular time in a couple of years. It turns out that there are a few nice trails here in San Marcos. We've got our own version of the Austin Greenbelt. The last couple of weeks have been amazing.

One of the nicer spots on the Upper Purgatory Creek greenbelt

It varies from wide open

To fun through the trees

Back to the open...

In and out, tight and twisty...

Then there are the rocky sections. Yes there's a trail there. There was a time when I'd work on riding that. Not so much anymore.

Oh, and it's Texas, so there are the requisite poky things. It's not a teddy bear cholla, but it wouldn't feel good...

Fall in Texas...

I helped get Kris a bike earlier this year and we actually got her out on a trail that didn't bite her. This is on an un-named trail in town.

A view from the ridge over the Hill Country. There's lots of rocks out there. Not a lot of trail, but a lot of rock.

I may have to start climbing again, Purgatory has a bouldering area. It may turn into the San Marcos Dualathon. Or better yet the San Marcos Tri: mountain bike, climb, float the river.

So far I've found three areas to ride in town. Another couple of weeks and I may shoot for a Sunday trifecta ride....

Hooray Beer!

Now that the political season is over, it's time for other interests... Here is what I've been drinking lately:

Lagunitas Censored Ale = Dangerously good. It's a great copper ale. Not too sweet. Not over-hopped for the style. Yummy.


Deschutes Brewing Company Black Butte Porter: Nectar of the Gods. This is the best porter EVER. Period. Perfectly balanced. Not too heavy. Recently available in Texas. Now if we can just get AVBC into the state...


Another CA beer recently available in Texas. It's a good example of a Marzen. I'm not sure what makes it different than a Bock, but it sure goes down nice.


It's for a good cause, so I had to pick up a sixer. They are a relatively new brewery out of Fort Worth. A portion of the proceeds goes to protection of endangered and native species. The Texas Blind Salamander is both, and local to where I live. It's o.k., a little sweet and underhopped for my tastes. I want a pale ale to have some bite. Maybe I'm spoiled by my time in NorCal, but Sierra Nevada is a proper pale. It's almost has a belgain flavor with how underhopped it is. Don't be afraid of the hops!


There are a few really good Texas beers which I will get to at some point (Real Brewing Company, Independence Brewing Company, St. Arnolds) and some which I won't since they only serve at the brewery or at bars (wierd Texas laws... Live Oak, North by Northwest, Draught Horse...) and believe it or not, Texas makes awesome vodka (Tito's, Dripping Springs...)

Happy drinking...

'nuff said.


I believe this is from stevemb. If someone knows who to give credit to, I'll gladly correct.