Texas! How is it?

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PolarGuy said:
We are northeasterners but we LOVE Texas, so much so that we would often visit every year. We would often spend Easter in a different city in Texas; San Antonio has a most wonderful cathedral where we would do Easter morning mass followed by brunch on the riverwalk.

The only thing I didn’t like is that the whole state seems so new & growing that it seems very heavy on the chain restaurants/shops without the more distinctive family-run establishments ubiquitous to the northeast - but I admit that could be because we’ve spend more time in large cities & just haven’t found more family-owned joints.
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That first paragraph sounds PERFECT!

I think there are actually a lot of good non-chain places, but it requires more local knowledge to figure out.

Also, there are good chains. We love Rosa’s Tortilla Factory. It is a chain (it looks like 98% or so Texas-based), but it’s very high quality for what you pay. (We always get the family fajita platter.)
 
UbiCaritas said:
One of Houston’s gems is the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, which puts on a G&S operetta every year.

The patter songs are often altered with appropriate localized lyrics.

The year that New York got a shuttle and Houston didn’t, the G&S Society did “The Mikado.” Included on the “Little List” patter song was “The idiots who gave the shuttle to New York.”

The singer and orchestra had to pause and restart several times because of the resultant standing ovation that kept interrupting the song…
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That sounds REALLY fun! 😃
 
Xantippe said:
You sound like you do this way too often…
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Well, not anymore because I live in the Midwest where I’ve only seen 2 snakes in 10 years, and they could be completely ignored-- bull snake and grass snake. The only poisonous snakes here are rattlesnakes and they are pretty rare.

But, yeah, when I lived in TX in the country… all the time on alert. When I moved here I freaked out when my DH put his hand right into a wood pile. I was like, “where’s your snake stick?” He replies, “my what?” I replied, “You know-- an old broom that you’ve cut the handle off of and use to poke into places before you reach in…” He replied, “why would I do that?”

Ignorance of poisonous snakes is bliss, apparently.
 
Xantippe said:
You sound like you do this way too often…
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LOL! My aunt’s daddy, both of whom were born and raised on a cattle ranch near Stephenville, used to kill the rattlesnakes and the copperheads by stepping on their heads with his boot and cracking the end of the tail like a whip to decapitate them. Didn’t even blink his eye about it. 😉
 
PolarGuy said:
Sorry to come late to the party.

We are northeasterners but we LOVE Texas, so much so that we would often visit every year. We would often spend Easter in a different city in Texas; San Antonio has a most wonderful cathedral where we would do Easter morning mass followed by brunch on the riverwalk.

Houston is a great city for commerce and we also love the gulf coast/Kemah area, although we found it surprisingly bayou-like (not a bad thing; just not expected). We also enjoyed the Galveston area.

To this day I’m offended that space center Houston was not awarded a space shuttle.

The only thing I didn’t like is that the whole state seems so new & growing that it seems very heavy on the chain restaurants/shops without the more distinctive family-run establishments ubiquitous to the northeast - but I admit that could be because we’ve spend more time in large cities & just haven’t found more family-owned joints.
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+1 on the space shuttle!!

Then again, Space Center Houston is a miserable shadow of the old NASA, where visitors could walk around the real labs, see them in action and use the same cafeteria as the astronauts! Those were the days…

For mom and pop eateries, you should look to more minor towns.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Sugabee43 said:
LOL! My aunt’s daddy, both of whom were born and raised on a cattle ranch near Stephenville, used to kill the rattlesnakes and the copperheads by stepping on their heads with his boot and cracking the end of the tail like a whip to decapitate them. Didn’t even blink his eye about it. 😉
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Sounds a bit like a friend’s mom. Friend grew up near here. Friend’s dad had views similar to mine re snakes. Friend’s mom simply didn’t have time for them. If a snake showed up–and it was usually a copperhead or cottonmouth–she found that dropping a rather large rock on their head generally took care of the problem.

Me? I’ll be over in the next county, getting a nice stiff drink…
 
pnewton said:
Even our convenience stores have good food (I am referring to Buc-ee’s jerky.)
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just curoious:
Is Texas the home of Wolf Brand Chili?
Because it’s the best fro frito pie or tamale pie. Or anything. 😉
 
Xantippe said:
Is Stripes a predominantly TX gas station chain?

Because I’m told that they have surprisingly good food for a gas station.

stripesstores.com/laredo-taco-company/lunch-menu.cms
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Looks like they have stores in TX and OK. Their corporate headquarters are in Corpus Christi.

Funny b/c they are all over Houston and I’ve never stopped at one. Will have to do that when I’m down there in a few weeks and check it out.

Buc-ee’s is the Mecca of all convenience stores. Love me some Buc-ee’s.
 
Does Texas still have Church’s Fried Chicken?

Major nostalgia for me.
 
While does anyone know about some good small towns in Texas? Something with around 10k people with good schools and land for a hobby farm. I’m looking at Boerne at the moment but don’t know much about it at the moment.
 
Burt_Macklin said:
While does anyone know about some good small towns in Texas? Something with around 10k people with good schools and land for a hobby farm. I’m looking at Boerne at the moment but don’t know much about it at the moment.
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There are SO many.

Anything outside Austin or San Antonio would be nice. Never been to Boerne but knew people from there. Places like Marble Falls, Seguin, etc., are nice.

Anything in the Brazos Valley near College Station or Bryan or Waco.

Not far outside Houston and you are into small towns. Brazoria County is great, where I grew up.

Can’t speak for DFW area or anything in west TX, not that familiar with those areas.
 
1ke said:
Yes, it started in TX from a real live range cook in Corsicana. It’s part of ConAgra now.

And I sure do miss it up here in the Midwest.
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amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=wolf+brand+chili&sprefix=woLF+Brand+%2Caps%2C309

It’s over $2.00 per can here in the grocery stores in ATL…so some of these are not too bad, but you have to buy 12 to get down in tat price range…which would last a long time I would think…Free shipping is a plus.
 
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