A TACO-LOVIN' TEXAN

When you were a kid, did you ever do that thing where you asked each other, if you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would that be? No question here. Tacos! But not the ones with bland ground beef and slimy lettuce in a stale cardboard shell. Never touch the things! No, I'm talkin' bout the kind of tacos we discovered living down in south Texas, in King Ranch country, not too far from the border. So, it's no surprise that, a while back, when I came across one of those "10 tacos to try before you die" lists, I took notes!

Meanwhile, ever since Little Goober arrived, we've fallen into the habit of popping in to see him on most Wednesdays. The night before I usually make a double batch of whatever we're having for dinner, and pack up what's left to take to Lex and Nate for their dinner the next day. Then, on the way over, we stop and grab something quick for all of us to share for lunch. Since Nate is usually working from home, it makes for a fun party. This week, when we were trying to think of somewhere different to stop for lunch, I suddenly remembered that one of the tacos on my must try list was at a permanent food truck called Valentina's Tex-Mex, just down the road from the kids at 7612 Brodie, on the parking lot of a liquor store/filling station.

The two guys went for chopped brisket sandwiches, and Alexis chose the sliced brisket.

I, of course, chose the smoked brisket taco from my must-try list, topped with sea salt lime guacamole and tomato serrano salsa. I'm so glad I did!

The queso and the smoked corn were mighty tasty too! We even took home a bit of their smoked jalapeno sausage to have for our dinner that night.

Then we spent a couple of hours lovin' on the Goobs...

so  Little Mama could relax or work on projects, such as this amazing color-mad blanket she just started crocheting.

We love our Wednesdays!

If you ever happen to be in the Austin area, and find yourself craving a great taco, here are a few to try before you die...

• the lengua taco at La Posada, 6800 West Gate (does lengua mean what I think it does?)
• the Space Cowboy taco at Tacodeli, 7301 Burnet Rd.
• the fish taco at Tamale House East, 1707 E. 6th
• the Gringa taco at Rosita's Al Pastor, 1911 E. Riverside Dr.
• The Asadero taco at Matt's El Rancho, 2613 S. Lamar
• The green chile pork taco, missionary style, at Torchy's
• the barbacoa taco at Jo's Coffee, 2305 E. 7th
• the migas taco at Veracruz All Natural, 4208 Manchaca
• the tacos al carbon at Fonda San Miguel, 2330 W. North Loop

or in San Antonio, try...

•  the paquetes de jicama y camaron at Rosarios, 910 S. Alamo

While we're on the subject of Tex-Mex, check out the latest daily special we stumbled upon at Hays City Store.

Roadside Chicken with Mexican Street Corn

Are you drooling yet?

TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO

Last weekend I ran into to town to run some errands. While I was checking out at the grocery store my phone rang, but I let it go to voicemail. After I got home and had put everything away, I finally remembered to check my messages, only to discover my daughter had called. She said they were just wondering what we were up to, as they were itching to get out of the house. They thought they might bring Little Goober for his first visit to Grandma's, if that was OK with us. What a silly question!

A few minutes later Hubby came up from the man cave, took one look around our living room, and burst out laughing. "I guess you got the message, huh? If I didn't know better, I'd say you've been looking forward to this moment." Ya think?

At last, we get to try out the baby gym our besties passed on to us! At first he wasn't sure what to think...

but once I turned on the music and twirly parts, he became mesmerized.

It kept him entertained until he suddenly realized he was waaay overdue for a meal, and we had a bit of a meltdown. Once that was taken care of, he was back to his happy little self.

So happy and content, in fact, that we decided to risk taking him into town to the place recently voted #1 Italian Restaurant in Wimberley. Of course, it's our only Italian restaurant in Wimberley, but that's neither here nor there. 

We spent the whole meal just staring at Little Goober...

And then we walked down to the frozen yogurt place, and did it some more.

It was a very good day.
  

TIME FOR A NUDGE

Is there anything better than finding something like this on your doorstep, upon coming home from a hectic day?

I could see that big bold BLICK from quite a distance and, in case you are unaware, that word just screams art supplies! Believe it or not, what with double weddings, the birth of our first grandbaby, and a sister with health issues, I haven't picked up a sketchbook or paintbrush in several months. Not that I'm complaining. It's been one helluva year! Still, one can only let these kinds of lapses go on for so long, right? Therefore, when I saw something on facebook saying that Paper Paintings artist Elizabeth St. Hilaire was coming to New Braunfels in early August to teach a three-day workshop, I just had to sign up. I knew it would be just the nudge I needed, to get back into my daily art routine.

There's nothing like having a good excuse to order a few art supplies...

only thing better being if you also happen to have a nice fat Blick gift card that Santa brought, which you never got around to spending!

I discovered a new love for collage when I was working on these pages in my travel journal, and found myself picking up bits of colorful paper to glue onto my sketches.

The only thing I didn't like about it was having to use thick, stiff, opaque "scrapbook" paper to get the variety of colors and patterns I wanted.

So, when I discovered that St. Hilaire would first teach us to paint our own collage papers using things like those big rolls of rice paper above, as well as decorative papers such as this Lokta paper below...

Lokta Paper

along with the geli plate and huge stash of stencils I already had? Well, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do!

Two and a half weeks, and counting...