Country Life and College Life Revisited

I was just telling you about going back to my brother’s place after our late dinner at Kerbey Lane Cafe. He lives almost two hours from Austin, in the sticks, and about 20 minutes out of town. That’s a big change from me – I live on a busy, noisy, city street, where it’s less than a 10-minute walk to the grocery store.

I didn’t know they grew cotton in Texas.

The neat thing about being in the sticks, though, is a huge backyard for the dogs. Samari is up front; see Lugnut running, along the right?

Samari rolls around outside and picks up burrs in her coat. For anyone who thought my brother is attractive, just look at him plucking burrs from his pup.

All their pets are girls, but they also have two cats. We met Zoe in December 2009 when she was a baby, and now she’s all grown up. Alex, who has met many more cats than I have, says this the only female orange cat he’s ever seen. Does anyone else know if the gingers are all (or mostly) male?

And the newest addition is Thalia. She wouldn’t stay still to pose for the camera.

See the Titans blanket? My brother is a huge football fan. (Good thing he moved to Texas, right?) We spent most of Sunday at their place, watching games, and we cooked. Shelby was really happy to eat some things with us that she doesn’t normally get to enjoy, like chili (even though it had beans and no meat) and tofu stir fry with peanut sauce.

These are two favorite recipes that I don’t need a cookbook to make, and they’re great to share with family. Everyone has really enjoyed them. Or at least been polite.

I know this post is getting long, but I left for Texas a week ago, and I’m ready to be done telling you about it. When I mentioned they live so far from Austin, did you bother wondering where they live? Outside of College Station, Aggieland, home of Texas A & M.

We went out to Ozona, Tex-Mex place, which was having $1 margaritas, served in plastic cups. Ah, college life. We did enjoy some fried pickeled okra, or at least Shelby and I did. Alex ate a few pieces and some loose batter, but Andy wouldn’t touch it. This stuff was great, though – a combo of fried okra and fried pickles! My dinner was great, too, delicious grilled vegetable tacos. This came with a side of beans, and I asked the waitress if they were made with meat. She said no – but before taking a bite, I found big chunks of bacon in them! Shelby, our native Texan, says bacon isn’t meat to the locals.

I’m heading out for the weekend, but I have one last photo to share. This is a local bar advertising pitchers of cold beer and Mario Kart. Minus the Old West theme, this is my kind of place. Have a great weekend – I can’t say that beer and Wii aren’t in my plans for tonight.