Texas

Antique Mania

April 15, 2012 · 4 comments

in Cute and/or Pretty, Decorating, Good Things, Jennie Likes, Places I've Gone, Texas

Last week amid the birthdays and lice and Easter preparations, Mister and I escaped to the Round Top Antiques Fair. I always write about this because it’s so completely great; when are you guys going to believe me and go yourselves? Who cares that it’s the middle of nowhere in Texas? Tori Spelling made it out last year! You should too!

This time my main shopping trip was to Marburger Farm–which is one small part of Round Top. I think Marburger has the best items and displays, hand-down. Keep in mind that this takes place in the middle of a 40-acre field. There are several giant tents set up, but there is no paving or air con. Despite this the sellers do a fantastic job making their booths look gorgeous. This is especially amazing considering how many of them come from around the country.

Marburger also has wifi and nice Kohler bath trailers (with actual toilets!) so it’s not completely primitive. These were some of my favorite things that I came across. (Not nearly as kitschy and oddball as the flea marketish parts of Round Top.)

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I thought the shells were nice but an actual zebra head? That’s kind of a niche market.

 

Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone AppOf course.

Because who hasn’t thought, “you know what this mantel needs? A turtle shell.”
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Have you ever seen so much Ironstone in one place? I haven’t. I noticed a really pretty cake stand that I thought I might splurge on until I took a look at the price tag.

 

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$1600 for a cake stand??? For that price I expect it to be painted with the tears of 18th Century Chinese concubines. I think I’ll stick with the ceramic version from Pier One that costs 97% less.

Also pretty but way too expensive:

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Antique napkin rings. At between $150-$200 each this lady has sunk a lot of money into inventory. And think of all the polishing! Oy! I don’t even own any cloth napkins. I think that officially makes me tacky.

So no, I didn’t buy much at my trip to Round Top. But let me tell you, it is the best window shopping on Earth. So mark your calendars; the next fair will be October 3-7.

To find out more about Round Top, you can read my post from the last fair here.

Strawberry Fever

March 17, 2012 · 9 comments

in Family, Good Things, Jennie Likes, Kids, Making Stuff, Places I've Gone, Texas, Things We've Done, Vacations, Why Jennie's tired, Yum

You know what’s nice about Texas? Strawberry season starts in March. It’s been Spring Break this week and our big outing was driving over an hour to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls. (“Forget Disneyworld, kids, we’re going to pick strawberries in the middle of nowhere!”)  You’ve got to get there early to get the best berries, and go on the right day (they’re closed on Wednesdays, so Thursday morning is when the most ripe berries are out.)  The weather was lovely, the bluebonnets and wildflowers were showing off everywhere, and Mister played hookey from work and went with us.

PhotobucketSweet Berry Farm has several varieties of berries and Chandler is one of my favorites for making jam. They’re a little on the soft side and very juicy, quite unlike grocery store strawberries. Because of this they turn to mush within a day or two so you’ve got to eat them or use them right now.  The taste is out of this world. It’s like a strawberry explosion.

 

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I’ve had my work cut out for me over the last couple of days. I made a strawberry almond pie and 36 jars of jam. Not to mention eating lots and lots of berries.

Massive strawberry overload.

But in a good way.

 

P.S. If you do go out to Sweet Berry Farm, be sure to stop at Peete’s Mesquite BBQ in Marble Falls. It has the best brisket I have ever tasted. And I’ve eaten BBQ all ever the place,  even at Franklin BBQ which was voted the best in America by Bon Apétit magazine this year. Peete’s ribs were second only to Franklin’s. And their peach pie and macaroni salad are phenomenal! Seriously, go there!!!

Fun at Round Top

October 7, 2011 · 7 comments

in Good Things, Jennie Likes, Texas, Things We've Done

Before I lived in Texas I had never heard of the Round Top Antiques fair. Which is amazing to me considering that it is the largest antiques fair in the country. How big am I talking about? Over 300 acres of antiques, cool finds and crafts.  300 acres. Wow.

It’s right here in central Texas, halfway between Austin and Houston in a tiny town called Round Top. Actually it’s spread between Round Top,  Carmine (pronounced CAR-meen), and Warrenton, all teeny-weeny towns of less than 100 people. But tents are set up twice a year (the first Wednesday-Saturday of April and October usually) and hordes descend on this cute little area. Most visitors are women but I am lucky enough to be married to a man who loves to shop like I do.  So we set out for Round Top last week and had a grand time. This was Mister’s favorite booth at The Red Barn:

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Let me explain how it works in case you happen to go sometime. North of Round Top you’ll find the Big Red Barn. You can’t miss it because, well, it’s a big red barn in the middle of a field. This is one of the major shows. You’ll pay an admission fee to get in to the barn and the other big tents that are nearby (usually it’s $10). Parking is free.  There are mostly antiques here. Dealers from all over the country set up makeshift booths and exhibits. Some items are gorgeous and fancy, some a little more modest but this place it mostly upscale. I did find the booth of a woman that sold nothing but vintage buttons. It was so overwhelming that I left with my hands empty even though I adore buttons. I also found a darling cupboard that would have looked fantastic in my kitchen. But I don’t happen to have $1500 sitting around.

If you head south towards Warrenton you’ll pass all sorts of tents that are full of antiques, collectibles and miscellaneous stuff. Stop at these as you wish. These little areas are all run separately so it’s hard to say from year to year which sellers will be there and what they’ll be selling. The crazy thing about Round Top is that nobody is in charge. There is no master planner. All these tents and buildings are rented and run separately. Most of the smaller areas are free. You could easily spend days snooping around Round Top. It’s that big.

Halfway to Warrenton is Marburger Farms. This is the biggest of all the antiques venues. This year it was something like 40 acres. It has everything from fancy French armoires to adorable baby shoes–mostly antiques but there are plenty of things that are vintage as well. And some things that just look vintage. There is more of an eclectic collection of items at Marburger. Marburger requires a separate admission (also $10 this year). Your admission at each venue is good for the entire weekend. You could end up spending quite a bit of money just on admissions alone. But if you’re bothering to come this far, who really cares?

Down towards Warrenton is where most of the action is. Most of it is free too. There are some really fun and funky places like Zapp Hall. Most of these areas tend to be more vintage and flea-marketish. You can find a lot of seriously weird and cool stuff. There are tons of craft stalls set up around the area too. So much fun. And lots of interesting food options too. I may or may not have spent $8 on a homemade Ding Dong the size of a salad plate. It was heavenly–what you imagine a Ding Dong ought to taste like.

Here are some of the wacky/cool/unusual things I found this year.

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Did you know this much purple glass even existed? Me neither. But I really think it’s pretty.

 

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An assortment of racially insensitive salt and pepper shakers.

 

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This week’s preparedness item is mermaids. Everybody stock up!

 

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I keep forgetting to eat lard. Maybe if I had a nifty holder on the table I’d remember.

 

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Well, shoot! If only I’d thought to look at our Scrabble game before we left. We’re missing about six tiles and I can’t remember which ones.

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Of course you can get vintage Cowboy boots. It’s Texas. Duh.

My brain was thoroughly worn out by the time we left. Mister kept saying on our way home, “why didn’t you tell me how cool this was? We’re definitely going again in April!”  Yes, it’s certainly a trip worth taking.

Non-disco inferno

September 6, 2011 · 4 comments

in Texas, Weather

Hey, my house didn’t burn down last night! Great news! There are wildfires going all over the areas surrounding Austin (several miles away, but still . . . ) and we have many friends who have been spending the last couple of nights in hotels.

We are far enough away that fire isn’t an immediate threat, but you know fire: it’s wacky.

Just to make sure I have my bases covered I gathered all our important papers, photo albums and laptops in a laundry basket by my door. Just in case. It will stay there til it starts to rain good and hard and Central Texas isn’t such a tinderbox anymore (now I need to find all the various hard drives my husband has our family videos archived on. Talk about a fools errand!)

Mister asked if I had our 72-hour kits ready. This isn’t a 72-hour kit situation, if you ask me. We can drive five miles away, eat in restaurants and buy whatever we need. If the entire city catches on fire, he may have a point.

The weather has been cooling down, though. This morning it was 67º. It’s the first time we’ve been in the 60′s since April. Five months ago. My kids all put on coats and asked if I would drive them to school because of the cold weather. In case you haven’t heard me complain a million and a half times on this blog, we’ve had 80 days of temps above 100º this summer. (Last year we had one). It’s been pretty brutal.

If you are a praying person, please pray for Texas. Not only do we need the rain, but we’ve got Rick Perry to deal with too.

How to have a terrible block party

August 4, 2011 · 4 comments

in Bad Things, Feeling Sorry for Myself, I'm Not So Great, Texas

Tuesday night was the National Night Out. It is supposed to be the time when every neighborhood in the country has a party. Well, that’s not a lofty goal, is it? Being a block captain, it is my job to be in charge of our street’s party during the National Night Out. In past years I’ve organized relay games and made lots of tasty food. Some years several people have come, but most of the time people blow it off. Because who wants to know their neighbors better? What a dumb idea! (Even the two families on the cul-de-sac who had the party going in front of their houses still wouldn’t come out. So we sat and gossiped about them. Take that, anti-social neighbors!)

Last year I bought drinks and asked people to bring their favorite snack to share. We ended up with one watermelon and beer. Lots and lots of beer. Did you know beer is not a drink but a snack food? Me neither. And then everyone was kind enough to insist that I keep all the beer. My cries of, “No, we really, really won’t drink it. Really.” went unheeded. So I just packed it all into the back of the Suburban of the lady who brought the watermelon when she wasn’t looking. Hope she’s not a recovering alcoholic.

This year our party was a dud. As in us and one other family. I can’t say I was disappointed because I was in no mood to throw a party. If you are needing a few tips to have a lame block party, then let me help you out:

–Let procrastination be your guide! Even though you know the party is coming up, wait until four hours before the party to put flyers on everyone’s doors. That way it will be fresh in their minds!

–Make sure it’s on the hottest day of the year. Who doesn’t want to sit outside when it’s 107º (no exaggeration. 107º.) And make it at 7 pm, when the sun is still blazing hot and the shadows are so wacky that the big tent you put up provides no shade.

–August is a great month. It’s perfect to wait until everyone is out of town. (If August doesn’t work, your second choice should be Christmas Day.)

–Make bad food. Popsicles and root beer floats are ideal (especially made with no-name bargain brand products).

–Invite people you don’t actually care about. You could look at it as an opportuity to meet new friends, but it’s really better to think of it as hanging out with people you pretty much never see. This is Suburbia, after all. We prefer to live our desperate lives shut away in silent isolation.

See how easy it is to have a crummy block party? With a little procrastination and apathy, you too can have an evening worth forgetting.

Living in Austin–what we do for fun, pt.1

June 25, 2011 · 3 comments

in Good Things, Texas

So, what do you do when you’re in Austin? For most people there is one answer: drink. Alcohol, that is. This place is really into partying. The main party area is Sixth St. which is in the middle of downtown. Sixth St. is lined with bars and clubs. And every bar has live music; Austin being the “Live Music Capitol of the World” and all. If you want to hear music, you’ll have to be around a lot of drinking. Bummer if you’re a recovering alcoholic or Mormon. You get pretty used to it, though.

I took Ada to a party at one of those big bowling-minigolf-arcade places that are so popular for kids’ parties. When I picked Ada up, the mom of the birthday girl was too busy playing Dance Dance Revolution–barefoot, holding a beer–to notice that I was leaving with my child. Super. Call me extreme but I think that might not be the right circumstance for alcohol consumption, no matter how fed up you might be with noisy, spazzed-out children.

Most times when I drop a child off at a friend’s house, the parent will invite me in for a beer or a glass of wine. It always seems hospitable but strange. Every home party features drinks too (Pampered Chef, Tupperware, you name it). But you don’t need a reason! Lots of people pull chairs out into the driveway and drink all evening, chatting up the neighbors. Austin is pretty much party-central.

But back to the music. There is so much of it everywhere! Every little restaurant has a band show up. There are music festivals all the time. Not just the biggies like Austin City Limits or SXSW. There are blues festivals (there is a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn here, for Pete’s sake), bluegress festivals, and loads of Country music too. If you want to hear music, you have a huge assortment every night of the week.

It’s basically a city with permanently relaxed, fun vibe.

Living in Austin–The Critters

June 23, 2011 · 8 comments

in Bad Things, Texas, Yuck

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So, Austin is hot. And hot places have one thing in common: there are lots of critters. It only makes sense since it rarely gets cold enough to kill all the bugs and snakes.

Yes, there are scorpions here. If you live in a house less than a year or two old, there will still be residual scorpions hanging around. They tend to be tiny and pretty harmless. But scorpions are some of the creepiest-looking creatures around. I object to them on appearance alone. They are not as plentiful as they are in Arizona, for example, but most people have found one or two around their houses.

There are also poisonous snakes. At girls’ camp last year, India saw two Rattlesnakes and a Coral snake. They were all promptly killed by camp staff and the Coral snake was put in a jar on display so the girls would know what one looked like. The Coral resembles it’s cousin, the Milk snake, so everyone here learns the way to tell them apart:

Red on black, friend to Jack
Red on yellow, kill a fellow

You’d better not get bitten by a Coral snake, because the anti-venom is no longer being made. There’s not much demand for it, apparently. So don’t touch one or you’re on your own.

Oh, there are tarantulas too. What’s not to like about gigantic hairy spiders? Most people spot these outside, not inside. I don’t know if they spin webs or what, but just thinking about them is making my skin crawl so lets move along.

Fire Ants. If you are unfamiliar with these, lucky you! You’ll find out about them right quick when you move to Texas. They are teensy, hideous reddish ants that bite like the dickens. They bite first, which is unpleasant, but the worst thing is that they inject venom which makes a little lump like a hard blister. And that lump itches like a mosquito bite on fire. They live in the ground (duh. They’re ants) and everybody has them in their yards. You can sprinkle Fire Ant killer on your grass which makes them move to your neighbor’s yard for a couple of months. They are kind of like the Texas equivalent of mosquitoes. The sad thing about fire ants is that they aren’t even from here. Some thoughtless importers brought them from South America back in the 1930′s. Thanks a million.

Mosquitoes. We don’t have many of these in Austin. You can sit on your porch at night without getting bitten hardly at all. See, it’s not all bad here!

Bats. If you’ve been to Austin you have probably seen the amazingly cool sight of the millions of bats that live downtown under the Congress Bridge take off at dusk for their nightly bug-killing spree. We have the world’s largest colony of Mexican Free-Tailed bats. That might seem creepy but if you consider that they eat over a ton of bugs every night, they don’t seem so bad after all. August and September are the best months for bat-watching.

Armadillos-These are the weirdest little animals. They look like some sort of steampunk invention. They are nocturnal which means most people only seem them dead on the road. But if you happen to see one, you will be amazed at how cool-looking they are. My friend Lisa had armadillos living under her deck and said they also squeal like pigs. Weird. But don’t touch them–they are the only living creature besides humans that carry leprosy!

The good news is that the closer to civilization you live, the few creepy crawlies you’ll find. Most people in my neighborhood have had run-ins with scorpions and tarantulas, especially those in houses that back up to the woods and pond. But we back up to a busy street. It means that our house was cheaper (yay) but noisier (boo). The noise really hasn’t been a big deal and the cars and cement are not very hospitable for anything but fire ants. So we have yet to see any nasty spiders or scorpions (yay).

If the bugs and snakes make you think that you can’t handle it in Austin, you need to keep in mind that your run-ins with them will be minimal (except for fire ants maybe). I have yet to see any poisonous snakes. So as I tell my children, stop whining! It’s not a big deal.

Living in Austin–The Land and the Weather

June 21, 2011 · 3 comments

in Texas, Weather

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Austin is a great place to live. If for no other reason that every time you travel someplace else people will ask where you’re from and then reply, “Oooh, I love Austin!” Or “I’ve heard Austin is totally great!”. It’s nice to get that positive reaction, especially after living in Detroit (“Ewwww. Really? Did you see anyone get shot?”) or Utah (“oh”. Meaning either “are you Mormon?” or, if the person asking is also Mormon, “glad you escaped. You’re not from there originally, right?”)

Every couple of months I have somebody write to me because they are thinking of moving to Austin and want to know what it’s like. In order to assuage curiosity and save myself some time, I’ll just put this on my blog. It’s going to take a few entries, though, so I hope you’re in a Texas state of mind this week!

People in Austin are incredibly friendly and are very considerate drivers. They will always let you merge. Most people here are transplants, but the original Texas nice-ness is catchy. (Except for my neighbors from Boston. They are determined NOT to be friendly and want to get back to the cold as soon as possible. Please go! We don’t need your surliness!)

Because many people are transplants and because this is a big college town, Austinites don’t have accents, even the old-timers. If you hear anyone with an accent, they are most likely from elsewhere in Texas. It’s a good thing there aren’t more Texans with accents, because the accent is very catchy. You only need to talk to someone from the country for a little while before you start dropping your g’s at the end of words and start saying “fixin’ to”.

The weather here is hot in the summer. Oh my goodness glory it is hot. If you live someplace like Oregon or Vermont, you cannot even wrap your head around the hotness here. Today is the first official day of Summer and it is going to be our 16th day of temps over 100º. That sort of thing is not normal, though. Last summer we only had two days over 100º. Whatever the temps happen to be, it is kind of humid. Not terribly, like the South; just enough to keep your skin feeling supple. The weather starts warming up in March and doesn’t cool down again until November. Most of the time it’s quite lovely. We even have a tiny smidge of Winter where it gets down into the 30′s and 40′s for a few weeks.

Normally it rains in Austin, too. The kind of crazy thunderstorms that roll in and make you realize that your humanity is pretty insignificant. I love those. During the day, that is. At night they are annoying and a little freaky. There are tornadoes from time to time but not very often. And we are far enough from the coast to not be threatened by hurricanes.

It is usually pretty green around here. Not East-Coast-green, but green for being The West*. There are trees but also Prickly Pear Cactus. Right now, though, we are having the third worst drought in Texas history so everything looks brown and dead. And it’s only June! What is it going to look like in August?

Austin is the gateway to The Hill Country. But “hilly” is relative. The rest of Texas is flat as can be, so a few hills here and there are pretty novel for Texans. The hills are pretty, though. It reminds me of the South of France. Kind of green but kind of rocky too.

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*There is always a debate about whether Texas is a Southern state or a Western State. Texas sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War so I guess that technically makes it Southern. But it has the whole cowboy thing going on which makes it sort of Western. The Eastern half of Texas, where Houston and Dallas are, is definitely more Southern. It’s lush and green and nothing like people imagine Texas to be. The western half, starting at about Austin, seems much more typically Western. It definitely has more of an independent, can-do feel which I think is more typical of the West. S0 my answer is both. Texas is where the South turns into the West.

Story Problems for Today’s Mom

June 17, 2011 · 7 comments

in Bad Things, Baking, Birthdays (everyone else's), Craziness (jennie's), Entertainment, Feeling Sorry for Myself, Funny, Mister, Pets, Texas

Good Gravy, the last few days have been crazy. When did summer get so busy? (Answer: this week.) I thought it might be easier to explain things as story problems, although I always hated them when I was in math class. Instead of figuring out the dumb problems, I always got all existential instead. Why did Jose and Sally get ten cookies and Mark only get three? Who was the dunce handing out cookies and why didn’t he do it right to begin with? And why do I care what time two trains arrive, travelling at different speeds? They get there when they get there. Sheesh.

Let’s see if I can come up with some story problems that are a little more relevant.

1. If Jennie and Mr. Jennie are celebrating their 19th anniversary, what presents do they get for each other?

A. The 19th anniversary gift is traditionally bronze.

B. Dinner and a movie at the Drafthouse theatre. That way they can eat and watch a film at the same time and thus aren’t reminded that they ran out of things to talk about seven years ago.

C. Earrings for her, Sex for him.

D. Presents??? The entire budget will be spent on Jasper’s birthday three days later. Thanks for being born two weeks early and messing up the anniversary, Jasper!

Answer: B. (Sort of.) We did go to a combo lunch/movie at the Drafthouse to see Midnight in Paris (which was excellent). But we only went there because the popcorn is so good. Mister and I still have plenty to talk about even after all this time.

2. Which of these activities can be performed in the most coma-like state?

A. Picking up mother from the airport at 11:15 pm. Because of course that’s the cheapest flight.

B. Picking up teenage daughter up from a party at midnight, the very last minute before her curfew. Apologize profusely when you realize you’ve rung the doorbell at the wrong house.

C. Tapping at Scout Leader’s door at 6:00 am to pick up son from Scout sleepover in order to get son to Cross Country running practice. No other Scouts or leaders may be disturbed or points will be deducted.

D. Taking 6 year-old back to bed because, “the sun is mixed up and it’s shining but really it’s still nighttime. So go to sleep and don’t get up until the first number on your clock is a seven.”

Answer: D. At least I think that’s how it happened. I was so tired I don’t really remember the details.

3. Name the activity least likely to be performed while trying to make Jasper’s birthday cake:

A. Giving 12 year-old a beginning hammered dulcimer lesson because Jennie “promised and swore that Thursday would be the day”. Never mind that it requires 20 minutes tuning the stupid instrument first. After wasting ten minutes looking for the tuner.

B. Cleaning up cat barf. Twice.

C. Dropping everything to go to the grocery store because there are still items Jennie forgot despite two grocery store trips earlier in the day.

D. Like it really matters. It’s so insanely hot here that the icing will melt and run down the cake, looking like something from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

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Answer: B. The cat did throw up twice but I made India clean it up.

Texas and H.E.B.

February 7, 2011 · 4 comments

in Good Things, Texas

Oh wow, today’s Monday, isn’t it? I kind of forgot since the kids are home due to some sort of teacher training thing. I keep thinking Saturday is happening over and over. Especially since I had a sick child yesterday and didn’t go to church. I took a personal day and spent the entire time sitting in bed. I used up all my itunes cards from Christmas and redid all of my playlists. I’m a bit obsessive about my playlists. I like to arrange things according to what mood I’m in.

In case you hadn’t heard it was the Superbowl yesterday. But as you can imagine, I couldn’t have cared less. I didn’t even pig out. I did catch a couple of commercials. This one is for H.E.B., the local grocery store chain (Mister’s mother lived in San Antonio as a teenager and back then it was called H.E. Butts, after the name of the founder. Thank goodness they eventually dropped the “Butts”). I’m guessig you non-locals didn’t get to see this. Pretty fancy for a grocery store ad. It made me laugh because it really shows how much Texans totally adore their state. I can’t imagine having a commercial like this for Michigan, where I grew up. Even New Yorkers aren’t this crazy in love with New York! Watch this and admit it–you kind of find Texas appealing. (Sorry about the singer and his d-bag hairdo.)

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