Fredericksburg birthday trip, finale

On our way back to San Antonio, we stopped at the National Museum of the Pacific War, saw camels and swam in the river at Blanco State Park.


This is all the locally produced stuff we bought!!!! Wine, jellies, peaches, peach cider, salsa, sweet jalapenos, spicy peanut butter and even a leather-scented candle.
Texas=yum

Fredericksburg birthday trip, part zwei

Saturday we were joined by Gino's brother and sister-in-law, who are a lot of fun and often invite us to their house for bbq'ing and swimming. We toured Main Street, stopping in no fewer than 5 wine tasting rooms. It was a challenge finding a good dry wine but there was no shortage of tasty Rieslings.


We ate lunch at Auslander Restaurant and Biergarten, where I ate the littlest potato pancakes Ive ever seen, then made our way back to the cottage to rest for a while. That evening we stopped at Friedhelm's Bavarian Inn & Restaurant for a round of beers, went to West End Pizza Co for a pasta dinner (not really recommended), then ended the night with live music at Crossroads Saloon.

Fredericksburg birthday trip

For my BDAY I wanted to go to Texas wine country - yes, Texas has a wine country!

Fredericksburg is a quaint little town about 1 hour northwest of San Antonio settled by the Germans back in the 1840s. It's a town full of B&Bs, antique shops, German restaurants/beer gardens and wine tasting rooms, as well as one of the area's wineries.

Our rental cottage - 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and 2 bathrooms for $125 night!
Us with Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach, famous German-Texas pioneer, founder of Frederickburg, TX and initiator of a treaty between German settlers and Comanche indians.


Friday night we went to Wildseed Farms for a chili-pepper and salsa festival. About 40 tasting booths!!

The festival at dusk.

Waco and hushpuppies

Waco was a bit of a spontaneous stop on the way back from Dallas so -again- no camera but i felt it was was still a blog-worthy experience. First of all, we had dinner at an establishment set along the Brazos River called Buzzard Billy's. It was busy, seemed very local and had a big deck to sit on. Here's a pic stolen from flickr:

Right below the deck in the river there were literally over 50 or so turtles and whatever kind of fish scrambling for crumbs of biscuits thrown to them by restaurant patrons. As if this wasn't entertainment enough, I was enjoying a tall 5-rum Hurricane, and THEN the food arrived. We had to try the beer-cheese soup, which was surprisingly delicious. And with my Cajun combo plate, I had experienced for the very first time a REAL hushpuppie! Those things you get at Long John Silver's are garbage I tell you! A real hushpuppie, as it turns out, is a southern gastronomic delight.

Any how, the next morning we explored some more of Waco, which is home to Baylor University and actually a bit of a college town. We found a sculpture garden in a Waco tourist brochure (it was between that and the Dr. Pepper museum). Here is one shot I liked from G's phone of me entering a tall door to nowhere:


No, we did not try to find the Branch Davidian Compound.

Dallas

I went to a dysphagia conference in a town on the outskirts of Dallas called Hurst - partly as an excuse to see a bit of the northern part of this gigantic state, partly for cheap continuing education credits (oh and learning!). Gino and I drove up (5 hour drive) but we both forgot our cameras. So here's a couple shots from his phone:





After my morning conference, we drove into downtown Dallas to the Arts district and got to check out a really nice free gallery exhibit, the Crow Collection of Asian Art. Here's Gino in front of a huge ballpoint pen drawings by IL LEE.

Not exactly what I imagined my first "Dallas experience" to be like, but a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

New Orleans Jazz Fest - Music!

I thought I would die when I heard that Aretha Franklin cancelled - it still makes me cringe. BUT the good news is, I nearly forgot all about the Queen about 5 minutes into the festival. First stop, Gospel tent.

These ladies know how to work a crowd - hallelujah! (PS it was not raining in the tent)


Other highlights for Friday were Jose Feliciano - blind guitar genius...

and Hiromi, the most mind-blowing pianist ev-er:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTeQQKjS42M


The highlight for me on Saturday was Jeff Beck with his bad-ass chic bassist (not pictured). Pearl Jam was the headliner, but I was way too far back to really see/hear good. Biggest disappointment: Aaron Neville - snore! But there were lots of really fun& impressive bluegrass, blues and of course jazz performers.

Random pics:

New Orleans Jazz Fest - Food!

We had brunch at the Ruby Slipper on S. Cortez my first full day in N.O.
That guy was a lot to handle even before he drank that pretty strawberry mojito.


I can honestly say I never understood all the fuss about Southern grits until I ate them with the most delicious crab cakes I've ever had served with poached eggs and a home-made biscuit.

The FOOD at Jazz fest nearly matched the music as the main attraction- it was booth after booth of Cajun goodness:
my personal highlight was this shredded duck meat po' boy:

A midnight snack - ultra powder-sugary beignets from Cafe Du Monde. That's the only food they serve! And no, they don't sell skim milk silly, silly girl.

Ahh, fried catfish and gumbo for breakfast. I had spicey shrimp and grits (not shown).


Honorable mention: Cochon on Tchoupitoulas Street - if you ever go to N.O., eat there!