The Smithsonian Folklife Festival started yesterday down on the Mall and runs this weekend and next weekend. This year's themes are Bhutan, NASA (NASA has a folklife?) and TEXAS, the Best State Ever. This means lots of dancing to music played by guys in Stetsons and boots, samples of Texas wine (yes, there is such a thing), and best of all, FOOD ( Read more... )

One of the food blogs I peruse from time to time is Homesick Texan, the musings of another transplanted Texan who cooks more than I do, with pretty pictures and much more intelligent commentary. She almost convinced me to make my own chicken fried steak. Almost. A few days ago she posted about her recent crawfish boil, and ever since I have been ( Read more... )

I tell people I'm from Houston. This is only partially true. It is somewhat true because a number of my youthful addresses did actually have "Houston" in them. It is somewhat false because this statement may induce people to think that I lived in a city. I am a child of the exurbs. Merriam-Webster defines an exurb as "a region or settlement that ( Read more... )

Did you miss me? I spent the holidays in Houston as usual, reveling in the direct sunshine, the irrelevance of coats, the wonderful food I didn't have to cook, and the happy company of my family. We shopped. We ate. We got pedicures. We decorated cookies. We hung around in our PJs doing nothing. It was great. I got a lot of useful gifts, just the ( Read more... )

Dear Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board,

Just say no. Just put the pen down and walk away. I am certain you have a full schedule, a busy agenda. Or maybe even some kind of personal life. Either way, I am absolutely positive you have better things to do than wasting a single nanosecond pondering whether the Institute for Creation Research ( Read more... )

10. The Friendswood sno-cone stand
9. Gilbert and Sullivan
8. Low cost of living
7. Blue Bell ice cream
6. Free theater picnics
5. Non-occurrence of snow
4. Star Pizza
3. Quality Cajun
2. Quality Tex-Mex
1. Kolaches

Six of the ten are food. Surprise, surprise.

Nick Lampson won! Yay! Rick Perry won. Boo. But I wasn't really expecting anything different. Texas is such a solidly Republican state and the Democratic candidate was such a loser that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Perry would keep his seat. The interesting part of the gubernatorial election was the role of the independents. Kinky ( Read more... )

Now that Halloween's over, it's time to get ready for the next big holiday - Election Day! w00t! I find myself getting invited to all sorts of midterm election parties, which is soooooo Inside the Beltway. But I'll go, because I like a good excuse to go to a bar and get men to buy me drinks. Here are a couple of fun midterm election links for your ( Read more... )

DeLay to abandon re-election race, plans to leave CongressFrom CNN Correspondents Dana Bash and Ed Henry ( Read more... )

I have recently discovered that I suffer from a severe, chronic and incurable disease. I reget to inform you all that I seem to have contracted Texas Withdrawal Syndrome (TWS). TWS is a mysterious illness that affects mainly native Texans, though non-natives who have spent considerable time in the state are also at risk. Like HIV, TWS can enter the ( Read more... )